Welcome to NFL Daily, where we're all just trying to be the face of the network. I'm Greg Rosenthal. Yeah, that title is taken at NFL Network by Rich Eisen, and then maybe six other guys. Steve Weiss, my co-host, would be one of them. But my guest has that title. It's nick Wright. No, I don't.

You don't want that? It's been It's been foisteed upon me by some charlatans on the Internet. Listen, I know you don't like faff to start the show, so you can set a 60-second clock here. There's just a couple of things I want to say. One is I went through my email last night, I couldn't find it. I really think the first time you came on one of my radio shows was 16 years ago. I honestly believe that. And you were one of my go-to guys I would call, and you would very kindly come on, even though you were getting nothing out of it. And I've never been able to return the favor. So this is a real treat for me. That's point number one. Point number two, I'm a long time Greg Rosenthal, listener and fan, loved the old pod, and I have not missed an episode of this one. And in fact, the only one I haven't listened to in its entirety is Wednesdays, because when we are recording Thursday, I haven't had time yet to listen to the whole thing, but I heard the beginning of it. You and another guy used to have come on the radio show all the time, Evan Silva.

And the last point is this, and this is important. You are one of three people. The other two will remain nameless, that way everyone can think they're in that group that hears this, who when they say something that I vehemently disagree with in the NFL, I reconsider my opinion. Everyone else, I just think they're wrong and I'm right. You and two other people, I'm like, Well, maybe I need to look at it again. So thank you for having me on.

Well, that is all making me uncomfortable. I now just want to spend the show guessing who the other two are.

One of them is Barnwell.

Barnwell, okay. I booked Barnwell in a big spot. He's going to do our TNF recap week, too. So there's a little pub.

The third used to be Mina, but now she's my sworn rival. So now it's got to be someone. So again, you have to leave a spot like that open. That way, anyone that hears it can't be offended. They're like, Wait, why am I on that list? It's like, No, you are the missing person. Oh, last thing. I do a podcast in addition to the TV show with my son, Dmanze. My son is quite a bit older than you.

I was getting to that. You've just taken over.

No, I was just going to say it because you and Walker, I think, one day are going to do a pod together. I hear his takes. His pics sometimes are a little chalky, a little square, but I like it. So that's all. But go ahead.

I appreciate that all. I am now reminded of a great show. I don't know if it was you or Adam Lefka who was on with Bomani, but he noticed on his podcast, when you have another host on the podcast, they just start hosting.Yes, well, I'll shut up.That's what Nick's done to me. No, I love it. I love it. And I'm glad, actually, and yeah, nick is, of course, the host of First Things First on FS1. That's every day at noon Pacific, 3 Eastern. I like to list Pacific first. That's the important people. Then, yeah, what's right. I really was going to mention that, that you co-host a podcast with your son, Dmanze, and that's fantastic. That is life goals. That's what's right with nick Wright. They just did the over-unders, all 32 teams. I'm jealous of that. Now, it's like, Okay, next year, I want to do all 32 teams. That would be fun. You managed to jam it into an hour. You got to check out that show. Yeah, at the risk of getting too heavy on top here, I'm glad you brought up the radio thing. Maybe you don't remember this, but I actually do remember that I think the last time I ever was supposed to be on your show, I canceled at the last second, like two minutes before I was supposed to be on.

And I remember where I was. I was in the newsroom in Culver City when I was in middle management hell. It was like a five-year period where I realized I had to get out of this job. And I actually remembered it, and I flaked on you at the last second. And I hate doing that to a radio host. At least in my head, that was the last time I ever was going to be on. I was like, Oh, no. I got on that guy's list. And then what happened? He ended up becoming a big national superstar.

No, listen, anybody that ever comes on for free out of the kindness of their own heart, I never get upset with the one rare exception of a friend of mine, so I can now say it. Sham Sharania was once mid-interview with me on Mad Dog Sports Radio, mid-interview. And he's like, Oh, my God, I'm sorry. I have to go breaking news. And I'm like, Oh, this is exciting. He's going to break major news. And then I check, 30 seconds later, he tweets out that some second-round pick signed a two-way contract. I'm like, You got to be kidding me. You You got to be kidding me. That is what took precedent. That's the only one that I hold the grudge. Yours, not at all.

Yeah, those insiders are different. We had Ian Rappaport. He's done that to us, did that on our old show to us in the past. All right, we're going to get to a lot today. We'll get to... Nick, of course, has been blessed to be a fan of the Chief, so we'll get to them at some point in this program, I'm sure, and of Carlos Alvarez. He was at the US Open. We'll get to that. But I have a structure here, which we don't do in every show. It's an AFC preview. We're going to try to get a lot in. We're We're going to get our seven AFC seeds by the end of this, but I'm just going to throw out a few categories to start. The first one is just a team that's favored to make the playoffs, rather a team that's not favored to make the playoff that will make the playoff. So first, I'm going to tell you who is favored just in Vegas. Chiefs, Ravens, Bills, Texans, Bengals, Jets. Then the last one, I was a little surprised, is the Dolphins are the favorite to be the seven seats. Who is a team that is not favored to make the playoffs you would pick?

The Jags. To me, there's two, and they're the most- I had two as well, and Jags were one of them. Jags Chargers.

Those were my two as well.

But I think we'll maybe have different teams out. Now, neither of those are that bold. I think if we were to go down playoff odds, Jags Chargers are probably 8, 9, or 8, 10. They're close. It's not picking the Patriots or the Titans, the real low teams. But my premise, as you'll see throughout the show in the AFC, is that I think there's so many excellent quarterbacks that That is going to carry the day. Because if you don't have an excellent quarterback in your 13 conference games a year, you're going to be, I guess, 12 conference games a year. You're going to be at such a structural disadvantage that Listen, I'm still a Trevor Lawrence believer. In one version of history, Trevor Lawrence, after a bad rookie season, had an awesome second year, one of the greatest playoff comebacks ever, and then was playing on Monday night football at eight and three to be the one seed, and got hurt, and the season went to hell. That's how I view it. Everyone else seems to view it as they fell apart. And yes, he doesn't seem to do well in the rain, which is unfortunate when you play games in Jacksonville and in London.

And he does have a bit of a fumbling issue, but I still believe in Trevor. And your show is part of the reason I've been convinced on the chargers, is you've just had so many people make the point of the year one bump for Harbaugh everywhere he's gone. The Herbert injury concerns me, but those are my two.

Yeah. Chargers were for me. I did not expect this. Jaguars, I debated between those two. It was just a process of elimination. Browns, I just don't expect the defense to be as good. They got too many problems.

They might have a bottom three quarterback situation in the AFC.

It's a problem. They have backups. We'll see if they trade one of them. But Steelers, if I had done this in June, Steelers might have been that team, but it's too messy. And then the other teams are too far away. The Chargers, I feel like people are predicting them to be terrible this this year. And yeah, I'm also someone that doesn't try to make it too complicated before the season. I'm usually a little bolder. I think I will be with the NFC, but I would rather just bet on a coach, a quarterback, and an offensive line, and a defensive scheme to raise you to just be average. So Mina and I disagree vehemently on this. She thinks they're going to be trash. We have something on the line here. She thinks their defense is going to truly be trash, and she just doesn't see it.

So here's the sneaky thing about the chargers when it comes to the AFC West in projections. There's two things that I think people know one of them and maybe know the other, but I haven't thought about it. The Chargers, despite being in a division with the Raiders and Broncos, have the last place schedule, and that is such an edge. And amazingly, the Raiders have a second place schedule this year. So anyone wanting to be bullish on the Raiders, the Raiders did themselves no favors by beating the Chiefs on Christmas. And that's actually the last game the Chiefs have lost, so it's not that bad. But all of a sudden, they have a second place schedule. So that That makes me much more bullish on the chargers than otherwise.

I'm glad you mentioned that because sometimes people overrate that last-place schedule. It used to just be two games.

But now it's three.

Now it's three in the NFC. But it also depends which NFC and which happened to be the last place. For the chargers this year, here's the three extra games: Pats, Titans, Cardinals. That's beautiful.

I'm with you. That's unbelievable. Andy, if you think about the Raiders, sorry to interrupt you, that means for the Raiders, it's in the place of the Pats, it's the Dolphins. In place of the Cardinals, it's the Rams. And in place of the Titans, it would be the Jags, right? I think they finish second. No, the Colts. It's the Colts there because they played. But regardless, that's a huge difference. It's a huge difference.

It really is. I think people overrate that sometimes. Not this time. So I'm into that. All right, I'm on a team that is favored to make the playoffs that won't. And I mentioned Chiefs Ravens, Bills, Texans, Bengals, Jets, Dolphins.

So obviously, since I have two in, I have to have two out. But I'll give you the one that I'm most competent in. The Jets are not going to be good. I love it. I don't understand. This is one of those things where I'm like, Oh, this is a smart person whose opinion I respect. I wonder why they're so wrong about this. And there's a lot with the Jets. They are favored to win the division. Robert, usually to win the division, you have to go at least four and two or five and one in the division. If the Jets go four and two in the division, Robert Salah will have doubled his career division wins. He's four and 14. They have an offensive coordinator that they tried to shadow replace because they thought he was so bad, and they were too incompetent to do that. And even if we were to just pretend that Aaron Rodgers didn't tear his Achilles, let's just pretend last year, instead of being out with a torn Achilles, he was out because he was canvassing for RFK Jr. Fine. Then I'd still be like, Well, his last season before that, he wasn't good.

And people are like, No, he just wasn't good by Aaron Rodgers standards, but he was good by NFL standards. No, he wasn't. Look it up. He was league average in everything. Well, who could have won with that team? I don't know. Jordan Love played pretty well. And in the final In the last game of relevance that Aaron Rodgers played, he was at home against a team he had owned forever, played one of his worst games of the year, and threw the game away at the end. So that guy is all of a sudden going to be the connective tissue and the best, not the best, but a very good quarterback. It's people, everyone who doesn't believe in the Jets says, well, injuries could kill him. Obviously, that's true. I I think even healthy, they have average quarterback play this year.

I think you might be right. And they're on my list, too. They're one of those teams that, again, if I did this earlier, I agree with everything you just said about Rodgers and the Jets. And I do this thing that I know I'm a hater, basically. I'm a little biased against the Jets. So I almost try to pretend I'm not and make the case for them in the end. But when it comes down to it, I don't believe in them. They have so many aspects of the team, even if you take away Rodgers, I'm with you. I'd start with Rodgers. But who's their second best defensive lineman after Leonard Williams? Robert Salah counts on a great defensive line to help him. They were counting on Hassan Redik. I don't know how that's going to happen, but at this point, I'd almost be surprised if he plays with them. Jermaine Johnson is maybe their second best. They're counting on Javan Kinla, like Tak McKinley is in the mix. There's so many ifs with this team on their offensive line, their defensive line. Obviously, Rodgers, Tyron Smith. I know they have backups in certain places, but it's just so many ifs all in a season where their GM and their coach both know they're going to be fired if it doesn't go well.

That's too much. I think they'll be okay, and they'll stay in the mix, and they'll be dramatic. But they were on my list, too. They were the one I was going to talk about. But I had two teams out, too. So I also, by the way, will throw in the Dolphins just because offensive line, defensive line, the edges, coming off, injury, just a little too much.

So we're going to... I promise, because I went through your producer, did a brilliant job, sent me a really thorough rundown. So I know what's coming. And I anticipate we're going to have more disagreements later, but we have the same two out, the same two. The Dolphins... Can I give... I don't know. Can I give a quick Dolphins take?

You can do whatever you want.

This is the year... I like Mike McDaniel. I think he's sharp. I think he's a good coach. I also personally have graded him in Miami on a bit of a curve, the curve being, Man, look at what he's doing with Tua, who I think is a limited player. The moment he signed off on them giving Tua 53 million, I made a decision in my head, I'm removing that curve. Now, you are telling the world that you think this guy is top flight quarterback. And you can say it wasn't his decision, whatever. So in my head now, it's like, no, now you're graded the way people graded.

It's his decision, though. It was like he showed up there and he made it, and He's made that work. Weirdly, Tua is not the least of my concerns, but Mike McDaniel, Tua as a combo, to me, that works. That works to be a playoff team. It's everything. There's other things. I'm grading him on a curve because he's the Dolphins' coach. Very similar to anyone who's a Jets' coach. I just feel like organizationally, structurally, there's a reason why these teams haven't won.

I think that your point on the defense is a great one. I know this Which is called NFL Daily, but I think if it had a subtitle, it might be called the regular OBJ report. I really appreciate that you've covered that story when the rest of the media seems to-You're in my head, though, because I realized after doing the Cutdown Day show with Silv.

I was like, Why am I leading with OBJ? I just keep talking about OBJ. No, you're interested. It's my old blogger mentality from around the NFL days. It's like, Well, you got to lead with Terrell prior or OBJ because everyone's into it. They really do sell.

But it is. But I guess the point I'm making is, while it has maybe been a little more focused than I would have expected for the whole league, your point that they signed him because they expected... I don't want to say they needed him because they have Tyreek and Wadl. But the offense they want to run, they want to have three guys out there, and they want to threaten the defense in those ways. And I think it's on the board. He plays... Let me set it like this. I am a gambler. If you set his over-under for catches as a dolphin at 24 and a half, I would say I think that's a good number.

Yeah, I agree. That's about right. I was expecting you to say something in the 30s, and I was going to go under, but 24 is about right. All right, let's go best division race. Just pick one. Which one you're most into?

To me, the It depends on how you slice it. If you want a division where I think three teams theoretically could win it, I would say the South. But I think the best division race is the North because I think the bangles are going to be excellent. And I think the Ravens are going to... One of the things that I have tried to hammer on the TV show is that during the year, when a team surprises or a team is doing well, we We always be like, Man, that coordinator. We give a lot of credit to coordinators when it's happening. Bobby Sloick, the guy in Detroit, sorry, that everybody loves, Ben Johnson. You know what I mean? Last year, Mike McDonald.

We're like, wow. Anerumo back in the day.

Luana Rumo up until last season. Spags in Kansas City. We always do it. When those guys leave, though, it totally removes from our analysis. When last Last year, nobody said about the Eagles, Man, they're going to miss Shane Steiken. But during the year when they were awesome, people were like, Shane Steiken. So that's part of my... Not that I think the Ravens are going to be bad, But part of my Ravens analysis is, I think they're going to miss Mike McDonald. You had so many guys who I thought were near the end of their career or just middling players be monsters. And that, to me, is usually scheme. And so I think that the Ravens come down a bit, the bangles come up a bit. And I think that is a division race that will come down to the final week of the year and be massive because that's the type of one where the winner of that can end up the two seed. And then obviously, the loser is on the road, pardon me, the whole playoff. So that's the one I'm most interested in.

That's probably the most important one. You're right, just from a who's going to win the Super Bowl perspective, because I think they'd be on the short list. We did a power ranking a couple of days ago, and they were both near the top. So that makes sense to me. I'm also just curious, will it be the haves and the have nots in that division? I went with AFC South, though, to me, because I do think the Colts, their ceiling is just much higher than people give credit for. I can't go all the way there. I still like the Texans better. And yet, I think if you play this season out 10 times, there's a few scenarios where the Colts are the two seed with 13 wins, 12 wins. I don't think people I don't really see them that way because I don't see why they wouldn't have that high of an upside because the defensive line is nasty. It's exciting. The defense could be a legitimately exciting defense because of their front. They have some continuity. The offensive line is fantastic. Again, I always feel like Which teams are the best on the lines, plus a quarterback, plus a coach?

To me, they're up there with the Texas. Now, I don't see that scenario happening. Richardson is probably going to be two up and down. The division is tough, but you throw in the Jags who, yeah, I couldn't quite get I don't think that the team as my last playoff team. But I do think all three of those teams have really good quarterbacks, and they're really talented, and that it's a breath of fresh air to have an AFC South that I'm totally into watching every game.I agree.It hasn't been that way.

I almost feel cliché, though, because I agree with you entirely about the optimism about Richardson. But it does feel I am aware of my own biases. If someone were to be nick, you're starting an NFL team, you can pick between these three quarterbacks. Tua Tuna Vailoa, who has led the league in passing and put up amazing numbers. Brock Purdy, who's been to an NFC Championship Game in the Super Bowl and has the highest passer rate in NFL history, or Anthony Richardson, who's played nine quarters of pro football, I'd be like, I'll take the big, strong guy. And so I recognize that it feels to me like he has such upside that it's exciting exciting, but it is... He felt like a bit of an unknown at Florida. And now a year into the NFL, what we saw was enticing. But yeah, those were the two divisions I was thinking about. So I'm with you on a lot of that. Yeah.

The ceiling is also partly unstiken He made it work. He had a pretty effective offense with Minchou. They were a pass away with Minchou, yeah. Right. And if they really... If Richardson can stay healthy and they just lean into the run, Eagle style, they could be dangerous. All right, we're going to take a quick break. We're going to be back. We're going to predict the number one We'll get to all the playoff rankings in just a second. All right, we are back on NFL Daily, and we've reached the portion of the program where nick admits his own biases, that he knows his own biases. We'll have to test that. I don't know if we really can be sure of that. But I have to admit, I would not be biased if you say what I think you're going to say to my next question, which is who's the number one seed in the AFC? You can't say who's the chief. How lucky are you, not just to be a Chiefs fan, but to be where you are and to be a Chiefs fan? How much of your success is because of Patrick Mahomes' Exactly. I would know.

No. This is a great... If I may talk about myself for a moment. Because people, there is a narrative out there in some corners of the internet that I owe my success to the two greatest American athletes ever, LeBron James and Patrick Mahomes. Like, Oh, you just said these guys are awesome a lot. Now you have a TV show.

Michael Phelps just...

You don't get me started on swimming gold medals. How many would Usain Bolt have if they're like, Hey, run the 100 backwards.

No, I don't even want to go there. I don't believe in this argument. Okay, thank you. I appreciate that.

Okay, so now, what I would say is, We have this incredibly populated sports media, sports take landscape. And everyone is, at different times, fighting over the same corners. And for the LeBron thing, I was just fortunate enough to see earlier than most, Oh, it's not, is he going to be better than Jordan? He already is. So I said that a bunch, and then it's like, Hey, he's the LeBron guy. I'm like, Okay, cool. I'll take it. And then the guy never retires, so it helps. I'm from Kansas City. I was at the Lynn-Elliott game as a child getting frostbite. My first foray into media was being nick the Kid on Bill Grigsby's post-game call-in show at 10 years old, calling in from the parking lot after every home game.

I Really? Yes, that's true. Well, maybe it's not too early to get Walker in the mix.

Yeah, there you go. I remind people that I was born in 1984, and the first quarterback in my lifetime, drafted in my lifetime, drafted by the Chiefs in my lifetime to win a game for the Chiefs was Patrick Mahomes. They had not had a quarterback. They drafted win a game from my birth to 1984, because Black Lidge was the last one to do it. He was drafted in '83. So this idea that, oh, it's been this blessed life of a Chiefs fan is not a blessing.

No, it's not a blessed life. It's just that the rise of Mahomes happened to coincide with your own, and you've enjoyed it.

So now to get back to the sports take point I was making, I did have the wherewithal to recognize, seems like in my business, the national sports, national sports television business, everyone is fighting over the same corner, and it's the cowboy's corner. So what if I just say, You know what? Unlike Marlo Stanfield, I don't want all the corners. You guys have that one. And I will fortify the chief's corner and make it very clear that's my goddamn corner, and no one can take it. And then they ended up becoming the greatest dynast... Well, they will. Sorry to your patriots here in about five months when they win their third straight Super Bowl, the greatest dynasty ever. And I just get to be along for the ride. So that's all. That's all that it is.

You're not the only one on that corner. I mean, in fairness, if you go back and listen to the Around the NFL podcast back in the day, we were debating like hell before the Chiefs won their first Super Bowl on this podcast. Is Patrick Mahomes the greatest quarterback I've ever seen? You've never seen.Literally. It was before he even won his first Super Bowl. I was in that argument. I was just like, Well, you can only judge him on what we've seen. The first two seasons are the greatest two seasons I've ever seen easily. The only other person that could possibly be in contention would be Dan Marino. I don't feel I can speak to it as much. But through two seasons, he's the greatest quarterback I've ever seen.

Now, for six.

I had a lot of push back then. Then after year three, this is the greatest quarterback we've ever seen after year four. I've said that throughout. We got to cover all 32 teams. It also gets annoying, and it almost becomes obvious. I don't think I don't think you can question it that much. This season's interesting with them, though, because I actually feel like I haven't been down on them going to the last two seasons. I had them in the Super Bowl, but there were just more doubts on paper about them. This year, it's hard to find any doubts. The schedule, maybe the defense takes a step back. Everything is just set up for them. The biggest doubt's to me, and it's why, spoiler alert, I'm not going to pick them to win the Super Bowl this year or even make it, is just something ineffable of like, they're going to get picked off. If there's a reason why it's so hard. But I'm still picking them as my number one seed. I'm just saying they're going to have a great regular season. They're going to have a great season. The Patriots had some seasons where they peaked almost a little too early.

Everything was perfect. It's just so hard to get through every year. It's hard to define why or why that would happen.

I agree with that entirely. Obviously, single elimination tournament, things can happen. I would argue that if they were... That people win. I hear a lot of people say similar things, which is nobody's doubting how good they are, but eventually the ball is going to bounce wrong for them. You know what I mean? Wrong for them. I would argue that happened last year, and they won anyway. And so two years ago in the playoffs, Patrick Mahomes suffered a high ankle sprain, and they won anyway. He suffered a significant injury. They won anyway. Last year, they fumbled the ball at the goal line against Buffalo. Everyone, now in the revisionist history, in the game, the Chiefs were leading by 10 points in the fourth quarter, have decided Zee flowers fumble cost the Ravens the game.

As if that was going to be- Stefan Diggs' drop, that sticks out, too. You're right, though. The Bills at that point should not have been in that game. I agree with you.

Correct. And so there were The moments that were those like, Oh, my God, it went the wrong way for you moments, might have happened, and they got by. And so I just think this year, they are so much better than they were each of the last two years. And listen, I think Sneed's an excellent player, and they will miss him. And that, to me, if people are looking for a weakness on the Chiefs, I think the secondary is going to be a work in progress over the course of the year. They're playing a lot of young guys and guys that aren't necessarily, you know what I mean, fully ready. I think the safeties will be good. The corners could be a problem. But Mahomes... Let me say one other thing I'm going to talk about the Chiefs, that I think the NFL did the Ravens a disservice by putting them in that week one game.

I agree.

I just feel like that it is such... The Ravens had such a great season, and then they have their worst game of the year and they lose to the Chiefs. If this year then starts like that, no matter what they do over the next four months, I just feel like, psychologically, it's going to be like, well, damn it. So I thought if I were a Baltimore fan, maybe that's because I think the Chiefs are going to win. The flip side is if the Ravens win that game, then it's like, hey, monkey off our back at least a little bit.

A little, but I just was on the radio with my friend Glenn Clark in Baltimore, and At least the way he says it, I think it's copium there. They're like, That game stinks because even if we win it, no one's going to think it matters because nothing matters now except for the playoff.

That's why I thought it shouldn't be week one. But okay.

I agree. I They wanted that game to be Texans. It made more sense. The NFL, look, they've been out front with it. They decided this strategy of, They're going to front load this season for whatever reason. They wanted to go big and get the most monster ratings possible the first three weeks of the season. But the schedule for the Chiefs after the beginning, when they do have at San Francisco, they have the Bengals early, it's just too easy. They're going to be fine. I disagree, though, that they're much better because their defense can't be better. That's fair. And the Menehues out, and they'll It's going to be closer to average. But they were freaking 15th in points scored last year, and that's never going to happen again with Patrick Mahomes. So that'll make up for anything. All right, these can be quick. First QB to be benched. There's a few options. Jacobi Brisset, Russell Wilson, Deshaun Watson, you could throw in there. Garner Minchou, who you go with.

I'm going to get this wrong because I don't consider Jacobi Brisset, Garner Minchou as real... I don't consider those benchings. You know what I mean?

So I'm going to die. It also, honestly, Jacobi might not even make it to week one. I've had this hunch that Gerard Mayo wants to start Drake Bay, and nobody else does. And that's just my hunch. And he's the head coach. So does he just put his foot down and say, Sorry, Alex Van Pelt. You're not the coach here.

So I'm going to say Deshaun Watson.

Okay.

That's bold. Because that's a real benching. And I don't think he can play anymore. I think that there are psychological reasons, physical reasons, and just too far, too long away from the game reasons. I found the Jameis Winston acquisition interesting. Oh, yeah. Because they had Hunt, who's a Mac Jones Memorial Pro bowler on his Wikipedia page. That was a weird one. Who's the other guy?

Dtr. They say they're not trading DTR. Who's a solid young backup prospect.

My point is, we live in a world where there are teams that have two quarterbacks, and one of them is Malik Willis. You had Hunt and DTAR. You didn't need to go get Jameis as a backup, but maybe you thought you needed Jameis as a starter.

Yeah, they're not blind. He's not healthy right now, Deshaun Watson still. Yeah, that's a good choice. I just I think they'll be stuck on keeping him going. I'll go Russell Wilson there, partly because of what Rapsheets said on our show. He made it sound like, okay, I think maybe Fields has convinced some people in the building. Let's go with the coach First, if any, in the AFC to get fired.

All right. Do you dream about the show you do sometimes?

Now I do. I never did before, but now that it's this show- But now that it's every day, I do. I actually have dreamed about the show every day this week. It's funny to say this.

I also wear nicotine patches. I've worn nicotine patches for 17 years. I don't know if that's really the way it's supposed to go, but it's what I've done. I sleep with them on, which, again, I don't know if that's healthy, but it keeps your brain moving. I sometimes have a dream that's very specific. Sometimes there's even stats involved, and it's stuff that is accurate, and I use it on the show. Wilds makes fun of me when I talk about this. He's like, We don't want to hear about your dreams, man. I'm like, I'm not saying they're premonitions. I just think they're a good idea. I had a dream that Robert Salah got fired and Nat Hackett got to be the interim head coach.

The second part of that is definitely never happening. What do you mean it's never happening?

If they fire Robert Salah during the year, I I know who Rodgers would advocate for, and it seems like he's in charge. We can say it's never happening, and I don't know the Jets' full coaching staff.

I'm looking it up right now because I'm just trying to find someone. Well, yeah, Ulbrech, who was impressive in that Hard Knocks thing.

Todd Downing? I don't know.

My initial instinct was, who is the just oldest guy that has respect but really isn't cut out for it?I don't know. Sean Jefferson has been a coach for 20 years in the NFL. He's their wide receiver's coach. I don't know. It'd be a guy like that. But you're right, they don't really have anyone else.

The only guy with head coaching experience.

They can't.

I just don't think the Jets are going to stumble out of the gates.

That's fun.

I don't know. I'm trying to think of the other possible options.

There's not really many in the AFC, Doug. No. There's actually coaches that have no worry, and then there's new coaches. So Doug Peterson was probably the one I was going to throw out there. Just if things go sour. I don't think they will go sour. I think they'll actually have a winning record if I had to choose. But I think if they were two and six or two and five, that hePetersons, really? Now that I think about it. Maybe they'll leave him in London. I'll be there, by the way. You mentioned Jag's in London earlier, so that's a little breaking news. I'm going to go see the Prince versus Caleb Williams, so that's going to be fun. What a game. Are you going to stick around for next week to see him against your Patriots? I am not, unfortunately. I can only get the finances or whatnot, the approval for one game, but I'll take it. Believe me, I will take it.

But just real quick on this topic, it is interesting that in the AFC, it feels like you just go division by division, take out the guy I mentioned, Robert Salah. I guess McDermott theoretically could be fired during the year if they're awful, but that's not going to happen. It feels like the rest of the AFC, in the AFC North, all four are 100% safe during the year, feels to me. Stefansky just won Coach of the Year again. In the AFC South, Peterson's the only one who could be fired during the year. And in the AFC West, I think all four are 100% safe during the year. Antonio pierce, I just don't think you're going to hire an interim coach. And then obviously, Sean Payton, Jim Harbaugh, and Andy Reid aren't. The NFC has way more coaches on very high seats.

Way more. And now Dennis Allen is... I actually read something about this that Initially this offseason, Robert Salah was the Vegas favorite to be first coach fired, which seems crazy to me. But now because so many people put their money on Dennis Allen, Dennis Allen is. We'll go through these quick and then we'll get to our seeds. Halfway decent team that gets talked about the least on your show, First Things First? Well- You can take this however you want. If you want to just say any team, you can say any team. No, that's fine. It could be a bad team. It could be the Titans because the Titans probably- No, you said halfway decent.

I think the answer is the Colts. Because I think the Colts are a lot of what you said I agree with. The other one that I think could be halfway decent this year is the Broncos.

That was the one that popped to my mind that I don't love this team, but their overrunner is five and a half, and it's Sean Payton. They'll probably scrape close enough to 500, and they might not get mentioned for weeks on first days first.

Yes, that's correct.

Kevin Wilds, by the way, great find. I would have never... Not that you found him, but a delight, Kevin Wilds.

No, Kevin Wilds is, I think, the best at what he does, which is a very specific thing in the business. The only person to me similar to Wilds and skillset and ability is actually a guy you already mentioned on this show in Lefto, a guy who can host and have takes and be funny and just universally likable. But yeah, one other bonus Bronco's take. I think Bo Nicks is the most likely guy to trick people into thinking he's good.

Yes.

So I think that there is a lot of Mac Jones' rookie season for Bo Nicks, where it's like you reach your ceiling immediately, and it's training wheel stuff. And it's like, Hey, look at him. Look at what he's going to be. But it's actually just that the whole time because he's 29 years old.

I was tricked. But if Mac Jones had been-Oh, I wasn't trying to take a shot at you. No, but I was tricked because... Well, first of all, Mac Jones didn't stay at that level. Obviously, the thing is around it. If he could have just stayed at that level, he could have had a real career. He could not stay at that level.

Maybe he's back to it.

Preseason. Maybe.

But if you watch those games, there are some... He won the 2024, can he pick an award?

Yeah, he had a lot of numbers and highlights, but if you watch those games, he had some Mac Jones moments, too, that were like, okay, that's why you're back. All right, one last quick break, and then we're going to go through our seeds and our pick for the championship game. Back on NFL Daily. An inspiration. As I've gotten used to these daily shows and thinking, okay, it's a lot planning every day. It's a lot, man. I do think about the Good Morning football people and what they've been through the last however many years. And then I think of people like nick Wright who have a daily TV show, which I know personally takes a different energy out of you. Takes more out of you, frankly. Then on top of that, you then go do your YouTube show. I'm like, If they can do it. Now that once I got used to it and into the flow of it, I was like, Okay, this is quite.

It Also, let me tell you, I don't know. Again, this is a little psychological, I guess. I have found I really enjoy now building Legos and doing puzzles. And the reason is, just follow me for a moment, is because I like when I finish something there to be proof of it. One of the weird things about a daily show is, no matter how... One of the good One of the things is if you think it was awful, it's like, well, I get to do it again tomorrow. One of the bad things is, and I've just done daily radio or TV or both for now, gosh, almost 20 years, or I guess 17 years, is you do all this work, you get to do all this prep, you get everything ready, and then it's just gone, just into the Ether. You know what I mean? So just psychologically, it's like, oh, I did this project, and now it's sitting on my mantle. Not that I build a lot of Legos that then we display in the house, but you understand the point that I'm making. Yeah, it's a weird thing in your head.

Yeah. I've been doing ephemeral stuff forever. I mean, it was doing road of... You got to just enjoy the doing of it. That, for me, is the reward because none of this is stuck. Like road of World player news, that does not stick. My PFT posts, all the things I wrote on PFT because they messed it up now are under someone else's name, and I always get tweets that I wrote some incendiary thing from 2009, and it was actually Mike Florio that wrote it, but for some reason, my name's on it because they messed it up. And so everything's ephemeral. Another thing I wrote has ever stuck, and I'm fine with that because it's a fun life. All right, let's wrap it up.Wrap up with the most important stuff, our seven playoff seeds. And then we'll also, after that, go with our championship result because maybe the seeds don't match up the same as what the championship game is. Why don't you go from seven to one? You can start.

Seven to one. All right. So I want to get this exactly right because there is nothing I dislike more and judge folks more for in our space, where if on one platform, they have X, and then on another platform, they have Y, because it's either you weren't paying attention and didn't care, or you're actually trying to hedge. You're like the guy who fills out seven March Madness brackets. So he can be like, I had that upset. I had that upset. So I'm checking my official document, nick Wright 2024.

You're not allowed. The tricky part is you might change your mind between now and the season, but no, it's locked in stone.

Locked in stone. Okay. Seventh seed, Los Angeles Chargers.

Same.

Six seed, Jacksonville Jaguars. Do you want to say yours?

No, I want to go for three years first.

Okay, got it. Five seed, Baltimore Ravens.

Okay.

Four seed, Houston Texans, three seed Buffalo Bills, two seed Cincinnati Bangles. And the number one seed, the Kansas City Chiefs.

Yeah, I think it was harder to get overly creative in the AFC. None of those will shock me. I am pleased, and I don't know if surprise is the word, but that you stuck with the Bills. I guess I could have figured it out because you went Dolphins and Jets earlier. But why are you thinking the Bills who have just had a strange run here under Josh Allen? They just are very streaky. There's always a point in the season where it looks like things are going to crater, and then by the end, they're usually the second best team or the third best team, which is frustrating for the Bills, but also to me is extremely impressive because as a Patriots fan, I think that's the hardest thing to do. The Bills have basically done it. They just have done it in an era where Patrick Mahomes is there, and they haven't quite gotten over the hook.

Okay, so I'm glad we're having a chance to talk about the Bills because I understand people might look at me as a Chiefs guy, but there are other people that have been close to, if not just as correct about the Chiefs over the last few years as me. No one-Right here.

I didn't pick against them once in the playoff for a couple of years.

There you go. Exactly right. No one has been more accurate about the Buffalo bills than me. And I have been ridiculed, called a hater, called a hot take artist, all these things when it's just been correct. And I reject the premise that other people have. And I think you might be one of them, you ran into Michael Jordan, you ran into the Chiefs, Because the fact of the matter is there is not a single game the Bills have played the Chiefs in the playoffs that you have real evidence had they won, they would have then won the Super Bowl.

There isn't one. The 2022, right? The overtime game. Yeah, I was convinced they would have won the Super Bowl. They were better than the bangles and the Rams.

Okay, well, that's interesting because the very next year, they then hosted the bangles and got rocked.

But they were a different team then. They were a That was their best team, and it didn't happen for them. And it is. And look, they deserve it because they're a defensive coach, and everything's about to be the consistency of their defense. Sean McDermott peed down his leg, and their defense has played the very worst in the biggest moments. And so they deserve to lose it. But if they had found the way to win that game with one more stop, I felt like they were winning that Super Bowl. That was a bad team Super Bowl, relatively, bangles, rams.

I understand, but the point that I'm making is that's the one everyone goes to. And that season, they lost to a team that then lost to the team that lost to the Super Bowl.

You know how it happens, though. I do.

I just think it's for a team that has three consecutive seventh-place finishes. They've sure been talked about a lot of Super Bowl, but that's not the point. The reason is, despite that, I now think people have overcorrected, and people are now underrating them. A healthy Josh Allen, you have a baseline of nine or 10 wins. And I think that even though they have a lot of defensive personnel losses, they were without Milano for a lot of last year. I think the guys in the secondary weren't still great players. They were good players, but not great players. And Diggs, whether it was because of personality or age or whatever, after the first five games of last year, was not a top 40 receiver. And so I just think that they are... I think they're going to be fine. I think that they are going to be what they have been, in my opinion, each of the last few years, which is a good regular season team that when it is all firing, looks like, oh, my God, that team's amazing, that then plays a true contender in the playoffs and loses. And so that's just how I...

So I But now we're in a world where they're not even the favorite to win their own division. So I think now the bills are being disrespected by Vegas when previously they have been way overly respected, which is good for me because it just means, once again, I get to be right down the middle about the Buffalo bills.

I'm with you, and I'm high on the bills this year. Partly, maybe I'm just pushing against that, but I do believe it that It was the same reason why I picked the Chiefs in 2022 to make the Super Bowl, and I think to win this. Actually, no. Before the year, I had Eagles over Chiefs. That was right. I got it wrong, but I had the matchup right, which is very... That does not happen. But It's because offensive line and quarterback, I'm not making it that complicated. And there's enough of everything else. And I think this is the best Bill's offensive line they've had. It just has good continuity. And I do think Josh Allen, he's never going to be better than Patrick Mahomes overall. But I I do think we're right about the point we're getting the very best Josh Allen. And I do think he can lift all the tides. I think there was a point in the offseason where I probably thought I'd be more creative and not as high in the Texans because everyone's going to be high in the Texans, but they deserve it. They really are that good. They really do have a chance.

I have them up there winning the division. I'll go through mine, too, and then we can talk our Championship results. So seven chargers, I'm with you. Didn't feel great about it, but I had to go somewhere. Six colts, I do I have them in the playoff. So I have two AFC South teams, five bangles, four Texans, three Ravens. I have a weird feeling about the Ravens, and yet when it comes down to it, I just can't pick against them. Two Bills and then number one, Chiefs.

Two Bills?

Yeah. Why not? I like it. No, that's fine. They're the most consistent regular season team, and there's a lot of... I think Rousseau could have a breakout season. Every year, I think Ed Oliver is going to have a breakout season, except what he does is improve 10% every season, which is fine. He improves from very good to closer. Now he's like, Pro Bowl, and that's fine. If you have two good defensive linemen, McDermott knows how to coach up the back seven, which to me is just so valuable, even if he holds the As we would say in tennis, he holds the racket a little too tight. That worries me in a playoff setting, but that's my playoff, and I might as well just go to it. Yeah, I have the bills in the Super Bowl this year. I'm going bills over. I'm going bills over Texans. I'm going to actually, because the Chiefs freak me out, I guess in this scenario, the Texans pick off the Chiefs for me.

That's what Brew did last year. Brew had Ravens over bangles in the AFC title game, but his logic was the bangles beat the Chiefs for the Ravens. Yes. And then they go.

I'm going that way because I really do... It's more of a bet against the Chiefs in the sense that this is the best AFC I've seen, I I think there's going to be 4-5 really great teams. I am going to take the field over the Chiefs, and if I'm going to take the field over the Chiefs... This is the first time I haven't had them in a Super Bowl before a season in a while, maybe almost ever.

Can I just tell you something, Greg? Because you're my friend, and I love this show. It's one thing to not pick the Chiefs to win the Super Bowl. It's another thing not pick the Chiefs to make the Super Bowl. But the Chiefs' season start. The Chiefs, since Mahomes have been there, they have a one or two-game season, and it starts in the AFC title game. And if they go 2-0, it's a great year. If they go one-on-one, it's a sad year.

I mean, what? So the Bill's overtime game was a preseason game? I mean, give me a break. You don't know when your tough games are going to come.

No, that's not what I'm saying. What I'm saying is 100% of the time when the AFC Championship Game trophy is in the building and the winner of that game gets it, Patrick Mahomes is playing in that game.

That's why I'm not allowing him to get to that game.

No, but you're saying that he won't play in it.

You are saying that- That's why if he gets there, I actually do-No, but he doesn't always win that game. He's lost that game twice. Maybe it's the Patriots fan in me that recognizes how great this Chief's run is and is going to be. They have a chance to be better than the Patriots. It'll be different because that was 20 years, and who knows? We'll see. But they have a chance to be better over a shorter period of time this year, right now, there's almost an argument they already have. I do think those divisional round games sometimes are the toughest. You've come off of a little of a buy, and the other team maybe has played in this scenario, and they're fantastic. So I do think it's just as likely that the Texans beat them as some other team, and that it's that first game, and that it could happen. And I just wanted to be a little more fun and throw this great Texans team into a big spot.

Listen, I like the Texans, and they should pop. There's a pretty decent history of this is how you do it. Everybody knows the rookie contract quarterback, load the team up, go, go, go. Got it. I think by your predictions, the Chiefs are going to win zero playoff games. I think that's lunacy.

Why? It happens.

It's happened all the time in NFL history where the best team loses.

And sometimes it happens right away.

I'm not talking about NFL history. I'm talking about Patrick Mahomes' history. I'm just saying it's never happened to him.

But that's never going to... You do understand as a Chiefs fan, that will not continue his whole career. There will be games like this. There will be seasons like this.

Yeah, but I don't think this is the year. Also, if I'm not mistaken, taken, your Patriots did make eight consecutive AFC title games. So that's doable. 2011 to 2018, you guys were in eight straight AFC title games. And since part of Mahomes's legacy is going to be to break all of your guys' records, I guess he's going to have to go to nine.

I always said that was the...

The most impressive thing.

It's hard to pick, but that was at the time it felt. And why I always thought 2014 was most satisfying because they were so good for that decade that they were sneaky the best team in NFL history not to win a Super Bowl for a decade was the 2005 through 2013 Patriots. And so it was great to get off of that. And I don't know if the Chiefs will... I don't think they'll ever have that long of a stretch without Mahomes. And yet I still would take the under, and this is a whole other podcast. I would take the under of Mahomes getting to six or seven, whichever one you want to use, whether it's Patriots or braided. No, I would take the under just because football is six and a half, you have to take the under.

If the number is six and a half, you have to take the under. With that said, it couldn't have started better. I didn't give mine, Chiefs over bangles. Okay. That makes sense. And that the This whole... The Chiefs have ended the bangles season in consecutive years. Last year, nobody cares because it was Jake Browning, but they did do it. And for three straight years, I think that would be good. I Listen, I really like the bangles in Burrow. And I am worried if they don't win the Super Bowl this year, they being the bangles, when they're going to have a great opportunity, a great opportunity, again, in the short order, because it does seem like ownership might be messing this up a bit. And I don't understand the Jamar Chase thing at all. I get the Tee Higgins thing. I I get it. But the Tee Higgins thing only made sense because it's like, We can't pay you because we're about to give Jamar all this money. To do the Tee Higgins thing and then not give Jamar all the money is baffling to me.

Yeah. And their top-level talent on defense. We'll see, maybe Amarius Mims turns out to be an offense. Where is it? I'm with you that this is their year. I think I spent most of the offseason thinking, I'm going to either pick the bangles or the Bills to win the Super that this feels like it's going to be one of their years. I just settled on the bills. It can't be-It'll happen eventually.

It'll happen eventually. I think that the laser focus on a three-peat and potentially letting Travis walk off into the sunset, everyone's going to be loved. But we'll see.

I appreciate you, nick Wright. Again, FS1, first things first, noon Pacific, 3 Eastern, What's Right with nick Wright. Check out the It's a YouTube show. This was a pleasure. It's a daily show, so I do want to have you back on at some point. Maybe this is an off-season show where we compare who's going to have a better career, Carlos Alvarez, your guy. I do love that you're pumping up Alvarez on a national stage. We need more tennis talk. Or Mahomes. That's an interesting-Real quick before we go, because you'll love this.

Yesterday, I'm texting with Greg about today's show, and he He just texted me, Go Alvarez, or something.

Yeah, enjoy watching. I said, In the meantime, we can watch some Alvarez. I figured on TV. I know you're a big fan.

I was like, How the hell? I was in my car on my way to the US Open. I was like, How the hell did he know? I was like, Did I say it on the air? I don't know. So I get to the US Open, 15 minutes after the match starts, and just buy upper-level seats for Alcarez for $80. And I'm watching. The kid, qualifier, it looks like he's going to win the second set. And I'm like, All right, now we might have a real match. I'm in the stadium. I've already paid for tickets. I go on a ticketing app and see, fourth row, sideline, right where you serve. There are tickets still for sale, but now it's 8:30. Those tickets, which were $2,200 earlier in the day, were down to 200 bucks a seat. In the stadium, I bought two tickets just so I could move down and watch from there. And me and Mark Carmen and Danny Parkins went down and watched from the fourth row. It was great. I love the US Open. I'll be back on Sunday.

Live tennis. I'm very happy with my life here in Los Angeles and my family. The thing that happens every year, this time of that I wish I was having my old life when I lived in New York for 10 years. I would love to be doing a football show and heading up to flushing a handful of times during this US Open. Nick Wright can do that. Like I said, check him out every day on his shows. We will be back with an NFC preview on Friday, wrapping up the week big time. Big show. Jordan Rodriegue, Steve Weish, and a new guest, new co-host, Keegan Abdu, who does next-gen stats for us. So it's a big pack studio. We'll do the NFC preview before the week is I'll see you then.