Brandon Aiyuk Trade Talk and Camp Takeaways For Every NFC Team

Gregg Rosenthal tapes a special top of the show to address the news that the 49ers have worked out potential trade terms for Brandon Aiyuk with the Patriots and Browns. Gregg is then joined by Jourdan Rodrigue of The Athletic to hit camp notes on every NFC team. The show starts with the NFC East (1:12), followed by the NFC North (15:46), the NFC South (29:40) and the NFC West (41:22). Note to 49ers fans: The Aiyuk news at the top rendered your team discussion obsolete, so its no longer included with the rest of the division. 

Note: time codes approximate. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, it's Greg and it's late on the West Coast,
and we've had some developments in a potential Brandon Ayuk
trade that I just wanted to get into this show.
So I did camp takeaways with Jordan Rodrieg of every
team in the NFC in the studio earlier this afternoon,
and you're going to hear that. You're going to hear
the nice little intro and all the bells and whistles,

(00:22):
But first I wanted to get this Ayuk stuff in.
So this afternoon, Navil Networks Mike Garafolo and Tom Pelsero
said Ayuk is now more likely to be traded than
to sign an extension, which followed like a drum bree
beat of just increasing rumors over the weekend that this
actually could happen, which was interesting, wasn't worth taping an

(00:45):
extra part of the show, But then late on the
West Coast why I'm taping is Matt Myoko of CSN
Sports Bay Area reported that the forty nine ers have
negotiated the framework of trade that would send Ayuk to
either the Cleveland Browns or the New England Patriots. And

(01:06):
I'm going to quote Myoko here quote now it's up
to Ayuk to determine if he will accept the contract
terms from either of those franchise.

Speaker 2 (01:17):
The source said.

Speaker 1 (01:18):
So the forty nine Ers have worked out trade terms
with the Browns and Patriots. It's up to Ayuk whether
that he can work out a contract with them. There's
some fascinating details in here. Number One, Washington removed themselves.
According to Myoko, the Steelers are effectively out because they
won't meet the forty nine ers trade demands. Now, like,

(01:40):
let's pause there for a second. Ayuk, let it be known.
Earlier this offseason a couple of times, these were the
teams he wanted to go to. He mentioned it on
the Pivot podcast. He mentioned Washington first, and Washington was
the team that he sent out on an IG story.
He was like in there all twenty two. He somehow
had their internal system. I don't even know. He was

(02:01):
watching like old Sam Howell tape. It was kind of crazy.
So he kind of wanted Washington and if not, Pittsburgh.
Pittsburgh was where this was all rumored to be going.
But according to Myoko, Pittsburgh's out, Washington's out. Let's get
back to Myoko. Let's think about who this is like
he is as trusted a beat reporter, I would say,

(02:22):
as there is in the entire NFL. And if he's
going to report this late at night on a Monday,
after a lot of drama, it's almost like a team statement,
just thinking like that is not coming out there unless
the team wants it out there, if he's not getting

(02:43):
it from the team. And I thought the wording was
really key. Now it's up to Ayuk. It's almost like
the forty nine ers making their moves, say, okay, do
you really want to play for one of these teams
or do you want to take our latest contract off
or do you want to continue driving us crazy instead

(03:04):
with this holdout which also might be holding up Trent Williams'
contract negotiations.

Speaker 2 (03:10):
Who happens to be our best player?

Speaker 1 (03:12):
And I do wonder if it's the forty nine ers
not wanting this negotiation to get to the last second
of camp like it did with Nick Bosa a couple
of years ago. I think it's crazy to trade Ayuk
right now. Like the time to trade him was before
the draft. The time to get his contract done is

(03:35):
now or any time after the draft. Any Ayuk trade
makes the forty nine Ers team worse and they are
ready to go win a Super Bowl. Those draft picks
you're gonna get are the same draft picks you're gonna
get in February or March. If the forty nine Ers
can get great picks from the Patriots and the Browns

(03:55):
right now, then get those great picks in March two,
and they're gonna be the same picks. That's why you
make trades before the draft. You don't make it right now,
which brings us to another interesting wrinkle of all this.

Speaker 2 (04:06):
There's a lot of angles here.

Speaker 1 (04:08):
That it was reported again by Myoko that the Browns
and the Patriots would both involve a veteran receiver in
the trade to help make it work.

Speaker 2 (04:18):
So in theory the way.

Speaker 1 (04:20):
It was positioned in this article, and if I'm a
forty nine Ers fan, this is driving me crazy that
they said, well, this would satisfy the forty nine Ers,
and it would satisfy Ayuk with the contract. Now with
the Browns, we can speculate that it's a Mari Cooper.
Mary Kacabot of Cleveland dot Com reported, look, if they
included Cooper in the trade, that would make the financials

(04:44):
work for Cleveland I mean, depending what the draft picks are.
If I'm a forty nine Ers fan, I can live
with that. Cooper's still really good. He's a little up
and down. He's much older. I'm not thrilled. But if
it's Cooper and a a good pick, uh, Okay, Cooper
is like not quite a Pro Bowl receiver, but close,

(05:05):
he's really good.

Speaker 2 (05:07):
I could live with that. The Patriots are crazy.

Speaker 1 (05:10):
You can't tell me Kendrick Bourne and picks it is
making you better this year or making you anywhere close.
Kendrick Bourne's coming off of torn acl He's still on
the pup list. It's probably Kendrick Bourne. He was in
San Francisco before. I mean, Kendrick Bourne is a three
or a four there. Juwan Jennings, is you know under
contract in sign? That makes no sense to me. I

(05:31):
don't care what the picks are. You can get those
picks later the Browns. That would be a little more interesting.

Speaker 3 (05:38):
Now.

Speaker 1 (05:38):
I do want to get to the financials before we
get to the rest of the show, because I thought
this was interesting too. A lot of news coming out.
Mayoko said that Ayuk is looking for thirty million per year,
maybe more. Mayoko also said there haven't been substantive talks
between Ayuk and the forty nine ers in months, like

(05:58):
what are we doing here? And the forty nine ers
are believed to be a few million dollars short per
year of that thirty million dollars. And this is where
I take issue with the forty nine ers. You could
have paid him. You could have paid him back in March.
You could have paid him in May. If you're trying
to pay him DeVante Smith or Jalen Waddles contract, He's

(06:19):
not those players. Those two players are two years out
of their contracts and they're probably not as good anyways.
You could have gotten ahead of this, but you didn't,
and now the market's higher and you got to deal
with that. He's one year out and the market's higher.
So pay him like that's what happened. He's worth it.
And I can't imagine Kyle Shanahan is happy about this

(06:40):
what the front office is doing, because he finally found
the perfect receiver for a system. He's the guy. Ayuk's
the guy. He fits perfectly with Purdy fits perfectly in
this system. They went through ups and downs, they got
Ayuk to this point, and now they're going to trade him,
and part of me thinks for them to go public
right now, it's almost calling Ayuke's bluff, putting the ball
in his court because they think, you are you really

(07:03):
going to want to play with the Patriots rebuilding team.
To me, that would be a mistake for both sides.
Getting Cooper back would make more sense. But maybe they
feel like he doesn't want to play for Cleveland. Maybe not,
but putting it out there makes me wonder about them,
because the smart thing is to keep Ayuk and stop
worrying about making your player look bad in the public

(07:26):
and using sources to tell your story. And the truly
smart thing was to not let it get to this point.
But it's too late for that, But it's not too
late to still make the right move and keep him.
And if I was a forty nine Ers fan, I
hope that this is just some public push to get
Ayuk to actually take a contract, because trading Ayuk right now,

(07:47):
at this point in the offseason is insane. And with that,
let's get to the rest of the show. Welcome to
NFL Daily, where we love getting in fights during the
dog days of training camp.

Speaker 2 (08:08):
We've reached the dog days.

Speaker 1 (08:10):
I'm beyond excited today to be joined by Jordan Rodrigg
of the Athletic in the Chris Westling podcast studio to
go over camp notes from all of the NFC teams.

Speaker 2 (08:23):
It's gonna be fun.

Speaker 3 (08:24):
As I get deeper and deeper into training camp every year,
I lose track of days, times, time zones, and I
just start counting the passage of time based on different
development of tan lines.

Speaker 4 (08:36):
Okay, it's a sad situation, Greg.

Speaker 1 (08:39):
It is that week because the preseason starts in earnest
later this week, and so I think the official dog
days is now because the teams are sick of playing
against each other and we're at like practice ten, twelve
whatever it is, and the joint practices started. We'll start
with the giants and so fights are happening, but that

(09:00):
means we're getting closer.

Speaker 2 (09:01):
We're getting closer to the reals.

Speaker 4 (09:02):
Yeah, I saw those videos today.

Speaker 1 (09:04):
Yes, let's start with the giants actually, because you know
why waste any time? If you listened on Monday, you
saw that and heard that Nick Schuck and I hit
all sixteen AFC teams, So we are going to try
to be efficient.

Speaker 2 (09:17):
Jordan, we like the honk.

Speaker 4 (09:19):
Just a couple of big honkers.

Speaker 1 (09:21):
Okay, okay, watch out there, and yeah, so we're gonna
hit all sixteen teams and yeah, I'll start with the
NFC East and I'll start with the Giants. Yeah, because
they had that practice today and a couple of reporters
that were there watching live said, this is the most
intense practice I've literally ever seen. Colton Pouncy from the Athletic,
who's the Lions beat writer, said that. Another one of
the Giants beat writers said, yeah, this is the most

(09:44):
physical practice I'd seen in nine years, which whatever.

Speaker 2 (09:47):
That doesn't really matter to me.

Speaker 1 (09:48):
Giants are getting really excited, like, actually, they look pretty
good surprisingly against the Lions. I'm not that concerned about that,
although it doesn't hurt. But the fact that Daniel Jones
through eight passes to Melak Neighbors in this practice and
Neighbors caught all eight just backs up everything we've been
hearing from the first day of training camp, which is

(10:09):
that Neighbors is a culture changer and an offense changer
and they needed him so bad, and not that they
wouldn't want a quarterback, but it really does feel like
he is going to change.

Speaker 2 (10:19):
Who they are.

Speaker 3 (10:19):
I'm generally morally opposed to isolated training camp clips that
everybody freaks out over and draws vast sweeping conclusions over.
In the case of Malik Neighbors, like keep them coming,
I love them. I think Charlotte Carroll by Colleige get
the athletics. She posts won every single day at least
including one where she almost got taken out by a football,
So hope she's doing okay. But he, like I said

(10:40):
at the very beginning, Malik Neighbors is the type of
player who makes you look less wrong about the quarterback,
and I think that that's super crucial. You see him
potentially raising Daniel Jones's floor.

Speaker 1 (10:52):
Yeah, and Dana Jones showed up on Monday with a
beard and he's been playing a little better. So I
just feel like bearded Dan Jones going to get things done.
I'm more invested in this rookie class than I normally
would because of hard knock. So their whole idea is like,
let's get four starters out of this class, including Brian Burns.
I think they were counting as one of the starters.
They're not all going to work out right now. It

(11:13):
looks like Tyler Nuban the safety who they took in
the second round is probably not going to start. It's
going to be Dane Belton, and yeah this was according
to some of the work at the Athletic. But Drew Phillips,
who they drafted to be a slot cornerback, he actually
started one of the like eight fights today with a
mon Ross Saint Brown and supposedly been playing really well,
and it looks like he's going to start. And Theo Johnson,

(11:36):
the tight end who is not expected to start, is
right now ahead of Daniel Bellinger, has a lot of athleticism,
so that's another young piece to get excited about. And
Jalen Hyatt, who's right now their third wide receiver, ahead
of Darius Slayton. So I'm thinking about fantasy too, and
I feel like this time of year, Slayton they always
bear him and he always ends up rising. But some
of the young players stepping up. Evan Neil not stepping up,

(12:00):
who's been hurt, and it really doesn't look like he's
going to get that first round or rather that starting
job back.

Speaker 3 (12:05):
A couple things THEO Johnson keep hearing buzz about him.
I'll see his name sort of pop up on my
social media feed every once in a while, just beat
writers on the ground there in New Jersey just kind
of buzzing about him and what he can do. It
sounds like the Giants brought the fight today, which is
was framed as a positive thing, as a good thing
in terms of, you know, they're not kind of gonna

(12:27):
just keel over. They're not gonna go quietly. They're going
to try to make the most of defensively, at least
what they believe they're capable of. I think this could
be a sneaky good defense. I don't know as much
about the offense here, but think it could be a sneaky.

Speaker 1 (12:39):
Gu Yeah, and they said the offense had a solid day.
I don't know about Joe Shane. We watched him on
Hard Knocks for five weeks getting in the middle of
one of these fights.

Speaker 4 (12:47):
Supposedly like he's building up his cred.

Speaker 2 (12:49):
Going to all Jeff van Gundy.

Speaker 1 (12:50):
That's what I imagine, was Jeff van Gundy holding on
to I don't even remember who that was.

Speaker 3 (12:55):
I need to know if he kept his Duck and
Donuts cup in his hand as he sprinted.

Speaker 1 (12:59):
Into Daniel Jones also supposedly was like first in on
like the first fight of the day. It was like
his teammates respect that, but I don't know if you
want to do all right, let's go on to the Eagles.
Makai Becton, I've noticed getting a chance with the first team.
There's been some injuries there, but both him and Tyler
Steen were back in the lineup on Monday and Becton

(13:19):
getting a chance. That's interesting. Their number three receiver battle
is up for grabs. Party Wilson, Paris Campbell's been hurt. Yeah,
Johnny Wilson out there, and yeah.

Speaker 3 (13:28):
There's been again there's been some buzz on Johnny Wilson.
He's quote unquote, according to my colleague Brooks Kubena, is
making a case that he could really be the number
three six round pick. And apparently he's popping in camp
and also having getting a lot of opportunities. And then
you know, you hear the people who are supposed to
shine are shining. Devonte Smith apparently having the best camp

(13:48):
of any player on the field.

Speaker 1 (13:49):
Yeah, we had bow Wolf on last week, so we
all need to go two deep.

Speaker 2 (13:53):
He was fantastic talking Eagles.

Speaker 1 (13:55):
But one thing I don't think we hit with bo
was Nikobe Dean just may not happen. You know, it
just might not work out for him. He had injuries.
People thought that was such a great pick by the Eagles.
I added two in the third round, and right now
he's behind Zach Bond and just hasn't made plays. He's
been able to be healthy, but doesn't seem like he's

(14:15):
a Vic Fangio guy. And it's interesting Quinjon Mitchell. If
he ends up being their Week one starting slot cornerback,
which it really looks like he's going to be, he
actually would be like the highest drafted player to be
a primary slot to ever play as a rookie. Like
you just don't normally see rookie corners start, and I
don't think that was their plan initially, but he's apparently

(14:38):
looked good there and they like their outside corners with
kiey Ringo and Issiera.

Speaker 2 (14:41):
I think that's a good problem to have. I would
not freak out the.

Speaker 3 (14:44):
Most popular I wouldn't say best, but the most popular
offenses in the league right now are really trying to
capitalize on the middle of the field, particularly extrapolating those
matchups in the middle of the field. Having a really,
really good slot player who can tackle. Who is a
girl who has good ball skills? That is absolutely crucial.
I guess I'm not as surprised about this. In Vic

(15:05):
Fangio's system, he doesn't always play young players. But if
he really likes a guy, he's hitting full send, okay.

Speaker 2 (15:12):
So he'll find a place for him.

Speaker 1 (15:13):
But it also says to me that Ringo and Isaiah Rodgers,
who was suspended all of last year but actually had
a pretty good rookie year with the Colts, that they
liked them. Also, I'm watching in training camp or a
preseason rather that Tanner McKee Kenny Pickett battle. I don't
know why. Hell yeah, I like a little Tanner McKee.
Supposedly he's looked better in practice. All right, let's go
to Washington. This was a tougher team for me to

(15:35):
know what to talk about. But man dan Quinn is
really hitting the Jaden Daniels is amazing hard. Maybe he's
just one of those coaches but saying he's remarkable and
his processing is just way ahead of schedule. So all
all systems go for jayde and Daniels. I just worry
about what's around him. The two tackle spots are open,
they already looked like it was a problem to me

(15:57):
on paper, and they've been injured in camp and then
wide resree tight end.

Speaker 2 (16:01):
I don't know.

Speaker 3 (16:02):
It's kind of okay if you come into training camp
like the earliest days, like report days of training camp,
without a knowledge of who a player will be or
two players even at a crucial position. But you gotta
know by now when joint practices get started, when you're
really deciding how much time Jaden Daniels is going to

(16:22):
play in the preseason, which is what is being discussed
right now. It sounds like he will play in the preseason.
I will say keeping him healthy is absolutely crucial. Ben Standig,
we're talking about beat writers here. He does a great job.
He is very neutral, like he's not one for razzle dazzle.

Speaker 4 (16:39):
Or anything like that.

Speaker 3 (16:40):
He says, there is at least one moment in every
single practice where Jaden Daniels puts the razzle dazzle on.

Speaker 4 (16:47):
It minds the team why they picked him, the rale dazzle.

Speaker 2 (16:49):
I like that.

Speaker 1 (16:50):
The combination of that with the processing is great. But again, yeah,
wide receiver three about us thin to me as any
group in the league. And then I saw a an
article that was headline, zach Ertz is you know Washington's
best red zone option. I'm just thinking that's not a
good sign. No, no slight to zach ert Oh, I think.

Speaker 4 (17:10):
About I mean, he it's just people get old, like,
you know, right, it's.

Speaker 1 (17:14):
Happened, he's been hurt, and maybe he's having a good camp,
But that says to me more about the rest of
the team. Nikki have Abala of the Washington Post had
a stat that of the thirty three players drafted from
twenty twenty twenty to twenty twenty three in the last regime,
only six are guaranteed to make the team. Yeah, so
I think it's just a bigger rebuild than people realize.

Speaker 3 (17:36):
They turned over of like forty players over the last
calendar year from the last regime.

Speaker 2 (17:40):
It's rough.

Speaker 1 (17:41):
If you look at their last two draft classes, there
are you know, twenty two and twenty three. It's just
not a lot of difference makers. Let's wrap the NFC
East with the Eagles, I mean with the Cowboys rather
been a couple of things here. Let's start with Trey Lance.
We haven't talked about Trey Lance. I listened to this
podcast with Brian Brotis and Bobby Belt. I believe it

(18:03):
was great who works at NFL Network and they're all
focused on tree Lance, and I kind of forgot, like, oh,
that's a huge story in Dallas. It's not a huge
story nationally because I think for some of us the
book has written a little bit on tree Lance. But
the hope there is that they find maybe a future
quarterback because Dak Prescott may not be there next year,
and just the reports have been rough that he just

(18:23):
is not ready to be their backup much less you know,
a future quarterback.

Speaker 2 (18:28):
That it's just been a tough transition.

Speaker 3 (18:29):
I think to your point, I think we're all focusing
on the Dak situation, which is still unresolved, or maybe
is resolved. It's just we because it doesn't have a
finality to it, Like we're thinking it's unresolved.

Speaker 1 (18:42):
If it was resolved, that means he's either playing out
the year.

Speaker 4 (18:47):
Yeah, if it was.

Speaker 3 (18:48):
As of now, it looks like he's I mean, he
looks like he's going to play out the year and
then either go elsewhere, which he talked openly about a
couple of weeks ago. The quarterbacks he's watched over the
last couple of years who have in history who have
done that, or they pay him, and there's very few
options here, but that's what we're focused on, obviously, So
it's probably why the Trey Lance stuff kind of goes

(19:09):
under the radar. But the beat people on the ground
are definitely looking at what comes next because I think
they see the realities of the situation ahead.

Speaker 1 (19:17):
And it just sounds like it's not pretty, which is
a bummer. And yeah, Dak spoke again over the weekend,
and I think the vibe is, if you're Dak Prescott,
why sign this contract now, even if they're offering him
the highest paid contract in NFL history in certain ways
or in all ways, he can just think I've already
made so much money, I will get more money from

(19:40):
the Cowboys, or definitely if I'm on the open market
next off season, if i just play this thing out,
and you're taking a little bit of a risk, but
I think it's going that route. I'm fascinated by it
because I wanted to see Kirk Cousins hit the open
market and really reset things, and maybe he wasn't the
right guy for it in the end because of his injury,
But Dak Prescott's.

Speaker 3 (19:59):
He's he's going to draw the same type of buzz
and hype and maybe even more than Kirk Cousins always
did from a particular set of coaches. And I think
that this is super super interesting because and I honestly like,
I get it if that's really where he's coming from.
And we're not going to put words in anyone's mouth,
but if that's where he's coming from, you don't even
know if your head coach is going to be there

(20:20):
next year. You don't know if XYZ players are going
to be there. You're one of your top your top
receiver is still in a holdout right now. You don't
know the direction of this organization right now, So why
not hold more cards for yourself and protect yourself in
that way.

Speaker 1 (20:33):
This is a deeper Dak talk that I expected, But
that's why it's fun having you here, because I do
want to get to other stuff with the Cowboys. But
the Dak thing's interesting because I thought I really wanted
Lamar to do this more than anyone, that if he
got in the open market, he could really reset how
much quarterbacks are actually work worth. Because if Dak gets
out there, like he could get sixty five a year,

(20:54):
he could blow it up. And when I heard Dak
say over the weekend that he's thinking about all the
players in the league and wanting to push the envelope
for them, but he's not talking he's gonna talk about
his teamates. He's talking about like, let's just push the
pay structure to a new level, I thought, Oh, man,
he is not signing right now, which is fascinating to me.
They've there's been a lot of stories though in this camp,
and the podcast I mentioned, by the way, is called

(21:16):
Love of the Star. I want to give them credit
because I'm really getting a lot of this from them.

Speaker 2 (21:20):
I've read stuff.

Speaker 1 (21:22):
But they think for the most part, maybe the best
wid wide receiver in camp has been Jalen Tolbert.

Speaker 2 (21:26):
So that's nice.

Speaker 1 (21:27):
A guy who's you know, when Brandon Cooks is the
two but getting older and Tolbert's younger. Sounds like he's
settling into a role when Ceedee Lamp comes back. The
biggest takeaway I had is that Tyler Goyton in Cooper Bebe,
which after the draft people are like, oh, they're going
to have two rookie starters. Cooper Bebe is like a
plug and play center bbe struggling. He's not going to
be the starter. It's this guy who was an undrafted

(21:49):
free agent that the line coach like, Soalari Hansman is
going to be their center, and Tyler Goeyiton might not
be their Week one starter either, might be a dogo again,
it might be something where just they're not comfortable playing rookie.
So it's one of those things you look on draft
day it's like, oh, they'll have this youth movement, and
then you get to camp and it's not quite like that.

Speaker 3 (22:09):
I if I'm recalling correctly, and I might not be,
and I know you'll correct me if I'm not. But
Geiton was supposed to always take some time, wasn't he.

Speaker 4 (22:17):
He was always supposed.

Speaker 2 (22:18):
To be ry.

Speaker 1 (22:19):
He was like the guy at the end of the
first round that was kind of pushed up to the
end of the first round that was really talented, but
like six tackles had already gone by then.

Speaker 3 (22:28):
One thing that you have always done and you guys
on the on the previous show around the NFL always
did that, I think is so awesome and really brought
so much joy around the league to us beat writers
on the ground in the trenches. Is that you always
sighted us and so that's pretty freaking cool that that's
still ringing truth.

Speaker 1 (22:45):
Yeah, let's let's keep doing that. And I didn't need
to cite anyone to know Mazzie Smith is struggling because
the coaches have talked about it, and man, I look
at that draft they had last year where I think
they really reached for some need picks.

Speaker 2 (22:57):
Him and Schoonmaker.

Speaker 1 (22:58):
Neither one's really working out, and they just have a
lot of positions that are up for grabs. I think
they're starting running back might not be on their roster
right now, and they might have some defensive tackles out
there on different teams or our free agents that end
up playing big snaps. So there's a lot going on
with this team. I think they have a lot to
fix in the coming weeks. Let's take our first break

(23:20):
now and so that they're not just like crammed together
at the end of the show.

Speaker 2 (23:24):
And we'll be back right after that break.

Speaker 5 (23:28):
Oh yeah, oh yeah.

Speaker 1 (23:45):
We're back here hitting camp takeaways for all the NFC teams.
You're gonna kick us off with the Bears, Jordan.

Speaker 3 (23:52):
Yeah, we're gonna go to the NFC North, the Bears
DJ Moore four years, one hundred and ten million dollar extension.
Do you know what I love the most about the
I'm gonna tell you without you answering, Okay, what I
love the most about this is that they are quite
literally aligning the careers of DJ Moore and Romadunze, like
they are literally pairing them four years on the rookie deal. Obviously,

(24:14):
if he plays well, he get extended before that, but
this is their tandem. And I know Keenan Allen's theair.

Speaker 2 (24:18):
I love that.

Speaker 3 (24:19):
I love that fit, and I love his leadership. But
in terms of like they're showing you exactly who their
dudes are and who Caleb Williams guys are going to
be for the next four seasons.

Speaker 1 (24:27):
At least, that is such a I wouldn't say underrated.
It's just so valuable to have some idea of who's
going to be on your team in twenty six, in
twenty seven, and compared to that to other sports, the
NFL has so much turnover. When you can find your
guys at those positions, it's so valuable. I do wonder
if we're gonna see Caleb Williams this week in the

(24:48):
preseason they wanted to play him quite a bit, but
right now they're short three offensive line starters. So Tevin
Jenkins is out, Darnault Wright is out, Nate Davis is out,
and if they're not producing on offense, and right now,
just according to the practice reports, the offense is you know,
losing for the most part against this Bears defense, and

(25:11):
they're worried about keeping him upright, we might not see
Caleb Williams this week. And you know, it is a
little concerning. Obviously, this offensive line on paper is not
great to begin with, but none of these injuries seem
overly serious.

Speaker 3 (25:23):
Yeah, I think week to week is kind of what
you're looking at with some of these guys. You know,
there's been a lot of conversation about the offense versus
the defense. Again, this is the extrapolated clips time of year,
and Caleb Williams, you see some good days, sometimes you
see some bad days. I wanted to ask someone who's
seen all the days, who's been every single practice this year,
So I asked my good friend Kevin Fishbain covers the

(25:44):
Bears for the Athletic. I promise I read every beat
writer in the league. It's just we've opened with a
lot of athletic people. Kevin is I wouldn't call him athletic,
but he does work for the athletic.

Speaker 2 (25:54):
Well, you get you have a free subscription.

Speaker 3 (25:56):
So he's I asked him, really genuinely, what are your
thoughts on Caleb Gonna read the text that he sent
me back. He said, the offense has struggled to get
in a rhythm or be a smooth operation. But that's
not all on Caleb. He cited the the offensive lineman
being out, the three three of them being out, so
only two starters on that line are healthy right now.
He's still working through a new scheme dealing with Caden
says against a veteran defense that does know the calls.

Speaker 4 (26:19):
That said, he has looked the part the off schedule.

Speaker 3 (26:21):
Throws, the arm angles, the accuracy are eye popping, and
he wants to throw. He can run, but he's trying
to stay in the pocket and let his receivers do
the work.

Speaker 1 (26:31):
And they're on year three of their defense, by the way, too. Yeah,
sometimes defense gonna be frisky. It's not a fair fight.
They need they need another edg Rusher. Austin Booker, a
fifth round rookie, been getting some notice and made a
couple of plays in the just in terms of you know,
pushing the pocket in the Hall of Fame game.

Speaker 2 (26:46):
So that's a name to watch.

Speaker 3 (26:47):
They're also missing. They're not expected to be serious, but
there have been missing at various points, and recently we're
missing Montes Sweat, Andrew Billings, cornerbacks, Kyler Gordon, Tyree Stevenson
in safety, Jakwan Brisker, and so Jalen John Since said
he's not super worried about that, but just something to
keep an eye on. Injuries kind of sneaky taken over
some parts of these practices.

Speaker 1 (27:06):
I think, all right, let's do let's do the other
side of that, Giants Lions.

Speaker 4 (27:11):
Let's go right into the Lions.

Speaker 3 (27:13):
Yeah, because I was going to bring up the joint
practices too again, Colton Poundsy was saying he's never seen
as physical of a practice. They did take some contact.
It looked like Kevin Zieler, the guard, he had to
leave practice with the shoulder injury, and then Terry On
Arnold took a nasty hit from a left tackle.

Speaker 4 (27:31):
Giants left that one.

Speaker 1 (27:32):
You could see that is one of the clips that
was out there is Andrew Thomas on the edge, just
crushing Arnold who was not knocked down.

Speaker 3 (27:41):
Surprisingly, Yeah he stood, he stood in there, but he
now is being evaluated.

Speaker 1 (27:45):
The downside of these joint practices is the fights, and
you don't want to have injuries.

Speaker 6 (27:49):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (27:50):
Absolutely, It sounds like Brian Branch might come back to
full practice soon. He was in individuals, he was doing
a little bit of pads work, had some team opportunities.
He is so much fun watch. Sounds like he's going
to be at safety instead of kind of moving around
all over the place. Ennis Rakestraw, the rookie cornerback, getting
his hands on the ball apparently according to reports on

(28:10):
the ground there at those practices.

Speaker 2 (28:12):
So that's they're just so deep there.

Speaker 1 (28:15):
Jamison Williams started the team session, the red zone session
with like a wide open twenty yard touchdown and yeah
you're colleague Culton Pouncy. I listened to his podcast too,
which is just transferring check out his new one, and
he talked about how the class of twenty one, which
of course had Penney Sewell there and a mon rossing

(28:36):
Brown super duperstars are really developing and three defenders. Levi
on Wuzurique who just hasn't been able to stay healthy,
and then Derek Barnes and then Melafon who came on
at safety at the end of last year. And to me,
that just shows what a great coaching staff can do
because these are guys they stuck with and they're not

(28:57):
going to be superstars or anything, but it really sounds
like own Wuzurique and they could really use another interior
Presence is ready to have his best season and the
other two guys are ready to have their best seasons.
Barnes is now Derek Barnes at strong side linebacker and
Jack Campbell's gonna be in the middle and looks apparently
a little more ready for a bigger role this year.

(29:19):
In Melafono, it was great last year. So that's just
what good coaching staffs can do. That Like, yeah, it's
not just about first year, second year. Sometimes your your
guys in your fourth year can take a jump. And
if they do this, this may be my NFC title pick.
Not that that's on a limb or anything, but I
like them.

Speaker 3 (29:35):
Before I jump to the Packers. Sounds like they did
for fantasy football people. Sounds like they did find their
wide receiver three Dorrise Fountain, former practice squad member, might
be making a little bit of a case for himself.

Speaker 4 (29:47):
Let's let's hit the packers.

Speaker 2 (29:49):
Go to the packers, please?

Speaker 3 (29:50):
Did I did I do that? Okay, this is my
first time throwing. You know, that's your job, that's your time,
that's your job. But I'm throwing to the next section here,
let's go. Okay, Romeo dobbs the buzz going against jay
R Alexander. There's a lot of people his teammates, former
teammates as well, who are kind of shouting him out
as one of the top receivers in the league or
ready for kind of that breakout season. I'm curious. I

(30:12):
know you've been kind of tracking that a little bit.
I'm curious about your thoughts on.

Speaker 1 (30:15):
Yeah, he always is great because he makes in camp,
because he's the best at making those red zone just
wild catches. But he's proven he can do it. I
was a little worried because that family night. We'll get
to that more in a bit. You know, someone charted
the snaps of with Jordan Love and my guy Dantavian Wicks,
who to me might be the most well rounded of

(30:38):
the four receivers.

Speaker 2 (30:39):
So Jane Reid's in the slot. You have Christian Watson,
you have Dobbs.

Speaker 1 (30:42):
They're all different flavors, but Wicks had the fewest amount
of snaps. It's a good problem to have for the Packers.
It's great for fantasy people less so I was a
little I was a little down on that, but they're
all I mean yet at the end of last year,
Dobbs was kind of their most trusted guy.

Speaker 3 (30:57):
Yeah, outstanding connection with him and Jordan Love. It seems
like it just never slowed down and just picked up
right where I left off. Rookie first round pick Jordan Morgan,
he played left tackle at Arizona in college. He's gonna
play right guard and he's been getting reps with the Ones.
They've had some injuries as well, but he basically, he
told reporters the other day, he just wants to get

(31:18):
on the field.

Speaker 4 (31:19):
He'll play wherever right.

Speaker 2 (31:21):
This is a very Packers thing.

Speaker 1 (31:22):
They always have position flexible guys and changed positions year
to year. Elton Jenkins, who's been a pro bowler, is
always in a different spot. Another one of their rookies,
see Evan Williams. Their safety getting a lot of pop.
Aaron Nagler if she said TVs has said this guy's
just a player, and they drafted two safeties, you know,
with pretty valuable picks, him and Javon Buller and kind

(31:44):
of seeing which one works out. I think Rashaun Garry's
gonna have monster year because again it's the second year
after the ACL injury, so he's someone to watch. They
would love Lucas van Ness, who was pretty quiet as
a rookie, to step up a little.

Speaker 3 (31:56):
Okay, explain something to me. Actually, I would love you,
of all people, please explain this to me. So Zach
Tom's going to come back to practice. Sounds like he's
been working in a couple of individuals. He had a
torn peck for it from lifting weights. So just let
me hang out. They're right tackle hang in there at
Tucker Craft. He may return either this week or next week.

(32:17):
Torn pectoral from lifting weights. Yeah, Matt Lafleur horn pectoral
from lifting So Greg, I know as an avid bodybuilder yourself, Yes,
what is what.

Speaker 4 (32:26):
Are they lifting? How heavy are they lifting?

Speaker 2 (32:28):
Over there?

Speaker 4 (32:29):
I mean, can we get like a ballpark?

Speaker 2 (32:30):
The form? The form must be bad.

Speaker 1 (32:32):
Yeah, I'm not too much into the you know, the
lifting that would that would shock you. I don't want
to say what I'm really thinking, which is just like
these are types of injuries that didn't occur back in
like the sixties and seventies. I'm just saying, I don't know, Okay, Boomer,
It's not about that. It's just like what else is
going on there?

Speaker 3 (32:49):
Do you think they were all in like a competition together,
like bro who can bench the most reps?

Speaker 2 (32:54):
Like something something to that effect.

Speaker 3 (32:56):
I do want to shout out there was a to me,
the coolest moment of training camp happened at Packers camp.
They had like friends and family night, and they had
people in the stands and and.

Speaker 4 (33:06):
It was really cool.

Speaker 3 (33:07):
You get to go to lambeau Field and kind of
get excited about the season. There was a kid who
was catching punts, was fielding NFL punts, and he fielded
two punts, held onto the ball both of those, both
of the footballs, and then caught a third and the
team just lost it. I think we've got to This
is my first time throwing to a video guys, so
let's hope I get it.

Speaker 4 (33:25):
We got a video from the Packers YouTube channel.

Speaker 2 (33:28):
We got that one. They're coming on coming on Strong.
That's good coaching. Rock right there, they're getting good coaching.

Speaker 4 (33:38):
Oh with the hands, now, this is the best his face,
he nailed it.

Speaker 2 (33:48):
I love it.

Speaker 4 (33:51):
Kidding me, everyone comes over.

Speaker 1 (33:53):
Hid will never forget this moment, trust me, no matter
what he does the rest of his sports life.

Speaker 3 (34:01):
I just love that. I just thought that. I just
think that's so. That's training camp in a nutshell.

Speaker 1 (34:06):
That was incredible though, because most NFL players could not
do that, and you got like a ten year old kid.
I thought it like got them a practice off or.

Speaker 2 (34:14):
Something like that.

Speaker 3 (34:14):
The Rams are going to sign them. They had the
worst special teams unit in the league last year. Okay, Minnesota, Yeah,
I wonder what you made of Kevin O'Connell's coming up
to the podium or the lectern or whatever the right
word for that is. And kind of he was a
little salty adamant for sure when he was asked at
the beginning of camp about the plan for the quarterbacks
and all of that, and he like hammered down into

(34:37):
we're doing it this way. I'm not going to put
JJ McCarthy into anything he's not ready for beforehand. But
sounds like JJ McCarthy's workload is ramping up a little bit.

Speaker 1 (34:45):
Yeah, a little bit of first team reps. And they
sort of did it on a Saturday with like three reps.
It was almost like a series. It was almost like
a bad new like a Friday news dropper like that.
They just like didn't want anyone to notice. So we'll see.
All All reports are that for the most part, he's

(35:05):
looked really sharp, good in red zones, like better at
than Sam Donald at certain things and worse at others.
So yeah, I listen to Purple Daily is a good
Vikings podcast and they've been on this and one thing
they pointed out jud Zalgad there was that Donald looks
great throwing the ball deep.

Speaker 2 (35:22):
It just looks so pretty.

Speaker 1 (35:24):
But this is an intermediate offense, like that's where Justin
Jefferson has won over and over and that is not
Sam Donald's strength. And that's not where he's been accurate
necessarily as a pro, So that might be an issue.

Speaker 3 (35:38):
But yes, has he always had Johnny Munt with him? No,
a little bit tug and cheek there, but Johnny Munt
apparently is catching everything in camp. He hasn't dropped a
pass yet, and he's also gotten the most targets according
to the beat writers there, So that's that's.

Speaker 4 (35:55):
Significant to me.

Speaker 3 (35:56):
My good friend Stu Jackson and I we have he
works over at the Rams. We have a saying, because
we covered him, you cannot stop Johnny Munt. You may
only hope to contain him.

Speaker 2 (36:06):
Yes, TJ.

Speaker 1 (36:07):
Hockinson coming off of a tourney ACL at tight end,
So yeah, I don't think Monk's going to be the
centerpiece of their offense, but it points out that that
is a big place in there offense. Jalen Naylor it
seems like if he's healthy, he's going to be their
wide receiver three. So we do learn about these position battles,
and that's good. He's always been a talented young player
who just hasn't been able to stay healthy. Your guy
Brandon Powell is probably more their their fourth and then

(36:29):
they're so thin at cornerback. I think it's going to
be a major problem for this team. They signed Fabian
Moreau and he immediately just started taking starter reps, so
that that's not a great sign. And as here's a
repeat from around the NFC last year when we did
this show, I was mentioning how QUESI yeah, has done
a great job, but his first two draft picks he

(36:49):
ever had. We're struggling to get out in the field.
Lewis Scene and Andrew Booth, and now here we are
a year later. They're still on the team, but Seen
is probably not going to be on the team after camp,
and Andrew Booth.

Speaker 2 (37:01):
Might not be either.

Speaker 1 (37:02):
So like even the good gems, those that looks like
two big swings and Missus, it.

Speaker 3 (37:06):
Sounds like they're kind of gonna rely pretty heavily on
scheme with this defense and Brian Flores and safety play
and Brian Flores manufacturing pressure upfront to kind of help
those those quarterbacks. Excuse me, those cornerbacks out to terrorize
quarterbacks on the air side.

Speaker 1 (37:21):
We have like four safeties that they love and they
played Josh Mattellus and Theo Jackson's been playing well in camp.
So there's your Vikings update. Let's do the NFC South
next and I'll kick it off with a team that's
near and dear to your heart. I don't need to
give away your business, but yeah, you were having a
nice conversation with Ron Rivera today.

Speaker 4 (37:42):
Great news, Ron, Great to see Ron.

Speaker 1 (37:44):
Ron now working at the NFL network. We'll see here
for GMFB. I don't know, but he was here. Yeah,
you and Ron Rivera, you guys are tight this this
Panthers team. You're just looking for positivity. But they have
had some injuries. Xavier get was their first round pick,
was not necessarily in line to be their third receiver.

(38:05):
They were hoping that he really changes their wide receiver room,
and supposedly the Patriots were gonna take him, but they,
you know, want they took him before the Patriots could
has a foot injury. But wasn't impressing the people on
the ground there. Your old colleague Joseph Person Mike Kaye
is also at the Charlotte Observer there, and they both

(38:25):
had kind of I wouldn't say negative, but just saying
like it was taken a while for him to get going.
But Jonathan Mingo, who I like, come out in the draft.
They're saying maybe he's a little more ready to have
a big role. So it might be Mingo starting and
maybe Terras Marshall is the third.

Speaker 3 (38:38):
Yeah, it'll be interesting. It sounds like Dave Canalis is
gonna utilize tight ends, like we've said for a lot
of different teams. Sounds like he's gonna lean on those
guys a little bit more. I just want good things
for the papers, for the fans, like, I just want
good things for them.

Speaker 4 (38:52):
I mean, my God, Like, can we just can we
move the ball down the field? Please?

Speaker 2 (38:57):
There's a lot of Bryce.

Speaker 1 (38:58):
There's a lot of Bryce Deontae John's Like, no matter
what the source is, whether it's their team website or anyone, right,
and it's like another good day for Bryce and Deontay Johnson.
So I think that's going to end up being a great,
great trade for them.

Speaker 3 (39:09):
Hope springs eternal, okay, But on the other side of
the ball, kind of sneaky older in a couple of
really important positions, particularly in that defensive scheme under Agiro
Everro Jadavian Clowney, who I've loved as a player for
a long time. It's really fun when he puts it together,
and he still has definitely plenty of explosiveness and power.

(39:30):
He's gonna he's slotted. And they released their Darren gand
at the team website, they released their first step chart,
and I know we're not going to read too much
into like the sort of the team released depth charts
this time of year, but he's on the edge, and
then Troy Hill is starting in the slot for them,
and again, those are two absolutely crucial positions. You cannot
get hurt there. They are kind of concerning on that

(39:50):
side of the ball and their offense. We just don't
know if their offense is going to actually help that
defense out.

Speaker 2 (39:55):
I don't.

Speaker 1 (39:55):
They don't have any other edges. That's the thing is clowney.
As long as he plays like the last couple of
years and stays healthy, that's great. But after that it's
it's pretty thin. I gotta say tight end. They might
start Jatavian Sanders week one, just because Ian Thomas, their
regular starter, might be out all the way until then. Backfield,

(40:16):
maybe it's Miles Sanders, maybe not. Andy Dalton's out for
a couple of weeks with a quad injury, which I
hope let's get healthy soon. Andy Dalton, all right, let's
go to the Saints. I was down there in Irvine
for NFL Network on Friday, and that was fun. Tyron Matthew,
great interview. I love I love what he said about

(40:36):
some criticism that he heard from CJ.

Speaker 2 (40:40):
Gardner Johnson.

Speaker 6 (40:41):
I mean, and I'm gona speak for himself, you know
what I mean. I think I'm like one or two
in like interceptions since twenty thirteen, you know what I mean,
I've been an all decade, All Pro player. So I
mean when guys like that chirp, it doesn't really bother me.
But every now and then, you know, I got to
take that low road and kind of remind them you
know who I am.

Speaker 2 (40:58):
Does it give you a little extra juice? You play
that week two? You got that circle now?

Speaker 6 (41:03):
Oh yeah, for sure. I mean, listen, man, he used
to play for the Saints, and you know obviously, uh,
you know I've played against the Eagles of Bunts. Man,
that's a great team. I think Nick is going to
do a great job getting those guys ready. But uh,
you know we're gonna be ready to row.

Speaker 2 (41:14):
I love that from Honey Badger.

Speaker 1 (41:15):
And you do get this attitude from this defense that
they believe that they're going to be good enough to
carry this team. And they've won a lot of the
days at training camp. But supposedly Derek Carr and the
offense getting it going a little better. To me, Chase
Young looking really healthy and strong coming off next surgery
is probably the biggest single development down there at their camp.

Speaker 3 (41:37):
Uh the what was it the Kubiaks? What did we
what was the group kubi the Well, no, this is
it was a kettle, a kettle of Kubiaks. Anyway, I'm
expecting a lot more play action that's going to help
everybody out on offense. That will, particularly, in my opinion,
help Derek Carr out in terms of some of the
efficiency and just sustaining through.

Speaker 4 (41:56):
The course of a season.

Speaker 3 (41:57):
I agree with you, though, this defense hasnly been pretty
fun to watch, even if you haven't really other parts
of the team haven't really popped or they haven't really
been in the in the topical conversation of like really
exciting teams to watch, this defense is always fun, and
so I do think that they've kind of maybe it
sounds like from that interview, great interview with Tyron Matthew,
a little bit of pop, a little bit of chippy,

(42:18):
chippiness on the shoulder. We're on chip alert. So yeah,
until Clay.

Speaker 1 (42:21):
You never you never know what to what to put
into it. Whenever you leave a team and you're like, oh, yeah,
of course they're all going to be great. They believe
they're going to be great. I was impressed by Willie Gay,
their linebacker who who I also you know, had a
chance to interview with Bridget Condon that he managed to
stay totally calm while a gigantic beetle the size of

(42:42):
like a small rat landed on the back of his
head and it was right next to me and about
I'm not going to touch that man's head, and I was.

Speaker 2 (42:50):
A little you know, I didn't you stay calm? I
was pretty calm.

Speaker 1 (42:53):
Yeah, And thankfully their their pr head, you know, knock
knocked it off, Willy said, But that that was impressive.
This team is so thin behind their top skill guys
like Rashid Shaheed is out of practice right now, and
their second wide receiver is who I mean, you don't know.
It's like at Perry or this undrafted kid Mason Tipton

(43:16):
or who knows. And behind Alvin Kamarat running back, they
like the second year player Jordan Mims, but Jamal Williams
is still there.

Speaker 2 (43:24):
It's pretty thin.

Speaker 1 (43:25):
You got a backup quarterback battle with Jake Hayner and
Spencer Rattler. That's kind of fun. But they are as
banged up right now as any team in the league.
I counted nine starters that were out of nine starters
or like top rotation guys that were out of practice
on Monday, which is just that's an outrageous number, including
like to Mario Davis and Marshaun Lattimore.

Speaker 2 (43:46):
So you just want to get healthy.

Speaker 3 (43:47):
I said this a few weeks ago. I think to you,
over the next few years, keep an eye on Spencer
Rattler in terms of that development, in terms of that
skill level ascension. Making things a little bit interesting there
at quarterback.

Speaker 1 (44:00):
I think, yeah, oh yeah, if they struggle as a team,
fans will be calling for him. But he's got to
play well in the preseason to win that backup job. Supposedly,
reportedly Jay Kyner, who was their choice last year in
the middle rounds, is playing better and it is a battle.
Let's move on to the bucks. I thought it was
interesting Levonte David said this is the best culture we've

(44:21):
ever had in Tampa. I was like, well, Levonte David's
been there for a long time with some good teams
that won the Super Bowl. This is the best culture
right now that they've ever had. Todd Bowles.

Speaker 3 (44:33):
Todd Bowles, Todd Bowles perennially chill dude like Dials up
some of the nastiest you know what you've ever seen,
but just stays very calm. Even Keel loved some of
his press conferences this last year. I think they kind
of flew unto the radar. Some of the dry, the
dry humor kind of flew under the radar. But I
think he's also talking about vibes collectively in the building.

(44:54):
And you know, I know Liam Cullen got a lot
of criticism for that twenty twenty two and then sort
of that dem back down into college, you know, at
Kentucky and then sort of moving laterally into another OC job,
Liam Cohen and Baker Mayfield together kind of like an
all vibe situations, Okay to be frank.

Speaker 1 (45:13):
And I was thinking, like, okay, who's there and who's
not there, Like Devin White's not there, Carlton Davis isn't there.
Just it was just I thought that was interesting, And
I just think people are kind of sleeping on this
Bucks squad. I think they are the favorites in the
NFC South, but they are thin at outside linebacker. We
talked about ya Yaddabi has a high ankle sprain. Randy

(45:33):
Gregory I don't think is showing up. I heard a
little whisper. Was that from you? That there there was
a team out there that I think is hoping to
sign Randy Gregory because they think this whole thing with
the Bucks is just not gonna happen.

Speaker 2 (45:45):
That was That was not me.

Speaker 1 (45:46):
Okay, okay, I'm not gonna say what team, but yeah,
so keep an eye on that. They've had some injuries
in the secondary. Zion McCollum is their second cornerback, asking
a lot. Tavi or Thomas is their third. But a
quiet and some what healthy training camp for the Bucks.
It's good to be quiet. Let's go to the Falcons.
They've been noisier. I would say, we won't do. We've

(46:08):
talked a lot about Kirk Cousins. One thing that occurred
to me in this camp is like you haven't been
hearing and I try to dig a little out bit
on this that like Michael Pennox is pushing him. I
don't think Michael Pennox is having the rookie training camp
that's so far that's going to make everyone think, Okay,
this guy's close to being ready when Kirk Cousins is

(46:29):
looking as good as he is.

Speaker 2 (46:31):
With that said, I do expect Taylor.

Speaker 1 (46:34):
Heineke to get traded maybe at the end of training
camp for like a conditional six or seventh to some
team that could use him as a backup.

Speaker 3 (46:41):
Yeah, and you know this is not to downgrade anything
that kirk Cousins is doing. It sounds like he's leading,
it sounds like he's looking good, looking healthy, But backup
quarterbacks don't get a lot of reps at training camp.
You are literally installing a new offense. So kirk Cousins
is going to get the lion's share obviously of those reps.
And even with the twos, you're just not allocating that
amount of time that you would be in a system

(47:03):
that has already been there for a couple of years.
Players know the language. The rep allocation is just significantly different.
And so what I think is interesting is you are
seeing some of kirk cousins preferred players start to emerge
a little bit. Ray Ray McCloud is going to be
their slot receiver according to reporters on the ground down there,
and it's sort of being framed as a surprise, and

(47:27):
it's just interesting, like they're kind of starting to take
shape in terms of a diverse passing game. We hope
that we see the ball get thrown around a lot more.
I know that football players definitely hope. And then the
other thing I thought was interesting coming out of Falcons
camp is, you know, Bijon is extraordinary, right, so talented,
but there were some notes on some of the ball

(47:49):
security issues in for fumbles last year. Apparently that's been
a huge emphasis for him and then also for everybody
around him in collectively keeping that front of mind through
these practices.

Speaker 1 (48:00):
Yeah, that's fascinating because you look, if your third receiver
is Raray McCleod, no slight to him, but I just
think a lot of balls are going to Drake London
and Pitts.

Speaker 4 (48:11):
Who's learning two jobs. We've you talked about.

Speaker 1 (48:13):
That inside outside, although he's always been that, so that
to me isn't too different, Like he's always basically been
a slot receiver. Their website said brayln Trice has been
the quickest rookie to make an impact over the last
couple of weeks, maybe getting more snaps than Ebachetty. They
need to find a pass rusher so that would really help.
And then yeah, they the Falcons defense might lead the

(48:35):
league in guys that you've just never heard of. That
might be starting James Smith Williams at linebacker, Nate Landman
in the mix right now, it's probably my cues over
Clark Phillips at cornerback. So just a lot of open
spots there. Raheem Morris will be tested, and we're going
to be tested with one last division. It's Jordan Rodrigg's division.

(48:57):
She talks about the Rams too much.

Speaker 4 (49:00):
Now, yes I do.

Speaker 1 (49:01):
I've heard the feedback, and we uh, we'll talk about
the Rams and the rest of the NFC West after
one last break back on NFL Daily parading through the

(49:25):
streets on the fourth of July.

Speaker 2 (49:27):
That's what this sounds like to me.

Speaker 1 (49:30):
Love this country, go some moan biles. Let's start with
the Seahawks in the NFC West.

Speaker 3 (49:36):
Jordan, like, I actually have to have a really serious
conversation with you about what what was your darkest day
of the Great Geno Scare twenty twenty four.

Speaker 1 (49:47):
I think it was just the text I now don't
remember who sent it to me that yeah you were
you only see like the first part of the text,
and it was like, yeah, Geno's out of practice tests coming,
and then it was like what else, what else doesn't say,
you're just blacked out. He's back at practice. I'm just
excited for this season, for him, for them, but I

(50:08):
am worried about the offensive line. And this was what
the GENO stands were saying last year. That's like, I
promise he's playing pretty well, but he's under the most
pressure rate in the league, and I don't know if
that's gonna change. Abe Lucas sounds like his injuries he's
their right tackle, are serious enough. Who knows when he's
gonna be back. If he's gonna be the same when

(50:29):
he's back, the interior is a question mark. There was
a mention on the radio in Miami on Monday that
Connor Williams, who is a really good center for the
Dolphins but is coming off of torn acl might be
signing with the Seahawks in the next two to three days.

Speaker 2 (50:45):
So that would make me feel better.

Speaker 3 (50:46):
Yeah, good center, a lot of experience. Kind of sounds
like he's on the circuit a little bit, negotiating a
little bit with Miami, but then also talking with some
other people around the league. He's been on a couple visits,
had some conversations, So I think that would be a
good pick.

Speaker 1 (50:59):
On my top one on one less that was good
maybe true where where like the mid sixties, I think
kind of high because he's been like a rock solid
plus starting center.

Speaker 2 (51:07):
Why are you laughing?

Speaker 4 (51:08):
Because I just I really just like like just sort of.

Speaker 2 (51:11):
Who's going to even check to see if right or not.

Speaker 1 (51:14):
I loved listening to your colleague Michael Sean Dugar, Yes,
Michael Sean Dugar talking on his podcast about just the
wide receiver cornerback matchups, like that has to be the
best wide receiver cornerback matchups in the entire league. And
I thought it's been interesting to hear Mike McDonald, their coach, say,
Tarik Willen this year is on a mission after a

(51:36):
pretty down second year, and they're just they love the
versatility of those three guys. And Trey Brown is the third,
who's an underrated for a third cornerback is really good,
and they're matching up with that wide receiver trio like
that's as good as it gets probably in practice every
day around the league.

Speaker 4 (51:50):
You know what's so much fun to think about.

Speaker 3 (51:52):
I mean, they're moving Tarik Wollan and Devin Witherspoon, They're
moving them around left right Witherspoon. Spoon is also playing
in this slot a little bit. And on the other side,
I mean, they're making the receivers better, and the receivers
are kind of getting their licks too. I mean, Jake Bobo,
there's a whole hashtag hashtag more Bobo. But you know,

(52:13):
apparently he's becoming, like developing into a little bit of
a cult favorite up there in the Pacific Northwest. And
but it's gonna be it's only gonna make everyone better.
And I am expecting a really aggressive, very versatile, very
technically sound defensive unit from Mike McDonald and staff.

Speaker 1 (52:29):
Byron Murphy reportedly once the Pads came on their first
round pick up defensive tackle making a lot of noise,
creating a lot of pressure. Guy, your Rams might have
wanted to take to do we do the Rams now look.

Speaker 4 (52:41):
A long look at him.

Speaker 3 (52:42):
Okay, So with the Rams, they're missing three starting offensive
linemen who are all week to week. Left tackle Alaric
Jackson started played well for them last year as well,
he's got an ankle injury. Right tackle Rob Havenstein week
to week he's got an ankle injury, and then left
guard Jonah Jackson he's dealing with a shoulder injury. He's
weak to weak, and and these are all fickle injuries,

(53:03):
you know, ankles on a big guy like that's that's
gonna be a little bit of a fickle recovery.

Speaker 4 (53:08):
I am.

Speaker 3 (53:08):
I mean watching, Yes, the Chargers defense is super impressive
between scheme and some of those younger players coming along
a little bit and then combining a really versatile pass rush.
But the Chargers just beat the brakes off the Rams
in terms of some of that scheme upfront.

Speaker 2 (53:23):
So yeah, way they were fading off and.

Speaker 4 (53:25):
Sides, Yeah, I mean it was.

Speaker 3 (53:27):
It was significant, and so I'm worried about young Warren
mclendon's second year right tackle. All eyes are on him
right now to see if he can take that next
step forward because the Rams also have to think about
the long term future after Rob Havenstein. And the most
significant news that came out of that practice was Puka
Nakua is also weak to week with an ankle injury.
I was told sources, you know, I was told that

(53:51):
this is not considered that serious. I was told that
the team is not, you know, feeling panicked about this,
but they're going to err on the side of caution. Again,
they would really like him healthy for a significant part,
if not all, the season in postseason.

Speaker 1 (54:04):
Yeah, you need him healthy. And I don't know, it's
like injuries are contagious with the Rams because Joey Bosa
actually left the practice. I know we're not doing AFC today,
but that was with an injured wrist, I believe two.
So that's something to watch there. Yeah, Pooka, that's one thing.
Three starting o lignemen that are week to week, and yeah,

(54:25):
it gives a chance for the tight end. So you've
talked about and we've hit a lot of the Rams
on this show, but yeah, Davis Allen, you know, maybe
gets a little more pop. Blake Korm sounds like he's
having a solid enough camp that they like him at
running back. And I thought it was interesting last thing
on the RAMS and then we can we can move on.
I watched our friend JB Long his show with the Rams.

(54:48):
Asked Sean McVay about who stood out most at training camp,
and he went, Braden Fist was his first first name.
And that seems like Sean mcvay's camp crush. And yeah,
they could use some difference makers on d They found
some in the draft last year. That's their second round pick,
and that would be great for them.

Speaker 3 (55:04):
Yeah, I would say Braiden Fisk close, closely followed by
Jared Vers, but Braiden Fisk I think had the best
camp probably of any player you know. And then I
also think that their safeties look awesome. I think this
defense might be a little bit surprising to people who
were expecting this, this big drop off post Aaron Donald,
which it could still be that way. We've seen very

(55:27):
little work in pads yet. But Braiden Fisk, his hands
are correct, his feet are correct, He's explosive. When the
pads came on, he looked every bit the part. And
there's like I said before, their safeties are awesome. Cam
Curl has had an absolutely outstanding camp. Quentin Lake's gonna
be moving around a lot for him, including playing.

Speaker 2 (55:42):
The Star Cool. Let's uh wrap up. We have two
more teams.

Speaker 4 (55:47):
Get well Stucker, get well soon for Walker.

Speaker 2 (55:50):
Yes, but let's wrap up with the Cardinals.

Speaker 4 (55:54):
Zavan Collins. Did you have you talked about the Zavon
Collins extend?

Speaker 2 (55:56):
No, we did not hit that.

Speaker 3 (55:57):
Yeah, that's two year, fourteen million, great fit in this
scheme because he's versatile, does a lot of things. You
were reminiscing on a fund Zaven Collins memory earlier.

Speaker 1 (56:06):
Oh yeah, he had about as dominant a single performance
I've ever seen any defensive player out for the Tulsa
Golden Hurricane against my two lane Green Wave a few
years back.

Speaker 3 (56:16):
Not not great news to b j O JULYI torn
acl You hate to see that.

Speaker 4 (56:22):
First of all, in camp.

Speaker 3 (56:23):
You always get a couple who have season ending injuries
in camp, but they're really I mean, they're obviously they're
gonna need to Davion Collins a step up, but they're
really thin at edge rusher. If if they don't, you know,
without without missing one of their guys, that's just a
tough injury.

Speaker 4 (56:38):
It's just it's just hard.

Speaker 2 (56:39):
That's brutal.

Speaker 1 (56:40):
He was easily their most promising pass rusher, was going
to start if you look kind of beneath the hood
in terms of pass rush, win ray and pressure per snap,
all that sort of stuff. He was up there with
the best rookie pass rushers in the league last year.
And that's I thought their worst position group on the
team probably, although if him and Collins, if Collins kept developing,

(57:02):
and yeah, that was a smart deal by them. I
think they know him well and he's in a new
role and they're going to save some money two years
fourteen million dollars for starting edge rusher. Been a couple
items on the offense. I did want to hit, Like
I noticed Trey Benson, who I gave a lot of
pop a few weeks ago, is like running forth right now,
and they're running back rotation. So you know, if you're

(57:25):
two spots behind I think it's Mari de Marcado in
one spot behind Michael Carter, you might now want to
take him too early in fantasy draft.

Speaker 2 (57:32):
So that's my bad.

Speaker 3 (57:33):
Yeah, Drew Petsing sounds like our friend Nate Tice was
at Cardinals camp last week and he was reporting on
a lot of heavy personnel usage up front and they,
I mean, Drew Petsing is going to run the snot
out of the football. But that is also including the
fact that there's more dimensionality because Kyler Murray apparently looks
just as outstanding as you would expect, but apparently has

(57:57):
been great and one of his favorite targets has been
Greg dor who's catching everything is good.

Speaker 1 (58:01):
They I love their two three four, Like Zay Jones
when he's healthy, is a good rotational receiver.

Speaker 2 (58:08):
You know.

Speaker 1 (58:09):
They they've said like him, Michael Wilson, who I think
has got a little higher ceiling and doorsch that's two
three four. But it doesn't really matter how much you
shake him up. They have enough receivers. Trade McBride is
really their two. And I know Nate Tye was there.
It was because Desmond Ritter is in a big time
camp battle with Clayton Tune his guy, Desmond Ridder.

Speaker 4 (58:26):
You know, Nate's just checking inn win them all on
the guys.

Speaker 2 (58:29):
I'm just h just punching down on Nate here. That
and his Desmond Ridder love. That's it. We did it.
We did that, teams.

Speaker 1 (58:37):
That was a thin slice of heaven, as Dave daan Aschek,
our friend would say. But that's it. That's it for
today's NFL Daily. We'll be back in the Chris Westleyan
podcast studio on Wednesday's show. Looking forward to that, We're
going to do a mock draft, Patrick Claybah, Michael f Florio,

(58:57):
Marcus scram But in the meantime, I'm heading down to
Raiders camp getting some content, some surprises there.

Speaker 2 (59:04):
See you next time

Speaker 6 (59:07):
M HM