Mailbag: Rookie Sleepers, Next Steps for Justin Herbert, 49ers Super Bowl Window, and More!

22:21Patrick Claybon:And it attaches onto the Justin Herbert if memes. Yeah. Where, you know, it's, you know, fans and supporters of other quarterbacks. And then they say, like, the if man comes up and there's all these graphics and associated. But I think like in terms of the outcomes, he has a successful year in to turning it back to like peak Brandon Staley time, where the Chargers were on top of the world. and they're all these moron. Yeah, there was a peak Brandon Staley time at one point and they're making all these fourth down conversions and everything is going well. Like they could have a, like to go from a Greg Roman offense to something that is within the tree, I think is such a leap forward in terms of football ideology that, you know, things are going to be better.

23:02Patrick Claybon:Maybe the if memes will go. I thought Herbert was great last year. I thought it was a great season. I really think the two seasons under Harbaugh have been great. And then the worst games he's played have been in the playoffs, which is a pretty significant thing to consider. Like he was legit bad in those playoff games. But other than that, he was certainly a top 10 quarterback. But I like what you did there, AJJ. How concerned are you with Washington's offense right now? This is from the Outback QB podcast on Instagram. I feel like we haven't talked a lot about Washington's offense. And so I thought it'd be a good time to do that.

23:33Patrick Claybon:We get to see David Blau in his first time calling plays with a quarterback that we thought could be the future of the NFL. I think it's quiet because we just have no idea and no expectations after Dan Quinn kind of seemingly cleans house everywhere. What what are the outcomes? I see like the Commanders fans are mad with the Daniels rankings after this. To me, that's just about injuries. Like, can he stay on the field? And he won in a very unique offense in his rookie year that his second year he wasn't as effective in. But I think the offense as a whole, it's a fair question. Like they like their offensive line.

24:08We'll see. I mean, you have Larry Mutunsel, you have CM Cosby, you have talented players, but it's a new offense. If you're just ranking, if we were doing another ranking of like skill position talent and you're not counting quarterback, like you're just counting running backs, wide receivers, tight ends. I think it's a pretty bottom group. It's got to be bottom eight. McLaurin as your one, you have no clue who your number two is. It could be Dan Brown. It could be the rookie Antonio Williams. Your running backs are Rashad White and Ja 'Cory Kroski Merritt. We like Bill, but, you know, Chico Conquo's solid at tight end, John Bates.

24:42Like, but it's a lot of questions. I think it's a fair question to ask that this team in general to me is a mystery box. Yeah, I do. Actually, I could buy that their offensive line might would take a step forward. Right. In terms they just were they were so banged up and Cosme's been banged up. And so getting some stability back, I think, will be fine. Obviously, you know, Jaden Daniels coming back healthy does a lot just to give you a threat against a defense, but then it's like outside of McLaurin and like seven slot receivers. Who is he throwing to? How are they going to affect defenses in a way that really does have depth and dimension?

25:19That's obviously David Blau, new offensive coordinator's problem to sort out. And then they're going to ask a lot, like they always do. It seems like to me from their tight ends, but, and I've been a Chico Conquo fan, even though he took a step back in production. I've been a fan of his. He could have a big year. It could be a big year for him, but it's also like, okay, so are you going to just continue to roll out the same things that Cliff Kingsbury was doing with John Bates and then Zach Ertz? That was effective to a time, but it really depended on Anthony Lynn's impact and that run game getting off the ground the way that it did back before, you know, Bill's breakout season last year and all of that.

25:56So I just have so many questions. I just, I want to see it. I think we'll get a lot of answers really quickly from this group, but good or bad. But I just I have I have a lot of more so on the fence questions about pretty much every position. High variance group. I mean, they could have they have a high ceiling because they could have a top five to six quarterback. Yeah. And David Blau could be the next guy. He's not exactly in the tree, but he's basically part of the tree. That's the type of offense that he wants to run.

26:24Patrick Claybon:I just wonder with all the, you know, because the the constant Brandon Iook of it all this offseason. Why not Stefan Diggs? Why not just go ahead and get that done? Get them in there. Wouldn't surprise me. Have yourself a solid two. That makes sense. Here's a question. What is the most thing I'm most grateful for from my trip to Japan? And what is the best thing I ate? The most grateful, you know, it's cliche, but it's just like the most concentrated family time I get. I get to be roommates with my daughter, Ellis, who is the coolest person and best writer I know. So just the way the rooms line up and my in-laws, like me and Ellis are roommates.

27:03And it's cool that she's still cool being roommates with, you know, with her dad. But the best thing I ate, I did want to tell this story, was on the very top of Mount Fuji. I got, we got, we got there. For some reason, we got the hut at the very top, which was actually like, I guess, a little bit of a rookie move. So, you know, you got to climb the whole thing basically. Quickly, you got to get up there. you're supposed to be there by 6 to get your dinner or else the kitchen closes, supposedly. So I literally kind of raced at the very end. I was with my friend and his son, and they were like, you should just go up there.

27:40You're feeling better than us. Get up there and make sure we're good to still get there. It was fine. You could have showed up late. People were showing up at 7.38. It's like climbing a mountain. They just say that to make you hurry it up. But we got there, and we hadn't prepaid for the dinner, which was curry. And most everyone is just buying like$5 ramen. Those are your only options. You know, there's no like not a lot going on up there. But they do offer for 5 ,000 yen or 50 ,000 yen, which is like 50 bucks or whatever, some unagi, some eel. And it's the only place on the entire mountain that took credit cards was there.

28:15And at that point, we did not bring enough cash. And we needed to save that cash for the next day for water. water, and we still did not have enough, which was a big mistake. And I'm like, I'll get in that unagi. I'm only going to be on that. Who knows how long I'll be there. And they were so excited. They're like, oh, the unagi. You made a good decision. And when they brought it out and gave it to me, it's a beautiful looking eel, over rice. Everyone else is just eating their ramen or whatever. They came out, and the entire kitchen crew cheered for me and said some sort of chant. And they were like, you are the first person to order the Onagi this year, like, thank you and congratulations.

28:56Enjoy. And they all cheered. And there was almost like a little chant. I'm not even sure what was going on there. But I was like, I will remember this moment for the rest of my life. Oh, my God. That's fucking incredible. I wonder what everyone else in the restaurant thought. They were pissed. They should have been. And it was the first day it was open. We went up on the first day it was open. That was why I was so close to when I left and everything. And I was the only person to order that day. And I think the next morning, because we had made a mistake, we didn't pre-order the meals. We hadn't gotten it and pre-ordered any breakfast or anything.

29:28And the guy who took my Unagi order saw me the next morning. I think he just liked me so much from ordering it, he just gave me a free breakfast.

29:36Patrick Claybon:That is so... The other diners, the sense of regret that you get when somebody walks by with a hot plate of fajitas in the restaurant. Oh, yeah. You made a bad order. Yeah. And the sound. You did, like, the absolute most of that. People climbed all of the mountain. Yeah. And then you get the applause. Next time you summit Mount Fuji, you will see your photo in the restaurant. Order the eel. Order the eel. And then it'd just be Greg's picture. I also had, like, the best tasting. Unagi had an actual restaurant with my father-in-law. And, yeah, do it up if you ever go. Next question. Who are you guys supporting for the World Cup now?

30:18This could be out of date. because Spain is leading as we're taping this. I apologize for taping a show in the middle of the World Cup. It's 2-0. I think that sounds like we got an upset on our hands. So let's figure Spain wins that thing. There's three teams left as we're taping. Who are you rooting for?

30:36Patrick Claybon:It's coming home, Greg. Come on. You're asking me. Do you want me to pick Argentina? Yeah. Well, you can pick Spain. You can pick Spain. Yeah, I mean, I'll go with Spain over England. Let's go with the comeback here. Okay. You could be a big enough messy fan that you just look past all the rest of it. There are plenty of those out there. Yeah. And I get it. You love greatness. No, no. I think I'm rooting for two of the three remaining teams to just have a good time. I'm so small, literally and figuratively, that even though I have so many friends that are British, there is a part of me that like enjoys them being like the charlie brown and getting the ball pulled away at the last second so like i wouldn't hate it if we just had a great final but spain wins i don't have a lot emotionally at stake and i feel bad about that i should care about my friends no i think if it does come home uh and you know the those that enjoy their time in the british media being rude and disrespectful and dismissive to jude bellingham uh will have to spend at least two weeks pretending like he's a decent and valuable athlete.

31:46I would be happy, though, for Ollie Connelly. I would be happy for Ollie. He's a member of the show. Nat Coombs, my friend. Will Gab. All they'd be over the moon. I am an incredibly sappy person, as you guys now know. And there is something that makes my heart just swell a little bit when I hear them sing, hey, Jude, after Jude Bellingham does something amazing. I love chants. you know when they're not uh hideously offensive of course and i love that england's got songs for everything and they've got their little you know their inside jokes that are born of pain uh over many many years i don't know if i could fully commit i i think that spain if you know i had a moment when i was i was taking some i took a lot of time off uh it was wonderful and i was watching spain play at one point and they have this player i'm gonna i'm so sorry to the fans abroad if I butcher the name, Lamine Yamal, who is young and his footwork is insane.

32:46And I had, I drank an IPA. So I was feeling like a little slower than the rest of the world in general. And I was watching some of his footwork and I found myself, I was standing like a, like a coach watching a team from the sideline, five inches from my TV, staring at this guy as he was just the footwork and the quickness and the speed, and it blew my mind. And then I started laughing at myself because I recognized how ridiculous I must have looked. And now I'm sharing it with all of you. So I'm having fun watching them play. I know. It is sad that it's ending. There was a little bit of a negative being over in Japan.

33:26Right here, the time zone matched up so perfectly. But a lot of my mornings, I'll remember this trip, waking up and watching the second half of a World Cup game. It's already going. It was a beautiful thing. Let's take a quick break and we'll hit many more football questions after the break instead of football.

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37:17back on NFL daily rolling through your mailbag questions oh George on Instagram asks what is your biggest head coach what if you could take you could interpret this in any way you want

37:31Patrick Claybon:Patrick uh well the biggest one uh I think because I think it will go down as the best to ever do it is what if the Eagles never fired Andy Reid? I think the litany of things that happen after that, who knows if things line up and they get these Super Bowls, but that's my big what if. And then recently, if we make it more recent, if Ben Johnson had agreed to take the Colts job in 2023, would they have drafted Anthony Richardson? Would they have taken Will Levis? If Sycambe was able to work magic, is Gardner Minshew got away with it as the season went on, but eventually couldn't get away with it any longer, messed up their pick.

38:10Patrick Claybon:The 2024 draft class was incredible. Who would they have gotten out of that? It was, that was a big one. The Andy Reid thing is crazy because I remember covering that at the time and it actually did feel like it was time. I think he sort of wanted out for what, you know, now they could have nurtured that relationship in a different way, but it was one of those things, even as it was happening, it was like, this guy's one of the greatest coaches ever. And yet I understand why this is happening. They would have had to maybe choose Andy over Howie or the kind of structure that was going on there.

38:41But it did feel like time. I love those what ifs. One that popped to me. I got a few of these. What if John Madden didn't retire? That was one of mine. Yeah. So for that books episode, I went back and read the first John Madden book, which is very readable and great. Like, not a surprise, but like it's fun to read. And he just had it in his head. he almost retired the year before he just had it and said i wanted to win 100 games in my first 10 years this is just a big round number that just sounded good to me and like me i talked about it with my wife and i was like i want to get to 100 in year 10 no one's ever done that by the way before and so that's what he did and then he retired didn't have a great final season as compared to his others but he finished 103 and 32 he was 42 years old when he retired i mean i know sean mcbay came in as like a boy wonder and had a lot of success he wasn't 103 and 32 and retiring at 42 that is outrageous i hope he doesn't retire at 42 um that was yours well that was one of mine um another of mine was like super super niche but i'm curious to hear what you guys think about this because you remember very much the the dialogue and discussion that immediately started after this but what if dan campbell didn't go for it successfully as much on fourth down early in his in his tenure and in his head coaching tenure.

40:00Because we really started talking about that, not only because he was doing it successfully, but also because he wasn't out there saying, you know, we are looking at this specific probability every single time. Instead, he was combining a lot of information into one decision. I wonder how all of that conversation, maybe it would have delayed until this year or whatever year, but he sort of is the face, I want to say, of restarting that modern conversation of situational football analytics, analytics in football. And as infuriating as those conversations can sometimes be, especially when you're listening to your television broadcast, other than when Greg Golsan talks about it because he's great.

40:48I think that it's he really inadvertently ushered in like another way of the larger collective thinking about it when a lot of really smart people you know obviously already were. He was the perfect representative to do it. I think it was inevitable that because it was just coming it was creeping that way all along and he was the perfect manly guy to take it. I was going to say that was my other question. I'm curious if like someone who didn't look like he could like step on you or put you through a wall like If he didn't look like that, would it have been as effective? I'm just kidding. I think so.

41:21I think it honestly would have because I do think – it's a question that I've been tired of hearing on broadcast since the late aught. And so I think it was just a natural progression, and he did it a little extra, but there were others that did it extra too. It would have happened, but he was the perfect vessel, I feel like, to make it happen. Another one I had, and this is more of like a player thing, but it's a way we think about coaches. what if Phillip Rivers didn't tear his ACL in the divisional round against the Colts would Norv Turner be a Super Bowl winning head coach for the San Diego Chargers I believe he would

41:57Patrick Claybon:they were in the Patriots game with a torn ACL in the AFC I think they would have beat the Patriots the Patriots were getting rickety by then if you really look at their last handful of games they were feeling the pressure Norv Turner also had like a 13-3 season great offensive coordinator Justice for Norf Turner. I'm probably a little rusty at it, but I used to do a great Norf Turner impression. Okay. You hated my impression. You literally can't say that without doing it. Let's do it. Oh, I don't know. I'll take it. I'll take it. Yeah, that's it. It's been so long. That's it. Hey, Norf. Good to be here.

42:36Yeah, what if John Gruden wasn't found to be like a huge racist at virtually any other time in our country's history? That was actually the one time where it caught him. Yeah. What would have happened with the rest of that contract?

42:48Patrick Claybon:He found the three-month time frame. But it generally works out for you. You could be the wealthiest person in the history of the world. He's doing fine. Does your boss leaving work affect productivity? Cough, cough, Seahawks. Talking about the ownership change. I don't think it's going to matter at all. Yeah, no. I guess there is an outcome where there are bad owners that want to get super involved and mess it up. And I guess that could be a problem. The previous ownership was already hands-off before Paul Allen died and then really was hands-off. It's why I often said Pete Carroll, I thought was the most powerful coach in the NFL, one of the most powerful people.

43:28He was essentially an acting owner. Now it's been John Schneider. But I don't think it's going to be.

43:34Patrick Claybon:No, I don't think they would have bought the team if it wasn't like a set it and forget it type circumstance. They can just have, you know, financial space to where other purchases may be able to be offset by this one. John Snyder's team, baby. Which is. Yeah. And they both got extensions. They're good. Which is more likely Kyler Murray earns earns a Malik ish Willis contract or or better. Or he ends the season on injured reserve and or never sees top QB money or an extended starter gig. Again, this is from Chris Klein and Blue Sky. I tend to think the former. I think that he at the at the minimum could potentially earn maybe the last, you know, big contract or multi-year extension of his career, depending on how the season goes in Minnesota.

44:21I am curious if it starts to go very well. You know, we've seen Minnesota fumble that decision before. So I'm very curious about how that would go. Obviously, the age and the injury history with Kyler are much different questions than they were necessarily having about like Sam Darnold. or Daniel Jones. That was more of a talent question. With Kyler, I think we see that the ceiling can be very, very high. This is one of the situations I'm most curious about entering the season. I feel like I know it's going to look cool if everyone's healthy, but I don't know exactly what type of cool it's going to look like.

44:56Yeah, I think Murray and that team is fascinating. They have a huge variance. He has a chance, like Malik Willis, to be a number one overall free agent on my list if the Vikings can't get him re-signed, and he is playing well um i think it's very likely that he gets a good contract again yeah i am i am

45:15Patrick Claybon:hopeful for the former i unfortunately feel like the latter uh based on the circumstances where if you do get hurt and you're a kyler murray uh you are too talented to live in that forever backup quarterback uh circumstance that a lot of guys are in and there's this well if we bring in kyler then there's all this conversation and does he make our starter feel worried and these circumstances where he it's either like he maintains his career and he's a starting quarterback or I worry that Kyler just won't be in the league anymore like a lot of other talented guys he in that Malik Willis contract is sort of in between starter and not starter so that makes it an easier answer yeah too how much longer is the 49ers contention window this is from TMP on blue sky I like this one I just assume Shani pieces out after Trent Williams CMC Christian McCaffrey and George Kittle are done.

46:05It's hard to see him stick through a rebuild. Well, first of all, I think they could contend after those three guys and Warner are done. Like, I just think he's that good a coach, but it's a fair point that that's maybe two years left with at most with like kind of that core. I don't know. Like, I don't know if he'll ever want to leave. I think he'll be like his dad where you got to kick him out. Like you got to essentially get fired. Yeah. He's got a great situation. Let go or be dragged. Right. as the saying goes. I think this is an interesting question because I understand where it's coming from.

46:39It is such a top-heavy roster. It's been top-heavy for a long time. What I think the question is kind of missing, though, is they've been rebuilding underneath it for quite some time, even at the detriment of some of these guys that can't see the field that they've tried to draft and develop. And the best thing for them is, I'm thinking of a couple of linemen they've had, you know, would be to get on the field and play. But often for better, some of these old guys just aren't done yet and they they aren't done yet and and it's very productive for the team but at some point they will be done and so I I do think yeah one or two years with this particular top heavy core but I do think they the question of him not being around for a rebuild I think is is not the right question because they've already been partially rebuilding pretty much every year for the last two at least two two off seasons they need to draft better though they need to find They're their next guys.

47:29And that's why I think it's much more likely that that John Lynch at some point in the United States, because I just can't imagine Jed York ever wanting to fire Kyle Shanahan. I guess you never know. I mean, this was it was interesting. This was the first offseason that we started hearing, I think, a little bit more like Kyle was actually asked, would you ever do broadcasting? You know what I mean? Like those little things when those little things start coming out, especially after the coach has already gotten paid. That's interesting to me. Like, what do you know that you're asking that question?

48:00Would he ever take a break? Because he's still a young in terms of coaching, a young man. And so he is, what, 46 right now. So we're the same age. And, yeah, he could take he could take a year off at some point and still have a lot of good years left.

48:16Patrick Claybon:I guess my follow-up question to these questions is, would Kyle Shanahan rather take a year off or have Jed York walk in and say, hey, can we have a conversation about John Lynch and how you feel he's performing? Because some of these wiggly John Lynch picks, we feel like Kyle may have heavily influenced those. So whose picks are those really? Right. It's the same thing. It's all the same as that happened with his dad, which is also why I think if he didn't want John Lynch to be there, I don't think John Lynch would be there. So I consider their relationship to be good enough, you know, if he is there.

48:53I think they have a really, really, really strong relationship. Right. And a lot of collaboration, even if we see little clips on social media about someone not seeming to know what's going on in the draft room. And John Lynch, I think it's a really important skill set. There aren't that many coach-first organizations. So you need your GM in that situation to serve the head coach and be okay with that. And I think John Lynch does that. I think they work well together. We got a question. Will Max Crosby be traded before the season begins? This is a quick one. That's a non-starter. I just don't think that is happening.

49:31Mary Kay Kane asked, do you like podcasts? And I guess this one is for me because it's the only place in your life that people listen to your opinions. Is that a shot? um you think that's a shot i don't i don't think it's a shot i mean oh they they listen maybe if they didn't listen they wouldn't be in my life maybe an existential question yes yeah i mean that's the hardest no ever though yeah like um you're getting the opinions yeah do you really think you could silence this man take the mic away and he's still going it was a similar one did you miss talking about the nfl and death during your time away that was from ivan mtz on on ig i do bring up mortality sometimes within the family doesn't go over like as well i got to be careful about it but we talk about we talk about the meaning of life in the family you gotta you gotta pick your spots when you're talking to kids about that but it's it's Not not talked about.

50:33I'll say that. I'd say I learned a lot about grief this offseason. And I think that for me personally, and everybody's different, everybody carries it differently and learns to live around it, essentially, is what I've learned is really what it is. And, man, I found some real clarity in really just not pushing it aside, if that makes sense. and not making myself busy to distract and not running away from it or avoiding it and just sort of like being there with it in the room. And I think like I'm kind of amazed by that entire experience, to be honest. Yeah, it's the universal experience. Everyone will go through it literally at some point, but you're going to go through it with someone close to them, uh, at some point.

51:27And it's, it's weird because it makes you feel alive in a different way. Cause it's just like the most, um, human thing that can, that can happen. And I, yeah, I learned a lot from Lakeisha Wesley, uh, wife of, of Chris, who, whose name is on this studio because she, she really kind of, as you're saying, like she loved talking about Chris, she loved talking about what she was going through and it makes you feel closer and I think that's important when it comes to grief. Everyone's going to go through it, but like you said, people go through it in different ways. Speaking of grief, what a transition.

52:05He's back. He's so back. Jonathan Gannon went through a lot of pain last year. Oh my God. What can Packers fans expect from Jonathan Gannon as defensive coordinator?

52:19Patrick Claybon:I think the issues in Arizona, a lot of them are related to the talent on the team. Fair. Okay, but the second part of this question I want to point out was good context from Matthew Probst on Blue Sky. I know he had success in Philly, but every Eagles fan I know hates him and is glad he left. Well, there's a couple things to take away from that. I was going to say, where do we start? Okay, hit me. List of people and players that every Eagles fan I know hates and is glad he left. also include, like, we just had the Andy Reid discussion. Like, it's everybody at a certain point. We just watched the greatest home run derby I've seen in the past 15 years.

52:57Patrick Claybon:The chairman was getting booed in Philadelphia while it was happening. One of two Super Bowl winning defensive coordinators in the history of the organization, Jonathan Gannon. So you wouldn't think you would be so. I think there's only if I was actually, I was going back and thinking about this and I was like, of people who have left the organization, I actually cannot think of one, maybe, and I don't remember, I don't think he was even at the court. Was he at the coordinator level? Steichen? Maybe just quarterbacks you're passing. I don't remember. But I think they only just don't hate him because they never really paid attention to him when he was there.

53:33I mean, and he's not a hateable guy. Let me be clear. But I could not think, my point is I could not think of somebody that Eagles fans don't hate for leaving them is what I would say. Fair. Like, even the great players. Like they always come back around pretty quickly. Like they hated Shady McCoy when he left, but then they loved him pretty soon after that, once they got to like look back at the times. Gannon is a weird case though, because his scheme was often very vanilla, had a lot of talent in that. And they felt like they underperformed a little at times. Yeah. And they ended up winning the Superbowl.

54:11It was the opposite in Arizona, which I think was the impact also of his staff and Nick Rollis. where they were super creative, like the opposite of Vanilla. But he's like not maybe great in front of a room. So he's not like that guy either. But is he a scheme wizard? And yet, if you talk to people in the Eagles organization, they loved Jonathan Gannon. I think the people that have worked with him and generally players have a pretty high opinions of him. So that should count for something. He's a confusing guy. Yeah. Contains multitudes. As do we all. I think that this is, I think, probably somewhere in the middle of both systems that you saw or both at least game plans that you saw, because I do think that Jonathan Gannon is obviously not going to have, especially right away.

54:59He will have Micah Parsons eventually, but in the short term is going to be a little bit more scheme reliant like we saw in Arizona. And I think this McDuffie signing was really sort of a tell on some of what they're going to be planning on doing, because you notice that when he was in Arizona and he didn't necessarily have, you know, pass rushers, he could always rely on and really keep the coverage complicated behind them. He would design and manufacture different types of pressures, certain odd fronts, things like that. using linebackers, using defensive backs, using more of those hybrid players.

55:33So I think that's something that's a tell for what you might see in the short term. When Micah Parsons comes back, then you can open up and do things that might truly look a little bit more simple, honestly, but then allows the coverage to set up the way that he wants it behind that. I do know you're going to see a lot of match zone, which is fun because I think Packers fans were really going crazy over the fact that sometimes they couldn't see their cornerbacks on the TV screen because they were playing so off in that shell zone that, that, you know, Joe Barry ran and, and that a lot of this, the coaches from the tree like to have because they want to limit explosives so that they can then be more aggressive with their own explosives on the other side.

56:15Offensively, you give up the time battle in that case. I can go on about this for an entire show. If we don't want to do that. The, the other thing is, I think that the more confidence he has in the defensive backs, and they've been sort of rebuilding that defensive backfield a little bit, the more confidence he has, the more complicated you're going to see. And he's one of those coordinators that if he's confident, he's going to throw heat. You're not going to see him stay within one set of rules just because that's how he always plays. If he believes in the abilities or he thinks someone can move around, he's going to throw some heat at these options.

56:52I don't think it's that talented a defense, even when Micah Parsons is there. I think they'll have to scheme it up. I just think my only point was— I mean, it's kind of talented. I mean, I'm just saying if you lined them all up, I would say they'd be below average. Sure. My only point is that when you add the best pass rusher on the planet to a defense, it's probably going to get better. No, I'm supporting what you're saying that I think he's going to have to be creative. I think he also just suffered in Philly that he was not Jim Johnson, who's probably on the Mount Rushmore of most beloved coordinators of all time.

57:21anywhere. And he was not Vic Fangio. And he's not Jim Schwartz either. So it's just, they've had a, you know, just a high level of these defensive coordinators that have been there. They are a wealth of riches there with their DCs. Will, should the NFL make Guardian Caps mandatory question? I'm Anya, a trans girl fan. I love y 'all. Shout out to our trans listeners out there. We love y 'all too. Love you guys. Tough question. I don't have an answer to this. I don't I don't I don't think so. But I don't know.

57:56Patrick Claybon:Yeah, I don't know either. I know there's some data that, you know, exemplifies and justifies the use, you know, as we get closer to, you know, in a goal to trying to make football safe. At a certain point, it becomes like, should we be playing football at all? I think that's the question that this kind of leads us down. But to make it mandatory, I think, requires a whole bunch of other steps that we could be taking in other places. But if it actually does make football safer, then it should. So far, and I think they still need more research, but I think the idea is it does reduce the impact of hits, period.

58:36But not necessarily just the amount of concussions. and so it's a little imperfect in terms of the data that's out there. Let's go to Andy on IG who says, what do you think the ceiling is for Tyler Schuck this year? I thought asking ceiling is interesting, Jordan, just because to me, he's a high variance guy, which I don't know if people are thinking about him that way, where I do think the ceiling, when it all is hitting, might be pretty damn high. But it could be rocky. It could be big ups, big downs, because he's going to get his throws in. He's going to either make some big mistakes or make some big plays.

59:20I don't think, though, I think the system, as it continues to be constructed, I'm starting to see a little bit more of the steps and the progression that Kellen Moore wants to do with that offense. And certainly the personnel they've added, they've added a couple of more guys who will be layers within that passing game. they clearly feel like you know trying to mitigate some of the things that would cause him to be streaky whether that's pressure giving him outlets solidifying or at least identifying like who the personnel is going to be in the run game I can I can actually see them as they are constructing this offseason and adding or subtracting in some cases sort of leveling out where they think he might have some of those, those variance issues come in because I do think the ceiling is incredibly high.

1:00:07I don't have a one-to-one comp. I try to stay away from comps from like really young, really young quarterbacks. I think those get you into a lot of trouble. Um, but I, I liked him because I thought he saw the field really well. Um, he has the bit like the size and the arm talent, uh, of an NFL starting quarterback. And I think that again, getting rid of some of the, the factors and any trademark of a good play caller and a good offensive designer is going to be trying to at least re-level or set a higher floor for some of those things that would cause the streakiness we did see from some of his college tape.

1:00:41And I'm also less worried about the injuries now than I was when he came out because of how, how good he looked when he, when he was playing. All right. We're getting towards the end here. Let's speed round these rests. All right. This one, I don't have who it's from, but the question was the Rams are back all in F them. picks mode, but the backup situation has echoes of the Brett Rippin travesty who had to play for them in a meeting. This has got to be a diehard Rams. Yes. Are they? That's a poll right there. Are they really going to go with Stetson Bennett or Simpson during a pivotal year? Or is there a nod and wink agreement with Jimmy G?

1:01:17Patrick Claybon:Yeah, I agree 100 percent. It does have echoes of the Brett Rippin travesty because these any of these situations like that. What are you where we've gotten so far that you can't trust the number 13 overall pick in the draft to be your backup quarterback? I should hope that number 13 overall pick can be your backup quarterback. I don't think that's crazy at all. If you can't coach up your first round quarterback to at least feel like he can be a backup. It's like, well, what are we doing? He's only in the first round because that's where you picked him. Right. I get it. But you believe in you believe in him enough to take him there.

1:01:52I think I think you can have a number 13 overall pick be your backup. Calm down. Top, top Trevor. What coordinators are you the most excited for in 2026? Speed round here, Jordan. I don't know if you got any. I'll throw out. I have a bunch. Okay. Durante Jones. I threw out the defensive coordinator. Can he be the next Flores in, in Washington, Declan Doyle in Baltimore? Your, your guy, Clayton Adams, year two. Christian Parker, Clayton Adams combo in Dallas, Sean Mannion now pairing with Vic Fangio in Philadelphia. I think there's some interesting potential to that. I think that's going to look more like a LeFleur tight end heavy.

1:02:28Well, you know, 12 personnel version of that offense than necessarily like the rest of the tree, quote unquote. Mike McDaniel. Come on. I mean, we all were. And I want him miked up for every game. And also Patrick Graham is now in Pittsburgh. And that dude throws heat. I am really excited to see what that looks like.

1:02:45Patrick Claybon:Yeah, it's Mike Mack. Obviously, I would like to see Declan Doyle. But congratulations to Justin Herbert liberating himself from that. Chris in Massachusetts writes, I have no question. I just want you to know I'm glad you got a vacation and we get another season of NFL Daily. Let's go Patriots. I mean, thank you, Chris. Greg wrote that to himself. Is this the year we're going to finally experience joy as a Chargers fan? This is from Stephen Hagelin on Twitter, I believe it was, who's part of the Guilty as Barge podcast. Friend of the show. And I actually do know the answer to this, Stephen. you are going to experience some joy this year until horrible pain.

1:03:26That's a little bit of a step forward. Do we think that Chargers fans simply know the true experience of what it is to be human? They're going to find out. I think they are feeling good this week because I saw Max Crosby on some podcasts say when he was asked, who are the fans that annoy you the most, that you hate the most that are the worst. And he said Chargers fans, which actually is a feather in his cap. He's like, they're vicious. They come at me. They're the worst. Like, they're small but mighty in a way. And I was like, this is actually the best pub that the Chargers fans have gotten. They're thrilled with this feedback.

1:04:06It's a huge jerk. It's incredible. Houston Stressons asks, could you see the Texans have a historically great defense? Okay. Feed round. I was ready for this because I'm going to answer this and the style of Houston Stressens, a great follow on social media. Of the choices between Blessen or Stressen, I'm going to pick Blessen. There it is. I think they got a chance. I think defense is more unpredictable, so it's harder. But if any defense has a chance. This one. This one. And they've kind of built up in a way like the Bears when they were coming into that 86. It kind of built up a couple years of like, oh, we're really getting to know this group and we know that they're great.

1:04:49I think you kind of need that. Like the Ravens back in the day, it was like a slow build and then it went nuclear.

1:04:58DA Rosenthal, unrelated, says on a Japanese fiction kick, can you recommend some? Quickly, Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata, for sure. I mean, that's the one that got me going. and then each one of her books is successfully more crazy. Just the craziest books ever. I love all of her stuff. A Thousand Cranes by Yasunori Kawabata, who won the Nobel Peace Prize. That's as Japanese as you get. Short, it's perfect. Pale View of the Hills. That's actually a British writer, British-Japanese, Kasuo Ishiguro, but that's about post-war Japan. That's a good one. And then the Kawakamis, Hiromi and Mieko.

1:05:43No relation, but they're both great. Heaven by Mieko Kawakami is awesome. Ten Loves of Nishino is probably my favorite by Hiromi. How many books total did you read on your vacation? Six or seven, I would say. He's a machine. He does. We are an hour in. Is that how we want to finish the show? I mean, I see a question. Okay, Patrick is going to choose one final question. I don't even know what it is. I went through.

1:06:12Patrick Claybon:Well, it's one that you went past. No, it might not have been on purpose. There was no name attached to it. How has AI changed football reporting? Have you found it useful for running any analysis that aren't available elsewhere? The answer is made it unquestionably worse, and it needs to die immediately. That's the death that I'd like to celebrate. Has not helped. I don't know if it's changed anything. Not in my personal life, but yeah, not that I know of. I think it's a travesty.

1:06:46I don't try to say this in an arrogant way or whatever, but I am a football reporter as a writer as well, and I am terrified of it. I think it is making people able to think less critically. I think people are in danger of not understanding the validity to what sometimes they see, particularly if AI chum is being pumped out over and across social media. I think that it is a really scary thing for the profession of journalism in general. And on the other side of it, I do understand when, for example, NFL organizations or franchises use it to shorten tasks that would otherwise take days and days and days.

1:07:39Logging medical information from the scouting combine, for example. Organizing and ranking information. I mean, and that's like. Those types of things. I want to say. That's like computers.

1:07:48Patrick Claybon:There's a big gulf between. I want to say, yeah. Using machine learning and this dreck that's been churned out by chatbots over and over again. And so for that reason, I am terrified of it. And I think it's healthy to feel that way. And also, I understand that this is a tool that a lot of the world around us and certainly NFL teams are exploring. And I think that the problem that I just get really icked out by is like when it crosses into the things that you're supposed to be doing that make us innately human. I am supposed to be speaking to you to understand your life perspective and what makes you who you are and how you put a game plan together and why this core memory from your, you know, third game of your high school football season has now evolved over 30 years to become a play that you call in the divisional round.

1:08:43Like I need to understand that on an emotional human level and dig into that myself in order to actually share that in a way that reflects the entirety and the justice done to humanity. So I am terrified of it. I think it's a travesty in a lot of ways. I also do understand the tool elements of it.

1:09:05Patrick Claybon:Yeah. And that's an aspect I didn't even consider. I didn't really expect myself to go that long. Sorry. But, yeah, I was good because we do this to try to bridge a gap and communicate the lives of these players and coaches and the people who are part of this game to other people where we may eventually get in a situation where you're trying to correspond with a player or a coach. And they're using some chat bot that's really just the assemblance of all Reddit posts in history to respond. Right. And so, like, what are we even doing? Well, that's the main thing is it's just not an accurate search function.

1:09:36And I try to explain that real example of that this year. I did. I was just perturbed by it. I would always assume, and this I have talked about with my son and stuff, most of it's wrong because it's just combining a ton of sources in a way that's wrong. It's wrong more often than not. Maybe that'll change at some point, but I have my doubts. Go to the original source. And if you don't mind, the example I'm talking about is maybe even more insidious than that because I think there's a lot of really awesome data out there and we're learning more about it every day. And I think being able to package that data in ways that are digestible for like my human brain is super, super helpful.

1:10:20But I'm starting to notice that it is the parameters or the goalposts around packages of data are being queried into AI bots or AI queries, whether it's like quad or whatever, into goalposts moving the way that humans would do it to come up with erroneous comps or comps that are not one-to-one or like what we would call moving the goalposts in an argument. I'm starting to notice this happening in NFL buildings. And that is scary to me. If you're going to query, you need to do it in a way that is as comprehensive to your question and the data points that you're looking for as possible, not saying, oh, I'm going to comp this person from this year to this year with all these other people in totality.

1:11:06And that's how we make an argument. Making everyone dumber and worse. Not good. Great way to show. End the show. Sorry. Sorry. That's my bad. I'm so sorry. I did want to hear your Hall of Fame opinions, Greg. I do want to hear them. I didn't have them. That'll be a whole episode. There was a Hall of Fame question. And then I thought, I want to do a segment, or at least part of an episode, more about the upcoming Hall of Fame. Not the upcoming class, but who should be in it. So, yeah. circle back to the space. We got a lot of shows you want to get it after he got put on timeout.

1:11:37Patrick Claybon:Bill's going to be very excited to be a part of the proceeding. We will be back later this week. As I mentioned, one more show this week before next week. Yes. The final week. This is it before teams show up for training camp. I know the Seahawks rookies are showing up on Friday. I don't count the whole rookie showing up for a week as it. So this is the last week with only three shows. And then we start cranking them up next week. We'll have one more show for you later in the week. In the meantime, thank you to the original crew, Jordan Rodrigue and Patrick Claibon. We'll see you next time.

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