Camp Takeaways for Every AFC Team and Micah's Trade Request

00:00:04
Speaker 1: Welcome to NFL Daily, where I'm like Michael Parsons, we want to be here. I'm Greg Rosenthal. I'm with my friend Nick Schuk. We will talk MICHAEH.

00:00:13
Speaker 2: Parsons.

00:00:14
Speaker 1: We will give you camp takeaways for all sixteen AFC teams. But before we do that, just a little bit of housekeeping. I wanted to announce, due to popular demand, the show I did with Daniel Jeremiah Forties and free Agents. It's going to be back for a little preseason preview. We're going to go through all the divisions, talk about some of the acquisitions, how the draft picks are going, how the free agents are going, and that will be dropping in your feed on Tuesday. I bring that up now because I'm going to ask a favor for all the listeners out there. Go ahead and subscribe to the show Forties and free Agents. I know we've been posting it in the NFL Daily feed back when we were leading up to the draft, but I want this beautiful baby bird to.

00:00:59
Speaker 2: Fly on it.

00:00:59
Speaker 1: So let's prove it to the bosses, you know, and let's prove we don't need that. Maybe we'll cross post that first one, but we don't need it. So please just do me a favor. I don't ask for too much. Go ahead, subscribe, like give us a review for both shows. And with that, Nick Shook, Love you buddy, How.

00:01:15
Speaker 3: You doing well.

00:01:16
Speaker 4: I'm happy to be here, And you know, I was also happy and fortunate to run into DJ in the elevator in Canton at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium on Thursday. Him and Money they were both, you know, there for the Chargers game obviously. So while you're not going to be as fortunate as I was to shake hands and you know, joke around and chuckle with the both of them, you can come a little bit closer by subscribing to that show.

00:01:37
Speaker 3: So make sure you do it.

00:01:39
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, I mean we got to pay like an extra fee to actually get Jeremiah in the studio with me. But we're working on it for some of these preseason previous shows, which I'm really looking forward to. So let's get to it. And I mentioned Parsons and it's an AFC show. But since we last recorded, that's when the Michael Parsons trade request came in, and oh man, he went full notesapp and if you're watching on YouTube, you'll see just how long and then saying this post was from Michaeh Parsons, But I gotta say, if you went through all of it, it's really worthwhile. What Jerry Jones said before Parsons ever put this out is actually right on that Michaeh Parsons is one of the savviest business people in terms of a player and getting his brand out there and getting his opinion. Please take off all that word salad now from the screen. It's given me a headache, and if you went through it, it really did paint a picture. Nick and I tend to believe everything that Parsons said that Jerry Jones and Parsons got into this conversation that he thought was going to be about leadership in March, and then Jerry Jones thinks he starts negotiating with Parsons, thinks he essentially gets a deal done with Parsons, and when they bring that up to the agent, the agent's like, no, you can't be trying to negotiate with my client without me in the room. And that literally the cowboys haven't sent an actual offer or communicated since and that's back in March. So it's a peak behind the curtain about how a team that it's worth so many billions of dollars operate sometimes like a mom and pop type of organization, like, oh hey, yeah, we don't need the agent involved. Let's just get a great relationship and try to take advantage of that with the actual owner. Meanwhile, Micah is saying, this trade request is through Stephen Jones. We have submitted it, and I think they're just gonna ignore it. But kind of bad job by the Cowboys. I think it makes the Cowboys look bad, which was the idea by Parsons.

00:03:36
Speaker 4: Yeah, and an old school business person would say, well, this is how business is done with discussions like this, But I push back against that, just like Micah did. Micah's a very long notes app post there read like an impromptu press conference with himself because every time he got to a point where somebody might have a a counter or a question, he answered it. He laid it all out there, point by a point, throughout the whole thing. And let me tell you, I use the note sometimes when I'm working on a feature, I just have ideas and I'll type out little chunks of stuff. Nothing has ever looked that long with so few paragraph breaks in my life. Like that break on the notesapp Yeah for being honest, though I'm glad you laid it out there.

00:04:14
Speaker 2: It's bad formatting.

00:04:15
Speaker 5: It is.

00:04:16
Speaker 1: Look, I don't want to even get into the potential trade offers, like what would it cost, you know, multiple first round picks, or or which teams would make sense like we did. We did a you know, potential landing spots on the site and the teams that Eric put at home like throughout there, like the Raiders, the Bears.

00:04:36
Speaker 2: I think the Chargers were in there.

00:04:38
Speaker 1: The Bills don't make as much sense to me because they don't have like, yeah, that all makes sense on paper of like who who would actually be bold enough to do it and who would have the money? But unlike Terry McLaurin, where I actually think it would make sense for other teams to send that offer and that on, the Commanders would have to even just think just a little bit about it if the money is out of control. The Cowboys have shot this thing down so quickly. Jerry Jones could not have been more dismissive when he spoke about it at training camp over the weekend, said, We're in good shape.

00:05:08
Speaker 2: It's negotiating.

00:05:09
Speaker 1: I don't play really place that request with any real seriousness at all. So it's just kind of like, yeah, that's nice, Micah. And meanwhile, Micah Parsons, even though he wasn't as active like with his group at practice, he literally is at training camp still and he was kind of walking around practice, although maybe not as engaged now since he put up that trade request. So as much as Michael Parson says he does not want to be there, it's just hard not to imagine this just ending in a similar way to all the other Cowboys extensions. It's just a pain, and they're wasting a lot of our time.

00:05:43
Speaker 3: They are, and we all get tired of it.

00:05:45
Speaker 4: But when you hear trade requests get submitted by star players, you have to consider two or three things, which is age of the player total like potential earning power over the course of their career, how much they're going to cost, and then effective salary cap space withtential suitors. None of that fits with this. Nobody's gonna pay or have the money to pay Micah Parsons or give up the draft capital to acquire him in a trade. It's just not going to happen. I had a friend Browns fan text me. He's like, you think the Browns would get him. I was like, absolutely not. You're going to dedicate over eighty million a year to two edge rushers. It's just not going to happen. So yeah, I think it's nothing more than like Jerryusaid negotiating. It's unfortunate that it becomes so public and we have to kind of deal with it, but that's the way that this business operates. Miles Garrett did the same thing in February, and look, he got his money, so don't be so paid.

00:06:31
Speaker 3: Michael gets it eventually.

00:06:32
Speaker 1: But the biggest difference there is that was before you know, free agency in the draft, when those picks have a bigger premium. You know who doesn't want to do this trade The Dallas Cowboys who are trying to win in twenty twenty five. You know how much those draft picks are worth in February or March compared to now, like the exact same. So unless you have an offer where you are sending like premiere edge rushing talent back that's going to help the Cowboys now plus picks, there's no way the cow are going to be interested in that because they want to win in twenty twenty five. And unlike the NBA, who's planning out rosters into like twenty twenty nine, twenty twenty eight, NFL doesn't work like that. They think about today, and that's what the Cowboys are going to be doing. And I really believe if if Terry McLaurin has like a four percent chance of getting traded, I'm giving Micah Parsons about a point five. So let's get into the notes, because we got a lot. Let's go around the entire AFC will hit every single team and we're gonna, you know, ping pong divisions. I start with the AFC East And it was interesting to see how James Cooks decided to handle his contract situation after practicing fully took.

00:07:43
Speaker 2: For the first couple of weeks.

00:07:46
Speaker 1: He was out of practice on Sunday, and then kind of went full Marshawn Lynch. Every single question that he took from the media after practice, he just answered with the word business, didn't matter what.

00:08:00
Speaker 2: The question was.

00:08:00
Speaker 1: Are you are you now conducting a holding business? What is it that kept you out of practice on Sunday? Business? Are you going to be practicing on Monday? Business? And it's an interesting move. James Cook kind of shows up, shows that he's healthy, he's ready to go, and then kind of pulls the ripcord in the middle of training camp. But it's a camp where a lot of guys have been on the sidelines for the bills and one where I don't think he's going to get his money because I think they like the depth of that position. And that's one where, even more than Micah Parsons, where the hammer of the franchise tag really does not help running backs in these negotiations.

00:08:41
Speaker 3: No, it doesn't.

00:08:42
Speaker 4: It takes away some of their power to, you know, leverage a new deal. But I think the writing has been on the wall with this situation for months because every time Brandon Beans talked about it, he's said, yes, we would love to have him. He even spoke about this, I think last week. We would love to have him in training camp at this time next year. But it's about piecing your puzzle together and figuring out where everything fits.

00:09:01
Speaker 3: And let's face it, unless you're Saquon Barklay or.

00:09:04
Speaker 4: I mean, I guess even Derrick Henry and I don't know b John Robinson, running backs just don't get paid like they used to. Most of them don't, and I think they look at him as a guy who maybe doesn't carry the three down potential that they would want out of a guy that earns that type of contract.

00:09:17
Speaker 3: He's mentioned that.

00:09:18
Speaker 4: He's working on becoming a better and more reliable pass catcher in this camp, but we saw what they got out of Ti Johnson last year, Like, this is not a player that they're I think, willing to invest top dollar in, even if he has paced their ground game, a ground game that was so bad before they changed offensive coordinators that it was a massive achilles heel to this team for many seasons. And yet I just don't see them investing him long term. And this is probably gonna drag on, even if I think they should pay him because I like who he is as a running back, I don't think he necessarily commands the dollars that he's going to want from them, and we're not going to get a resolution to this.

00:09:51
Speaker 2: I love his style of running. I just just a slasher.

00:09:54
Speaker 1: Look when you get the ball in his hands as a receiver, he is dynamic. I think it's maybe the blocking that's gotten an in his way that the problem is not every team drafts at running back well, but the Bills have Ty Johnson has turned into one of the very best third down backs in the league, and Ray Davis has a ton of juice as a third back like that is one of the very best running back rooms in the league. So that works against James Cook as well. And yeah, I don't think that deal is gonna happen. I mentioned a lot of people are out of practice, So Khalil Shakir, their number one receiver, is week to week, nothing to panic about, but he's gonna miss a lot of camp. Josh Palmer has not been practicing with the team. Curtis Samuel has not been practicing with the team, so it's a bit of a mash unit out there. They did get Elijah Moore back, a lot of highs and lows from Keon Coleman. They had the scrimmage, a lot of teams had kind of the family night scrimmage with the crowds and everything, and Keon Coleman, after a couple early drops, ripped off like two really big plays like down the field thirty five forty yard plays, so they need more of that. One of them was on Christian Benford, so that's that's good to hear, but that's apparently what the key on Coleman experience has been like in training camp, like big ups and big down so they want to have a little more consistency out of him.

00:11:09
Speaker 2: Their first round pick.

00:11:10
Speaker 1: We mentioned it earlier in the week, Maxwell Harriston, he's been updated to week to week out right now. And not a lot of juice just there out of Bill's camp because they don't really have like a lot of people competing for spots.

00:11:24
Speaker 2: That's not the worst spot.

00:11:25
Speaker 1: It's like they're trying to make a story out of Shaq Thompson who's a little banged up, like trying to make the team. Like Spencer Brown, the right tackle's not there either. Not a lot of juice there just because everything's settled and that's fine. That's actually not a bad place to be.

00:11:35
Speaker 2: For an NFL. Yeah.

00:11:36
Speaker 4: I mean when when some of the most juice you get out of camp is Josh Allen showing up to their practice at the stadium wearing a red helmet, I think you know the state of camp for them.

00:11:44
Speaker 3: They're just getting right.

00:11:45
Speaker 2: That's gotta be their December helmet. Everyone was excited about.

00:11:48
Speaker 4: That, the week eighteen helmet or something yeah, Like it's the it's the game in which maybe money of their starters are not playing, but it's a rivalry games, so we're gonna wear it.

00:11:56
Speaker 1: Then the receivers worry me if they were longer to injuries, but all these seem like they're going to be ready by the end of August, So what's really the concern. Let's go to the Jets, where the good news is Justin Fields got back to practice.

00:12:10
Speaker 2: The bad news is.

00:12:11
Speaker 1: He's been spraying it and he's We try not to overrate with the quarterback stats, Nick, but when you just see enough, like with this, Sexer says, I go through the reports throughout the week. Once you see like three or four of these days stacking up where it's.

00:12:27
Speaker 2: Like, oh, Fields was two for ten.

00:12:30
Speaker 1: Oh there was literally a two for ten day, or oh a couple other days where it's like under fifty percent, Like you start getting like a little concern there that not only is Field's not the most consistent passer, but Josh Reynolds is your wide receiver two and so far Tyler Johnson former ram I think it's your number three. Malachi Corley and Lazard are not locks to make this team.

00:12:53
Speaker 2: Apparently.

00:12:54
Speaker 1: I know it's going to be a physical, run first team, and so it's not all about the passing game. But that's that's kind of the good and the bad from Jets camp.

00:13:01
Speaker 4: That's why when I wrote the Terry McLaurin landing spots, I listed the Jets because I think they could definitely use an addition like that at receiver opposite Garrett Wilson. I think you're gonna expect this from Justin Fields, to think we know who he is as a passer, and this is gonna be a team that's probably carried more by its defense than its offense. But yeah, we are at that point of camp where some quarterbacks in different camps are having those days where the beat writers come away and they're just absolutely just not devastated, but they're just so sad, like they just they don't know where the light is. They don't know what to hope for because they've just seen rough play at the position.

00:13:33
Speaker 1: And it might be because look, this is a really talented defense and a defensive minded head coach. They have a fourth round rookie at safety, Milachai Moore.

00:13:42
Speaker 2: These are the types of things they keep an eye on in camp.

00:13:44
Speaker 1: It looks like he's probably gonna start over Tony Adams, so that's good news. Like a rookie that's been showing out. Mason Taylor, their second round draft pick, is reportedly kind of locked in as tight end one. These can't be assumed because we'll get to them. But some of these second round picks for picks, they're not looking good. They're not they're not where the team wanted them to be. So that's nice. And then this was from in Braylen Allen. By the way, he's just he's gonna be tough to keep off the field. It's gonna be one A, one B with with Brisau. But this is from one of the better beat writers in the game, Rich Samini of ESPN. He noted how Nick Folk returning to the team, which is fantastic. Uh, this last week was teammates Nick with Jason Taylor on the twenty ten Jets and now he's teammates with Mason Taylor on the twenty twenty five Jets. He also was teammates Nick Folk once in a camp with the Cowboys with Aaron Glenn. I mean, that's some circle of life stuff. Has that ever happened? The guy literally playing on an NFL roster with a dad and a son. That's that's pretty amazing.

00:14:49
Speaker 4: We should go to the research departments for that. But yeah, I can't think of anything off the top of my head that would. Even frank Or's son didn't quite catch up in the timelines. That doesn't mean But here's the good thing about Nick. I don't know if you remember, but it was a few years back where he was struggling to hit from like inside fifty, like just coming up short. I saw a reporter l this week that he hit a couple from outside fifty. So I was like, all right, that leg's back, let's go.

00:15:11
Speaker 2: Yeah, he's probably gonna win that job.

00:15:13
Speaker 1: There might be an Antoine Winfield junior senior really oh yeah, got on top of each other in the NFL, but you have to last so long. Jason Taylor lasting long helped out that factor.

00:15:26
Speaker 2: That's pretty amazing.

00:15:27
Speaker 1: The other thing that struck me there, I know we're spending a lot of time on the Jets, was they were like tackling to the ground all the time.

00:15:33
Speaker 2: Almost no teams are doing that.

00:15:35
Speaker 1: All the reporters were saying, like Wednesday's practice was the most physical practice by far they've seen in the last five or six years. We'll see how that happened. But they're practicing tackling a lot. You're not even allowed to do it that much, but they're doing it as much as you're allowed. A lot of teams don't do it at all. So just something to watch. Quinn Williams is out for one to two weeks. Olufashnu reportedly like just looking like a future stud and then Sas Gardner was practicing with a two hundred thousand dollars Richard Melly watch on.

00:16:03
Speaker 2: I don't even know how to pronounce that.

00:16:06
Speaker 3: Is sponsor.

00:16:07
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's that's bad research by me. I should have totally gone to YouTube because I'm I'm showing how ignorant I am not a watch guy practicing with a two hundred thousand dollars watch on and said that he was he that Quinnon Williams went over to him. It's like, bro, you could you could kind of damage that watch practicing and he was like, oh yeah, and then he immediately took it off. Why do you need your teammate to tell you that that should be pretty obvious, like.

00:16:31
Speaker 3: Because you're young and rich.

00:16:32
Speaker 2: I mean, but.

00:16:34
Speaker 1: The fact that the second Quinnon Williams said was like, bro, that's not a good idea.

00:16:37
Speaker 2: You could damage it. He's like, oh, that's a good idea. Take it off.

00:16:41
Speaker 1: Patriots a lot of notes on them. Do you think it's good or bad that Jared Wilson, their third round pick, is immediately stamping himself as the starter at left guard? He was a center in college, but it looks like he's going to be a starter right away at left guard. He's looked good bull center and left guard, and I think that's their best matchup. That's that's not the good or bad that I just assume is good.

00:17:05
Speaker 2: Who cares what?

00:17:06
Speaker 3: That's good? They're going with their best five and that vindicates me.

00:17:08
Speaker 2: Is it bad that.

00:17:10
Speaker 1: He's out playing Will Campbell who just keeps getting trashed by calebon chas on and just like giving up a ton of sacks and hasn't necessarily.

00:17:17
Speaker 4: Looked that well, Okay, there's a few ways to look at this, because I always was concerned about Will Campbell's lack of arm length and how he looks and moves more like a guard than a tackle. And yes, of course he gets drafted to play tackle, but it's also a harder position, I think to make the transition to the NFL at because you're on an island as a tackle, so it's going to be more difficult for him. I've also seen like the spin on that is, no matter whether he has a good or bad day, he's consistent in his effort and his focus, which is good because like if you if you have that part figured out, you can get better over time with the right coaching. But yeah, not surprised, but yeah, i'd be a little concerned if I was a Patriots fan. But I wouldn't compare it to Jared Wilson because Jared Wilson's a dog and we've been saying that for months and he's going to be a very good.

00:17:57
Speaker 2: He was a third ue pick. I am excited about higher.

00:18:00
Speaker 1: You're getting younger, you know, you kind of have an idea of what your offensive line is going to be. Assuming Garrett Bradbury's at center, we'll see, Like I just want to hire ceiling for a number four overall pick. And sometimes a rookie really struggling at camp. And I don't think it's been as bad as ikey Akanmu as a rookie, but I remember those reports, and they and Evan Neil's reports their rookie year and it absolutely carried over into the regular season, so sometimes it does matter. Mac Collins returned this week from an injury and immediately was with the starters. And Kaishon Booty has reportedly been great and is kind of locked into having a real role on this team. Kyle Williams, he's a rookie, but he's made enough big plays down the field deep that their top five is kind of locked in. And I think Kendrick Bourne is not going to make this team. I don't think Jalen Polk is necessarily going to make this team. And then Drake May, who reportedly has been really good at camp, was cursed by my friend Tom Curran who asked them about throwing a no hitter in camp, no interceptions at all through the first like eight nine days, and then he showed up to the scrimmage with the whole stadium there, and then through two picks that night.

00:19:10
Speaker 2: So I blame Tom Kerrn for that.

00:19:11
Speaker 3: Yeah, the old broadcaster jinks.

00:19:13
Speaker 4: I'm glad we're getting some clarity on the receiver position because this is something that we've discussed multiple times over the last few weeks just because it's been a battle royale at the position. So it's nice as you get close to your first preseason game that you're starting to get an idea of it. And I think it'll go a long way toward helping Drake May in his second year, get on the same page as a lot of that group.

00:19:29
Speaker 1: I hope Drake May hasn't been too careful too. Like listening to him, it does seem like he's really trying to avoid interceptions, and he said he doesn't want to run as much, and I'm.

00:19:39
Speaker 3: Like, oh, come on.

00:19:41
Speaker 1: So I'm sort of like fast forwarding to year three and then it's like, yeah, well, last year I kind of learned I was being a little too safe, so this year, I gotta let it rip, but I want to run a little more, So let's not go through that process.

00:19:52
Speaker 3: Kyler Murray vibes there, be careful, You're.

00:19:54
Speaker 1: Too talented for that. But supposedly he's looked really good. Then again, he's going against a secondary without Christianunz. He's still been out and Carlton Davis hasn't really practiced at all since joining this team, which we're getting to the point where it's starting to be a little concerning to me. They have a guy DJ James, who was a sixth round pick of the Seahawks last year, who was starting and actually has supposedly looked good, but they're rather thin at cornerback without those two guys. Also, Ramandre Stevenson, one of the worst fumblers in all of football, fumbled during that scrimmage in front of the crowd. So it's just like, come on with Madre. Let's wrap up with the Dolphins the AFC East. Here's a take. I threw this out on Blue Sky. Quinn Ewers might have the most consistently positive camp reports of any rookie quarterback from the twenty twenty five class. Name me another rookie quarterback with more consistently positive reports.

00:20:51
Speaker 2: I don't think you can do it.

00:20:51
Speaker 3: I mean I can't, but the bar is love.

00:20:54
Speaker 1: I mean, we haven't got people kind of like what Jalen Milro is doing lately with the third team. It's getting better in Seattle. I don't know none of that, none of the record so far.

00:21:03
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, I mean, I look, I know what when you was did in college at Texas and everything else. I did not like his combine workout and it'll be burned in my brain forever. So if he's actually figuring out in Miami, good for him.

00:21:16
Speaker 1: But the bar is low right, and I always want a credit where I'm like reading this stuff or hearing this stuff. I saw a little bit of it in the Palm Beach post three yards per carry, who I gave a shout out to, and then they sent a tweet out with my clip. If you do that, you're always going to get mentioned. Absolutely. They just said he's looked really good, that they think they might have found something in Quinn yours and that he had a much better week than Zach Wilson, and uh, that's just what you hope. Can you find could you possibly find a backup quarterback late in day three? That's that's a huge win. Austin Jackson is there starting right tackle. He's going to be out a few weeks, but Mike McDaniel did say on Sunday that they're optimistic he will be ready to start practicing basically after cutdown. That's when they target him to return, so that'll give him about two weeks to get ready.

00:22:03
Speaker 2: So nothing major there.

00:22:05
Speaker 1: Darren Waller, everyone we got all excited, you know about his signing. He hasn't really practiced at all yet, so it's kind of on my radar, Aaron Brewer. Their center really hasn't practiced either. And then it's our weekly update of Tyreek Hill saying things that kind of cracked me.

00:22:20
Speaker 2: Up but also make you say hmmm.

00:22:23
Speaker 1: He said this week Shook that he didn't ever really he didn't really understand the Dolphins offense the last three years, but the new passing game coordinator, Bobby Slowik has explained it to him and now he actually kind of understands it, so it's going to really help him. And he's also never taking notes before, but that they're really they're really up in their ante, the assistant coaches and his wide receivers coach, I forget the name now it's not Wes Welker.

00:22:48
Speaker 2: Now they're taking notes there too. So that's your type.

00:22:51
Speaker 4: So you're telling me that Tyreek Hill is basically who I was until about high school, didn't even study for tests and just would show up in everybody's all nervous, and then you look around, like, what's going on, guys?

00:23:02
Speaker 3: We have a test today? Oh?

00:23:03
Speaker 4: We do? Like what?

00:23:04
Speaker 3: Now he's figured out he needs to study. That's crazy that he's got to this point.

00:23:07
Speaker 1: Like that, and that like he said, he like didn't really understand the concepts of the team, which it's just crazy, but hearing a lot of good things about him and especially Jalen Waddle out there, So I actually, weirdly do have some optimism at least about the passing game. I did want to note Jalen Phillips has been out there practicing and uh yeah, the aforementioned three yards per carry. They've given him their practice player of the Day twice, so he's reportedly looked pretty good. And Bradley Chubb is out there practicing, so that's something we haven't really hit. But the health of those two guys is really important. And I have noticed too Toront Armstead like shows up there and like is giving tips. Is he like gonna come back at mid season?

00:23:48
Speaker 2: Who knows? I don't really know.

00:23:49
Speaker 1: And a lot of Willy gay pop. That was a free agent linebacker. I was wondering who would win their linebacker competition. A lot of Willy gay pop so far for the Dolphins. I said, we might do this show in under an hour. Nick, we are definitely not on pace. So we are going to take a quick break and we're going to come back.

00:24:05
Speaker 2: And we're going to hit the rest of the NFC.

00:24:19
Speaker 1: Back on NFL Daily doing the AFC Notes here on a Sunday evening.

00:24:26
Speaker 2: We'll be back with the.

00:24:27
Speaker 1: NFC Notes in the studio with the great Patrick Claybond and a very important update on the naming of his fan club. I put it to a poll on Instagram and we've got some exciting results. And a reminder everyone go go sign up and subscribe to forties in Free Agents, my podcast with Daniel Jeremiah. We'll be back this week and shooky you're here. We're doing it every Sunday night. Next next week we'll have some preseason games to recap, but for now we're talking your favorite division, the AFC.

00:25:00
Speaker 3: Yes, we are back to the North and where else to start?

00:25:04
Speaker 4: But Baltimore? All right, Look, we talked about kicking competitions. It's over. It's over. John Hoyland has been released. Got cut Saturday. Tyler Loop still cooking. He's unofficially won the job. John Harbaugh has not confirmed that yet. But when you release one guy, I think it's safe to say that you found your kicker. He made all eleven field goal attempts at Sunday's practice in the home digs, then the friendly confines and the not so friendly confines to road teams M and T Bank Stadium, so he did well there. He passed the test with flying colors according to Harbaugh, so good for that. Jaire Alexander continues to look good like he fits into that defense really well. Picked off his old Louisville teammate Lamar twice and Chuck Pagano. By the way, senior secondary coach in Baltimore said, looks like he hasn't taken a day off when referencing that Gyre hasn't played football since November, so that's also very encouraging. One of my favorite stories to track. Lower level story, but could factor in the starting lineup Andrew Vorhees. Remember this is a guy who was going to be like a third round pick when he was coming into the NFL out of USC. He suffers the ACL tear at the combine, ends up going in the seventh round. He is on track to win the center job over Ben Cleveland. He has the lead as of now, according to Harbaugh, which is something It's just it's heartwarming. I like to see somebody like that bounce back from something so devastating at such a pivotal part time in their career. And last but not least as if the Ravens need another running back, they signed Dearanis Johnson, formerly of the browns'll he probably won't crack the final fifty three and me he's battling for a spot with Derrick Henry and Justice Hill and Keaton Mitchell. So probably a bubble practice squad guy.

00:26:39
Speaker 3: But he got signed.

00:26:40
Speaker 4: So that's your latest news in Baltimore.

00:26:43
Speaker 2: I love that.

00:26:44
Speaker 1: That gave me sort of a local radio feel. Speaking of one of the best in the entire country, Glenn Clark, my friend glencarkradio dot com. If you're in Baltimore, you know him. He's the best, he said to me. Mike Green looks the part so far. Their rookie pass rusher who fell in the draft because of the domestic violence accusations and incidents, and that you know, they could really use a pass rusher.

00:27:07
Speaker 2: You mentioned Alexander By the way.

00:27:10
Speaker 1: I hadn't seen the contract that he signed yet, the details hadn't been out there. They only paid their paying him four million dollars. You know how we always do like how he did it again? Oh, how do you let the eagle in the draft? I think we got to start doing that in the off season in August in July for the Ravens because it's always it's DaCosta did it again. He'll sign some veteran or two every year between like June and August. They might have another one coming for very little money, and then they'll just get like eight hundred great snaps at it. So net we got to bring DaCosta did it again, Ozzie did it again back in the day.

00:27:52
Speaker 2: They're always doing it again.

00:27:55
Speaker 4: They must be selling their culture and their history of being competitive, because I don't know how else they convinced these guys to take so little money to complete for them. But it usually works unless your name is Deontae Johnson, who they got in trade and couldn't keep, you know, convinced to get on the field.

00:28:07
Speaker 3: All right, let's keep it in the AFC North.

00:28:09
Speaker 4: We'll go to well, the most depressing story in the division this season, which is the Browns. The quarterback competition, while interesting, has been a bit of a dud. None of the guys have really played all that well, Joe Flacco has gained a lot of ground. It seems like he's the favorite to win the job at this point, especially with Kenny Pickett out. Pickett is participating in like limited fashion. He's not you know, he said he's working twenty four to seven to get back, but he acknowledged that he's losing, you know, ground in this race. And I think it's fairly safe at this point to think Flaco is going to be the week one starter. Schador sat out on Saturday because of arm soreness. Was caused everybody in attendance and in the greater Northeast Ohio area to panic as if the Browns were sabotaging his attempt to win the job, which is hilarious in itself. And then at the same time, it was Flacco and Dylan Gabriel, You're only two guys available to participate in full team drills. Dylan Gabriel has a up really really rough practices over the weekend, so much the Kevin Stefanski had to like answer about it afterward. He just struggled to complete passes consistently. I saw a little compilation. It was just like there's a miss, there's a miss. Oh that was a nice throw. There's a miss. So it doesn't look good. But what does look good for the Browns wide receiver Gauge Larvadane. Yeah, name five times you're going yep, Yeah, he had a strong Saturday session. He's had a nice little run of a few practices here and he looks like he could make this final fifty three man roster. And on the bad side, of course, they lost m Jammerson to an achilles tear earlier in the week, so that's gonna hurt their strength of the team, which is their secondary.

00:29:37
Speaker 1: I hate to be a bummer because you want every team to have hope. This team obviously came into the year with some of the worst vibes I think in the NFL. And if you just look at real takeaways from the last month, there aren't many teams that have lost like multiple players for the season. You know, Jordan Hicks is not coming back retired. Martin Emerson was a starting cornerback, probably your second best one maybe was gonna get a long term deal. It is not coming back. That's it's it's just depressing. And then you have this quarterback battle where Gabriel per Zach Jackson, who covers them for The Athletic. On his podcast, he said like he'th had been at the point where he kind of feels sorry for Dylan Gabriel. There just no confidence, Like beyond awful was the word he used, Like not anywhere close where Shudur is clearly more talented and just better. And it's weird because they're like giving Gabriel reps ahead of Sanders because he was taken ahead of him.

00:30:43
Speaker 2: It's just like why.

00:30:45
Speaker 1: And then it's in a week where Jimmy Hasim, the owner, said literally out loud that we have to play our rookies this year, like we have to play our rookie Quarterbacksuse you don't have to. I mean, if he shows that he can't play, then he can't, he can't play. I don't think it shocks that many people that he's going to take some time.

00:31:03
Speaker 4: Yeah, and you swung and missed at that point, which Jimmy Haslam already used that phrase to describe to Sean Watson. I'm glad you brought up Zach though, because I think that if you listen to his podcast, the tone of his voice, he's usually a reserved and very you know, observant individual, somebody that I've known for a long time who I value very much. But the tone of his voice in his podcast kind of says it all. Like he even said it. The Browns are in a bad place. It's not going to get better overnight for them.

00:31:27
Speaker 3: So take it.

00:31:28
Speaker 4: Take a moment to listen at Zach Jackson and Friends. He does a great job of recapping.

00:31:32
Speaker 1: Can I give you some positives at least I did, you know, ask our friend Andrew too, and Andrew Siciliano, and he did point out like Chwessender and Mason Graham are having really good camps. And if you are a Browns fan looking for some hope and something to be excited about this season, if he can get this rookie class to be good between those two guys and Dylan Sampson's going to have a roll up running back and Harold Fannin as reportedly made some noise at tight end, like obviously the on office needs it and they could really use Shuder, you know, showing up and the shoulder not being an issue and playing eventually like that rookie class is one reason to be excited. One last one, by the way I did want to mention Mary Kay Cabot legend got the award at the Hall of Fame this week for service for her writing career. And while she was you know, talking about how her career started out tough, that Bill Belichick was a tough coach to deal with at first. He would always give her, you know, a lot of grief. She had the one liner of the weekend and that was, well, it makes sense now because I was twenty eight years old at the time and Bill just couldn't relate to a woman that old.

00:32:48
Speaker 2: Fantastic.

00:32:49
Speaker 3: It's great zing nailed it.

00:32:51
Speaker 1: Sure she didn't expect it to become like national news and pick up by the New York Post.

00:32:55
Speaker 2: But good job by Mary Kay Cabbot. He's been doing a great job for a long time.

00:32:58
Speaker 3: Yeah, fantastic love Mary Kay.

00:33:01
Speaker 4: Another fantastic member of that beat and a veteran of it which, let me tell you what it's it chews you up and spits yeut based on how this team has struggled over the last few decades. But she's always been there and doing a great job. Let's go down to the other corner of Ohio Cincinnati, home of the Bengals, where They've added tight end Noah fans, which felt like perfect, Like this is a team that picks up tight ends that bounce around. You know that this is a team that goes after a Mike Gasicki or now a Noah fan, and they get him on a one year deal worth up the four point twenty five million, so affordable as well and another weapon for Joe Burrow to work with. The big story though for this team, really encouraging out of camp this past week has been their defense. Al Golden has taken over as defensive coordinator and his impact is starting to show. They've been remarkably competitive and they've talked a lot of trash. Burrow even commented off on it after one of the sessions late in the week. He said, the young dbi's are really stepping up and making things tough. Both sides are going to make the plays, but the energy for coaluity knowledge of coverages has been top level and that's exciting and that's huge for them because if their defense can come back to a competitive level, this team's ceiling goes up dramatically, So it's very encouraging to hear.

00:34:10
Speaker 3: Now.

00:34:11
Speaker 4: Obviously, defense is usually ahead offenses at this portion in camp. But good things here, Like it's gotten to the point where the beat there is like, wait, is this defense actually good?

00:34:19
Speaker 3: So that's good to hear right now.

00:34:22
Speaker 4: Offensively, Amarius Men's dealing with a minor hand issue and has been replaced by Devin Cochran at right tackle during this portion. And the feeling the most worry about this entire team has been their offensive line. They lack experience, they lack proven reliability. It's going to be the big question mark for them. So keep an eye on that because you know, you got to protect Jo Brow if he's going to take advantage of all that talent a receiver.

00:34:44
Speaker 3: So we'll keep watching that.

00:34:46
Speaker 1: Like I like hearing that the young dbs are playing with some fire and talking trast with Jamar Chase and all this stuff. Josh Newton has really been with the starters and DJ Turner with the backups, but reportedly he had a good day. But I do kind of just think of the flip side that if the defensive line is dominating, and on paper, without Trey Hendrickson, it's not that good of a defensive line. Although you love to hear Shamar Stewart kind of showing up right away and making a big impact. Maybe that's just the offensive line is bad and on paper to me, it's bad other than Mims, who's you know, exciting.

00:35:19
Speaker 2: Orlando Brown is going to be fine at left ackle. He's a little overpaid, but he's fine.

00:35:23
Speaker 1: But it does make you worry they're very thin up front and could we be back to the same old Bengals issues with the line. I don't get that vibe that Joe Burrow is that worried about it.

00:35:32
Speaker 2: Though.

00:35:33
Speaker 1: Here's just a very quick snippet for you, surprising you with this one shook of him on NFL Network with our Tom Pelsero.

00:35:40
Speaker 2: For myself, I expectially close to perfect, you know. I think I'm at that level at this point. I understand the offense. We've been together for a long time.

00:35:50
Speaker 1: How good does it feel to be able to say I expect to be close to perfect at this point.

00:35:55
Speaker 2: I'm at that level, you know.

00:35:57
Speaker 3: I mean, it's good.

00:35:58
Speaker 4: That is the confidence fitting a man who dyed his hair bleached blonde and set off a trend last summer.

00:36:05
Speaker 2: It's just a confident guy.

00:36:06
Speaker 1: It's what you want to I mean, that's that he expects perfection, that he's at that level and yeah, I love that.

00:36:12
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, I agree.

00:36:13
Speaker 2: All right.

00:36:14
Speaker 4: Last team in the AFC North is, of course, the Pittsburgh Steelers where they practice in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, Sat Vincent College. James Pierre, defensive back who's fighting for a roster spot, may have an opening to earn a place there, and it's a pretty deep secondary. Corey trist Junior suffered a hamstring injury and that could open the door for him. He's had some nice sessions at the end of this past week, three interceptions between Friday, which they played under the lights, Friday night lights and Saturday starting to make a difference there. We'll see if he can continue to ride that toward a roster spot. It sounds like this defense is ahead of the offense, which is very encouraging for them. We talked about this on the show last week, that you know, that defense just wasn't as good as it was expected to be over the last couple of years. And if they can with the changes that they've made, if they can become that year, then again, like the Bengals, their ceiling goes up a lot. Patrick Queen's feeling the good vibes about the unit so far. According to ESPN's Brooke Prior, he said, I think we're farther ahead than last year, but still not where we need to be, which is good because that kind of fits with what he said about himself last year felt like he didn't get to where he needed to be, and he entered this season feeling as if he was a step ahead or back on track. So now with all the good vibes in the defense, you have to keep an eye on Alex Highsmith, who suffered what he thinks could be a possible groin injury. We're going to get more info from Mike Tomlin after further testing and everything that's expected on Tuesday, So watch that one because you know how important he is to that edge rushing group, with TJ. Watt obviously being the headliner there and last but not least, Isaac Sayamalo is starting to work his way back into the lineup. They actually haven't gotten their starting five offensive linemen out there for a good portion of camp because he was on NFI. He's come back from NFI, He's gotten some work in some of these sessions, so you're starting to get a better picture of where this offense could look starting with their front five.

00:38:00
Speaker 1: Yeah, they're left tackle progerc Drones two has kind of been in and out. I believe has had some injuries and they really need him to be good. Here's what you're not hearing to me out of Steelers camp too consistently like a.

00:38:11
Speaker 2: Lot of Rogers. Oh, Rogers is cooking.

00:38:15
Speaker 1: Mark Mark Coboli, who does a good job writing these long notes on Twitter for the McAfee show, like he's noted some positives with Rogers, not like Rogers is struggling. But I just feel like it's it's optimism season and if if Rogers was super cooking, we would probably hear about it. It's a lot of DK pop, a lot of it's like a lot of slants the DK a lot of yards after the catch. Calvin Austin might be the wide receiver too. Some Jalen Ramsey pop that he really looks good, which is always good to hear, But not a lot of like Rogers pop yet. So just something to note. Actually, I did want your thoughts about the story in the middle of the week that they had a personnel package Forget twelve personnel which you know is taken over the league, which is one receiver, two tight ends, you know, get heavy, start running. How about four personnel, no receivers, four tight ends on the field with John new Smith in the backfield as the running back.

00:39:18
Speaker 3: Give me that, okay.

00:39:19
Speaker 4: Arthur Smith has been known to deploy non running backs at running back. Cordial Patterson manned that role for him in Atlanta and in Pittsburgh.

00:39:27
Speaker 3: Cordial Patterson has since released.

00:39:28
Speaker 1: By the way, I don't know if we hit that on this show, like literally, a guy who will get some Hall of Fame consideration just because he was the best special teams player of his era.

00:39:37
Speaker 2: We should have mentioned that, thank.

00:39:38
Speaker 3: You, got fired on his day off.

00:39:40
Speaker 4: But we did talk about this tight end group, right and how it's crowded, like Pat Friarmouth, John Smith, Darnell Washington, who I learned last week has the nickname of Mount Washington, which is also a literal mountain in Pittsburgh.

00:39:52
Speaker 3: Great nickname.

00:39:53
Speaker 4: And then Conner Hayward who's been more of an h back but one of my favorites since his days at Michigan State. If you're gonna find a way to use all these guys, going to keep all these guys and you want to go heavy, why not because a lot of these guys can make plays, and they're all kind of different archetypes, and if anybody was going to do it, it's the madman who has made having a mustache quite notable, Arthur Smith.

00:40:12
Speaker 1: And it makes you maybe a little a little less concern about the receiver position.

00:40:17
Speaker 6: That.

00:40:17
Speaker 1: Look, they couldn't find a wide receiver to fill in behind Metcalf, you know, between him and Roman Wilson and Calvin Austin, which.

00:40:25
Speaker 2: You would like.

00:40:26
Speaker 1: But maybe it's just you're just gonna play all those tight ends because that is an awesome tight end room.

00:40:31
Speaker 2: Like Darnault Washington.

00:40:32
Speaker 1: If if we do making the leap on the show, is my Steelers making the leap?

00:40:36
Speaker 2: Guy?

00:40:36
Speaker 1: Like I think his ceiling is higher than people realize. And then the other two tight ends are obviously productive good players. All right, let's go to the AFC West. Let's talk Chargers. So we just saw them in the Hall of Fame. Game won't repeat what we said there. But one thing I didn't mention on that show was KeAndre Lambert Smith, who was the Daniel Jeremiah. He is a ballner.

00:40:57
Speaker 2: I gotta admit.

00:40:57
Speaker 1: He put him very high on his rank means no one even knew who that kid was. Then suddenly the team he works for hmmm, drafts him hmm. And now he's playing really well, like making deep plays down the field. I didn't mention in that game he had a really nice slant for a touchdown. Then he also had a long play.

00:41:17
Speaker 2: And that.

00:41:19
Speaker 1: Note that Lambert Smith making some plays down the field is also repeated by our very own Jordan rod Rieg, who is giving us a camp correspondent bucket of notes here. She was at Chargers camp, so she just texted me something, so this is from her on Saturday. She said, Khalil Mack looked fast, maybe that he dropped some weight. He's always he's come into these last few seasons like so good, and then the wear and tear tends to wear him down. But she just says, he looks really fast, looks good. She noted, just seeing them in person, this has to be one of the biggest offenses in the NFL, which is true. They're just like massive that they're like bigger than their the Chargers defense, and it's true, like their tight ends, their running back room, their quarterback room is huge, Like they're just huge.

00:42:03
Speaker 2: This is awesome.

00:42:04
Speaker 1: In Jordan's words, Trey Harris, he's got some to him. So I don't know exactly what that means, but I think that's a good thing. Trey Harris, that's what he's got to him. And yeah, Quentin Johnson at the X right now, no surprise there, But that's that's what he's got. That's a good thing. That's a compliment.

00:42:20
Speaker 3: I agree. I agree.

00:42:22
Speaker 4: My favorite thing about this size thing that you just mentioned, that Jordan mentioned is the fact that I'm at the Hall of Fame game Thursday night and I'm like, I'm looking, and I'm just looking, and I'm looking, and I'm tracking the man who plays fullback and also plays defensive tackle, Scott Matt Lockey wears forty four.

00:42:37
Speaker 3: It's a great football.

00:42:38
Speaker 4: Number, and I'm watching him just dominate and both sides of the ball, whether he's blocking it full back, like he personifies, he embodies this mindset that I think Jim Harball wanted up bring to the charges, which is toughness, toughness at the point of attack. We're gonna win in the trenches, We're gonna wear you down. Who cares if we have a guy who's an awesome quarterback in Justin Herbert, we're gonna win on the ground and with physicality first, and then we're gonna throw the ball on you later.

00:43:07
Speaker 3: And you're right.

00:43:08
Speaker 4: It totally is visible in the roster construction, the way they look when they take the field. It's a bit of a throwback, but I like the approach, especially in the division that also has Patrick Mahomes. It's like the counter to that.

00:43:18
Speaker 2: Right.

00:43:19
Speaker 1: They don't make they don't make a lot of mental mistakes. They don't turn the ball over a ton like a lot of coaches talk like this, but Harby, you actually see it every literally everywhere he's ever been. It actually happens. It seems like it's happening here. It's happening again. I'm falling for the Chargers. Nico Reid by the way Udfa in that game had like a ridiculous game of pick six, knock knocked the ball out, special teams tackle. He seems like a find. And then they're starting inside linebacker. Denzel Parriman has been arrested for felony possession of a deadly weapon. That happened since Thursday as well, so that risks obviously some serious repercussions. Whether it's a suspension from the lead j who knows. We'll have to track that. The one last thing here is we didn't talk about from that game, the virtual measurement that they did for the first down. You were there live and in person thoughts on the virtual measurement.

00:44:18
Speaker 3: It didn't take forever.

00:44:19
Speaker 4: I'm kind of accustomed to it now with all the replays we get the NBA and how it stops the game incessantly. But there was a funny moment in the press box where they announced that they were stopping for virtual measurement and somebody in the front row goes for what virtual?

00:44:32
Speaker 3: What like making a joke. So I don't know. We'll see, we'll see how right.

00:44:37
Speaker 1: They were just trying it out. They tried it out last year too, and it didn't work in the preseason, so I was skeptical.

00:44:46
Speaker 2: I don't I.

00:44:47
Speaker 1: Don't need I don't need the game being stopped more time than necessary, So you better have this lockdown.

00:44:54
Speaker 2: Got my eye in you, NFL.

00:44:57
Speaker 1: Let's go to the Chiefs. This the team kind of like the Bills where I don't have a ton from this week. I really check out Pete Sweeney at Arrowhead Pride, who does a great job. And then just some of his camp notes that kind of struck me of just a talking point for the Chiefs is the cornerback position. He noted that Shamari Connor is kind of their inside guy right now with McDuffie and Jalen Watson on the outside. It's like Trey McDuffie's way better in the slot.

00:45:24
Speaker 2: He just is.

00:45:25
Speaker 1: I don't think he's that special on the outside. I know he got like the All Pro or whatever he got Pro Bowl, is like that was a little maybe on reputation.

00:45:32
Speaker 2: When he's inside. Nazi Johnson's on the outside.

00:45:34
Speaker 1: It's like those are two guys Connor and Nase Johnson who are both cooked quite a bit. In the playoffs, like in the Super Bowl, they see they seem a cornerback short when everyone's healthy. That's what's crazy to me, is like everyone's healthy right now. So to me, that's just something to watch. They're a great candidate to me to sign one of these cornerbacks that's out there, I would do that because many if they lose mcdif if they lost mc duffy or Watson, it's like, man, it gets kind of grim there.

00:46:03
Speaker 4: Yeah, you know, when we talk about them finding ways to stay competitive over the last few years with roster turnover and everything else, the one area that has kind of flown under the radar is the fact that they've cut corners in the secondary like no pun intended with corner and they made it work though right, yes, they made it work because they got the most out of guys like McDuffie. But that attrition year over year I think is starting to show, at least at this like portion of the summer that we have a reason to finally be concerned about this. And I agree with you, but it also comes down to when you're looking at McDuffie, because the fact that they hit on that, you know, a first round pick playing as well as he has, has helped them kind of, you know, navigate the choppy waters that come with roster turnover. But I will say it comes down to what do you value more an outside corner who's going to man up against the number one guy or a guy who's going to be an elite slot corner. And if you're not strong enough on the outside, you're not confident enough on the outside, then you're forced to do what they did with the offensive line. Last year, which is take your best corner and move him outside like they did with Joe Tooney, moving him to tackle. So I agree with you, and I hate that you have to make that choice because it's robbing us of elite play. Even if it's just one step down, it's not quite as good, but it does kind of just speak to where they are at the position right now.

00:47:11
Speaker 1: The salary cap makes it so hard because you know they got mcdubby because of a brilliant trade. He came as a pick that came from the Tyreek Hill trade where they nailed it and they hit on him in car Loftis. But you got to pay those guys now, like Carl Loftis has got his money and the cycle begins again. There's a guy who they've given some snats, Chris Roland Wallace UDFA from a season ago that they're trying to roll in there. But you point on the offensive line, like now they've got almost too many starters.

00:47:40
Speaker 2: It's the same deal.

00:47:41
Speaker 1: Josh Simmons continues to be the guy at left tackle, where the big fifteen million dollar man Jalen Moore is battling at right tackle and left card. So that's a good problem to have. Sky moor is back from an injury, but I think he's probably gonna get cut. The second round pick from a few years ago, Taekwon Thornton and Jason Brownly are ahead of him go to the Denver Bronco. Zach Allen got paid four years, one hundred and two million dollars forty five million dollars guaranteed over the next two years. If he's on the roster a year from now, which seems very likely, it goes up to sixty million guaranteed. Sean Payton had a great quote on it, which is, periodically there's a player that comes up for a contract and we just have to look at ourselves. If we aren't willing to pay him, who are we willing to pay? So I love it they got ahead of it, even for a player that's, you know, hitting his thirties. And if you listen to around the NFL and now NFL Daily Man, we we were early on the Zach Allen train, even in Arizona.

00:48:42
Speaker 2: Thought that was a great signing.

00:48:44
Speaker 1: Turned out to be one of the best free agent signings of the last five or six years, So good on them. He led the NFL and QB hits last year a stat I had to like reread. I was like, really, Zach Allen led the NFL in that that's that's amazing. So shout out to them for being small and for him to get paid.

00:49:02
Speaker 4: Yeah, you can count me in that group, being on the Zach Allen train early. Even when things weren't the best in Arizona or they were struggling defensively, he always stood out. It's crazy you actually look at a statue like, but he's only been a Bronco for two years, because I feel like he's been there for a long time, because he's just been that consistent over the course of his entire career. Set a career high with eight and a half sacks last year. Perfect time to get paid, Sean Payton. Take that knowledge to the team you used to work for way back in the day in Dallas. Send it right up the ladder to Jerry and Steven Jones.

00:49:29
Speaker 3: Maybe they'll agree, right.

00:49:32
Speaker 1: It almost was like it was an indirect shot without trying to be shot. Riley Moss reportedly having a good camp. You know, it was a little up and down last year. Wasn't healthy as their second cornerback, Dray green Law has been in and out of practice. They hoped to get him back in about a week. It was good that he was back, but then he heard his squad but it's supposedly not serious. Drew Sanders is also at that position. He's out four to six weeks with foot surgery. Alex Singleton broke his thumb. He had a surgery, but he's going to be back. You know, that's a linebacker. With the thumb injury, he'll be back. But a lot of injuries at the same position. Let's wrap the AFC West with the Raiders. So a week ago I mentioned no one's stepping up behind Jacoby Myers at receiver, and I did get it some notes from some Raiders trots. What about Dante Thornton. You're not paying close enough attentions, Like, no, I'm just reading the reports. But I gotta say, in the last week, it does seem like Dante Thornton, a Day three pick at receiver, is their starting X, which is interesting. Now Trey Tucker, according to to Sean Reid, might be their wide receiver two in terms of snaps, but maybe that's sort of evolving into their top three, which is interesting. It doesn't include Jack Besh a second round pick, and that's why I like watching these camp reports. So Dante Thornton someone to keep an eye on someone I don't know a ton about as a fourth round pick, but he might be their starting X to start the season, which is an important spot for them, and maybe they have a fine we'll see.

00:50:56
Speaker 3: Yeah, they need it.

00:50:57
Speaker 4: They need some sort of other option outside of Jacoby Meyers, so that would be really encouraging. It would be a bummer if Jack Bash is not as involved in the picture, given the fact that you spent a higher pick on him.

00:51:07
Speaker 3: But that's the way the draft goes, man.

00:51:08
Speaker 4: People forget a lot of It is a crapshoot, and sometimes you realize that the guy you spent a Day three pick on was actually better than the other guy. But nobody saw it, nobody you know, expected it, and then you get the results and benefit from it.

00:51:19
Speaker 2: It's and it's extremely early.

00:51:22
Speaker 1: Obviously, it can change over the next couple of weeks, much less the next couple of months, much less. You know their careers, but he just might be coming along like a little slowly. The reason I wanted to mention that too, I think this was from Deshaun Reid at the Athletic too, that Dante Thornton apparently was showing up in the quarterbacks group group text, whether it was Gino or Aidan O'Connell said that that like, oh yeah, we were texting the other easy early, like you can really trust this guy. And I was like, oh, that's a good that's a good sign that he's earned Gino's you know, trust in the group.

00:51:54
Speaker 4: It makes me wonder if Kyle Allen sends the same texts about receiver Dominic Levett, who he talked had a billion times in the Hall of Fame.

00:52:01
Speaker 1: And the Lions game, that's a deep cut surprising news that they have a new starting center, Jordan Meredith, a fifth year veteran, displacing Jackson Powers Johnson, who is a lot of people's favorite center prospect from a year ago, and now Powers Johnson is battling at right guard with Alex Kappa, who they brought in. I think this might be about like just getting the best five and I suspect jack you know, Powers Johnson gets that job, and people who thought Alex Kappa was going to come in there and like save their offensive line.

00:52:31
Speaker 2: It didn't make a lot of sense.

00:52:33
Speaker 5: To me if you've watched well, yeah, and it reminded me of the it's just kind of a lie that people tell themselves every off season, which is, hey, we can rebuild this offensive line through free agency, and it's like, no, because there's not that many really reliable offensive linemen out there that you're gonna end up that are gonna end up being worth that money.

00:52:51
Speaker 4: So this is another example of that. But it is interesting because Jackson powers. Johnson actually had a clip I don't remember when it was from exactly where he talked about how he demanded to take the center job. He's like, you know, I won. I think it's the Brimington Award, like top college center. I know how to play the position, Give me the damn job, and ended up taking it. Now if he loses it, curious to see.

00:53:11
Speaker 1: How he seems like he's lost it at this point and maybe isn't like like that is the position he wants to play. But Pete Carroll obviously is the one making those decisions.

00:53:19
Speaker 2: He's in charge.

00:53:21
Speaker 1: Lonnie Johnson, who's a reserve cornerback defensive back, broke.

00:53:24
Speaker 2: His leg at practice this week. You hate to see that.

00:53:26
Speaker 1: Eric Stokes has been starting for them at cornerback to Cameron Richardson getting more first team reps battling with rookie Darien Porter. I wanted to mention that because Richardson's cousin is on this Raiders team and is also geared up for a starting job, a man by the name of Devin White, who Pete Carroll says is back to his old self. I'm filing this under, you know, I'll believe it when I see it in the in the actual regular season.

00:53:55
Speaker 2: It's not a great sign.

00:53:56
Speaker 1: Like the guys that they're starting, Like Eric Stokes was like cornerback five or six on his previous teams, and he's like cornerback one. Here we got Devin White and who couldn't you know cracker rotation last year starting next to Landon Roberts, Like Pete's gotta work work some magic.

00:54:13
Speaker 2: But they are their cousins. White and to Cameron Richardson.

00:54:16
Speaker 3: So Stokes was a former first round pick too.

00:54:19
Speaker 2: Yeah, former pack you're buying.

00:54:21
Speaker 4: Yeah, you're leaning a lot on past pedigree and guys like White and Stokes.

00:54:25
Speaker 3: We'll see, we'll see maybe, man.

00:54:26
Speaker 1: Yeah, they're really fighting in uphill battle. I know everyone has so much Raiders optimism. And I look at this defense and I think it's as it's amazing to say, considering Max Crosby's on their team, it might be thirty two in like overall defensive talent. It's certainly close to the bottom.

00:54:46
Speaker 2: It's really cool.

00:54:46
Speaker 3: Definitely lower third. Definitely lower third, I.

00:54:48
Speaker 2: Mean lower bottom, three or four, no doubt.

00:54:51
Speaker 1: All right, let's take one more quick break and we will wrap with Nick Chuck's.

00:54:55
Speaker 2: Favorite division on Earth. It's the AFC seven back on NFL Daily.

00:55:10
Speaker 1: While we're taping here, we got some breaking news to us to you, it's old news. It's a contract extension for one of the most underrated players in the entire NFL, Zach Sealer of the Dolphins, getting forty four million dollars guaranteed on a three year contract at sixty four million dollars, a very similar deal to the one that Zach Allen got. And I'm impressed and I'm surprised the Dolphins forked over a really fair contract to a guy who's been one of their best players. So shout out to Zach Steeler for making it happen. One of the best players period on the Dolphins. All Right, let's go to the AFC South Shookie.

00:55:52
Speaker 4: This was my two favorite zachs who played defensive line in the NFL, so good for both of them. All Right, we started Houston, where we didn't have a lot to talk about last week, except for the fact that they didn't have a lot of guys in camp.

00:56:03
Speaker 3: Well, I have great news.

00:56:04
Speaker 4: I have great news for you, Greg, because Damiko Ryans is a firm believer that the offensive line has figured it out. In one week. They went from being one of the most concerning points to focus on with this team to something that is now quote solidified, and that is because some players have separated themselves according to Ryan's since they put the pads on. Rookie tackle arionte Erser from Minnesota is included among their top five, which is interesting to watch because you like to see investment payoff immediately, but again without proof that he can be that guy over the course of the season. We'll have to continue to track it throughout the year. The defense looks fantastic as expected. This is going to be I think the strength of their team. We knew how good they were last year. They're giving the offense trouble and it's not all the offensive line's fault. In fact, oftentimes it's not the offensive lines fault at all. It's just that their secondary is playing really well. Kln Bullock continues to ascend as he enters his second NFL season. He picked off CG. Stroud in on seven he was one of my favorite defensive backs that flew under the radar last year. I'm very excited to see if he makes that sort of leap in year two. But they're so dominant that our favorite trash talker CD Deuce himself, CJ. Gardner Johnson said, quote we all may ass it's belt to ass end quote.

00:57:18
Speaker 2: I mean Rinson repeat.

00:57:19
Speaker 1: I feel like he's had that type of quote or maybe even in that exact quote in every camp he's ever been in.

00:57:25
Speaker 2: I love Cdduce.

00:57:26
Speaker 1: It's amazing how good they could be in the secondary because you think of Kamari Lassiter as this incredible rookie last year paired with Derek Stingley, and Bullock gets a little bit forgotten. But there's a writer for their team website that's good John Harris, and he said he's as good Kaylyn Bullock as anyone he's ever seen with the ball in the air in terms of being a ballhawk, and I think Stingley obviously can do that and CD Deuce can certainly do that. So it just sounds like a nightmare to go again. So it is funny to hear that they've kind of decided on their offensive line and no huge surprises like Cam Robinson, Lake and Tomlinson and you mentioned Ursery's the most interesting, the second round pick who's gonna start. But you hear them that's solidified. At the same time you hear that like Will Anderson is just absolutely destroying every single practice and defense is absolutely dominating, and there just hasn't been a ton of juice from the offense in general. I am a little a little concerned about like the drop off from Nico Collins to basically anyone else as a pass catcher. Although Ryan's talked up Dalton Schultz a little bit this week, saying that he looks like the guy we expected coming out of Dallas, which almost felt like a shot that like he hasn't necessarily been, but Demiko Ryans keeps it real, and I think that's true. I think Schultz underperformed a little bit and maybe he looks better now.

00:58:48
Speaker 5: Yeah.

00:58:48
Speaker 4: I also feel like they didn't quite I mean eighty five targets last year, but I felt like they didn't quite prioritize him in that offense as best as they could, like offensive coordination.

00:58:56
Speaker 1: He didn't make you say like wow, like he had some really nice plays with the Cowboys his last year.

00:59:00
Speaker 2: He just seemed like just a guy.

00:59:02
Speaker 3: Yeah, he was a secondary figure there.

00:59:03
Speaker 4: All right, let's keep it in the South, of course, and we're gonna go to Indianapolis, where bad news. Unfortunately, Savon Ahmed suffered a severe right lower leg injury. It sounds like it was due to a hip DROC tackle in practice. He was carried off immediately taken to the hospital for x rays. Sounds like that's gonna be a season ender, a bummer for a team that could use some quality depth behind Jonathan Taylor because of his lack of consistency in terms of the health department over the last few years. But you just hate to hear that with any guy in camp having an end in such a fashion. But on the bright side, the QB competition not separating but getting better, more encouraging results. Anthony Richardson goes fourteen for eighteen unofficially of course, because everybody's hand tracking these. On Thursday night, he threw a couple of touchdown passes. He threw a beautiful deep ball to Ashton Duel and he threw for a touchdown. He threw another beautiful deep ball to Adie Mitchell, who needs to make some strides in his second season. Richardson wasn't perfect, of course, He kind of flopped in an end of game scenario. I think they put like forty six seconds on the clock that sort of thing. Daniel Jones was a little bit better in that portion. He finished twenty two for twenty seven and threw a perfect pass to Ady Mitchell, who sounds like he might be coming around a little bit. But there's no separation, like I said, And I think the real test of this battle is going to come up against quite an opponent in Baltimore when they have joint practices with the Ravens. Other injury related news, Zira Franklin returns to the field for the first time after undergoing offseason surgery. Jalen Jones has a concerning hamstring injury. So both sides of the coin there, and last but not least, of course, the first round pick tight end Tyler Warren.

01:00:40
Speaker 3: He's balling.

01:00:40
Speaker 4: He made a great juggling catch that they set to cinematic music that they put on Twitter, which was it's a fun watch.

01:00:47
Speaker 3: Go check it out.

01:00:48
Speaker 1: It's beautiful. If you're watching on NFL daily, you can see the play. We'll take the cinematic music out of the mix. But was an incredible catch on a not a great throw by Daniel Jones. It does feel shook like the quarterbacks have been, at least according to the people watching, probably a little better than expected overall. Now I look at the cornerbacks that are not there, you know, for the Colts overall, and like it. There should be a lot of mismatches for them to pick on. But overall, I feel like, you know, maybe we're at like a slight pleasant surprise on balance with Richardson maybe having like the slightest of leads. Shane Stiken had a quote during the week that said, I think everything's cleaner now talking about Richardson.

01:01:36
Speaker 2: He's playing at a high level.

01:01:37
Speaker 1: He's making good decisions with the football, taking completions when needed. It's been really good to see now. He followed up that good scrimmage you mentioned with supposedly like his worst practice of the entire training camp, but then follow that up with Sunday it looked better.

01:01:50
Speaker 2: Like it's a process.

01:01:51
Speaker 1: I'm following these every day, and on balance, I think that's kind of the big takeaway. And I saw this note from Indianapolis Stars Nate Akin where he was like, yeah, Jones has been really solid, but you just kind of want to see him just just rip one occasionally, just like go for it. And I'm just thinking like, yeah, welcome to that end of Dame Jones. Ever since that rookie year, that rookie year, I'm telling you you go back, he was ripping it. Then something happened where whether it was injuries or Dable programmed it out of him, I've never seen that guy again. So you're gonna be waiting a while. And right now I think if it's tied, it's gonna the tie is gonna go to Richardson.

01:02:28
Speaker 3: Yeah, because they have more investment in and then they need him to prove it. So I agree with that.

01:02:33
Speaker 4: Finally, well, we've got two more teams left in the AFC South Jacksonville Jaguars were you know, of course, the main focus is still on Travis Hunter, but a little bit less than before. We do have to give a snap up date. He played thirty eight snaps at their scrimmage at their stadium, seventeen at the first team offense, twenty one with the first team defense.

01:02:51
Speaker 3: So he's still.

01:02:52
Speaker 4: Very much doing both sides of the field and it'll be interesting to see again how this plays out in an actual game. He caught repasses for forty three yards, including a twenty one yard reception, and overall got positive marks from William Cohen, who.

01:03:07
Speaker 3: Said, I thought it was great.

01:03:08
Speaker 4: We got on the work that we wanted to get him on offense early and then able to get him on defense and get him enough reps. That's pretty stock there, not so promising for a guy we love. Brian Thomas Junior up and down week for him. He had a great day Friday, six catches, sixty five yards, a couple of touchdowns, and then Saturday. You understand how fleeting success can be in the NFL. He'd struggled with some frustrating completions. At one point, I think he took the ball after a play and threw it and it hit a bystander in the leg, just because he was that upset with how things have been going, So I think that there's still progress to be made.

01:03:41
Speaker 3: Now, could that suggest the defense is playing better?

01:03:43
Speaker 4: Yeah, but I think I know enough about the Jaguars over the last few years that they probably still have a ways to go offensively. And then in the injuries department, Baseil Tooting, the rookie running back held out of Thursday session with a hamstring issue. Always got to be a little bit worried about that. Linebacker Dennis Gardeck has an issue as well, So keep an eye on both of those.

01:04:04
Speaker 1: Right when you hear that about Brian Thomas Junior, I never know what to think, like does this matter a lot? Because you're right, it's been a steady drum beat, like a lot of drops and by him like all camp, like he's not having a great camp for a guy that there's a lot of pressure on to be a top ten type of receiver, because that's the type of talent that he showed. I tend to not be too worried about it if it's just drops in concentration like he's shown he can play when it really matters. John Shipley, who's really good covering them for SI dot Com, said he thought this is you know, one of, if not Trevor Lawrence's best camps, And so that's notable to me. He's been at all those camps and it's a new head coach. It's a good sign because, in Shipley's words, he thought, well, maybe Lawrence isn't like always been the best at practicing.

01:04:57
Speaker 2: He's more of a gamer, And I.

01:05:00
Speaker 1: Get that, but I also think, well, what truly great quarterbacks aren't great practice quarterbacks, Like, I don't think there's many put it that way for the most part. If you are going to be a great NFL quarterback, you're going to be dominating and you're going to be extremely consistent in practice. So so it's I think that's a really good sign though that he's been better. And it does feel like the game is slowing down a little bit for Hunter in terms of the playbook, Like that's what Brian Thomas Junior said too, He's starting to pick it up and by all accounts like Hunter had his best days of camp day after day after day, like on both sides of the ball, that it's like it's happening for him now, which is just very exciting.

01:05:44
Speaker 4: I think Hunter, because of the athlete that he is, and just the football player that he is, He's going to be a camp star annually until it gets to the point where he doesn't have to take as many reps just because he's that type of football player. But it is interesting to me because this is now the latest test of how productive and how believable is the Tampa Bay Buccaneers offensive coordinator to head coach factory. How how much can we rely on that pipeline? You know, is this Glennville High School to Ohio State in the early two thousands or not, because you saw what Dave Canalis did with Bryce Young and Carolina last year, albeit he had to bench him and then bring him back later. But now the test is for Liam Cohen and there's no better situation for Liam Cohen to prove that, yes, that pipeline is strong than by turning Trevor Lawrence into something that we've been.

01:06:27
Speaker 3: Waiting for him to become for the last three years.

01:06:29
Speaker 4: So if it starts in practice where he's suddenly become a better practice quarterback, then maybe the results are ahead for us.

01:06:35
Speaker 3: Of course, it remains to be seen.

01:06:37
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm also a little concerned Ark Armstead like is never healthy for them still hasn't practiced in team drills at all, so just that move has not worked out for them so far.

01:06:47
Speaker 2: Just something to.

01:06:48
Speaker 4: Watch, no, I mean when he was in the Super Bowl a the Niners a couple of years ago. I remember him like that week talking about how he was hurt all over. So it just kind of a it's a position that's tough on the body.

01:06:59
Speaker 3: All right.

01:06:59
Speaker 4: Finally in the AFC South, we go to Tennessee, where we probably shouldn't be surprised that the defense is still ahead of the offense.

01:07:08
Speaker 3: How ahead of it? You ask? Well, Cam word as a great description of just how ahead they are.

01:07:13
Speaker 6: I just think we're very meet right now, from opposition to upfront to the receivers position. But at the end, they all starts with me. I just I just don't think at where we need to be. But we got we got a little bit of times, so every day we get better as a whole. We're a young team.

01:07:29
Speaker 4: That's no excuse that right there falls in line with what we did last week we talked about aura.

01:07:33
Speaker 3: Can we use the term aura?

01:07:35
Speaker 4: Can we use the term mid for those who are unfamiliar with the term mid. It's just like average, just not impressive, just very forgettable. That's basically what he's saying about the offense right now. So not encouraging, but at least you're hearing a rookie quarterback admit, you know, not fault, but that they need to be better.

01:07:53
Speaker 3: I like that out of a young guy like that.

01:07:56
Speaker 1: Here's the thing about bed though, like mid has come to mean bad. But Moni Jones has a great rant about this. But Mid is supposed to be mid. You know, it's supposed to be average. You know, I believe it was, you know, initially used to be you know, describing the you know, the forty dollars baggie you're getting, you know that might have a little too many seeds in it. But Mid is supposed to get the job done. It's not supposed to be the worst thing in the world. I would describe what we've heard about the Titans offense, including Sunday by the way, cam word was five for fourteen and team drills according to Titans dot Com, and I go through and there's a lot of those ugly crooked numbers. That's not MID. That's worse, Like that's bad. MID would just be like what's going on at colts camp is probably mid. You know, it's like it's been pretty decent, it's been fine.

01:08:47
Speaker 3: Now unlike Aura.

01:08:48
Speaker 4: This was a very accurate description and discussion on the term, and I thank you for that. You know, a real pro as always, and I agree it comes with the negative connotation, but you're right, this is worse than mid. So hopeful they get beyond mid suddenly upgrade, but it takes time.

01:09:03
Speaker 2: It'll get you, it'll get you buy. You know, let's not be ye. It'll do.

01:09:07
Speaker 3: It'll do the job, but it's not gonna blow your socks off.

01:09:09
Speaker 4: No, he's not throwing pixes often in practice, which is great because that was the issue last week. Brian Callahan still pretty annoyed by them. He's unloaded on them a few times in practice. He made them run at the end of Saturday session, which is like very old school and also do we really need to do this in list? I think back to twenty nineteen when I was working with the Browns and Freddy Kitchen was a coach, and there were so many practice, so many fights during practice that he made them run gassers in the middle of a highly attended practice, which led to another thing that I won't discuss at this point that happened during those runs, but pointed to me that like, oh God, maybe this team's in a bad place because he couldn't keep control of them. I think Callahan's just frustrated because he know he feels the pressure already. Uh, they are going to have a big test when they do joint practices with the Buccaneers this week. We're gonna find out just how mid they are because right.

01:09:55
Speaker 1: Now, yeah, I read from Paul Kaharski, just not a lot of juice at their camp. Like they had something in front of the fans at the stadium. It was like extremely hot, but you know the fans aren't really showing up. There's not a lot of juice. Maybe within the team there's actually not almost any position battles, which is weird for a team so bad. So usually that's sort of where the competition. Just not a lot of juice from the Titans right now. Lugerious need still out. You know, we need a little we need a little more juice. I mean that that that throw to cam Ward, I mean that throw to Sound that had some juice.

01:10:36
Speaker 2: That was professional. Let's see your development. I love it all.

01:10:41
Speaker 1: Right before we go, I just want to say congrats to the four gentlemen who went into Canton over the weekend. Antonio Gates, you know, did it like like nobody else, like stepped into the league and was like immediately one of the best tight ends for a decade, great Sterling Sharp finally getting in. I love a guy who has a great peak. I think he waited too long. Frankly, I'll take a great peak over a longevity guy. Maybe the best receiver top you know, three or four. Certainly in the time he was in the NFL. Eric Allen, the former Eagles player and Saints player who rolled up a lot of interceptions. I was like, man, if Eric Allen makes the Hall of Fame like a Sante Samon was kind of similar in terms of just like racking up interceptions but.

01:11:30
Speaker 2: Probably not going to happen.

01:11:31
Speaker 1: And then Jared Allen shout out to him. I always remember, you know, I was covering the league early. One of the first guys that was really outspoken about holding out getting you know, very like held his ground to the point where he got traded from the Chiefs to the Vikings. It was complicated because he earlier in his career, had had a couple of DUIs and was suspended from the NFL, which is which is really serious. But just an interesting player who talked about sobriety and at a time where like that wasn't the norm about that. He had to, you know, clean up his life and get sober. And he had a great Hall of Fame speech, so did Stirling Sharp. What he talked about in terms of brotherhood was really great. So congratulations to all them. And yeah, Alan just like a little different, like was early on player empowerment, early on being open about his battles with his demons. And obviously he came out in Canton, and congrats to all them and to you Shookie for being in Canton this week.

01:12:37
Speaker 4: And I got to give a shout out to Antonio Gates of course, because he's the pride of Kent State University.

01:12:42
Speaker 2: Baby.

01:12:42
Speaker 4: He never played it down to college football and he ends up in the Pro Football.

01:12:46
Speaker 3: Hall of Fame, right.

01:12:47
Speaker 4: He was the first of the basketball player to football player transition.

01:12:51
Speaker 2: You didn't know him, though, did you. He's before your time.

01:12:54
Speaker 3: No, he's much older than I am.

01:12:56
Speaker 4: But I remember watching him lead the Kent State basketball team to the Elite eight in the NCAA tournament.

01:13:01
Speaker 1: Well, this is where our age difference, you know, because he's younger than I am, so great player.

01:13:06
Speaker 3: Yeah, you were out of college, Antonio Gate.

01:13:08
Speaker 1: I thought it was very cool that Matt money Smith call of Antonio Gates breaking the tight end touchdown record was the last thing that you heard before Antonio Gates came onto the stage to reveal the bus.

01:13:21
Speaker 2: How cool is that, Matt money Smith.

01:13:23
Speaker 1: It's gonna happen again too when Philip Rivers makes the Hall of Fame, if I have anything.

01:13:27
Speaker 2: To do about it.

01:13:28
Speaker 1: We went way over what I expected, but it was great talking to you, Shuki.

01:13:31
Speaker 2: We will be back on Monday.

01:13:34
Speaker 1: Like I said me, Patrick Claybon, the entire NFC man, when we're glazing up the Chargers, when we're bored by the Titans, when Shuoki's throwing to sound like a pro man, Football is back.