0:01

The volume.

0:09

This is Straight Fire

0:12

with Jason McIntyre.

0:15

What is up Straight firefam, It's me

0:17

Jason McIntyre, Straight Fire

0:20

for Thursday, August seventeenth.

0:23

You notice that the same

0:25

boisterous loud fire

0:30

is not really firing from

0:32

your boy. Well, I finally got the word

0:35

on what the hell's going on with my voice and my throat,

0:37

my cough. I don't want to get into it, but

0:39

I picked it up in Hawaii. It's

0:42

lingering. I saw an ear nose and throat guy

0:45

who came very highly recommended. He's worked

0:47

with Way Way,

0:50

Way, way, way more famous people. To me, was

0:52

super nice, told me the good news, told me the

0:54

bad news. The bad news isn't even that bad. But

0:58

overall, nothing will change on the pote cast

1:00

in the short term. I'll know more next week

1:02

though, But the

1:04

good news is we got a great podcast today.

1:07

Sam Monson from Pro Football Focus had one

1:09

of the better preseason tweets I've

1:12

seen from anyone about how Trey

1:14

Lance has thrown fewer passes

1:17

in college in the NFL combined than

1:19

Gino Smith last season.

1:21

That's a staggering stat, so I had to have him on the pod. We

1:23

talked about the NFL. He's got

1:25

some spicy takes stuff

1:27

that I did not even predict. He has an

1:29

interesting left tackle that could be on the market. I

1:32

have not heard this a fantasy

1:34

wide receiver sleeper that I also haven't

1:36

been mentioned anywhere. So

1:38

I think you guys will liked the interview. Before we get to that, just

1:42

one thing I saw, we

1:46

actually three things. I'm sorry for three things. So number

1:48

one, No, I'm not going to overreact

1:50

to the Jets workout

1:54

scrimmage whatever with the Buccaneers

1:56

where there's fights all over the field and Aaron Rodgers

1:58

gets sacked six times and blah blah blah. It's

2:00

a scrimmage. That's

2:02

what it is like. Have

2:05

you guys ever practiced. Sometimes they're really

2:07

really bad, sometimes they're good. It's nothing out of the world.

2:11

The live bullets don't start firing until Monday

2:13

Night football against the Bills. Now.

2:16

Is there concern about the offensive line? Yes, I've been saying

2:18

that for weeks. That's been the whole offseason

2:21

storyline with the Jets. They gotta fix the offensive

2:23

line. If it holds up, the Jets gonna be fine. But

2:26

I'm not gonna overreact to the Buccaneers bulling

2:28

them around when Beckton and Dwayne Brown,

2:30

the projected starters at tackle, don't even play,

2:33

So relax number two. I

2:36

don't know what to make of this Jonathan Taylor stuff. He's

2:38

in camp, he's out of camp. He's got personal reasons.

2:40

This has the makings

2:43

of something ugly, and it stinks because

2:46

I think the Colts could be sneaky. Okay,

2:48

this year we'll

2:51

see I like Stike. I like Stike

2:53

in a lot. And you guys,

2:55

if you followed the pod for a while, you know my thoughts on

2:58

Richardson based on someone who was working with being his

3:00

agent and knowing him on his work

3:02

ethic. Like, guy's got some stuff going on.

3:04

He's a big time The

3:07

potentials there at this stage

3:09

it seals early, but I digress. Finally, forget

3:11

the Sam monson a Pro Football focus. Did

3:15

you see that the US

3:17

women's national team coach resigned.

3:21

I know nobody cares because

3:23

it's like, oh, they got bounced in the World Cup. You gotta

3:25

fire the coach. Obviously. I

3:29

just thought the reaction was he's getting

3:31

all the blame. He is entirely

3:33

the fall guy. When let's

3:36

be real, the players did

3:39

not deliver at all in the tournament. Yes,

3:41

the coach was not great, didn't love some tactical

3:43

moves, some of the

3:45

players positioning, didn't love it, didn't

3:48

love some of the substitutions. Like that happens, that's

3:50

every coach in every sport. But

3:52

what about Alex Morgan just totally not showing

3:54

up? I mean, how many players

3:57

just no showed or were

4:00

way way either overrated coming in

4:02

or just under delivered. It felt like

4:05

the players came in confident, in cocky, Hey

4:07

we got this. We've won two in a row, let's make it three. And

4:09

they just did not look good in any gaming. You could

4:11

see it that first half against Vietnam, like

4:13

they're dominating, but they're not finishing,

4:16

and it's like one nothing is like what is happening

4:18

here? They just didn't look good and

4:21

yeah, the coach is the fall guy, but they got some work to do. Fortunately,

4:24

you know, you got plenty of time, no need to worry.

4:27

And I'll close on this note if

4:30

you're a diehard listener of the podcast, So

4:33

you know, I went to Charlotte recently to

4:35

watch Nikoxa, the soccer team where minority

4:37

owners of play hung

4:39

out with you know, on the field,

4:43

meeting the coach and the GM and all that fun stuff

4:45

and afterwards some

4:47

chats. Let's just say, and if you

4:49

listen closely to some of these podcasts,

4:52

I'm able to drop hints

4:55

stuff in there. For

4:58

instance, on the herb Uh

5:02

sometime this week, Joel Embiid's

5:04

name came up and I got

5:06

some stuff on a beat. I'm just I'm

5:08

not ready to I just got it from from

5:10

someone close into Embid. This is not

5:12

a flex on my part or anything. I just

5:14

not going to reveal the stuff I heard. But

5:19

it ain't good in Philly for Embead. Let's just

5:21

say that. And this was before the stuff on

5:23

they changes social media, And

5:26

I mean, you got to sit on it. You wait,

5:28

and then you know, when

5:30

the time is right, you say what you heard. But there's

5:33

obviously there's stuff going on there. So

5:36

when I went to visit our team in Charlotte,

5:38

you know, listen, we had some injuries

5:40

at the back. We got destroyed, but

5:43

it was it was ugly. And I

5:46

came back and I said, you know this, this is not easy.

5:48

This stuff is tough. You've got to make tough decisions

5:51

and you got to shake

5:53

things up sometimes. And since

5:55

that game, we have made three pretty

5:58

significant moves. Two

6:02

starters and another

6:05

you know, heavy reserve are gone.

6:09

And you guys know, I

6:11

love the team building stuff and what

6:13

it takes, the ingredients that takes,

6:15

the number everything there. It's

6:17

it's a huge soup that goes into

6:20

making a winner and building a winner and

6:22

being up close and seeing it and hearing it and knowing

6:24

what's out there. It's really fascinating.

6:27

And in Charlotte

6:29

it was pretty evident to me that

6:31

there was gonna be big moves and a

6:34

couple of the specific players are

6:36

no longer there. And I'm

6:39

just saying, I expect Nacoxa. I know you

6:41

guys don't pay attention to Lega iMX, That's fine. I

6:43

expect them to come out firing big

6:45

time. They get a couple of their defensive starters

6:48

back, we got, we had some new guys in the starting

6:50

lineup. They're gonna look like a totally different

6:52

team. It's all is not lost because we got blasted

6:54

and embarrassed at the League's Cup. That's

6:57

all I'll say. I'm excited for Nacosa. It

6:59

is really fun. And now let's get to our guest

7:01

who's equally fun. Sam Monson of

7:03

Pro Football Focus. You

7:07

know a guy Jason likes to think

7:09

he knows everything when it comes to sports.

7:12

I know what sports fans want, but for

7:14

everything he doesn't.

7:15

He knows a guy who does. Let's

7:17

just say, I know.

7:18

A guy who knows a guy who

7:21

knows another guy. All right, let's welcome

7:23

into straight fire everybody's favorite guests who

7:25

loves rugby. You guys remember him from last

7:27

year obviously, and I think two years ago, Sam monson

7:30

Pro Football Focus, Sam, how are you? Man?

7:32

I'm doing well. How about you?

7:34

I've been better health wise, but you

7:37

know, we trudge on, and you

7:39

know, for our YouTube audience, I need to shout out your

7:41

shirt. It looks like a Bengals

7:43

shirt or maybe a Oregon

7:45

State shirt. But you're saying it's a jersey of a

7:47

rugby team. Huh.

7:49

Yeah, it's an super rugby

7:51

team that was in Argentina. I don't think they

7:53

exist. Still, maybe I'm wrong, But the jaguarrez

7:57

or whatever however that's pronounced in languages

7:59

that I don't speak.

8:01

I just assumed everybody in Argentina played soccer,

8:03

and only soccer. But they had a good basketball

8:05

team man Jenoblian Company

8:08

back in the day. At any rate, you're here to talk football.

8:11

Sam had one of the most interesting preseason tweets

8:13

I've seen from anyone. Sam. You

8:15

outline Trey Lance's passing

8:18

history, his you

8:20

know, his very brief time in college and

8:22

his first two seasons in the league, and

8:24

you said he had thrown fewer passes

8:27

in college in the pros than Geno Smith through

8:30

last year. That's

8:32

not the kind of context we're hearing when everybody's slamming

8:34

Trey Lance and saying he's done, he's washed, he's a bust.

8:37

Yeah, it really is amazing. And even

8:40

if you fold in his high school attempts.

8:42

Now, the stats for high

8:44

school are a little bit weird, Like I found three

8:46

different numbers or whatever, but they're all low.

8:49

You know, whatever the number is you're picking for high

8:51

school. He didn't throw a lot of passes in

8:53

high school either. So for the

8:55

entirety of that guy's football playing

8:58

career, he's barely played

9:00

quarterback. Remember he was you

9:03

know, he sort of dealt with the COVID thing. His

9:05

final season in college was like the one showcase

9:08

game just to kind of tee him up

9:10

for the draft and then get to the NFL.

9:13

From that point of view, it worked, right, he was the

9:15

number three overall pick. It made him money.

9:18

But there's been.

9:20

Maybe you know, he's one

9:23

of the least experienced quarterbacks who have

9:25

ever made it this far in the game.

9:27

Right, he's barely played the position. So

9:30

when we're looking at, you know, the things Trey

9:32

Lance is doing wrong, and.

9:34

There's plenty of it right now.

9:36

The interceptions are obvious,

9:38

but the first three plays of that

9:40

game against the Raiders featured

9:42

I think two sacks, you know, one check

9:45

down. None of them were where the ball

9:47

was supposed to go, which is you

9:49

know, the hallmark of shanahan offenses

9:51

is drop back. Number one is going to be open

9:53

because Kyle Shanahan's offenses are

9:56

incredible. The plays are great, just drop

9:58

back and rhythm. Hit that guy and he didn't

10:00

do that at all. But

10:03

nobody has made it as far as he has with

10:05

that little experience, and

10:07

the only way for that to improve is playing

10:10

is getting reps.

10:11

But that doesn't seem to be the case. I mean, brock Party,

10:14

I think I read that he's the lock unless

10:16

he melts down, right, he's going to be the starter, and

10:18

then you're like, Okay, well Trey Lance going to be the backup

10:21

and I don't know, Sam Donald's got some

10:23

experience. They brought him in for a reason. An do

10:25

you think Lance is even the backup? Like what if he starts

10:28

week one and he's inactive? What are we supposed

10:30

to make a Trey Lance?

10:31

Yeah?

10:32

I mean I think right now, you know, if

10:34

brock Party went down and they needed somebody

10:36

to start a game tomorrow, I think Donald

10:38

would be the guy. As much as you know Trey

10:40

Lance might be getting the first go in

10:43

preseason all those kinds of things. I think if

10:45

Kyle Shanahan needed a game tomorrow,

10:48

Donald would be the guy he turns to.

10:49

So that's the tough thing about

10:51

it.

10:52

That was part of what I was tweeting, is this

10:54

guy needs to play, and there's no

10:56

pathway for that to happen, you know, barring

10:58

a lot of injuries. I don't see

11:00

him being given the playing time in San Francisco.

11:03

I also for the reasons he struggled in San

11:05

Francisco, Like, I don't really see another

11:07

team trading for him as a starter.

11:10

So it's tough to see where he's gonna get those reps

11:12

from.

11:13

Yeah, it feels like that

11:15

quarterback class. I don't want to say cursed,

11:18

but maybe the COVID situation

11:20

just messed them all up, or messed up evaluating

11:22

quarterbacks because you know, Justin

11:25

Fields is in a prove it or lose it year. Mac

11:27

Jones had a good rookie year, but it was against kind of bad

11:30

defenses and he's kind of regressed. We'll see if the

11:32

new OC helps. Zach Wilson

11:34

needs no introduction. It

11:36

just it kind of sort of I mean, Lance, I

11:39

don't know. It almost feels like all these guys

11:42

probably aren't gonna make it. I'm not rooting against

11:44

them, but is that the sense you get any of these guys

11:46

look like ten year franchise quarterbacks.

11:48

I mean, I think Trevor Lawrence looks fantastic.

11:50

Y Well, I expeed you him on purpose.

11:52

Yeah. Yeah.

11:52

If he just picks up where he left off last season,

11:55

he's the star from that group easily.

11:57

I expect Justin Fields to be a lot better this than

12:00

he was last season. Like the Chicago

12:02

Bears a year ago set him

12:04

up to fail, not necessarily deliberately,

12:06

but that was the way they were treating that

12:09

franchise. They were stripping the thing

12:11

down for parts. They were selling off every available

12:13

asset, and they were trying to make this

12:15

roster and this salary cap better

12:18

for the future. But that meant that Justin

12:20

Fields had no help around him, no receivers,

12:22

no offensive line, nothing to work with.

12:25

So for him to come out of last season with

12:27

any degree of viability

12:29

I think was impressive and the reason

12:32

they decided to trade down in the draft, not

12:34

take Bryce Young number one, you know, go

12:37

look to build around Justin

12:39

Fields and give him some help. So now

12:41

that he's got DJ Moore and he's got you

12:43

know, playmakers on that offense and a better offensive

12:46

line, I think he'll look a lot better

12:48

this year. We know he's a special

12:50

athlete. We also know from college he can be

12:53

a very accurate passer. I mean that was his hallmark

12:56

coming out was pinpoint accuracy.

12:58

So I expect him to be a lot better.

13:00

You know, Zach Wilson is obviously already in

13:03

this kind of reboot situation of back

13:05

to the bench, learn from the sideline, and see

13:07

if you can.

13:08

Put it back together. You know, in a couple of years

13:10

time.

13:11

Mac Jones, it's a make a break year

13:13

for him with Bill O'Brien coming in, you

13:15

know, a guy that's got a previous

13:18

NFL experience, previous experience with Mac

13:20

Jones and knows what he's doing,

13:22

which was different, you know to what he had last

13:24

season. So really a big year

13:26

for him. And then you get with with Trey

13:29

Lance, which is this spot of I

13:31

think everybody probably underestimated

13:34

just how inexperienced he was

13:36

and now he's in this tough spot where

13:39

there's just no way of getting him that experience

13:41

anymore.

13:41

Yeah, the other problem is there it's

13:44

a lot of these guys who kind of flame out when

13:46

they were first round picks. They

13:48

don't get much of a second or third chance.

13:50

Yes, they might get signed, but that like Baker Mayfield's

13:52

getting multiple chances. But Gino

13:54

Smith who was not a first round pick, it took him

13:57

like what like seven years saying

13:59

right to really break out. Like is

14:02

the league gonna weak for these guys? I don't know.

14:05

Yeah, it's tough, like if you if

14:07

you bust the first time around, or even

14:10

just you know, disappoint Baker Mayfield being

14:12

you know a good example of that wasn't like he was

14:14

a disaster in Cleveland, but they decided

14:16

to go after Deshaun Watson and move on from

14:18

him. There aren't there's always in

14:20

any given year, there's only one or two teams that

14:23

you know, need that starting quarterback

14:25

because they just have nothing, you know, and they're willing

14:27

to take a shot on a guy like Baker Mayfield, who

14:30

they know is probably not going to be the answer,

14:32

but it's worth a roll of the dice, and if

14:34

you time it badly, you're just

14:37

there's none of those teams left, you know. So for

14:39

a guy like Zach Wilson, that's

14:42

not a bad situation for him because Rogers

14:45

is on a time limit. You know, they only

14:47

have to wait a couple of years for him to have

14:49

another shot at this with the same team. He

14:51

doesn't have to reboot and start somewhere else. But

14:53

for somebody like Trey Lance, you know, if

14:55

you traded him today, where

14:58

is he going to get a starting gig from? Even

15:01

looking a year into the future, there's not that

15:03

many starting jobs available for a guy

15:05

like Lance. So it's tough for

15:08

these guys that don't succeed right away to get

15:10

that second shot. You may have to bide your

15:12

time, you know, as a backup until

15:15

something like that opens up.

15:17

When more on Fields, I saw a crazy

15:19

stat that he had more rushing attempts

15:21

last year than Cam Newton

15:23

ever had in a season in his career. And

15:26

that struck me as like odd because I think if Cam Newton

15:28

as a running quarterback, I don't Fields

15:30

took a big punishment last year. You know, no offensive

15:33

line was okay, and he was scrambling

15:35

for his life, didn't have the receivers. But

15:38

I would assume they're going to try to reprogram

15:40

him as more of a packet

15:43

quarterback, no, because that punishment is

15:45

just unsustainable.

15:47

Yeah, and he's

15:49

been a very different quarterback in the NFL

15:51

to what I think anybody thought he would be.

15:54

When you read scouting reports on Justin

15:56

Fields, it's not the same guy, you know, and

15:58

the things that he was good at in college not seeing

16:00

much of so far. And the athleticism,

16:03

I mean, everybody knew he was fast and he

16:05

was an athlete, but it wasn't talked about the same

16:08

way Lamar Jackson's athleticism

16:10

was talked about. You know, he wasn't seen

16:12

as this Michael Vick Lamar Jackson

16:15

rivaling rushing threat out of

16:17

the backfield, and that that's what he's had to be at

16:19

the NFL level, And like

16:24

unlike Lamar Jackson, he's been

16:27

looking to run. You know, Lamar, the

16:29

thing about him is he's never really been

16:32

a scrambling type of quarterback.

16:34

When you look at his rushing yardage

16:36

and production, it's designed

16:39

runs. It's not like Michael Vicks, which was

16:41

all scramble yardage and justin Fields,

16:43

which is almost all scramble yardage. It's

16:45

proper designed runs as part of the run game.

16:47

Lamar doesn't actually scramble that much.

16:50

And the same thing's kind of true with Anthony Richardson.

16:52

He looks to pass more than he's

16:54

looking to scramble from the pocket. He wants

16:57

to hang in there and make those plays through the air,

16:59

whereas justin Fields so far in

17:01

the NFL has been very

17:04

much that like one read run type of quarterback,

17:06

like give it a chance, if it's not there, take

17:09

off and make something happen with your legs. Now,

17:11

was that a bigger part of his game than people thought

17:13

it was coming into the NFL?

17:15

Or is that just what he's had to do? You

17:17

know?

17:17

While his receiving corps has been what it is in Chicago.

17:20

Like, that's the big question I think to

17:22

answer this year for Fields is how much of

17:24

his style so far has

17:26

been just a product of everything around him

17:28

and a case of survival, and how

17:30

much of it is like that's actually who he

17:33

is at this level and we kind of misevaluated

17:36

him, you know, as as a prospect.

17:39

That's fascinating. I hadn't thought of that. You mentioned

17:41

Anthony Richardson, and you

17:44

know I do fantasy. I don't know how into

17:46

fantasy you are, but I've got some buddies

17:49

texting me, hey man, what do you think about Anthony Richardson

17:51

as a late round flyer? Because Justin Field's

17:53

had a monster year in fantasy last year running

17:55

the football, and I hadn't really

17:57

even thought about Richardson. He's got Jonathan

17:59

Taylor, doesn't have many weapons. I like Pittman, but

18:02

I keep reading Sam that some of

18:04

the gamblers and the advanced analytics

18:07

guys, they're buying stich In

18:09

Richardson and company and the Colts is maybe

18:11

a sleeper in what's a bad division? Where

18:14

are you on Indy? Is this a team that appeals to

18:16

you or you just they're totally off your radar.

18:18

I think they're a really interesting team because

18:21

Shane Stiken just came from that Philadelphia

18:24

offense where they ran this game

18:26

plan already, right the Jalen Hurts

18:28

is another one of these quarterbacks that had

18:30

some time learning on the job. His

18:33

first games with

18:35

Philadelphia were not good as a passing quarterback,

18:38

but they knew that he was a good enough

18:40

runner that they could kind of prop up the offense

18:43

to give him those rets we're talking about with Trey Lance,

18:45

to give him the time to develop as

18:47

a passer and get better so that you

18:49

saw him go from you marginal

18:52

maybe viable, to okay,

18:54

and then really really good. That's

18:57

what I think Richardson is going to need. Like he's

18:59

probably all ready further along than people give

19:01

him credit for. You can see the way

19:03

he operates in the pocket. He's doing a lot of

19:06

pretty high level quarterback things in terms

19:08

of eye discipline, in terms of moving

19:10

defenders around. His accuracy

19:13

I think is going to be spotty generally,

19:15

but he needs refs. Like he's

19:17

a little bit like Trey Lance, He's very inexperience.

19:20

He just needs the time to see

19:22

everything. You know, an NFL defenses

19:25

are going to throw a lot at him that he's never seen before.

19:27

They're better at disguising coverage,

19:29

they're better at changing coverage, you know,

19:31

pre snap to post snap. So he needs

19:33

this time to learn, and he's a good enough

19:36

athlete that I think they can create an offense

19:38

like you know, twenty twenty one Philadelphia

19:41

where it's really run heavy, but

19:44

it's good enough that Richardson can keep

19:46

going and you're not sort of saying, you know, we

19:48

need to sit him down.

19:49

This just isn't good enough yet.

19:51

So I'm kind of intrigued to see what

19:53

it's going to look like. I think it will be viable

19:55

and the Colts can have some success with it.

19:57

Yeah, it's interesting. Richards

20:00

isn't the prototype for what a quarterback

20:03

you know, historically has been in the league, especially

20:06

unable to complete like basic stuff. But you

20:08

look around the league, Salmon essentially

20:10

all of the elite quarterbacks are not mobile,

20:13

but they're like actively mobile, like Trevor Lawrence

20:15

can run. Jalen Hurts, Josh Allen, Patrick Mahomes.

20:18

I don't know, are we kind of rewriting what a

20:20

quarterback is right now in the NFL?

20:22

Yeah, I mean, I think the nature of the NFL

20:25

is these things are cyclical, right, Like if you watch

20:27

old games on YouTube or highlights

20:29

or whatever. I was watching Joe Montana

20:31

games recently and they were waxing lyrical

20:34

about the amazing thing about Montana is

20:36

he can scramble.

20:37

You know, he's mobile.

20:38

And because they just come out of this period

20:40

where the prototype quarterbacks

20:43

were all these statues that didn't move around,

20:45

stood tall in the pocket, delivered the ball. Montana,

20:49

you know, was clearly never the athlete that Lamar

20:51

Jackson or any of these other guys are.

20:53

But that's kind of what they were dealing with,

20:55

just the contrasts in the cycle. And now

20:58

we've come out of a period where Peyton and

21:00

Tom Brady and those guys were the prototype,

21:02

and now it's Mahomes and it's Josh Allen,

21:05

and it's Lamar Jackson, and it's these athletic

21:07

mobile quarterbacks. So I think that

21:09

is now becoming today's prototype.

21:12

And if you're not that, if you're just a

21:14

guy that doesn't bring mobility

21:16

to the table, you better be incredible

21:19

at you know, being a pocket passer

21:21

and being able to hit the right guy at the right

21:23

time, you know, every single snap.

21:25

Yeah, I just went to look up Joe Montana's

21:28

rushing stats. Are you ready for this? Most

21:30

carries in a season sixty one, most

21:33

rushing yards two hundred and eighty

21:35

four. That's like a month for Lamar

21:37

Jackson. And they were saying he's very mobile.

21:40

That's unbelievable. So I guess my question

21:43

following that up would be, Sam,

21:45

is this based out of analytics where one of the

21:47

advanced stats that I keep hearing is the most valuable

21:50

play is a quarterback scramble

21:52

because it's gonna net you yards. Your

21:54

quarterbacks mobile, the defenses are playing

21:57

a lot of too high safety, and like it

21:59

just seems like it's an auto plus

22:02

play offensively.

22:05

Yeah, I mean, I think it's a part of I

22:07

think the game has gotten better at understanding

22:10

how to use that. You know, there were years

22:12

where teams didn't want a

22:14

mobile quarterback because they

22:16

didn't want to expose their quarterback to those kids,

22:18

right, that was the big thing you heard. And then the other thing

22:21

is they weren't really good at understanding

22:23

how to make use of it. So when Michael

22:26

Vick came into the NFL, Michael Vick

22:28

was basically told to just go run the West Coast offense,

22:30

Like, we didn't change much to accommodate

22:33

the fact that you had maybe the greatest athlete

22:35

the quarterback position has ever seen.

22:37

They had no additional you

22:39

know, wrinkles or anything else added to the

22:41

offense. It was just Michael Vick's going to

22:43

run the West Coast offense. And if you need to scramble

22:46

every now and again, you know, go make a play now.

22:49

Like Lamar Jackson comes into the league and

22:51

they literally design like a complete

22:53

custom, bespoke offense in the

22:55

basement of the Baltimore facility, built

22:58

around his running game. Like it's a completely

23:00

different world. So I

23:02

think teams are understanding that it's

23:05

not that big a risk, right You can your

23:07

quarterback can take a hit every now and again. They're

23:09

taking hits anyway in terms of you know,

23:12

sacks and on all that kind of thing. You might as well

23:14

get them on the move, stress of defense

23:16

out make their life easier across

23:19

the board. And they're just exploiting

23:22

that loophole better.

23:24

I don't know. I guess the pushback would be what well, Lamar

23:27

in I think it was nineteen and twenty

23:29

or twenty and twenty one had I

23:31

think two of the highest single season carry

23:34

totals for a quarterback, and what happened the next two years

23:36

he kind of got injured late in the season. Now, I'm not

23:38

saying, you know one of them was in the pocket rolling

23:41

out, I think, trying to elude a sack. But

23:44

I guess I don't have the odds. I don't know if anyone does.

23:46

But the odds of your quarterback getting

23:49

hurt when he's scrambling are probably higher

23:51

than they are if he's in the pocket. But then again, you

23:53

know Joe Montana, I'll never forget that hit he took Leonard

23:56

Marshall. I think in the Giants in the playoff

23:58

game, he rolls out and play he had a boom.

24:00

It felt like a career ender for him. So I don't

24:02

I mean, where are you on that? Because Trevor Lawrence could scramble.

24:06

All the elite top guys can, Justin Herbert,

24:08

even the kid Caleb Williams who everybody loves the USC,

24:10

he could scramble. So I don't know who's the

24:13

best pocket quarterback in the league right now.

24:16

I mean, that's the thing.

24:16

There aren't many of them any Yeah, I

24:19

think it's not without risk obviously,

24:22

right, if you're going to use your quarterback as part of the run

24:24

game, he is going to be exposed to

24:26

hits that he wouldn't have if he was just standing in the

24:28

pocket. But I think generally the

24:31

other aspect of this is quarterbacks

24:34

can protect themselves better than almost

24:36

any other thing can, right, including the offensive

24:39

line. They're kind of in control

24:41

to a huge degree of how

24:43

much they get hit, whether it's on the run,

24:45

you know, sliding versus taking

24:48

on a linebacker, but even in the pocket

24:50

once the pressure arrives, understanding

24:52

how to get rid of the ball and not taking that big hit, you

24:54

know, And the difference in quarterbacks

24:57

ability to.

24:57

Do that is huge.

24:58

You see these wildly different

25:02

sack rates, not in terms of like

25:04

the total number of dropbacks, how often you're getting

25:06

sacked, but how often relative to the

25:08

pressure plays you're getting sacked.

25:10

And the best quarterbacks in the NFL, only

25:13

like ten percent of their pressures are actually

25:15

getting them hit or actually taking them to the

25:17

ground. The rest they're getting rid of

25:19

the ball. They're not letting themselves take those

25:22

hits. And then quarterbacks

25:24

that aren't good at that, you know, they're getting

25:26

taken to the ground. They're getting sacked twenty five

25:28

percent of the time versus you

25:30

know, ten percent.

25:31

It's a huge difference. So I think

25:33

generally the focus.

25:34

For NFL teams has now been right

25:37

getting the quarterback to protect himself.

25:39

But it's the net win for

25:42

using what they can do in the run game, I

25:44

think is huge versus

25:47

let's not tap into any of that additional

25:50

you know, juice we could have on offense just

25:52

because it might get them a few more hits in the season

25:56

before.

25:56

We get to individual players going. I know you do a lot

25:58

of radio and podcasts, probably getting

26:00

asked a million questions. Has anyone ever asked you this, Sam,

26:04

does defense even matter anymore in the NFL?

26:07

Well, yeah, that's you know, that's one of those

26:09

analytics mantras, right we went through,

26:12

And this is the thing is analytics

26:15

I think has been really useful in identifying

26:17

you know, a lot of different trends, a lot of different

26:20

data points, a lot of and asking a lot

26:22

of questions that the NFL wasn't

26:24

necessarily being asked before the

26:27

delivery of those messages has sometimes

26:29

been suspect. And that's where you end

26:31

up with these phrases like running backs don't

26:33

matter, and defense doesn't matter, and you

26:35

know, does anything matter anymore? Like

26:37

defense matters? Running backs matter,

26:40

The question is how much? And you know, where

26:42

should the resources go, and all those.

26:43

Kinds of things.

26:44

I think the underlying point

26:46

with with that kind of push

26:49

is defense now

26:51

matters less than it used to, right, You

26:54

you could build defenses, and you could

26:56

build championships off the back of amazing

26:58

defenses that could be sustained for.

27:00

A number of years in the past.

27:02

Now, if you don't have the quarterback, it doesn't

27:05

matter how good your defense is. It really doesn't.

27:07

You know, unless you construct the greatest

27:09

defense the game has ever seen, you

27:11

almost have no shot at being successful.

27:13

And you know, you can see that with the Patriots, like they're

27:15

still able to put a top five defense

27:17

out basically every single year, but

27:20

no Tom Brady, no success,

27:22

right Yeah, Mike Jones hasn't even been terrible,

27:24

and they still can't win the kind of games

27:26

that they need to. Particularly now when

27:29

you look at the AFC, there's so many good

27:31

teams there. It's it's

27:33

not a bad period for NFL where you

27:36

might have been able to get by without good quarterback

27:38

play. In certain periods like

27:40

now even to make the playoffs.

27:42

In the AFC, like, if you make the playoffs,

27:45

you're probably gonna have to beat three

27:48

of Justin Herbert, Josh Allen,

27:50

Patrick Mahomes, Trevor Lawrence.

27:52

You know, whoever the team is that makes it, You're

27:54

gonna have to knock three of those guys off in sequence

27:57

to have any kind of like super Bowl success.

28:02

Meanwhile, in the NFC, it's like, can you beat Geno

28:04

Smith, Kirk Cousins and

28:07

Daniel Jones or Dak Prescott. But

28:09

I mean, I'm being facetious, but I'm

28:11

also like, if you look at

28:13

the Chiefs, it's essentially Chris Jones

28:15

and a bunch of guys. Right, you

28:17

look at the Rams, it's Aaron Donald and literally

28:19

a bunch of irrelevant guys. Buffalo

28:22

still has some good defenders. The Bengals, you

28:25

gotta pay people. Let's pay offense. They just lost three

28:27

guys in their secondary I know they pay their

28:29

Ed Rusher in, but it's just it's

28:31

looking like one of the trends in the league is,

28:33

hey, if we're gonna spend money, we're gonna spend

28:35

it on offense. We're gonna spend an obviously quarterback,

28:38

offensive line, and receiver because that's what

28:40

wins right now. And I just remember and

28:43

I bet the Eagles in the Super Bowl, but it

28:45

was like, Eagles defense is amazing

28:47

all season, Oh my gosh, they basically shut everyone

28:49

down almost every game, and

28:51

they go to the Super Bowl and Patrick Mahomes in the second

28:53

half was what fourteen to fifteen like almost perfect

28:56

against the best, like the best defense in the league.

28:58

It didn't matter. But maybe

29:00

you just the counter I guess is that's just Patrick

29:02

Mahomes. Like how many guys are doing that to the Eagles?

29:05

Like during the season, nobody did. But they face

29:07

a tougher schedule of qbs this year. I

29:09

don't know. Was that too harsh on defenses?

29:12

No?

29:12

I mean, I think that's the problem, right, is it? Even when

29:14

you create these great defenses, once you get to the

29:16

toughest games, once you get to the playoffs, once

29:19

you get to the certainly the AFC playoffs

29:21

and maybe just as far as the championship

29:23

game or the Super Bowl in the NFC, but

29:25

that's when you run into Patrick Mahomes and

29:27

your great defense suddenly looks ordinary because

29:30

Patrick Mahomes is amazing, And I

29:32

think The difference between offense and defense

29:34

right now is that defense is

29:36

a weak link system whereas offense

29:39

is a strong link system. So a

29:41

lot of things can go wrong in your offense,

29:43

but if you've got Patrick Mahomes throwing to Travis

29:45

Kelce, you're probably gonna have

29:48

a lot of success. Whereas defense, if

29:50

you've got one week link out there, like

29:52

eleven guys, and one of those guys is a

29:55

liability, offenses are going to

29:57

find that guy and they're going to exploit it, and

29:59

there's it's very difficult to hide

30:01

that from a defensive point of view.

30:03

So it's just.

30:03

Harder to create an amazing defense.

30:05

And it is a great offense because you can have a

30:07

lot of problems on that offense and it

30:10

still be great, and whereas that's

30:12

just not true for defenses anymore.

30:14

All right, individual players, Dereck

30:16

Henry has that ship sailed? Is it over? So

30:18

many carries? The injuries, It

30:21

feels like this is probably not the

30:23

beginning of the end, but like maybe the final big

30:25

year for Dereck Henry. And by big, I don't even mean like fifteen

30:27

hundred yards, I mean like maybe like twelve

30:29

hundred yards.

30:31

Yeah, I mean I think Derick Henry is still

30:33

capable of doing Dereck Henry things.

30:35

The problem is the offensive

30:37

line in front of him isn't anymore.

30:39

So.

30:40

You know, last season, the Titans finished with the worst

30:42

offensive line in the NFL by PFF's

30:44

offensive line rankings. I think even

30:47

with their additions in the offseason, they're starting

30:49

off this year in the same spot. So they may

30:51

have upgraded, but it's still bad looking

30:53

on paper. So if that line

30:55

is as rough as it looks, you know, Derek

30:57

Henry just it's almost superhuman

31:00

expecting to do anything, you know, in terms of

31:02

a really big season or

31:04

even a Derrek Henry like season. It's just

31:06

too tough an ass for him.

31:08

So I think he's probably going to look like

31:11

he's on the downslope, But I'm not certain

31:13

that's him versus just the situation around him

31:15

getting worse.

31:16

This Tyreek killed two thousand yards receiving

31:19

noise. Do you buy any of that or is

31:21

it just simply based on if Tua was healthy.

31:24

Somebody's going to do it sooner or later. Right like the

31:26

league being this heavy slanted in terms

31:29

of passing, someone's going to break that two thousand

31:31

or receiving yardage mark pretty

31:34

soon Miami. Yeah,

31:36

Tua's got to stay healthy. They've also

31:38

got a proof that they weren't found

31:40

out late late in the season. You know

31:42

that the picture got very muddy because of Tua's

31:44

concussions and you know, missing time and

31:46

all those kinds of things. But teams had

31:48

started to cause that offense problems last

31:51

year. They were playing a lot more press

31:53

man coverage. They were trying to take away the middle

31:55

of the field where they've been so dominant. And

31:58

you know, as good as Tua looks in that offense,

32:00

he doesn't really have the arm

32:03

to you know, really attack the sideline

32:05

the way some of these other quarterbacks do. He might

32:08

be a limited quarterback in terms of how

32:10

he can play the game. And if defenses

32:13

have sort of come up with an answer

32:15

to that, then the Miami offense

32:17

might not be quite as explosive and as you

32:19

know, dominant as it was a year ago.

32:22

This is why you're on here. That's an angle I've not

32:24

heard from anybody, which

32:27

for people who want to go back and look are we talking about

32:29

was it the Packers game on Christmas or

32:32

the Steelers game? I remember? Was that was a night game

32:35

and they after the first drive, I think he really

32:37

shut him down. But

32:40

so essentially they're just clogging the middle

32:42

of the field and saying, Tua, make that deep

32:44

outthrow. You can't do it, will

32:46

challenge you. Is that that kind of thing?

32:48

Yeah, you know, they're using pressman

32:50

coverage, disrupting the timing of those

32:53

routes across the middle, trying to make sure that they

32:55

can't just sort of drop back and hit these timing

32:57

patterns and do.

32:58

It in rhythm.

33:00

I'm trying to sort of flood those areas of

33:02

the field with his own coverage, you know,

33:04

on the back end, trying to flood it with extra

33:06

bodies, the whole guy, with

33:09

a linebacker, safety and essentially

33:11

giving them the space to the outside and saying,

33:13

adjust your route concepts, you know, adjust your plays

33:16

and target a different area of the field because

33:18

what you're doing, you know, up until this point,

33:21

has been destroying teams.

33:23

Yeah. Wow, that's fascinating. More

33:25

likely to get traded at the deadline,

33:27

and I know NFL trades aren't huge, but

33:30

I'm looking at teams

33:32

are going to be bad in star players Mike

33:34

Evans, Chris Godwin, Aaron Donald

33:37

or DeVante Adams.

33:40

The Adams thing would certainly be interesting. I don't

33:43

know how many teams could make that happen realistically

33:46

in terms of, you know, in terms

33:48

of salary, in terms of moving.

33:50

The money around.

33:51

I could definitely see one of the Buccaneers

33:53

receivers being moved. I think that team

33:57

they were stuck in that position this offseason

33:59

where once your you know, Hall of Fame

34:01

quarterback is gone, you're almost

34:04

in this trap where that's when you should

34:06

rebuild. But because the roster

34:08

you put around the Hall of Fame quarterback was good enough

34:10

to try and be a contender, you're kind of

34:12

left convinced that maybe we could still

34:15

be good if we just get a viable quarterback.

34:17

But if they are bad, you know, if Baker Mayfield

34:19

continues to look poor this season and

34:22

they struggle early out of the gate, then they should

34:24

be right for a rebuild, you know, just tear it all down

34:26

and start over.

34:28

One name. I'd be really interested. Two

34:30

names, actually.

34:30

I guess with the Jets, that offensive

34:33

line looks pretty rough on paper and could

34:35

kind of undermine the whole thing. You know, there's

34:38

been a lot of talk about David Baktiari

34:40

and maybe they could make that happen. The name

34:42

though, that I would be interested in if I was the Jets

34:45

is Josh Jones, the tackle from the Cardinals.

34:48

He got to run a playing time at left

34:50

tackle last season when DJ Humphries

34:52

was hurt. He's basically only been

34:54

good at left tackle in the NFL. But

34:56

now they've drafted Paris Johnson. DJ

34:59

Humphries is bad. Josh Jones

35:01

is either back on the bench or he's back playing

35:03

guard, where.

35:04

He struggled in the past.

35:06

He might be a really really nice, sort

35:08

of by low type of addition for a

35:10

team like the Jets to come in and upgrade

35:13

left tackle if they're struggling there.

35:14

That's spicy. What what do you think that's going to cost

35:17

them in terms of I'm assuming

35:19

draft pick compensation, is

35:21

that like a fourth round pick the

35:25

highest bidder.

35:26

You're right, it can't be a lot, because,

35:29

as I say, he's kind of become, you know, the

35:31

odd man out in that offensive line in Arizona

35:33

anyway, So it's tough to see

35:36

how the value could be particularly high

35:38

for them.

35:38

Hm hmm. I like that any

35:41

sleeper teams or players that you're looking at.

35:43

We have a large fantasy football audience. Some

35:46

guys are good, some guys are not. But

35:48

uh, like we asked about

35:50

Anthony Richardson earlier, but any any other players,

35:52

running backs, receivers, quarterbacks, whatever.

35:55

Yeah, I mean there's a ton of players.

35:57

I think that you get excited about that around this kind

35:59

of time, right preseason where you start.

36:01

Seeing them all.

36:02

I think Tank Dell in Houston could

36:04

be a really exciting.

36:05

Rookie right out of the gate.

36:06

I don't even know who that is.

36:08

He's he was a third round pick, but

36:11

he led the nation last season in yards

36:14

in touchdowns. But he was a third round pick because

36:16

he's five foot eight and one hundred and sixty five pounds,

36:18

right, and even in this world

36:21

of weird body types

36:23

and small receivers and all those kinds of things, that's

36:25

the kind of size that terrifies NFL teams.

36:28

But he dominated during the senior

36:30

ball week like they couldn't stop him in

36:32

one on one routes all week long. He can release

36:34

from the outside, and in preseason

36:37

he had what was at sixty or six

36:39

catches fifty yards in a touchdown

36:41

or something like that. And forget

36:44

the plays that he did make. He was unstoppable

36:46

on the plays that he didn't make. I mean he was deep

36:49

open down the sideline on one play and he

36:51

was overthrown. He put

36:54

Jack Jones in a in an absolute

36:56

blender one of the first reps. The interception

36:58

actually where CJ. Stroud didn't

37:00

see the safety. I mean, if the safety wasn't

37:03

there, Tank Dell had got himself five yards

37:05

open and made the cornerback fall

37:07

down.

37:07

So that guy, I think, is.

37:09

Going to be one of their most

37:11

important receivers this year and could have a pretty

37:13

useful season.

37:14

Wow, that's a nugget anybody

37:17

in the NFC.

37:19

I think Jonathan Mingo could emerge quickly

37:22

as Carolina's number one receiver. I

37:24

think that Bryce Young to Jonathan Mingo connection

37:26

could easily end up being a pretty formidable

37:29

one. Mingo's another one of these guys where, for

37:32

some reason, he just wasn't seen as,

37:35

you know, a truly elite wide receiver prospect.

37:37

His production was never great in college,

37:39

but a large part of that was his quarterback

37:42

situation was bad.

37:43

But you put on his tape and you're like, I.

37:45

Don't see a reason this guy is not being talked about

37:48

in the first round. I think late in the process

37:50

he started to get some first round buzz

37:52

and then I think ends up going in the second to Carolina.

37:55

But you know, given their receiving corps right

37:57

now, it wouldn't take that much for

37:59

Mingo to be the number one guy pretty quickly.

38:01

I like it, and your obligatory Super Bowl

38:04

pick, or we'll go final four

38:07

in the NFC and AFC.

38:09

Okay, last year my pick was

38:11

Philadelphia Buffalo, so for a long

38:13

time I felt pretty good about that. Yeah,

38:16

this year, I think the final four, it's

38:19

probably gonna be quite similar. I think it'll

38:21

be Kansas City always.

38:24

I think Cincinnati will be the other

38:26

team in the AFC and then the

38:28

NFC. I'm gonna go with Dallas as my

38:30

dark horse, but he loves them, I

38:33

know, and I think they might jump Philadelphia.

38:35

I think they might be the team that gets the number one seed.

38:38

And then let's go with San

38:40

Francisco again. So Dallas San Francisco

38:42

in the championship game.

38:43

So maybe Bruck Perdy can beat

38:46

DAK again in the playoff game, right,

38:49

absolutely, I mean Dak's lost to Sanford in the last

38:51

two years in the postseason. What

38:54

is it about Dallas? Is it really the defense, so you, I

38:56

mean, it's funny. I asked his defense matter. Dallas

38:59

dump Zeke smartly but goes all in on defense

39:01

with Gilmore in the draft, And I

39:05

don't know, man, are you not scared

39:07

of the Brian Schottenheimer. Mike McCarthy combo,

39:10

I think.

39:11

Both sides of the ball, they're strong. Like that roster

39:13

looks really good. And yeah, I mean,

39:15

I'm a little bit worried that they dumped Kellen

39:17

Moore, but I think when you look what they have,

39:19

you know, it's a good offensive line, it's a good quarter,

39:22

it's good across the board.

39:23

Right.

39:23

Everything that the Brandon Cooks addition,

39:25

I think is really good. Michael

39:28

Gallop being another year removed from the injury

39:30

that sort of robbed him of being what he was, he

39:32

should look a lot better this year. Jalen Tolbert,

39:35

a second year guy, has been making plays in camp.

39:37

That guy didn't do much as

39:39

a rookie, but I really liked him coming out. So

39:41

I think that offense should be really good, and the defense

39:44

is already spectacular, and

39:46

they added Stefan Gilmore, so I

39:48

just think they might they might be the most complete roster

39:50

in the NFL top to bottom.

39:53

Geez. Love for Dallas all right, Sam monson

39:55

pro football focused great stuff as always Sam,

39:57

and enjoy the season.

39:59

Hey time, me too, Thanks for having me.