10 Most Interesting QBs with Ben Solak

00:00:04
Speaker 1: Welcome to NFL Daily, where we don't need a stink in island to talk about quarterbacks. I'm Greg rosenthalm here in the Chris Wesleyan podcast studio and talking to my friend Ben Solack of ESPN from across the country.

00:00:19
Speaker 2: Can I call you a friend, Ben.

00:00:20
Speaker 1: We've just done a couple of podcasts together that might be preventive.

00:00:24
Speaker 3: And we've we've regularly been at the same events and then not been able to attend to the same like social gatherings like Oh, I've got a poly gotta do this, so you got to go somewhere TV and do that.

00:00:32
Speaker 4: So, yeah, friend, that's a stretch. Looking forward.

00:00:35
Speaker 3: I think I've shook your hand once. I hope it will make a second time with them soon. It's a stretch.

00:00:39
Speaker 1: I felt self conscious about it the second I said it, But Ben was the guy I thought of here and shout out to our listener Eric Jensen, who gets a co producer credit here, saying we hadn't been doing enough quarterback stuff lately and thought of Ben. Talk a little quarterbacks before we break for the summer. So we're going to talk about the most interesting quarterbacks of twenty twenty five. But before we do that, just a little bit of news dropped surprisingly on Thursday morning, we got some contract extensions for general manager Jason Light of the Buccaneers and his head coach, Todd Bowles through twenty twenty eight. We had Jason Light on the show earlier this offseason. We've said it when he's not on the show that we think he is one of the best GMS. Was It was drafted very high in our GM Draft US a few weeks ago, so makes a lot of sense that he gets it. It's interesting that Bowles gets it at the same time. Where do you look or where do you see this Bucks team like where they are in their team building, especially where Bulls and Light are at.

00:01:37
Speaker 3: Yeah, I've been very big on the Bucks this offseason, and I think that when you go to make the NFC market for who's going to represent the conference in the Super Bowl, I think you have to put the Eagles at the top, and then I think the Bucks des are to be in that next tier. I would like Lions, Rams Buccaneers would be doing my next grouping. The Buccaneers defense last year was really rough and they had a ton of injuries in the back seven, and they struggled to generate a pass rush. If you go when you look at the history of Todd bowles defenses, it's it's probably going to get better, Like that's one of the worst defenses he's ever fielded. He's a pretty reliably good defensive coach, has the system that's been working for a long time. They invested a ton in that back seven, so I think the defense is going to take a step back to normalcy. And then that offense returned all eleven starters. They resigned Ben Bretison in free agency, they resigned Chris Gobin free agency.

00:02:20
Speaker 4: Everybody's back in a meekig Buka is the cherry on top.

00:02:22
Speaker 3: So long as you trust Josh Grizzard to kind of keep the ship online as I would expect him to in Liam Cohn's departure, that's gonna be a top ten offense again.

00:02:29
Speaker 4: So I'm big on the Bucks.

00:02:31
Speaker 3: I know that there's frustration with Todd Bowles's game management and time out. U says he's not offensive head coach, but I still think is a good head coach in the league. Is a great defensive coach, and yeah, Jason light Proof of the Puddings in the end with that team.

00:02:40
Speaker 4: They're a good group.

00:02:41
Speaker 1: Yeah, he's a great game plan defensive coach, and that's why I'm not too worried about last season for him. I would also caution people of assuming too much based on the extension, like Jason Light's going to be there for a while if for whatever reason they had a really disappointing year. That that ownership group has eaten some coaching contract before. And so it's great for Todd Bowles and his family, great guy that he gets some long term security, but it's still the NFL like that did not help out Rhal Morris back in the day, actually, way back in the John Gruden days, he had just signed like an extension. They have rolled through coaches if they feel like making a change, so they're going to have to keep winning. I'm with you, though, I hate that it's the consensus pick, but it makes too much sense that the Buccaneers to me, are right there at the top of one of the favorites to go to the Super Bowl. All right, let's get to let's get to our quarterbacks. Let's talk most interesting quarterbacks. And I alluded to it at the top. We do a lot of talk about who are the best ten to twelve quarterbacks in the league or the most fascinating who defines a position? That's what we do on Quarterback Island, but we haven't done that in the offseason. I didn't want to do a rankings. I just wanted to kind of take a step back, maybe Ben, and kind of look at where these quarterbacks are in the big picture of their careers, like where they are at their development. Who is the most interesting guys going into twenty twenty five. So this isn't a ranking, but we'll just go back and forth and you can get us going who you find interesting.

00:04:05
Speaker 3: Yeah, I would be remiss to come on a Greg rosen Told podcast and not start with Gino Smith.

00:04:09
Speaker 4: Okay, yeah, I think Gino is as a really really.

00:04:13
Speaker 3: Interesting quarterback for twenty twenty five because Gino got the starting job in twenty two there in Seattle, started for three years, and pretty much everybody like, okay, everybody agreed, this is a lot better than we thought it was gonna be. Who knew Gino Smith had this in them. But there's still a pretty decent divide between those who are like, this is a good starting quarterback in the NFL.

00:04:29
Speaker 4: This guy's clearly got it.

00:04:30
Speaker 3: He can be like you know, the past or the captain of a top offense, or no, he's just won another big pile of like decent starters. You're you know all the Sam Donald move is not like a downgrade. He's maybe you win with him. Sometimes he's got some problems whatever. I feel like there's still a solid disparity between the believers and the doubters, even in the Gino Smiths assension.

00:04:49
Speaker 2: Where are you?

00:04:51
Speaker 3: I believer and like, I'm firmly there last season if you look at true dropbacks, we're talking not play action, not screens, and not garbage. Gino is eighth and success rate thirteenth, ePaper play third, and on target rate first and explosive pass rate. Gino Smith is heavy metal. He grips in, rips it. He is a very fun pocket passer to watch. We saw him for those three years in Seattle behind a struggling offensive line with carousel of offensive coordinators, without a reliable running game. Right by success rate, his three run offenses were twenty fifth, seventeenth, and thirty first over the last three years. Distanced to go on third down thirtieth, twenty first, and twenty fifth. Yeah, playing behind the sticks right on offense line that did not pass protect well, and he have a lot of true dropbacks, a lot of third and lungs. Now he's going to Las Vegas, where I'm not sure the pass protection is better, but the environment is totally new. Right, It's not okay shots at DK Metcalf anymore. Now it's usdry Kobe Meyers, your brock Bauers, your underneath stuff. It's a Chip Kelly offense. The running game might be a lot better. The drafting of Ashton gent like the Raiders are just a very unique nucleus, a system in general, a unique solar system in general. And then dropping Gino in there, I think we're going to learn a ton about the truth of Gino Smith Eve and I believe even that he's that legitimate guy or maybe you know, we'll continue to see the high interception issues, that some of the sack problems, some of the inviting pressure issues, and we'll realize what the ceiling is on the guy. So I think we're gonna learn a ton about Geno on twenty five.

00:06:10
Speaker 1: I agree he was high on my list, but I just want to replay, like everything you just said contextually about Gino Smith every once in a while on this podcast when anyone comes at me, Yeah, I got about Gena that that was absolutely beautiful because the situation for Seattle we've talked about and you did a good job doing it. This is a different spot though, and Chip Kelly, he's fascinating as well. Gino Smith is going to turn thirty five years old this year, and so the way that he's changed his career around, like he is going to be a touchstone for talented quarterbacks who didn't get off to a fast start for whatever reason or maybe didn't even play that much in their twenties forever. And that's great, but can you have a fourth act? Essentially, his first act is the Jets. His second act is floating around and being a backup to all.

00:06:57
Speaker 2: These great quarterbacks.

00:06:58
Speaker 1: His third act people can disagree about how great it was, but you know, I think he's been underrated still because of the situation around him.

00:07:05
Speaker 2: And as you say, he's heavy metal. Great way to put it.

00:07:08
Speaker 1: That number three in on target rate really stands out to me because that's the thing. To me, he can make high level throws and be on target and does the hardest thing.

00:07:17
Speaker 2: So well.

00:07:18
Speaker 1: Now that said, like, it is another level to go do it on another team, totally different situation. I know he's had a different offensive coordinator in Seattle a couple different times, so he's had to learn new systems, but it is different to lead a totally different organization and it's a weird build as you mentioned, kind of gent and Bowers leading the way in Kelly.

00:07:36
Speaker 2: But I'm excited.

00:07:37
Speaker 1: I don't know if I'm not going to change my mind no matter how much this goes, how well this goes, you know, in terms of how he did in Seattle based on how he does in Las Vegas. But yeah, if he's money in a totally different situation, that elevates his career to an even different level. Like we really haven't seen many careers quite like him. He's like a poor man's rich Gannon or something like that.

00:07:58
Speaker 3: Yeah, I do think and like to step away from the offield stuff and to remind ourselves that Pete Carroll was the guy who had faith in him. Gino has a very strong relationship with Pete, and you go back and you watch especially this twenty twenty four season, it's pretty clear that like Gino and DK are frustrated each other for a long time, and like no one was able to really reconcile that, like they were just bad body language.

00:08:17
Speaker 4: Sessbach.

00:08:17
Speaker 3: The second half of the season, I think Gino's player can even take a step forward independent of like oh who's he throwing to avins line situation, just with like I'm back with Pete. This is the guy who believing me. This is the guy who first got me up out of that pit, and now we can we can elevate another level. So I've got I'm very high on the Raiders. If you if you see the team most likely to jump from like you know, picking top ten to contending for a playoff spot, Las Vegas is like top of my list.

00:08:39
Speaker 4: I think they're going to be a jit.

00:08:40
Speaker 1: I feel that, and then I look at the depth chart, especially on defense, and I do worry that I'm just.

00:08:45
Speaker 4: Watching a lot of snaps.

00:08:46
Speaker 1: I'm counting so much on just like the magic Pete Carroll like sprinkle all over the roster.

00:08:52
Speaker 2: But it could work, all right. I'm going to go with c J. Stroud.

00:08:54
Speaker 1: I'm not putting this in any order for eat one, but sometimes I'll see the numbers this off season and I've seen a couple of the quarterback rankings where you look at just the stats from last year, whether it's success ray or EPA per play, and you see like CJ. Stroud's like in the mid twenties, and You're like, WHOA, Because I just didn't feel as different about CJ. Stroud as a player last year as the numbers indicated. If anything, the first six or seven weeks, I thought he was fantastic in a very difficult situation, and then the roof caved in on him and he started to play a little more like a young quarterback. But one of the things that I believe in watching quarterbacks over the years is if you can show a high level of play at some point, especially as early as CJ. Stroud did in terms of the neck up and in terms of the accuracy, that level is there, and I'm not worried about him at all. So he's got to do it. It's a different system. I know on paper, the offensive line looks like a mess, so it's not like everything is perfect. Tank Dell is not going to be around. He's going to have to work in a couple of rookies, but he is such a fun player to watch. Not totally dissimilar to it to a Gino Smith in the way that he can move inside the pocket and that he's just inaccurate and as you would say, again heavy metal down the field like just a talented thrower. But you want to see it happen. Year three c J. Stroud in the new offense. I'm excited to see what he looks like.

00:10:19
Speaker 3: Yeah, when you go and you look at Stroud's twenty three into twenty four, it reminds me a lot of the discussion we had about Mahomes twenty twenty into twenty one, when defenses first really started changing how they played against the guy and there was a growing process both from a coaching perspective and from a quarterback play down perspective.

00:10:34
Speaker 4: And how do I deal with this?

00:10:36
Speaker 3: I have my numbers from I wrote about it in week twelve, so I don't know what these season exact numbers were. But he went from seeing in his rookie season about thirty five percent cover three down to about twenty six percent. His cover two rate, he saw it doubled from ten percent to twenty percent. He was just seeing too high at a dramatically higher rate. And it's because those twenty three Texans Bobby Slovak and know it's a condensed personnel run the football twenty one twelve personnel run run, run, run, run, And then even with the addition of Joe Mixon into twenty four, defenses were like, Okay, we're more scared of CJ. We're more scared of Nico Columns, We're more scared of the top coming off this defense. We're going to make you be more physical with us underneath. And that's where that offensive line really really failed them. And so Stroud spoke a lot about this. You heard him talk about it in the off season, before the season and then during the season about how I've had a pretty dramatically change how i play because I'm just not getting the coverage just so I was able to enjoy in your one. And so the expectation for Nick Cayley, who I think is probably the most important new offense. It's either Hahm or Josh Grizzer there with Campa Bay, but the most important new offensive coordinator higher. The emphasis is just if you can get the easy buttons back, if you can get the strain back in the box, you can get a little bit more single eye coverage and let Shroud and Nico do what they do well. This can rebound immediately. The office line might be a limited factor, but you can get back to those coverages you want to see, get back to that heavy zone base personnel and then just grip it and rip it against play action. And so I saw have a ton of faith in Shroud. The individual player question marks, offensive coordinator, offensive line are kind of get to dictate how much we can get back to at that rookie season level.

00:12:01
Speaker 1: Yeah, the the ability to ultimately handle pressure and move around in the pocket while going through your reads. It's just such a hard skill to learn. I don't think you lose it. I think get into bad habits when the offensive line is totally falling apart and you're not getting enough answers from your coordinator.

00:12:20
Speaker 2: And so to me that he's got that, he's got the tough.

00:12:23
Speaker 1: Stuff, and I'm really excited and I'm rooting for him since my son, for whatever reason, lives and dies by c J.

00:12:31
Speaker 2: Stroud. All right, give me another interesting quarterback, Ben.

00:12:34
Speaker 3: Let's stay with that twenty three class. I think, like Bryce Young is is absolutely fascinating. We've seen a lot of quarterback recoveries over the last two years. We've seen the Baker Mayfield moments and the Geno Smith moments. You know you're for Sam Donald moment that's happening now. But if we can get this faster recovery from like an historically bad rookie season into then a functional year two season and then year three, he's like cemented as the starter. He is a legit quarterback in the NFL. That's a huge, huge, which turnaround a massive feather in Dave Canalis's cap. I have my suspicions. I think a lot of what you saw Bryce Young be successful with last season was making really high leverage connections down the field on important downs. From Week five ons is after he was benched, he was thirty first in on target rate, fourth and completion percentage over expectation. So that's telling you we're not delivering the number of accurate passes we'd like to see the boy. When they are accurate, we're able to come down with them even in get tested situations, even further down the field. And of course, the Panthers wide receiver corps was not renowned for being like a great unit. But if you go put the film on and see what Jalen Kocher's doing for him down the field, and Jadavid Sanders is doing after the catch, Adam Field's doing through contact. They were getting away with right, you know, pressured throws and one on one shots and able to live on that. That's typically not super sustainable, and especially doesn't feel sustainable when we have a smaller quarterback back there, because the hits that he's taking and the moonshots that he's connecting on are just a lot more frail. You think about the late career Russell Wilson, where it's like, all right, I don't know if we can continue to catch these checks the way that we do. When we were younger, Russell moved a lot better, He escaped a lot more danger, He survived a lot more contact than Bryce Joonks really ever gonna do with Bryce Junk is that thinner guy. And so the production last season was hugely important because it gave young confidence, It gave the Panthers a blueprint, It gave Dave Canal something he could roll back on the draft Ted ROALDT. McMillan, which is a clear sign that they want to continue living on some of these vertical downfield balls. But it is it's a thin needle to thread, it really really is. And so I'm cautiously optimistic, but still have my doubts about Bryce hung and your three and so again an interesting quarterback who were to learn a lot more about it.

00:14:39
Speaker 2: I feel like you're a skeptic deep down.

00:14:41
Speaker 4: Yes.

00:14:42
Speaker 3: I mean, like I wrote after the benching in week two that this is chocked, like was, there's just no way because you go back and watch week one, Week two, dude, I mean, it's not just bad, it's dreadful, right.

00:14:53
Speaker 2: Gotta give it, you gotta give it some time.

00:14:54
Speaker 1: But he is different than almost any quarterback development that I can think of, because my thing going into last year with him was can he just be Alex Smith? And I've seen enough rookie quarterbacks look completely abysmal that had good careers. It's not that often, but Alex Smith is one of them. Eli Manning is another one, Jared Gofs another. Those are three of the worst rookie seasons of all time. They're as bad or worse as Bryce, including how Bryce looked in those first couple of games, and they bounced back. The difference is Bryce's size. I know, Alex Smith wasn't huge, but he's much bigger than Bryce Young. Are you at all concerned, like looking inside, I don't. I've never you know, I'm not sure how big you are, Ben, but I'm a very dominiative man. That it's almost like a self hating thing that you can't imagine a guy like Bryce Young being that successful at the NFL level.

00:15:48
Speaker 4: It absolutely, it's a big part of it. Right.

00:15:50
Speaker 3: If Bryce Young succeeded the NFL level means I could have succeeded and I quit too early.

00:15:54
Speaker 4: That's obviously that the big difference. Faker.

00:15:56
Speaker 3: Bryce does have a few interests and a few pounds on me, unfortunately. But I think that you bring up the Alex Smith, you bring up the I Man, and you bring up the Jared Goff, the path back is clear. But I also the reason why, like again stylistically, what he did in twenty four is important I'm moving into twenty five is like, you know, man cannot live on bread alone, You cannot live on downfield shots alone. You can't do it if you could. Jamis Winston woun to be making forty five million dollars. It's just they're too volatile, right, it's you hit on them and you put up thirty points, you miss on two, all of a sudden, you're down by twenty.

00:16:26
Speaker 4: You've thrown a couple of interceptions.

00:16:27
Speaker 3: Like we just know that in NFL passing offenses you have to have a quick game component and Young last year they survived without a quick game for like an extended period of time. It is hugely to Dave Canalis's credit that they were able to get that done. It just we know that's not sustainable. It's one of like the truth to NFL football. What are they able to do in year three with a more confident Brice Young, with a bit of a retool wide receiver room, with another year off season to work on this, and a much more confident Bryce Young. If we're ever going to get that keystone plug back into this offense, I think it can happen this year because the stars are are aligning.

00:17:01
Speaker 4: I gotta see it. I gotta see before I believe it.

00:17:03
Speaker 1: They have Hunter Renfro too, the big Hunter Renfro rejuvenation. I mean, he did have this crazy illness that makes me think if he's actually over that, that he can contribute. But he's no lock to even make that team. I do love that you point out the profile because I don't think that many people watched a ton of Bryce Young last season. And the thing that got me so excited, but I think also is making you cautious is like he was among the league leaders PFF does big time throws that tracked with what I saw, I mean, and that's it's one of the reasons I love Gino Smith too. Like Bryce Young was hitting a lot of small window throws down the field, like beautiful throws. So you saw the arm talent, you saw a little bit more of the escapability. But I think he's gonna need to lean on that more and be confident and being able to throw on the move and everything. But yeah, can you do that year after year? He did a lot of the hard stuff, which which is exciting. All Right, I'm gonna I'm gonna go with a guy that, on one hand, like isn't interesting in terms of like if I was in a room with him, like he'd be low on my rankings of who I would just want to hang out with, I think for for like an hour, But is interesting of where he's at in his career, and that's Trevor Lawrence, I really do.

00:18:14
Speaker 4: My guess was Golf isn't sure.

00:18:16
Speaker 3: I wasn't sure which very polite but generally unexciting white man.

00:18:19
Speaker 1: We were going with that Herbert would be another one, just because I've heard, you know, Mina did that profile on him, and I think it helped us learn a lot about Justin Herbert. But I don't think he's effusive in you know, talking, and yeah, I don't know Trevor Lawrence. I don't even find him like a fascinating player when he's on the field. But to me, he's a fascinating discussion and I think just adding Travis Hunter to this team makes him more fascinating. And having the combination of Travis Hunder and Brian Thomas Junior while you're leaning into Hunter as a receiver on the same team. Look, all of Lawrence's career, I've been a little underwhelmed, and not just because he came into the league with so much hype, but that he's just never been consistent. And that's what I want, like someone that is a completely consistent thrower of the football in terms of his accuracy, even his best moments of his career, and I think maybe the best moment is that second half come back against the Chargers. Yeah, well, the first half of that game he throws four interceptions, And to me, that's kind of typical of his career if you remember last season, like the first couple of weeks were rough and then he bounces back for a little bit and it's just not there on a week to week basis for me. And we have our friends in the business. I'm not sure exactly where you are on this scale, but our friend Nate Tice, who's coming up on a big episode for us later this month, you know, he's still got Trevor Lawrence in his top ten of where he thinks he's going to be in twenty twenty five. And I can't get there, but smart people can. And so to me, this is a season where he's got another great chance and he's got some great weapons around him.

00:19:54
Speaker 4: Yeah.

00:19:54
Speaker 3: So I think, like I continue to have cautious faith and optimism in Trevor and probably above the publican census on Trevor.

00:20:01
Speaker 4: I'm not where Nate is.

00:20:03
Speaker 3: Right if you gave me Trevor or Gino over the last three seasons, like to me that I'm probably taking Gino Smith for the next couple relative to Trevor, which feels crazy. Lawrence, I'm pretty confident in saying that this offense are about to see with Liam Cohen, with Travis Hunter, with Brian Thomas Jr. Is about the best that he's had available around him, right. I think that we cannot discount just how much of a false start out of the gate the Urban Meyer year was.

00:20:27
Speaker 4: From a development.

00:20:28
Speaker 3: Perspective, from a leadership perspective, for your locker room confident I can do this at the NFL level, and then the Doug Peterson years, which, like you know, Doug doesn't have the bad name that that Urban did. But from a like you know, execution on field perspective, there was a lot that was left to be desired there. So there should be hopefully a floor raising, buttoning up experience now with Liam Cohen, with a NFL offense a little bit more cutting edge. With Lawrence, it will be learning how to let the offense work for him. Though, Like if Brian Thomas Junior is this guy, which like I think by this time next year we'll be talking about Brian Helmus Junior is like, Okay, where is he in the top five of all NFL receivers right now, Like I think he's like that caliber of dude. If Travis Hunter is that guy, highest drafted receiver, if he's playing receiver since Calvin Johnson, then let the guys work for you, right. It doesn't always need to be a three second drop back. It can be a two second drop back. It doesn't always need to be the deep boast. It can be the drag on third and six and he's going to pick up the yardage for you. Lawrence has, in part because of his upbringing, part of who he's been with in Jacksonville, and then in part because of his play style, has not been willing to let other players be the elevators and kind of be the guys who lift things up. And that's where you get some of these third down sacks, these third down interceptions, right, these scrambles inus side of the pocket. Then with these big hits and these injuries. So he's gonna have to learn how to reduce himself a little bit. If it is true that the pieces around have have improved, and accordingly it's a much healthier offensive ecosystem.

00:21:46
Speaker 1: Those are all really good points, and I think the issue I might have with Lawrence is that I'm going a little off in tangibles in my doubt, which is not necessarily fair that you're.

00:21:58
Speaker 3: Like, that's force illustrated piece that was like this guy might like other things.

00:22:03
Speaker 4: Can we do it?

00:22:04
Speaker 2: Okay?

00:22:04
Speaker 1: So it's a tricky thing to talk about because I hate it and I hate those sort of those sort of reports when it doesn't feel fair. But since he's been in the league, I have heard whispers about that from people that have been around that team and would have more of a place to have knowledge about it. And because you do wonder, like what is stopping this guy and all the quarterbacks at the top of the game, Like it's almost understood that that they're absolutely maniacal in their preparation and in their intelligence on field, and that sometimes takes a while to get there. I don't think Ben Roethlisberger, for instance, I always point him out was that guy early in his career, and he became that guy. And so maybe Trevor Lawrence is just a little younger and a little further behind the developmental track. But when I think about maybe what's gotten in the way for him just a little bit, I think, well, maybe maybe his off field, whether whether it's preparation or just learning the game enough, and that takes being in the NFL. Maybe that's just what's you know, prevented him from getting ten percent fifteen percent better and being the guy.

00:23:16
Speaker 2: So we'll see.

00:23:17
Speaker 3: It's it's a very good point because again I go back and I think to that Urban year, and I think about how Lawrence came in as you know, the Golden Boy, the prince that was promised ordained. He gets a coach in Urban who's not an NFL guy, so it's not going to like walk him in and say like, actually, this is how we do things in the NFL. Is the standard, Like Urban's just gonna kind of, you know, run as Urban runs it. And then that Jaguars team was never really one for impactful, long term, tenured offensive stars, right, so they had the left tackle who'd been there for ten years. It's not like they had the wide receiver who's been doing it at a high level for five years. And even now, right we're talking about Thomas Junior and Travis Hunter, who are younger players than Lawrence. So Lawrence hasn't really like Christian Kirk is the most I'm a vet, I do this right at the NFL level march to the beat of my drum, guy that I feel like he's had, like there was like an actually impactful back.

00:24:03
Speaker 4: I mean they had had Morse last season.

00:24:04
Speaker 1: Even his backup quarterbacks, like having mac Jones with him or fighting against Garter Minshew who was the quarterback.

00:24:10
Speaker 3: I hear you and that, yeah, you know, I'm your Your comment is making me think about the fact that, yeah, like he I wonder who if you sat Laurence down and said, who have you been your three biggest mentors in the NFL space right now, he would say yes, I feel like he would struggle against to three maybe a little bit.

00:24:24
Speaker 2: It's like, yeah, Cam Robinson and.

00:24:27
Speaker 3: Evan Ingram, I don't know if these are the guys that we want to be, you know, following the path that they beat.

00:24:33
Speaker 1: Right, let's take a quick break and we'll come back with a few more interesting quarterbacks.

00:24:51
Speaker 2: Back on NFL Daily.

00:24:52
Speaker 1: And yeah, if I'm going to give some pop to our super listener Eric Jensen for helping to suggest this episode, I might as well mentioned h he hosts the end Zone podcast. Give him a little free plug. I was on it like a month ago, So shout out to him. He's a big fan of years Ben and I am as well. And I want to hear who your next most interesting quarterback is?

00:25:13
Speaker 4: Would you lie? So we just did Lawrence.

00:25:14
Speaker 3: Would you like an ex first overall pick as Lawrence was or was like a member of the twenty twenty one NFL draft class as Lawrence was, helish choice.

00:25:22
Speaker 2: Let's go number one overall pick?

00:25:26
Speaker 3: All right, love hanging fruit. But Caleb is very interesting this year, Caleb Williams with the Bears. Because Caleb came out, I would say, with equivalent, if not superior, number one overall hype to that which Trevor Lawrence himself had when he was coming out, like this is the guy whatever. And then Williams had the very unfortunate luck of being in the same class as and selected one pick before a historically good rookie quarterback in Jane and Daniels. And so the urgency feels very high on Calebly your two what's it going to look like?

00:25:54
Speaker 2: Right?

00:25:54
Speaker 3: The addition of Ben Johnson, Oh, this is the offensive mastermind. We were trying to get him out of Detroit for three off seats. Since he finally takes job with the Chicago Bears, kayleb. Williams ratchets up the urgency there. They spent a top ten pick on Colston Lovelin passcatching tight end. They spent another pick on a wide receiver, Luther Burden. This a year after they spent a top ten pick on a wide receiver.

00:26:11
Speaker 4: He's got the tools right. The urgency levers up.

00:26:15
Speaker 3: I think people over indexed how bad williams rookie season was because Jaden daniels rookie.

00:26:22
Speaker 4: Season was so good.

00:26:23
Speaker 3: If you look at quarterbacks last year, like Caleb was unquestionably not great thirty third and success rate thirty fee pay per dropback thirty ninth and off target rate thirty eighth and sack rate among the kind of forty quarterbacks, but had enough dropbacks. If you look at first round rookies, he was just like a lot more average than those numbers twenty fifty, paper drop back twenty ninth and success rate. The sack rate was still really high forty third out of forty six quarterbacks, but for a rookie, he had a predict like acceptably average, a little bit below average season with a lot of ups, a lot of downs. You go and you look at a team that had three different offensive play callers that fired their head coach in the middle of the season, and you go, okay, like this should be recoverable, this should be fine. The sack rays thing that really stands out, that's heavily, heavily play style. He has to be the one to decide to take your sacks, throw the ball away and or get rid of it quicker. But I feel like Caleb's rookie season was not as poor and as worrisome as some people would have you believe. And then I do think that the addition of Ben Johnson and Colson Loveland and Luther Burden and DJ More being there roll Madoonsey there obviously the whole change on the interior offensive line. I do think there's a very nice high ceiling, though the entire deck around him has been shuffled, and the deck was really bad last time around. So I think a big year two leap is not an unreasonable thing to expect from Caleb Williams. At any time a rookie is bad, we kind of always think it's going to be a year two leap, and that's usually just kind of like a little bit jumping in or guessing in the dark stabbing in the dark this time. I really do think there's there's enough anecdotal evidence. I think, yeah, the production is going to get a lot better, a lot quicker. I'm interested to see you.

00:27:45
Speaker 1: I totally agree that he was better last season than he got credit for. It was a fine rookie season. The fact that he had as much hype as he did and was the number one overall pick. I still saw enough to hold on to the situation and the just inability to get rid of the ball even when you know he was protected well was a problem. And I think good coaching and he's falling into that this year will really help him out. But I'm with you, Like to me, he still had more box office moments than I think people really recognized. Like it was kind of awesome, like some of the things he did, especially early in the season. So I'm excited to see him this year as well.

00:28:23
Speaker 3: I was supposed to be five and two with a game winning drive against Jaden Daniels in Washington, and then Tyre Stevenson started talking to a kim Anders fan and the entire Bear season legitimately fell off the tracks. So yeah, like it was a lot closer to a lot more. Okay, that wasn't as good as we thought it was gonna be, but that was fine than people realize.

00:28:40
Speaker 1: Yeah, and his strengths, Like he was too cautious, but he really did like very Aaron Rodgers like just like it was absolutely loath to like put a ball in Harm's way. And that's a positive thing out out of a young quarterback when you can mix it with some of the arm talent that he has. Speaking of which maybe this is the twenty twenty one guy you were gonna say, I guess I'll go Herbo. It's time, it's funny. Okay, oh, a good call. Always a huge Herbo fan. And last year was maybe it was because of the playoff game. I think it was the first year that he almost got not too much credit because I think he had a good year. But I wouldn't say I was underwhelmed, but I don't think it went over par for what I was hoping for for first year out of Harbaugh. And I know the efficiency numbers were really good and they really backed up the attempt. Speaking of Caleb Williams, like I think that's going to be part of his success this year, is is you just back up Yeah, you're gonna lean more on the running game, and that's gonna be it. But the playoff game was was tough, and there was a lot of play action, not that that's like a bad thing, and there were a lot of big time throws. But I do think the second year of Jim Harbaugh that a lot of I'm not going to say excuse making that that Herbo Nation has been doing myself included over the last five years, but some of the context that we've added, I do think a lot of that will be out the window this year. I mostly feel good about the offensive line. I wish they did a little more on the interior, but I trust in the coaching staff and for the most part, I think the roster's in good shape. Like the weapons aren't amazing, but I think the continuity and what they've added, like that's enough to feel a little bit better about what's around him. And I just think they need to dial the lever up on counting on him even more so. To me, it's a big year where he came into the league, those first two seasons, especially like you just expected his career arc to be a little different, and we've seen career arcs like this too. Like I do think it's time for him to ramp it up and kind of be in that conversation as one of the five, one of the three, whatever it is, best quarterbacks and league. I think he could do it, but I think it's an interesting year for him to go make that happen.

00:30:53
Speaker 3: Yeah, so they were I think that they what they want to be identity wise on offense is a little bit more important to them than it is to the average team. And that's because Greg Roman and Jim Harbar are pretty this is the way we're going to go about things. Heavier personnel, we're going to be play action, We're going to be very run heavy. And if you go and you look back at their season last year, they were extremely run heavy for the first like four or five weeks of the season, right, super high run rat of expectation, and like they were getting the big JK Dobbins runs, but from a snap to snap perspective, it wasn't working well and they kind of realized, all right, we need to ratch up the pass a little bit more, and then they did that. They started dropping back a little bit more and then JK got hurt in the middle of the year and it's now it's Gus Edwards and they've got Hassan Haskins, the Kamani Vidal and it's like, not, you know, Gus isn't running as well as he was. Okay, we have to pass it a little bit more. I think they had to get away from their identity in a way that like they knew their interio, offensive line and their running back room is not yet ready to kind of be what they want to be as a team. So with McKai beckon in the building, with a Marion Hampton in the building, I think you're going to see them go and slide back to being like one of the run heaviest teams in football. And for Herbert, it's going to be right, a lot of play action, a lot of shot And if Trey Harris is what they drafted him to be, and you salve ladm Conky to be your like kind of base down, quick game underne separator, your third and five guy, the vision is a lot more clear to me. Such I think they'll just be generally a lot more offensive success. However, the two baskets with the most eggs are first round rookie running back of Marion Hampton and second round rookie wide receiver Trey Harris. So we are putting a lot of hope in that these rookies can fill the roles we're expecting them to fill. And so I'm always hesitant around the offensive, innovation, creativity, and problem solving of a Greg Roman offense. I've seen it enough times with enough really good quarterbacks with Lamar Jackson and Baltimore that I know that they kind of march. They get their formula and then they stick to it even when they start needed to color outside lines a little bit. And so I'm really hoping that the pieces that they added allowed them to be in that formula.

00:32:44
Speaker 4: So I think this office could be.

00:32:45
Speaker 3: Really good if they if they hit, if the if that formula is successful, if they're not getting what they want out of Hampton, if they're not getting the field stretching out of Trey Harris, I think you're to see them just kind of banging their head up against the wall again this year.

00:32:55
Speaker 1: Yeah, and the interior line like they bring in Mackay Beckton, we'll see like well, especially in past protection. But the combination of Makai Beckton, maybe Zion Johnson is playing center as a salvation.

00:33:06
Speaker 2: Maybe not.

00:33:06
Speaker 1: Maybe it's Bradley Bosen, Maybe it's Andre James, like that, those three starting on the interior, I don't feel amazing. Maybe it's Jamari Sawyer is there too, Like I don't feel amazing about all that. And part of what I wanted to get to for me, most interesting is is just the way the way that Herbert made me feel so lack as a rookie. We're here in the Chris Westling podcast studio and like me and Wes just talking about just the jaw dropping plays Herbot was dropping as a rookie. You know, he led the league an interception rate last year, just like you know, didn't make any mistakes basically all regular season, and then kind of collapsed in the playoff game. I just want to see a little more that that's not Herbo's nature totally, but just a little more playmaking, a little more. Let's take some chances, devil, make care count on all that natural gifts that he has, and I hope he's confident enough to do that and just make me feel about Herbal like I used to.

00:34:03
Speaker 3: Yeah, that playoff game is so tricky because man, was it bad. And I do think that the worst draw for the Chargers is the Texans, because I think that Rashaun Slater and Joe all can pretty much win you to a neutral or better against thirty one of the thirty two pass rush duos in the NFL. And I think the thirty second is Way Anderson and Daniel Hunter, who just are so freaking fast, right, and then they have the ability to press up on Lad McConkey, to bother him right, to fluster him with press coverage, which is the thing that a player that side is going to struggle with. And all of a sudden, like everything the Chargers wanted to do in the passing game just wasn't there. Herbert's used to having time and being safe off the edges and just wasn't and it imploded. And so I don't know, I think that maybe maybe the biggest note for the Charger in twenty twenty five is of void Houston at all costs. It's a bad matchup versus how that offense is built for how Houston's defense is built. Houston goes wins that game, they get Baltimore Devigo has it been Lamar Jackson in like three years?

00:34:57
Speaker 4: Right?

00:34:57
Speaker 5: Like that?

00:34:58
Speaker 3: That's their bad matchup. But that's kind of how it goes some times with styles wicking fights.

00:35:01
Speaker 2: That's fair. All right, give me another quarterback you're looking at.

00:35:04
Speaker 3: Yeah, my twenty twenty one guy was justin fields. I will I'll never stop being interested in justin fields.

00:35:10
Speaker 4: And I was ready to just.

00:35:12
Speaker 3: Be like quietly, personally, privately interested in justin field. And then the Jets gave him like a decently sized contract with no quarterback competition.

00:35:19
Speaker 4: I was like, all right, I'm back to being publicly interested in justin fields.

00:35:23
Speaker 3: The Steelers season, in which he started while Russell Wilson at the CAF issue, was illustrative in the sense that they did like more quick game stuff, and he was a little bit better than the drop back than he had been.

00:35:33
Speaker 4: He was getting the ball out a little bit sooner.

00:35:35
Speaker 3: But it was also wildly frustrating because they didn't run him, and the whole premise find justin fields is you gotta run him. He had six carries a game last season Leis. Since his rookie season with the Bears, he only had nine point eight four total scramble epa lowest of his entire career. Thirteen percent is runs when over ten yards lowest of his entire career. They used him as like a short yardage, third and one fourth down guy. They didn't want him breaking the pocket and creating stuff outside of space inherently not how Justin Fields works in theory and how we've seen him work on paper. Right that twenty two season where he rushed for over a thousand yards, Like people forget just how good that season one from a rushing perspective. You have to be willing to just let him create outside of space. And like so much of the success of Jade and Daniels is predicated on the idea that we're going to give this guy design runs and we're going to allow him to scrip twenty five percent scramble rate on third down Jane Daniels had last.

00:36:21
Speaker 4: Year's highest in NFL history.

00:36:23
Speaker 3: Just let him go, right, a quarterback scramble is such a valuable play league wise by EPA perspective. And the Steelers kept the handcuffs on him last season. The Jets go and they gave him all this money, and you're thinking to yourself, all right, Aaron Glenn, they're in Detroit. You go back and you look at those games Fields played against Glenn Stephenson Detroit, and I mean he was averaging like eighty five yards a game, and it's because all that man coverage, because that scrambling ability. So if Glenn knows something and value something in fields, it's going to be the tuck and run. It's going to be the ability to put the ball in his hands and play eleven or eleven football. I think you're going to see that design run rate shoot back up to more of those twenty twenty two Bears levels where he was running nine times a game, ten times game, eleven times a game, and I think that will benefit him offensively. I think Garret Wilson's the best receiver he's played with in his NFL career. I think we're going to see a better looking justin field. I don't know if it's good enough to be a long time starter. I don't know if it's going to have to hold a job. But I think we're seeing a better looking justin fields in twenty twenty five. I'm excited to see it.

00:37:15
Speaker 1: I thought we said we saw one in twenty twenty four until that Raiders game where they won it.

00:37:19
Speaker 3: But they like he like matured, but he's still wasn't being used the right Okay, totally using the right way.

00:37:23
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think I think you're right and this podcast, I feel like we're too high on the Jets at this point, but I've liked what they've done all off season. I think the non Bills teams in the AFC East are all much more equal than they are different, and for whatever reason, people see the Jets as way lower and I think a fields of Sants is going to be part of that. It's not his last chance, but it's probably his best chance to at least establish himself as a guy that could be starting in Week one. Pretty often, I do want to get through a few more, so we'll go quick here.

00:37:57
Speaker 2: I kind of miss Dak Prescott. It just seems so weirdly.

00:38:02
Speaker 1: I feel like we haven't talked about that much this offseason. It just seems like so long ago. He was second in MVP, like he was literally in the twenty twenty three season he was second in MVP and that playoff game didn't go well. And last season I think people just think of it as this injury season, but man, it was a funky season. He did start half the season, He played eight games, and it just never was right, and so seeing him in this offense with George Pickens added to the mix, without Mike McCarthy in the mix, this sort of hybrid where I think it's going to be mostly Brian Schottenheimer and I'm not sure how much Clayton Adams, so they brought in from Arizona in theory for the run game is really going to have a voice.

00:38:44
Speaker 2: We'll find out.

00:38:46
Speaker 1: But I do miss him, and he is still young enough that you know, at thirty three, like it feels like he's on the back nine. It's like Tom Brady, not that he's going to be Tom Brady, but you know Tom Brady and even Peyton Manning, they were just warming up or thirty three was like the beginning of some of their very best year.

00:39:03
Speaker 2: So I'm not ruling that out. With Dak Prescott, a guy.

00:39:06
Speaker 1: Who wins from the neck up, and I'm just very interested to see because I do think the range of outcomes is huge. I've always been a Dak guy, but this could go horribly or he could be back in the MVP mix. I really don't know what to expect, and that that's why I find him so interesting.

00:39:21
Speaker 4: Yeah, not to be two.

00:39:23
Speaker 3: You know, the Cowboys drive content, but the league is better when Dak Prescott is good. When the Cowboys offense is better because Dak plays such a cool, cerebral, precise, you know, pocket passing, dice you up style of offense that leads to some really good games against some really good defenses against which other teams and other offenses struggle, right, because he's pretty different stylistically than some of the other quarterbacks on the other top offenses. And so yes, I love a good Dak season. I love a We actually have a wide receiver two question mark in George Pickens for the first time in a while. I don't think you can set your watch to George Pickens, but the theory is there behind having a good wide receiver two. I'm terrified of the running game, but maybe the officive line is so good that it doesn't matter who's receiving the football. So yeah, I'm I'm hoping for and I think we all benefit from good death coming back.

00:40:08
Speaker 4: Its great. It's a very well taken point.

00:40:10
Speaker 3: Twenty twenty three was eighteen months ago where we were like MVP no and nowviously the forgotten man.

00:40:15
Speaker 1: Right, and I was thinking about like He's had such a strange career. He has timed and I'm not saying this was like on purpose by him, but he has timed his contract pushes like amazingly well, like he plays his best right when he needed needed that money, and that like his rookie season, you could have told me anything was gonna happen in his career.

00:40:34
Speaker 2: He got MVP.

00:40:35
Speaker 1: Votes a couple at least he was like buried, but he got p votes in that rookie season. All right, give me another quarterback. Let's say we got one.

00:40:42
Speaker 4: Or two left interested in Bonix for twenty twenty five.

00:40:46
Speaker 2: Yees, well that was my next one.

00:40:47
Speaker 4: Yeah.

00:40:47
Speaker 3: And I've been cast incorrectly by Broncos fans as a Bonux hater.

00:40:52
Speaker 4: That is inaccurate. It has not been the case.

00:40:54
Speaker 1: They cast everyone in that in that bucket unless you just like bow to them.

00:40:58
Speaker 2: What is it with you Broncos fans?

00:41:01
Speaker 3: Very very bellicost, very pugnacious group of fans. Don't know what's in the air there in Colorado. However, I liked Bonix a lot in the draft. Is like a game manager type. I really wouldn't have liked taking him at twelve overall. They took him at twelve overall, they play him in the first month of the season. He's making mistakes thrown in the middle of the field, he's overwhelmed in the pocket, he's not good against pressure, and the arms is a problem for him down the field. And what do they do. They reduce his role in the offense. Right from weeks one through eight to then the back half of the season, he went from thrown behind line of scrimmage twenty five percent of the time to thirty three percent of the time. His aery yard dropped seven point nine to six point six, time to throw drop three point one to two point nine. They said, Hey, a little bit more pointing, a little bit more shooting, and especially like kind of in the zero to ten yard or really the negative five to ten yard area of the field. We're going to kind of minimize how much decision making we want you to have and how many opportunities want do you have to push the ball. That really helped the offense and you saw us as confidence grow. You think about that Bengals game at the end of the season, right there were returns to the intermediate stuff, return of the down stuff that was better than the first time around, because he was just a lot more confident because the offense was a little bit more balanced, and they they had defenses in a bind. If there's going to be a year two jump, it's not going to because they're taking more things off his plate. It's going to because they're putting some stuff back on there. And in year two and you know, full NFL offseason or whatever, it's reasonable to expect that he's more comfortable with that than he was last season.

00:42:19
Speaker 4: So I'm hoping for Bo Nicks being more than the game manager that I thought he would be.

00:42:24
Speaker 3: I thought for last year was a very good proof of concept that hey, he can point and shoot for the Champagne offense. Your tube are going to learn if he can be anything beyond that.

00:42:31
Speaker 1: Yeah, And he was in effective throw down the field. And that's where like the Breeze comparisons don't totally make sense. But winning with Sean Payton in a highly disciplined timing offense where the timing and the accuracy kind of overcome any physical limitations, that is a similarity that I think Nicks has with Breeze. The difference in Knicks's rookie year was just that he he never really got over crumbling under pressure, but he is playing behind one of the better offensive lines in the league and one of the the better coached offensive lines in league. Shout out to Sean Payton, who just he knows how to find not only the right offensive lineman and the right scheme, but like the right offensive line coach. I think it's Zach Streef, like he just brings them in and they're just they're just a great unit. And I think it's the Broncos fans. It's a combination of I feel like the every off season. I think the Bears are very similar. They have like the most positive local coverage and so you just believe it every single season. And it hadn't been going felt well for a while, but last time it actually did go well and it was happening yeah, and so then they can just stick it in all the haters' faces. But I gotta admit like hearing Sean Payton's confidence and everyone in that building's confidence. I don't know if they're just speaking into an existence, but man, they talk about bo Nicks like, all right, we've got our top ten quarterback forever, and just the way Sean Payton in this team has just been leading with their chess out all off season. Does make me like worried about being wrong about them.

00:43:59
Speaker 3: But that's I'm always thing where it's like watch the film, you know, look through the information. You know, Champagne's telling you what he believes about Bonex on a microphone, and then he's telling you what he believes about Bonex in terms of how he's calling plays. And we walked out of of the bye week I want to say it was week ten or something like that, and we're just throwing every single swing screen of Marvin Mims that we can dream up, and that's telling you something about his quarterback. Where his offense is at now, Rgie, Harvey, Pat Bryant. They've added some pieces and again your two Bonex. I think it's reasonable to expect him to get it more on his plate. But Champagne told you what he thought about Bonex and his rookie year. He might have ideas for him year two, year three, but he told you what he thought about him.

00:44:32
Speaker 4: He really did.

00:44:33
Speaker 1: Yeah, in the argument for Knicks certainly is yeah, he came into the league with with like a lot of experience, but he is a quarterback who along with his coach, is going to take all the information that they got from last year and really could be a much more consistent quarterback this season, focusing in on his strength. And there is absolutely a path to him being like a top twelve type of quarterback this year, which is wild and proving us all wrong. And they've already gotten pretty far along that path. All Right, I'm gonna pick one more guy I could. We've talked Penix a lot on this off season, so I'm not going to us.

00:45:07
Speaker 4: Has done JJ or Pennix, So I feel like the conversation.

00:45:11
Speaker 1: I think part of that is just though that I've talked about them a lot, and I thought this would be a good exercise to like talk about some guys we haven't as much on this show, like Joe Burrow, who to me made a major step up. Is another uh option of like the top guys that I find very interesting. Jordan love Is is so box office and so up and down. He's interesting. This is a long way of me, you know, just giving him some honorable mentions before talking about Kyler Murray because I'm I'm just endlessly fascinated about his career and the year two step up in this system didn't really happen. I always think like he doesn't necessarily and I think about him and Trevor Lawrence similarly. He doesn't always necessarily have the natural feel of like what levers to pull and what buttons to like you turn up and in a given game in terms of what he's seen in everything, and so that might always hold him back. And even at the end of last year saying I got to run more. I got he's been dialing back. I got to run more. I don't need to run as much like his whole career, and so that natural feel, I don't know if you can fix that. But it's year three in this offense. It's good weapons around him. I like the coaching staff overall, and I think it's go time. I do think they've had so much faith in him. This is a year for him to really deliver on that faith in a more consistent level. Or I think he's going to be on the trade block next year because he's obviously a good enough NFL quarterback. He is absolutely a talented starting NFL quarterback. But I do think this organization might think after this year, if there's no progress, that like, let's see what we can get for him. I do think he's kind of entering that season.

00:46:50
Speaker 3: And if you were, if you are John Gannon, this would be year three for you. If you are Monty asp for as the year three for you. And you finish end of the season, you're nine to eight, you missed the playoffs. Then you start saying to yourself, do I make a Kyler Murray move so as to keep my seat for the next couple of years? Right, And like, you know, try to know there they Carl's gonna make playoffs this year, right, like for Kyler, for Dan and for Monty. If you want to, like, you know, keep this nucleus in place. You have the top ten pick a wide receiver, Marvin Harrison. You have the top ten pick a tackle, Baris Johnson. Like this is it is how it's supposed to be built. Like let's let's let's get some fruit for our effort here, right, let's reap what we've sown now.

00:47:21
Speaker 4: And so I agree, I think Kyler is good enough.

00:47:25
Speaker 3: But I also do think right stylistically, you play Kyler's way or the highway, and that has been a challenge for the Cardinals to coach around. Has been the challenge for the Cardinals weapons to work with over the course of the last couple of years. You just go watch you some Marvin Harrison back shoulder balls. You just get a sense of Kyler's unwillingness to kind of throw some of these contested balls and his difficulty seeing these routes open up. And it's like, all right, like there is there. It feels like there's a ceiling on a Kyler Murray offense. I would love to see that ceiling broken. It feels like they have the weapons and the offensive mines to do so. But let's say, hey, you got to see it before you believe.

00:47:56
Speaker 1: It, right, He's someone that like if you just dropped them. I guess you could say this about a life quarterbacks, but if you could drop him in Philadelphia or something, so like, I would just love to see that you or or a different offense. But he doesn't have that. And I mentioned that I like the weapons, but that assumes a pretty big jump from Marvin Harrison to really be that like co Number one with Trey McBride, who I kind of see as like the fulcrum of this offense, and then the other guys like Torch and Michael Wilson kind of fall into places as a supplementary. Guys, you're you're a lead guy, Ben Sole, Like, what do you got coming up this offseason? You're I know, during the season, you're writing. You're on weekly on the Meta Coimes Show featuring Lenny Tough that he gets billing above you, but you know he.

00:48:41
Speaker 3: Is as featuring Benny and there was a typo on the on the on the on the graphics. But yeah, I'm not. We're writing during the off seasons per usual. I have the the ultimate NFL draft coming out, I want to say next week, which is the best pick at all picks picks one. Oh yeah, so we got we got the good goof off season content coming out. The training camp stories will start coming out pretty soon. So you know, if you're reading NFL content in July, which you should not be, but.

00:49:06
Speaker 2: If you are, you should be. You should be. I love that sort of stuff.

00:49:11
Speaker 1: And I love when when Ben pops up with his uh his big fishing pictures, because you know, maybe he's not the biggest quarterback around, but he's a real man just catching big old fish right here.

00:49:24
Speaker 4: It's very it's very good. It's it's a nice, solid that gives you a decent amount of shade.

00:49:29
Speaker 2: That is a preposterous prop.

00:49:31
Speaker 1: Everyone check it out on the YouTube show like subscribe and then comment about that fishing hat.

00:49:37
Speaker 2: Thank you Ben, Thank Greg.

00:49:39
Speaker 1: All right, thank you to Ben, and uh, thanks to everyone basically that has been listening over the last year since we dropped this NFL Daily. I'm going to bring in my producer here, Eric Roberts. Uh, you've been working double time over time to deliver the listeners some good content in this dead time. We have the top twenty five players of the last twenty five years. I know you and Gavin and Chris Babona have been doing like double the amount of episodes over the last few weeks.

00:50:13
Speaker 2: So tell me what you think.

00:50:15
Speaker 1: Give me the pitch for top twenty five players of the last twenty five years.

00:50:19
Speaker 5: It's one. I want you to listen to it. It's gonna be six episodes, yeah, you know, four at a time, five at a time, third of time as we work our way to the final you know, crescendo of a year of NFL Daily. Yes, it was a great project, fun stuff to look back on. Chris who has took this project by the horns a younger guy. It was fun to like go back through the NFL aughts with him, Yes, and it was cool to look back. I mean, I'm not trying to give away any.

00:50:46
Speaker 1: Of the players, you know, you know, it's fine, It's fine, you can give away some. So that's going to be starting on Monday. Mina Kimes is our first episode and Steve Weisch is going to be our second. We have Brian Baldinger, we have Nate Bill Barnwall. Kevin Harlan did an episode that was really exciting. So it's like some of my favorite football minds and I love this stuff and I thought it would be a fun way to look back on this century. I've been covering the NFL since two thousand and three, so basically that this whole time and think about the very best of the best and put them in order. And oh, by the way, also give us a little bit of a break. Eric, we're putting this up and I'm as excited about these episodes as any that we've done over the last year.

00:51:35
Speaker 2: So it's not really a break for the listener.

00:51:37
Speaker 1: But we started July ninth, I believe, for NFL Daily, and we've been cranking since you've been keeping track, like how many episodes? Yes, so we've done two hundred and fifty two episodes of NFL Daily in one calendar year. Basically, I know those top twenty fives will kind of extend past the calendar year marks.

00:51:57
Speaker 5: Okay, but everything has been recorded. Two hundred and fifty two episodes, recaps, Sundays, Mondays, Tuesdays, previews. Two hundred and fifty two episodes in one calendar year.

00:52:07
Speaker 2: Not quite daily. I know it's in the title. I know you love the daily part of our all that show title. Well, we got the weekends.

00:52:13
Speaker 5: Yeah, but that's a lot of football in one calendar.

00:52:16
Speaker 2: Yeah, we got the weekends. We weren't counting the weekends.

00:52:18
Speaker 1: And frankly, once the season starts, we're doing about six episodes a week, and we will let you know. We have some really exciting announcements about what we're doing for the twenty twenty five regular season that that's coming. All your favorite people, of course, Patrick Claybahn and Steve Weiss and Jordan Rodrieg and Colleen Wolf and Nick Shook, everyone is going to be back and we're cranking up the content and we will be back doing daily episodes responding on the news of the day starting July twenty first, but we'll have some of these twenty five players in twenty five years episodes in the meantime, and Jordan might pop into the feed too while I am over in Japan. I just wanted to say thanks to you, Eric for doing everything over this last year, and to Chris and Gavin too, assisting of course Randy Schavez, who's no longer working because he moved on to a great job. And more than anything, thanks to the listeners for listening.

00:53:19
Speaker 2: So it's not.

00:53:19
Speaker 1: Goodbye because I'll be in the feed, but it really has meant like everything to me and my family. Everything that happened transitioning from around the NFL to this NFL daily like it was absolutely difficult and exciting and everything, and to get through this one year has been awesome, and I just wanted to thank everyone that's been listening and watching.

00:53:42
Speaker 2: Just all the best. So yeah, we will be.

00:53:45
Speaker 1: Back on Monday. And that's the mean of Kimes episode. Well, we got some controversial picks here. Not sure how Chiefs fans, Ravens fans, how everyone's going to feel about it. So unfortunately, football is not back but NFL daily is always to be back in your feet and see in a few minutes.

00:54:05
Speaker 5: Mm hmm