NFL teams that need to have prove-it seasons in 2024
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A stupendous episode of Football 301 today. Matt Harmon joins me as we go over teams, units, nouns, players that we think should have a proven season in 2024 and also touch on a little bit of the brand new news at the tail end of the show. Great episode. See you guys in a minute.

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Deadline for entries is September 5th. Visit yahoo.com slash fantasy million to join and enter. Happy draft season. Hello, welcome back to Football 301. I'm Nate Tice.

We have a prove it pod. We're going to go over teams, players, situations, nouns of some general kind in the NFL that we think should have a prove it season that we want to talk about. It could be different levels. We have level one. We broke it down. We have level one, which is not worried, but a little bit worried. No, not not worried. We have level two, which is blowed up risk. We're not all that worried.

all the way fully there to like one minute to midnight. But we're about five minutes to midnight, maybe four minutes to midnight there. And then we have level three, which is just threat level midnight, which is full Watchmen, full Dr. Manhattan is real. That's what's going on with those situations. But it's

to help me do this because he had some ideas for this. Like, he was juiced up. Like, he wanted to throw some in here. And that's my good friend who is joining me every single week on the show. That is Matt Harmon. How you doing today, Matt? Nate, yeah. If you need somebody to put people on notice...

I'm your guy, buddy. So I'm looking forward to this. I love that we organized it into three different levels. And because I think that helps sort of set the table of what we're actually talking about. Because I mean, it's the NFL. Everybody's trying to prove something, trying to prove they're the smartest guy in the room, trying to prove they're worthy of some breakout season or whatever. Some guys are fighting for their career lives, quite literally. So I think this will help table set the conversation here.

It will. It will. And yeah, not a show called Football 3-1 trying to prove how smart they are. Oh, no. We are not calling the kettle black here at all. No, not at all. But no, I love this and I love that we got to tier it a little bit because it's not we're saying somebody should get fired or somebody should get cut and should never play in the league again in some cases. In some, we're saying –

wow, you're lucky to maybe still have a job or you better prove it and we'll see how you're going to have a job. So we're going to go over the entire scale. We're going to start with level one, which again is kind of not worried, but not not worried. Let's start us at the top with this one. We're going to go. I threw this one out there. You kind of were geeked up to talk about this too. I think this is one of the most interesting offenses and teams in the league this year. And that's the Steelers offense. And I told you guys on the pre-show with Brett that I kind of just this

this kind of bullet point came to my mind as the meme of the t-shirt, which was Russ and Fields and Arthur and Najee. You know, that kind of everyone has that kind of meme shirt because each one of these guys has kind of something going this season in different ways where they all need each other in different ways, which I think is just fascinating. But the Steelers offense, what's the first thing? What's the first name of this little batch of group, this little Beatles group?

prove it guys that you think maybe has the most prove it season or one that you just want to talk about first. Yeah, I think we can start with Arthur Smith because you and I are two of the maybe few people that are still trying to die on the Arthur Smith Hill. Yeah.

There are dozens of us, Nate Tice, that appreciate Arthur Smith's offense, despite the, you know, I've said this on the show before that I think he lost the plot towards the end of his time with the Atlanta Falcons. But there were good ideas, especially to start. And really, when you go back to his career,

days as the Tennessee Titans offensive coordinator, I think they were doing a lot of things that smart teams have kind of leaned into now, even if at that point when when when Arthur Smith was the offensive coordinator in Tennessee, you know, power run game shots on play action, heavy set personnel teams, a lot of a lot of the good offenses then were sort of more so leaning into outside zone and some more spread concepts and 11 personnel and things like that.

Now I feel like the meta of the league has sort of caught back up to what Smith was doing in Tennessee. And in a weird way, I just, I, he never quite found that with the Atlanta Falcons, even if at times I think they, they went in the right directions, personnel wise, everything there. But ultimately I find him a very fascinating figure because he just seems like the perfect candidate as a guy that was a little bit,

over his skis in the job that he had before, you know, this, this happens with people in every walk of life. You get a promotion based on doing the job that you were really good at before. And then you kind of miss doing that job that you were really good at before. Uh,

You know, it's like you could tell it's so real football, man. Yeah. Like I don't want to be talking to the media. I don't want to have to be out here and be the face of the organization and have people ask me about. So, yeah, this play that you drew up that was really good to the backup tight end and you got a 30 yard touchdown. Why didn't that go to the guy that you picked fourth overall and like having to roll his eyes, that stuff? And he was very antagonistic with the media about, you know, fantasy football and the whole thing.

thing. It became very strange. So I feel like just clean slate here. It's definitely a prove it moment for Arthur Smith to get kind of back on track is I think one of the better offensive minds in the league here. And they do it. We can talk about the personnel, but I think the personnel here also fits that vision as well. No, I think you nailed it. He he always wanted to kick the hornet's nest of fantasy football.

He just always wanted to do it. And it was just like, just don't say it. Just don't say it. Just leave that sentence out and you're good. No one would care. There'd be no, some Twitter account falling, like what your coach speak is, you know, anything like that. And just bashing you for your pits usage or anything of that. So I, I'm glad you brought up the Titan stuff because that is the ideal version of this offense. It is going to be a lot of what I think is just heavy, heavy runs, meaning heavier personnel. And,

run game first, power run game first with the quick hit and play action off of it. I call it like intermediate play action. Yes, there's play action that does that, but it's not three-step stuff. It's not five-step way down the field. It's four-step. And it's just the little differences of this offense. That's how A.J. Brown and kind of

kind of catapulted his career, which got even more catapulted once he went to Philly. What I'm just so curious with Arthur Smith, too, is that some of the things that I think he prioritizes is a square peg round hole with his quarterbacks. And that's why I bring up the Russ and the Justin Fields stuff.

Because to me, it feels like Justin Fields is going to take the starter position. He is already feeling like he's there now. And also they want it to be that because they have Russell and I've talked about this before. Russell and Justin Fields have similar play styles. They are both best as play action guys launching things down the field. They struggle with quick game because they have kind of longer throwing motions. They also struggle with throwing things over the middle, the intermediate parts. It's kind of downfield and then run around.

Russell's kind of gotten away from the runaround stuff, and he's become one of the biggest check down guys now, which has answers, but his play style is more explosive, boom busty. And Fields is kind of a younger version. He's bigger, faster, stronger, kind of brings a lot of the same qualities while also having the same negatives. That, to me, feels like just kind of a math thing where Fields is going to win this out in the end, which has made me excited if it is Fields because...

There's at least that QB run game that I think Arthur Smith is going to really open up and maybe surprise some people that he's really good at it. When he had Mariota in 2022, Mariota couldn't throw the broadside of a barn, but their QB run game was sick. They ranked ninth in 2022 over the past two seasons. So past two seasons combined and the amount of QB design runs, no, no Neal scrambles or sneaks.

They have 62% success rate on those, which is top five. The Bears, the last two years, finished fourth and fifth out of 64 teams, you know, 32 times two. Justin Fields is going to run a lot. Arthur Smith is good at designing these runs. Yeah, that's a good math equation. And then there's the rest of the personnel that I'm excited about. I think we both are with the run game where we see –

the offensive line investment, you know, maybe the size with George Pickens, the tight ends, Pat Fryer, Muth and Darnell Washington. Like this all matches to like somewhat like where I'm like, I could see this working, but there's just those couple of negatives where it's like, okay, prove this to me that you guys can overcome these and work together. These guys being Arthur Smith and fields and or Russell Wilson. So fascinating team. It really is. The, the, the fields and rust thing, you know, I've, it,

It does seem obvious now that I think Fields is going to potentially start at some point during the season, if not week one. And when that trade happened, I felt like it was just...

He doth protest too much in terms of the Steelers consistently say, oh, no, Russ is still our starter. He's still in pole position or whatever they kept saying about him as as the starting quarterback. Because to me, you're so right that this offense, I think, becomes so much more alive with Justin Fields under center from a run game perspective. I actually I don't know how it's all going to map together from a pass game perspective, because.

I think that last year, one of the biggest reasons, and I know you're a big Desmond Ritter guy, so I want you to check me on this take. I think that one of the reasons that the offense felt

it just didn't feel quite like an Arthur Smith offense from a past game perspective last year is because it got very static and more so outside the numbers because I don't think Desmond Ritter works the middle of the field as well as as what an Arthur Smith offense calls for and that's definitely not the strength of you know Russell Wilson or Justin Fields as a passer but at the same time that's also not the strength of George Pickens as a receiver either I don't

I don't know where you're at with Pickens, but he is a vertical outside the numbers ball winner. His best routes are corner routes, nine routes, out routes, all of those deep outside the numbers, which does map to the quarterbacks here. One role in this offense. Yeah. Yeah. No, it doesn't. So it maps all to the quarterbacks, but I'm just curious then if

So is Arthur Smith able to give a little bit more there? Because we kind of saw it last year. It didn't really work as well because just the quarterback play wasn't as strong. Maybe Justin Fields can be better than that. But we are also talking about a lot of volatile personalities here, Nate.

You know, like we're talking about a lot of big personalities in the room with Russ and Arthur Smith. And, you know, Najee Harris is not particularly happy about his contract situation. George Pickens, definitely a big personality. So I'm excited about this offense. But I think the reason that it's at a I'm worried, not worried type of level here for us is is just that there's there's some potential kind of combustibility here.

I think that's what's, I think more fun about this is there's 15 different paths that this team can go down this season. Like there, there's so many variables, like you're saying, like this could happen and which will lead to this, you know, if Russ starts, this could lead to this could lead to Pickens frustration, which could lead to, you know, just all other things that could like, you know, the domino effect of all of it. And even you brought Najee Harris and everything. He's been such a weird player for me because he, he, you could see him lose a little confidence. And I think just the, his sister situation would do that a little bit where he's,

taking a lot of bad situation runs where he is just getting hit in the hole. Not a lot of running backs can make a living that way and be efficient that way when you're getting tackled, as soon as you're at zero yards. And, but right now that's led to some bad habits where he kind of slows down his feet, stops his feet when he gets tackled.

Does he get some confidence back? Cause he's a big back that should ideally work for this offense, but I've been kind of like hedging it and going like Jalen Warren works in this offense too. So I know, so I just kind of keep coming back, but so prove it, prove it that you're the first round pick. You should fit in this offense. He even catches well, which could do some nice things with screens and everything. So yeah, that's why I wanted to throw a Najee at the end there along with.

Justin and Arthur and Russell. Getting on to the next one. This one was yours to start off. I like this one. What was that? What's your next prove it season, Mr. Matt Harmon? Yeah, I threw Sean McDermott and the Bills out here, not because I think Sean McDermott's about to get fired. I think we're kind of past that talk after last year was that kind of conversation out in the ether in the off season, which even then I was like,

Like, do we really think the Bills are in that sort of territory? And they had their rocky moments last season, no doubt about it, right? Sean McDermott now has fired two coordinators in the span of 12 months. Like, that is a... Generally, that's a, hey, I'm feeling a little bit of heat here. I get that. But I think they're in the right... I think they're going in the right direction. I think last year showed that there is still...

such a high floor with Josh Allen that you're probably never going to be at risk of losing your job unless you really bottom out, which would take sort of a disaster level scenario that I don't necessarily see coming here. But I do think that we're into version, you know, 3.0, 4.0 of the Josh Allen experience, certainly on offense, which I know we can, we can talk about that, but on defense here, they've let go of a lot of names, right?

in this last offseason. They still have some big questions about holdover players, like can we get more out of Von Miller than we got last year? But a lot of the guys that they... Is Matt Milano going to come back anywhere close to the player that he was prior to an injury? They have some of those existing questions, but I feel like...

What people miss about the Bills is that a lot of those guys that they let go of this offseason were not big time contributors last year. And this was still a defense that was tough to play against. Like, I think McDermott made a bet last offseason. Hey, I can I can take more ownership over this defense and it will be a good thing that ended up proving itself on the field. So in that sense, I actually think that.

doubling down on him as the kind of mastermind of the defense and the ownership on that side of the ball, while also maybe giving more to Joe Brady and empowering him as the offensive coordinator. I kind of like the Bills bet in the offseason, but there's every chance that maybe some of this stuff doesn't work out in the rosy, rose colored glasses way that we think in the offseason. And maybe by middle of the season, we're asking some questions about McDermott in this version 4.0 of Josh Allen here.

McDermott has always been well regarded as like a good teacher, even though, you know, for, for especially defensive stuff, you know, other aspects of how he is, you know, always sometimes in question, but he impressed me last year because the bills, why they tapered off was so many injuries on the defensive side. It was, you know, there was question marks about the offensive coordinator and,

because the defense was doing well early, all these things. Then Dorsey gets fired, Joe Brady comes in, and then the defense all gets hurt. And it's just one thing led to another. They were getting bad field position. That led to a whole bunch of inconsistencies on the offensive side. It's a team game. Go figure. One unit has effect on the other units, how it works sometimes. But this is – I'm glad you, like, at first were saying, this is not to say fired. It's more just to prove what you got. There's so many new faces. The safeties were kind of the –

You know, the heart and soul of this defense, just the two safe veteran safeties that they had who are both now gone. That I want. They weren't like you said, they weren't main contributors last year because of injuries and everything. So how does the new faces play? Rap has been there, but he's fine. Cole Bishop to me didn't for me wasn't a scheme fit here. I actually was surprised the Bills ended up taking him.

From Utah. I thought of him as more of a robber, maybe more in a defense that's in a funky defensive looks, a lot of blitzing where he can kind of run around, be, you know, zone player, manned up with tight ends.

Which the Bills will do. And this is another credit to McDermott. He was a heavy zone guy. Cover four, cover three, cover four, cover three. That's still his fastball. But every year they add new wrinkles, some simulated pressure, some blitzes. Watch the Dolphins game at Buffalo early last year. And they caught two a couple of times with some funky looks. Now it helps to do funky looks when you have some vets that have been in the defense for a while that know what they're all doing.

I trust this coaching staff to get these guys right, but you still got to see it. I still just have to see the faces. And I'm glad you brought up Milano as a star, but he got injured last year. You never know how guys bounce back. I had Terrell Bernard as a breakout player. And that was a great start.

And that was kind of just, but that's more of just like, I think he's gonna be solid to good as opposed to not like pro bowl or anything. But then I just want to see how the rest of this, I want to see how the front looks. I like the front a lot at Oliver's a star. Daquan Jones, when he was healthy, was great, but you already brought up the Von Miller thing. Von Miller was nothing last year. He was a,

there there's wins above average and there's wins above replacement. He was replacement level, not even average last year, which is, you know, that's not why you pay Von Miller. And I know he had the injury and everything, but that's still, if he's going to get those amounts of snaps, he's got to contribute. So I called this defense originally the Anaconda defense because they,

you, especially over the middle. I want to see how it looks this year. Like, are they doing something new? Are they doing the same old stuff with new faces or are they just kind of hybriding and all? And that's, that's why I'm excited to see this. So I thought those were a great shadow about them. The, oh yeah. Going to another B team in the AFC, not BT or anything, but starts literally with the level letter B and that is the Broncos. And this was kind of both of ours because we kind of were just like,

Yeah. What are we doing here? I think we didn't know where to put them. That was the thing is we wanted to talk Broncos, but we didn't know if they were a level one or level two in our exercise here.

Yeah. So we ended with level one, but the tail end of level one. So it's like, you know, one and a half here. So I want you to start off the Broncos. Cause I actually, my notes were pretty funny because I was like, I didn't even know where to start with it. Yeah. So, yeah. So when you look at the Denver Broncos right now, what do they have to prove just overall or just the whole thing in totality?

I want to know what they want to be because it feels like, and look, I mean, they take Bo Nix in the first round. I know you have some Bo Nix thoughts. I think that some, some thoughts, I feel like last year was almost just a wasted year from the start for, for Sean Payton in this, in this kind of brain trust in Denver, because I,

I don't know, man. Like, and this, this is not revisionist history. This is not hindsight analysis. I just never thought that like Sean Payton. Sure. He, if he could come in there and save Russell Wilson, what that, whatever that is, maybe it's a nice little feather in his cap, but I don't even think he really wanted to. I don't think he ever really cared about saving Russell Wilson. Cause he,

the way that Peyton was brought in, the resources they gave up for him, you know, the salary they gave him, the power they gave him. He just has all of the control in that scenario. Like he is, he's going to be the one that gets that outlasts Russell Wilson here. That was established last year. So if he doesn't, if it doesn't work with Russell Wilson, and I know that some of the stats were nice and all that, I,

I couldn't care less. Like watching that team on a week to week basis from an offensive standpoint, there was some sound moments on offense, but it was never really threatening. Yeah, it was, it wasn't, they got away with what they could, but you just could feel Sean Payton. Like this is not what I want to do. This is not what I want to be doing from an offensive perspective. So I almost just don't even care about anything that happened last year with this team. I look at them this year from an offensive perspective and,

I still really don't know what to think. I think the offensive line actually has probably become like about a league average unit. I don't think it's a, I don't think it's a net negative offensive line. I don't think it's one of these like Detroit or what the Rams could be without injuries, you know, a true identity point of the team. Um,

But but I think it's fine. You look at the skill position players. It's just kind of a mess. It's a mess at receiver. I think it's a mess at tight end. It's kind of a crowded room at running back. And then you've got a rookie quarterback here that's probably going to start all 17 games. So I just think that it's a prove it moment, like prove what you want to be in this era of your coaching career, Sean Payton, because right now I have I truly have no idea.

And that rookie quarterback that might start is listed at QB three right now, which is just camp. It's just all that stuff, but still not like kind of want to see him maybe take the reins a little bit. But yeah, this is, I really, my main bullet point was, this is what we're doing. Huh? That was really what I left it at. My receiver's note was whatever. I like Sutton. He has a role. Like he could have a role, but not like this. Your main guy right now, he's fine, but like,

Yeah, he's not a sacrificial axe. No, no, no. He's a real axe. He could be a gallop when Gallop was healthy. That's his role to me. He's really a number three in your passing attack, but he's an axe, if that makes sense as far as usage. I will say shout out to you, Nate Tice, because I was trying to find...

I was trying to find a tweet that I sent about Cortland Sutton, you know, a couple of years ago when he first got hired by Sean Payton first got hired by the Broncos and they had, they were like,

Oh, he's read. He's been watching film of, uh, you know, 2019 Michael Thomas trying to study that role. And it got a lot of laughs, but I actually posted that side by side with one of his reception perception charts. And it was just all of his good routes were in breakers and slants and stuff like that, despite that he's a big body receiver. But, uh, one of the things that popped up when I was searching for this was you saying like, no, this quote, and Sutton is a Sean Payton guy, like Sean Payton type of receiver, not Jerry Judy. And, you know, three to 65 days later, one of them is on the roster and one of them and had a good season. And one of them is not. So, uh,

Yeah, I think he had a good year last year. The footwork king still, you know, he's still up top. Like, he's still the king for some people. Like, he does a lot, some of those highlights from college for Judy. No, but he likes his traditional roles, if that makes sense. So, Sutton's an ex. Like, he's a slant-go-go.

You know, it can ISO can win against press. That's kind of just like how it made, it made total sense. But at this, you know, it would have been much more fun about five years ago before, before he kind of got dinged up and everything. But, well, thank you. I appreciate the little quasi shout out. Yeah. We're not going to actually, we are going to hit up on some other receiver takes later in the show. So that's perfect.

Uh, but the, uh, running back situation there, I just want to see McLaughlin and, and estimate by the end of the year. Like I actually picture those two. Like it's just, those make sense for me as a thunder and lightning for Sean Payton. Are you totally out on Williams then at this point? A little bit. Yeah. I don't think he likes him. Uh,

Peyton does. You know, he's kind of just a, he's a thumper. Sometimes you can miss the hole to take some contact and everything. And I think Peyton over time is like, yeah, screw that. And it's not his guy. Peyton's all about his guy. So like little Jordan Humphrey's on the roster right now. Like, you know, he, if you look at his staff, it's all like Jim Leonard's on the roster. It's like his line coach was a former player. He had, it's like all these, you know, it's what he does. He identified Joe Lombardi as the offensive coordinator. Joe Lombardi. I'm sure Carmichael will be there soon.

He is. No, he is. He is. He's on the staff as a senior, a senior offensive assistant or something like that. Adam Troutman is the tight end one on the depth chart. Yeah. I mean, you could go down the list. There's a lot of a lot of former. I know Traquan Smith probably had a cup of coffee here at some point.

Marquez Calloway was definitely on the roster last year. Yes, he was. Yes, Calloway was on there. They had another one. Now I'm really blank. They had one other skill guy on there. Johnson, Brian Johnson. But anyways, yeah, yeah, yeah.

He likes his guys. I mean, hey, if you're part of that group, part of the bubble, it's fun. I like what you said about the offensive line because I consider him average, but a fine average. Not like, oh, I just feel like they're getting a little overrated right now. I think there's some name recognition going on with them where people are like, oh yeah, he's good, right? And it's like, not really. But again, this...

Peyton is going to thrive with a run game first. That is what he wants to do first. If that's not floor is not very high. I don't know how high the ceiling could ever be. And I think you had this offense as number 32 when we kind of did a little bit right for the social. And I actually I actually now I've really thought on it. I really like it. Rookie quarterback struggle. Even if Nick's is I any type of one, even the good ones. And if I'm lower on Nick's.

Yeah. None of it just kind of adds up to me, even if I like some of the pieces. I love Patrick Sertan, you know, and I love some of the guys they have in the front on their defense. But again, more question marks than like,

bullet points or exclamation points, I should say. And so then let's play out that hypothetical. Let's, let's say worst possible timeline. This is the 32nd or 28th best offense in the league. And yeah, the offensive line is decent, but it's, it's not quite, they're certainly paying a lot of money to that offensive line. They're not living up to maybe that reputation. The receiver room is whatever the running back room is, whatever. And Bo Nix has a pretty typical, uh,

Not the Zach Wilson rookie quarterback year, but a pretty typical bad rookie quarterback year. Where does that leave Sean Payton 365 days from now? Or at the end of the season? That's why I kind of think they're a prove-it team because...

Like at that point, then I feel like if I'm Sean Payton, I'm thinking I came back for this. And I know that I know that this is his creation. But you know how these guys think this is this is his his brain, baby. But I, you know, played the leverage game with the danger of giving the head coach final say in player personnel because they're so short sighted. All of them. It's just they don't they think about next week, not next year or two years from now.

So that's always just the danger with it. It really is. And you kind of see it like how even they handled the Russell contract. Like they, at the end, they could have like, how they did the dead cap, I should say. They did everything kind of last minute. It was kind of like, why don't you guys get ahead on this? Why, you know, they could, I don't know. There's so many band-aids they could have ripped earlier. And then just, it's just the wound gets bigger and bigger. It seems like every week.

Oh, man. That was level one, mind you. We haven't even gotten to the next level, to the next DEF CON here. We've got a guy staring in the mirror, like staring into the abyss, and we're only on level one. Only on level one. So we're going to take a quick break, and then we're going to up the ante and get to level two after that. Getting the smile and confidence you've been dreaming about all from the comfort of your home isn't a total mystery with Byte Clear Aligners.

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All right, we are back and we are upping it to prove it level two here for prove it seasons on football 301. We're going with blow it up risk. We're getting there. Like you're getting there. Like the fuse might be lit or the candles going down to light the fuse. That's that's where we're at with this blow it up risk. We wanted to start with an entire division, which was the NFC South.

Yeah. What we got here? Let's start with Carolina, Matt. Who you got to prove its season for Carolina Panthers? Yeah, it feels stupid to say...

New head coach. There's a lot of good vibes in Carolina right now. This is a prove-it season. This is blow-it-up risk. I mean, ask the owner how many former head coaches he's paying right now. How many former head coaches has he been to court with in the last few years because he's – Contract buyouts and that stuff. What?

let's maybe not ask any more questions about David Tepper and the judicial system. But for the current Carolina Panthers, like again, I generally find myself being optimistic about Dave Canales. We know I'm optimistic about Deontay Johnson, the most important player acquisition to the entire off season. You heard it first here on football. I really do. Cause that was awesome. What do you think nail it is? That's, that's what I'd like to. He's like just important.

That he's just good. That he makes Bryce Young look good. Or can Allison Deontay Johnson have a nice little connection? You know, Deontay doesn't blow up on him at all. Fingers crossed. And I'll, I will definitely take that as a W for sure. But that's sort of kind of my point about the Panthers. Like what is success for the 2024 Carolina Panthers and what will keep them from being a blow it up risk? Because I think that if Bryce Young has another bottom out season, I,

I think we could be looking at a head coach coming in here and saying, look, I tried, I did my best, but this isn't my guy. Yeah. I talked about him being my guy and all this nice stuff in the off season, but that's what you say in the off season. You know, like now that we're into the regular games, this is not, this is not my fault. This is your fault. But does that fly in Carolina, a place that has not been patient? You know, are we looking at a new quarterback in 2025? What's the approach there after mortgaging your future to get this particular quarterback? So I do think there, I,

I like the vision. I like the plan. I can kind of see it coming together to be again, what's barometer of success. Maybe the, a not embarrassing NFL offense and in a functional starting quarterback, I can see that, but that's far from a guarantee based on what we saw last year.

I think Tepper sees the, it was what you brought up with the Broncos thing where they invested all the way in Russell and then they realized, okay, we maybe made a mistake here. And so they invested more in Sean Payton here. I still think it's that, okay, we got canals. It was a first time play caller. Okay. We kind of were giving him a shot. This, the regime. And I mean, Tepper here, not the GM, not whoever the head coach is, is invested in Bryce Young. So they're going to try and make them look right. Uh,

If you've been around wealthier people, they will do this. But they will make sure that their initial assessment was right. But to me, what the prove it is, is Bryce Young a real QB? Because they have to make sure that investment looks okay. That's why they invested in the guards. And that makes total sense to me. Make him upright. Make him not have to feel like he's getting pushed backwards or getting into chaos mode or anything like that. Let him be functional. And then we can see what we got. Then we have to see if we have to...

Are we just going to keep this? What's the ceiling? Is it average? Is it something more? But to me, it's kind of, okay, prove that he's workable quarterback. Still, that's scary for someone that you took number one and traded up and traded a war chest for. I think Canales is smart. I think he's going to work with what Bryce Young's good at. I think he's saying the right things. Hey, we're going on the run. We're going to make him comfortable. But he also has to. But I think that's good. It's still good. But I think just, yeah, I just think workable offense. I just want to see life. I want to see it's not –

one half against the Packers where it's like, oh, okay, there's three good throws. I want to see three good throws every freaking quarter. I want to see good plays. I want to see drives. I don't want to see two of the same throws on Twitter over and over because that's all we got out of Bryce Young. At Panthers camp this week, there was a lot of...

Not this week, last couple weeks. You know, reporters are asking, yeah, we haven't seen a lot of deep passes out of Bryce Young so far in camp. Like, there's not a lot of verticality to the passing game in camp. And they asked Dave Canales about this, and he gave a typical coach answer, whatever. If I was Canales, I'd be like, guys, one step at a time, okay? That's right.

I got to get our short and maybe intermediate passing game to a acceptable NFL level first before I start thinking about how can I get Bryce Young bombing it down the field? So that that's also another thing that this I think is even if it looks good by the end of the year, it could take some time to all sort of figure itself out.

And also Bryce Young's strengths are always going to be timing and just get that ball out and letting his guys go to work. So I don't think ever, even if Bryce Young hits, his best offenses aren't going to feature crazy deep balls. Like that's just not his game. He's going to be a nickel and dimer. And I think he could be a good one. I think we'll just see if the path gets built. All right. Now moving on to the New Orleans Saints. We already kind of hit up on Saints West in Denver. Yeah.

But let's go back to the OG Saints. Matt, who do you got as kind of your proven season? Your main one here, but I think the Saints got a few here. Oh, gee. Yeah, I was going to say, I mean, this whole team has felt like it's on blow it up risk for three years now. So is this... Keep saying it. Yeah. Is this really the time, right? I don't know.

I don't know, right? They've doubled down maybe on the Derek Carr contract. They might at least be tied to him for another season pass this year if it doesn't go well. I like that they brought in a new offensive coordinator. I like that they are having new ideas in New Orleans for the first time in 20 years from an offensive perspective. I think that fits the personnel, but it's still a new system. It's still going to be new verbiage for a lot of players that have just thought about some of the guys here that have thought about the same thing.

for a long time. So to me, I just... And we have questions about the offensive line. Derek Carr is not exactly the quarterback I want to have behind a leaky offensive line. So the strength of this unit has been the defense for years. That's Dennis Allen's bread and butter, but this is an aging defense on that side of the ball. So...

I think the whole team really, I mean, take it where you want to go, whichever area you want to highlight. But to me, I feel as if the whole team should be sort of on like a blow it up risk. And I'm actually generally optimistic about the saints this year being an average football team and maybe a better than eyesore offense. But I still think we have to acknowledge them as a pretty big blow it up risk team. Every time I get excited, I'm like, she'd have a, yeah, I liked all the office line.

That that's so it just keeps coming back to me and which is which you just nailed. If Derek Carr was behind the average offensive line, I'm fine. I'm OK. But the fact that this offensive line has so many just glaring, glaring holes, I would really say or glaring question marks, I should say, that is what it just makes me uneasy. It just feels like a.

again, the kind of pissing in the wind that that's just how I feel like with the saints, like where it's just everything they do is one step forward, two steps back, two steps forward, one step back, every single thing they do. And I like so many of their pieces. I even like their defense a little bit and what they do on defense. It's just that they can never just feel complete. And it's just how they want to make this. I always come back to the term. I don't know. I always come back to the term. The term came to my mind when I was kind of writing this, I,

I was like, whatever their thing is, you know, La Casa Nostra is the term for our thing, you know, the mob. But it's like, whatever their thing is, like, I don't know what their thing is, but they're doing it.

Like, you know, they're doing it. I don't, I'm not a part of it, but they're doing it and I'm, we're all watching it and we all know it's happening. But yeah, that again, again, they just keep doing it. So yeah, I, I, the whole thing, I just can never get behind even if I do like aspects of it. Like even I, I just mentioned their offensive line. I like Eric McCoy. I think he's a very good player. Like, but yeah,

Then it's just, I look at all the other pieces and if Lager can make it and all these things, but yeah, just kind of leaves me more question marks than answers. Going to the Bucs, Tampa Bay Buccaneers,

I would bet lead off again. I want you badly off again. Cause I want to see where you go with this one because I, I I'm interested in a few aspects of this offense, but when you look at the bucks, Matt, who do you think has the proven season or is it another to tell total offense, total unit, total team kind of thing going on here? They're a little bit harder to nail down in this exercise, maybe than Carolina and new Orleans are just because for Baker, it's kind of,

prove it again and i feel like that's just gonna be he's gonna be at that point in his career maybe forever just like sheep right but it's kind of true yeah that's kind of how i had it but yeah i also think liam cohen offensive coordinator is in a prove it season because i think he still has the stink of the 2022 rams on him fair or unfair but you know whether i'm not saying that was all liam cohen's fault but you look at the history of the rams offense there's one kind of oh

glaring spotlight under Sean McVay. And that happens to be the year that Liam Cohen was the office coordinator. I'm not, I don't, I don't know if that's his fault. I don't know if that, that he needs to wear the blame for that. I think a lot of things were wrong with that offense this year that really maybe no coordinator could have gotten around. I think there were personnel issues. There were obviously offensive line injuries. Then there's a Matthew Stafford injury, Cooper cup injury. But again, you just, I think from a,

mass view of him as a figure in the NFL, this is a pretty big prove it season for him because if he can get a good offense out of Baker Mayfield, you know, like he will get a lot of credit for that. He will get a lot of shine because like, Oh yeah, remember they, they were together in LA when Baker had that random Raiders game when he walked off the plane and was a starting quarterback. Oh yeah. He, he, he got Baker to play well without Dave Canales. We thought that wasn't going to happen. So I think Liam Cohen's in a little bit of a prove it

here because if he has a, if the bucks offense is good, I think he will get a lot of credit for it. This kind of division is kind of like the, the feather and cap division. That's kind of feels like a lot. Who's getting credit for what we're doing something right. That's, that's all it's going to be. And Cohen was going on almost the Mike McDonald offensive version where he was going pro, get some seasoning as a coordinator back to pro and then boom, head coach.

And McDonald nailed it. You know, goes to Michigan, does a good job, goes back to the Ravens, nailed it, and now has a head job in Seattle. I'm very excited about what the Seahawks are doing. But Cohen went Kentucky. Okay, he's running a pro-style offense at Kentucky. All right, let's bring him back to the ramps.

There were injuries and everything, but okay. All right. Back to Kentucky. It was still a little dicey last year. Okay. All right. We'll see what he does with the Bucs. So some of that shine wore off of him as far as he was kind of on the ascent. He's still so freaking young. Even when I just looked him up, I assumed he was like 43, 44. He's only like a year or two older than me.

So, yeah. So that, again, I'm getting up there in age. But that, I honestly, more than anything, the Baker Mayfield passing game was

was built like a Baker Mayfield passing him last year, whereas boom bust. When I'm going to Mike Evans, Mike Evans is a boom bust receiver. I mean, he's no, he helps out a boom bust quarterback. I should say. Yeah. He's not a boom bust receiver. He's good. He's just very good into Mike Evans. Yeah. That's what I meant to say. Yes. He, he helps out those guys. So that makes sense. All right. That's that.

gives us a ceiling that we can attain. I thought some of it last year, the passing game was boom bust. It wasn't efficient, but it was explosive and could create big plays when they need them most. A lot of third down conversions, which new regime again, new play colors. Where does that go? Like there's, there's that, that's all, that's a lot on coaches and designs and everything. So,

Yeah, Cohn is more to me the guy that I actually went in when I was trying to dice up this prove-it pie that he – I want to see what he's got. Do you have sustainable stuff, especially outside the bosom of Sean McVay? Does the run game look sustainable because that was so poor last year? Oh, yeah. They got some improvement. What does he do with that?

Yeah, just finding the balance of this offense will be really interesting to see. And I think Cohen is going to be an interesting kind of guy to do it because I know some of what he does, but does he kind of mold some things to how Baker plays? Yeah, they're a team I've really come around in maybe the last two or three weeks as like, okay, the Bucs kind of always do this where I'm like,

you guys do have players man and like this could work and I know and I just I should have done it last year I feel like I should do it again this year so well and that's interesting too because if you look at their team last year obviously they win the division we're talking about this offense in a pretty positive light Dave Canales the office coordinator literally has a head coaching job even if that maybe only one team was yeah after one after one year but

But there was so much meat left on the bone in terms of certain players in that offense. Like they did not get Chris Godwin activated in the way that I think they can get Chris Godwin activated. The run game, like you mentioned, I mean, how about let's not have the worst or one of the worst first down run games in the entire NFL. So in my recent memory, it was like, it was just horrendous. Outright horrendous. I mean, the fact that the fact that Rashad White was like a top 10 fantasy back and that was the worst run game ever. It's just,

Makes you raise an eyebrow at fantasy football scoring. But another podcast. But so there is ways that this offense can actually like improve. And that's why I think there's just so much on Cohen's plate here.

Yeah. Yeah. They got players. Yeah. I like the Godwin shout out this, this offense should be good for Godwin. And then Joan McMillan looks phenomenal. Apparently. I know. Yeah. That's been a steady drumbeat. No. Where did you, what did you think about McMillan as a prospect? Cause I really liked him. Yeah. You really liked him.

But I just preferred Polk more. It was like I, yeah. And Polk is just, he's, of course I'm going to like him. Just dirty work guy. Does everything well. I like those guys more, a little bit more size. McMillan and perhaps I pigeonholed him too much as just a slot only guy. He could win on the outside and he was willing to scrap. To me, that was like his upside is Christian Kirk.

But I thought, you know, slot more slot heavy guy, intermediate vertical guy. I think I sold him, sold him a little short. I had a late second grade on him though. I really liked him. It wasn't like I was saying that, Oh yeah, take him day three. But I ended up preferring Polk just a little bit more, just some of the dirty work stuff he did. Yeah. That's what's interesting about McMillan is that he was almost exclusively a slot receiver at Washington, but they sound like they want to kick him outside. Yeah.

because they want Godwin to play in the slot, which I think Godwin can win outside, but you want to maximize... Again, maximizing him, you want him inside. But McMillan was one of these weird guys in reception perception that had... He was a slot player, but had a better relative to average, like better success rate versus man than zone, which...

my brain a little bit with some of these slot players. Like DeMario Douglas is kind of like that too in New England where he's a better man beater than his own beater, but he's definitely a slot receiver. So at first I kind of struggled with this idea of him being an outside receiver for Tampa Bay. But then the more I thought about it,

I actually can kind of get that like it's a little almost like Jacoby Myers ish maybe in a way where he's a he certainly can be a slot no doubt about it but he's actually a better iso man coverage route runner as a Z then he probably is a zone beater and his best route still come is over the middle routes things like that but I could I the more I've thought about it the more I can kind of see why they view him that way primarily again just to get Godwin activated

Yeah. If he could be pressed, oh my God, that offense unlocks. Cause they could have a really cool two man game, him and Godwin. Like they like just as a slot in the Z and yeah, they could do some fun stuff. So yeah, no, it's, it's, it's a good point. Like it's, he, he had a fun skillset, but it was just one of these. It's like, I got to see it, you know, but it was just how the offense was getting into the division favorites, I believe, which is also going to start off our Achilles quarterback, uh,

duo that we'll talk about here, but we're going to go with the Falcons and Falcons, Kirk cousins, these teams. I don't know the Falcons to me. I'll just kind of start us off is you guys are not expecting to pick in the top half of the draft. That's why you're going with Michael Panks in the first round. This is your argument.

Prove it. Let's see what you got. That's where I'm at. That's really it with the Falcons. This is a lot of narrative projection, I think, with them that's happened where it's like, I think the offense is going to be good. I really like how the pieces are. B. John, Drake London, we've talked about the offensive lines workable. Kirk Cousins, this is ideal offense for him. But there's still kind of some aspects of it that they're saying Darnell Mooney's their ex.

Are you sure you want to make it live that way? Watch. Yeah. That, that, yeah. He's listed as their ex, which is, that's already scaring me. All right. That's how they picture him. Yeah. That. Okay. Yeah. Like I said, again, there's some narratives projection here. Um,

Yeah, that's how they picture everything. So I just want to see it all come together. I do think this offense can be workable, but I think this defense is going to be a lot worse off than people realize. Both the drop-off and defense coordinator. I know Raheem Morris has some cool stuff, and he'll help out a little bit. But they have some big gaps on that defense still. And so I just want to see...

All right. Let's see this come together because they're more or less we're trying to win now. That's why you signed Kirk Cousins. This all right. This got to come together quick. This is not a two year plan or three year plan. This is a one year plus plan. So let's see how this goes. And yeah, that's where I'm at with the Falcons. What about you, Matt? Where this this kind of the the South favorites Atlanta Falcons. Heavy favorites. They're one of the few teams that are like minus odds to win their division, which is.

Pretty wild when you think about some of the other teams like Kansas City and stuff. Especially after we just talked about the Bucs, too. Exactly, yeah. Like the team that did win this division last year and pretty much just brought everybody back. Before I talk about the offense, I will just note that Raheem Morris is probably for the second year in a row going to oversee the most who the hell are these guys defense. Yeah.

I mean, it's a it's a no name is against. Yeah. Like AJ Terrell. I think most NFL fans know AJ Terrell. Most NFL fans probably. I don't even know about this because he's a defensive lineman. But Grady Jarrett, like most people know, Grady Jarrett is a really, really good player, but he is coming off an injury. But then after that, it's just maybe some people recognize Lorenzo Carter's name. Yeah. Maybe Jesse Bates.

Like Jesse Bates for sure. For sure. People know Jesse Bates is a great player, but like, I mean, he's a great player, but yeah, it's, it's, it's definitely a big, it's Jesse Bates, AJ Terrell, Grady Jarrett, and then kind of a no name defense there. So that, that's a big proving ground for Raheem Morris. You know, you got this job, not just because of your defensive prowess. Like I think he just was kind of ready for that head coaching job, but it's a way he can continue to prove his metal there on that side of the ball. Offensively, man,

if they're just fun, people are going to feel really good about what happened here with the Atlanta Falcons offense because of what we talked about with Arthur Smith at the top and kind of the stink coming off there. And you can even kind of hear it in the way that some of the coaches talk about like the players on this team, this kind of snide remarks, like the little side comments, but we'll,

we don't know what was going on before, but what... Ritter killed everybody's dogs and cats. That's another... Those comments too. Yes. Yes. And like, it probably trickles down from the front office where they're like, no, we're drafting good players. We're drafting good players. They're just not being used or whatever. And some of that is true and some of that is not. But yeah, your point about Darnell Mooney as the ex is... I'll call it interesting because in one way, I don't... I do not think Darnell Mooney is a ex-receiver candidate. But...

If I, if I have to, Hey, I'm gonna do it again. If I have to sacrifice Darnell Mooney at the X receiver spot to get Drake London moving around and in more of that Puka Nakua type of role, like whatever we can, you know, we, if we get a couple of shots with Darnell Mooney because we just like the look and he can outrun that corner fine. But for the most part, we're trying to get Drake London activated over the middle of the field and on crossing routes and pre-snap motion. I think we can take our L with Darnell Mooney as the X receiver. Yeah.

Yeah, it truly might be a sacrificial. And I think their thinking is we need to create space in this offense, which they needed last year. Matt Collins and Drake London are creating space for each other. And even Scotty Miller's a role player, but you know why Scotty Miller's in the game. So it kind of takes the personnel advantage away from you. So that's in thinking, they say, oh, Mooney's good deep in the intermediate parts. Okay, he's going to take the top off and London works in all that short intermediate areas. I understand that in theory. Mooney on the ball against press. Yes.

We'll see. I don't know about that. We'll see. Maybe they'll dial some stuff. Play callers are a lot better at dialing up things. Also want to say is that Raheem Morris taking over some of the no-name defense does help to have Aaron Donald, though. Yes. That does. One big name. Rolling out that bowling ball.

Yes, rolling that out really helps all the other guys, all the other 10 guys that are around him. Any Kyle Pitts thoughts? Is it a proven season for Kyle Pitts? I think it's a – I think just even – we don't even have to say it's by definition a proven season, guys. Yeah, because I think this will be the last year that Kyle Pitts gets the benefit of the doubt. You know –

The Kyle Pitts discourse is kind of so nauseating. You know, some of it's, I don't even think his fault. He was a unique player drafted at the fourth overall spot for his position. That was very aggressive. He had a great rookie season and then he's dealt with injuries since then. I think if he, you know, it's been hilarious to see people get worked up about headlines of, oh, he's working at tight end and wide receiver. You mean like every year?

of his career so far. So I, he's definitely been the one that I've struggled to project the most in this offense because like, oh yeah, Bijan Robinson. Awesome. Drake London. Awesome. Love it. Even these like supporting character wide receivers like Darnell Mooney or Ray Ray McLeod, who's apparently their slot receiver over Rondo Moore. Well, because Rondo Moore is not a real receiver. Rondo's for running back.

Yeah, he's running back. We're just going to keep saying it until people listen. He's a running back. Weirdest RP profile I've ever charted for any player for sure. And I've charted some weird players over the years. It was definitely Rondo Moore's rookie season in terms of like his alignment and stuff like that. But I won't bore the people with that. With Pitts particular, he's just like, he's the one that I was like, what are you in this offense? And if we come away with a great season from Kyle Pitts, and I think, cool, we're right back on track with him as a

The difference maker at a at a position that I think matters more in today's NFL, you know, getting matchups with teams going heavier and things like that. If we get another so-so Kyle Pitts season, I think this will probably be the last time we talk about him as that type of guy. I think he will just sort of accept what he is at this point.

Yeah. Even though these guys like their tight ends, that, that role in McVay's preferred offense was Tyler Higby, which was like split them out. He's the ISO guy. And then that's how we can get the receivers open on the other side. Like it was kind of, yeah. And the max out with that was 69 catches, 734. He never had more than five touchdowns. That's kind of how I pictured that tight end role on this offense. It's the auxiliary role.

to have to open up Drake London. Drake London and Bijon, who I'm saying is going to really push this year. Pitts, we'll see. So that's kind of, yeah, just curious with the fit there. The other duo of this Achilles quarterback teams is Aaron Rodgers. Of course, I don't think this is really much explainer about what team Aaron Rodgers is on and what's happened in the last 16, 18 months. But

Where are you at with the Jets? How hard into this prove it are you? Because I think I'm full, full, full prove it for the entire team. Yeah, I just want to see it at this point. Yeah. I don't really know what else to say about them. I just want to see this Aaron Rodgers thing in action. I've said this before. I don't know what success needs to look like for the New York Jets, right? I mean, do we –

Is this going to be the 15th best offense in the league? Is that good enough for them to win, to be a Super Bowl contender? Because that's been the talk of what the expectations are, which, by the way, if you just look at Robert Sala's record as a head coach, going from that to Super Bowl contender, it's a huge jump, a cataclysmic type of jump. Like you're jumping over the whole chasm, the whole canyon there at that point. So it's definitely...

A huge projection, but they have the defense to do it. But we know defense is inherently volatile and they've staved off that sort of typical defense aggression. And on paper, I don't see any reason why this defense should dramatically regress. But let's say it does. And like how much then does the offense have to carry a bigger burden? And how much are they capable of doing that when they have a 40-year-old quarterback coming off an Achilles and one potentially elite receiver and potentially elite running back? And then kind of there's a big drop off after that.

Yeah, it's the offense is top heavy, but the top, the guys at the top are very injury prone. So that could, I don't know, it feels like that could topple a little bit. I'll start with the defense because this is really what this team should be built around. Last year, it was an elite, elite unit with an elite, elite pass rush that could...

That's the great equalizer, especially when the weather gets colder is a elite pass rush can dominate games. And then the quarterback that those are the kind of the two variables that really help in a, in a run game. So there's the three variables that help in the playoffs. Wow. It's almost like the old coaching adages hold steady for a reason.

Oh, man. I know. Yeah, the more things change, the more they stay the same. But I think this defense will drop off a little bit from that pass rush being a lead elite to more very good, which still matters. But it's not that like, holy crap, look at all these guys coming at you. Losing Hoff, we'll figure out what the hell is going on with Redick and his situation. But, you know, Quentin Williams is a star. He's probably one of my favorite players in the league, period. Quincy Williams, I really like with CJ Mosley, even if he's on the back half.

It's just even losing Whitehead, Jordan Whitehead's interesting to me because he had a nice season last season. I love their corners. I think this is going to be a very good unit. But the offense is, that's the prove it because this is it. You guys are pushing, you're not building around Rodgers for three years. It's this year and maybe next year, depending on how this goes. Okay, so prove it. This is it. You guys haven't made the playoffs in forever and you're saying you're going all the way to the ship. Okay. All right. Let's see what you got.

but they have to be healthy because the offense could be good. It could be even top 10, top 12.

But it's relying on a lot of guys that are injury prone. Mike Williams, Tyron Smith, Elijah Veritaker, talented players, Aaron Rodgers, 40-year-old coming off an Achilles, just a lot of medical red flags everywhere. So that can down the Jets very quickly. But I'm excited to see it when it's healthy because it could be interesting. And they had all five starters out there very recently. Garrett Wilson's a star. It could be interesting, but we'll see. Maybe we get some Jeremy Ruckert run.

That'd make my tight end take from a few years ago. Look. Okay. The same grade on him as Trey McBride. So yeah, let's see. Yeah. More different. Like I thought record would be a really good blocker and could maybe do some receiving stuff and we'll see. He's just another guy that's battled injuries. They need anybody to emerge there. I think so. They would take it last one here for round two. And that's the Jags.

Kind of hit on him a couple weeks ago. I kind of got my shots off, but what do you got about the Jags? Do you want to add on anything from a couple weeks ago? Maybe we should just clip it here about my rant about how fragile this team is and everything that has made me pull my hair out the last couple years. Well, I just think that

They're a fascinating team to consider for one, all the great reasons that you pointed out when talking about their offense. Two, if you look at the side of the ball that was most effective last year, it was the defense. And yet that is the side of the ball that they cleared out from a coaching staff perspective. So again, we're starting to fire coordinators here rather early into Doug Peterson's tenure, but not the coordinator that most people were upset with, which happens to be the guy that you

have tried this song and dance with before and press Taylor as the offensive coordinator. So I, I'm just curious,

from a bottom line perspective, how bad does this season need to go for Jacksonville to, to, for them at the end of the year to consider hiring the third head coach of, of Trevor Lawrence's tenure. And, and it's, we're, we're not that far into it. This is not how you want it to go with a quarterback. You take number one overall, and then pay a monster contract to that. He's on his potential. And again, it's,

Potentially, potentially, but they're no longer, you know, just moonwalking in an easy division. There are two young ascending quarterbacks here that people are excited about. One of which is CJ Stroud, who everybody has the Texans is the favorite to win the division. Now, you know, even the Titans, you think could be a plucky offense. So if this really does go bad, how bad does it have to go for the Jaguars to consider? Yeah, we're blowing this thing up again at the end of the year.

The third head coach before his new money even kicks in on the second contract. Yeah, that would be the path they go down. But that, the indecisiveness of this offense. His third. Don't forget about Urban Meyer. You can't forget about Urban Meyer. As much as you might want to, you can't forget that Urban Meyer was that coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars. I love that quarterback battle with Gardner and Chu up until the last day of camp. Oh my God, there's so much. He kicked the kicker.

Remember that? He kicked his kicker. Didn't fly back with the team on a Thursday night game and he was hanging out in a bar. His bar back in Ohio. I mean, just some outrageous things. I heard the Iowa strength coach who had some questionable baggage. Oh, I'll put it up. But that's everything with Irvin Meyer. He had a lot of baggage. Oh, Tim Tebow. He's a camp guy. Remember that? That was like the least egregious thing. That was just like, ah, how funny is that? So funny.

It's so funny. I know they already have a mascot, a fun one too. But no, the Jaguars, I talked about a few weeks ago. It's just, what are you doing on offense? They haven't announced a play caller and the personnel is just all over the place. And it's not where I'm defending it and go, no guys, it's not the Arthur Smith argument for me where it's like, no, it just, this happened and this happened. And that's why this is actually decent. It's the opposite. I think the personnel is just so inconsiderate, just all over the place and how it's built. But I also just think that the play calling,

Kind of like doesn't like doesn't make me inspired. Doesn't go where, well, if they had this guy, I could still really see this going on a lot unlocked and the whole thing looking better for me. It feels like it's a bunch of guys that look around the week and go, oh, that's cool. Let's run it with no ideas of how to like build an offense. So yeah, the Jags as a whole, just prove it. Just prove that you're serious about

I feel like just, God, they could have some really nice things. This defense could be good. Charles and I both have him as a top 10 defense. And I really believe that. I didn't even feel like that's a hot take because of what I think that front could possibly be and what Nielsen is and just the pieces they have on the back end. So the offense, just be serious. Just prove it. Prove it to me that you're a serious operation. So that was round two.

And then we're going to go to level three, which is going to be, you know, we're taking closer to midnight. Maybe on some of our takes and maybe some of these players as well, but we'll be right back in a minute to wrap that up. Back with football 301 with our prove it level three. We are taking closer to midnight here. Not in real time. Just, just, you know, metaphorically, Matt, who are you gonna start off with level three?

You know, I cursed him by even suggesting him to be on here because first name too. Yeah. Well, listen, Nate, I know you don't want to talk about Rashad Bateman. You don't want to put this into the air, but let's just discuss it real quick because the Ravens have been extremely quick to talk about Rashad Bateman. Anytime you, you ask about him,

I mean, I ran through the whole timeline with Jory Epstein on my podcast recently. And I mean, what an embarrassing moment. What an embarrassing moment for me to let a normal, well-adjusted person like Jory into my brain about how I'm thinking about Rashad Bateman and tracking all of these...

coach speak quotes and stuff like that. And again, I say I curse him because literally today he is missing practice. And that has been the thing with Rashad. I got notification of it. I was like, I couldn't wait when I saw that. I was like, and we're going to be talking. This is perfect. It's right on time. Perfect. Right on cue. So yeah, look, if you just want to ignore everything that the Ravens have said and everything I'm going to say, or everything Nate is going to say about Rashad, baby, because he can't stay healthy forever.

I get it. But man, like I watch him play last year and it didn't start off well. But by the end of the year, you could really see against man coverage. Like this guy is still a very, very, very good route runner. Like somebody that maybe doesn't separate deep. Maybe never will get that part of his game back. Maybe we'll never get his full speed back. But we got to remember that this guy is coming off a catastrophic foot injury the year before. Literally said he wasn't even sure he was going to play football last year. Yeah.

And then by the end of the year, again, he definitely should have made more of his opportunities when the ball actually came his way. But I think the opportunity should have been more like the ball should have found him more because he was consistently getting open, which is what the Ravens have said all offseason. So he's in a position to prove himself, though, because they did not add really anybody to this receiver room. Tez Walker, their fourth round draft pick, I think is more of a vertical project. Maybe could be a sacrificial X, Nate, because when I look at

Rashad Bateman and his best role, his charting data last year, he took 93% of his sampled snaps for reception perception outside. That's the highest rate of any receiver I charted last year. And he was on the line of scrimmage for 86.9% of his snaps. That's the second highest behind only Nico Collins. Like I'd love to see him get a chance to move around a little bit. But you know, it is, it is a too tight an offense. I get that. He's probably going to be their X and Zay will be their flanker in those situations. Still maybe some more three receiver sets. We can move him around a little bit. I just,

I still think he's a good player. I still think he's a player worth keeping the candle lit for, but I realize I'm betting against history on this one. It's in his flashes. When do you see the dolphins game a couple of years ago? It's like, he's very,

good. He can shred guys on the outside just staying healthy. That's it. Just prove you can stay healthy. Of course, he hasn't done it yet, but he is so talented. Again, just watching it, just because you don't get a target doesn't mean you win your route. Or it didn't do your role and open something else up. Like you said, the back half of the year, it was really over and over and over. It didn't matter who he was going against. It was mostly some intermediate vertical routes too, like you mentioned. It was just the...

it's good because I picture him as a short maybe route guy slants quick outs those type of quick hitters that's gonna be Zay even though Zay has some verticalness to him as well but I don't know that intermediate part with him he can make a living man like if he had an iuke route tree like I would love it because I think he could handle it where it's those outbreakers and those iso routes where he's you know the deep curls and those type of routes because that's his route tree even if he's a little skinnier and all that but

I know. I still have some shares in Bateman Island. It went from a mansion to a shack. But I still have it on that island. I still have some property. I just slowly keep selling it. And it's right next to Justin Fields Island, where I still have a chair.

on Justin Fields Island. So yeah, that, that, that this we're, you know, bookending this, this show with a couple of those takes from a few years ago that maybe I'm shying away from, but still want to keep an eye out on speaking of takes from prior years that we're going to bring back up and maybe it's a prove it for them and us Calvin Ridley. Now with the Titans for a lot of money, a lot of money. I just want to make us look right. Prove it.

prove that you are the guy that you were at the end of the Falcons when you were more way more consistent but you are a route running phenom and not just this kind of pigeonhole guy that you were in that frustrating Jags offense last year but I know you had Ridley takes as well but that high end stuff is going to keep bringing me back but he's got to prove it that it's not just high end flashes that he's a consistent receiver still that's the big thing with him is that

He was definitely not the player that he was like decidedly not the player he was at the end of his Falcons tenure last year with the Jags, which is,

I just like it sounds so easy to say that now. I'm like, well, yeah, of course he played. He didn't play football for a year and a half. Like, I just wish I could talk about dumbass. I wish I could have gone back and told my dumbass self that, you know, like a year ago. But like, hey, buddy, you should probably remember to be a little cautious. But hey, I'm getting older and I'm learning. You know, we're all trying to get better. It's a curse, man. It really is. It really is.

It really is. See the mood, everything. This is great. Yeah. All the way, all the way shares all the way up, especially when a week one, he comes out and destroys the Colts. So yeah, it's, it's just amazing. Like be that player for a consistent 17 game schedule. And you know, I think he is, he's again, he's in a position to come away from this year with a lot of shine on him because he made this, he had this big contract and how did,

is he going to live up to that? I don't know, but if he has a good productive season as the top target for the Titans, especially now that DeAndre Hopkins is dealing with an injury, you know, and Will Levis looks better. I think people, the tenor and tone around Calvin Ridley will be a lot softer than it is maybe coming off the 2023 season.

Yeah, I just, I think this Titans offense is going to be at the very least fun. And I'm just interested. I, you know, a little positive reports about Levis so far. Again, I'm on a seat. I have to see film, see preseason before I have any more takes on that. But I, I just kept coming back that I liked this line and I liked how Hopkins could be the X and Ridley can move around and move off ball, which is a point you always bring up.

and that they also can work with Tyler Boyd, who's a true slot guy. And they have just other auxiliary pieces that I like, too. And I think that less is more is going to be better for Calvin. Even though I want more out of his route running and getting used more, I think just having this role, you are the Z, you are going here, you are doing these five routes, this is our game plan for you. He can excel in that role. And I think this offense being out of that structure, he's going to get some –

some good chances, especially if the wrong game could be anything. But I think he's going to get some chances. I think he can be really, really good in this role. And yeah, again, I'm talking myself back into it, but it's just that he is so talented and those high flashes of watching him win are

Just like, oh man, that's the good stuff. Like when you watch him, even he had all the drops last year. It was just watching him win one-on-one on the outside. It's just like, there's not a lot of guys that could do that. Like there really aren't, especially with his decent size and everything. So yeah, I'm never going to sell it. That's why maybe this Titans offense is really the siren song for me a little bit right now. But going into the NFC East and a couple of little snack size duo.

of, of, of coaches. I feel like these two should always be paired together, but Mike McCarthy and Nick Sirianni, who do you want to start with here? I have a couple of MC East coaches that kind of feel hot CD, very hot CD. I should say,

Yeah, very hot seat. But yeah, where you want to start with these MCC. MC East duo of coaches. Let's talk Sirianni first just because Frank Schwab came on my show a couple of weeks ago, months ago. Who knows what time is at this point. It's whatever. Off season. Yeah, at some point during the off season and basically said that

the Eagles could either win the Superbowl or the head coach could be fired by Thanksgiving and neither one of them would surprise him. And I felt like that was just such a good way to set this Eagle season because yeah, I'm, I'm pretty optimistic about at some point, like what this offense could be under Kellen Moore, but like that was two caveats there at some point and could be that, that just shows you some of the volatility there. While I love the,

That the receiver usage and how that's going to work. I love that Johnny Wilson is getting first team reps as the, as the outside receiver, because not even like, again, what Johnny Wilson is going to do. I do think he is a fascinating player because everybody wanted to move into tight end, but all he did was run ISO routes on the line of scrimmage against press man coverage at Florida state and was unbelievable.

on a per route basis, actually more productive than Keon Coleman at FSU. I came around on him hard on Wilson. So, so much. I actually, I ended up being like, I gave him a third round grade. I think it was like arrow point error pointing up because it was just, he won on real routes. Like he was winning on the in breakers and stuff and sinking. And I kind of, I really came around on him. So yeah, I, he's just a,

There's not a lot of guys that look like that. No. And he's doing real receiver things. That's what Howie Roseman said when they drafted him, that he is a unique player. And like in the sixth round, when you have a unique player like that, you just go ahead and take it. I love that quote. You know, can he catch? Yeah.

Got to figure that out. Definitely had some ball skill issues. Might have been some George Travis throwing at us kneecaps a little too many times. Yeah, 100%. So I just think that's actually going to open up a lot for A.J. Brown and Devonta Smith to do the fun Kellen Moore receiver stuff when you're moving into the slot, the pre-snap motion, stuff like that. It sounds like Devonta Smith is going to be their leading slot receiver, which...

from a per target basis, per route basis, he's actually been more efficient out of the slot. I think that can, we can maximize him after kind of a down year for Devonta Smith. AJ Brown's always going to be AJ Brown. It's just, can the quarterback get this done in this style of offense, which is very different than what we've seen with Jalen Hurts previously. And again, I think a lot of that come, even if Nick Sirianni seems to be giving up some control in the offense and maybe rightfully so, I still think his kind of,

his ass will be on the line basically with this whole thing. Yeah. Well, once you get rid of both coordinators, it's like next envelope has the head coach's name on it. Like that's just how it goes off when you're just firing through the firing line, especially, you know, passing the blame off.

You know, it's always going to be how I Roseman's kind of thing. So, you know, Sirianni kind of feels next. But I agree with you. I could actually even say this is Sirianni's kind of like we would have the Steelers and Sirianni me a little bit. It is Kellen Moore and Jalen Hurts and Cam Juergens. Like it's just it's all the center. So it's all these guys in a row. And I don't want to say I kept them off my top 10 offense. And I said, though, if they make it up there, I totally get it because they have so many good pieces and so many good players.

I just have to see it too because this is a totally different operation than Hertz has done before, both just play caller and center-wise. And Sirianni is supposed to be an offensive guy. And I know he's more in a CEO role right now. But, you know, one of the reporters kind of asked him, like, kind of, what are you doing here? You know, like kind of, what would you say your role here is? And, you know, is that fair or not? Some head coaches, their CEOs don't get that question, but it's Philly. And that's just kind of how the makeup's been. So, yeah, I'm right there with you. Eagles are just –

a fascinating team to me. They could be as high as any team on offense and even on defense too, but I could also see the bottom falling out. Maybe not just as likely, but just kind of the same thing. But going on over to the NFC East, we're staying on over in the NFC East, I should say. Mike McCarthy, where are you at with the Cowboys? How much of this is proven to everybody? Jerry Jones and your negotiating tactics as well. This should be proven here as well. Yeah, everybody's on a proving ear here. Mike McCarthy proved the

you should have kept this job. Dak Prescott, obviously, I don't know what he has to prove. Like he is, he's, he's just Dak. Like the, he's going to prove himself to be Dak and people are going to have takes about that and whatever. He's going to go into free agency and he's going to get a lot of money if the Cowboys don't want to retain him. So I don't really know what he has to prove other than just don't completely bottom out this year. But that is, I think what's interesting about Dallas in general is just the

They're changing over on defense. Is that going to take some time? And if that unit takes a step back,

I just feel like this offense has taken a step back this year, man. Like I, we didn't put the Cowboys in our top 10 offenses and I was surprised at how pissed Cowboys fans were about that. When you spent the last three months complaining that the team didn't get any better on offense and probably got worse. We're counting on a mismatch of running backs. We're counting on Jalen Tolbert to really step up here. So there's definitely a lot of prove it on the offensive side of the ball for this team. That is for sure.

Yeah, they have a potential project tackle starting on the left side who Guyton has traits and everything. I was a little lower on because it was one of those like he has traits. I got to see it more, but he was a right tackle only in college. Now playing left tackle. That's always a little

It worked out for Tyron Smith 15 years ago. So we'll see. We'll see. I don't know if the guidance to the level of Tyron Smith, even if he is very athletic, they also have a brand new center, which is interesting. Dak Prescott does a lot to help out the offensive line and point them in the right direction. And they kind of have has a trump card on things.

But that's still something new. Like that's still, and it's not a guy with maybe Cam Juergens draft pedigree that, that they have in Philadelphia. This is a street free agent. Yes. They drafted Cooper BB. He wasn't a center before he's training at it. Now that's still a rookie potentially day two guys starting at center. I like, of course I love Zach Martin and all that. I love Tyler Smith. I think he's a star love Dak. Of course. I love the tight ends. Ferguson's very, very good, but yeah,

You have Zeke back. Okay. Brandon cooks is fine now these days, but I don't know. He's a true number two. He's more like a nice number three.

Okay. It's just a lot more question marks. And I got more optimistic about the defense, even if they have holes there, but season, they just felt like they ran it back out and really it was more like, no, you guys need to add, you need to splash. You need a little bit more here. And it felt like more, they're like, Oh no, we're, we're good enough here. We're the Cowboys. We're okay. So kind of a, yeah, prove it, prove all of this because I go, of course, McCarthy's contract situation kind of states that anyways, but and Dax and everybody, but yeah, just the whole Cowboys regime and,

negotiating process and team building aspects and everything in Jerry world right now. Yeah. Prove it. All right. Before we wrap this up real quick, any thoughts?

No news broke. Yeah. We pushed it to the end just in case news broke. But any Brandon Ayuk thoughts? There's a lot of trade rumors swirling right now involving Browns, Patriots, Steelers a minute ago or probably two days ago and that kind of got swallowed up. Well, as we were taping, Schefter at least said that the Steelers and 49ers reengaged in conversations midday regarding. So, I mean, maybe. But I will say my two big thoughts on this is one,

I just don't want to see him leave San Francisco. And I have a nagging feeling that this is all going to end up in him just signing a contract. This is going to be on, this can age like milk, whatever, but you know, he could just, he's just going to end up signing a contract there. Cause do you really want to go to any of these other teams? And are they really going to want to meet the 49ers trade demands, which should be high. So my, and my main, my main takeaway Nate is that very infrequently do I think that

Maybe we need to give it a break with this whole, like how highly covered this sport is and how much attention is on the sport. Cause these are our jobs. People listen to the podcast cause there's this much engagement in the NFL. But the fact that like nothing, truly nothing has happened, nothing has really changed. Nothing has happened. And this is all anybody's been talking about on the internet for 24 hours.

It's kind of like, maybe we, maybe we need to take a step back and just maybe don't have a take until something actually occurs. Oh man. I saw some takes about like how the Steelers should feel bad about themselves because they didn't get this to happen. And it's like the trade didn't even happen yet. Like nothing, there was no, nothing happened. There's no news to react to. It's just pure rumors. Uh,

I'm with you on that because I see people get up and like up in their feelings on stuff. That's all hypothetical. This, I mean, shoot, we should know this so I can draft time. People get like Nelson in a mock draft. They keep getting mocked one player. And then they think that's like, that's our guy now because that's the guy that keeps getting mocked to us. So yeah, that's our, we're territorial about this D tackle that we never heard of two weeks ago, but that's the exact same thing. It's just that, yeah, we need games to happen, dude. That's really it.

That's it. And then the stuff becomes the auxiliary stuff. And then that becomes the primary, or at least that's what we hope anyways. But I don't know. I think if he ends up in, if he ends up in new England, I'm excited because that could be really cool with the receivers they had because they have so many dirty work guys. And then you get the kind of flashy outside guy who I liked that a little bit that, you know, it gives some juice.

Like him in Cleveland too, I guess. If IU goes to New England, I will be as invested in Drake May as you are. Oh, yeah. So maybe that would be good for the show. Good for the show, I know. Content. Content, baby. Yeah, we'll not talk about the Patriots offensive line. Maybe that's, you know, are there any Trent Williams-esque players out there that they could trade for? That would maybe help out. Don't look at that. Don't look behind the curtain of the offensive line over there. No, no, no, no, no.

So, yeah, I want to react to this when it actually happens. And then you'll probably see something on Yahoo with that reaction. But yeah, intent to wink wink. So hopefully it happens in the next 24 hours. Otherwise, I need a new article idea. But that will be closing it out today.

That was great. Football 301, as always, we'll be here on Tuesdays and Thursdays. This Thursday coming out with Charles McDonald. We'll be doing with the Frisky teams, which I'm excited about. Also known as the Cardinals episode for the Cardinals episode. That's it. It's like, yeah, this is Seinfeld show episodes. The one with the Cardinals rant.

But I am Nate Tice. You can find me at Nate underscore Tice. That is Matt Harmon. Where can they find you, Matt? Yeah. Matt Harmon underscore BYB. Still rocking that BYB like an old tattoo, baby. I love it. I love it. It makes it unique. You know, we both got the underscores in there. We're underscore brothers. We're not the unique Matt Harmon or the unique Nate Tice, apparently. But...

Subscribe to us, please. I mean a lot. Follow us, rate us, wherever you find your podcasts. We're also on YouTube. You can watch us there, youtube.com slash Yahoo Sports. You can see me in a hotel room last week or see my camera shoot out halfway through the show. Either way, you can check that out on YouTube. It's great. But already got those mailbag questions rolling in as well. So keep those coming. Send them on in to football301mailbag at yahoosports.com. That is football301mailbag at yahoosports.com.

Emails are great. Videos and voice notes, even better. I guess that'd be very great or even excellent. But thank you to Brett Stone, who's back. Adi and Joe behind the scenes. We have an NBA coaching staff behind us here. A lot of production to make us look good, but they do a great job in doing that. We'll be back on Thursday and we're out.

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