Most Underrated Player for every NFC Team

00:00:04
Speaker 1: Welcome to NFL Daily, where we're looking for something about the NFL that's underrated. I'm Greg Rosenthal. We're in the Chris Wesleyan podcast study, and by we, I mean myself and our great production crew including Eric Roberts, Chris Vobona, Christy in the back.

00:00:20
Speaker 2: Jordan rod Rieg. Is that our house in Los Angeles?

00:00:23
Speaker 1: And yes, we're going to talk NFC underrated players on today's show.

00:00:27
Speaker 2: Are you ready, Jordan?

00:00:29
Speaker 3: I'm so ready. You know, Greg, I every once in a while get a chance to sit in that seat and talk directly to the camera in front of me, and I always notice that it's just a nice, like flattering angle, the camera set up very perfectly. I have to think that you had some hand in this and that you really like when we do shows like this because it does it does set you up for success.

00:00:50
Speaker 1: Feels good. I didn't know this. I have no hand in anything, and I wanted you here today. Let's not let's not be ridiculous about it. But I'm happy that we're having some flexibility in the offseason. And yes it is the offseason. And when I said we're looking for things that are underrated. When I say that, I mean, man, we cover the NFL so closely that I had to think, like, well, how hipster do we get for picking these underrated players because we talk about everyone. But I think we got some good ones coming out Before we get to that. We have a couple little schedule drips.

00:01:21
Speaker 2: Just every day.

00:01:22
Speaker 1: The NFL has just given us a couple drips until we get our big show, which Jordan will be a part of on Thursday. Going over the whole schedule release, we'll get the international games on Wednesday. But since we last talked, we learned Eagles Cowboys is the afternoon Thanksgiving game. Traditionally, Jordan, not sure if you're aware of this. This is the most watched game of the entire NFL season. Usually it's the best slot, and so they give it to the Eagles and the Cowboys. I think they were feeling the pressure after last year it was Chiefs Cowboys and it went crazy. You had to like give it as good as possible a matchup, and so we get NFC East. Will that be for the first place, you know, standing in the NFC East at that time?

00:02:10
Speaker 3: Man, I hope. So. I think both teams have a real shot at being very, very good. This year. Very exciting, and I like that there's a little pop on that day where you're kind of a lot of families are probably either waiting for stuff to cook at that time and tuning in and sort of lounging around on the couches and watching the TV, or they the day is built around football, as it should be, as the Shield intended. So I'm really really excited about what a company. I'm really excited about it. Love. I mean, I love that this matchup has actual, real competitive juice this year. I think there's a little revenge game sort of scenarios here. Christian Parker now the DC for the Cowboys, improved defense. I mean, both of those teams will know what they are by that time. It's exciting. I love this matchup.

00:03:01
Speaker 2: I don't know if this is a company man thing to say.

00:03:03
Speaker 1: I was a little underwhelmed that the Bills are opening their stadium on Prime video on Week two.

00:03:07
Speaker 2: That's just me.

00:03:08
Speaker 3: I mean, you don't want to get video pop.

00:03:10
Speaker 1: You don't want to give them Sunday night football Week one or even Monday Night. I thought it is a great game. It's Bills Lions, and I guess you could argue, hey, we're opening the stadium. There's all this attention on everything else. Week one, we get the centerpiece to kick off Week two, so that's an awesome game on prime video. The first Monday Night Football is Broncos versus Chiefs.

00:03:34
Speaker 2: I'm not saying that means.

00:03:36
Speaker 1: Patrick Mahomes will be ready for Week one Broncos Chiefs, but I don't think it's nothing without knowing. I would imagine the league is asking how this recovery is going before scheduling that game. Now could be justin fields versus the Broncos, and people are still going to watch. But if I'm a Chiefs fans, I feel like twenty five percent more confident that Patrick Mahomes is ready for Week one.

00:04:02
Speaker 2: Just the fact that they put that in primetime on Week one.

00:04:05
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, I not to go all conspiracy theory here. I think you're on the right track there, though, in my opinion, I would think that they would at least have a good idea of a return timeline and a return to play timeline here, because that's just more exciting, that gives them big pop. That's great for our guys. Just Gick and Troy Aikman like the best booth out there, it's just that'll be fun.

00:04:25
Speaker 1: Rick, Why would you give that game if it's if it's just in fields, it would be just.

00:04:28
Speaker 3: To hear Troy Aikman be miserable for half of the game, like, no, you.

00:04:31
Speaker 2: Don't want to do that against that defense.

00:04:33
Speaker 1: I think actually it would be compelling for me personally, but it wouldn't make sense to be expecting justin fields in that game. So that that's that's pretty compelling there Yet that Mahomes is week one, it would be a big test of the chief says they've really become the second national team behind the Cowboys, but I think it's probably just Mahomes it makes them the national team. Finally, speaking of the Cowboys, rest in peace to Craig Morton. I just wanted to mention Craig Morton because a guy who a little forgotten to history, I think. But one of only four quarterbacks to play for two different organizations to start the Super Bowl at quarterback, and the other three are Peyton Manning, Kurt Warner, and Tom Brady. Now and Morton's teams lost both those Super Bowls it was Cowboys and the Broncos, but had a good career led the league in yards per attempt three different times. Rest in piece to Craig Morton, just a piece of football history. I just you know, I want the kids to know about before we get to these underrated players. And we're gonna do it here, Jordan, and We're actually going to start with the Cowboys.

00:05:36
Speaker 2: I'm gonna get going. Are you ready?

00:05:38
Speaker 1: How deep? How deep did you go? I guess I know some of your picks, so some are deep summer less deep. I think it's it's a good it's a good combination of the two. I answered your question.

00:05:45
Speaker 3: You're already You're already catching I'm already catching strays before we even start.

00:05:49
Speaker 2: Greg Love, No, I think that's good.

00:05:50
Speaker 1: I don't think you want them all to be too deep. Ryan Flooroy is my is my pick for the Cowboys. I don't think that's too deep because fantasy football players will know him.

00:05:59
Speaker 2: And yet what a story.

00:06:01
Speaker 1: This kid is a fifth or sixth round pick from Southeast Missouri from two years ago, and when you watch his film, like a tough grab maker, like he makes difficult catches even though he's not that big of a guy, but he's pretty physical at the top of his routes like a tall guy six to two. He's tall, but I just mean he's not like a big body. He's lanky. But the numbers are crazy for players who got fifty targets. He is fifth in the league in catch percentage last year. He plays inside and outsides like his yak per catches great, his yards per route runner great. Like when he was coming out of college, he had one of the best relative athletics scores. It all lines up and when you look at the tape, it's really good. He was very productive the last quarter of the season. I kind of think they were okay trading George Pickens if someone had given them a godfather offer, in part because Ryan Flinoy's got a legit wide receiver three to get excited about for the future.

00:06:58
Speaker 3: Yeah, it could be like the long term too, even you know, in the future play it might post George Pickens era in Dallas. You know, he's like what I would call a scheme dream, Like a coach who wants just a player who can fill in multiple roles, multiple different layers to the passing game, and is going to produce out of all of that. Maybe the ceiling is a little bit lower than some of these like Superstar or like these true wide receiver ones, but for a two or a three, super high ceiling and a high floor, which is really really important when you're talking about like scheme dream guys that you're going to plug in all over the formation.

00:07:35
Speaker 1: And an incredible development story to get a pick that late in the draft. The last four games he had two hundred and sixty nine yards twenty two catches. If you paste that out, that's a thousand yard like ninety catch season. I'm not expecting that to happen, but don't sleep on Florijah, a solid number three option. You're up with the Giants. We are going to go through every single NFC team, picking one underrated player per team.

00:07:58
Speaker 3: You got the joke, yes, So for the Giants, I'm gonna pick tight end Theo Johnson, former fourth round pick in twenty twenty four lash and real talent as a skilled player last year. To me, the Giants roster is a bunch of guys they've drafted in the first round and then a bunch of other guys, and they have to find ways to meld those two together, which means a lot of those middle round or late round guys must step up into certain roles and kind of be the bridge between the blue chip players and kind of the rest of the roster. Theo Johnson, to me, is a perfect example of that. Forty five catches in five hundred and twenty eight yards last year is not like super sexy production, but in terms of everything they went through last year and shifting over from the Dable era to the very brief Kafka era, he just is really really friendly of a target for Jackson Dart That's everything a quarterback really needs as the quarterback continues to understand what it will take to play in the NFL. In the scheme balance, he's got almost twelve yards per catch, but seven point six yards per target, which really illustrates to me what we see on tape, which that he can really create after the catch, really steady. The funny thing about him that kept him from being like very very under the national radar to maybe like some people were buzzing or talking about him, not really the reasons why you want to be on the national radar, which is he was. He was ruled out late in the season with an illness, later was spotted at a Knicks game, and then a photo of that was posted on social media kind of went viral. Then he responded to that post, which also went viral. He said he wasn't sick. So this was like the end of that Mike Kafka era, which is very strange. The players were kind of all over the place, So he did pop in the sort of national conversation for that reason. But I think a lot of more people are going to be paying attention to his play on the field this year, especially with more heavy personnel sets under John Harbaugh.

00:09:51
Speaker 1: Yeah, he's going to be the two behind Isaiah Likely. It's a nice combination. He's part of the reason Joe Shane has kept his job because that twenty four class they really talked up a is a good class and he moves really well. He had a ton of drops, But I'm not going to kill someone just for drops if they do everything else well, I like that choice. For the Eagles, I'm gonna go Jlyx Hunt. I went back and forth few options here, but I went to bo wolf our sense when it came to the Eagles, and some of the numbers for Hunt made it over the top for him to be my pick. If you look at QB hit rate for players over three hundred snaps, So that's including sacks or hitting the quarterback Top five in the league, Okay, Zach Allen, shout out to Zach Allen. Number one Miles Garrett, Byron Young, who's a pretty good option for the Rams, Nick Benito. Number five on that list is Jlyx Hunt. How could a guy be so underrated when he completely changed the Super Bowl a couple of years ago. But I think people were expecting this monster second season and it was more about hits and pressures seven sacks, seventeen QB hits, sixty total pressures instead of, you know, just exploding in terms of the sack numbers. But man, is he strong. I watch some tape of him against Trent Williams in that playoff game, and he's two hundred and forty eight, two hundred and fifty pounds and he is pushing Trent Williams back. He was good in that playoff loss that they had. So he's tended to be a big game player. Hunt playing well in the playoffs, and I think he's gonna make Nolan Smith a little expendable when Smith's contract comes up eventually, because to me, Hunt's got a little more juice, and he's got a lot of juice, a lot of a lot of motor. There's a play Jordan where he gets thrown on the ground. You figure the plays over, gets up and then tackles Josh Allen in the open field, which not a lot of people can do that. So a lot of motor, a lot of strength for a smaller player, at least in terms of an edge rusher.

00:11:48
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's like a burpie sack, Like yes, totally totally hit the ground then bounces up. It's like the worst physical activity a person can experience for your a normal person like me, But he made it look easy. I love. What I love about the Eagles is that every year or two years there's at least one, probably more players that are underrated that have like a die hard local fan following. And should Zach Bond was one of those players before he emerged as the Zach Bond we know him to be now. Moro Ajomo was one of those players as well. Jlex Hunt certainly has that sort of cult following on the ground right now. And I like this pick because I think he's only going to continue to get better.

00:12:29
Speaker 1: Yeah, they could only pay so many guys long term. George Davis got that big deal. Jalen Carter is going to be coming up. But I think Hunt is a guy knowing their organization that they might try to get done early, and that would be after his third season, which is coming up.

00:12:44
Speaker 2: All right, you got the Commanders.

00:12:46
Speaker 3: So for me, Sam Cosmy the Alignment was actually a candidate here obviously has been dealing with some injury stuff. But I'm excited to see what he's going to do in his second year off the ACL injury, which he returned from last season. Before that, he was playing a real high clip. We loved him.

00:13:02
Speaker 1: Okay, we actually we could have one team where you got to players because since I have one team.

00:13:06
Speaker 3: Like that, well you have candidates listed in your hand.

00:13:08
Speaker 1: But that's just in my brain. You know, we gotta we gotta save these bullets. We have so many shows to fell. We got to just pick one underrated player.

00:13:16
Speaker 3: Now, don't get precious here, don't get precious, all right. John Baits is my pick. If you are a Washington Commander's fan, if you know, you know, because the difference when John Baits is on the field, he's there sort of, I guess they're two tight end more of their blocking tight end super specialty in blocking. I guess you could say that's sort of a superpower here, and he kind of compliments the entire run surface but also activates it in a way where he changes He's able to change gaps really well. He's able to do some of these escort motions and SIPs and realigned but he also is just enough of a threat in the passing game where you do have to be aware of him. He's one of my favorite players to watch in the entire league in terms of how he plays and what he can do. Also dealt with injury issues last year, which I think sunk him under the radar. The same year that everybody was talking about tight ends and how tight ends are merging, he'd been the face of that and just quite wasn't. So he just absolutely is such a difference maker for them, But not a lot of people outside the market know about him or talk about him.

00:14:18
Speaker 1: No, we're doing the NFL Daily thirty two series, Jordan, lot of pop for the coaches you were on last week. If we had an endless supply of time and an interest, we could do the top thirty two blocking tight.

00:14:32
Speaker 2: Ends and I think John Bates would you know, I would be high, he would be high.

00:14:36
Speaker 1: We would get a lot of these words in that show which you just said, sift you like to sift, escort motion. That's a hot one and a run surface. When you're saying all that in a short time, you know, you know you got something.

00:14:54
Speaker 3: I get a little tingly, you know.

00:14:55
Speaker 2: And that's another good group.

00:14:56
Speaker 1: I am thinking about doing best tight end rooms instead of best tight ends.

00:15:01
Speaker 2: I'm thinking best tight end rooms. And you got him in Alcon quote.

00:15:03
Speaker 1: And then you have a second round pick bet Ben Sinnett, who who's been a little quiet. But that's an interesting one in Washington. All right, I'm going to go to Detroit and I'm going to pick a free agent signing Kaid Mays. And I'm going to go straight to one of my favorite sources for offensive line analysis, check out Brandon Thorn in his Trench Warfare Substack. And these were the words he used to talk about Mays as a free agent, and I just thought these are such perfect I'm not going to be able to come up with something better than this, he says, quote. Mays is a brute force presence at center who wins with size, length and raw power in a gap oriented, downhill run scheme that allows him to work vertically. He can create displacement and secure interior lanes with authority. You know what, That system sounds exactly like where he would fit best.

00:15:55
Speaker 2: Jordan the Detroit Lions.

00:15:58
Speaker 1: I mean, that's part of it is we're trying to get ahead of things sometimes on these underrated players. And he had a good year for Carolina and certainly they did. They do some of that as well, though not as effectively last year as a team. But I do think for what they want, Lions fans are going to love this guy, and I think it could turn out to be one of the better free agent signings of the offseason.

00:16:19
Speaker 3: Well think about too, who the Lions have brought in as offensive coordinator. It's Strew Puttsing, who ran with Clayton Adams now in Dallas, ran a lot of really interestingly gap heavy personnel stuff as well, and it just it just fits to me. It seems to fit what they want to do. I love the kind of the ways that the Lions have tweaked their offensive line overall this year needed to happen, and I think it bodes well for them. Anytime you have you know, you talked about words you like Greg, anytime you talk about physicality, mauling downhill, those types of things, you automatically think of this era of the of the Lions and what they want to do before. What got pose their will?

00:17:01
Speaker 2: Yeah, brute force is what got me.

00:17:03
Speaker 1: And I was like, I just have to quote Brandon Thorne here too, But that development from them, and they were kind of a tough team to find an underrated player. That's why I went with a pre agent because they've been you know, they need to develop some of the middle back end of their roster, and they've got the super duper stars, so I think he's going to be an important one.

00:17:18
Speaker 2: You have the Bears next.

00:17:21
Speaker 3: This was kind of tough because I had to kind of sort through also injuries and certain players who we have really been high on as a show but haven't really talked about a lot recently just because of some of the injury stuff. I'm going with Kyler Gordon here, and I just think that, first of all, one of the most exciting players to watch in football, one of the most exciting defensive players out there, who truly just brings a scheme and a system to life play so physically and fearlessly. Again, unfortunately, it's part of the injury conversation as well with him lately. But one of the things that Bears fans really complained about in part was, and I can understand where some of the concern came from, but they have a lot of guys on their roster who they need to see really what they've got in Dennis Allen's system from some of these guys, certainly upfront, but then in the secondary. They've made some adjustments here and there are a lot of players left, but they also were bringing back a couple of players who they really like, and Kyler Gordon is obviously a key centerpiece here. I just can't wait to see what he can do when healthy, when being paired with some of the like they're built to cover. Again, to me, they're built to cover and make plays in the secondary. I don't necessarily buy into their pass rush at this time, but if you are going to have an identity that's built to cover the way that they seem to be consistently trending, and built to blitz the way that they're consistently trending and manufacture pressure the way Dennis Allen can and did in the postseason. I just love this fit and I think we're going to start talking about him a lot more. So I'm trying to get ahead of it, trying to get back on the Kyler Gordon journey here.

00:18:56
Speaker 1: I think that was the right choice. I think this is an inspired selection. Only played three games last year, and like he's the type of guy everyone's looking for right now. The versatility and the physicality and the ability to you know, blitz if they want him to. And I think if we were making a list the most important players, you know, the hinge player like, or a list of players that you know, not as famous, and I guess this would work for underrated but could be the best player on their defense or could make first team All Pro. I think Kylie Gordon like fits on all those lists. Ball play you know, ball knower is no and you're a ball noer. Minnesota is up next for me. I thought, you know, I thought about Addison Jordan Edison, just because's still little underread it. But this is I'm giving us one team. We can pick two guys just because I can't pick between these two.

00:19:44
Speaker 3: Oh, I see, so we're gonna forget all of the commentary.

00:19:48
Speaker 1: I said one team, just one team, because I can't pick between Jalen Redman and Eric Wilson, And normally I would say, well, let's just just Savior Eric Wilson talk for some other time in the off season.

00:19:58
Speaker 2: Are we really going to get to Eric will later?

00:20:01
Speaker 3: We have a lot of shows, Greg, We got a lot of time to Fillason.

00:20:04
Speaker 1: You know, well, Flores is just so good at finding these guys that fit perfectly for what he wants to do. Let's focus on what you can do really well, minimize what you can't do. If there's something that's BELICHICKI in about him, that's it, and then put him into a role and then they're better there than they've ever been. And I think both these players, Jalen Redman, who's a defensive tackle, and then Eric Wilson, who's kind of been a journeyman linebacker, fit those roles. Eric Wilson last year led the entire NFL in yards per target allowed from Next Gen's It's a little tricky of a stat, but he also finished seventh in pressure rate. This is for off ball linebacker, just like a crazy season where he's good in coverage and can rush the passer, and then Jalen Redmond. This really was more just looking up some stats and I was like, I gotta give Jalen Redman some pop. Here's the list, Jordan of players who played more than second year. You know, like Day three picked Jalen Redman at defensive tackle last year, Leonard Williams, Byron Murphy, Kobe Turner, Zach Allen, Derek Brown, Hayward in Pittsburgh of course, Cameron Hayward and then Jonathan Allen sneaks in there too. I mean those are like the best players in the league essentially, and Redmond finished tenth in run stops, just like a really solid player that plays a ton for them, and a find that that Flores has really gotten the most out of. So I cheated. I went to players there, I apologize. And the Vikings I'm cool with it. Okay, they're the opposite of the Lions, where like you could have gone with a bunch of.

00:21:36
Speaker 2: Players Lions underd Yeah, I love it.

00:21:38
Speaker 3: Yeah, you're right. I do think the Vikings have a ton of underready players. I hope we get to see the roster max out its talent this year. This is I love this because This is the guy that all of the local beat writers last training camp were buzzing about and putting on their breakout candidates list and talking about how high the coaching staffs pecifically was on Jalen Redman. And he became that guy like he not only met expectations but exceeded them and then had to play a hell of a lot of snaps and I love it for him. He is so disruptive, he is so fun to watch. He's like if Brian Flores was going to build a defensive lineman to perfectly bring his front to life, Jalen Redman is the type of player that he would build.

00:22:26
Speaker 2: Yeah, I misspoke.

00:22:27
Speaker 1: I was thinking about the two day three guys that they've gotten pretty good, you know, production from that they've drafted in recenties. But he was actually an undrafted free agent, yes in twenty four, entering his third year. And yeah, I think one of the reasons you could let go of Jonathan Allen Javon Hargrave was in part because just the absolute faith in Jalen Redmond. All Right, we are wrapping up the NFC North with the Green Bay.

00:22:52
Speaker 3: Packers, and like a slight reach for me, I will I'll know because I believe in this player. I believe in his potential. In my notes, by the way, I said, Lol, can I say to Rod Taylor the most underrated player on the Packers right now? But that's not my pick. I'm going to Edge Cooper the linebacker. I think that two things that could be possibly the best things that have ever happened to Edge Cooper in his career are going to happen and have happened this offseason. One of them being Jonathan Gannon is now the defensive coordinator and one thing he is going to love doing is playing some of that really big sort of move linebacker hybrid linebacker stuff that he blends in with his nickel packages. And I think that this is the year that we really see Edge Cooper meet the potential he showed as a rookie. Kind of took a step backward perhaps a little bit last year. And the other thing is Micah Parson's coming back. Because when you are when you have a sort of a chessboard player, an outlier player like Micah Parsons, you do need a player with the versatility but also the big playability with the formations and the play strengths all going to be moving away from Micah Parsons and wherever he is on the field, and then designing matchups for him to be successful. You really need a high floor, explosive potential player like Edge Cooper to really meet his potential and really be schemed up for success. And I think that he is that type of player. And I think he's pretty underrated still in part some of his own production last season was that, but I believe in him. I think he's going to be a heck of a player in his third season.

00:24:29
Speaker 1: He also is an NFL daily viewer, at least of our social because last year, while we cut something of Ali called them the most explosive linebacker. I believe in the league, the most explosive player maybe pound for pound, and that was clipped off is like, is he the best linebacker in league? And then he he retweeted it on Instagram and I think it might be the most viewed social we've ever had for whatever reason, because the Packers, just like fans, they latched onto it. Like half a million people saw it to shout out to Edger and Cooper.

00:25:03
Speaker 3: Yeah, not underrated to Packers fans. I'll know this is not about that though Packers fans, it's not about you Packers fans. This is about the national conversation around this player.

00:25:12
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I think actually he was a popular like a breakout idea last year and it didn't fully happen. It was kind of that year two where he tried to improve in some ways but it didn't all come together. It's a tough position and that so I think it might be the year after that. You're getting on board. Smart move as always, all right, let's take a break. We've gone through half of the NFC, so let's take a break now and we'll do the underrated players from the NFC South and West come out.

00:25:43
Speaker 2: Pegs big Back on NFL Daily.

00:25:52
Speaker 1: May twelfth, officially the day where we named the most underrated players on every NFC team, which means we have to do the AFC side Jordan, we're committing to it.

00:26:03
Speaker 2: I hope you're ready. This has been fun.

00:26:05
Speaker 1: Is even just going back to watching just a little bit of some of my favorite players, like it just makes you feel feel alive. And I'm going to go to a guy who's had a plenty of attention, aj Terrell in his career, even in All Pro season but I think now coming off is twenty twenty five, he has now gone officially from like one of the most underrated players in the league to like properly rated. A lot of attention, then some injuries, some struggles, post contracts. Cornerback screers go up and down. Maybe got overrated there for a second, and now it's flipped all the way around. Coming off a really good season, Jordan top five in tight coverage rate according to next Gen Stats, top five in the fewest amount of snaps with three plus yards of separation. Again this is these are all next Gen numbers, and then top ten in terms of just allowing yards per snaps when it comes to outside corner and you could say, okay, well a lot of these are context dependent. So they got more quick pressure and so he didn't have to cover quite as long and that.

00:27:09
Speaker 2: Helped him out.

00:27:10
Speaker 1: Yeah, It's like, that's sort of my point that cornerbacks are very context dependent. But if you surround him with a worthwhile defense, a real pass rush.

00:27:20
Speaker 2: I love the way he moves. He's just so smooth. It's exactly what I want in a cornerback. I know he's not the biggest playmaker in the world.

00:27:28
Speaker 1: But I just have always really trusted him, and I thought nationally he maybe didn't get the love he deserves because Mike Evans just kind of owned him. And but this happens, you know, it's like you lose your one on ones against Mike Evans. It's an honor that they even trusted him to go one on one with Mike Evans.

00:27:45
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's kind of a badge of honor and like a baptism I think into like the real deal corners who are asked to cover Mike Evans like that, Yeah, this is great. You said the word smooth, Greg, That was exactly the word that came to mind when thinking about aj Terrell, Like, first of all, loved it. They also drafted his brother, so when you play like that, you get rewarded and more of your family comes to play alongside you. But this defense was so much better than people gave it credit credit for for a lot of the season, and a lot of that was a they had a complimentary Russian coverage plan for the first time in some time, and they got better. They had better players up front who could get that pressure, and then also the corners and the safeties really rose to the moment and to the occasion behind them all and I think all of that worked, like I said, much better synchronicity. Then they got much conversation about or or credit for. But is a strong look at what they're going to carry into another year under Jeff Ulbrick and certainly with aj Terrell, like really coming into his own. He's a player that you really can count on for a long time. As long as you do enough for any corner, you know they can sustain this type of play. It's when you put them more on those true islands in terms of you're making them cover for a long time. That's less sustainable year over year. But they're building around they're good players, and ag Trell certainly one of them.

00:29:10
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I misspoke.

00:29:12
Speaker 1: I'm thinking of different matchups, Like he's done a really good job against Evans to the point where I think he's gotten a lot of attention for it over the years.

00:29:19
Speaker 2: He gave Evans problems.

00:29:20
Speaker 1: So before anyone comes at me in the mentions and before I make it there, edit that out.

00:29:25
Speaker 2: I'm just kinda correct.

00:29:25
Speaker 3: I'm pretty sure I saw a highlight reel, but.

00:29:28
Speaker 1: You get it, correct me. But it's tough it's tough in the moment. I yeah, please, you got the Panthers your team.

00:29:36
Speaker 3: Yes, Mike Jackson is my pick here. The temptation was, you know, whenever I talk about most underrated guys on that roster, I always want to go toward the Ironman players, Taylor Moten, JJ Janssen, like those types of guys. But at the same time, Mike Jackson went.

00:29:51
Speaker 2: I mean, JJ Jansen's gotten the co host NFL Daily.

00:29:54
Speaker 3: He's like in their front office now.

00:29:55
Speaker 1: I feel like he's properly rated. Who gets more pop as a long.

00:29:59
Speaker 3: Snapper at the most pop of any long time as he should.

00:30:02
Speaker 2: Because he's like the longest tenured Panther and all this stuff.

00:30:05
Speaker 1: But the Panthers fans love him, so Jason, You're properly rated.

00:30:09
Speaker 2: Right at the top, I'm not saying rated.

00:30:13
Speaker 3: Yeah, in all seriousness, Uh, the first player and the absolute must pick. And I thought about Jayalen Coker too, but you know, Mike Jackson is the pick here. The corner recent edition for them was at an absolute dream for them. He had one of the best years of any corner last season snap for snap. Do not let the overall defensive stats fool you. He's outstanding in coverage. He had feign receptions in nine past breakups. The thing about Mike Jackson is that he had to cover, for freaking ever all the time on the perimeter, and he had to play opposite of j. C. Horn, who was playing incredibly at incredibly high level last season. So of course Mike Jackson is now drawing the short straw of Okay, teams are going to try to target me and test me, and man was at a coup for the Panthers to have him playing at this level on the other side of J. C. Horn. Basically, teams decided very quickly that the right plan against Carolina is, yes, you can run the ball against them, and yes, you can target their linebackers and their safeties in the middle of the field and up the seams. And that's what teams did. Teams that came out with dumb game plans, like in the playoff game against the Los Angeles Rams, where they tried to target the corners on the perimeter, found out very quickly that this was not the right thing to do. They underrated Mike Jackson, they underrated the caliber that these corners were playing at. When the Panthers could not rush the passer the way that they just really struggled with it last season. To have corners and especially a number two corner that can cover like that, that can disrupt the ball like that, that basically has to fund funnels and offense basically into the constricted middle area of the field, that is an absolute huge benefit for a team. And I lastly with Mike jack and he was a team building catalyst for them. The caliber of his play, along with J. C. Horns, basically set up a step one, step two for the Panthers to do in the postseason and free agency in the draft there were It made it so obvious for this team about where they had to fix the rest of their defense, and that was upfront and in the very middle. And they did that. And so it's like when you have a player who lifts the ability of a defense like that and can funnel everything inward, that is when you're like, Okay, you know, listen to what the tape is telling you, go about fixing these things and hope you can get strong play without putting as much stress as these corners faced last year. Mike Jackson was a great example of.

00:32:42
Speaker 1: That career year for him iron Man almost twelve hundred yards or snaps rather in back to back seasons. I mean, he's been underrated by a lot of teams. He was drafted yes on Day three by the Cowboys. He was briefly with the Patriots during the COVID season, and then Pete Carroll found him in Seattle and did a really good job with him, and he played a lot for the Seahawks but kind of lost like his starting job there and then was lost in the transition to McDonald's. So a really good win for this this Panthers front office. And he's only twenty nine years old, so still in his prime. They kind of need him to back that season up and it is the hardest position, I think to stay at the very top level.

00:33:20
Speaker 2: So that'll be a challenge for him this year. I'm going to the Bucks.

00:33:23
Speaker 1: I thought about, you know, Kate Otten, but we've talked a lot about him and gadeki Is I think nationally still underrated. But yah Yad Diabi, even though he's known by a lot of Bucks fans, certainly don't underrate him.

00:33:34
Speaker 2: And I don't think he had like the huge leap.

00:33:37
Speaker 1: Last year that maybe some fans were hoping for but Man hit just very consistent pressure numbers the last two seasons, Like he is rock solid, incredible run stopping numbers.

00:33:51
Speaker 2: He plays a lot, and he just has a lot of power.

00:33:54
Speaker 1: It sets up his inside move too, because you know the tackles, they just are kind of like gearing back to like get ready for him to just just truck them and then he can make a move inside.

00:34:07
Speaker 2: And not every edge needs to be a one edge.

00:34:10
Speaker 1: I think he fits in a bigger rush plan and when he gets QB hits a lot of times Jordan, it's just those ones where he just keeps pushing the tackle back and back and back, and then he just reaches over and just grabs him. This sounds a little mean, but I think of that Panthers game and he kind of sent yash Nyman into retirement because there was that Panthers game in like Week sixteen, and he just killed Nyman over and over. It was like it was like ten pressures. And then the run stop tape is just teach tape stuff. He just sheds. He when he hits guys, he destroys him. And I love That's my kind of edge. And so, yeah, you didn't have a great edge opposite him. I think that hurt him a little bit, and the injuries inside hurt him a little bit. But just a rock solid player that I think is gonna get a really nice second contract from them.

00:35:02
Speaker 3: Yeah, well you mentioned it at the very top of your comments, Greg. Some of the best things about like picking underrated players is very often they do thrive as a part of a plan. And I like the way the Bucks have built and continue to build out their defensive line and their pass rush plan, and the way that they complement traits and skill sets. They don't worry so much about maybe where the crowd is going on opinion of certain traits like arm length. For example, They've got like two of the shortest arms players at their positions in history in Elijah Cansey and Ruben Bain in complement of each other. They just don't really care because they understand that each other's traits overall are going to lift the overall production of that line. And they like physical, explosive, like mean as hell on the field football players. I wish that you could get sacascists or assigned sacasists. I don't want to be mean to linemen because linemen are already facing an uphill battle in terms of people not knowing like what the position is supposed to look like. And then also just like the criticism that they get, so would not want to sign like put a more burden on them. But at the same time, like sack assists to me, should should be a thing, or those types of pressures where you are physically moving somebody into the quarterback. I'm just saying, I think it'd be a fun stat to add.

00:36:18
Speaker 2: Yeah, and we need more stats.

00:36:21
Speaker 1: I feel like for the lineman, so you know, they get paid plenty, they can they can deal with it. There was a play in that Panthers game that he just trucks Bryce Young and you can almost see this soul leave his body. It was it looks exactly like when you watch like those nineties football movies like Necessary Roughness or something where.

00:36:39
Speaker 2: They overdo how like brutal.

00:36:42
Speaker 1: A quarterback gets hit, and that's what the Abbi does to Bryce Young, and then Bryce Young just gets right up and like makes a good throw the next play. It's pretty incredible bye by Bryce Young. But that's one of the the AABBI would be high on the list of players you would you would not want to get tackled by all Right, you got the Saints next?

00:36:59
Speaker 3: Yes, So the Saints one was kind of tough because I feel like a lot of players on their team right now are pretty underrated. I initially was going to go with Julian Blackman, but I didn't quite like my argument with myself about that. I just think a lot of people have forgotten that Julian Blackman's on this team. He was injured last year, and I think he's going a factor in really, really impactfully in Brandon's Daly's system. He wants to play with three safeties. He wants to play that sort of like mismatch, especially even on rundowns. He wants to play with a little bit of that mismatch. But I asked around, sent some texts to some people in the building, and came back with someone that the team is extremely high on, despite the fact that they've added to their receiver's room this year, Devon Vley. And I think he, you know, obviously had some issues with his shoulder last year, but when he was healthy and I win checked this because I was like, this is crazy. When I'm watching him play and I'm like, man, every time he's actually targeted he's making something happen. Only thirty nine targets last season, but he's up there in EPA per target among the better receivers in the NFL, including Terry McLaurin, DeVante Smith. He's tied in EPA per target with Jackson Smith and Jig But obviously the volume is a huge context element here thirty nine targets versus a metric s load that Jackson Smith and jigba had. But we're talking underrated players, and I think the potential is absolutely there. Like I said, he's somebody who when I kind of put some feelers out around the building, they're super high on there. And even though they've added Jordan Tyson to the mix with this receivers group.

00:38:36
Speaker 1: If they made us that, you know, like outrageous catch per catch, Bailey would be high from his twenty twenty five tape because Schuck would just throw it up there for him and he would.

00:38:48
Speaker 3: Get melee down there somewhere.

00:38:49
Speaker 1: Yeah, destroyed on some of those throws over the middle. And that's the concern is the Broncos trade him in part because because of the injury concerns, but he would really fill out that room man that it's a boomer bust receiver group. They could be awesome or they could you know, have some injury concerns.

00:39:06
Speaker 2: But I like that pick, all right. I went with the RAM.

00:39:09
Speaker 1: I got the Rams next, and I mentioned Byron Young the fact that he was second among edges in like hits per snap. But I didn't go with him in the end because I reached out to JB. Long specifically. I know you're the Rams, you know, but we hear we got you on the show regularly. And when I've learned that JB. Long had poon Afford as the defensive player of the Year for the Rams and he's not writing this thing in a vacuum last year, there are people in that building that are going to be co signing a JB. Long calling poona Ford the defensive player of the year. I had to go to it on DVOA. They go from twenty first to fifth, and really the main difference was just poon Afford in terms of run defense. And then you know, I know, pffs not not always like I think different positions they grade differently. But when you look at who was ahead of him in grading overall, he's fourth overall, and it's behind like Cameron Hayward and basically the best defensive tackles in the league. And one of the reasons is last year for the Rams, like he had the most pressures he's ever had in his career, he had the most run stops by a decent amount. If they had just not blown the Week sixteen game Jordan against the Seahawks that I think changed both franchises. I think one of the main reasons they would have and should have won that game was he just buried Jalen Sundel, the center of the Seahawks, all game long, in run stops in some short yarded situations, and then in terms of his pass pressure too, just beating him quickly, holding up against double teams. Just he does rare stuff and you know he's bounced around a little bit, and it's crazy. The best two years of his career. He wasn't always this good Jordan. The best two years of his career are the last two years. And you've seen this sometimes with those tackles in their career that they develop a later I going way back to like a Ted Washington type, like he was playing his best ball late twenties into his thirties, and I think that's what Puna Ford's doing, and so they paid him a lot of money, and yet I think it was a bargain And somehow he's still underrated because we just had those five or six years where he was thought of more as a journeyman and kind of a rotational player, and now he's like one of the best players on one of the best defenses.

00:41:23
Speaker 2: In the league.

00:41:24
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, he's underrated to the point where literally nobody during those those matchups is talking about the fact that it's a poona Ford revenge game too, right, you know, Like, and he's probably one of the best players on the field on either side of the ball in especially that later matchup. The interesting thing about this is I like this pick a lot because I think their pass rush underperformed relative to expectation last year. I think their defense overall, especially in the secondary, and they went about, you know, obviously they saw this issue too. Underperformed, maybe not relative to expectation. I don't know that anyone had like exceedingly high expectations for that secondary last year going into the season, but underperformed where they absolutely reversed the narrative and reversed the tone of what their defensive line was especially against the run where teams were just running all over them. Even when they had that really great those great twenty three and twenty four seasons, was Pooniford was shoring up the middle of the field. When they have a great interior, you know, it helps them like pay everybody else less usually in their model linebackers, safeties, those types of guys that didn't happen this year. They obviously paid Landman and Quentin Lake, but poona Ford is absolutely the priority. Here was the priority and free agency for Sean McVay, who again we didn't we don't talk about it very much. Could we talk about the DeVante Adams orcruit, but were very very heavy and just in terms of really really badly wanted, Pooniford number was with one of their top priorities in that free agency, and he's made them better. He's reversed the course on one of their biggest positional weaknesses and turn it into a strength.

00:43:04
Speaker 1: And you know they had to be extra excited how upset it made that Chargers.

00:43:09
Speaker 3: Building because you know, oh, that would absolutely like one that one hurt.

00:43:15
Speaker 1: That's a thing for thirty one years old this season. So I misspoke there, but he'll be thirty one. They have him under contract very reasonable, team friendly for the next two years. And like I said, it's it's a body type and a position that's tended to age well, and he really is playing his best ball and I think helps everyone eat as as you mentioned, all right, you got your hometown Cardinals.

00:43:40
Speaker 2: She doesn't wear it on.

00:43:41
Speaker 1: Her you know, sleeve that she's from Arizona, but she grew up watching those Kurt Warner teams and got to have a little bit of the love deep within for the Cardinals.

00:43:51
Speaker 3: Still very brief times with the Kurt Warner teams, a lot longer of a time, you know, with like the Levi Brown and the bleacher seats at sun Devil Stadium, those kinds of things just not been a great run there. I am going with another sleeper pick and one that I know you're gonna make fun of me for, because I certainly gravitate toward players, you know, picking underrated players at this position. But I'm gonna go with tight end Elijah Higgins here, and he is somebody who not only is super under the radar nationally, he's under the radar on their own damn team, Like he is the number two tight end. He is behind the superstar that is Trey McBride. What I think gets extremely lost, and certainly did in part because of injuries to their third tight end, tip Ryman last year, is that they have a sneaky great tight end room. It's Trey McBride obviously as the one one of the best tight ends and if not the best right now in football, Elijah Higgins as the two, and Tip Ryman, who's really more the blocker like full back guy in these formations. But Elijah Higgins has been really working on developing his positional skills as pass catcher as well. He was a receiver converted to tight end. Now gonna use him a lot more in the passing game, and he flashed a lot of that potential, especially late last season. Against Atlanta in Week sixteen, seven catches for ninety one yards. That's where you really started to see, Oh, okay, you know it's a loss and the season is doomed, but this is a guy who's maybe got something. I can see Mike Lafleur going there and looking at what he can do in the passing game and being like, why the hell has this guy not been used more? I need to use him more. I need to deploy him more, similar to the way that Michael Floor helped develop some of those twelve and thirteen personnel sets in Los Angeles with Sean McVay, and I could absolutely see Elijah Higgins taking a step forward. I just think his skill set is extremely underrated and come a long way since he came into the league a couple of years ago. And I wanted to say Mike Wilson, but you cannot say he's underrated because last year he went over a thousand yards. So this is why, this is why I come back to Elijah.

00:45:56
Speaker 1: Oh Higgins is a great choice and people him around the league. And when you looked at all those tight ends getting taken earlier than expected, like Marlon Klein for the Texans and various tight ends in this draft in the second and third round, what they're looking for is Elijah Higgins, and they're taking second and third round picks. They're hoping those second and third round picks are going to develop into Elijah Higgins.

00:46:19
Speaker 2: So that to me is a strong case for his value.

00:46:22
Speaker 1: I'm wrapping up my underrated picks with Colton mckivitz, who's the tackle for the forty nine ers who they gave a big contract but not that big before last season, and I was like, huh, really, Colton mckibbitts three years, forty five million dollars and then he went and had the best season of his career, and I wanted to shout him out because a great story of a guy who got cut in his second season like he was on the practice squad. Any team could have had him back in twenty twenty one. And it's really a testament to his hard work and to the forty nine ers patience.

00:46:55
Speaker 2: And development, and they are really good.

00:46:58
Speaker 1: It's part of their secret sauce that they take quote unquote assets that maybe the rest of the league don't value, have patience with them.

00:47:08
Speaker 2: And he was really good last year.

00:47:10
Speaker 1: He's really gotten into a weapon in the running game, and that's like a six year development arc to get to that point. He was a twenty four year old rookie, so it was it was like a long climb, but they saw they knew him well and now I think that's one of the positions they feel best about on their entire teams. That's a rare, ascending in his prime player at a really important position for them.

00:47:34
Speaker 3: Yeah, he's a difference maker. The thing that I like about what they do is they really know that they're on by excuse me, they're on like bought time here with a lot of their roster, Like they're so top heavy right that you just never know when the clock is finally going to run out, and it probably will all at once in sequence on a lot of these guys that are the same sort of age age group with each other, So you need to be able to develop over the long term, guys like Colton mckivitz. And he's a great example of when that strategy actually works out the way that it's intended to. And certainly credit to him too, because every off season, and certainly in these practice squads, there are options to potentially go elsewhere. A team obviously has to sign you the active roster, but every off season there's opportunities to maybe switch things up. But he stayed the course as well, and it worked out for him because he got that contract and he's a difference maker for them.

00:48:28
Speaker 1: Yeah, it wasn't a starter until he was twenty seven years old year four, but had late Bloomer literally hasn't missed the start since and he'll be turning thirty this year. All Right, your final pick is for the Seattle Seahawks, who've been quite good at turning out underrated players last few years.

00:48:44
Speaker 3: I know, it was so hard. This was so hard for me to pick because they're a team with like really really really incredibly extraordinarily talented people at every position, and yet somehow the entire roster minus a couple of guys, still feels like really really underrated because and I don't know what it is, but it's just they're so talented almost everywhere you look. But then you think, hm, are people really talking about that guy a lot? And oftentimes the answer is no. I mean, even last year at the quarterback position, everybody was so down on Sam Darnold, and he, you know, he showed why he should be raided, right.

00:49:19
Speaker 1: I mean, if you're just judging how you're rated on airtime, you know, space on NFL Daily, he's right at the top of the list. I mean, who got more who got more coverage than slinging Sammy?

00:49:31
Speaker 3: Do you know? It's really not the metric I'm going off of.

00:49:34
Speaker 1: But I think it's the most important metric in the world. All Right, give us your pick, give us your pick.

00:49:38
Speaker 3: I went with you know again, I go to my comfort zone, Greg, I went with the tight end and I went with Aj Barner here. And I think he became almost like a walking touchdown machine when he was targeted, especially in the in the red area, especially like inside the thirty yard line, and was there number two receiver in catches and their number three receiver in yards last season. Use him all over the formation. He changes or moves gaps, like when we talked earlier about like escort motions or sifting those types of things. I like to picture it as like you have a suitcase with you you're a tight end or similar player if you're an F player receiver, you have a suitcase with you, and that suitcase is your gap or is a gap, and you pick up the suitcase and you run it alongside the other to the other side of the formation or to the middle of formation. So you are picking up your gap, taking it with you, and then changing it so it changes the math on the defense. And so that's what he does. He does that, and they use him on screens, which is super creative, and he has the ability to do that. He's just reliable and I think when I was thinking about underrated, I think about how we're talking so much about the development and evolution of this of this position, the tight end position overall, but we're still not talking about like the layers of this position and the guys who are truly underrated. It at one of the positions that's become one of the most important in an offense in the NFL, and that's a J. Barnar. He's the pit of me of that to me, and I think he's going to continue to ascend.

00:51:03
Speaker 1: Yeah, when I said they everyone's kind of looking for their Elijah Higgins, they're really looking for their AJ Barner, like six six six when he can be a devastating blocker. Everyone wants that guy, maybe even if he's a better version of Kate at and who the Buck's signed by, because he just gives you flexibility.

00:51:20
Speaker 2: If you have a J. Barner, you can do everything. You can do it all.

00:51:23
Speaker 1: There's there's actually not that many guys like that. They've always existed, like a Heath Miller type, but there's not that many of them. And you're right, I think we just did top ten tight ends, Like Barner's got to be on that list. I'd have to write him down, but he's got to be on that list.

00:51:36
Speaker 3: Well when I'm getting ahead of it, because we haven't done it yet, and so now I'm ahead of the of the conversation.

00:51:41
Speaker 1: Well, I might do rooms, but I'm thinking, like individually, I have to write it down. But I think at this point he's in that mix top ten shows of this offseason so far, maybe NFC's most underrated players.

00:51:52
Speaker 3: Who's the You're you're really in rankings mode, Greg, You're like in your bag right now.

00:51:56
Speaker 1: That is that is the time of year. And with that in mind, NFL Daily thirty two. So that's our series. We're gonna be ranking all sorts of various position groups, positions, coaches last week and this week because the schedule release they staked out Thursday. That's gonna be the last show of the week. We're gonna do offensive Lines. It's gonna get nitty gritty, not offensive line men, but offensive lines.

00:52:22
Speaker 2: And that's coming up on Wednesday show. Let's hit that music. Great job, Jordan, thank you.

00:52:27
Speaker 1: Who needs to come in and see see the sad face of Chris Babona As I mentioned the ram Seahawks game from Week sixty and he was getting excited hearing me talk POONA. So that'll be me and Ali on Wednesday. Jordan will be back with me and Patrick Claybah on Thursday, but offensive line Wednesday, we'll see that