What's up football fans? It is a beautiful Monday afternoon here in the northern Kentucky area A perfect day to talk some football. I'm Scott Shouse sitting here with Dewey Vance. This is Turf Talk. So some pretty big news happened today, eh, dewey.
Speaker 2:Yes, sir, yes, sir, man finally got paid. Been about two years in the making probably, if not longer.
Speaker 1:Yeah, he set out to reset the wide receiver market. He wanted to be the highest not paid non-quarterback player, and it is exactly what he did.
Speaker 2:Got exactly what he wanted.
Speaker 1:Four years $140 million, 110 up front or 110 guaranteed. I believe he got 87 million signing bonuses.
Speaker 2:Yes, sir, that really goes to show that he must really be bought into what the Vikings have planned, maybe a quarterback. Maybe he likes what he sees from JJ McCarthy and that whole quarterback room. I know Kevin O'Connell is a really good offensive mind.
Speaker 1:Yeah, because he could go anywhere and get that yeah yeah. If he wanted to, he could fight the battle and, you know, deal with the franchise tag next season, but in the long run he could have gotten that anywhere. So, yeah, so I think you're right. I think it does show that he does like what Minnesota is doing right now with the quarterback room and with the offense, and then it goes to show what's this mean for a guy like Jamar Chase.
Speaker 2:He's won a big deal.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So now for the wide receivers that are currently waiting for deals, what does this mean for, like you just said, jamar Chase, ceedee Lamb, and say Brandon Ayuk? Yeah, it's not good for their front office, as I'll tell you that, yeah, it doesn't help out in anyone's case, but do I think any one of those guys deserve that kind of money? No, no, I'd say not, there's only one other person and only one other receiver in the league that.
Speaker 1:I think that could ask for a pay raise and get that money. And he plays in South Beach. Yeah, yeah, chita, yeah, may not be human.
Speaker 2:Yeah, exactly. So you want to talk about human joystick I?
Speaker 1:think he gives a whole new. You know, no disrespect to, to D'Angelo.
Speaker 2:Hall.
Speaker 1:He was a dog and what he did, but Tyree Kilke is just different.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think those two. Yeah, like you said, the only person that kind of deserves the kind of money is him, and those two kind of are up there on their own kind of, and everyone else I mean no disrespect to Jamar Chase or Brian Ayuk or Devontae Adams, but they're kind of slightly under those two. They're the elite.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and it's. It just shows you the talent bracket that they're in. What they really bring to the table, because five, six years ago these guys were the best receivers in the league. Yeah, you know, in a lot of any other eras these are some. The receivers that we're seeing in today's game is the numbers that they put up, especially when you got somebody like Puka Nakua that came out of nowhere and put up almost 1,500 and put up like 1,500, almost 1,500 yards his rookie year.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, Production on wide receivers at an all-time high. Yeah, as shown by this year's draft, how thirsty teams were for wide receivers. But speaking of the guy in South Beach, rumors have it maybe even during this summer Tua Tungvaloa is going to get a new deal.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's not really expected what he's going to get. A new deal yeah, it's not really expected what he's going to get. I would assume it's going to be around the $40 million $45 million-ish area around that ballpark. I'm sure they'll have some injury clauses in there somewhere.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think it'll be probably around a three or four-year deal, I imagine yeah.
Speaker 1:Nothing too crazy. Length-wise, you get the same kind of deal, daniel jones, just gotta accept. You know, tag on an extra four or five, then yeah say yeah, add some yeah um, besides that, darren waller, um, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know what the hell he was thinking with that, with that music video, but but, I've only seen clips I haven't seen.
Speaker 2:Uh, you showed me a clip just right before you started this, but uh, it was, it was cringe. Yeah, I mean, I mean, hey, just like us, it's something you know first up, you know first time.
Speaker 1:Yeah, something to with you know um well, apparently he's had a history of trying of trying to do something in the booth. That's not what they have to think. This is his very first project, but um, maybe it's just maybe something he's looking forward to after a life, after football, you know, because he's dealt with hamstring injuries a lot a lot of lower body lower body injuries over the course of the last couple years the last like three years or so.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's been really rough for him, so it looks like he's might be moving on from football. And uh, the Giants I talked about previous episode uh, looks like they're kind of moving forward about him by signing a bunch of tight ends, drafting a tight end and looks like, uh, looks like, unfortunately, that last season might be the last season we've seen a Darren Waller in a football uniform yeah, and it's it's, it's.
Speaker 1:It's bad that it went down like that, because I had some pretty high expectations for him in New York, you know, for a change of scenery, different system, but it just didn't work out. I think his body, the wear and tear, is just there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, health was just not on that man's side, unfortunately, health was just not on that man's side, unfortunately.
Speaker 1:In other breaking news, brandon McManus, the latest NFL player to be accused of sexual assault, who was just cut from the Washington Commanders so I was kind of reading into this. So this happened during their overseas flight to one of their games in London last year. I think it might have been the first trip they made over there. So two women identified as Jane Doe 1 and Jane Doe 2 filed a lawsuit about a week ago in Duval County and accuses McManus of rubbing himself against them and grinding against them while again on there, while they was on their way to London. And you know, as soon as they said, according to their claims, as soon as the flight took off and they was up in the air you know how these football guys are, you know how we, you know it said it immediately turned into a party and there, and according to right here, these two women are seeking in excess of one million dollars and are demanding a jury trial.
Speaker 2:Um, yeah, that's a lot to indulge right now. Yeah, that's a lot to indulge right now. From a football perspective, it's a really bad situation for the commanders. Now they don't have a kicker and Joey Sly, their kicker from last year, is in New England and yeah, hopefully this all gets sorted out. He's really kind of struggled the last couple of years, uh, on the field. Uh, I hate for this to something like this to happen off the field towards him.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and and to go, even go along with it, to show how door people try to just abuse their power and their money. Um, the lawsuit also claims that McManus recruited three other flight attendants to the party and passed out hundred dollar bills to encourage them to drink and dance inappropriately for him. Wow, yeah, and even one of them says and one of the one of the Jane does even said that a teammate disgustedly looked on upon of his actions and behaviors and disgust that you know. Apparently it was an unidentified teammate, but he said you could see the disappointment is what it was in his teammate's face that he was portraying himself for. And this is, you know, you're representing the team here, the NFL, the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Speaker 2:Yeah, when you travel yeah, especially as a team, I mean, even when you're by yourself you're always told you represent that team. You represent everyone on that team too. So I mean it's a bad look. I mean yeah, hopefully, I mean it's all yeah. Yeah, this is a really tough situation.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and just reading that article it's just disgusting.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, hopefully, I'm hoping for I don't know. This is like not true or something.
Speaker 1:I hope not, but I'm not getting that, but yeah, that's not the vibes I was getting out of here.
Speaker 2:Yeah, the vibe from the story is just yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's looking like he might have to settle.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but I'm not. Yeah, but on the football, on the football.
Speaker 1:On to, yes, football division breakdown. So today this is the last division of the NFC. The NFC.
Speaker 2:West the NFC Best Potentially.
Speaker 1:Yeah, potentially. I mean I guess.
Speaker 2:Best division? Probably oh.
Speaker 1:Best division in the NFC right now.
Speaker 2:I see North's pretty good.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's what I was saying. I'd probably give it to the North right now.
Speaker 2:I'd say you could pick him. But yeah, the Niners are kind of carrying the weight of that division a lot, especially recently.
Speaker 1:I do like what the Rams have done. The Rams, yeah, I did like what the Rams have done, but we're going to get into that here in a second. So to start off with how we like to do with the reigning champs, the San Francisco 49ers, let's take a dive and see what have they done this offseason to try to get over that hump.
Speaker 1:Quite a few changes, and it's a hump to get over, because a lot of teams wish this was that. That was the hump that they could get over to be able to just oh yeah, a lot of teams wish that they could just make it to the Super Bowl, let alone just clutch one out. He just needs to get the one, just one, the one, two different quarterbacks. So here one of my first signings right here. They brought in Leonard Floyd from the Buffalo Bills, who's been pretty much productive anywhere he's been. Yeah, he played his first, I think four years. He played his first four years with the Rams, then moved on to Buffalo where he had 10 and a half sacks last year, and now he's going to be looking to help add to the pass rush for new defensive coordinator, nick Sorensen.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, really. I didn't know until a couple days ago, when I was prepping for this, that he had 10 and a half sacks last year. I was like, oh, that was kind of a that's a quiet. 10 sacks, that's kind of weird. I thought it would kind of stick out a little more to me.
Speaker 1:Yeah, they really went defense heavy in the offseason this year but they didn't really have a whole lot of issues with the, with their offense period, so why not try to beef up that defense?
Speaker 2:Yeah, especially with letting a lot of those guys, a lot of those rotational pieces on defense line leave.
Speaker 1:Yeah, they brought in Devondre Campbell to help with that. They also brought in Malik Collins. Rocky Asin is going to come in to help with the secondary.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and Devondre Campbell, that's going to be a big one, because Drake Greenwald we don't know when he's going to come back. He tore his Achilles and the Super Bowl.
Speaker 1:Yeah, he very well. Could not be back until week nine or ten.
Speaker 2:Yeah, maybe not even he might not. I mean maybe, depending on how the season looks out for them, he might not play at all.
Speaker 1:I mean, I doubt that's the case, but we might not see him until later in the year maybe after, maybe around playoff push time and, as we talked about here with the, when they have a new defensive coordinator, Nick Sorensen. I didn't like they fired Steve Wilks.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, that was kind of a.
Speaker 1:I didn't like that Defense wasn't an issue with them Nah. I think you know, for the better part they held Patrick Mahomes in check.
Speaker 2:Especially on a team that was missing their starting safety and didn't really have a lot of names in the defensive backfield. They played really well last year. Ward really had a breakout season last year. Yeah, that was a weird kind of a felt a little scapegoated.
Speaker 1:I have it right here in my notes Steve Wilks was scapegoated. Yeah, I don't, because it wasn't a defensive issue. The defense did what they were supposed to in that Super Bowl.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean end of the game.
Speaker 1:But as a whole, throughout, I mean.
Speaker 2:I called that play too. I was like they're literally going to do what they always do in this situation they're going to go edge, you're going to throw a little. I was like it's going to look just like last year.
Speaker 1:And it was the exact same play.
Speaker 2:Yeah, just like last year, and it was the exact same play. Yeah, that one, the back-to-back Super Bowl. They got three touchdowns off that same play in the two Super Bowls.
Speaker 1:What about? Let's get on to their draft. They had an interesting where I thought they had an interesting draft pick, where I think that somebody might be on the move with one of their draft picks.
Speaker 2:Yeah, ricky Purcell. They drafted him at the back end of the first round. Kind of a shocker. A lot of people have first-round grade on him, but it looked like he was going to fall out and it kind of seemed like the 9-8. Well, a lot of people were saying the brain eye is going to get replaced. But kind of to me, maybe they took the best player available. I mean, they're a team that didn't I mean defensive back wasn't valued a lot this draft and they really didn't have.
Speaker 1:I think the back was also might have been an issue, a spot on that team where they could have improved that.
Speaker 2:Well, they addressed that later in the draft. They addressed that later in the draft with their next pick. So I think maybe that was a. That was just kind of a. You know our offense. You know to hide Brock Purdy's what's the word? I'm looking for deficiencies. Why not add another playmaker? Another guy can catch the ball. Another guy can make plays, you know.
Speaker 1:The one thing. It also does make sense because you know Debo Samuels has injury issues.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, and last year, I mean in the Super Bowl, they just started blitzing the heck out of Brock Brady and Brock Brady didn't have a quick outlet. If you have another really good wide receiver to go with that core, that's already really good. You can get the ball out a little quicker maybe. I mean it changes a lot and honestly I was thinking about this too I don't really see a lot of destinations for Brandon Ike at this point, maybe besides New England.
Speaker 1:I was about to say. The only other team right now that I feel like I would trade for him, it could pay him the money that he'd want, would honestly be New England yeah.
Speaker 2:And then they had but other than just the Ricky Priscilla pick, they had a pretty good draft. They drafted Renato Green out of Florida State Probably won't start off for it, he'll probably see the field a little bit, but they have a lot of vets at corner, so he's got a lot of potential. But a guy that's an intriguing prospect for them is Dom Puney. 6'5", 3'13". He can play both right and left tackle, both right and left tackle, and last year he was one of three tackles to not allow a sack while playing at least 700 snaps at tackle. So this guy I mean he played at Kansas, so he played pretty big-time college football yeah, he played at pretty good competition.
Speaker 2:Exactly. Yeah, he played at pretty big competition. I know they're pretty solid on the offensive line right now, but this could be a death piece or a guy potentially replaces a Trent Williams, because he's getting up there in age and he battled injuries last year.
Speaker 1:He did battle some injuries. Yeah, the offensive line was still a little bit shaky.
Speaker 2:It was still good, but it was shaky when he got hurt yeah.
Speaker 2:And they added a skill guy, a running back, who I mean? Christian? Another guy dealt injuries. Say that they had a lot of death pieces in this draft. Another guy dealt injuries, uh, christian mccaffrey. When when he kind of came out the offense, say they kind of look a little flustered. They didn't look at this. They look nearly the same. And I'm not saying they'll look nearly the same with this guy, but a guy who doesn't really have a lot of burnout on his legs.
Speaker 2:Besides his last year of college football, isaac Garenda, from Louisville. He transferred to Louisville his last year out of Wisconsin, was kind of buried on the depth chart behind guys like Braylon Allen and Chez Mazzulli, but had a really good senior year on a Louisville team that surprised a lot of people. So, and a good physical runner, strong and sturdy. He should be a. And they have all their running backs who are outside of Christian McCaffrey. They're all free agents after this year. So this is a guy that could really take over the reins and be a second running back on a team. And then, last but not least, I got one more guy, jacob Cowling, a 5'8 wire receiver, runs a 4'3, 8'40. Won't probably get a lot of shine at wire receiver this year. But with those new return rules and them losing Ray-Ray McLeod, this is a guy that could make the team just off. Special teams yeah, and it could make a real big impact this year.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So yeah, the new kickoff. I feel like that's going to take some getting used to. Yeah, I mean, but teams are adjusting to that.
Speaker 2:Teams are signing off that stuff.
Speaker 1:But now you're getting players that might not have floors. So you know, to get a guy that's built like that, you know he's really shifty, yeah, and especially you know you can't move until I at least have the ball and I'm already established position. That's a recipe for disaster.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's a burner Like yeah, this.
Speaker 1:That's going to make fantasy defense a lot more valuable to you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean teams are drafting for this kind of guys, are getting undrafted free agents who there was a guy who didn't even have like I'm pretty sure, like didn't even have positive yards receiving in college, but got signed because he was a pre-returner in college and with the new return rules that opens up a lot.
Speaker 1:Hell, the Pittsburgh Steelers not. 10 minutes after they made that announcement, they went and signed Cordell.
Speaker 2:Patterson Literally yeah.
Speaker 1:But then all of a sudden they're talking about Justin Fields and kick returns and he shut that down.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, you see, he shut that down. Yeah, no way.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely no, they also signed. They also brought in Josh Dobbs, oh yeah, yeah, they also signed Josh Dobbs as a backup quarterback to help out with the loss of Sam Darnold. He's probably going to try to start, for he's going to be battling for a starting gig this year.
Speaker 2:And a guy who went kind of through it ups and downs last year. Joshua Dobbs was on, I think three teams At some point last year Browns preseason.
Speaker 1:I think he started with the Browns in the preseason.
Speaker 2:Cardinals.
Speaker 1:Ended as a starter for the Cardinals and Vikings.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, had a really bumpy ending with the Vikings last year, but a guy that I mean a lot of people I never thought much of a starter, but a guy who's a sure backup and who can come in and fill a job and he kind of fits that offense and he's a very athletic guy. Yeah, really, yeah, really good addition to that, especially after Brock pretty bad injuries last year.
Speaker 1:Well, I think that's going to be. That's going to wrap it up for our breakdown of the Niners. Let me say we move up onto Seattle. Talk about the. We have the Seattle Seahawks. They were busy this offseason. Yeah, they were Really busy this offseason. I don't know what the word I'd be looking for is forcefully, I guess, from what it looked like, force Pete Carroll up into the front office.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, kind of reminds me of not the same, but kind of reminds me of when Tampa Bay did that with.
Speaker 1:Was it Dungy when they no, not with.
Speaker 2:Dungy, their last coach, not Bowles Arians. Yeah, bruce, oh sorry. Brayden Farrier, he's coaching my Colts too. Bruce Arians. Yeah, bruce, oh sorry, bring it forward. He was coaching my Colts too. Yeah, bruce Arians. Yeah, but that was kind of a him and Brady feud, I don't really know. Yeah, I think that was him and Brady. I just think Pete's style was kind of getting stale, it's obsolete.
Speaker 1:Yeah, a little stale. His coaching style was obsolete.
Speaker 2:That was the whole big thing with him and Russell Wilson wanted to transition to a pass heavy offense but he was a run heavy okay. But in his defense and Pete's defense, russ has shown that he can't.
Speaker 1:He doesn't really thrive in a passing heavy offense necessarily yeah, but I mean, we see, I mean, we see that now.
Speaker 2:It's easy to say that now but we wasn't.
Speaker 1:We wasn't saying that three or four years ago.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I don't think I don't think necessarily it's our style. I think it's out of style. I'd say it's a little stale. It needs to be freshened up a little bit. Unfortunately, it's probably too late. He probably won't be a head coach anymore. I think he's forever front office guy now, which is fine.
Speaker 1:They brought in their new head coach, defensive-minded. They brought in Mike McDonald, defensive coordinator from the Baltimore Ravens. I think this is a good signing it's somebody, because their defense has had its ups and downs.
Speaker 2:It's been super mid the last.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but it hasn't been terrible. But yeah, super mid is about how I would describe it Overall the last three years.
Speaker 2:I'd say give them a mid-grade. Yeah, yeah, They've had their moments.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, and to help even lock that up, they did a good job at really bringing back some pieces that they had traded for. They brought back Leonard Williams after they gave up a two to trade for him last year from the Giants, and they signed him for three years for I think it was $64.5 million is about what he, yeah, about three years. $60-some-odd million is what he got. They lost Drew Locke as a viable backup, yeah, but they brought in Sam Howe, but they brought in Sam Howe, who I you know, I like Sam Howe.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you like Sam Howe a lot yeah. I think Sam Howe could be the starter for this team for the future, for the future, yeah, I think for the future, absolutely yeah, if Geno comes in and struggles like he did last year to start the season, because he had an interception in almost all of his games that he started in last year.
Speaker 2:He battled a lot of injuries too last year in that offensive line.
Speaker 1:He did, but he's also getting up there in some age and if any one of those circumstances comes about and they bring in Sam Howe and he lights a fire that the Seattle offense hasn't had in quite some time since Danger Russ was around, he's going to keep that job.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean I think you're underestimating Geno's performance last year. He had some moments last year. That offense got a lot of injuries.
Speaker 1:It's hard for me because he's been in the league. This is what. Year 13? Yeah, year 13. He's had one good year and I'm not taking away from his Cinderella story. I was happy that he was able to bounce back and I was happy that everything worked out for him. But I just don't, I just didn't, and even at the time I really didn't see that lasting more than a couple years.
Speaker 2:I thought they had a pretty. I mean he was a pro bowler last year, I mean pro bowlers kind of watered down. But I mean he was a pro bowler last year, I mean pro bowlers kind of watered down, but I mean he played well.
Speaker 1:That's because I feel like some people opted out and other people got hurt, like Kirk Cousins.
Speaker 2:I mean he played by all right numbers 20 touchdowns, nine interceptions. I mean that's not terrible, but I mean that's pretty efficient with the ball, especially with a team that didn't have the run game they had in previous years. They battled a lot of injuries.
Speaker 1:It was shaky Again. Shaky about, I mean, it had its ups and downs. It was effective at the beginning of the season.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that defense battled injuries too on that side of the ball.
Speaker 1:They did, and Boye Moffitt had a breakout season last year. I like what he did but brought to the D on.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I mean I cut G in some slack, I know, isn't he on the last or he's got two more years on his deal? He signed a three-year deal, wasn't it? Yeah, so he's got about two. I think this season. He'll remain a starter Next season if he struggles this year.
Speaker 1:I think next year, if he struggles this year, sam Howell a chance.
Speaker 2:But I don't think 20 touchdowns and nine interceptions is necessarily struggling to me. Then he missed a game. I mean they went eight and seven with him as a starter. I mean that's not for a team that battled what they had to go through in that division. Yeah, I mean that's a tough division. I mean I don't think Sam Howell brings you much more, especially when it comes to experience-wise Gina's experience that carries a lot of weight in that offense.
Speaker 1:The experience does carry a lot of weight, but I just feel like, especially the offensive line, the youth and the way Sam Howell can sling it under pressure, what he's shown, because he was under pressure a lot last year. Granted, they did lose some pieces on that offensive line. They lost Damian Lewis, yeah, so that was a big, big piece to their interior. Yeah, he went to Carolina. Right, he did. Yes, yeah, he went to Carolina. Yeah, again, they went defense heavy. They didn't in the offseason as well. They released Quandre Diggs and Jamal Adams, but then they brought in Rayshawn Jenkins at a cheaper cost who could still give you productive snaps in the backfield, but I don't think he doesn't give you a quandary. Diggs can break the table. No, no, absolutely not. They also brought in Jonathan Hankins, who's been a journeyman the last couple years. He played a year with Dallas last year. 6'2", 320-pound D-tackle. Another pick that I like too. A pickup that I like LaVisca Chenault Jr.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's an interesting one, I did like that the gadget guy.
Speaker 1:I think he's going to come in and help out, help, free out that, help with that offense with them jet sweeps.
Speaker 2:Yeah, special teams too, I think, because I mean they're kind of crowded at actual wide receiver. Yes, I think he could be a nice little slot guy. Yeah, like you said, jet sweeps, I mean if one of the running backs are injured, kenneth Walker, I mean really that might be a nice step piece because I mean Kenneth Walker gets injured and you're trying to run Zach Charbonnet. He's played running back in the NFL a little bit. He's took snaps. If one of your wide receivers get hurt, he can fill in there. I mean that is a nice pickup that is a nice pickup.
Speaker 1:Yeah, they lost Bobby Wagner and Jordan Brooks on the defense, your longtime vet and your starting linebacker. Yeah, so it's going to be interesting to see what happens, but I think just the signing of Mike McDonald alone is going to help that defense. You know, because we seen with that guy that, because he gave us some problems over here in Cincinnati, I'll tell you that I didn't even know he was. He got that defense together. Yeah, he did. Yeah, all right, now that's going to wrap it up for, I think, the Seahawks. What about?
Speaker 2:Oh, we forgot their draft.
Speaker 1:Oh, yeah, no, yeah, yeah, we got to touch base on that draft.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, because they got a lot of people of US Steel at pick. I think it was 17. They drafted Byron Murphy, a defensive tackle, out of Texas.
Speaker 1:Mm-hmm, both a D-lineman that I wanted. I mean again, I think Mary Smith was the pick anyway, but I like Byron Murphy and Dallas Turner going. I think they're going to be really good players, real solid pick?
Speaker 2:Probably won't. I mean he's not going to start necessarily because, like you said, they had Jonathan Higgins. They already had Keron Reed, but he's definitely going to be in the rotation. He's definitely going to see a lot of snaps and a lot of usage. They also drafted to help out the offensive line. They drafted a guy, christian Haynes, from UConn, a four-year starter at guard and having a lot of experience in that room that doesn't have a lot of experience at guard or a lot of I mean elite experience.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that'll help fill that.
Speaker 2:Damian Lewis yeah, he might start a week one. He might be a week one starter, which might be intriguing.
Speaker 1:I don't see why.
Speaker 2:I don't see why he wouldn't at this point, yeah, at this point, yeah. And then they drafted Tyrus Knight out of UTEP. Not the fastest linebacker, but the dude had some of the best production in college football, one of the best run stuffers in college football Camera stats on the top of my head but I'm pretty sure he was like fourth or fifth in tackles for loss against a run in the country, I mean not the biggest school, but I mean they drafted in a late round. A guy could potentially be a guy who might replace a bobby wagner. Very active safety, it seems like maybe not the most physical traits, but it seems like he's a baller. If you look at the numbers, um, they drafted.
Speaker 2:They really tried to attack their blocking scheme towards the end of the draft too. They drafted aj barner in the like I think the fourth round considered the best blocking tight end to a lot of people in the draft Really fits their scheme at 6'6", 251 pounds, to kind of go with Noah Fenton, I mean he can block too, but he's more of a pass catcher, so it's kind of nice to have, you know, mix him in, especially after losing their— they lost their pass blocking tight end this past season. And then another guy who I'm really, really intrigued about. Michael Jarrell played division two ball at Finley. They drafted in the sixth round. I guess he had a lot of production at Finley but he really blew up when he went to Ohio State's pro day, measuring at 6'5", 3'10", a 32-inch vertical and did 26 reps on bench press.
Speaker 1:That's an athlete, right there, that's an athlete. Yeah, he puts the A in athlete.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So they really tried to go kind of in the trenches really this draft, and really went for a physicality after last year drafting a lot more flashy players to kind of help Gino out. Now they're kind of drafting the trenches to kind of fill those voids.
Speaker 1:And they brought somebody back to even help within the trenches. It's somebody who I forgot to mention is they brought back George Fant. Yeah, yeah, after having stints with the Texans and after one season with the Texans and three with the Jets, they brought back long time, the guy, that who gave him his.
Speaker 1:Whose opportunity, george Fant, to come teach them young guys in the trenches your boy, that kind of, is going to come in and replace the that's going to fight for that starting guard. Yeah, I like. I like that as a leader role. Former college basketball player too.
Speaker 2:Yeah, all right, then we'll get to a pretty intriguing team that made quite a few moves and had a lot of tough-fought games. As much as their record wasn't very good last year, they were a really hard-fought team. The Arizona Cardinals were a lot of close games last year with a lot of pretty all right teams.
Speaker 1:Yeah, to me they helped spoil the Cowboys season in the long run because they ended with the same record as the Niners. The Niners got the head-to-head victory for the number one seed in the NFC. If you don't lose to the third worst team in the NFL, arizona Cardinals, the Dallas Cowboys are the number one seed.
Speaker 2:I think Jonathan Gannon, at least from what it looked like last year when they had that whole Joshua Dobbs situation. Even at the end of last year when the season looked lost, they still fought. They looked like a really well-coached team. That defense didn't have the best team on paper but they looked like they had something maybe brewing there, a lot of potential with that team. Now they have fully healthy Kyler.
Speaker 1:Yeah, A lot of people, and it irks me when they sleep on him. I mean, I get why, though? Because of the whole Call of Duty thing, there's that stat out there where the weekend of double XP his numbers drop on that Sunday. So I get why he's not. He's had a lot of injuries, but talent-wise, best quarterback in the division. I mean the most talented, yeah, yeah, I'm not going to say he's the best quarterback.
Speaker 2:Him or Stafford.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I was just getting ready to say between him and Stafford. I think Kyler can do a little bit. Kyler can do more than Stafford. I think Kyler can do a little bit. Kyler can do more than Stafford, but talent-wise I think he's the most talented quarterback.
Speaker 2:That pretty-ass deep ball man yes. For somebody that's as little as him, he's got a hell of a deep ball, him and Jared Goff, yeah, and old Prime Russ, pretty old magical deep balls.
Speaker 1:Pause. Yeah, I mean, you know. With that being said, no disrespect to Stafford, because I've been a long-time Stafford fan, because you know, in that Super Bowl if he wasn't playing against us I would have rooted for Matthew Stafford to win, to get his ring. I've always been a Stafford guy. They didn't really make a whole lot of eye-popping moves. They tried to address the offensive line. They brought in former Bengals left tackle who spent the season as our right tackle, jonah Williams. Yeah, I hate to break it to you guys, but that's going to be a disappointing pick, a disappointing signing.
Speaker 2:Who knows, hey, give him A.
Speaker 1:Unless they can figure something out with their scheme that helps him thrive. Before he was transitioned to right tackle, his last season playing left tackle he was tied for the most sacks given up in the league, with 12, while the rest of the offensive line was only giving up four or five on the season. So you take away half those and you know Burrow might have MVP numbers. That's six extra possessions, that's six extra throws. You know that could be potentially six extra touchdowns or six extra interceptions.
Speaker 2:You know, with that logic, yeah, that's what I was about to hit you with. Yeah, that logic could have that logic. Yeah, that's what I was about to hit you with. Yeah, that logic could have been anything. Yeah, and Joe also, until more recently.
Speaker 1:But I think like that, you ain't getting me nowhere, boy.
Speaker 2:But you also had issues maybe holding on the ball a little bit the past couple.
Speaker 1:Well, he's already mentioned that in a recent interview where he said I'm going to hold on to the ball as long as I possibly can. I'll take a sack on the third down unless I'm in field goal range. I'm not going to knock myself out of field goal range, and maybe a lot of quarterbacks look at it like that. I think so. They brought in Sean Murphy Bunting to help with the offense, the defense, and they brought in Mack Wilson, evan Brown yeah, they brought in Mack Wilson.
Speaker 2:Evan Evan Brown yeah, they brought in Evan Brown. Yeah, about the offensive line yeah, and also helping help out.
Speaker 1:Help out with that.
Speaker 2:It seemed like they kind of brought in some a lot. I mean, they didn't do much, like you said, but the position needs, it, wasn't?
Speaker 1:they weren't eye popping moves. They brought in a lot of mid-tier guys Not even mid tier, I would say, like lower-tier guys that they brought in, but a lot of guys for not too high of a price.
Speaker 2:And that's always kind of. I mean Brandon Schaumer from Bunting, a guy who has Super Bowl experience, a guy who you know kind of went from Tennessee to Arizona behind multiple teams the last couple years but has played really good football at some points in time. And you got Mack Wilson guy who's kind of it looked like he had a lot of potential in Cleveland but then kind of fizzled out, but maybe in this setting he might be able to do alright, maybe with Jonathan Gannon coaching them up.
Speaker 1:Yeah, um, they brought in, they brought in. Do all right, maybe with Jonathan Gannon coaching them up, they brought in. At least did their dues by bringing in some weapons for my boy.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, I mean fourth overall. I mean it was kind of clear-cut.
Speaker 1:I guess not everybody was jumping on it because it was open, that they were willing to trade down.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but I mean, if you can't get the best player available and the best player available happens to be a major position you need, especially with losing Hollywood Brown this offseason.
Speaker 1:Yeah, reportedly they might have been willing to trade down to get an extra asset, because they did it the year before. Well, yeah, if they can address more than one issue in the first round, I can't think of his name off the top of my head, their GM. He likes getting the best out of your dollar. Yeah, so if you could trade down and maybe address somewhere in the second round and then get a Roman Dunes, well I'd say yeah, especially in this kind of draft where the receiver is so rich.
Speaker 2:I mean you could have maybe been like, oh well, we'll get two of them. Now we got two picks. Yeah, I mean they had a really good draft, though I will give them that they drafted a. Monty Ossofort is the GM Monty Ossofort. I knew he draft to the. Monte Ossiford is the GM. Monte Ossiford Is the GM for the. I knew he was newer?
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, he's pretty newer. They brought him in. He was a player of personnel for the Tennessee Titans for a couple of years. They just brought him in last January yeah, january 2023, and that's where he had his first draft last year Monte Ossiford and stuff. And that's where he had his first draft last year Monty Austin's.
Speaker 2:Florida stuff. So Anyway, sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt, I just had to go ahead and so yeah, getting more.
Speaker 1:Value for his because they Traded out with Texans, last year With Will Anderson.
Speaker 2:And then ultimately with the first round, another first round pick they drafted Darius Robinson, the edge rush Out of Missouri, who A lot of people had kind of lowered down in the rankings but he was fourth in the SEC in sacks last year, I mean, and that's NFL junior. So yeah, I mean a guy with quite a bit of production on a team that— but those are always the sneaky guys.
Speaker 1:Yeah, those are always the overlooked guys. Yeah, yeah, you know.
Speaker 2:And a guy with a lot of production on a team that blew up last year. Missouri kind of came out of nowhere and took the SEC by, not by storm, but put the SEC on notice last year with a really good season. They also drafted Trey Benson running back from Florida State to coexist with James Conner, who dealt with some injuries and missed a big portion of the year last year and has had injuries throughout his career, although he's a high usage back and a really good back when available. But they need someone else to kind of mix in there and Trey Benson can kind of do the same things he does Dude clocked in at 4'3", 9", at 216 pounds, and he's a great outside runner. So I think I mean eventually this might become like a. It might become less of a Trey Benson backing up to more of a one-two punch with Trey Benson.
Speaker 2:I really like that pick that they made with him and they attacked the offensive line after picking up Colt Free Agency draft to Isaiah Adams out of Illinois, A potential starter, but he'll be at least a death piece for now. And then here's an intriguing one to kind of bolster up their physicality, and I'm really intrigued to see maybe where this goes with this because this is very interesting measurements for a tight end. 6'5", 271 pounds from uh tip raymond from illinois. Uh comes from more of a running offense but, um, he can be viable in the passing game, I mean with that size. I mean he caught three touchdowns last year on a team that mainly ran the ball and dealt a lot of quarterback issues.
Speaker 1:But that's a big boy man, yeah, any time you have a 6'5 pass catcher, that's always viable in the red zone 200 cents I mean that's not going to be a.
Speaker 2:You might want to go make some money and play tackle brother, I mean, who knows. But yeah, they had a really solid draft, really addressed a lot of needs they could and then really, like you said, they had a lot of veteran pieces In free and cheap. But they, I think they did a good job this year, I would say so.
Speaker 1:I think they're going to be a couple Years off. Still, I think I'm hoping they don't Waste Kyler's good years.
Speaker 2:I hope they don't either. I hope they don't either. They kind of already have a lot of it, but I hope they don't.
Speaker 1:On to LA unless we have any final thoughts on Cardinals anything. So we have right here we have the LA Rams Again. They were busy this offseason.
Speaker 2:Yeah, a team that surprised a lot of people even last year. Yes, people didn't have a lot of expectations on them last year.
Speaker 1:They were a projected bottom, one of the bottom teams, yeah, the whole league Bottom 10 team. First off, I like what they did when they brought in Jonah Jackson to help out with the interior part of the offensive line on a three-year $51 million contract. They also brought in a blocking tight end to also help with that Colby Parkinson for three years, $22.5 million, to replace, I believe, tyler Higbee is no longer under contract. Yeah, because I mean he's coming off of a torn ACL anyway. Yeah, so they needed to address that. Yeah, I'm liking what they did to help they're trying to keep Stafford up. Yeah, they also re-signed their other starting guard, kevin Dotson, who got three years for $48 million. So they got the interior line locked up.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they really did. A team that had a lot of questions on that the last couple years after Andrew Withworth left them, that whole offensive line kind of folded after that shortly after. But I really like their draft too. They they kind of they kind of had a similar, um similar draft to last year. I mean they lost aaron. I mean they a lot of holes in it. They lost aaron donald obviously. So I mean your defensive line goes from that. That's a big hit. I mean yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:And to help try to compensate that. They did a lot to try to help, uh, bolster that defense, especially in the secondary. When you bring in Tredavious white for one year for eight and a half million, a sneaky sign of that that they're going to get good value at his. Cameron curl yeah, who they got from, I believe he came from Washington, they bringing him in on two years. The $8.75 million that could get to $12.75 based off of certain incentives.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think they really addressed a lot of that defense a lot, especially after losing such an important piece. I mean that's.
Speaker 1:They lost more than that. They also lost our defensive coordinator, raheem Morris. He's now head coach. After that, they promoted their linebackers coach, who was also their pass rush coordinator, chris Shula, who is now their new defensive coordinator to help take the reins of the defense.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I really like the Jared Verst pick. I mean kind of felt them through the whole defensive fall in the first round.
Speaker 1:And a lot of drafts. Potentially would have been a top 10 pick.
Speaker 2:Yeah, top 15 pick, top 15, yeah. And then they drafted his boy, brandon Frisk, in the second round. Dude had, in the past two years he's had 11.5 sacks from the defensive tackle spot and that's one of the best in college football. I mean, I don't know if a lot of people understand, but getting sacks from defense tackle spots is a lot different than getting sacks from a defensive end, or off the edge.
Speaker 1:Yeah, your defensive tackles are your rump stuffers. Yeah, usually and more times than not, to get double-digit sacks, even to get seven or eight sacks as a defensive tackle is really oh yeah that's a great season. Yeah, that's a great season for a D-tackle.
Speaker 2:And then they drafted every Midwest college football fan's favorite running back, blake Corum out of Michigan. That's actually a really good pick.
Speaker 1:It is a really good pick because that gives some physicality to your run game. That's going to alleviate a lot of pressure from Kyrie Williams, who's had some injuries. I think this was his second year. I believe he was hurt. All year his rookie year he dealt with an ankle injury. He's had a lot of pressure from Kyrie Williams, who's had some injuries. I think this was his second year. I believe he was hurt. All year his rookie year he dealt with an ankle injury. He's had a lot of ankle issues, yeah exactly, he's a speedster.
Speaker 2:And this guy I mean.
Speaker 1:Doesn't do much in the pass game though. Yeah, he's strictly on the ground, though.
Speaker 2:Yeah, only three touchdown catches in college, his entire career. But career, but at 27 rushing touchdowns. Comes from a more like you say. He's more of a traditional runner. Comes from a pro-style offense in Michigan, so I mean he's used to running in between tackles, all physical runs. He should be able to immediately take a load off of Kyron Williams immediately.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so that should be a strong one-two punch and not only alleviate pressure off him but alleviate pressure off of Matthew Stafford yeah throwing the ball so much. I like this Rams team really going into the season. I think they did a lot to improve. I really think they're going to give the Niners a fit for the division this year, especially with year two. Puka, yeah, and if Cooper Cupp can stay healthy, that offense can really really be dangerous. Tutsu Atwell has moments too.
Speaker 2:Yes, he did.
Speaker 1:Who's shown flashes that he can step up when his number is called.
Speaker 2:And then during the draft they drafted Joshua Catry from Stanford Sixth round kicker, which I mean that's a big issue they had last year. They ranked 30th in kicking percentage last year. And then you bring in a guy who's made in the last two years of college football has made 41 out of 45 field goals, so obviously he's an effective kicker.
Speaker 1:I mean Stanford's had their down year recently Kicker or something that they had some issues with her. Brett Rippin was either or not. Brett Rippin, Brett Maher. Yeah, Brett Rippin was the quarterback when Brett Maher was either booting 50 yards it was either 5 for 5 or 1 for 5. There was no in-between.
Speaker 2:Just inconsistency. So now hopefully they got some consistency locked down he screwed me out of a fantasy matchup that man did.
Speaker 1:He got me about 10 points worth of kicks at one of them games, but the week before he got me like 15.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean kickers can in real football can, like I mean that's a couple, that's potential between winning two or three more games.
Speaker 1:That's the most cutthroat position in football. Bro, as great as Justin Tucker is, you give him one bad season, a bad season and a half, his job is going to be in question. Yeah, that's just how cutthroat the kicking position is in football.
Speaker 2:And then with a later pick, they might have found another gym, potentially at wide receiver with I mean last year in Cooper Cup, obviously Puka. And then so this guy named Jordan Wellington. Probably a lot of people, even if you watch college football, may have not heard of this guy. This guy out of Texas Obviously played, was kind of overshadowed by and passed heavy offense by guys like AD Mitchell, xavier Worthy, jatavion, sanders. All these guys are NFL guys. All these guys were drafted. He was just overshadowed.
Speaker 2:Not to mention they had Jonathan Brooks in the backfield who was the highest rate running back this year. Obviously, previous years Bijan Guys really got overshadowed. Last year still put 500 yards off, only 42 catches, only had one touchdown. A guy with good size and a lot of potential, sean McVay has a knack for with only 42 catches, only had one touchdown. But a guy with good size and a lot of potential and I mean Sean McVay has a knack for finding wide receivers, yeah, so I mean this guy's a guy with a lot of potential.
Speaker 1:What'd they say? Fuck them picks.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:And it worked out and a lot of people thought that they were going to be bad. You know, stafford and Cutler both hurt Uh-huh, but then it's just like that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's just like that.
Speaker 1:yeah, they were right back in it.
Speaker 2:I mean, well, they had the three best. I mean the three main positions that you really need to succeed in my opinion quarterback, pass catcher and pass rush. I mean obviously you need other things too, but those are the three, and football in 2024, in football, I think those are the three most important things that you need to have.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I would probably say pass, rush. The defensive side of the trenches trumps the offensive side, because look at what adding an elite wide receiver did for a team like Cincinnati. Who, joe Burrow, was the most sacked quarterback in the NFL and he made the Super Bowl. And there's a reason for that. Because you add, and especially that chemistry, you know there's a reason. He's the only person that's ever done it and might be the only. We might not ever see that again.
Speaker 2:Shoot. Andrew Luck made it to the AFC Championship with being the most hit quarterback outside of Cam. That's just because Cam ran the ball, yeah.
Speaker 1:So I mean yeah, I mean give or take, I mean offense line is extremely important, obviously, but see, but that's what we were talking about. That's where the defensive line comes in, because the Colts, when they went in that playoff run, they didn't have the defense that Cincinnati did. Cincinnati's defense saved it. Our defense saved us in a lot of our playoff runs. Yeah, if you guys had a slightly better, I mean wrong, the Colt, the Patriots spanked you guys. You know, it's just that one team. Yes, I want yeah.
Speaker 2:You know but having but having but.
Speaker 1:But you know, having having a bad defense doesn't help in those situations. Yeah, when you've got to win constant shootouts and you've got a bad offensive line, especially when you had to play a defense like that, that that the Patriots have, who notoriously have great defenses.
Speaker 2:It's just a recipe for disaster.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely All right. So let's almost get about wrap it up. So we're going to start with our rankings again. We've been pretty much spot on, I think, besides one. We had our three and four switched on one of our things it was the NFC South flip-flop.
Speaker 2:So you're going to start at the bottom.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we're going to start at the bottom For the number four. I got the Cardinals.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I got the Cardinals.
Speaker 1:Again we talked about. They didn't really make a whole lot of Eye popping moves, they didn't. A well coached team is only going to get you so far. You got to be able to add the pieces.
Speaker 2:I think they'll kind of be. They might be slightly better than what they were Last year. They'll be a team that the Cardinals might be able to sneak you. You know they'll be like oh well, the Cardinals might be able to sneak you.
Speaker 1:You know they could play a lot of track games.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1:So for my number three, I've got Seattle.
Speaker 2:Yeah, give me Seattle, I'm going to give. Yeah, I'm gonna give, I'm gonna give. Yeah, I'm gonna give. The other teams got the coaching edge. My second team's got the coaching edge. Yeah, for sure number two.
Speaker 1:See, this is where I kind of want to get bold here, but I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna do it just yet. Yeah, I'm not gonna get nutty just yet.
Speaker 2:I'm not going to get nutty yet. Yeah, I'm not going to get nutty just yet.
Speaker 1:So for number two, give me the Rams, but give me the Rams winning 10 games and making the playoff as a wild card.
Speaker 2:Yeah, same thing. Give me the Rams as a wild card team. Yeah, possibly Seattle too. I mean that division's kind of.
Speaker 1:So, with that being said, again, we have a repeat division champs, potentially repeat conference champs.
Speaker 2:I'm worried.
Speaker 1:We haven't made it that far yet, but we've shown each other he can do it. So for the NFC West and this will wrap up our NFC part of our division breakdown so for our NFC division winners, we have the San Francisco 49ers for the West. For the East, we had the Philadelphia Eagles. For the North, we had the Lions and then for the South, we had the Falcons. Let us know what you guys think in the comments. Make sure you follow our Twitter, Facebook, Check us out on Turf Talk. Yeah, give us your guys' feedback. We'd love to hear any comments or concerns. Give us your guys' opinions. We'd love to hear them.
Speaker 2:Give us something to talk about.
Speaker 1:Give us something to argue about. This is literally what we're here for. Going to wrap it up again, guys. See you next time, thank you.