Welcome to NFL Daily, where we always hear the Voices of Angels. I'm Greg Rosenthal. Beyond lucky today to be joined by Patrick Claibon and Colleen Wolf. And yes, Jim Harbaugh said at practice, when Justin Herbert returned, he felt the music should be playing that he thought he even heard music in his head. No, he did not. The Voices of Angels singing. That's what I feel like when you guys are in the studio here.

Well, when I hear that song, I feel like we are going into battle. We are in some type of old Viking situation, and we are storming maybe a beach. I don't know.

Could be anything. Elsa Gunn. I feel like Easton Stick next to Coach Harbaugh and Justin Herbert. I'm just here. What?

No, that's not true at all.

Patrick, we're all just here.

Football is war, Colleen. I don't know if you know a lot of the lexicon. Oh, yeah.

On the battlefield.

It's a lot of comparison. I'm excited. We had our talent conversation today. I don't know what you would have called it.

Like a conference.

A little conference in all company Zoom. Patrick was taping a show during part of it. That's how busy Patrick is.

But we were also paying attention because it's important.

You can do both.

It's always important. Was it four hours about? It's a little bit. We learned a lot about the rules. It's just a sign that it's here. You know what I was thinking as we were starting and you were giving me grief, Coleen, repeatedly about multiple things?

It's my favorite pastime.

I was thinking, I feel comfortable. This is starting to feel normal.

You are settling in.

No, I just mean like this, doing the show with you guys, and it helps, obviously, when you guys are here, is starting to just feel more normal because it wasn't normal for a while.

Yeah, but now it's the new normal.

Yes, it's new. And that first show we talked about, Patrick, we talked about what's going to bring us joy for the 2024 season. And I was like, I'm feeling the joy more lately. There we go. I love that. It got me thinking, not to get too deep about it, but football is a great distraction. It can be. It was one of the reasons why I probably rushed back to just like, Let's just start. Let's just get back to it. Should I wait an extra week for Coleen to come back? Because I'd really like her to be there.

I was like, Oh, boy, Greg is spinning.

I was like, No, I don't even want to wait for Coleen. I just want to go. Because I think the instinct is work is good. Get back to just working. Working is good. Then also football is a good distraction, and without really consciously thinking about that. Again, not to get too deep on it, but I was thinking about Wes in the 2020 season, which was a That was the first season. That was the COVID season. West died right before the Super Bowl. But I was thinking about that season, and I saw him a lot because I was driving him back from the hospital every week, and we talked a lot. He really was studying the football that season, as long and as much as he could, even when he wasn't on the show that much, even towards the end when he wasn't doing it. I talked to him about it and be like, Why? I guess, Why? When there's so many other things that are so important in his life, and he's like, Well, that's why because I'm choosing to do it. All that other stuff sucks. I know I love football. I know throwing myself into this is like, it's not any greater meaning than just I enjoy it.

I guess that's a long way of saying, It's good to be here with you guys.

It makes a difference when you're having fun with it, when it feels like it's on your terms and you're doing it because you like to do it, too.

The one thing that's cool about football, and we get employed because of this, is everyone has these things, hobbies, that they can throw themselves into distractions that they find meaning of, even if they don't have any greater meaning. But unlike literary fiction from European women, I can talk about this topic to everyone.

Do you have anyone in particular in mind when you say that?

I was just trying to think, what am I super passionate about? And it's reading. It tends to be a lot of women in their 30s and 40s that are of European descent. That's a lot of those novels.

Sidebar, what was the book that you were reading when we gave Steve Smith and a bunch of other people a ride from a talent summit so long ago? Was it a book on tape or something?

They're not called Books on Tape in 2024. Like, audiobooks are very popular.

I'm 80 years old, and you know I am Anne Dorian at heart.

That was... This fits. That was actually non-fiction. It was a biography of Jean Ries, who's not a European woman, but a Caribbean one who had a very interesting and tragic life and wrote many books that I enjoyed. She fits in. She was a leader for these women.

Well, I love your love letters.

I just mean, you can't talk about that stuff with everyone. Football, it's like everyone understands.

It's there. It's ever present in our lives, and it can feel like a bit of a dredge, but you get to the actual games and the stuff week after week. That part is still great. I'm still looking forward to that part, regardless of the hours and however you put it, the games are still sacrosanct.

Because if you're not doing this as a job, you can opt out of the games that really aren't that interesting. The teams that are out of it, you're not a fan of them, you're not really interested in that division or anything, you can be like, You know what I'm going to do? I'm going to sit this one out, or I'm just going to passively watch. But for us, we have to. In those moments, it's like, There are so many games. But then you get to experience. It makes the highs even higher during the season, which, Greg.

Is our segment today that you came up with. Things, people, teams, whatever that were unreasonably high on.

Yeah. I don't know why. It's super high.

I don't know why Colleen would come up with this segment more than other people. I do like your hat today.

I wore it because we were doing this.

Everyone who's watching on YouTube will have to check that out.

It says, Don't trip for anyone who's just listening. Yeah. Here it is. But yeah, I think, too, coming off of last week's show, which was... What was it? Calm down? Calm down.

Pipe down. Pipe down. I'm sorry, no, people. It felt like... It felt like...

Yeah. I wanted I'm going to go positive with this week. Things that I am just absolutely drinking all of the Kool-Aid. I need more. I want more. And maybe this is a problem. Maybe I have an addiction. Maybe this is a bad vice. I don't know. But I can't get into the stuff yet. But I will soon when we start that part of the-No, this is the time to do it.

We're running out of shows before the week. I think that's also what I'm feeling, too. What you said about the games. I'm ready. You guys better step your phone game up.

Don't look at me.

Because-don't look at me. I still have summer, Greg. No, I'm just saying I'm I've been in one of days. I'm prepped. I'm ready for this season to go. I'm fired up.

I know.

I can tell. You got to get with me. All right, let's do some news.

You're going to match Greg's freak.

Sports are great. They're there for when you need them. Shal to sports. Sports. It's like...

Greg, we get it. You like football. You love football.

My dad retired at one point. It's like suddenly he's a huge Red Sox fan again. It's like you have time. It's different.

I'll talk to you week eight.

Yeah. Not a ton of news today, but we are going to start with Jirad Mayo not naming the starter in New England, which is interesting. We're at that week, third week of the preseason that teams traditionally want to do it. And he said, When I know, you'll know. I trust Jirad Mayo on this one. I don't think he knows yet. And Jacobi Brisset was quoted on saying, I still treat myself as if I'm the starter. Are you feeling any changing wins here, Patrick Claibon? No, I'm not.

I do believe Gerard Mayo because I think the shuffle and like, Oh, we have to protect this quarterback's feelings, and we have to consider the implications of pressure. I think all that stuff is dumb.

Really? Are you kidding me with the egos in the NFL? Yeah.

I mean, people have egos. They still have a job to do. If that's the concern, if we're worried about Drake Mays' long-term propositions because Jirad Mayo didn't name him starter a week in advance, then maybe Drake May is not good. That's how I feel about it. So I believe him when he says it, and that's what I wish we had more honestly. Like, look, I don't know. We have this rookie. We want to get him time. But also we have a guy who if you expand which is weird, but if you extrapolate Jacobo Brissette's stats from 2023, it's like it's insane. It's like on a Hall of Fame track with this limited opportunity playing for the Commander. Yeah, I'm good. If you don't know, why are you telling us? As long as he's being honest about it, it makes sense to So you're a Brissette head.

Are you going with Brissette?

I feel like we saw too much Deshaun Watson the past couple of years that could have been Jacobo Brissette, and I would have liked to see what we could have gotten instead.

Right, because it's not just that very limited Washington sample size, which is, now I'm looking at 23 pass attempts.

23 is lightening up.

It was the 11 starts for the Browns in this system where Alex Van Pell, the offensive coordinator of the Patriots, was with Jacobi. In Cleveland, and they've probably been building the offense around him. But the reports are, Coleen, that Jacobi, since the preseason start, after starting very strong, and Drake May has not shown a lot of confidence at practice, that Jacobi % had a rough first preseason game, then a bad week of practice relatively, then a pretty bad second preseason game, and it's very limited sample size. And now, Drake May is playing with more confidence. And I think that's why Gerard Mayo doesn't know now, because I think more than any other time in camp, he's like, Well, if Briceet's not really picking up and this is a mess either way, maybe I should just go with the-So, Drake May is making the decision difficult here.

I mean, even looking at the drives that they had, I mean, Drake May, five drives, Briceet, four. But May on these drives, field goal, TD, three punts. But with Briceet, it was four punts and an interception. Granted, Briceet started the game, so he was going against some ones. But I mean, it's I think, really difficult to take something out of these preseason games and then project what that's going to be in the regular season. I did-Very hard.

It's probably more about the practices, to be fair.

Yeah. I did really like, though, in the second half against the Eagles, it was in the third quarter, Drake May took a shotgun snap, and he moved around the pocket really, really well. He threw a 50-yard throw to, I can't even remember who it was.Javan Baker.

Yeah, it was incomplete, but he looked the mechanics that he had and everything aside from the fact that the receiver didn't catch the ball looked great. So that could give Gerard Mayo some pause when thinking about who the starter is. When I watched the Raiders game the other night against the Cowboys, I was thinking, Antonio pierce had just come out and said that he was going to name the starter after the second preseason game, and watching that game, really dicey to be able to name starter after that performance from Garner Minchou and Aiden O'Kunal, but he still did it. So it is interesting that Gerard Mayo is still hanging out, taking in all the information a little bit longer.

I do believe it, and we've litigated this literally on the show, if it's close at all, you play Drake May. You want Drake May.

That's what Mayo is struggling with.

Yeah. And so if you're going to play the guy in the next five years, then you would like him to get better at the thing, and you get better at the thing by doing the thing.

He probably gives them a little bit of a better shot with that offensive line because he's so good off schedule.

Maybe, yeah. As long as he's playing confidently, their tackle situation is an absolute nightmare. But Greg Bedard, who does good work at Boston Sports Journal, who had been pretty down on just saying, Greg Mays just holding the ball, not seeing things instead. It looks like night and day, that maybe a weight was lifted on him, that he had a night. The preseason performance was nice, and that he was like, Oh, yeah, I can still play football. Maybe I'll just go out there and play football. I don't have a strong take. I wouldn't hate seeing how Jacobi looked for a couple of games before going to May. It's a long season, but if you give me Jake May week one, he might go higher on my rankings of which games I want to watch. Hold on to that for just a second. We're not going to get there. Just yet. The NFL working actively on getting professionals to be in the Flag Football Olympics in 2028. Is this a thing? I I don't know. I just thought this was noteworthy enough. I was like, really? We're going to have NFL players playing flag football? How is this going to work?

Who's this going to be? What is this?

I feel like it would be exciting for me, but maybe unfair for actual flag football players.

Well, not if they get beat. Maybe have some competitions. I mean, I'd be curious to see who would be better, a flag football team of guys who always play flag football or NFL players with a couple of weeks of practice. It might be the NFL players, but I honestly don't know. How could you know?

Well, I think ultimately we want to showcase the sport, showcase the ability of all people, not just NFL players, but want to avoid the breakdancing type situation, where you have interesting and suspicious circumstances leading to this chaos, right?

Which is unfortunate because that was one person out of 32 that competed or whatever the number was.

Yeah.

But became famous and had everyone talking. It was honestly so entertaining for all of the wrong reasons. I loved every second of that.

My house had breakdancing on both days, but we actually missed the ray gun thing. So we were just enjoying the breakdancing. It was good.

And that's ultimately what we want, not That's not necessarily the sideshow or this like, NFL players versus can Tyreek Hill beat Noah Liles? Not that, but to uplift flag football and actual football. I think it can work. That's so wholesome.

I don't even know how it works. Do we have multiple teams I guess I need to do more research because maybe you could have one of each. It's like tennis, you have multiple teams. It actually reminds me a lot of Olympics tennis, where star singles players play the doubles and sometimes kick out the regular doubles players. Sometimes those star singles players do win the gold, and sometimes they don't. This time, actually, they all got smacked down by the regular doubles players who aren't as talented, but they know how to play the sport.

They played together. It's like, are you going to have an all-star team, or are you going to send... The Nuggets aren't a good example because of Jokić. Are you going to send the Lakers?

That's so hard to say the word Celtics. It's not that hard. We'd send the Celtics. They'd win. Sam Hauzer out there shooting threes. Quickly in the news, Matthew Stafford. I mentioned on our previous show with Jordan Rodriegue that he He's back doing individuals. He's practicing fully now, so that's really good news for the Rams. Deshaun Watson may play in the preseason finale, may not. The Browns say they're going to get him ready, but they're not saying. He's one of the guys I wanted to see in this third preseason week. Some teams are playing some starters. Most teams are not. But the 49ers, for example, are playing all their starters. Then Curtis Samuel has Turf toe. That is very disappointing for me. I was really digging Curtis Samuel this year. Demar Hamlin, week to week. They don't have any healthy safeties in Buffalo. Oh, no. And yeah, I teased it earlier. The Multivue, Coming to Sunday Ticket. This is not a promotion because we work at the. No, it's Paul. It was just something that I was excited about, my son was excited about. They showed that If you have Sunday ticket this year, you have the multi view, which they had last year four games at once.

But now you can pick which of the four games there are. I just thought it'd be fun because I feel like we haven't looked ahead enough to week one. Week one should be a bigger deal. We should be promoting. We should just be previewing it for months.Well.

Let's not get crazy. What is happening today?I.

Don't know. I don't mean months, but I just mean it like instead of just... This is a concrete matchup that we actually know about. The teams are preparing for it for a while. They've started preparing for it this week. I'm saying this week we should prepare for it, too. What are the four games you would put on your multivue? The options at the 10:00 AM window on the West Coast, 1:00 PM East Coast, 6:00 PM, London.

We can go through all the time zones.

Steelers Falcons is an option. Cardinals Bills, Titans bears, Patriots bengals, Texans colts, Jaguars dolphins, Panthers Saints, and Vikings Giants. It's a meaty group, but not too meaty. 8. It's in the middle. I like that for week one because we have the Friday night game picking one-off. Yeah. Let's start with Coleen. What are you for?

First of all, I'm so excited that you can customize this because last year, it was just like you were given whatever four combinations that they wanted to put together.

I think you can do a two and a three, too, this time, which is nice, too. Really?

I love that. Okay, that's great because I usually have a projector up on the wall with one. I have my computer. It's like a whole ridiculous setup that doesn't really make sense. I'm really trying to streamline it, so this helps. One o'clock, I will be watching Stealers Falcons. I'm so intrigued by the Falcons, and we'll get into that a little more in the next segment. Obviously, the Stealers' quarterback situation, it's going to be Justin Fields, I think, but I would love to see that's how they actually look. Next up, absolutely, Texans Colts. I'm so excited about that game. I cannot wait to see both of those teams. Both of those teams, it came down to the very last game of the season for the playoffs for the division, all of it last year. And now with Anthony Richardson, Healthy, and Jonathan Taylor, actually here to start the season and them together against the Texans. Both teams got better this offseason. I'm pumped about that one.

Do we all have that as two of our games?

We have to, right? Yeah.

Okay. I'm with you. You were saying that you thought we'd agree completely, which is a little much, but those two, I'm with you.

That's a lock. Titans bears for me. Titans is meh, but I do really want to see what the bears look like because of Caleb, and just there's so much hype with them.

You're a hard knocks girl.

Yeah. Yeah. Always for life. And then Jags Dolphins. That's got to be on there. Are you not?

No. Oh, wow. Jags Dolphins is not there.

I feel like that's the second most interesting game of the one o'clock window.

They're all beautiful babies. I mean, if you gave me the option that I could actually watch Panthers Saints Week One right now, I would cancel the rest of my day. That would be exciting to just watch an actual football game. They're all interesting. But Jaguars Dolphins have so much carry-over from last year that I think Week One, I'm more into the teams that are different or exciting to me.

Are you going Vikings, Jay?

I actually was going Cardinals Bills. I'm just into the Cardinals. I want to see this Cardinals team. I think the Bills have a chance to go win the Super Bowl this year. I think this could just be a fun game. But Patriots-Bengals, I think, would be a good choice, too. We haven't seen Joe Burrow truly healthy in a long time. The Patriots are a bit of a mystery box. If it's Drake May, then it's definitely more box office. But I would have put those two ahead.Okay.Okay. So you agree with all of Coleine's choices?

No, not quite. Oh, okay. There There's one difference, and it's a game that you have now besmirched multiple times. I do want to see the Panthers and the Saints. I want to see the Panthers in the Saints. We'll get into some other things in that division later on. But I want to see year two, Bryce and Dave Canales and all the changes that they've made on the interior. It went horribly wrong. It's gone horribly wrong there for multiple years. But also, I'm interested in the Kubiak Saints and the way things go. I just want to see how different different things there are for both of those teams. But yeah, Falcon, the Arthur Smith revenge game.Oh my God.It's up there.It's so good.I feel the passion. That is good. Jameis and the Saints making the decision. His reaction after the game, his subsequent firing, and now he's got this shot in week one with Kirk. It's all perfect, and I love it. Colts, Texans.

That would have been my number one pick.

That's on the big screen.

Year two for both of these quarterbacks. Just a prime opportunity. I'm with Colleen. But Jag's Dolphins is great. It's great.

What? That's like second billing. I'm not saying it's great. I go quarterbacks first. I'm basic. What's wrong with Tua and Trev? They're awesome, but Kyler versus Josh Allen, to me, is more exciting. That is a box office matchup that I want to see. I mean, it's not like I don't want to see the other.

I feel burned by the Cardinals. You just have to pick. You have to pick four. I need the Cardinals to like, I know that they're going to be better this year. I know. I don't know. I think they're going to win that game.

I think they're going to win that game, Greg.

All right.

Let's stick with that when we're actually keeping the score on Game of Thrones. Oh, no. Guaranteed. Our preview show. Okay.

I don't remember anything, but the things that I say.

I don't remember anything. I remember it. It's a great drop.

I love it. All right, let's take a quick break, and when we come back. Yeah. We're going to get to things we're unreasonably high on.

Puff Puff, pass.

We left Coleen Wolf to come up with the segment.

This is what she came up with.

Yeah.

I was trying to be positive.

It's on brand. It's very positive. I think it's a reminder at this point. I came in with a lot of heat to start the show.Positive heat.That's good, though. Yeah. But also this is a nice time in the calendar to just relax a little bit. The craziness is about to start. Relax, enjoy, and talk about things we're unreasonably high on. Yeah, Coleen, I think you should get us going.

You came in here and it was all love, though, that you were talking about with football and how you were just talking about what sparks joy and just being around friends again. You know what? That's what football is all about. But sometimes you get just a little too high on some things. For me, I'm starting to freak out a little bit, man.

Oh, I don't know. That could be a whole other segment.

All right, put it in the bank.

I'm freaking out, man.

I'm a little paranoid right now that I got way too high on the Falcons. Oh, my gosh. I know this sounds crazy. What if people notice? Everyone's going to know now that I really like the Falcons, but adding Matthew Judon was such a nice move. I would love to think that the Falcons might actually fix their pass rush one of these years. It's been 70 years since they've had a good pass rush. I'm excited because it's been a real bummer, a real buzz kill down in Atlanta. Of course, Judon missed almost all of last season, but I mean, hey, the year before, 12.5 sacks. That was a career high. He had 15.5 sacks, then 12.5 the year before. But he's playing for a contract, man. Yes. So he's going to be really good. That's secondary with Justin Simmons and Jesse Bates. The offense with Kyle Pitz and Drake London, Béjon Robinson with a healthy Kirk Cousins, man. What? What could they do? Could they actually be good? And that's a real winnable division they are in. So I don't know, maybe I'm talking too much right now. Maybe I need to slow play this a bit.

But the Falcons, I am so high on them.

I love that. And I love it so much. I had that as my first thing. No, you did not.

Stop it. Right there.

You just got it on the paper, man.

If we were really making this as realistic as possible, I would just be silent in the corner. It's the one time you can shut me up, just enjoying and sitting. But that wouldn't make it podcasty. You know what I like about the Falcons? I think it would make great fun. Right now.

I got some snacks in my bag.

You know what I like about the Falcons right now? It's their Don't give a F. Attitude. Yes. It's like, Oh, you thought it was weird when we drafted Michael Pennex and annoyed the guy we just gave this huge contract to, and we're doubling up at quarterbacks. How do you feel about us just resting Michael Pennex for the entire preseason? Is that going to get in Kirk's head? We don't care. We're going for it. We're treating this guy like he's the future because we know he's the future. We don't want to take any chance whatsoever that our guy is going to get hurt. You know who would be a fun guy to just hang out with. Who's that? On a Friday night in Los Angeles when he was the Rams coach, Raheem Morris. Let's listen to him, actually. Talk about the decision.

He'll be able to have 100% of the reps versus our defense. He's getting, I I don't know how many reps he's got it versus our starting defense now, but he's got a huge amount of reps versus our starting defense. I feel really good about where he's going and where he's going to develop. If I felt that way, I could play him a little bit more if I needed something else, but I don't feel that way. I don't think any of the people that I would talk to in that circle of trust would feel that way, or we'd be playing them a little bit more, but we don't feel like we need to.

Oh, my God. I love that so much. I cannot even explain how much I will follow you, Rahim. Where will we go?

Why do you love it so much? Just because he's like, If I felt like playing him, I would play him. But I don't feel that way. I don't feel like it's necessary. Yeah.

Because he's been this. He had that one opportunity as a head coach briefly, and he had to wait entirely too long. It's Why am I pretending? Who am I doing this for?

The confidence is really on for.

I think he's been waiting for this moment, and the Falcons have been waiting for this moment, too. It's like, Thank you, Falcons. I did have doubts about the defense, but the Judon and the Simmons, it's just like, Everyone's like, Hey, we're going to go try to win now. We're going to worry about later, later. We're going to spend that cap space. We're going to go big. We're the mother effing Falcons. We're actually a team that's in the spotlight now. When have the Falcons been like that? It took Kyle Sanhhan just being excellent for people to make them notice them. But that even took to week 13, 14 of that season before people were actually like, Oh, yeah, they're awesome. They sold out their season tickets for the entire season. That hasn't happened since 20 years.I love this for them.Let's go. I just like that they're a centerpiece type of team, whether it works or not, we'll see. The Falcons. I'm high on them.

High enough.Are you high on them?Super high.

Oh, my gosh. I'm high on the Falcons. What else are you high on? Should I go? Please. Let's step into the mode because Coach Morris, I would love to be in his trust circle, right? But I did feel there was a little itchiness. He's raring to go. We need him to mellow out, to cool back, come back to us, and realize that I didn't think that the substance was hitting, so I took another.

No. Oh, no.

And then I look up. Oh, yes. And I'm talking Washington Commanders in every segment. I'm looking at Scary Terry. I'm looking Austin Echler and Jaden Daniels. And then as the waves come in and the giggle set, I realize I'm not worried about it. I feel good about a franchise that has done nothing to an awful capacity for the majority of my adult life. But I'm here, and I'm okay with being excited about the Washington Commanders because I saw there was that one Jaden Daniels pull on a read option where he's running to the pylon, and the defensive back is ugly running. Jaden's just gliding into the end. Just as smooth as he could be and not worried about it. He had a ball down the sideline to Diamy Brown. I'm here. I shouldn't be, but I think I'm here.

You know what, Patrick? You can't fight it. When you fight it, that's when you have problems. You just got to settle in, lean in, and let it take its course.

You know what I was getting when I was watching those plays you were talking about? A little bit of flashbacks. To what? To 2012. You might be saying, Oh, that's so basic. What happened then, man? You're just comparing them to their last high-drafted black quarterback. No, the guy's doing read options and throwing vertical shots right on the money with incredible accuracy. Those were the traits that RG3 had. I'm not saying they're going to have the same rookie season, but the strengths and weaknesses are similar there. The strength I like the most in Jaden Daniels is every one of those throws was exactly where he wanted to put. All the money. Leading the receiver in a perfect way. That was why at the end of that season, I remember I wrote this, QB index started as a study of the 2012 rookie quarterback, and he was number one, Andrew luck, two, Russell Wilson, three in that class because every time he threw the ball, went exactly where he wanted to go, which is important for a quarterback. Now, obviously, things happened after that, but I'm excited. I know.

Yeah. Join me.

Into it. All right, Colleen. I like it. Okay. This is a little half baked, this one.

That's good. I just feel like... I like the variety, Randy. Good job.

He's a new it, too. We're bringing this segment back. First of all, I just feel like people might be a little too high on the bears. Maybe that's crazy. I know Caleb Williams, he's special, but guys, that offensive line is real sus. Maybe It makes me a little nervous. Maybe it's because I've been getting a little too high on the Vikings, and I feel like I shouldn't be. It's the forbidden strain that I've been going with here. But the Vikings, Sam Darnold was always the plan for the Vikings. They were never going to go the other route. He was always going to start the season. And he's gotten almost all of the first team reps from the offseason program up until now. Justin Jefferson is out here telling Diana Rusini that he's surprised how good Darnold's arm is, that his passes are right in the hands and feel like a soft pillow. What? That is true. That is a direct quote. So maybe I'm crazy, but everyone who is just already writing off the Vikings and saying that they are going to be worst in the division, I don't know, man. You got to think hard about that one because the bears, they have a lot of good players there, but the Vikings, don't count them out yet.

Vikings over bears. I know where this is coming from. Is it Sam Darnold? Is that as much your rooting against my take, essentially, about Sam Darnold?That's.

Fine.i truly am.

You want a harsh mind?

I need Sam Darnold to succeed this season more than anyone than Sam Darnold.

That's a tough spot. All that said, I feel like we've talked so much about the quarterback, which makes sense, that it's the most important thing. But we have lost a little bit of what I agree with you about is like, Oh, yeah, there's lots of other really good players on the-Yes. Jalen Naylor, by the way, is a third-year player who looks like he's going to maybe step into what KJ Osborne did and be a step up. That is a fantastic receiver trio. T. J. Hawkinson will eventually be back. I think Aaron Jones showed a lot of juice at the end of last season. Then the defense, I think Stefan Gilmore, that addition with-Oh, I love that one. With Brian Flores. The way they use their safeties a little… They were thin at cornerback. That was the one position, and now they're not. Van Ginkle is a fun little pickup. They're deeper and tougher to deal with. I think if you're a coach, you don't like the Vikings coming to town, because I think KOC and Flores are coming with some heat.

I feel like people have just written them off now.

I think it's one of those things where you get into the substances and maybe you think too much. But we talked about we love these kickoff changes. The new kickoff is great. Yeah. Kanae Wun-Wu.

Oh, yeah.

Might get five of them. I sincerely think if you're talking about a running back/returner who's perfect for this particular situation, it's him.

Did this come to you in a vision?

It did. The second I saw him touch a football, I was like, this guy can flat out fly, and this kickoff change is perfect for him.

Yeah, he had a nice one last weekend. I think it was as a running back, though. That's a nice little backfield, actually. Chandler, you got Wanglu as the third.

Yeah.

All right, I'm feeling that. I'm going to go... Oh, you're excited. So you got to just go. I'm just excited. You got to just go. You got to go. You want me to just go?

Yeah, don't hold back. Okay.

I'm not holding back. You're up. Greg was besmirching the game between the Carolina Panthers and the New Orleans Saints. We talked about Falcons. We're excited about this, Falcons. I'm a little high on the 2024 NFC South.

Oh, yeah.

I think we were slicing and dicing, and the outcomes could have been different, but we had two nine-win teams. We had one seven-win team where they're playing each other. Things could have gone either way. And now, they're almost all better. The glaring thing is Dave Canales' departure, but he didn't go far. He's just right up the road in Carolina. I think Baker didn't forget the things that made them successful. I believe in Todd Bowles. I like this division more than the NFC.

Wait, so you're saying- More than the NFC North?

More than NFC North.

So you're saying, bro, wait.

I'm saying it, Greg.

Hold on. You're saying that Dave Canales being in relatively close proximity to Baker Mayfield is somehow going to help that man?

What I'm saying is, if you're concerned about the outcomes for the Carolina Panthers, right? If you're concerned about the outcomes for the Tampa Bay Bucaneers, I think that dragged the division down.

He stayed in the division.

He's in the division. He's still lifting up the Carolina Panthers. And so, right, substances.

Because it's not like he's saying on long distance, calling with cell phones.

No, it's not like this relationship where he's still making things, but like Gino is still good. Baker Baker Mayfield. The Dave Canales boost doesn't just go away.

Remember long distance calling, bro? Oh, my gosh. It costs a certain amount to go to Connecticut from Massachusetts, but then it's way more to go to Colorado.

Don't have to do that anymore. It's stupid.

It's all about 1,800 collect.

I'm feeling it.We.

Ought a baby Eto boy.I'm.

Really feeling it now. It's happening. What if I told you the NFC South was not even the best South division, though?

No way.

I mean, if you're looking for a division that doesn't get-I have my division rankings right here. Enough attention. Oh, you're using the notebook that Emeka got you from Japan. Let's go. What's the fish on the front?Meguro.

Meguro. Meguro. Meguro. It's Meguro. What's my favorite? Right here. Don't look at my nails. Yeah, so-What is your ranking?

Now I'm curious.

But yeah-Yeah, they're half baked, like a lot of things right now. Right now, I have… I did this last night late just because I was bored. First is… Is this right? Okay, first is NFC North. Second is-Okay. This This is what the show would actually sound like. Third, AFC West. This is crazy.

Four, the AFC East. I don't think that… This all seems totally normal to me.

5, NFC South. Or no, five is… I can't even read my own writing. I don't have five on here. Wait.

Okay, we'll clean this up. Yeah. No, I'm joking. We're keeping all this thin. I'm going to make the case for the AFC South here. I mean, it's like the NFC South.

People aren't sleeping on the air.

Your basics just ignore, but they are. Is it in primetime enough? Is 3:45 Park putting the cult Texans in primetime like it should be in a big spot? They should. If the least The interesting quarterback in this division is Will Levis. I mean, he's pretty interesting. If nothing else, he's box office. He's going to give you some big, he's going to give you some bad. But most importantly, this division has the team I'm unreasonably high on.Oh, is that?That's the Houston Texans.Oh, yeah.

Everyone's in on the Texans. Yeah, everyone was in on the Lions last year before the season, too, and they delivered. They are that team. If you got Madden 25, if you got it in the last week or whatever, what team do you want to play with first? I want to play with the Texans. I want to play with Stefan Diggs out wide and Nico Collins out wide. We got Tankdell inside. We got Mixin running We got the dude who I think is going to compete for an MVP right now. I love the story of it all. Going into last season, they had the second worst odds of any team in the entire NFL to win the Super Bowl. They were 8 to 1 to make the playoffs, 10 to 1 to win the division. And now, because they didn't listen to me and get rid of nick Casario and let him hire a third head coach, which is unprecedented in four years.

We're going to need more stuff in here.

I'm just saying that was my bad, though. Good job by nick Cacereo. Now you look at them and you look at the roster and you think, what team would you rather be for the next five years? They're right there, and there is no one cooler in the pocket and just cooler in general than my man. He's so cool. C. J. Stroud.

You know what? I mean, you're right, obviously.

I love Derek Steenley Jr. I think he's going to be an all pro.

Now you're a robot? What's happening?

It's hit.

Can I just throw one last random one in here? Give me a clicky. I'm way too high on randos, third string players that are popping in the preseason. Yes. I am so high on Trey Tucker, the Raiders wide receiver.He can go.Wait a second. First of all, he had that 50-yard catch from Garner-Minschuh. He had the 43-yard punt return. He had a 29-yard runback that was erased because of the illegal block. He had three big plays that first preseason game, too. You know what? He got LASIK in the offside.

I love this.

He did the Jameis Winston thing. As it turns out, sight, pretty important.It helps.He can see now.

It helps.

He had a catch. I think it was against.

Was it in December of last year?

Chargers in the Thursday night? Probably, yeah. Where you just saw Noah was against the Giants, I think on that Monday night game. And his speed is just different. He's not a third stringer. No, he's not. He's a third receiver. Yeah, he's the third receiver. But he's going to be on the field. I love me some Trey Tucker.

I love speed. My quick one because watching these preseason games, I got harshed because I saw Ben DiNucci throw a hopeless third down short of the sticks to MVS, and he hurt his neck. I'm thinking, Ryan Tannehill is watching these games. Somebody go get Ryan Tannehill. I I'm unreasonably high on the idea that it's silly to have a very good quarterback and not get him for the sake of somebody's feelings or whatever, some weird stuff. It's not your money. Somebody sign Ryan I know. Watching these guys is preposterous, and it makes my symptoms go away.

I would love for you. I would love to hear a campaign speech for Ryan Tana Hill. That's got to be maybe next week.

In fairness to the teams out there.My fellow, I'm there.I believe the last we heard of Ryan Tana Hill was he was just hanging out in the Bahamas. That sounds amazing. He's spear phishing. He might be reasonably high on his own abilities. With good reason. He's made a lot of money and he's made a lot of money and be telling these teams like, Yeah, I'll come, but only if you really back up the Brinks truck and give me some playing time, which I wouldn't fault you for it. Back it up. You're saying back it up.

I don't want to see some of these guys playing.

Call me in September.

My last one. I'm going to say what's on my mind. Do it. I don't care how it looks. Okay. I don't care if it looks like I'm a... Should I leave? … Chill for the league or a company, man. You know this NFL Pro is awesome, man.

Oh, it does sound really cool. I'm not going to lie.

No one told me to say this. I promise you if I did not work for the NFL, I would be using the hell out of the NFL Pro You can see all the people that retweet that do not work for the NFL, that work around the NFL, and whether they're content creators or they're big-time fans or whatever. For years, I was always a little frustrated by the all 22 axis that fans had. Now, the next-gen stats, and then the stats are shown, and you can just press the button, and you can see every single play of Lamar Jackson under pressure or every single dropback that he had. Or it's It shows all of his stats, and it says 36 such, and you just press the button, and then you get a very clean, high-quality All 22 from multiple angles and the broadcast, if you want, of all those plays in a row. Not to mention there's all this sortable match-up stuff that I can't even get into. Oh, my God. But I'll be real and say, I've had access to some stuff that the teams pay for from other places that they pay a lot of money for, and that's how they cut up all their tapes and they get access to stats.

We've We haven't had access to that, or some of us have, the work here and stuff. This is basically that. Now it's like that, but everyone can have it. That's pretty cool. Oh, the amount. I would want to know about that if I was just out there listening. I don't feel like I'm being a showman.

Greg, you don't have to defend yourself.

Yeah, no need for the preface here.

I'm absolutely pumped about it. I would like it to be real.

We're going to be using it. We're going to be using it.

I hope other people use it, too, because the the asinine quarterback arguments that go on in your mentions whenever you to talk about somebody, if people would argue with context and knowledge that something like this can provide, it's so easy. Go figure it out before you annoy everybody with annoying me.

I was going to say, Patrick is so annoyed already about what is coming his way.

But also I see it. If you're trying to tell me certain, there's a pro Russ group in Pittsburgh that had said all along, Oh, he has no chance to lose this job. He's definitely the quarterback. Fields has no chance. For whatever reason, they're just holding onto that. They're like, This isn't anything. It's just pass protection. They didn't protect for him. Then you can go to NFL Pro, and I can show you when he gets to the back of his drops, when he's holding the ball and how the old Russ would have thrown that ball, and for whatever reason, he's not comfortable in the offense yet. It was just a small sample size or whatever. He's just not as aggressive as he used to be. He's holding that ball, and I can give you that little screenshot when the the receiver are open.I.

Cannot wait to nerd out on this.I can show you. The amount of micro-focusing that I'm going to do on this platform is you guys might never see me again.

Micro-focusing. I love that. Not micro-dosing.

Micro-focusing.

That's what happens after you micro-focusing. What a fun show. Thank you to Patrick and Coleen. I'm really excited for the duo that we have coming up on Thursday's show. Keep that music going, Randy. I like it. Let's go out with that. The vibe. Kevin Clarke, Mina Keim. Yaiy! And we are going to be drafting overs and unders for the 2024 season.

We've done a version of this-That's so fun.show before.

It's not so much about the pics as much as which teams are we furthest from consensus on what do we feel the strongest about. I'm excited for that one. Me too. Until then. Just vibe out, bros.

Later.

It's also like getting electrocuted. You got to die to be electrocuted. You got shocked. You didn't get electrocuted, anyway.