Welcome to NFL Daily, where we're just a bunch of sickos staying up on a Thursday night to watch the last week of the preseason, Bengals Colts. And there's no one I would want to talk about a Bengals game with more than nick Wesling, who's the one who's really staying up late there. Looking a little tired, but he's ready to go. Let's go, nick.

Yeah, I don't know what we learn out of these preseason games. What I learned is Anthony Richardson, hiked up pretty well for obvious reasons. He's got all the physical tools and looks amazing, but he missed a couple of bunnies, and that's against a third team, Bangles defense. So we'll see what happens. Obviously, you're not going to show too much in the TV season. I don't think we really learned too much about things, but he's got to tighten some things up if he's going to lead this Colts team to the playoffs this year.

No, I love that, nick. You just jumped right into it. I was thinking of doing news first, but I brought up the game, your talking game. Let's talk the game. And yes, I just saw bangles on the schedule, primetime game. And I thought, what would make me happy? What would make our listeners happy? What would make us more happy than to just hear from nick Westling, of course, and the visage. It's looking good. You look healthy. You look happy. It's always great to hear from you. My favorite Westling in Cincinnati. Phil's in Columbus, so I'm not counting him And the other brothers, I don't really hear from them as much. So you're in the top spot, nick.

They're fine. It feels okay. But you're right. He doesn't live in Cincinnati. He doesn't count. Yeah, you said I look healthy. I'm definitely We're not missing any meals. So we're feeling good here. We'll see what happens with this football season. Obviously, I know you want me on because Wesleyan brothers equal ratings. So you got to go grab those while you can.

No doubt. Yeah, of course, all the fans and listeners back around the NFL days of Chris, if you're watching on our YouTube show, I have to admit, and it still happens to me, nick, when your face pops up on screen, and it's just like, oh, the likeness is there. So that's not the only reason why I love you, but it is an extra bonus of why I love you. All right, let's just talk Colts, Bengals, then. Because, yeah, Richardson and the Colts played their starters for the first quarter and a half. And we saw it all with Richardson, I thought, in that first drive that he had. He goes right down the field, scores a shutdown. It's one of those preseason nights where if they just took him out after one drive, everyone would be like, Oh, that's great. He is looking ready to go. Mvp sleeper. Here we go. Because he showed some pocket movement. I disagreed with Kirk Herb Street. I disagreed with him a few times in this show. We'll get to that. But one of the times was, he was saying, Richardson has to show he's a good decision maker. And to me, that's one of his good strengths.

I think he gets through his reads. He makes good decisions. But he had a couple of misses. He had a pick six on what I think was a miscommunication, but it was a couple of miscommunications. And ultimately, they had five drives, and that was the only score. So that's not really what you want when you're going up against the Bengals third string defense or whatever they had out there.

That breakdown was easy. Again, you said third string.

The safety started to be a little bit longer. That was not See, he came across to his second or third read, his eyes start on one side of the field, and he goes back. Give the guy a little credit.

No, it wasn't within six yards of him. I could have made that throw. Come on, man. I might not have been able to make that subtle movement he made to the left to get there. But I was sure he looked, he put it on the guy and he jogged in for the countdown. The play right before that, though, he had a guy wide open in the end zone, over through him, missed him, went off the fingertips. So it's one of those things where it gets a little tighter in the regular season against a real safety there instead of a third stringer. So we'll see what happens. I'm excited for Anthony Richards, and I don't want to take anything away. I'm I'm curious to see, but let's not pretend like that was a world beating drive there.

He was fine. It was a good drive. All I mean is he got through his reads. He went one to 2-3 pretty quick, so that was good.

The limited amount last year we saw, I thought that was one of his strengths, too. He was very quick through his read. Accuracy issues and fumble issues, but he looked great when he was playing.

It's just a reminder how little we know of this dude. I think there's almost an artificial expectation, and I'm part of it. I'm excited for him because he only had two completed games last year, and then he had two more where he didn't complete it. And on average, those games, which I went back and watched, had so many good moments that you just immediately project forward like, oh, that's who that guy is. But it was like three games at the NFL level, and he barely played at college, and he was supposed to be one of the most raw prospects. So they're a mystery box. They're a team I'm excited about. This is an AFC South themed show. I don't know if you know this, nick. I have Seth Payne, former Houston Texan, who I really like, who's down there as an analyst who's on the show. He's going to be talking Texan. And then John Shippley, who's, I think, one of the best beat writers out there talking Jaguars, because I'm into this division It's not really about the Titans. I mean, as a last place team goes, I could watch the Titans. Lovis is fun, but it's these three teams with these quarterbacks.

I just feel like this division has never had any juice. Right now, I wanted to just have a show where we talked about their juice because we saw on the rest of the field, Jonathan Taylor. I think he set up for a nice year. Ad Mitchell, he out snaps Alec pierce tonight. A good-looking rookie, and a lot of good players on their defense, too. Liatu Latu had a sack in this game. He was my favorite defensive pass rusher in this draft. So I think this Colts team could contend if Richardson is good enough. What do you think about the AFC South? Do you worried they're coming for the AFC North's Crown as the best division?

Well, I don't think that's a danger this year, but there I have a lot of reason to get excited. There's still a lot of question marks with all four of these teams, I think. I mean, obviously, the Texans look a little better than the other two. And you mentioned the Titans. I'm a little bit excited to see what they have, see if they have any juice this year, the Titans. I always thought they were well-coached until the very end of last year when they fell apart. So we'll see if the new coaching staff can get in there and do some things. And I don't really want to focus on them. I to focus on the Jaguars. I'm sorry, the Jaguars. Make sure I say it without the Midwest accent there. But they looked like they were going to be good. And then they just came out. And last last year and were average the entire year, looked really bad in some games, looked pretty good in some games. They're not getting talked about much this year. And I'm excited. They still have a lot of playmakers. I mean, we know Trevor Lawrence. What is he?

Is he a top quarterback? Can he be a top eight guy? I think he's got the tools. We haven't seen it quite yet, though. He's been more in that 10 to 12 range for the most part of his career, and he shows flashes. But we'll see what happens. Their defense should be decent. And how many points can they score? We'll wait and see.

Yeah, it's a fun division, and we'll get into all that later in the show. The last thing on the Colts that I wanted to get into it with Herb Street, because he's listening. He really respects me.

He should.

I know the preseasons of these games are long, and I wouldn't even notice if he said that, if someone didn't clip it and send it out on Twitter. But he spent a part of the third quarter speculating, Well, they know what they have in Joe Flacko. You just wonder. And I was sensing some Richardson doubt from Herb Street. He was usually very positive, so I don't mind him having a little criticism. He said, What if Richardson struggles? What then? Will the temptation be to go with Joe Flacko, who you know what you got there, and you have a ready-made roster ready to win? I was like, What do you know that you have? He's played 10 games the last three years, and they've been up and down. Even the Cleveland thing was fun, but let's not get carried away. In no world, they would put me on Amazon for Thursday night football in the booth with Al over Kirk Herb Street before they would replace a healthy Anthony Richardson with Joe Joe Flacko. I don't know what I will do, nick West. I will drive to your house in Cincinnati if they replace Kirk Herbst, I mean, if they replace Anthony Richardson with Joe Flacko if he's healthy this year.

That is not happening.

That's not He's not going to be that much longer. He's not going to be that much longer. He's not going to be that much longer. He's not going to be that much longer. No, I mean, Flacko, great career. Good run last year. I mean, he's my age or your age or something. He can't play anymore. I mean, he can still get in there and be a spot starter if you needed someone in an emergency. And be efficient. And if you give him time to throw, he can still pick passes. But yeah, that's not going to be a thing. I don't know where- If Richerson gets hurt, it's fine.

You bring him in. That's the whole point. He can fill in. He showed he can do that, but there's no chance. Wait, I Please forget that because Chris Wesling, five years older than me, to the day, born on the same birthday. I always took a little pride in that, that that was cool. Wait, are you younger than me or are you older than me?

No, I'm older than you. I'm about to be I'll be 47 in a month.

Okay, so bangles, look, they didn't play Jermaine Burton, who's their third round pick until the very end. There was a little conversation from the broadcast that he had been falling asleep in meetings. That was news to me. So that explained maybe why they won't play him a certain maturity and a trust level, maybe with Joe Burrow, whether he's in the right spot. But then every game, they always put him against these fourth stringers. And he has lit up... One thing I've learned from the preseason, there is not a third stringer in the NFL that has any match for Jermaine Burton. He's just mossing them play after play. It's amazing.

Yeah, I mean, that's what you made over a third string safety of all things, so it wasn't even a corner. I don't know. You heard a lot about this in college. I wasn't sure if Herb Street was saying it was happening now or if it happened in college. I wasn't sure what that was. I hadn't heard anything in Cincinnati about that. So I don't know. But he's had problems with all the coaching staff he had in college. And now it looks like maybe he isn't in the good graces of the bangles coaching staff. We'll see, obviously, he's got the physical tools. He looks great in preseason. But he's not going He's not going to crack that top three. I think Yosy Voss has that third receiver position locked up.

Love Yosy Voss. I mean, he might be their number one receiver to start the year if Jamar Chase doesn't end this holding. This holding is taking a little while, considering... I mean, he's If he had that fifth year option on his contract. The Bengals aren't going to... I don't think they're going to pay him. So this is one that's a little dicier than most, where I could see it going up to the very end. And I could actually see, in this case, him skipping a game. I never predict that. Ayuk will be back. Trent Williams will be back. Ceedee Lamb will be back. I actually think in this case, because he's just going to be so annoyed that they won't even do anything, that he actually might skip a game or two. It's at least possible with Jamar Cheson. Yeah.

No one seemed worried about it until today. I hadn't heard anyone really talking about it much. They just assumed something would get done. They'd give him a little bumper where he would just go away and go back to practice. I don't know what it was all about because you're right, I don't think he's going to get much if he gets anything.

I can't understand. He's only going to sign if it's the big Justin Jefferson type contract. I just think they don't want to pay him this early because that's just what they just don't want to do it yet. Jefferson didn't get that money until he was a year older. He is a year older. So we'll see. It's just been a weird, quiet situation. The other preseason game tonight was Chief's, Bear's, Backups of plenty. So not much to talk about there. Kaderius, Tony, Nicole Hardman are in this game heavily, which shows they might not be a lock for this roster, which is interesting just because Hardman had that Super Bowl winning catch and Kaderius, Tony's former first-round pick. So we'll see if either of them, at least one of them, will make the team. But the story of the preseason has been Carson Steal of the Chiefs, who every game he plays, he has a ridiculous highlight run. Here it is. Give him the football again.

Here he goes. Carson Steal breaking tackles with the stiff arm. With the stiff arm. He's down to 10, to five. Is he in?

If you're watching on YouTube, I love that we're able to show the highlights and stuff. He's doing this every week. He's like the next Mike Allstatt. I hate to just compare him to another white fullback, but he's a white fullback.

What was the... Oh, a few years back, what was the guy from Cleveland that had that run of six or seven games?

Payton Hillis. He was a tailback, technically. He was a tailback.

Yeah, but he was a bigger one and looked similar in his running style there.

He got on the cover of Madden, which was one of the more racist things that's ever happened in my lifetime.

Oh, yeah.

That was funny.

Congratulations. You had a great year. What are you doing on the cover of Madden? I don't know.

I don't know either. All right. Look, I've been having so much fun. I'm taking longer than I expected. But we are going to do some news because there was some significant news. I was going to start the show with this because it was a bit of a surprise. And if you're a listener to NFL Daily, it might not has not been as big as surprise. Eric, let's do some news. All right. John Dotson going from the Commanders with a fifth round pick to the Eagles for a third round pick. The Eagles also sent to seventh in this deal. So the commanders pick up a pick swap up to the third and to seventh for their first round pick from a couple of years ago, obviously, it's a different regime there in Washington with Ron Rivera out the building, they did not seem to have any use for Jahaan Dotson. Your reaction, nick, to this trade. And I'm saying it's not a surprise if you listen to the show because I was just saying it did not sound like they were a fan of him, and someone was going to give up a decent pick, I thought, for Jahaan Dotson, and they weren't going to cut him or anything.

And they got decent value. It's telling they traded him in the division, though. They do not think this kid can play.

Yeah, I think he was drafted 16 overall. Just a couple of years ago, was supposed to be a great compliment to McLaren, and it just never really clicked for him. He was injured his rookie year and then came and really didn't do anything his second year. They have to be massively disappointed by this because he looked like a good prospect coming out, and he would at least be a borderline number one, if not an absolute number one there. And it just never really panned out. He seemed like he got open a lot when he was a rookie and couldn't get the ball delivered on time. And then last year, he just didn't seem like the same guy.

I thought he had way more production as a rookie until today when I went and checked. He had 35 catches for 523 yards, but he did have seven touch downs. And that's why I think I remember it, because he had a couple of big plays down the field, and he's a smaller guy that tries to win at the catch point, make those crazy catches with guys all over him. That's a hard life to live as a smaller guy, but he's showing he can get open. You hit the nail on the head. He can run routes at the NFL level if he just has a free release. And so in Philly, is there, what, their fifth receiving option? You have E. J. Brown, you have Devante Smith. And now it was maybe the biggest gap in the NFL from 2-3 before at wide receiver. They had a guy, Britain Covie, and Wilson, a rookie who was taking snaps, and it was just a chasm. So now Dotson fills into that position, and mostly you'll be in the slot. But I say fifth option because they're going to throw it to Dallas Godert. They're going to throw it to Saquon Barkley.

And so then I think, okay, But as a role player, he's not getting that press coverage. He can run some routes. And more than anything, he's a good backup because I did think they were in big trouble. They're such an offensive team. If Brown or Devante Smith, who have both been really durable, ever got hurt, that just was a really thin room. So it's a rare trade I like for both teams because I think Dotson is probably better than he showed. It sounded to me, nick, just reading the reports and reading between the lines with the coaches, the effort might have not been. Either he was in his own head and not confident or just like, it wasn't with the program because whenever they brought up their receivers, they would always just say how the other guys were trying so hard, and they finish every route, and blah, blah, blah, and they were leaving him out of that equation.

Yeah, obviously we're not on the inside there, but it seems there's something amiss there. He's too talented to give up on this early, especially when you do it. Now you're right, a different regime, different coaching staff. Maybe they looked at him and said, No, cut our losses. That's what it looks like.

Right. And to give it to Philadelphia, I like that. That's a DGAF type of move. It's like, we just want the best pick possible. Yeah, he might be fine there. We're not worried about that. We're worried about 2025, frankly. That's what they're worried about. They're getting picks, they're rebuilding, and they're doing it around their young quarterback. So I like it fine for both teams. We'll see if that's in. It wasn't the only move, by the way, the commanders made today. Kade York, the They're busty Browns kicker from a couple of years ago. They got taken high in the draft. They traded a conditional pick for him and cut Raleigh Patterson. So they have their kicker. I'm going to roll through just two quick contracts, and then we'll mention Justin Herber at the end, nick. Aj A. J. Tarrell got a contract from the Falcons, a little more than $21 million a year. They had me do the top 50 free agents of 2025 on the site. It's the last thing I write before the season starts, the only thing I write in training camp. And I'm realizing I write it at a stupid time because they always sign these guys a week or two later before the season starts.

But A. J. Tarrell was number six. He's probably a top 15 to 20 cornerback in the league, maybe even top 10. And so that was good business. And then they also gave money in Kansas City to their center, Creet Humphrey, by far now the highest paid center in the NFL. I had him number four on my top 50 list. And that's big news for the Chiefs because they have a couple of offensive linemen that were coming up. Now they can use the franchise tag on the other one. And they've done a great protecting Patrick Mahomes. How sick of you, sick of the Chiefs are you on a scale of one to 10? As a bangles, non-fan, although you are a fan, and just as a football fan, are you getting sick of him?

I love watching the Chiefs play. I love watching the Chiefs play. My wife's in the other room and she can hear me say this, but she would argue they always get all the calls. And maybe that's true to a certain extent. But I think you make your own luck in the NFL. When you're making good plays, you're going to get more calls. So Yeah, I've got no problems with the Chiefs. I love watching them.

I just feel like the fatigue is there. And I forget that you pretend that you have absolutely no emotional attachment to the bangles.

I've told you I'm a casual fan of the bangles. I don't really get in when they're doing part.

Don't you love your family? I mean, I'm not a Rams fan, but I want my daughter to be happy, so I'm happy. Maybe it's the same.

I told you I'm happy when they do well.

Okay, that's good. Yeah, I'm just feeling Chiefs fatigue all around the country. Definitely in my house. That's for sure. Everyone used to love And by everyone, I mean my family members who watch a lot of football, too. They used to love the Chiefs, and now they're just like, All right, enough of the Chiefs. Finally, the team that I thought would be their main rival was Justin Herbert and the Chargers, rather. I'll never forget the last season we had with Chris, we watched the Chiefs Chargers game, actually, at Chris's house, and LaKisha's mom was hanging out and came over. And she loved that Chief's Chargers matchup, and she was going crazy. That was a fun memory. And they always played them tight, but they always find a way to lose in the end. And now they're not even playing them tight anymore. I bring up all that just to say that Justin Herbert was back at practice. And according to Daniel Popper at the Athletic, it was one of the best practices he's ever seen Justin Herbert play, quarterbacking at the highest level. It's a rare training camp report like that that actually influences me because I was so freaked out about this foot injury.

I thought, Their season might be done before it started. Maybe he'll get hurt again. But hearing that, that makes me happy as someone that wants to see some fun football by the Chargers.

Well, let's hope so. Yeah, I mean, the league's better when he's playing well because he's an exciting quarterback, doesn't mind throwing the ball downfield and in the tight windows. So it's fun to watch the Chargers play when he's playing well. So let's hope it's good. And I mean, I don't know how many opportunities he'll get to throw in a tight windows this year.

What do you mean? They'll probably all be tight He knows, unfortunately. Yeah, you're just saying they're going to run the ball and they're going to be in trouble. Yeah, Chris was a true believer in Herbert. He enjoyed watching him those couple of years. And I think you would have been surprised how the next few have gone. Not that Herbert's played poorly, but just that it's really... He hasn't gotten any better, and the team around him has gotten worse.

Facts. I don't have anything to add to that. That was perfect.

I appreciate you. What you said today, everything was perfect, too, nick. And It's always good to see you. I got to check the schedule, see when the bangles are on in primetime and get you on for those shows. But I like your analysis any old night, so we should have you back before then, even then.

Anytime, Greg.

All right. That was nick. We're going to take a quick break, and I'll be back with Seth Payne. We'll talk some Texans after the break. Back on NFL Daily. So one thing I'm excited about with this show, we're going to cover every team, but we do have the space here with Daily to really get into certain teams I find fascinating in a given moment of time. And that's why I'm excited about this AFC South focus show. We talk cults already. I'm digging the AFC South this year, and they're young quarterbacks, so we're running out of time. Season's about to start. And so I wanted to set the table for what's at stake this season in division. That's been an afterthought. Frankly, for most of the time I've been at the NFL. But now you have a division with four young quarterbacks, three of them top five picks, all of them extremely talented. Let's be real. One of them, C. J. Stroud, is above the rest. And one of these teams, to me, just in terms of being the team of the moment, is above the rest. And that's the Houston Texans. And that's why I'm excited to have on a former Houston Texan, Seth Payne, co-host of the Payne & Pendergast on Sports Radio 610 in Houston show.

And a man, before I even let you speak, Seth, I'm going to just... So the listeners know on YouTube just what they're dealing with, your trim and fit now. But This is what Seth Payne looked like as a rookie in the NFL. I believe that's a rookie. That was Jaguars. Man, I shot.

That's so much creatine. Oh, my God.

I really suggest anyone check it out. I don't know if you want this. If I were you, I would want this being the first thing that comes up when you Google the name Seth Payne, because this is pretty much it right here.

Yeah, I'm happily married, so scaring off women doesn't bother me at all. I'll gladly use. That's not what I looked like when I met my wife. Yeah, that was probably my rookie year. Yeah, that's different.

Yeah, Randy. Okay, I was going to say, I'm going to feel intimidated and uncomfortable if you leave it up any any longer. But yeah, Seth now is down there doing awesome work. One of my favorite voices out there on any team. And you just came right off the field. Actually, I'll just start there. You had a joint practice. Those are always, to me, the most interesting days of the offseason. Texans and Rams. Any takeaways just from today while you were there?

Okay, so they were practicing the Rams, which is cool. Matt Stafford practiced. And I'll say the Texans defense has looked good throughout camp. They made a lot of offseason additions, and it looks like it might be paying off. You never know until you get to the regular season. But the defense looked good. The offense looked weak at offensive line. I think C. J. Stroud looks great throwing to Stefan Diggs and Tankdell and Nico Collins. That's been a lot of fun to watch. But the offensive line is a bit of a work in progress, and the Rams defensive line had their way with them a bunch of times. In the quest to be the San Francisco 49ers, that means elite passing offense and elite rushing offense. I feel like they're a long ways off from the elite rushing offense part right now.

Because of the O-line, yeah. And so Tunzel is back out there, right? Yeah. On paper, they have a good tackle combo, I I guess the question is in the interior. And yeah, I wasn't planning to start negative, but if you asked me to be like, what could be the problem for this Houston Texans? I guess that's it. I hadn't really thought about it, but that that doesn't come together because, yeah, you look at the numbers, and they were one of the worst running teams in the entire NFL last year.

Right. Yeah. No. And that's, trust me, we've had a whole offseason of fun and frivoleity, and it's been really cool to watch all of this come together. C. J. Stroud is the real deal. I try to step away and take off my homer glasses as much as possible, but he's the real deal. And Stefan Diggs, his history is the first two years he's anywhere, everything's awesome. So I'm not worried about it. They got him on a one-year contract. So I don't foresee any issues on that side of things. I think I think the defense is going to be very good rushing the passer. All offseason long, as I listen to people outside of Houston gush and heat praise, and I'm talking the hardcore film watchers and everything, heat praise on the Texans. I did feel like they were whistling past the run game issue a little too easily. I like Joe Mixon. I'm glad he's here. I don't think he's going to set records or anything like that. But the whole operation, the blocking of the offensive line and the tight ends and a fullback whose name will be determined later, apparently, right now. It needs to get better if they want to be genuinely elite because they weren't that good in the red zone last year.

And so far in the preseason, it hasn't looked so great either.

Yeah. And it's interesting, too, because the Rams are young up front, but they could be pretty good, better than people think. And that's interesting. These joint practices, I feel like, especially if you had a bad one previously, it's all the Rams have been doing is having joint practice. And they always come out the next one all fired up. But that's good to think about. How did Mixin look, by the way? Because he was on my radar that he missed so much of camp early. And he's been a guy that at the beginning of each of the last two seasons, I'm like, Oh, Joe Mixin's back. And I love Joe Mixin just as a runner, just his style of running. And then he was someone like, if you watched him from week one and then it was week eight, I don't know if his body was breaking down, but he just wasn't the same guy by the middle of the last couple of seasons.

I think with Mixin, for one, because he was gone for... He practiced the first day. My radio co-host, Sean Pendergast. So I'm rubbing his quad after that practice, just as he was talking to a family member or something. And then your soft tissue injury, he was gone for a couple of weeks. It's noticeable He's massively different when he's on the field versus other runningbacks. You know how he is. He's way bigger when you see him in person than you expect. He's a big, fast, athletic dude. He looks like Joe Mixon. And I think he'll be just fine. It's just to get absolute most out of him. The thing I'm curious about in the difference between being in Cincinnati and being here is that in Cincinnati, they had transitioned into being a team that was in shotgun all the time. And Joe Mixon is at his best when he's QB under center, he's seven yards deep in the backfield, and he can just hit it. And this offense will do that a lot. So as long as the offensive line can get in sync, I think he's going to be just fine. I just want to be able to maximize it.

It One little interesting part of that, too, was with the Rams in town. I was talking to Jordan Rodrieke, who covers them for the athletic.

She's all over at FL Daily, too. Here we go.

Yeah, I love it. I mean, I was so excited. I fanboyed over because I love that Play Collars podcast. And Kam Akers is with the Texans right now. So Kam Akers comes to the Texans after his second Achilles tendon tear. And when they first signed him, I was like, Oh, don't pay attention. He just had his second Achilles tendon tear. It's just an experiment. I'm at, the first day he was out there, I was like, Oh, wow. I never would have thought that guy had a second Achilles tendon tear nine months ago. So I was talking to Jordan about it. And one of the things with Kam Akers was that the Rams transitioned away from being an outside zone running team, and it's not quite the same fit for Kam acres, whereas the Texans are an outside zone running team, and Kam Akers might be a better fit with the Texans. But also at the same time, we're watching Damian pierce in the preseason game so far, average one yard per carry on seven carries. It's not feeling good for Damian right now. And I think Kam might end up, if he's healthy, et cetera, et cetera, he might actually end up being a much better option than I gave them credit for when they signed him.

It's funny that camp in the preseason is so long, and I'm doing this show daily, that it's long enough for narratives to turn in on themselves by the end of it because I was all excited about, Oh, like Damian Piers, maybe this is the comeback season. He did show something in his rookie year. All right, let's get to the fun. Let's get to the reason why you were right. You said the people nationally. I don't know if you're including me in that. Like the film watchers, am I part of the cool group? No, I'm trying. I am high on the Texans. How can you not be? They are the team, to me, at the moment. I thought they should have been in that kickoff game. It's crazy to say a game between Lamar Jackson and Patrick Mahomes would be maybe more interesting with the Texans. But I guess when I think of the kickoff game, I like the idea of the champ versus some new challenger. And the Texans are that team, and they feel more real than even the Lions felt at this time a year ago when they were that team and they delivered on it because of Stroud.

And you've gotten to see this kid from day one and the maturation. And obviously, he's got more than enough weapons around him this year. And how he manages that as a leader, I think, is interesting. But also just how you think he manages that and develops as a quarterback, because we've seen so many times, quarterbacks really develop so much between one and two. And if you think about that with Stroud, that's just going to be insane. Just give me your impressions being around him and his team for a year plus now.

The really cool thing about Stroud last year was you could see the stages of development. So the first game versus the Ravens, they come out and Bobby Sloak, and Bobby Sloak has basically said this much himself, did that classic first-time coordinator thing where they tried to do all the good stuff all at once, and it was just a little bit of overload. They had multiple guys in motion and everything while they're playing with three back up offensive linemen, and it was a little too much. And then over the course of those first two games against the Ravens and the Colts, CJ took 11 sacs in those two games. And then all of a sudden, CJ didn't get sacked for several several games in a row after that. He figured out, All right, I got to get rid of the ball sometimes. You saw him really steadily learn what he could and couldn't get away with in terms of interceptions. I think sometimes people look at his completion percentage, which wasn't sky high last year, and they think of that as like, Oh, maybe he wasn't as accurate as we thought he was. No, he was super accurate.

He was very mature in terms of throwing the ball away or throwing passes that were either going to be caught or incomplete, but not interceptions. So the ball... And some of his incompletion percentage is actually due to his accuracy and his ability to throw to a safe place. So his only throwing five interceptions on the year was something that developed over time. And his ability to start to, I think, understand and feel the pass rush was really cool. And it's one thing that they talked about. They're working on this training camp is just the efficient pocket movement, taking one step instead of three, just moving in the pocket instead of scrambling. And I think he's taken a step in that regard. So it's all this stuff that you hope your quarterback develops by year three so you can make a decision on whether or not to give him that quarterback extension. I feel like he fast forwarded through a lot of those processes last year. And honestly, I sought out every Kurt Warner, Dan Orlowski, JT O'Sullivan, every former quarterback that breaks down film, just looking for guys to point out where maybe it wasn't actually that good.

And they're universally blown away by how quickly he moved through that part of it. So that's a really cool thing. And yet at the same time, I think he remains very humble about it. I know he talked a lot of smack on podcasts in the offseason, but he's got the appropriate size chip on his shoulder. It's not a Johnny Manzell A small size chip on his shoulder. It's just the right size chip to keep attention to keep him focused.

Yeah, I could see that. He just seems like a guy you would want to hang out with. He's a guy that I think that makes you feel things. He makes me feel it watching him, and you mentioned the pocket movement. I mean, to me, I'm sure he could get better at that, but just his natural feel, that's tough to teach. It reminds me a little bit of some of the greats I've enjoyed watching. Just the style of quarterback I like, whether it's a braided or a Rivers or a Gino even on a lower level. But he reminds me of those guys, and that he just obviously doesn't seem like one of those guys in terms of how he carries himself. He does seem like a guy, and you can speak to all these weapons here that I think would be uniquely suited for a second-year player to handle and understand, to keep everyone happy. Because look, by the end of last year, it was just Nico Collins as a big-time playmaker. Now it's Dell healthy again, looking good. Stefan Diggs is there, Nico Collins. And then they're deep. I expect them, and we don't need to get into who this will be, but they have the best wide receiver six and seven in the league.

They have Noah Brown and Robert Woods and Xavier Hutchinson, who's a good young player, and who am I forgetting? Metchie.

Someone's going to get traded here. Robert Metchie started taking off, yeah, in the last couple of weeks.

Someone's going to get traded here, and I don't even need to... For our purposes, it's not that big a deal because they have so many stars. How do you see him just as a guy that's, to me, going to be one of the faces of the league, and certainly in the face of Houston sports for the next 10 plus years?

I think the pairing of him and Bobby Sloak has been really good in terms of just the Xs and O side of things. I think the pairing of Demeco Ryans and C. J. Stroud and their personalities and their commitment to doing things a certain way, I think that's where it could be really good. And you've got a defensive-minded head coach. So at some point, Bobby Sloick is probably going to get hired away to be a head coach somewhere. You're going to have to replace that offensive coordinator. I think the biggest thing that I noticed about CJ away from the Xs and O's is, and I'll credit Ryan Day and the staff at Ohio State for a lot of this, he takes the leadership part of it very seriously, and it's not just some stuff that he's read in a book. He talks all the time, and you see in his actions, he really wants to form personal relationships with everybody on the team and really get to know them so that they trust each other and that everybody is moving in the same direction. And with that, we saw him in training camp this year, really start to take on more of that actual captain of the ship mentality.

He's correcting guys. He's calling them up when the practice isn't going well. And he's doing all that. But it feels very, very natural because he took his time in building to that. And I think he feels He feels more comfortable, and he feels like this is... Last time this year, he still didn't know if he was going to be the starting quarterback, where obviously this year, he's the starting quarterback.

Right. And it's going to be fun. That's such a fun week one game, them and the Colts. You mentioned D'Amico, and he just won another award from last year. I don't even know what this. It was some coach award.Pro.

Football Writers Association, something or other.Okay..

He did do a great job because one thing I thought he He did a good job was he took players that just weren't as good under other coaches, whether they were on the Texans or whether they came in, guys like Blake Cashman, Christian Harris, and just various players, and he made them better. Belichick always said, That was all you got to do. It's like, If you If you can just show someone how to improve, they're going to love you and trust you. Obviously, he's a great leader, and everyone likes him as a person, but you also need that part of it. Now, it seems like he has a better roster. It feels like Daneel Hunter is an upgrade from Grunard. They tried upgrade a little bit at Linebacker. They drafted Kamari Lasseter. It just feels like they're more talented. I've heard people who've come in and out of Houston this month and people have seen a lot of training camps, and everyone's just like, wow, this team is so talented. There's so many good players everywhere. As a former defensive lineman, just give me where you're most excited, you're most impressed, you're most surprised out of this camp.

All right, good. You mentioned a couple of the big names. Daneel Hunter. Man, I'm guilty of this, of not having really appreciated just how freakishly good he is in a lot of ways, or just what a physical freak he is. That dude's a freak, and it's cool and fun to watch him work with Will Anderson. Kamari Lasseter is understandably, I think, flying under the radar in a lot of ways outside of Houston. He's had a really good camp. And you talk about teaching somebody to swim by throwing him in the pond. He was out there from day one going against Stefan Diggs, Nico Collins, Tank Del, and he's battled them. He's battled them. And today at practice against the Rams, it's like every time I looked over to the defensive side of the field, he was breaking up a Matt Stafford pass. He's doing really, really well. Still isn't the regular... You got to do it in the regular season, but that looks really good. Al Shire is probably an underheralded signing because I don't think... Al Shier, the linebacker, he's not going to be an all pro or anything likely, but he's Demeco Ryan's in a lot of way.

In terms of... Because I played... My last year in the NFL was Demeco's rookie year. Demeco was this guy that came onto the team. And by midway through his rookie season, we're calling him Cap for captain. Because that's just... And you try to explain it to people, and people talk so much about culture, and then it just becomes white noise because every coach comes in and says they're going to establish the culture. And then usually, they make an exception here. They don't really follow the motivational poster there. This is just who D'Amico is. He's one of the rarest individuals I've met in football, and it's hard to describe and explain sometimes until you see it. And it's really cool. This year, I think you start to see... I think the team's taking on his personality. In that part of it, I'm as jaded and as cynical as the rest when it comes to talk about that stuff for all the reasons I just mentioned. But D'Amico is just different.

What made you jaded? Just seeing a few different coaches that weren't at D'Amico's level as a player? There's been a lot of change. I got to say, I was on the why let nick Cacerio pick another head coach? Who knows if he even really was the one that picked D'Amico Ryan's. But credit to the Texans because the Broncos wanted him, and he chose the Texans, and that changed everything. And ultimately, they've been proven right because Cacerio has had a lot of good players brought in, too.

You know what? Part of it is, man, there was a lot of dysfunction in the organization for a couple of years. Part of it, I don't want to get too deep into all of this, but if you look at the chiefs when they first transferred ownership after, I'm blanking on his name, passed away, there was a little bit of turmoil for a little bit. I think after Bob McNair passed away and Cal, his son, took over, there were a lot of different voices and a lot of different people grabbing power, and it was an ugly situation. So there was only so much David Cawley or Luffy Smith was going to be able to do. They fixed some of that, and they rideed the ship in a lot of regards. And the thing about Cacereo was, Cacereo took the job, and without getting the timeline exactly nailed down, basically, Casario took the job, and then Deshaun Watson requested a trade. And then all of the allegations came out against Deshaun Watson. And meanwhile, there was a salary cap mess because Bill O'Brien and Jack Easterby went hog wild spending like hillbillies who just won the lottery.

And so Casario had to clean that up. And I did think that Cacereo, he was very impressed with D'Amico on the call. I do believe that it was going to be Cacereo's choice on making that higher. A lot of people were skeptical that D'Amico would want to come here or that the Mcnares would want D'Amico because D'Amico had sued them for the field conditions a few years back. There was that side of it. And then the Texans did not have good PR at the time. I knew from the beginning that D'Amico and Cusario were going to get along great because they're both... They've got much different personalities, but they're both very focused on ignoring extraneous BS and just caring about the things that actually matter.

Like the Pain and Pender Gas podcast, like them.

Yeah, like any Yeah, the stupid media or just even old-school coaching BS. Cacereo is not trying to be Bill Belichick. Cacero is just very much his own guy, and I think he pulled some really good things from New England, but he also understands that every organization is different, and you don't want to go the way as some of those other head coaches have gone from out of New England.

Yeah. Maybe you guys do do a podcast, but maybe they make it into a podcast. But that's four hours on the radio every morning. I cannot talk anything about suddenly going daily when you're doing four hours daily. One of my favorites, Seth Payne. Let's fly another pic of Seth Payne up here before we go. Just to let the listeners know what they're dealing with.

Be impressed, everybody.

Can I give you-I'm impressed. I'm impressed. Great career in the NFL, and great career as a guy in the media, one of my favorites. And look, he lucked out. One of his former teammates becomes the local head coach. That's perfect. That can't be bad for business. That's got to be great. Thank you for everything. This team, to me, they are the team right now, the Houston, Texas. It's amazing to think where they were, where they are. But we'll get you back on later in the season to see how they're doing.

Awesome, man. I'm sorry I was negative. They just got to get the run game going.

No, you weren't negative at all. I'm into it. Next, after the break, we're going to have John Shipply talking Jaguars right after this. Very excited for my next guest, John Shipply. John Shipply, who writes for si. Com about the Jaguars. He co-hosts the Jaguars on si. Com podcast with Gus Loog, who's also excellent. It sounds a little too much like John Shipply at first. I want you to work on that for me, John. I have to figure out who's who. We can get into what a good job you do, John, but I just want to start this way. You analyze this team from a very considered, intelligent, I would say unemotional perspective. But what if I told you there's just something about this Jaguars team, I don't know what to do with. They're just there. They're not that great at any one thing, but they're not that bad at any one thing. So I start just asking you, what are the Jaguars?

Honestly, this is my six year covering them. It's been like that probably five out of six years. Last year was the only year I've been around them where there were really expectations, and it definitely feels like how they finished last year. They were the biggest collapse in football last year. Start 8:00 and 3:00, lose five year last six games. They lost the last five games Trevor Lawrence started. They probably lose their last six if they don't play, Bryce Young and the Mary Bunch in Carolina in week 17. Definitely feels like a lot of the feelings around Jacksonville are rooted in how bad last year ended. It's hard to blame them. They've gone nine and eight the past two years. They just feel like if nine and eight was a football team, it feels like the Jackson or Jaguars as an organization right now. Like you said, not one of the worst teams, but Nobody, I think, even locally is expecting them to threaten the Kansas City Chiefs or Baltimore Ravens or anything like that.

Which is crazy because if you think about the trajectory of this team, they get Trevor Lawrence as hyped up a quarterback prospect as there's been since Andrew luck. And then they have the end of the '22 season. They play the Chiefs pretty tough in Kansas City. It felt like the start of something. And then the end of last year, you mentioned it. I know Jaguars fans are probably sensitive about this. I guess this is the upside. If that was the Giants who had the end of the last season, that just would have been something the entire NFL and the media is talking about for the entire offseason and everything. But instead, it's the Jaguars. And I look at this roster, and I actually think There's more reasons for optimism than there has been, including going into last year. I was pretty down on the Jaguars going into last year, just that they couldn't necessarily keep it up. And they're interesting to me because they risk getting passed, not just by the Texans and their young QB, but possibly the Colts and their young QB. So I want to go back to Trevor because to me, the clear reason that might not be true, that the Jaguars could win this division is just like, well, what if our QB is the transcendent QB?

What if in his fourth year, he takes everything he's learned and the new weapons around him, and he's the best quarterback in the division, they have a chance to win this division? Where are you at just with Trevor and his development and everything that's led him here?

Yeah, Honestly, it's a pretty good micro-ism of just how NFL media and fans, I think, consume the sport. It's more like, What have you done for me lately? Anthony Richardson is the new shiny Tori in Indianapolis. C. J. Schraub, he's pretty much on every top on the quarterback list you can think of. Shad Khan met with local media a couple of months ago, and he more or less was like, it feels like deja vu with how the Texans are being talked about. The same way the Jaguars and Trevor Lawrence were being talked about a year earlier. But somebody new, somebody fresh comes in and does what people expect you to do, they're going to jump you. I think when I watched Trevor Lawrence, him and C. J. Stroud last year, I think it was week 11 in Houston when the Jaguars beat them. If it wasn't the Jacksonville Jaguars and If it wasn't an AFC South battle, I feel like a lot of more people would have came away from that game thinking, We just saw two long-time, 10-year franchise quarterbacks, you get out for four quarters, and then awesome back and forth. I think Trevor and CJ, I'd probably lump them in the same tier.

I think inside the building, the Jaguars, the issues that they have with Trevor Lawrence are less about him missing open receivers, his decision making. It's more about asking him to tone it down a little bit and what he's trying to do and understand that, Hey, you're the franchise quarterback. Some of these things you're doing, maybe you did at Clemson, you can't do it because you have legitimately hundreds of jobs. They're relying on you and your health. It goes back to the Tampa Good Day game. I think they played on Christmas Eve last They get completely destroyed. Second half of the game, I think it was late third quarter, they're down by 20 plus points, and Trevor scrambles out the pocket and he blows his shoulder against a defensive back while he's going out of bounds, ends up getting a shoulder sprain, isn't 100% healthy against Tennessee Titans two weeks later. Those are the things, I think, internally, they want Trevor to improve at. They're just at protecting yourself, having the more, I guess, situational and self-awareness. But I think the Jaguar struggles last year. I think very little of it had to do with Trevor Lawrence playing bad football.

That makes sense? Sometimes he definitely pushed the envelope too much, especially with ball security, trying to be Superman on every play. I think a lot of reasons that they were eating three to begin with was with Trevor. Going into this year, you asked me to list the top 10 concerns I have for the Jaguars. I'm not sure Trevor's even on the list. It's a weird dynamic with him because he hasn't met those expectations people set for him. But the people have set for him was to be Hall of Fame player, basically, after three or four years. He's not there yet, but I certainly think he's a quarterback that you win because of and not in spite of.

Yeah, I agree with that. But I'm also part of the problem because If I'm ranking the quarterbacks, we did that going into this year. It's like strowed to me right off the bat, and maybe I'm just getting too excited because to see a rookie do that. I do put him in that, has a chance to be top five or six this year, and was close to that already. Trevor is He's obviously good quarterback. He's obviously above what we used to call the Dalton line of he is a franchise quarterback. There's no question about that. I think it's just the range of outcomes of what his career can be is multiple-time Pro bowler. It's unfair to say what are the greatest quarterbacks ever, but a couple of tiers higher. So you watch them every day. And I do want to stay on Trevor just one more question because what do we not know about him? First of all, how has he looked in practice, in camp, and then just a little bit behind the scenes of how he's developed into this role of being the most important guy in an entire franchise.

Yeah, for sure. I think he definitely had a slower start to training camp this year. The M-O with Trevor Lawrence in training camp the last couple of years has been, he starts out red hot and then shred in the defense. Then as the defense catches up, it normally slows down a little bit. It's the reverse this year. They went from practicing against Mike Caldwell's scheme where the corners are practically 10 yards off the ball. There's easier windows or quick throws, stuff like that to Ryan Nielsen's scheme where receiver are getting pressed at a line of scrimmage, seeing a lot too high coverage. You could tell it was a big adjustment for the passing offense. Through the first, I want to say four or five practices. I think he had four or five picks. He threw two picks to Andrew Winger in one practice. Wingerd is a good special teams player, but he shouldn't be taken off. He's your star quarterback twice in one practice. But after that, it really seems like he settled into a groove. I'd say the last probably two or three weeks is as consistent as I've seen Trevor Lawrence in training camp practices.

I feel like skill room they have around him fits his skill set a little bit better than the last couple of years. Calvin really is by far the best receiver he's ever had, but just looking at the whole room together, he's never really had a pure deep threat like he has in BTJ. Gabe Davis is a bigger body than Zay Jones, a little bit better over the middle. They're not asking Marvin Jones to run vertical at age 33 anymore. So things are a little bit better around him. I think behind the scenes and even during practice, I think you're seeing him take the reins more and be more vocal. They had joint practices against the Tampa Bay Bucaneers last week, and I had him, I think he was sacked. They weren't taking them to the ground, but it would have been a clear sack, like six different times in team drills. By the end of it, you could see him getting visibly frustrated and telling the offensive line more or less like, This isn't acceptable. Whereas I think two years ago, he's probably just silently walking back to the huddle. In his mind, he's probably thinking, What the heck is going on?

But I think now you're seeing him demonstrate that on field leadership a little bit more.

You said Calvin really is the best receiver he's ever had, which is a failure, I think, for three years of a young quarterback when you think... Not that Calvin really is a bad receiver. He's a good starting receiver. But I tend to think he's maybe just a smidge overrated, maybe wasn't as consistent as you would want, and maybe not in the right place, whether that's coaching, whatever was going on last year. It's been interesting to hear you and Gus talk about it. I tell people, the way to learn about teams is listen to Good Team podcast. And like I said, the Jaguars on SI podcast is one of the best out there. I learn a lot from it. One of the things I've learned this preseason, you guys talking about how they're using Gabe Davis maybe a little differently than you expected. Instead of just this vertical guy, which maybe wasn't the perfect fit in Buffalo, he's doing more of the intermediate routes and getting open, and he's over the middle. And then you have my guy, Brian Timis Jr, who I'm very excited about because I'm a very basic NFL draft scout, where I just saw the way he moved, and I was like, this has to translate.

I know he runs fast, but more the way he just glides and can stop and start. I just thought it was a rare move. I was like, the floor of what I think he could be as a pro is pretty high because it's just going to translate, and it sounds like that's been translating lately. You have those two guys. You have Ennivan Ingram who's coming off a monster year. You have a great, maybe not great running back, but it's certainly above average running back in ETN, who I think is a little misunderstood. I was like, This is a good group. I think it's better than it's been before. Just make me feel great about my Brian Thomas Jr. Evaluation. I guess let's start there.

No, I mean, really throughout training camp, I honestly, I'm not sure if I've seen a single pure deep ball thrown to Gabe Davis. It certainly does not look like he's being used like he was in Buffalo. I think in Jacksonville, you're going to see Brian Thomas in the world, Gabe Davis wasn't in Buffalo where they're just giving him the vertical passing game and saying, You're the guy who's going to get behind defenses. He definitely started off a bit slow, I think, in training camp, which you'd probably expect. Rookies, they're doing a lot of thinking. The first training camp. But ever since two practices before the first preseason game, when he caught that great one-handed cradle catch against the Chiefs, he's really turned it on. Ronald Darby was locking him up easily during the first week of camp. Since then, he has a couple of scores over Darby. It looks like he's somebody who, no matter who you put in front of him, he's able to get behind the defense. The Jaguars have drawn up some good concepts to get him behind the defense. He had one play against Tampa Bay where he did a little stop and go route from the slot.

A guy with legit 4, 3 speed running vertical routes out of the slot, it's not going to be easy to defend. He's easily, I'd say, the best deep threat Trevor Lawrence has had in his career. Trevor Lawrence, he's been neutered, I think, especially last year in the scheme, almost Alex Smith West Coast style, where he's getting the ball and immediately throwing it. Everton Ingram has an average... It felt like he had an A-Dot of one yard at times last year, where they're just trying to immediately get the ball out of his hands. But Trevor Lawrence, I think, wants to play the vertical game, and Brian Thomas gives him a weapon he hasn't had. He played with DJ Chark for a sip of coffee in 2021, but I've seen more out of Thomas in training camp as a deep threat than I saw out of chart back then. I definitely think he's going to be heavily utilized. I agree with you. I think he's more than just the one-trick pony. He has the whole athletic skillset. He can be, in my opinion, as time goes on, a pretty good route runner. He ran a great route against Tampa Bay.

That little comeback on the sidebar, and you're already seeing teams respect his speed. It definitely feels like LSU asked him to run two routes, pretty much. He's learning everything now that he has the physical ability to grow into more than that. I think this year he's going to have a defined role as a field stretcher and a guy that do try to get the ball into his hands. But moving forward, long term, I definitely think he has big, big potential in. I had some people yelling at me online yesterday for sharing it. I didn't say the quote, but Pete Prisco, a long time Jaguars guy, he said he thinks he may be a Jamar Chase, Justin Jefferson type. I'm not going to go that far, but It just shows you the momentum that he has right now. That he's beating defensive backs badly enough that it went from people being deathly concerned during the first week of training camp to now he's always getting these crazy comparisons.

Yeah, I love Pete. I love anyone who's overcome his lack of height like myself to have such a great career. He's right about the same, although he's much stronger, to be fair. But Pete goes big with his predictions. I wouldn't even go that big. And I loved Thomas. I thought the cold should have taken him. And were those back-to-back pics? Those are my two favorite players in the draft, Latu and Thomas. No, they weren't back-to-back pics. So I like both pics. I was cool with the colds taking Latu, but I'm going to be tracking those two guys over the next few years. And yeah, fantasy implications. I'm not even that high on them. It's not about his numbers this year. It's about that he's going to help this offense. He's going to have some production, certainly. And I think long term. He reminds me of D. K. Metcalf, not at all in playing style, but just in that, I think, yeah, he's limited coming out, but guys can get better when the football is the only thing they're doing, and they're getting NFL coaching, and I think he has the skillset to do it. And he has just such obvious physical skills.

And that's where I get the DK Metcalf part. I was like, That's going to translate on some level, and then they'll get better and better. So I'm excited for that. You mentioned Peterson and the short offense. Doug Peterson is an interesting guy. He's a little off the radar nationally, too. Obviously, a Super Bowl champion. Last year was weird. He's someone who elicits strong reactions, actually, from other people in the league. Some people think he's great, and other people are like, Is Doug Peterson overrated? Where are we at with Doug Peterson and the Jaguar's experience right now? He came in, and obviously, I think overall, you'd have to give him a B grade. He's done a pretty good job. But just where are you at? What's he like? He's been a little off the radar compared to when he was so much part of the national discourse.

Yeah, no, I think Like I said, the Jaguars are the team embodiment of a 9-8 record. Doug Peterson is probably the head coach embodiment of a 9-8 record right now. He's definitely a solid coach, I think, but I don't think anybody is disagreeing singing him off top 10 lists or anything like that. He's definitely done some good things in Jacksonville. He's raised absolutely the floor of the team. Raising the ceiling, getting them over the pump, I think is the next biggest question. But he's definitely came in, and especially that first year, Coach Urban Meyer. There legitimately had to be a lot of healing done. There were a lot of people, especially inside the locker room, who their confidence was fried by just getting completely onslaughted by Urban Meyer. I know of at least one player who, after an Urban Meyer tirade, was legit left to tears. I'm like, This is your own man. They obviously had to build a confidence back up. I think last year, he probably had to try to navigate them reading too much into their own press clippings, and he himself said that they had an issue with that last year.

That was probably a failure on his part. I think he's a solid coach, but there definitely is some questions in terms of what he's doing, in terms of how he's operating the team, especially at play collar. Me personally, I don't think it's that big of a deal if Doug Peterson is not the press play collar and Press Taylor is because Doug Peterson is still putting the offense together every week in meetings. Doug Peterson is hearing every play call. It's ultimately his offense. But some people absolutely do care, and that includes Jaguar's owner Shadkan, who more or less has said, I want Doug to call plays this year, but it's up to him. That, I think, would be the one concerning thing about Doug Peterson in Jacksonville. Les Taylor is legitimately probably the reason he got fired in Philadelphia, just his loyalty to Taylor, and then he's running it back again in Jacksonville. It feels like a groundhog-based scenario where it's like, You already did this. Why go through this a second time? While it might not be that big of a deal in reality, it's definitely a big deal to the most important person in the franchise.

I'm interested to see who's calling plays this year. If Chris Taylor calls plays and they miss the playoffs, I think it could get interesting for Doug. I really do, which is wild because, I mean, winning 18 games in his first two... He's won more games two seasons than Gus Bradley won four and a half. It's definitely an interesting dynamic watch and moving forward.

Yeah, Gus Bradley. That was the era where... It's why I want to do a show focusing on the AFC South right now, because that was the era where you got the Jags Titans TNF game during the World Series. We know what you're doing in NFL. You're sneak in the bad TNF game during the World Series, and that's all you saw of the AFC South all year on in the prime time. We don't have a ton of time left, but you guys were really drinking the Ryan Nielsen Kool-Aid. You guys were having a conversation about, Hey, what do we do if Ryan Nielsen gets hired as a head coach? I was like, It's May. Is he that impressive? In the offseason? And then just along with that, I guess, give me anyone on the defensive side, just maybe that people don't know as much about, but it surprise you or look good. You just caught your eye between Nielsen and the defense this preseason.

No, I think the big thing with Nielsen is that guy. Guys being used more to their strengths, mainly Josh Heinz-Alan, Trayvon Walker. Mike Tomlin had a great quote about the Jaguars defense last year. He's like, They run a three, four, but their outside linebackers are like defense events. I'm like, Yeah, that's the entire problem. Trayvon Walker, he is best with his hand in the dirt moving forward, not dropping in the coverage. So you're seeing more of that from Ryan Nielsen. A lot more detailed work, especially with the defensive line. Different, I think, just brand of football. I think that's what has got a lot of people excited. Change makes people excited, so that's probably a big thing of it. Him and my call goal scheme, it's a complete 180. In terms of players that people should probably watch for, I think that the staff has been really high on second-round pick, Mason Smith. He missed a ton of time at LSU. That was a pick that was pretty blasted because he didn't really do much in college, and they took him top 50. He's really impressed. He might even leap Roy Robinson-Harris on the depth chart as Eric Armstead's backup.

Then Antonio Johnson at safety, Fifth-round pick last year. He's going to start this year. They really liked his blitzing ability and his ability to work as a strong safety last year. He seems like a good complement to Andre Cisco in the back-end. I think with more snaps with him, he could be a guy that surprises people.

Yeah, that's a fun safety The group Cisco is another guy I know you guys talk about as having a potential breakout year, can be a playmaker, and it's one of those where Nielsen can get creative. He was impressive with the Falcons last year. They didn't have great talent. Ultimately, Their production was... It depends on what numbers he looked at, but it wasn't amazing. But again, he was creative and was fun, and you hope that the safeties can make up for what to me is a little lack of depth behind Tyson Campbell at cornerback. I think this team is more interesting this year than the last few years. I don't know if they're going to be good or not, but I do like that this division is so watchable. I'm going to be into all the AFC South games, especially Jaguars, Titans, and Colts, and I'm going to stay into listening to you, John and Gus. Got to give Gus a shout out here on the podcast. And thanks for stopping by. I appreciate you, man.

Hey, thanks, man. As always, thanks for all the support.

No worries, John. Really does a great job. And yeah, that's it for this week. It's been a fun week. Man, next week, we're going to do the same recap of the preseason games, but it might be more team notes with nick Shook. That comes out on Monday nights because a lot of backups playing. And then we get into some of our predictions, and it's really the last week of the offseason. We are almost to 2024. Until then. See you next time.