Welcome to NFL Daily, where we call Aiden O'Kunal AOC. But it's a little confusing. I'm Greg Rosenthal. I'm down in Costa Mesa at Raiders Training Camp. This is going to be a little different NFL daily. I talked to Tashaan Rita, the athletic, about the Raiders deep dive. I'm a little optimistic about this Raiders team if it wasn't for the quarterbacks. Man, the quarterback I struggled here on Tuesday, but that's been the case throughout training camp. I think otherwise, this roster, frisky, including their defense, including Jack Jones, who I also spoke to. So you'll hear an interview with Jack Jones, which was a lot of fun. And we'll wrap up the Show with some questions from you all out of the mailbag for NFL Daily. But quickly, going to hit the news to start the show. Brandon Ayuk, I hit it on our last show, got permission to talk trade with the Patriots, with the Browns. They've agreed to trade terms, and now it's in Brandon Ayuk's court. I think the silence speaks volumes right now that the 49ers were maybe in a position where they thought, look, Brandon Ayuk doesn't necessarily want to go to either of these teams.

But we'll have to wait and see no real updates on that. As of yet, Gerard Mayo, the Patriots head coach, said he's learned from his guy, Bill Belichick, not to talk about players on other rosters. Other than that, just got some updates about who's playing in the preseason Who's not? We got Jarrett Stittam as the starter in Denver. Gerard Mayo said he's going to play all four of his quarterbacks. So we get some Drake May, we get some Jacobi Brissette this weekend, which I'm very excited about. Jaden Daniels is going to get the start for Washington this weekend. Just selfishly, I want as many good players as possible to play in the preseason this week because nick Shook and I are going to wrap up all the games on our show that airs Monday morning. So The more interesting players, the better this week. And Texans are also going to play their start. Jordan Love is also going to play. Other than that, a couple of minor moves. Adrian Amos signs with the Jaguars might end up being their starting safety. The Lions lose Emmanuel Moseley, who is a cornerback, was potentially going to be their starter at nickel.

And that's a little tricky because they might have to move Brian Branch into that spot. Eventually, not what they wanted. Also, everyone's favorite kicker in America, Harrison Bucker, became the highest paid kicker in the NFL. A great kicker. They would not win those Super Bowl's without him. And I will leave it at that for Harrison Bucker. And for the news, let's get to Tasha Reid and start talking some Raiders. All right, we are here to talk some Raiders with Tashaan Reid of The Athletic. One of the best beat writers out there. The best two-man combo with Vic Taffer at The Athletic. Go check out their coverage. They do a great job. We were here watching this offense struggle. Was that typical? Was that typical of what you've seen down here?

It's been a pretty constant thing throughout training camp so far, and really since OTAs. It's been rough for the offense, particularly the quarterbacks. Obviously, this was a great defense last year. They were ninth in scoring, so they're going up against a tough unit, but you would like to see more flashes than they've shown so far.

I'm going to start on the optimistic front, and then we'll get into the quarterbacks and the offensive struggles. The optimistic case for them is that these lines, to my eye, could be pretty good. I thought the offensive line was underrated last year. You think differently after we talked ahead of time, so maybe I'm wrong. I don't trust myself. And that the defense could be a top 10 group, and that the skill position players, if you really look at it, Devante, one. Jacobi is a good two. I liked what Trey Tucker did. Two really good young tight ends. That's more than enough to win with. So usually, Raiders fans are incredibly irrational, overly optimistic. They're always getting on me for doubting them. And usually, I'm right the last 20 years. But this year, I can actually see the irrational Raiders fans case. Are you feeling that?

I don't feel exactly the same way. I do think there is some good things to celebrate. I mean, the defense, I think they're legit. There's always that question when you have one unit dominating the other in training camp is, or are they good or they're just going against a bad defense or vice versa. But I don't have any doubts about this defense. I mean, they were a top 10 unit last year. Really, after AP took over those last nine games of the season, they finished, I believe, first in scoring defense the rest of the way. I mean, we saw what they did to the Chiefs on Christmas Day. They went on to win the Super Bowl, and they brought back nine starters last year. One of the starter changes was a massive upgrade, getting Christian Wilkins' defensive tackle from the Dolphins. Patrick Graham, this is his third year with the Raiders, and so he's really starting to loosen up the playbook. I think AP referred to rolling dice out there. He's just trying stuff, playing Russian roulette. The defense is clicking, and I think that'll translate even when they're not going against a struggling offense.

In terms of the offense, I think their offensive line last year struggled, really, towards the beginning of the season. Toward the end of the year, they started to have more success running the ball and then protecting the passer a little bit better. They did make some progress, but they needed to make upgrades, and I think they did that this offseason. They drafted Jackson Power Johnson, a guard out of Oregon. He's probably going to be a starter at left guard if he can be healthy. Right now, he's on the pub list. You got Colton Miller back. He's a pretty solid left tackle, and the rest of the unit is coming together well also. As you said, there's no shortage of talent on this team when it comes to weapons. Devante Adams, arguably the best receiver in the league. Jekoy Myers is super underrated. Two tight ends, Brock Bowers, I know he's a rookie, but he looks the part so far.

How has he looked? They saw him lining up out wide on one player where the receivers were actually on the inside. That's cool. I think some 13 personnel where there's three tight ends on the field. I think the third was Harrison Bryant, probably. How has Bowers looked?

I don't want to call him a Jack of all trades because he's really good, but they use him everywhere. They have him lined up in line as a traditional tight end. They have him split out wide as an outside receiver. They have him in in the slot. You even see him at H-back sometime. You've seen him take jet sweeps. They're using them all over the place and trying to maximize his skillset. It helps to have more of a traditional tight-end like Michael Mayer, who can play in line. He's a bigger guy. He's about 30 pounds heavier. He's a better blocker. That frees them up to utilize Bowers in a lot of different ways. Even Harrison Bryant, he's been a solid third tight end for him. He's a really good blocker. He's lined up as fullback. They don't have a traditional one on the roster anymore. He's even made some plays in the passing game as well.

He made a nice catcher, too. That dude's a big... Man, those tight ends are crazy. Yeah.

They have all the talent. And even Zamir White, running back, he's taken over for Josh Jacobs this year, and those are big shoes to fill. Josh Jacobs, he's been a star running back for years now, but he's looked pretty good. The issue has just been their quarterback.

Okay, let's get to it. So today was pretty rough. Aiden O'Neill, especially. Just not a lot of confidence with where he's going to go with the ball to my eye. A lot of just pumping, where you can just see he's not on time, where pump, pump, goes and then throws a pick. I think he had a handful today. We're going to have Jack Jones on right after you. He had a couple of them. He did not look like he was comfortable in this Luke Getzey offense. And that's one thing that gives me a little bit of pause. I thought they The offense looked capable enough down the stretch last year, but that was a different offensive scheme. It was an interim OC, Bohard degree. He's gone. Luke Getzey comes here from the bears. You mentioned changing it to a zone scheme in terms of running. Just a lot that's Tell me where those two guys are at, Minchou and O'Neill in this competition.

They're neck and neck, but not in a good way. They've both been struggling. I think O'Neill, he's more of the stationary pocket passer type of guy. He doesn't have many athletic traits. He's not going to be moving around, so he's going to stand back there in fire. If the timing isn't perfect and it's not on the money, then he freezes up when he has to improvise. He's not going to move around too much. That leads to some of those anticipation throws where Jack Jones, it was three on three drill, I believe. It was a slant route, and he telegraphted the whole way, and Jack just jumps in front of it and picks it.

But even that one was late. He could have thrown it earlier, and he pumped it.

But you can see he's almost determining what he's going to do before he does it. That works sometimes, and you need an element of that in a timing-based offense. With Luke Getzey, he has some of those shenanhan elements coaching under the floor, but that can't be what you do all the time. And Gardner Minchou, he offers more of that escapability outside of the pocket. He's more of a gamer type, but he takes it too far pretty often, and that leads to some other costly interceptions. He got picked off today towards the end of practice by safety, Trayvon Merrick on one of those kinds of plays. And so he takes risks that a quarterback should take. If you're Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen, Brett Farr, that talent, he doesn't have that type of talent. It's been a struggle for him. It's early in camp, so you don't want to overreact, but they still have a month to try to figure it out, but it hasn't been great so far.

They keep saying the coaching staff, they want someone to step up. Minchou, apparently, was better at the scrimmage, which checks out. No coach, that's Coach Cardner Minchou, has ever really fallen in love with him off practice. They always not want to play him. Then he gets in the game and it's like, okay. He ends up out playing the guys that are there. If I was a Raiders fan, I'd be a little disappointed I went. I, personally, I went back and watched him, O'Kunal, and I thought, Man, for a rookie, he did good things, and the upside's bigger. I got to say for my one day of scouting here, just the arm, I thought he maybe had plus arm strength, and maybe I don't see that. He has a bigger arm than Garner-Minsu, But not even a plus arm.

No, his thing is more accuracy. But the issue has been, as I said, when things get off schedule a little bit and he has to create, and you have to move around and make throws on the run and maybe make throws that are a little bit more difficult, that's when it starts to break down for him. For me, Aiden, he was a day three pick. He's a good backup, I think, in my mind, who can be a spot starter in a situation. If you get that out of a day three pick at a quarterback, that's a win. But they're asking him to something that's much more than that. In terms of competing for a full-time starting job, you can't just be that type of guy. He may not ultimately have that ceiling. He's going to be 26 years old this season, so he's only a second-year player. But he's not that much older than Minchu. He's not like he's 21. You know what I mean? We'll see. Again, we still have a month to go before the season, and so maybe he makes a vast improvement or even Minchu because Minchu hasn't played lights out either.

To me, if it's close, though, I would... Not that we could do this at the NFL. If it's in Vegas, to me, it's going to be Minchu week one if that close because I think they'll just trust in the money that they gave him and the experience that he's had, at least showing he's a gamer and give him a chance. I wanted to get to you on how insane Max Crosby appears to be. I mean, he is just talking during the whole practice, so fired up, getting after these right tackles to the point you almost feel a little bad for him. He's beating up on him.

Yeah, he's a madman. I mean, he plays the same way you see him in games. I mean, he never comes off the field. It's constant effort. He's talking. I know he went viral a couple of years ago for his interaction with Patrick Mahomes and them going back and forth. That's how he is all the time. That's not an act that he turns on for game day. Day in and day out. He has an insane offseason regimen. He's in the facility pretty much every day at 6:00 AM. He stays late. He's really diligent about his body. So he takes it as seriously as anyone that you'll see in the league. And that translates to practice. And you always feel bad for the right tackle. Last year was Jermaine Illuminaur, and he got it every day. This year, it's Thayer Munford and rookie DJ Glaze. So he doesn't hold back, and they view it the Riders, they don't try to pull him back because they view it as an iron sharpens iron type of situation, where if you can come to hold your own against a Max Crosby, then when you're going against a so-so pass rusher, you'll be all right.

But those early days of camp when he's really getting after you and he's beating you play after play and letting you hear about it, that can be demoralizing to a guy. But I think you need that because you're going to go against some tough pass rushers in this league. If a guy can't hold up against some of the better ones, you can't trust him as you're starting right tackle or left tackle, depending on what side the next Crosby is on. If those guys can't stand the fire, then you know you need to make an upgrade at that position.

They got a chance this year because the defensive line talent is excellent. I think it's deeper than people realize. Malcolm Coons is a good player. Their players inside are stepping up, obviously Wilkins. And pierce got those linebackers. That's where I give him a lot of credit. Just playing at a level you wouldn't have expected last year. The secondary, a bit of a question, but certainly some talent there. And they're bigger. They're better than the sum of their You saw, and that happens with defense and energy. I guess give us someone that you've seen maybe on the defensive side in this camp that stood out to you, that surprised maybe someone people don't know that much about.

It's got to be Jacoy and Bennett, like you said, coming in the camp With the defense, the question was really, is that secondary complete? We knew what the safeties could do with Marcus Epps and Trayvon Marek. I think they were one of the better safety tandems in the league last year. Jack Jones, once he got picked up, really came on strong. Nickelback, Nate Hobbs, I think is one of the better nickels in the league. But a big hole was, do they We have another outside starting cornerback. And Jacorian Bennett, he was a rookie last year. He came in, he had a really strong training camp, started the first four games of the season, but he really struggled, and he got hurt, and he lost his job and fell out of rotation. But training camp, he's been balling, man.What number is he?Number zero.

Yeah, so he had a nice day, too. They all did, though. I don't know what to think.

The secondary has been leading the way. Honestly, I think they've been the most impressive unit on defense because when the pads aren't on, the trench play is hard to fully evaluate that. But whether the pads are on or off, the secondary has been balling. But on those days when the pads do come on, you see the defensive line start to dominate and how they feed off of one another. That linebacker, Robert Spillane, he came out of nowhere last season. Not just in the run game, but he was really good in pass coverage. This defense, to me, it has all the makings of potentially being a great one this year.

I love our Raiders fans that are listeners because I feel like we have a lot. I feel like we haven't covered that much over the years just because they've been so boring. And this is the one year I come in thinking, I don't know, I saw that over-unders like six and a half or something. I know they have a tough schedule. I think 11 of their first 13 games are either in division or against playoff teams from a year ago. They start with a couple of road games. But those in division games, now maybe week one at chargers doesn't look too bad. If Herbert's not 100%, Broncos aren't great. I'm definitely feeling over six and a half. I was feeling maybe a couple over that, but you're not feeling it. We'll end on that.

No, I will put them above six and a half. I think that's low. That's pretty good. I think they're going to be somewhere around a 500 caliber team. I think the pessimism, it's a quarterback-driven league. So if you have an uncertain situation- You got to be quiet.

Aiden standing right over there, actually, right there.

If you have uncertain situations, then that makes people less optimistic about you. But I think with their defense, if they can get their run game going, if the offensive scheme change under Luke Getzey, if it ends up being a better fit. You mentioned that they have weapons. I think there's enough there for them to stay competitive and win some of those games maybe that people don't expect them to make. Do they ultimately make the play also? I don't know. The AFC is tough.

Yeah, I don't think so. I'm not going that far. But just to make it interesting. Give us interesting. I think they'll be competitive. It's just been so many years of trying to convince us, Oh, yeah, the Dennis Allen readers are going to do it. Or the Gruden Riders had a little moment. But these fans are starving. I want to see it for them. So I'm on your side this year, Riders fans.I appreciate you, Tasha.

Appreciate you having me.

All right, I am here with Jack Jones, the Raiders' quarterback, who, if he keeps up this pace from today's practice, is going to set the NFL record for interceptions this year and kickoff returns. You're nodding all seriously. I'm half joking, or you're actually going to do that.

Yeah, that's the goal, to go in there and do something that's never been done.

Yeah, I picked the right day. A couple of the other writers, we were watching this. They're like, Oh, who are you going to have on? I was like, Oh, Jack Jones is coming on, and then you get one pick. Great anticipation on Aiden O'Kana. It was like a three-on-three deal. You get another pick later. You have a big return. You boot that return, actually. So far, it almost took out our guy, Drake, here, behind the camera. So I was like, This was the right day to have Jack Jones on. You've had a lot of days like that out here?

Yeah, every day, the defense has been coming out, stepping up, and playing hard. And I think that right there is going to lead to the players being made.

Yeah. I wonder, when you look at your role in this defense, do you think it's part of your job to take the ball away and score some points for this offense?

Definitely. I can't be a guy giving up touch downs, giving up a lot of passes, giving up yards. That's not good. Coming from a DB, especially when we have a D-line like we have, plays have to be made.

Where do you see yourself? You've had an interesting career. Obviously, you start out in New England and really a great start to your career on the field. Some things don't work out there. Then you come to the Raiders and make a big time impact. Really, you're their best cornerback, I think the way you played last year and coming into this year as a number one cornerback, where do you see yourself amongst all these league cornerbacks out there? Thank you.

I appreciate that. But if you ask me, I think I'm the best corner in the league, and I think every corner that's going out there stepping on that field should feel like that. It's a thin line between arrogance and confidence. You got to be confident when you're going out there. If you're not confident, then you're setting yourself up for failure. I believe I'm the best.

Does that thin line getting you in some trouble sometimes, going against the same guys every day on offense?

Definitely. Were you guys getting in?

There wasn't much fights or anything, but how has it been? It sounds like the defense has been dominating day after day against this offense. Are they getting upset?

We just trying to push the offense to be the best that they can be because we know if we go hard and don't give them any breaks, then But that's going to make them better in the season. So we just try to go out there and compete and show them a real look.

Yeah, we had you. I did a show with my friend Mina Kimes on ESPN a couple of weeks ago where we each had to pick an X-Factor for the Raiders. And separately, we actually both picked you just because the ceiling feels very high for you and really for this defense. It was representing this defense. Where do you guys feel like you fit into the NFL? Where the Raiders defense is at?

I believe we're top five defense in the league. This upkipping season, we're going to show exactly why I believe we're a top five defense in the league. But without a question, I think we're top five.

Yeah, it's crazy because you got here in the middle last year, and It was pretty close to when Antonio pierce got the job and that defense really took off. What was it like joining this culture? How was the difference in how this team operates, especially on the defensive side of the ball where you came from in New England?

I just think AP. Ap get the guys going. He know how to bring the best out to players. He can get the fire from the players and have every player going out there with their head on fire, just flying around, willing to give it all for the team. I think if you don't have that as a player, have a coach that you really believe in, then it's going to be tough to go out there and give you all. So we have AP, and I give hats off to him. I give all the credit to him.

Max also get you guys going. Oh, definitely. He was getting me going just watching there.

Yeah, definitely. Max is a guy that shows up every practice, every play, almost. It's just undeniable.

What was it like you had that Christmas game where you really shut down that Chief's defense, and that was a big-time moment for your team. And now you're back. It's your first full season with the Raiders, and you're looking up at those guys as the back-to-back defending champs, three Super Bowl. What is it like going against that team and Mahomes and having that target for you guys to go after in this division?

That's a good team right there. We know every time we see Patrick Mahomes in the Chiefs, this is going to be a tough game. If we don't come out there playing an assignment alignment game, then we'll lose because that team, they're real disciplined. You know what I'm saying? They have a great quarterback on their side. We know the type of challenges we have when we face the Chief. I think it's going to be a lot of click, clack, and a lot of talk, and good game coming from the Raiders and the Chiefs.

Yeah, because it had been a minute since the Raiders could shut down the Chiefs like that. How did you do that?

Once again, credit to AP and credit to the defense and the team. One thing I noticed when we was out there on Christmas Day was sometimes some games, we'll be like, defense will be like, ding, defense is back up. We want the offense to score, but that game, we didn't blink. We didn't question it. When defense was up, everybody had their hat on ready to go and was ready to step on that field.

All right. I want you to talk me through one of my favorite plays from the 2023 season. I think you know where I'm going with this, that interception that you had against the chargers. I'm probably not the first person to ask, but that, to me, it's an all-time cornerback play, a play I think people are going to remember where you reach back and you read the play. Walk me through how that play took place for you last year.

It was a film study, for one, for two. Coach PG, Coach Pat Graham, he made the call to put me in position to make that play. We played cover two on that play, and that allowed me to take that chance to make that play. If PG would call cover three or Man of Man, I would have to stay back and do my technique. But PG put us in a great call to be able to make that play, I've seen some 4 by 1.Okay, like pre-snap.Yeah, I've seen 4 by 1 pre-snap. That's what I was looking for. After that, PG, he just... I mean, after that, I made the play. I went made the play. Pg put us in position. I've seen 4 by 1, I went and got it.

When you're making a play like that, and that was on Thursday Night Football, I actually had my son. That's the only game of the week I get to watch with him. Did you even have in that moment, I'm sure you're going crazy, Man, that's a play that's making eight-year-olds go crazy all over the country.

No, I didn't think that, but in my head, when it happened, I'm like, Wow, one hand? Because when I ran back there, I was going up with two hands, but I realized I was running past the ball, so I just reached back with one and plucked it out there.

That's awesome. Last thing for you. I saw you entered training camp that you had noticed a little bit where the national media was putting you, that you maybe saw some predictions out there where I think 6 and 11 was one that you mentioned. I guess, what's your opinion on those predictions that have been out there that the Raiders... Not a lot of people expect a lot out of the Raiders this year.

Yeah, I don't know why they don't have faith in us when the season that we had last year with the coaches switched, middle of the season, I mean, I obviously wasn't here, but quarterback switches throughout the season, and we had more wins than six wins. I think this year we're a better team. We have a solid foundation. For them to say we're going to win six games, that's like a slap in their face. The team feels that, so we're going to go out and show them.

That's something you guys talk about amongst yourself? Definitely. Okay. Jack Jones, the cornerback Jack for the Raiders. Looking forward to watching you this year. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you for having me.

All right. That was a lot of fun with Jack Jones. I'm easily swayed. I come down here and the defense is so dominant, and I'm convinced Aiden O'Kannell is going to be trash this year and that this defense is going to be awesome. Man, O'Kannell just did not look comfortable at all in this practice. But the playmakers are there, and Jack Jones and Max Crosby at the top of the list. We're going to wrap up this show down in Costa Mesa by going to the mailbag. You can ask us questions at nfldailypodcast@gmail. Com. I want to hit another mailbag early next week, maybe later this week. Nfldailypodcast@gmail. Com. And yeah, while we're here, go to the YouTube page, subscribe, like, help us out. I loved all the encouraging emails that we were looking at between me and Randy. Randy, we're now through five teams doing a deep dive on. I need I need that big board. We've hit five out of the 32. If we haven't hit you yet, we've hit eagles, raiders, rams, chargers, bears. We are going to hit you at some point this season. It's going to take a while. All right, let's get to the questions.

Let's start with Eldon, who asked, How many starts for JJ McCarthy this year. I'm putting the over-under at 14. I don't think it's going to be long. Jj McCarthy at Training Camp getting positive notices. Sam Darnold is still Sam Darnold. I would almost put it higher, if not for the injury risk for McCarthy, but I don't think Darnold is going to last more than two or three weeks. If I had to guess, their schedule is pretty difficult at the beginning. They would love Darnold to do well, but I think JJ McCarthy is really playing against himself at practice and in the preseason. And so far, so good. I think if he plays well, they're just not going to wait around that long to get to him. Our next question is from Oliver in the UK. He asked, What is the best case scenario for the Colts this season? What's their ceiling, assuming Richardson stays healthy in place to what you believe his ceiling is this season? I mean, their ceiling's high. Twelve wins, 12 and 5, like three seed in the AFC. One of those teams that you go into the playoff thinking, Could the Colts really go to the Super Bowl?

And probably won't, but I've seen lesser teams in terms of line play make it to the Super Bowl. And Richardson ceiling, fantasy-wise, top five. And NFL-wise, if he can hit enough big throws, this guy is a great decision-maker. He is tier one as athletic, a runner, and in terms of his arm strength, of anyone that's ever played in the NFL, he's not going to be that accurate. But if he can just make good decisions like he was making as a rookie, he stays healthy, he hits his ceiling. I like the weapons around him. I love the offensive line. I love the defensive line even more. To me, they have as high a ceiling or higher than the Texans. I do think those are two of the best teams in the AFC, and the Colts should be a little disappointed if they don't make the playoffs. Thanks to Oliver. Let's go to Jack. Jack was determined, and we got a lot of these emails, determined. Why do you got to be so determined not to like this show? I get it. I felt the pain of around the NFL ending as much, more than anyone, obviously.

I did have a little bit of time to grieve and get used to it and understand life sometimes gives you things you didn't expect, gives you things you didn't want, and it's how you respond to that. But you don't need to be rooting against this show and not wanting to like this show. Love this show. Love the new show from Mark and Dan that's going to be coming out, Heed the Call. They announced that, and I know that's going to be awesome. I mentioned that partly because Jack has a Heed the Call tattoo like myself. I love it, so I remember the words of Chris Wesley. He told me that. The first time he told me that was, and I'm going to sound like this is a humble brag, actually. I was in Hawaii, and I was having a little bit of a personal crisis of I can't do the job that I had, which was in management, anymore. I just couldn't do it. I had to be happier, more fulfilled, do something like I ended up doing with around the NFL, more full-time and with the network, and now what we're doing with NFL Daily.

And that was the first time Chris gave me that advice. He was technically someone who was under me at work, but I always went to him for advice. And that was all about it's a short life, and you got to do what you love and what matters to you. And I'm doing it now. Even though it's not around the NFL, this podcast is going to mean a lot to me, and I really appreciate everyone who's along for the ride. He does ask a football question. He says, I think Tony Pollard is a brilliant example of a truly explosive, valuable viable second running back who excelled in that role. But when given the Rb1 role with no viable Rb2 struggled, so who are your top five Rb2s for 2024? Five best Rb2s. Well, immediately, I think of Tajay Spears and Tony Pollard in Tennessee, whoever you call the Rb2 there, that's two. I love what I'm hearing out of A. J. Dylan that Matt Lafleur says this is the best A. J. Dylan has ever looked. And so whether it's him, whether it's Marshawn Lloyd in Green Bay, I I think those are two guys that are going to be absolutely electric as a backup running back.

And then, man, I'm going through the Rolodex right now. Justice Hill, this might be a little high for Justice Hill, but I think Justice Hill is going to have a great season. I'm going to think of all the Rb2s out there that I should have picked for this in five minutes, and it's going to drive me crazy. And to defend Tony Pollard, I think he struggled because he was coming off a broken leg in the season that they were asking him to do He was set up for failure there. He just was not confident in that leg last year, and that's going to be big for Tennessee if he is this year. We'll see. Our next question from Andrew. Love the show. Wondering if this could be a segment that would focus on the Panthers possibly being good this season. I know it's unlikely, but it could be a way to talk about teams that don't live in the spotlight. Now, I don't know about an entire segment, but I will give you a mailbox answer. Defense is more variable every season than offense. I do not like the personnel in Carolina, but there's a reason why Carolina did not let Ajiro Evero, their coordinator, go to Los Angeles, where they wanted him to be their coordinator, because he's one of the best young defensive coordinators in the league.

He has a young group. Even if It's hard to see the image. I've seen coaches make young teams like that be average when they didn't have any right to be. So you get the average defense there. Bryce Young and Deontay Johnson, I think, are going to be a really good connection. I think they can improve quite a bit. I think of Alex Smith's career arc when I think of where Bryce Young is at right now. One of the worst quarterbacks I've ever seen was Alex Smith as a rookie. Second year, gets a better coordinator. They improved to seven and nine. He was around league average. To me, that's the recipe for them being good, and Mingo steps up a little bit, and that they're just watchable, and that you have a guy that can be a starting quarterback. So not an entire segment, but I gave you a minute. Thank you, Andrew. This one's also from a different Andrew, a diehard Dolphins fan that has been so accustomed to mediocrity, asked you a bigger question. He wanted to ask me about the Dalton Scale. What are entire teams this year that lie on the Dalton line?

So for new listeners, the Dalton scale was Chris Westling's invention of how to measure whether you have a franchise quarterback or not. If that quarterback is better than Andy Dalton, you have a franchise quarterback. If that quarterback is worse than Andy Dalton, you do not have a franchise quarterback. I'm in Costa Mesa, rather, with the Vegas Raiders. They do not have a quarterback that's even approaching Andy Dalton back when he was with the Bengals. They are below the Dalton line. Tua Tunga-Viloa, he's not as high above the Dalton scale line as Dolphins fans think, but he is above it. Entire teams is funny. I thought about this for a while. At first, my thought was the Saints because they're so off the radar. No one really knows what they're going to do. Their entire franchise is just, Can we keep our jobs for one more year? They're just trying to get to eight wins, nine wins like they had a year ago so that everyone can stay employed. But I thought about their talent's not even as good as Andy Dalton. They're below the Dalton scale, to me, of teams, and I think they'll finish below that.

I came up with the perfect answer Come at me, Jags fans. It's the Jacksonville Jaguars. Now, you have a quarterback in theory. That's like a top 10 quarterback, but it's more in theory, and Trevor doesn't get me excited. Now, he's definitely above the Dalton scale, so That makes them a tricky pick here. But as a team, I look at them and I just don't know what to think. I think, Yeah, they're good. They're fine. Their coach is good. Their defense should be okay with Ryan Nielsen. They'll be better. The weapons round Lawrence, pretty good. The offensive line, Anton Harrison, they got some questions, but it's okay. It's a lot of okay and a quarterback that hasn't been enough better than okay. So the Jags are my pick for the team on the Dalton scale. And finally, last question. It's from Tork, who says, He loves the chemistry with Claybon and Jordan. And yeah, I love it, too. We're going to build it up together. We're going to have the regulars in these couple of weeks, you might realize, are different than the rest of the season is going to be. I'm doing all these training camp tours.

A lot of the network people like Steve Weiss and Colleen and Patrick are all over the country. It's a little different than when we're going to be in the studio almost every day, but it's been fun going out to the teams. Yeah, Patrick is actually on tomorrow R0 show, drafting some fantasy players. I'm looking forward to that. Tork's question is about the 18-game schedule. What do you think of the timeline and steps getting to the 18-game regular season? I've seen thoughts out there, including two buys is reducing the preseason even further. Yeah, you hit it. There's not even any question. Preseason will go down to two games. They will, I believe, add a week to the season, which now gets us to day after the Super Bowl being President's Day, which is why I don't think they're going to add another buy. If they did that, then they would have to start a week earlier. I don't think they would want to do that. Even though the players, I think, would love that time off, I don't think that's going to happen. If the owners are actually willing to give up some money and pay the players a little higher percentage of total revenue, I think this could happen before the '21, '31 CBA Agreement is up, that they could go to the table and this could happen sooner than later because the players seem open to it.

I don't totally love it. I think that's asking a lot for these players' body. I think if you're going to do it, you should add that extra buy, even though that's going to give us all an extra week of work, which I don't really want to do. That was from Torque. I appreciate, again, all the emails, all the support. You can send the emails to the nfldailypodcast@gmail. Com. And that will wrap up today's day down in Costa Mesa with the Raiders. Tell me what team you want to hit next when we do some deep dives. We don't want to do it too often, but we'll do it every so often. I mentioned Patrick Claibon, Marcus Grant, Mike Florio. We're going to be on our next show, drafting the first three rounds of a fantasy draft. We're going to have a lot of fun then. Until then. See you next time.