The volume.
All right, everybody, We're going to have a great Sunday night. Some of you will see or hear this on Monday Morning podcast, Calling Coward podcast. I just got back from nine ten amazing days on the coast of Rhode Island walking on the beach.
By the way, I want to give you a health tip.
I read a study about a month ago where it said if you take your shoes off and walk on grass or walk on the beach for thirty minutes today, it has health benefits. So for the last six months minimum, I've had a messed up left foot, left toe, too many dress shoes, not enough ventilation from my feet. So I get to Rhode Island and I take my shoes off every morning and I go for a ninety minute to two hour walk on the beach. Five days in
a row salt water Atlantic Ocean. My foot is completely healed, no soreness, no red, no scars, no issues.
So this is right.
Take your shoes off, walk on the beach, walk in the yard, let those feet breathe. It did it for me. I told my wife, it's like a revelation. I'm not going to live that long anyway. I live too long but at least I want my feet and give me an extra year or two on the back end of my life.
So I think I've found that. So let's talk some college football. The story of the weekend.
To me, it's too bad the PAC twelve's going away, because I think it's the best it's ever been. It's the only college football conference Power five conference that hasn't lost a game yet, and they're completely stacked at quarterback. First of all, I thought Dion Sanders, I said this multiple times. I thought he would give the program juice and publicity, and Colorado football needs it, so therefore I
thought it was a good hire. But I didn't think they'd be very good this year because I didn't think you could bring in seventy five percent of your program to the transfer portal and be anything other than a bit inefficient and chaotic and mistake prone. Early, I was shocked at how not well coached Deon Sanders obviously can coach. We saw that at Jackson State, but for a first game with a seventy to seventy five percent transfer portal team,
this isn't the NFL. There's no preseason games, there's no intersquad practices. These are twenty year old kids, not twenty eight year old NFL players. They were mistake free, penalty free, seamless, smooth, tip of the captain Dean and an entire coaching staff. I mean, I've watched Brian Kelly, Lincoln Riley bring in twenty twenty five transfer portal guys and it's bumpy and
rocky early. Now TCU is not very good. They put a ton of people in the NFL lost their starting quarterback, Max Duggan for a multiple years there, so they're not very good. But they did not look buttoned up and Colorado did. And my other takeaway on this game is that this year in the Pac twelve, for people that live out West, this is the best quarterback group we
have had, maybe since that the Andrew Luck year. There were a couple of years there with a lot of good quarterbacks, but Cam Rising, Caleb Williams, Michael Pennix, Bo Nicks, Jadeen DeLaura at Arizona and now Shadeur Sanders Dion Son. I text two NFL executives during that Colorado win and I asked the question, am I nuts or do we have another first round quarterback in the NFL? And both executives said the same thing. His release and his accuracy in touch were a plus plus. Dion Sanders' son is
a first round NFL quarterback. I'm almost sure of it. Six two, six, two and a half. You know, with his dad, he's going to be athletic, excellent accuracy, tremendous point boys, light on his feet, intermediate out in the flat, deep ball. I thought shouldre Sanders. I know Dion gets the publicity and we talk a lot about Colorado football. My takeaway was home home, Wait a minute, Dion's sun is a first round talent. Am I nuts. I was
blown away. And again TCU had a ton of NFL players and they weren't gonna be as good this year. I still thought they would win. I mean they were a twenty one point favorite, but wow. So just think if you are an NFL fan and you're a maybe college fan, but you need a quarterback. I think Kayleb Williams, Drake May. I'm not a huge fan of Quinn Ewers at Texas. I think he's Jay Cutler, arm talent, little sloppy, unrefined. Don't love his game, but he'll go in the first round.
I think Jayden Daniels at LSU has some first round traits. Riley Leonard at Duke is raw, mostly a pocket guy that we can move.
He's a big time talent. And now.
Shadu or Sanders maybe now they played Nebraska, so you know, the hype bubble may get popped. Matt rule, they're gonna go upset hunting. But I, first of all, typically captain Colorado, I did not think he would come into a football game and that when he transfers and be that smooth. Had they lost, it wouldn't have mattered. I was seven eight minutes into that game and they were running no huddle. They were going a million miles an hour. It was
really slick. So that's just tremendous coaching. And I didn't think anybody. I mean, their turnover of their roster is without comp I've never seen anything like that. I figured they'd have skilled players and Dion Sun would know the offense, but to build O and D lines in that amount of time to the portal. Now, their D line at Colorado is not very good, but their O line pretty solid.
Excellent work.
My other takeaway in college football is Ohio State's offensive line and Texas offensive lines were awful, and it's not a matter of talent. I think we have to be totally honest here. What's happening to college football, and we've seen it for a decade in college basketball, is that we all know due to the transfer portal and the one and done rule in college basketball, you can't really watch Kansas or Duke or Carolina or the top programs
and judge them in October and November. It's all new players. Well, in college football, we're a little bit more demanding right out of the gate in September. But the hardest unit for any football team to attain cohesion and chemistry is the offensive line. That's high school, college or pro.
We all know that. You know that, I know that everybody knows that. Well.
With a transfer portal and youth and players coming from all directions and players leaving Earth that even Ohio State and Texas, who are getting four and five star guys across the front, their offensive lines just aren't ready to go.
Now.
Texas may have been looking ahead to Alabama, but I thought the Texas ol line they couldn't initiate a run game. Ohio State's offensive line was a bit of a mess. USC's was awful in Week one, better but still some holes in Week two. And I think, I think we just have to look at college football a little like we look at college basketball. When it comes to especially the old lines, just can't judge them. In September, guys leave early. You end up with young guys stepping in
that aren't quite ready. So you go to the transfer portal. Offensive lines, even in professional football, they're not great in September, you're praying they're great post Thanksgiving. So I watched the Ohio State and I said, they're just not They're just not good enough on the offensive line. Yet it's not a lack of talent anywhere. Same with Texas. I like their their roster and I like their old line, but there's
just it. We have to look now at old lines and college football like we do early college basketball.
Just give me six weeks.
I'm going to bring on John Middelcoff, former NFL scout in just a minute. I say this probably every year, but I don't remember an NFL season where it felt so clearly defined on who the good teams are and the bad teams are. And of course this all comes back to once the NFL wrote that gigantic check, that CTE check to the players of almost a billion dollars. I think it was like eight or nine hundred million dollars.
It was a quick pivot to the NFL to make the game less violent and quickly, and that of course has been highly beneficial to the offensive side of the ball. So it's a very quarterback centric lead. We've talked about this ad nauseum. But what I do think with the improved college quarterback play I watched this weekend, well I'm not the only personal watching that. I think front office is realized we're going to have five, six or seven first round quarterbacks, and I think we're going to have
the most active trade deadline. In fact, I was told this by somebody inside the league about a month ago. It's going to be the most active trade deadline in league history because you've got two a plus plus Drake Mayn and Caleb Williams college quarterbacks, and I think several as to be plus quarterbacks. You know, Michael Pennix junior at Washington a little bit of an injury history. He throws an absolutely beautiful football. He is so poised, ball
snaps off his arm. He's a first round quarterback. Absolutely. I'm not a huge fan of Quinn yours or bow Knicks as NFL prospects, but you know, the bow Knicks put up remarkable numbers this weekend, and he's going to with Oregon with some of their playmakers. So I think of the trade deadline teams that get off to one and four, one and five, two and five, two and six starts, they're going to be selling off parts, soft tanks to get into the top seven or eight draft picks.
So I think we're gonna have a very strong top, a very clear week bottom, and those bottom teams are gonna sell off parts by week seven to six. If your team is good but has holes, this is the year for you. Because we know there's some great teams and some bad teams. It's those teams.
That we like.
Baltimore we like, you know, the Jets we like. Do we love those teams, Chargers, We like those kind of teams at the trade deadline, if they're aggressive, are going to have an opportunity to add significant pieces. I'm gonna throw a name out, Mike Evans Tampa why receiver If they go into the tank quickly in Tampa, and I suspect they will. Mike Evans could be there for the taking for a team that needs a number one receiver.
Let's bring in John middlecough three and out part of the volume former NFL scout.
The conference that is dying, the Conference of Champions, we can call it the Conference of NFL Quarterbacks, Colin, The Pac twelve is thriving.
Well, it's I just spent the previous ten minutes a large part talking about Dion Sanders' son. He will be draft eligible. But your takeaway because he plays with Travis Hunter and his dad's the coach, I thought he was a first round I mean I looked at him and I went, oh, we've got another first round quarterback talent. I mean, his his accuracy, deep crossing underneath flat footwork, poise release. I mean, it was jumped off the television set. But I don't know if he goes pro?
Does he shocking? Deon Sanders kid as good as football? Who would have thought of arguably the greatest athlete of my life? It was that was do you know what really jumped out to me? Colin? Just watching that game, I mean, just on the edge of your seat for TCU Colorado, it felt like as big as an NFL game or whatever. That's why football is so big. It
just felt enormous. These kids, I don't know ninety percent of the guys on TCU and honestly, beside a couple guys on Colorado, you just kind of learned about it. But primetime against this team that made this run last year, it just doesn't get any better. And then, like you said, that quarterback, We've talked so much right about the forty nine er situation and Trey Lance, and Trey Lance isn't alone.
A lot of guys struggle at just lacking poise and just comfortability in the pocket because there are instincts at that position we love, like how six five and he can run and he's got a strong arm. Can kind of just watch a guy play and you're like, this guy's very comfortable. They were down late and it was like, this guy's not freaking out. He was just playing at Jackson State. It was that's one of the bigger I'm not trying to overhype this, but that was that's as
good as he gets, Colin. That was fantastic.
I literally text two people in the league and I'm like, am I out of my mind. He is so poised in his ability any throw left right moving.
His accuracy was insane. And I'm just like, you know, I didn't know. I honestly, over the last month, I went to YouTube. I'm looking up highlights.
I mean, I know about the Quinn, you rs Kaya Williams, Drake, may Bow Nicks. I mean, we all know the guys that are gonna get drafted. I like Jaden Daniels at LSU. I think he's always been. He was so skinny coming out at Arizona State. He didn't look like an NFL player. But I think he's a nice and he's got some real NFL trades. But you know, I thought, you know, And this is the thing. I I I love college football and I feel bummed out of the Pac twelve.
This may be the best quarterback class in the history of the conference, and the conference is imploding. But I will tell you, as I look at this NFL schedule, is I said a minute ago, the trade deadline is going to be terribly, terribly busy. The top we know who it is. The bottom, we know who it is. You get these Tampas and these Arizonas and these Houstons, if they get off the one in five stars, John, this is going to be soft tanks.
I mean, these these teams need quarterbacks.
I think we're going to have a crazy, crazy trade deadline and players like a like a Mike Evans at Tampa. Who how many teams would be like? I mean, like if Buffalo starts struggling with Stefan Diggs and it's like we got a roster, we got to go get a guy. Let's start with Detroit Kansas City. There's a sense Detroit is going to be over their skis and they're just not ready for prime time?
Is that how you feel?
I think they're going to be really good, you know, I think that they have a high level offense. I mean that coordinator they have, they convinced him last year to not interview for jobs. Jared Goff has proven when you have a running game and a good offensive line, which he did right away when McVeigh got there, he was really really good. Never Mahomes, Josh Allen. But you could win. I mean they went to the Super Bowl with the guy, and I know everyone thought it was
crazy for them to take that running back. But Dan Campbell saw at firsthand with Alvin Kamara, and they view him like that kind of a hybrid player. Saint Brown's a stud. Jamison Williams got to get healthy, slash, stay out of trouble, but he's extremely talented, and they have a really good offensive line, so offensively and defensively, Aiden Hutchinson last year, by the end of the season looked like this guy's got a chance to be one of
the next really really good pass rushers. I think they had another guy that they drafted in the mid rounds that had eight sacks. Secondary is going to be a problem, but most teams in the NFL don't have great secondary. I'm not going to end all be all Thursday night. You can lose that game, but I I'm gonna pick him to win the division. I know you loved Minnesota last year. Obviously Rogers is gone. I think I'm gonna go out on a limit and take the Detroit Lions too well to win their division.
No Chris Jones, so Detroit's O lines probably a top three to four OH line. And if no Chris Jones, good point. That is a ball control Jared Goff playing either with a lead or in a close game, GoF gets into trouble when the O line deteriorates, he's playing from behind with no run game, with no Chris Jones. It almost guarantees that Jared's going to have a reasonably clean pocket with that O line. So I again, I would take the points and the lions and the opener.
I know everybody's bailing on him. This is a big spot. But there was a big spot against Green Bay to end the season at Lambeau, big National TV game, and I thought they outplayed the Packers.
I think one thing that's going to really be under the microscope this year is last year. Remember they started slow, so they kind of got to just let it rip toward the end of the season and they finished hot. But this year, all of Campbell's moves right, if they're two and two or three and one, when you go for it, when you kick a field goal, when you punt, I mean that stuff comes under the microscope when you're good. That's the way we talk about the Belichicks, the Andy Reids,
the Kyle Shanahan's. It's not just a great play call, it's time management, game management. You're going to be in tight games. People are no longer looking past you, even though you haven't accomplished anything. They're all taking you seriously. So I think that's the one question market is just Dan Campbell game management. I mean that could be the difference between eleven and nine wins right and could cost you a division a wild card spot. He's got to prove it.
There's two or three games that are really interesting to me, and the Packers Bears is one where I do feel the pressure is on Chicago. So Green Bay has had so much recent success and by the way, beyond recent twenty twenty five years of success Farvan Rodgers so and I think Aaron's first year he was six and ten. So I don't believe anybody thinks Jordan Love has to get him to the playoffs.
It's gonna be.
You can even see in the preseason John it's been a very cautious game plan. He's got a good on line, a nice run game. They're gonna hold his hand up bit here. And I think I think nine and eight would be would feel like a really nice opening year. Justin Fields is five and twenty. They've given him big pieces. Chicago's a major media market, it's loud. Eberflus has to win. He's a defensive coach in an offensive league. I feel there's real pressure on Chicago here to win and perform.
I think they will win. I do, but it really interests me because very rarely do we put a ton of pressure and can considered a huge game for a quarterback that's five and twenty. But I kind of feel like, and I think he will deliver, but I kind of feel like Justin Fields has to start winning quickly.
Yeah, I think the pressure is much more on him than the coach and definitely the GM. Are you still believer in Carolina this year?
I didn't love.
It hasn't looked pretty. No, Well, Chicago has their pick. So Chicago's got some firepower that if shit hits the fan this year with Fields and it doesn't go well, that they have a pretty seamless, you know, transition point even if they don't get the number one pick. We've already talked there's a ton of quarterbacks in this draft. I think it's on him right throwing the ball. We know he's a Dion Sanders level act, remarkable athlete, but to win in the NFL third Nate, can you complete
the deep out? Can you complete the deep in? On second and ten when you run, you know, when you get stuffed on first down, and I think that's the major question mark. You can't always unless you' Kyle Shanahan just run like wide receiver screens. You know, you have to push the ball down the field. I don't think they're going to be very good. Now. I loved him coming out in the draft, but I know a lot of people the coaching side of the scouts like the
scouts like justin fields because of the raw ability. A lot of the coaches, you know, Kyle Shanahan didn't think he saw the field very well. You know, the the and that's what comes down to being a great player is timing rhythm within the pocket, and that that's the big question mark. But I actually think if it doesn't go well for him, if Carolina is bad and they're bad, they're gonna be in great position with all these picks
to take a quarterback. They got some you know, pieces on the team and kind of transition perfectly.
Philadelphia and New England interest me. So New England at home three and a half point dog, no Shane Stiken. So the pressure now on Sirianni to pick the right coordinator. So Sirianni struggled until he gave Shane Stike in the play calling and then it was off to the races. Now he leaves, by the way, Justin Herbert was Shane Steiken a sending player. Stiken leaves, Joe Lombardi comes in, and Justin Herbert struggles in the second half of games.
These coordinators, ask Matt Ryan with Kyle Shanahan, these coordinators change everything.
It matters.
It matters a lot, and I think Philadelphia faces far more good quarterbacks. They're gonna pull back. I give New England a shot if their O line can hold up to win this game. Kind of your takeaway on what we'll see from Philadelphia this year.
Well, I think Philly obviously last year came really close and they brought back a lot of the same guys, but they did add one of the biggest wild cards in recent memory of the draft, and he's so freaking good that he's gonna play a lot, right in Jalen Carter. So they felt really good about their infrastructure, but they
didn't have once they got rid of Carson Wentz. Like the last couple of years, they've had a really buttoned down, high level squad, and once you get to that point and you can't quite get over the humh, they got great value. You start taking a couple of swings like that's something. Do they have to have guys holding his hand? Is he just a fit in guy? Because if he is a fit in guy and there's no issues their talent, they let Hargrave go to the Niners. They won't miss
a beat. So their defense, you know, could be even better with the pass rush standpoint, which it's hard to be which how good they were last year. But I'm with you anytime you have an offensive coordinator change. I mean, Jalen easily could if he didn't get banged up, wins the MVP. So that's a hard standard to just maintain. And we talked about this. There's a lot of really good players that have some great seasons and then come
back to Earth. The great players, the Mannings, the Brady's Rogers forever do it every single year as coaches going in, coaches going out. And I think that's what he has to prove now. And we've also talked about that they're betting on the guy. Obviously they have a ton of Their offensive line is awesome. AJ Brown like what a trade I think DeVante Smith could have an enormous season. They have a million running backs. Talent's definitely there. I think my kind of wild card this year is I
might pick the Cowboys to win that division. But it's not because I don't think the Eagles are good. I just think they're both, you know, eleven to thirteen win teams. I feel better about the Cowboys is they're gonna be probably the best defense right now. I don't know when Nick Bosa is gonna show up. Maybe if you're listening to this, he signed, but I don't know. It doesn't feel like he's that close. So the Cowboys got everyone there. Their defense is deep, their offenses needs to be solid.
They got now Trey Lance to act like Jalen Hurts in practice. And the Eagles, you know, that Super Bowl hangover is real. We've seen it for decades. That team that gets so close doesn't win. It kind of comes back to earth, even though they got everyone coming back. But like you said, the coordinator change, I don't care how good you think the next guy up is. There's usually a drop off or a learning curve.
Yeah, and I remember a few years ago, Tom to LESCo, the GM of the Chargers told me, he said, we have this young OC name Shane Stike, and he's like, oh, he's gonna be great. This guy is will not be able to keep him. He's gonna leave. Okay, So I want to talk about the Cowboys and the Giants because I said this before I went on vacation, that it's become very popular to kind of bail on the Giants and to say, listen, it's Brian Dabole. There's a ceiling.
It's clear with Daniel Jones and the schedules harder, The schedules not as hard as people make it out to be. It's around fifteenth, eighteenth hardest, nineteenth hardest in the league. It's harder than average, if I recall. But it's not over rot it's not overbearing. The one thing I like about the Giants is I do think it matters where you're great. And they're great at left tackle. They're great at tight end now with Waller and Saquon Barkley. They
have a potential great rush in in Kaevon Thibadeaux. They're great on the defensive front. They're great offensive coaching with Brian Dable, and they have an athletic quarterback in his prime who finished with a higher passer rating than Aaron Rodgers. Most of their players, their best players are not only in key spots, they're all in their prime. The Rams have players in key spots all out of their prime.
The Giants are young. I mean, the Cowboys have some players I like, not all in key spots, but tight end, back, left tackle, rush end offensive coach. I'm gonna go the other way on this. I don't see a free fall for the Giants. I don't think their schedules quite as daunting as people are making it out to be.
What say you, you know it's funny.
I was in the car today and, you know, like a weirdo, I'm thinking about who can the Giants win that division? Is it possible? It would be a pretty big jump, right, because the Eagles and Cowboys just have more talent. But we just talked about coaching changes. Obviously, the Eagles had a lot. Cowboys had a pretty big one too. I mean, is Mike calling the plays him
and shot you get rid of Kellen Moore? The Giants had zero turnover right, Kafka day ball running the offense and weak Martin Dale's one of those classic like Fangio level guys. He's just not going to become a head coach. He's going to be there for a while, a lot like Andy now with UH with Spagnola, he's going to be their coordinator for a while. And even if Kafka leaves, like day, ball can run into any moment, So the
consistency there. A lot of people have used this and I've said this forever, and this was the comp that I heard when he was coming out, because I thought the pick to take Daniel Jones number six. Overall, it's like he's a lot like Alex Smith. High intelligent guy, little bit better arm physically, like everyone likes him, very buttoned up, and for the first several years of his career I was kind of out because it was hard to watch him. But then looking back, it's like, look
who was coaching him? And then you get a guy a lot like Harbach came in by that second year with Alex. He ended up getting hurt in the middle of the year, and that's when Kaepernick came in, but he was shooting like a rocket ship. You're like, this guy's a real player now, and what do they do? They get Darren Waller, which when he's on the field. You've watched him in the preseason. He's a dominant player.
The question can you just stay on the felt? But if you get him, you get obviously Saquan it feels like he's all in. He got his contract done right away after he kind of was acting like he was gonna hold out. That didn't last long. You draft Hiatt from Tennessee. He can fly. This is coaching league and their coaching staff is really really good. So are they
as talented as the other top two teams in their division? No, not player for player, but like you said, key spots and if Daniel Jones, they don't need him to go from like a six to a ten, But can't he go from like a six to a seven and a half? Then are they looking at instead of being a nine win team? Are they an eleven win team and much more formidable. I know they beat the Vikings, but they had no chance to probably beat the Cowboys, the Niners
or the Eagles. And now are they in if they get to the final four in the NFC and it's those four teams, could they beat one of those teams? And I think it's fair to say that, yeah, they might be in a position when it's all said and done, to be able to at least compete with them for maybe one game. They're probably not a super Bowl contender, but that they might be much more legitimate as a squad top to bottom when it comes to January football in twenty twenty three than they were last year.
So, John, one of the things we do, you know, the history is a great guide for what's going to happen. We know, and I don't have it in front of you, but like the last twelve teams that have been on hard knocks, like there's one playoff win but because of Aaron Rodgers, you know it's you know, he arrives in town and the belief is he's this magic elisure and he'll solve everything. But this is a team that's not good at tackle. That's opening with the Bills in an
AF seed that's got pass rushers everywhere. You have an older quarterback who can be prickly when things don't go his way, and no longer is a mobile quarterback, right like Aaron. Now he gets rid of that ball quickly, he doesn't want to get hit, and he's a pocket quarterback. They have one really emerging star receiver, but Corey Davis retires, They're pretty average at tight end. They went and got
Dalvin Cook, which I think helps. But I look at this team and I think to myself, young quarterbacks, Herbert Burrow, Mahomes, I don't worry too much about regressing O lines, old quarterbacks, Brady, Matt Stafford, Aaron Rodgers. Aaron's never had a bad old line in Green Bay. Do you know Jordan Love in his first two preseason games was not pressured a single time? So okay, yeah, Stafford last year, bad old line, Brady last year O line injuries in Tampa interior. I think
Buffalo wins the opener. The best part of that line it was one and a half, now two and a half. I think I think it could be a little bit of it now Von Miller's not playing. But I think this Jets team it could get really surly, really prickly, very fast. Like I'm talking third quarter, late third quarter against the Bills. Your thoughts on what we'll see.
Yeah, I mean, that's gonna be one of the highest rated games in recent memory. There's gonna be a lot of eyeballs. Nine to eleven New York Rogers Bills. You're right the von Miller news that I think was last week right, that he was kind of trending that now he's out four weeks, but obviously just that game specifically, they named Makai Beckton, which is just a major question mark, Like he is the guy even good It's one thing to like, hey, we got this guy. He can be
a functional starter. You don't even know if he can function out there, right can Is he gonna get your guy killed? Or is he just gonna be a solid player. You don't have to worry about him. To me, that's a major major question mark. I would imagine Sean McDermott is just gonna be bringing all sorts of stuff over there. Now. Granted that's his right side. Aaron can see. He might just have to hit the ground. Randall Cobbs starting at slot receiver, I mean kind of. I'm I don't know.
Sometimes I buy into hard knocks. I always say I'm not gonna watch it, and then I do. And he's clearly in a really good headspace. But how you start matters. Sola has to like Deon Sanders, He's just natural in front of the team. He's really good at that, but ultimately you gotta win, you gotta produce, so all of a sudden you lose that game. They play Dallas, we too, right, So I mean it's it could snowball really quick. I'm a believer just because I think this guy, we've seen
him for the last couple of years. You're right, they had a really good offensive live but the easiest way to avoid question marks run the ball. Run the ball. And that's what they did Aaron's first year when he was kind of playing shitty in Green Bay when the floor got there, run the ball and then we're gonna you don't have to carry us on your shoulders, which he ended up doing the next couple of years, which doesn't really work in the playoffs at Lambeau. But just
try to lead the league in rushing. That makes everything much easier. Now. One thing they got going for him again, this is a little hard knocks gotty. Their defense looks pretty incredible. I mean, they got pass rushers everywhere. Quinn Williams has a chance to be like a bigger version of Warren Sap. They have what could be the best, if not a top two corner. So you lock him down one side of the field. If you can be a top two or three defense and lead the league
in rushing. That usually as a formula, especially with say what you want about him, he is very, very intelligent as a quarterback, so he can help out the pressure of Nate Hackett and just some of those guys. And like you said, I mean, Garrett Wilson might just we might look up and he's one hundred and fifteen catch guy for like a while. I mean, he's got a chance to be really really special division stuff. I mean, it's who are you gonna pick the finish last in that division?
Right?
It's hard. You could make a case for every team, obviously even separate the Bills who have owned that division, but all other three teams winning ten but also winning seven.
So I'm gonna throw this out to you. Usually if a wife talks of a pro athlete, she's giving you the honest truth, right, it's unvarnished. Yeah, And I'm gonna have two things converge here. You and I were both blown away by the quality of the college quarterback played the last two weeks, like it's better than we thought. And Matt Stafford's wife comes out and says publicly, yeah, like Matt doesn't connect with any of the players. They're
all too young. And I had somebody tell me, you know, during the off season, and it was validated by Matt Stafford. He came out and even though the Rams sort of pushed back on this, Matt Stafford confirmed what I'd been told, which is they tried to rework his deal to make it more team friendly, and he said, no thanks. I think the Rams are going to draft a quarterback with their first pick. And here's my question. Cooper Cup now
probably doesn't play in Game one. The trade deadline, I've been told, is going to be very active because of the quality of the quarterbacks coming out of college. If Cooper Cup doesn't play in Week one, they get housed or beat by the Seahawks. You start looking at that schedule, It's no day at the beach. I could see the Rams moving off Aaron Donald, moving off Stafford.
Now.
They do have some really good elements at key positions, but Cooper Cup maybe not playing in Week one, to me is a huge John Red flag up in Seattle. Seahawks five and a half point favorites. Give me your thoughts on Stafford's wife. You know the stories that they try to rework his deal. He got the you know what kicked out of him in Detroit, right he last year he did.
He's a weathered, thirty five thirty six year old.
Absolutely take away in the Rams Cooper Cup and what I just talked.
About, well, I'm complete. I've been out on the Rams. I think they're gonna be horrendous that. I just don't think their roster's any good. They were too top heavy. Anytime you got to go see a specialist a week before week one and it's not you know, that's what pitchers do with their elbow. This is a hamstring that's not good. And you know, I don't care. Aaron Donald could have twenty five sacks. If no one around him can make a tackle, you're in trouble. I don't even
think the Stafford thing is that weird. I mean there is a gigantic gap. I think if you're thirty five or over and if you're maybe twenty three or younger, just technology. A kid has been on the internet from the moment he's alive. I remember getting my first cell phone in like two thousand and one and it did not look like this, So I mean, I do understand struggling and listen, we're all guilty of this, and I try to find it having your phone in front of you.
But that generation is on a completely different level. That's just how they communicate with everything. I mean, they could be sitting across the whole way and be texted with the guy. That's how they talk. So I kind of thought that was relatable from Stafford, though it's not ideal what you want to hear from your star quarterback, who's your team captain, that you're paying forty five plus million dollars to. I think it's over. I mean, I think
this the whole run was over. I think they paid these guys rightfully, so after they won the Super Bowl, they clearly regret it. No team pays guys enormous amounts of money and regrets it faster and more quickly than the Los Angeles Rams if they do this over and over and over and over again. Usually when you pay a guy, first case scenario, maybe there's a bad injury or like that sucks, but they when the guy's even playing, you're like, God, we regret that one. They've done it
with like seven different players. It happened with the first iteration of their squad Jared Goff, remember McVeigh was out on Todd Gurley's knee gave out. Now this group, if they could have all these redo they probably would and just tank. But Colin, I think they're in major, major trouble. I mean, you're looking at I don't know. I mean, I don't think the Caleb sweepstakes is out of the realm possibility, at least Drake May. I mean, I think
they got top five draft written all over him. And like you said, Aaron Donald, would some team I don't know, like the Steelers just throw out some great teams, Like would you just trade your first round pick for him? And then if you're the Rams just kind of reset it all. I don't think that's out of the realm possibility.
Yeah.
And I also think it's interesting because once you get the quarterback, now you've got all this cap availability. So if you have two firsts, you can get your quarterback and your left tackle, and that means they wouldn't have to pay Noe Boom in one year, so that frees up more stuff. So I think the Rams are gonna start out, they're gonna get beat by Seattle, and I think it could unravel quickly.
But the Stafford.
Comments, I thought, yeah, he's an old weather quarterback. I think it's gonna get ugly fast.
They don't have a two.
Van Jefferson's a three paid like a two. So they really don't have Tyler Higbee's a good tight end. Cam Akers solid running back, but no Cooper Cup He's their volume receiver. They're gonna be bad on both sides potentially.
Well, the thing is with Stafford, no one's ever talked about him like a Rogers or a Russell Wilson where there could be a disconnect. People love them. I know people that have played with him that swear by the guy. He's like a guys guy. Yeah, so this shows you that team has a gigantic Grand Canyon level gap of this group of all these young guys and then some of the older guys who are insanely rich. Now, I mean Aaron Donald wentz Al said and Done is gonna
make two hundred plus million dollars. Stafford's made a ton. But I think this is the great year to you. Look up, you see Michael Pennox, you see Bo Nicks. Even if you don't get Drake may or Caleb I think you can end up with the starting quarterback like pick six.
By the way, let's let's wrap it up with this, let's go back to college football and talk Caleb Williams in USC. So there were some with Caleb Williams. You're seeing a lot of scouts. There were multiple scouts at the coliseum and scouting directors and scouts watching Caleb. They have a receiver Dorian Singer, monheiman offensive lineman, a safety,
Kaylin Bullock. They've got They've got some NFL guys. Mason Cobb did not play a linebacker, but there's their USC's got some, you know, half a dozen NFL players.
One of the things.
A scout sent me, he said, you know, Lincoln Riley has a type. They don't have a lot of size at wide receiver. They're all twitchy, they're all fast, they're all quick. But as I watched Caleb Williams, my takeaway was.
That there's a.
Weird and I don't know Lincoln Riley cares, but they could have taken him out in the second quarter. But there is that sense that he is now anil. You're marketing him and they don't have a great backup. Miller Moss's fine, and I was I was sitting there watching this and I'm thinking to myself, their schedule gets really hard November, December or November.
And I'm like, what do you do with Caleb?
I mean, quarterbacks now are thrown for four or five Pennix is throwing four and five touchdown passes bo Nicks. How much do you play Caleb Williams? I have argued that if they got to the Pac twelve championship game, there's no reason to play. If you have to play Oregon again or Washington just don't, there's no reason to play him.
Where are you one? How much do you play Caleb this year?
I heard you say there's no conference next year, so I'm their offense is remarkable, and he's I mean the he's hist number one pick in a while since Trevor Lawrence. But I don't really see it yet. And it's early, and you know they're playing Nevada, they're playing who they San Jose State. The defense. Listen, it's hard to also judge Oregon. They won eighty seven million to zero, and Washington look fantastic. I do think those teams are a
little more physical on defense, so not that. Listen, you nit pick any top player, but those games Notre Dame and obviously Utah, which looks really really physical, But those are just fantastic games to feel really really good about. When you take the player number one overall, if he lights them up and if he just goes on to be the first back to back Heisman Trophy winner since
Archie Griffin, I mean, it doesn't happen very often. He clearly I wouldn't say he's in the driver's seat because of what happened at Colorado, but he's squarely in the mix. To me, he's just judged on I don't know. I mean, he's kind of there's no way it feels like he can be overtaken. So those games are just I mean, Washington had as a big time NFL pass rusher. They always have legitimate NFL secondary guys. Dan Lanning is an SEC guy. They clearly have horses on defense, and Utah
always pumps out guys. So I think those games. I think USC's gonna lose one of those games, and I think potentially too, Like I don't necessarily Colin, it's kind of in Lincoln's ethos defensively, like I like my offensive coach, like Andy Reid, Kyle Shana and Sean McVay. They value defense. I just think Lincoln I just don't see it on the body type. So for them to I guess you can get there with one loss. But I think this conference is really really good. All these teams, especially Oregon
and Washington, they have NFL quarterbacks. Notre Dame looks excellent. I mean they haven't played anybody, but they do. We know they have talent. I think it's less about Caleb just because his story's already kind of written. Right. He's gonna play, He's gonna put up stats. It's what happens when their defense has to make plays, like can they bail him? Can they help him out? Right? He can? He does. He always have to bail them out. And that's what it feels like right now when I watch them play.
Yeah, it was interesting. I sat there in the second quarter and I kept saying, Okay, just get him out of the game, get him out of the game.
What are you doing?
And then I'm thinking, no, No, the Heisman, he's front and center. Ultimately, I can't I guess Lincoln Ronnie can't think about that. I saw Lee Corso pick USC to win the National Championship, and my takeaway is, I do think you can win it offensively. I didn't think you could win it offensively ten years ago. I do think you can win it offensively. But Lincoln Riley's interesting, and I think you bring up a really good point is
that most almost all great offensive coaches value defense. I'm not saying Lincoln Riley doesn't, but I do wonder with the style of play that USC plays, can you develop toughness and a great defense in practice? That's where you develop a great defense.
That was always the knock on chip right, the physicality when they got up against the Sea SEC teams when he was in Oregon, because you practice ones on once. Right, when you go offense defense and you're Kyle Shanahan, what do they do? They run the ball down your throat? So what are they have? Physical defense? Right? Andy just has he just inclined to love physical freaks on defense and defensive linement. So it's like same with Sean McVay.
It's kind of like how they've been taught. It's not even that their offense it's more spread, but they like the big d linement.
By the way, Harball loves to run it Michigan's physical Stanford got physical, The Niners with him got physical Ryan Day. The recruiting by Brian Hartline has been so good for Ohio State at wide receiver. Urban Meyer was on my show a month ago and said, you have to get the ball to those receivers. What's happened to Ohio State? They have not run the ball effectively and consistently.
They look soft?
Why because at practice you have to get the ball to Harrison. So it does matter.
Is Ohio States become a flashier, more perimeter program. It has affected physicality and they're punishing running style. And I think that Caleb is so spectacular. I'm talking to a scout at the USC game. He's like, they have nine receivers and tight ends. They can all catch and run. You have to showcase that.
So it's not that they don't run the ball.
But I do think when you're as gifted as Caleb is, or you have as great a receivers as Ohio State does, and you want to exhibit that and that's the strength to your team, it can hurt physicality at practice.
I actually think too, from a quarterback standpoint, because Caleb has less to really like he can't really earn anything. He's already kind of been anointed, and he keeps backing it up. Is the other quarterbacks that get to play him, just because all the eyeballs will be when Washington plays them, when Oregon plays him, when Hartman at Notre Dame plays them.
It's a great opportunity for them to increase their stock because from a scouting perspective, when you watch Manning and then Brady comes on the field, and then Manning and Brady, you can see the high level play even though they're not ever on the field at the same time against the each other. I think one of those guys, if not multiple of those guys that play USC are going to jolt themselves up because so many people are going to be watching those games from an NFL standpoint.
By the way, I took the last ten days off on the East Coast and Rhode Island, and it's fascinating because Rhode Island loves its lobster and is really proud of its lobster. So you see lobster art, lobster pants, lobster on every menu. There's just lobster logos everywhere. I grew up in the Pacific Northwest. You don't see crab art and crab pants. And I was telling my wife, I just I ate lobster every day because I've never
eaten it, you know, my entire life. But I am here to tell you that because fewer NFL team the NFL preseason is shorter and fewer starters are playing. It was great because some schools have started around the country. I'd never taken the last week of August before Labor Day off. Holy shit, that is that's I'm doing that. I don't know how I'm gonna make it work.
It's a life ack.
I literally said that is the ten days in America because a lot of people, fourth of July is the peak of their summer. And then by the last week of August, you've used all your vacation time at work, John, you want to go check out some lobster and the last week of August I got a place.
Now you are welcome, Welcome.
Now, I'll see you there in twenty twenty four, Rhode Island, last week August.
All right, buddy, good STUFFE you gone.
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