Welcome to NFL Daily, where we're so smart. We launched a new show in a completely dead week with no NFL news. Also smart enough to ask my friend Mina Kimes to join me today. Mina, of course, of NFL Live and the Mina Kimes show featuring Lenny and around the horn. And somehow I swear Pablo Torre finds out like daily, which is really great. Enjoyed that. It's Meena Kimes. Welcome.

I think the biggest NFL news of the week is the launch of NFL Daily, at least in my world. So excited for this new venture for you. Obviously sad about the end of around the NFL. Amazing podcast. I was so excited every time I got to go on, especially kind of earlier when I wasn't doing as many podcasts I didn't have my own. But Greg, just for people who are listening, not only do I count you as a real life friend who I can talk to about family stuff, books, life, whatever, I think of you as someone whose opinion on football I not only value and enjoy listening to, but I'm actually nervous sometimes about presenting my opinions because if you disagree with them, I worry that I'm wrong. And then when you do agree, I am delighted. So I'm excited to hear what you do in this space.

You're too nice. I appreciate it. And yeah, I appreciate you saying that because I know I've heard you on podcasts say you don't like at the top of the show what the brits would call Faff for five minutes, and we're doing that. So for you to say that, it shows you really mean it. And yeah, we are friends. We once ended a pavement show together. There is no higher form of friendship than that. So I'm really excited to have you for the first week before you get ultra busy, although I know you're already busy now and we're going to do a loose camp preview, kind of look ahead to the season. Just a way to hit every AFC team today. I just want to start getting getting takes out there, get to all the fan bases. We'll hit the NFC tomorrow with your friend Bill Barnwell and we'll pick what's the most intriguing storyline we're looking forward to for each team. So we'll split it up by divisions. I'll do the AFC east. I'll just get us going. No more faff. And I'll start with Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills because Josh Allen is my most intriguing storyline.

And by that I just kind of mean what Josh Allen we see this year because I think we have this tendency with great quarterbacks that, like, okay, he's great now he just stays there. Like, Josh Allen's great. That's an accepted thing we know about him. And, and I do expect him to stay great, but he's the type of quarterback to me, that's going to have different versions of great. And he's streaky even within seasons, within games. He talked this week, actually, about really changing his throwing mechanics. And I've thought about, like, how does Joe Brady wind up making him better? And we know how the offense changed last year during the season, and now you look what they added and it's key on Coleman, but it's a lot of yak guys, a lot of guys over the middle, two tight end sets, I think quite a bit, which, which I think will be fun. It's the running game. And, like, how do they, how does Josh Allen's development fit into all this? And especially as, like a fan of his running at 28 years old, how does Joe Brady work in his, you know, amazing skills as a runner?

So just his development, because he's not going to stay the same. Some guys stay the same, like Drew Brees was always kind of the same, but most quarterbacks, even, like an Aaron Rodgers, very different at different points of his career. So what kind of Josh Allen are we going to see this year?

Zachary? I think a good one. I think he'll be fine. And obviously, it's not a bold take to say Josh Allen will be good, but part of the reason why, like.

What'S style, you know?

Yeah, well, that's kind of why I'm confident in him and I think how he'll play this year because the offense you're describing, and that to me, is going to be one of the more fascinating things about the bills generally is the transformation of this offense, which kind of started in the second half last season, obviously, when they switched coordinators. But now with Diggs gone altogether and both tight ends healthy, I think we will see the next version of this. What it calls for, hypothetically, is, you know, a little bit more surgical quarterback play. You talked about this, you know, Josh Allen setting up his receivers to get yards after the catch, working over the middle of the field, being patient. And Greg, part of the reason I'm confident is we've seen Josh Allen do that like we have seen him. I think there's this misconception out there that he's only good when he's just, you know, bombs away. Gunslinger. And yes, he definitely has a gunslinger mentality, and it has certainly bitten him at times. But we I have, I can think of many games over the last three years where Allen's average death of target has been sub seven and he's been deadly accurate, super smart and super careful.

I think the question is kind of, okay, well, is that a consistency thing? Will he get impatient? Will he press? And that's certainly plausible. But when I think about this offense and what I expect it to look like with the new skill players and coordinator and whatnot, it's not hard for me to imagine Josh Allen executing it.

Well, no, and it's just the details. And it changed so much last year. It was effective before they made the offensive coordinator change in its own way and effective afterwards. But yeah, his average depth target went way down when Joe Brady. So it's, I, I thought it was interesting hearing him this week, you know, talk about the mechanics and stuff. And it's just a reminder to me, like, I expect him to be in the hall of Fame someday, but I also just like to see how these guys change throughout his career. And I don't, don't want to totally lose the, like, prime Cam Newton running style. All right, let's. Let's go Patriots. When we first talked about this, we thought about just like, camp storylines and the, this one is a camp storyline. It's just how the receivers shake out. I know you had Taylor Kynes right on your AFC east podcast, which was really good. People should check that out. And I was curious what he would say to your receiver question. He thought D'Amario Douglas was, was maybe the guy to watch. To me, I'm thinking about like the, what's the starting group?

Who's going to get the most snaps? Like, I would guess it was KJ Osborne, Jalen Polk and Demario Douglas. Maybe not in that order, but yeah. Why? You're making a face.

Oh, no, I thought, I thought your sentence was going to stop at KG Osborne.

But just, that's your top three. Like, they have like 17 guys. They have juju there. They have Kendrick Bourne coming off at ACl. Yeah. They still have Tyquan Thornton, who, I don't know if he makes the team, but they just have a lot of guys. And I'm curious how it shakes.

They have a lot of receivers who, if any of them were on the San Francisco 49 ers, would be the guy who doesn't do much. But then, like, on third down in a key moment, makes a great play and everybody's like, wow, DeMario Douglas, what the wild card for this Niners team, right. But on a Patriots team, where that's it. It's kind of a tough build because there isn't really a true number one. And I say that as someone who really likes Jalen Polk, loved Washington, watching him, pardon me, at Washington, which is the college team I root for, I think his skillset aligns really well with Drake May whenever he takes the field. But as far as like, you know, if you're a defense playing them, there's no skill player who you circle and you say, okay, we're going to tilt coverage towards him. We got to put our best cornerback on him. I don't think they have that sort of playmaker, which you know, is going to be limited.

Like, we got Hunter Henry back and say we and I avoided talking about Drake may just because I know I'm going to talk so much about Drake May in the preseason. There's only so much to talk about. As you mentioned, the show is, is daily. So that's going to be an interesting challenge. And I'm going to talk so much Drake may that I didn't want to stop.

Austin Hooper is like on the NFL all star team of desperation, streams and fantasy where you're down like two tight ends and you just got to field someone and you're looking at the waiver wires and they're just giving you Boston to Hooper and you just take it because you got nothing else.

You're just hoping three for 30. I'm going to go dolphins. What I'm most intrigued by is McDaniel in September. It used to be that every season NFL dorks like me would be like, what's Andy Reid cooking up in September? And he still does. Like he can. But I think some of the idea that like dolphins are bad at playing in cold weather, which is true. I'm not saying that that's not a factor, is also just the Dolphins are awesome in September because Mike McDaniel provides schematic advantages that other teams aren't ready for and haven't stolen yet. Like we, we saw it with the speed in the spacing a couple years ago. We saw it with the cheap motion and like, that's partly why they're good, is teams have not adjusted and they're so well coached, they're ready to go. And now you add OBJ to the mix and you add the running back group, which is deep and fast. And it's just, I just want to see what he's got going cause I kind of think they need a good September. There could be some rocky stuff with the contracts and everything. Like that, but I expect they will.

Or Galaxy brain Mike McDaniel saves it all for December and rolls out like the Dolphins come out. It's week one. I forgot who they're playing in week one. I think it's maybe the chart. It's a good matchup. I think they're in an I formation. They're just handing it off to dawn a chain on first down. Everybody's so confused. People have prepared for high flying offense, all kinds of crazy motions, and then he saves all that or whatever next innovation he has for the end of the season.

That's one way to go. I mean, that would be next level thinking. I do worry about this team. If they did that and they started like two and five, this is a highly likely team to, I feel like, implode in many ways. If, if that happened. I'm high enough on the Dolphins. They're playing the Jags, by the way, week one, I like that matchup.

I'm with you. I'm excited to see it. I think, though, what's going to be hard, and what is often hard with this team is trying to figure out what stock to take in what we see, because this has happened a couple of times also. You know, when we think about the Dolphins and their struggles late in the year, a lot of it has to. Some of it is just attrition through injuries. No doubt you saw that with the receivers at the end of last season. But I think something that shows up time and time again is just the lack of investment in the offensive line and particularly that interior, which they do such a good job of shielding. The quarterback shields it so much. So I guess my question is, okay, did you solve that in any way? Right. And from a personnel standpoint it doesn't look like they did. But perhaps there is something schematically he can do to further protect what is the weakest position group on the team.

Right? The Dolphins fan would say, well, they're no worse than they were the last two years and they were pretty awesome in September offensive line wise. I don't know if they're worse. Well, we'll see.

Did you really have to draft another fast running back? That's all I have to say.

I like it. I like building strength on strengthen. Think he is going to do fun stuff with that? We'll wrap the AFC east with the jets. Mine is just what does Aaron Rodgers look like? I'm going. I'm going big, I guess. I haven't podcasted a while. It's like I want to hit the big stuff because I I feel like there's this idea, maybe it's I've been listening to too many podcasts and everyone is treating Aaron Rodgers like he's going to be great. Aaron Rodgers from 2018 and I think everyone memory hold he was the worst Aaron Rodgers we've ever seen in 2022. Like, pff. Had him 17th. I went back and looked QBR 26th. I went back and looked at QB index on on NFL.com. it was our friend Mark Cesler had him 14th for the season and it's like that was a thing that happened. And what kind of playing style is he going to have behind this offensive line? We'll see. He's always been a quarterback that's gone up and down but likes to hold on to the ball. It got him in trouble and the brief time he played last year and like, what kind of style?

Like, is he going to be able to adjust? Kind of like I talked with Allen about getting rid of the ball quicker and maybe not being as fun a quarterback. A little Peyton Manning late career adjustment.

Zachary I think it's going to be interesting to see both him and Kirk Cousins, what they look like post achilles because it's such a weird injury and there's really nothing that many examples of starting quarterbacks coming back from that particular injury. And you could talk me into the idea that it won't affect Aaron Rodgers as much because at this point his career, he's not leaning as much on his mobility and he's got like such a crazy release. He can make throws from compressed pockets. He's still got a strong arm. Sure. I think I just kind of want to see it because I do expect his mobility to be limited. It's I expect cousins mobility to be limited as well. I mean, that is a brutal, brutal injury to come back from at any position. I think quarterback, obviously of the benefit of not being on the move all the time, but if he is limited as a mover, does that lead to any adjustments in his play call or primary his style of play? I'm curious to see that. As to. I wish I had more belief in his play caller. Um, I love a lot of belief.

I like the offensive line they put together. I like the skilled players, obviously when healthy, but, uh, yeah, I don't like. I guess since so much of the offense will be based on what he is capable of, it's probably good that the coordinator is someone who's just going to ultimately bend to his will, but I don't know if he's going to solve any problems for him.

Right. If I felt like he had had a coach that's going to give him a schematic advantage, great. And he believes that. That's partly why he's there. And I also don't rule anything out. He is an upper tier, all time great. And sometimes with guys like that, you just can't be shocked if he comes out and balls out. So that being a possibility, which I think it's absolutely there, is what makes it intriguing to me. Or it could be really mediocre because he's a 40. It's not just coming off an Achilles, it's a 40 year old coming off an Achilles.

Yeah. Do you think people are underrating the Hackett factor?

Yes.

Okay.

I mean. Cause like. Like, I just think at this point in his career, he need. He could really use a schematic advantage. And it's one of those teams that you worry, and I don't think there's that many. I tend to think coaching gets overrated and there's just more in the middle. Like, most teams, it's not like a huge advantage disadvantage, but they're one of the teams on offense that feels like it could be a disadvantage, and he does not need that going against.

Yeah.

The way he go to the AFC north. You're teeing these up, Mina. I gave you homework.

Yeah. Any order.

Or any order you want, you know?

Okay. I know you said you don't want to overrate that. We tend to overrate coaches. But I'm starting with the Ravens and I am going with a coaching angle on this one. I just want to see how much the defense feels the loss of Mike McDonald. I think from a talent perspective, while there's definitely some notable departures, David Clowney, who was excellent for them, is gone. Patrick Queen is gone. Gino Stone, who was a surprising gem, gone to a division rival, gone. But I think there's still enough elite talent, particularly up, to spine the defense to where they'll be fine. I like the cornerback they drafted, but we don't really know what to expect from Zach Oher, who's the. I mean, it's. There's. We're now old enough to where guys are becoming defensive coordinators who I think of as players, but not even just players. Like, I grew up watching players when I was in, you know, college or whatever, and that's kind of disturbing in and of itself.

But would you like to know Zach Orr's age, Mina? Cause it's kind of shocking. Cause he's been a coach for more than a few years here. He's 32 years old.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So they chose him, which is important because the whole coaching staff got plundered right by the entire NFL and they, they wanted Zach Warr to be Mike McDonald's successor, which obviously bodes well for him. But while I think it's. We can assume the defense is going to look pretty similar to how it has looked, a lot of the same tendencies in terms of the simulated pressures and split safety coverages and all of that. The disguise. I thought McDonald had such a great feel for individual game planning. The Niners game comes to mind in particular. So when we think of this defense and how good they were against elite offenses, that's going to be really tricky to approximate what he did.

Yeah, we're doing kind of a schematic trend overview that's going to go up Monday with Jordan Redriggan and Nate Tyson. I just feel like this defense spreading everywhere is one of those trends. There's four teams now that are going to be running it. And just how does that affect Baltimore's effectiveness? The fact, the tape that they put out last year and who knows, maybe Zach or has a lot of like really great ideas. I'm with you that I tend to trust the Ravens, that they chose him over two guys that got jobs as coordinators elsewhere and so that's big. But they, they could really use Adafaoi to, to show up and, you know, Clowney's not there. They just. I know they. They've made do without great Ed rushing, but that's just one area. But I go through this every year where I think the Ravens are going to be in trouble. Cause they've had. It's been quiet. But the Costa since he took over has had so much turnover since he got there, and yet it, for the most part, other than games that Lamar Jackson has hurt like they are play like an eleven or twelve one team every year.

This is to me one of the underrated things when we think about John Harbaugh, why he's one of the best coaches in the NFL. He is the. I know he's, you know, he does a lot right. But he. It's a little bit more of like the CEO coach because he's not a play caller, but he's such, he's been so good historically at identifying talent amongst coaches. When you think about the hires he's made, the decisions to move on from guys like your Greg Romans, Martindale's and then the one, the people he has chosen to replace them. I thought Muncin was fantastic last year. So I have a lot of faith in him as the CEO coach, but a little nervous. You know, just a little bit nervous about. About that. Okay, I'll go Browns next. I feel like there's only one choice for the Browns. What is Deshaun Watson at this point? I mean, have you gone back and watched any of his games from last year? Do you have thoughts? Yes, because it's roster. Absolutely.

That last one that Browns fans are always in my mention saying he was so great and it was like, Ravens game.

Yeah.

None of the balls went more than six yards. And I, you know, to be fair, it's one of the reasons why Jacoby Brissette's numbers were so good for him, too. It's like Stefanski, when he's cooking, he cooks. And so that's going to help Deshaun Watson, but he was, he was sub mediocre and hurt, and it's an injury that still prevented him from practicing fully this offseason to this point. So I'm still leaving room, even though I obviously, like, I'm not rooting for the man, that he will have a moment again in his NFL career where he's excellent, but he's shown no evidence to say that that's going to happen since he's come back. Right?

Yeah. No, I mean, I was not super impressed by the performances last year. I thought he was definitely competent in the Ravens game. Made a couple of throws that stood out to me as being like, okay, that looks a little bit like old Deshaun Watson, but it's really small sample size. It's funny you talk about Jacoby Brissette being propped up by this game, because when it's Watson, I'm like, mm, propped up. When it's Brissette, I pretend I do not see it. He's elite. I guess I'll just wrap by saying if you take out the quarterback, I think the Browns have the best roster in the division, which is a very, very good division. And that's kind of why I would.

Say the best division, by the way, if I had, you know, if I had to choose one, maybe NFC north, but I'd probably go close this division.

All right, Bengals might be a little bit curveball.

Yeah.

What the hell happened last year on defense with this team? Dropped from 10th in EPA per play to 25th. There's a ton of really, really ugly metrics. Past defense, explosive plays. I guess you can answer what the hell happened. Their secondary play was pretty atrocious. But this is big Lou right he had been such a darling amongst our cohort, and I'm not blaming him, but this is a pretty, pretty dismal performance. And so Joe Burrow's back and they're immediately back in contention, and they're listed in the top ten and power rankings. And I think, bro, you know, I think the offense is kind of going for a last dancing with T. Higgins. I think they'll be about the same as they've been. I don't know about the defense, though. Yeah, I'm skeptical.

It's one of those things where we have this idea of how good Lou and Arumo is. And that's what I mean about sometimes credit with coaches. Like, of course he is a good coach, but there's such a fine line, especially a defensive play, secondary play, and a team in Cincinnati that really relies on their red zone defense and short yardage defense. They've been so good in situations that, like, if a few things happen, you lose it. But I look at them and like, I like it. I like their defensive line. I. They have a strong candidate to bounce back. Logan Wilson and Jermaine Pratt, like, their linebackers really struggled last year and they're, they're candidates to bounce back. Like, I don't have huge concerns. I'm, I'm more concerned that, you know, the Titans looked at Adobe Uzi and thought like, that's a guy that deserves big money coming off that year. So there, there's a lot of reasons to believe the Bengals are going to be better this year. And I, to me, this is at worst, an average defense.

Yeah, I did like Geno Stone, who I talked about leaving Baltimore, von Bell didn't. He looked a little bit like a player in decline last season. Bring him back.

Yeah, it's asking a lot if he's not. Maybe he's the third or fourth safety.

Yeah, it's, it's, it's a little bit tricky, but I think you're right that they'll be closer to average. Certainly better.

I apologize, by the way. You know, this is your first time on the show. It's just the two of us just cut you off there. Um, and I'm, like, making you host essentially by introducing each team, but I will not make you throw to break. We, we are overdue to take a break, so we're going to do one more team in the AFC north when we get back from the break, and then we will hit the other two divisions back on NFL Daily. Mina, what do you think of us going heavy? NFL films?

I like it.

You gotta be in the mood and it's free. And we have access to a million of these songs.

It adds a lot of weight to this July taping.

I know. It's like, I need the reps. We need the reps. And I was ready to get back to it. We've been talking about most intriguing storylines for each team. It's probably gonna annoy people who are like, OCD about it, but we have one AFC north team left. We had to get that break in. Mina, what do you got?

It didn't annoy me, but I've been reeling over the last five minutes.

I was just overdue. I was overdue to take it. I should have done it before.

Clock management, in my experience, is the hardest part of hosting. I was really the Andy Reid of podcast hosts for like four years. It took me that long to get it right. You're fine. You're getting these reps in. This is training camp for you.

Really?

Okay. The Steelers. See, again, I'm so discombobulated. I'm like, wait, scroll back up. Scroll back down. This is. I don't want to do too much coaching stuff, but do what you want. I am really intrigued by what an Arthur Smith offense looks like with either Justin Fields or Russell Wilson. And I know that probably I'm being a little bit hipster because the correct answer is just who the hell is going to be who's going to win this quarterback competition? My suspicion is it'll be Ross at the start of the season and we'll see what happens. But the thing, the reason why I say either or is they're pretty similar quarterbacks in a lot of their tendencies, a lot of their strengths and weaknesses. I think Fields gives you more upside, Russ gives you more consistency. That's not a controversial take. In some ways. I can see it dovetailing with Arthur Smith. We think about the hard play action, throwing deep whatnot, but in a lot of ways it kind of doesn't. So I don't know. I like the skill players for his offense. I love this run game. I love what they've done with the offensive line.

But I'm curious to see how he accommodates these two quarterbacks.

And he's going to want his quarterback to move to some degree. Russ does look trim. Looks like he's in good shape. Moved better last year, certainly than the year before, which I think helped him in Denver. Yeah. I don't know. I think this team is. I don't know if it's a sleeping giant. And I always worry about the teams that as this offseason goes on, maybe I didn't love them at the very beginning of the offseason. Now I'm like, are the Steelers going to win this division? It wouldn't totally shock me. Quarterbacks, obviously the biggest issue and the depth of the wide receivers, but even though they are similar in their strengths and their weaknesses, like, one of them's fireworks. And to me, and that's Justin Fields. And he really might not be ready and he might never be as consistent as you want to be. But one of them just authored one of the greatest, maybe the greatest running seasons by a quarterback ever. It was just a couple of years ago and he's just adding such an advantage to me in what should be an awesome pulling running game that like that alone, I want to see it, but maybe, maybe Russ can take advantage of that, too.

I would vastly prefer to see that. I want to be clear. Like, I mean, if I'm Arthur Smith, I think about what I did with Marcus Mariota on the ground and when the Falcons had one of the most dominant runishing attacks in football that season, and I look at what Justin Fields is capable of and like you said, what the rest of these, the backs and the line, I mean, there's a recipe there for an offense that is really, really annoying for defenses.

Yeah. And I don't think, I think they can play conservatively because I think the defense is going to be really good. I know you believe you had them on your top ten defenses, right? Yes.

Yeah.

Let's go to the AFC south. The Texans. I'm just on Diggs honeymoon watch. Like, I thought about some, it's like run game concepts or D'Amico Ryan's way of like taking average players and making them better. But just as like a guy that does, I do enjoy the drama of it all, the fact that he said more nice things about Josh Allen and Bills in that opening press conference. And I know this was on Bills fans radars than he then ever happened in Buffalo. And it just, and he did do think it was a relief for him to get out of there and he was happy. And we see this receivers. I just think it's going to be like an amazing honeymoon season. Not that I was that worried about like his attitude or anything like that, but I still think he can get open and I think he's just going to be a lot and I think that team's going to want him to be a lot. And I think the combination of him and Stroudenkhe off the field could be fun, too. Just like press conferences, everything. And we've just seen this with great receivers that first year and I think he's still good enough to take advantage.

Is just fun in front of the microphone. It's going to be fun on the field and he's going to have great players around him. That obviously helps him a lot.

What if week six, Nico Collins not only is the leading target getter in this offense, but he is the clear number one, outpacing steph two to one.

I mean, two to one is dramatic.

That's dramatic.

Okay, that would be a problem. Then the honeymoon is ending.

Yeah. Then I'm like, how about this press conference is now?

How do we see that they won't let that happen? And I guess I'm of the camp that Diggs is not cooked.

I don't think he's cooked.

There's a variety of factors or even even that in that much of a decline. And so to me, it I expect Nico Collins and Stefan Diggs to be in the same ballpark, but I actually think that coordinator, the quarterback are too emotionally intelligent to ever let that happen. And Digs is good enough that he wouldn't let that happen either.

Yeah, no, I hear you. I think I just don't want his inclusion and the sort of effort to feed him and make him feel wanted come at the expense of Nico Collins, who I think is really, really good.

So that's if Diggs is as good as I think he still is. It's the best receiver in tank that was healthy. It's the best receiver trio easily. Cause I'm totally with you on Niko. He's a top 25 guy. I thought that was the. Maybe the best contract of the offseason. It was really 18 per. Just kind of crazy. Let's go to the Colts. My intriguing storyline. We'll see a little bit in campus kind of how fast is this 80 Mitchell things going to happen? I generally don't try to buy into any offseason hype. If you were making an article and I used to do this of like Ota minicamp winners, like, he's on that list. Everyone that was there was like, okay, he's ready to go. And it was against air and not really, you know, every concept you want to think you see. But I think in terms of knowing what he was doing and what and just going up against NFL cornerbacks, everything that we heard from the Colts was very positive. So there's a lot of reason to believe he'll start right away over Alec Pierce. And if he's actually a dude, right away.

That's not a bad trio, either. With Downs and Pitman. That's a nice one.

It's. It's not just an average trio or even not bad. If. If ad gets anywhere close to his ceiling, I think it's excellent because he would have a force multiplier effect. Everybody falls into the right role. Those three players, him, Michael Pittman junior, and Josh Downs, they all fit really well together, working different parts of the field, very different skill sets, with ad being your prototypical number one who can, you know, he can win deep. He has great hands. He's got the athleticism. It just didn't have, like, the consistency as a prospect, which is why you think you fell. But if he hits where he's capable of, that is a really, really fun group.

It just felt like it was maturity. Maturity maybe more just on the field than anything that was specific off that, like, teams just, it just helped. It made him fall. Like, a lot of receivers got drafted before Ad Mitchell, considering how talented he was. But sometimes those guys, when it's their livelihood and they can often be like, he. He might be very NFL smart. It sounds like he, like, can pick up concepts and stuff that, that has nothing to do with that side of maturity. And if he can do that, like, he's gonna be great.

Like a George picken style arc.

Yeah. Potentially the good comp. My Jaguars pick is about the coach. It's the defensive coordinator, Ryan Nielsen. I listen to the Jags on SI podcast. Used to be Jaguars report. It's really good. John Shipley is one of the.

Oh, that guy's good.

Yeah, he does beat reporters out there. He does an awesome job. And look, they've been talking like Nielsen, like he's come to save the day, and he has exciting concepts. And I agree when you hear him talk, and I think compared to their last defensive coordinator, there is a lot of reason to be excited. Can he add, like, a big time schematic advantage? Because I still look at the roster and I'm not, I'm not thrilled. If they're average, like, that's okay. And I know some of the numbers weren't bad last year, but I do think Nielsen was, like, a hipster favorite because he did a lot of cool stuff, and, you know, depends what numbers you look at. The Falcons overachieve, but some other ones, they really weren't very good. He does fun stuff. He could be a guy that eventually gets, you know, some head coaching love. So it's like, is Ryan Nielsen as good as maybe Jaguars fans and NFL hipsters hope he is?

I think there's a really strong opportunity for him as someone who, if he wants to be a head coach, I'm guessing he does because unlike Atlanta, he's got all the talent in the world up front in Jacksonville. But it's one of those teams kind of like Green Bay where everyone looks at them and they see the talent, but the talent hasn't played up to certainly a draft status. There's a number of guys there outside of Josh Allen. Josh Hines Allen. Sorry, the off season breaking news.

Thank you. I'm glad you pointed that out. I definitely came out this week. Josh Hines Allen and one of the reasons was he's sick of being the other.

Josh Allen Zachary I feel like that's a w for quarterback. Josh Allen. You get to keep the name, to be honest, but, I mean, for it.

To happen after the Josh Hines Allen had almost 20 sacks in the monster contract and really kind of made his name, and he still has given it up. It's a nice moment.

He had nice family reasons for doing it. But anyways, Josh Allen's great. Outside of Josh Allen, a lot of underperformance on the defensive line. So I think for like, Nielsen, if you can be that coach who's like, oh, he came in and he finally got, you know, he found the right way to use Trivon Walker and these linebackers. Devin Lloyd's living up to his draft stats, which, you know, maybe happens anyways with off ball linebackers and later in their, you know, after their rookie season, then I think that this could be a unit and a coach that a lot of people are talking about. No doubt.

Yeah. The cornerback position is what worries me. Tyson Campbell's a good player, but after that, you know, they gave Ronald Darby, day one free agency money to start a cornerback, which was surprising. They have, I think, a third round pick. Jerry and Jones might be the slot, and so he's going to, he's going to have to cook up some stuff. But I'm watching that. Last in the AFC south is the Titans, and it's just the, the effect of Bill Callahan, one of the great position coaches of all time. Why are you laughing?

Because you were like, oh, we talked too much about coaches. I feel like half of your picks have been coaches.

Did I say that? I don't know. I didn't say we talked too much.

Credit to coaches.

Yes. That is one of my longstanding takes that, like, there's more coaches in the middle. They're all. I'm saying, you know, they're all good. And it's like, we look at the results and we just put it all on the coaches and all the players. It's like, oh, there's variants. There's players, you know. Anyways, Bill Callahan, though, I mean, you got to agree, he's a pretty big difference maker.

It's big. I mean. Cause the offensive line is clearly the weakness of this team. It made the offense at times non functional last season. They obviously continued to invest in it. Draft the first pick and it would be the thing that holds his offense back. Well, aside from Will Levis. But he is a quarterback who we see affected by pressure, so you can use it as a proxy. It's an unbelievable. It's a very talented group of wide receivers. I'm very intrigued by the combination of, well, Levis and Callahan. I'm intrigued by the fact that they seem to believe in Will Levis and they're, they're betting on him with all.

The other guy, Nate tice. I mean, I kind of do, too. I see it. He is the type of guy I fall in love with because his highs have been pretty exciting. I'm talking about Levis, not Nate tice. Of course I'm in love with Nate Tice.

His highs are exciting.

There's kind of a coaching tree, too with Bill Callahan right now. His assistant or old assistant from Cleveland is now the Patriots offensive line coach. So they're just hoping that, that Callahan magic can. Cause he's installing some of the same concepts. Scott Peters can do it, but for real, like an offensive line coach, when Mike Munch. Sorry, was one of those guys, is just one of the most valuable uses of money you can possibly have for like, the quality that you get out of it. And these players aren't that bad. Like Skoransky, JC Latham and Lloyd Cushion. Barry, that center to the left side. Could be. That could be pretty good.

I think there's nothing better to be from like, a coverage standpoint than an offensive line coach who's regarded as a guru. Because none of us know what the we're talking about with offensive line.

But you can see it.

Oh, the loss of Dante's Carnegie looms large. Or, oh, the Mike Munchag effect or Bill Callahan. Like, once you. Once these guys become like dudes, Aaron Kroemer and Buffalo, we just remember. And then when we see them playing. Well, because I think there's a little bit of a binary. Did they passboro hold up? Did it not? Are they getting pushed, are they not? As opposed to like just technique or whatnot? I will give a lot of credit to a guy who I've heard is good.

Like, that's fair. I like you poking at me, but how dare you besmirch the name of Dante Scarnakia. And I don't know, it's only a couple of these coaches. It's like, yeah, the run everywhere he goes. The run game's amazing. So it's just. How can you question it? Let's do one more break. It's nice. And even after the division, we are going to wrap things up with AFC west and then just a little something sprinkled extra at the end. Just like know when the music swells that someone just broke a tackle and is running into the open field. When I hear that back on NFL daily with Mina Kimes going through the AFC and just what we're intrigued by heading into training camp next week, Texans are showing up. Some rookies are showing up elsewhere early in the week. I think the Ravens might be the, weirdly the first team that do that. You're going to help me out here, Mina, by picking what you like in the AFC West.

I will start with the defending champs because sort of picking knits with them when you're looking for areas of concern. I mean, yeah, it was something to be excited about, no doubt. I'm excited to watch their rookie Xavier worthy. I'm excited to see the offense, but like, as far as like things I'm intrigued by, I want to see how much the loss of Legarius need affects this defense. I understand why they moved on. They essentially picked Chris Jones and prioritized that contract. It makes sense. And I understand anyone who has conviction in not only the young players who have gotten some decent run over the last few years, the young coroners, rather, but also the fact that they, the fact that they have the best defensive coordinator in football is one of their biggest edges and a big reason why they have this dynasty. That said, I object to anyone who doesn't believe luxurious need was unbelievable last year. He was an easy all provo for me. I thought he had an amazing season. The way they were able to deploy him against number one wide receivers, the way his ability to press impacted their ability to get pressure and some of the types of pressures they ran.

He was very, very important to this defense and I think they'll be fine. I still think they'll be very, very good. But I'm just, you know, I want to see what it looks like with him gone.

Okay, two responses there. Number one, do you have an all provo? Like a real one?

Yeah.

Damn.

I picked him.

I mean, I'm happy for you. You're my friend, but, like, that's, like, that is my dream. I really get one, I think because I worked for the NFL anyways, but I wouldn't. I wouldn't have.

They might take away all my offensive line votes after my confession.

Like, I really want that if anyone, not that anyone is listening, that I would. Honestly, I'm so into, like, I want to be a hall of fame voter. I would freaking love that. And I think I would be good at. I think I could do it. I've been doing this long enough. Come on, give me that vote. But that's really cool. And then second. My second point is I'm not. I'm not downplaying what sneed did. I think he was better than char various ward when he left for San Francisco. But I do just have ultimate faith in the system and that these guys, who was it? Jalen Watson, Josh Joshua Williams were playing in the Super bowl and they won. They won the Super bowl because of their defense. And those guys were out there a lot. I remember it. And they had a guy, Nazi Johnson, I believe, tours ACL during last year. So he's coming back. Jamari Connor. Like, it's like they're always just finding guys under. Under the couch and they develop, and so I think they'll be fine. Even if he has a big loss.

I think they'll be fine, too. But I think you can't underestimate how much easier it is for every other cornerback when you have, like, a true eraser. And I love Trent McDuffie. I love him as a nickel, personally, you know, on the ball. So, yeah, it's just.

I think it'll be very. That's why you have the AP vote and I don't.

Okay, now, I'm regretting ribbing you for the coaching stuff because I do have a couple coach ones here for the Chargers. I ask. I think this is very key. What does a Jim Harbaugh offense look like in 2024? We haven't seen Jim Harbaugh on the, you know, like we're coming into the season, I think correctly, he was lauded as the best coaching hire. His record is undeniable. I think what he did at Michigan, it's not just he just wins, baby. But, like, the offense was creative. The defense was very creative, too. So I like the minter higher. I don't expect much from the defense year one. Frankly, I could be wrong, but there's just a lot of. Offensively, though. Like, 2014 was his last year in San Francisco. That was ten years ago, you know, and so, again, obviously, he's been coaching, but I'm. I want to see what it looks like. I want to see how him and Greg Roman build around the. They obviously decided to invest in the offensive line, prioritizing that over receiver. Although I did love the lad McConkie draft picked. Everyone's just like ground and pound, I don't know.

Right. He's pretty creative, and he was at Michigan, and the fact he chose Greg Roman was a little bit of a curveball of. Okay, what. What are these two gonna look like together after, when we lost last? Saw them together? But I have faith, and I think that is the question. I think that's one of the biggest questions in the entire NFL this year. Cause I expect it to be creative on the ground and throwing the ball. And, and I disagree a little bit about minter just because, man, I'm. I'm just. I guess I just have takes that clash with each other because it is easier to improve defensively just with better scheme.

Like, you can take starting linebackers, who are their starting linebackers, who are their starting cornerbacks.

I get it. We do these previews every year, and we always overrate defense. Well, that's been a little more consistent last couple of years, but it's just so inconsistent that, like, good scheme and Flores was a good example, and Jesse Minter, they have been so good at picking defensive coaches, obviously. Now John Harbaugh and Jim Harbaugh are, like, fighting over, you know, the same coaching tree. But good defensive coaches can take average talent or take below average talent and at least make them average. So I could see that happening, and you're right. I think they're coming out with something we don't expect offensively. And I'm. I'm really excited as a, as a herbo fan.

Listen, those three games where Cleel Mac and Joey Bosa are both healthy will be electric. So, um, pun intended, with the Chargers. Okay. The Raiders other side of the ball. I want to see how much of the defensive improvement we saw in the second half of last season is sustainable. I think there were things from that part of the year, basically, once they made the coaching change, once Antonio Pierce took over and the defense, from that point on, the season was tremendous. Now, they played some bad quarterbacks. There's a few, like, regression signs, but when I look at the depth chart, I. They're pretty talented up front, particularly that defensive line now with Christian Wilkins finally. Well, I actually think some of the role players are pretty good, too. Malcolm Kunst, but Max Crosby's amazing linebackers play decently. Corners. You and I talked about Jack Jones. They're just thin. So I don't know how much I believe in the unit, but I think if they're all healthy, there's enough talent there for them to still be feisty.

So, yeah, Raiders fans, you can clip that. I don't know how much they. I believe in the unit at the end of the year because no one, no one believes in them. This is not a unique take. Like they were not in your top ten defenses. I don't even know if they were in the honorable mentions.

They were mad about that. I did. I put them on in my outside looking in categories.

Okay, so you. So they were. I get it, though, because we're all trained to think that short a sample size and, like, you didn't see schematically anything that was, like, crazy. They just seem to play together and play harder. And there is something about defense, and I think this was true of Luannarumo's Bengals defense going back four years. There is something where you can kind of see how hard they play on a week to week basis, play to play basis that can overcome some things, and they don't. That isn't even consistent year to year. But they played their ass off last year. If Antonio Pierce can get them to do it again, they can. A lot of Raiders fans can clip off this podcast and others. Cause, yeah, I mean, I think average is a totally fine outcome for them. I'm surprised you didn't go with, you know, the, one of the only true quarterback battles. AOC Gardner mention.

Let's go. I'm still holding out hope that they trade for Jacoby. Jacoby Brissette would lead this offense to a top 15 Patriots.

Wouldn't do it. I think he is like a no, he's on the no trade list. Like, he's untouchable. They want him to. To be the sensei for, for Drake May, and they do not want Bailey Zappi anywhere near a football, you know, for them again. So he's untouchable.

All right. I. I saved the best for last Denver Broncos. Not the best. I actually really struggled with this one. I'm sorry, bro. Yeah.

We were trying to compare the Broncos to, like, teams outside the NFL. I'll take the hit. I don't care if Broncos fans are right. They're like the Chicago Bulls, to me, of, like, of the NFL. It's just like, why?

Actually, the thing that I ended up coming up with this, actually, it sort of ties to an ongoing question I've had, which is I still don't. I mean, I guess the answer is just money, but why did Sean Payton pick this job to come back to the NFL for? It was very confusing to me. And that leads me to my question.

And he was struggling to get jobs. I think that was it. He was the third choice. They wanted Dan Quinn. And was it Harbaugh? Harbaugh and Quinn.

Okay, well, I'm still a believer in his brilliance, which is why I am making this my storyline. What do you got, dude? Cause I'm willing to write last year off as like, a forced marriage. You clearly hated Russell Wilson, and you called the bumper bowling offense and never, you know, he basically was the most conservative offense in the NFL. So you obviously. I don't know why I'm talking to Sean Payton. One assumes he had a hand in picking Bonex to be their quarterback. I don't think that means he prefers Bo Nicks. Overdose. Drake May and Jay Daniels and Kayla Williams, obviously. But, you know, I don't think they would have done that if Peyton didn't say, yeah, I can work with that. So, Sean Payton, again, we have seen you call competent offenses with a variety of quarterbacks game obviously famous, the Winston Bridgewater. You know, games hate taste and Hill whatnot. Can you pull a rabbit out of your hat with this one? Can you build an interesting and efficient offense with Bo Nicks? I have some ideas of what I would like that to look like, but do tell. I kind of. I landed on this idea pre draft, which is I actually think, and I'm not comparing them, but I actually think Bonix has some similar qualities to Tua.

He's got like a super quick release. He can throw over the middle of the field with accuracy. Now, they don't have the skill players that Miami does, but I think you'd want to see an offense that has a very strong downfield RPO component with. With Phonex and put him on the move. He can throw on the move really well. Anyways, that's neither here nor there, but this is. I just want to see Sean Payton, like, you've heard everybody talking, like, come on, like, show us something. You know, show us some creativity, show us some moxie, because you're one of the best coaches in NFL history.

Yeah. And they're going to need to score. I just think the defensive talent is hoping to be average because I think the talent is below average. And the upside is fairly low for that defense. So they're going to have to score. I think he did do a good job coaching last year. Like, you could see it.

Yeah.

Like the weighted DVOA. Cause I was like, you know, they ended pretty well last year. It was 8th, um, on offense, it was 19th overall. So it was. They. They had their moments. And, like, he can still create efficient offense out of. Not much, but it's not that pleasant to watch. And I just don't know if he has the personnel. I like what you said about Bo Nick. Cause that got me thinking of, like, comps for him because I've tried to warm up to it a little. Like, it's not like he throws an unpretty pass.

Dude, that ball comes out lightning fast. That is.

It actually reminds me of his best. A little bit of teddy, maybe, like, who we loved. Like. Yeah, just. Just a little bit of, like, okay. He's, like, an underrated pretty thrower, but he can move. It's just the Sean Payton thing.

Yeah, he can move also.

That's our divisions. Well, we did it nice and quick. I mean, on the NFL daily feed so far this week. Been doing after dinner mints, just, like, something nice to finish out the show. And you used to have a segment at the end of the Munich chime show featuring Lenny where you ask questions to me, to everyone. But I'm concerned about me and Lenny always submitted the last one and some of them and my stammering responses to them, like, live inside of my brain, literally, I can remember. I don't remember anything. I have the memory of a goldfish, and I remember some of these questions.

Saraud, that was the biggest.

So I'm gonna flip it. I'm gonna. Not trying to exact revenge. And they're not all gonna be tough questions here, but I'm gonna throw a couple questions before we go. This is a fun one because you are quite possibly the pre eminent ball knower at the nexus of Ryan Grubbs and Geno Smith. Appreciation. Like, you are there and they are there together. And you're a U dub fan and obviously appreciate Geno. Just tell me, get me excited about this combination, because everything I read and see about Grubs is really exciting, but I can't say I watched a ton of uw.

Yeah, well, I'd be sure when you watch some of the prospects panic. So, dude, you saw some of the reasons why people loved this u dev offense so much. It's interesting because schematically, I don't think he has a very clear cut identity. I guess you would describe it to spread offense pro style, strong RPO component. The funny thing is everyone thinks about as being like, bombs away and just attacking, attacking, attacking. But I really think that was a lot of that was just a product of the talent he had a quarterback who could throw it all over the field and the best college group of college or receivers in college. Um, he was an offensive line coach, Ryan Grubb, and he, he will run the ball and he has a pretty creative run game as well. And you saw that at times at UW when teams seeded the pass or probably seated the run to them because they were so afraid of UW passing, he was like, all right, great. I'm going to hand the ball off to Dylan Johnson. We're going to run a variety of concepts, but I think, you know, going back to kind of that spread aspect, it's that coupled with some, a lot of creativity in terms of personnel groupings and formations ton emotion.

And to that extent, I guess it's a little chiefsy at times. I mean, the Chiefs offense has gone through different iterations, but it's much more like that than, I don't know, you know, the Shanahan tree. It's not like that at all. I'm interested in seeing. So in many ways that goes really well with Geno. I think because Geno can make, he can throw it all over the yard, too. Unfortunately, the Seahawks offensive line is not comparable to the Huskies offensive line on a relative basis. Right, to, compared to NFL players versus the Huskies had one of the better offensive lines at football. So I think he's going to have to make some adjustments in that regard to help Gino and help the line. But I'm excited to see it because I think it's, we have proof of concept that he knows how to get the ball in the hands of playmakers and Seattle still has a very good group playmakers. Yeah.

The thing that you said that excited me the most is like if, if they can just improve the offensive line, and that is where coaching in the NFL can, can matter a lot. Just to be good enough, that just, that's going to mean everything for him because when he was protected and, you know, the scheme wasn't the issue last year, just, just wasn't happening for him when he had time, you know, it's been a sneaky big part of the offseason on Twitter.

I feel like, yeah, a couple days every now and then there's, like a day where all of the NFL film nerds just start posting genoa clips. Like, there's, like, a little outbreak. And then it spreads quickly and that happens. Wild.

I feel like a proud father. Like, I don't even need to say anything anymore about, you know, like, it's just out there. It's accepted what a underrated, incredible quarterback he is. And I can't believe we waited till day three to talk about him on this show. All right, do you feel bad for making me feel bad because you produced a baby that's larger than me?

He's not quite there. You have met him. Can you. Yeah. Like, what's your scouting report on baby Nino?

Well, I think he's going to be a team player. Great attitude. Big in the hips.

Very big in the hips.

I think, like, he's going to be tough to move. Nice anchor. Possibly an offensive lineman, possibly a tight end, but one that can block. And, yeah, he's massive. You know?

He's massive.

He's an absolute unit, as your Twitter profile says, taller than you think. That's true about Mina. But you and Nick are not, like, not big people, not a tall couple. And, yeah, it's impressive.

Thank you. You did the opposite of Lenny's question. Lenny's question was always rude and that was self deprecating, which does feel on brand.

Okay, how about, how do you feel? How do you have so many friends? Like, how do you have so many friends? And is it difficult for you that they all have podcasts?

You're all. It's been quite the off season of NFL podcast free agency where everybody's. It's kind of like an NBA hiring, where all the coaches surface in new jobs and suddenly there's one guy's out and one guy's in and listen, I just. I just say yes. Oh, you're in a new podcast now? Sure. All right, come on.

I do think it is your superpower. I think people look at me, and this is all true, that you're so good at synthesizing the numbers and the film and putting it all in really concise ways that I definitely envy when you're on tv. But I think your superpower is you really do have so many friends that I think have meaningful relationships with you. I feel like I have one. And it's impressive. I do ask that. I don't know how you pull that off. It just feels like it would be so time consuming. You're just texting with everyone.

With this new venture, Greg, you are about to deepen a lot of friendships very quickly because you're going to be asking a lot of people to come on this show. And as I said, texted you when you told me the news, I think I owe you about 25 appearances, so count me in.

I will take you up on that. That is it for today's NFL daily. Hit the music, Eric, I am really excited about Friday show, last show of the week, Bill Barnwell coming in. We'll do the same conversation going through the NFC. Bermina Kimes, I'm Greg Rosenthal. We'll see you next time on NFL Daily.