Saturday Sickos: All-Underrated Defense

20:59He just switches and pretends like he's living on the East Coast there in Manchester. So what linebackers this year have you enjoyed watching the most that deserve to be on the all underrated team?

21:11Ollie Connolly:There's a lot this season, which is a true bounce back, where last year you're digging through the rubble being like, can we find a fourth, fifth one here that could play pretty well? I went first with Divine Diablo from the Falcons, who when he came over from Vegas, I just thought that was a complete whiff and a mistake to do. He's a converted safety who was always like, oh, he can play in space. You get all the coverage stuff. People say you can't find coverage linebackers. Well, you might get a plus coverage linebacker who could do absolutely nothing for you in the run fit. He comes to Atlanta and he's been incredible around the ball and making plays in the backfield.

21:43Ollie Connolly:and he's playing in that really mugged up kind of linear path system where it's either blitz or drop and that's where I think he's at his best but he's added this new fresh element to his game where he can really kind of dance and skip around the box and slide through those crevices and go make plays in the backfield which is just not what his game was like at all before he's got here and he's been super impactful super productive and now has the the sick aesthetic where he's got the club on one arm and he's just swatting people away and he's going to make them plays so divine diablo jumps out for me yeah i think about that defense and how many cool parts of it has and how they use them well and then i think i don't know if that defense is gonna exist next year it's kind of a shame we'll we'll see who ends up being their head coach next year but like so many guys seem like good fits and we've seen development out of their their rookie pass rushers but that that's a good shout out coming from the raiders everyone like looks a little better after they leave the Raiders who else do you got Chuck well first off I wanted to think real quick maybe this is just like a association by uniform but and I think it was a different defensive scheme but like Diablo going to the Falcons having a good year it kind of makes me think about when like Michael Walker who's no longer there I always liked him with the Falcons different types of players but it's just like I don't know what it is about Atlanta there's always a linebacker that comes from Atlanta that I like I'm gonna go with this might be a bit of a cherry pick but he's a rookie he's having a great year, Carson Sueshinger, who's just been fantastic for the Browns.

23:05He has effectively replaced Jeremiah Owusu-Koromo as best as possible in this defense. A former walk-on at UCLA who ends up being a top end of the second round draft pick. I think he's still a strong candidate for defensive rookie of the year based on how he's performed in his first season. He ranks in like the top 25 among all linebackers, according to PFF. He's in the top 20 in run defense. And you just see it on the tape. He's another guy who's not afraid to get dirty, to fire him with explosion. He's rangy. he can get from sideline to sideline. He's decent in pass coverage. He's the type of athletic linebacker that I think is a bit of a dying breed.

23:36Even as we turn toward more sub packages, he's a guy that can play on all three downs and he's been a big part for that defense, a big piece of it for sure. When you're watching him, like, did you expect Ali this big of an impact right off the bat?

23:51Ollie Connolly:No, not this big of an impact. I think he almost falls into that Diablo bucket where he was billed as, okay, we're going to get all the coverage chops, the coverage and rage and Jihad Campbell has more of the size and power and like physical strength to maybe be more of the first down and four so you can then survive on third down. He just walks in the league and is just killing people at the point of attack day one. Stood up, mugged up, and then they run the ball at you when you're mugged up these days. And he's like, I don't care about it. I'm just going to throw somebody to the floor and go get the ball.

24:15Ollie Connolly:I did not expect to have this kind of all around impact. I thought he would really be a sub package piece coming in on passing downs and you would maybe figure out over time how close can you get into the line of scrimmage? How much can you play just in the trenches, big boy on big boy football? So for him to be this impactful right away, I agree with Shook. I think he's kind of the runaway defensive rookie of the year. If you just go snap by snap, who plays like an all-around pro? And that is the position that takes three years to develop more than any other position in the league outside of maybe quarterback.

24:40Ollie Connolly:And he's just stepped in day one as a top 10, top 12 linebacker. That's basically impossible to do. And so he deserves an award for that. This is not an official entry, but Devin Bush has played pretty well for this. It kills me. I didn't want to sound like a homer, but you're right. He's had a really good year. Am I crazy? I'm like, wow, is that Devin Bush again? Devin Bush is pretty good at football suddenly. Yeah, I didn't want to sound like a homer being in Cleveland and everything else, but he's made, I mean, he even had his first interception years this season. I don't know if he's found the fountain of youth or if he's just in the right scheme with Jim Schwartz's defense, but he's having probably his best year or one of his best years.

25:19Maybe a little bit of both, which is like he's in a perfect situation. and what Ali was saying in terms of sometimes you really do need that time to develop at that position. But especially I think there's Jim Schwartz and that defense helping him like focus on what he does well. Ali, who else do you got?

25:35Ollie Connolly:I was going to go with Justin Schrenard from the Broncos, who is truly my beloved, but he's once again being benched because Drake Greenlaw has returned. And so I don't think you can put a bench player on the all underrated team, which is sad. So I'm going to throw something out to the Titans fans and say that in Cedric Gray, I believe you found someone who can actually stand up and play on the field for you on Sundays behind Jeffrey Simmons. And that should be pretty exciting. Now he's right up there in like the raw like tackle data numbers. But none of it is empty calories to me. His range, his fight, he is still a complete roller coaster, particularly in coverage.

26:07Ollie Connolly:He is lost constantly. But if you just put in between the tackles and in the box and allow him to kind of just play sit and find and sift and find football, which is a lot of early down stuff in the NFL, he's playing about as well as you could ever hope for. for a second year guy playing in that scheme behind the front that he's playing with. That is truly all underrated. I know this because my son wanted to play a game. I didn't want to bring the iPad to Chargers Eagles on Monday night when we're stuck in traffic on the way there. And he just wanted to play a game. You give me a depth chart position and I'll name who the players are in the NFL, which makes me very proud as a father that he suggested that game.

26:48And I'm like, Titans linebacker. And he's like, there's no chance that he's getting that. And then he threw it back on me. And I was like, actually, that's pretty tough. I did know Cedric Gray, but I was like, I would not have tabbed him for the all underrated team. And off the top of my head, I don't know who's even playing next to him right now in Tennessee.

27:08Ollie Connolly:Cody Barton doing an awful lot of pointing at everyone else, saying that's where the ball's going to go. And it's like, Cody, could you maybe F it over there for us? We're paying you some money to maybe get in position and make some plays. Cedric Gray's play style and demeanor is just Aziz Alshair put into another body. Now, that's always borderline and reckless and you get all the dumb penalties. But if that's your kind of linebacker, which is a throwback linebacker that, you know, the 30 of 32 coaches in the league are like, yes, please sign me up for some Aziz Alshair. Cedric Gray is the next incarnation of that.

27:36Yeah, I've just been waiting for the Brandon Spikes style of linebacker to come back into vogue. I mean, a Landon Roberts is having a long career there and he's kind of in that mold. All right. Shook, give me your other linebacker. A late arrival to my radar. We're going to the Rams here. Nate Landman, who's having an excellent year. I mean, obviously he benefits from playing behind one of the top defensive fronts in football, but I'm not going to use that to take anything away from him. And the reason that he landed on my radar late was because, yes, I'd known about him and I'd appreciate his contributions, but he made one of the greatest interceptions I've seen from a guy at linebacker against on Kobe Brissett against the Cardinals last weekend.

28:16I just he Jacoby never saw him and he just full extension picks him off and I'm like, oh, and they had been talking about him on the broadcast earlier. And I was like, yeah, you are giving him his due and he deserves that. But then he goes and makes a play almost on cue. I think that, you know, when you look at the Rams as a complete team and defensively, we always talk about that front four. We give credit to some of what they have in the secondary, but we seem to, I don't know, maybe overlook a bit of what they have at the second level. We should stop doing that because Nate Landman's having a really good year.

28:43So Nate Landman signed a contract extension that I think slipped under the entire NFL's radar because it was over Thanksgiving. They got him in for three years,$22.5 million extension. They basically signed him for nothing this offseason. I'd have to go check, but I'm guessing it was like a million dollars or something or close to the minimum. The guarantee is only about$15 million. dollars they that's like for the next three years they just got like a very low cost linebacker who can stay on the field who is doing a little bit of everything if you want to know like how to succeed while you're paying puka nakua's next contract and whatever you're you're paying davante adams if he's still on the team it's like getting deals like that less need has done a good job drafting and that was an amazing extension landman i i get it i probably would do the same thing if I could imagine myself as an NFL player but like he could have made a lot more money frankly if he if he waited till till he got to the open market I'm sure you've loved watching

29:45Ollie Connolly:him play too Ollie oh I love the land man how could you not um the thing that is interesting about them and their linebacks in particular is that their threshold French is like just don't make mistakes all the fun stuff we do is in the front and then with the three safeties now not with Quinton Lake but when we have Quinton Lake that's where all the fun in games happens just be in the right spots on time and never make a mistake and Nate Landman just doffed his cap and was like, I will not do that, sir, and pay me$21 million. And that's what they did. And if that's the style of scheme you're running, which is, which is we'll keep the linebacker clean and you just float the football and figure it out for us, is really, really, really valuable.

30:19Ollie Connolly:And yet they got a really cost-effective deal. Yeah, he was with the Falcons previously and he has had a knack for making big plays. And it's been interesting. They said goodbye to Ernest Jones. They had a lot of faith in Omar Spates, who's playing pretty well for them there. That's our linebackers. So let's take a quick break and we'll come back on the other side and we will do the defensive line, all underrated defense.

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36:28the following week. So, you know, just happy Rosenthal Christmas to me. Let's go to the edge defenders. A lot of options here. We'll start with you, Shooky. Okay, so as we went into the season, we looked at the Detroit Lions and we thought, all right, they got Aiden Hutchinson and they're already dealing with some injuries in the defensive front. And who's going to play opposite Aiden Hutchinson? Last year, it was Zedarius Smith came in in the middle of the year. What are they going to do? I'll tell you what they're going to do. They're going to go to Al-Qadim Muhammad and say, get us nine sacks, make some big plays in big spots on national television, and become just about as productive of an edge rusher as Aiden Hutchinson this year.

37:05You don't believe me? I'll tell you about the numbers. He's fourth in quarterback pressure percentage among all edge rushers at 16.5%. That is 0.01 percentage points behind Aiden Hutchinson, which means they're getting about similar production. And I talked about the nine sacks. He's made a difference. It hasn't been entirely consistent from week to week. Sometimes he disappears, but man, in those big spots when they need a play, if it isn't Hutchinson, you see number 96 and you're like, oh yeah, that is that guy that blew up earlier this year. Look at him making a play again. So I love what he's done for the Lions this year.

37:36I think of him too, as a, like a hustle guy and he's going to clean it up, but we're watching him beat Terrence Steele clean in that, that Thursday night game. Look, he, he started his career pretty well for the Colts. And then he was reduced to a point where he was just on the Lions practice squad. He was not even on an active roster. or anyone could have picked him up basically for free. But that's a good shout out. And it's just like they needed to get production from somewhere and you can't count on Marcus Davenport to stay healthy for long.

38:05Ollie Connolly:My fear with the Lions defense in general is that they've become really siloed and really packaged. And we do this on one down, then we kind of change the defense on a sub down and we bring Mohamed in to do his thing. And I think that's why the production kind of ebbs and flows every week. The teams who have a good plan for knowing we can kind of get the Lions into what we want to get them to. they start shifting the front around with McNeil and Williams and Hutchinson. You can kind of dictate the terms to them in a way that I think could get you smoked in a playoff game, unfortunately, but he is a full-on effort and hustle player.

38:33Ollie Connolly:Great high five guy. Great high five guy. Gets the backfield, meets Aiden, says, come on, buddy. Good job. So I like, I admire the effort. I admire the gumption. I think he's got a bit more juice than maybe I'm giving him credit for there. But as a one-on-one winner in the playoffs, when you're kind of tipping your hands on what you're doing as a defense i have some reservations as a kind of uh second option alongside aiden forget the playoffs how about saturday i mean sunday this week against the rams i am definitely concerned about how that defense is going to look i'm looking forward to that one though uh give us an edge defender ali i'm going with nick herbig with the steelers who i'm not sure is in any way underrated anymore but i've had him listed on this team since he walked into the league so i'm just going to persist with it until mike tomlin recognizes the brilliance before him and stops rolling him off the field whenever Alex Highsmith becomes healthy and available again.

39:19Ollie Connolly:He is potentially the most explosive guy off the ball in the entire league, particularly from a two-point stance. Miles lives in probably a tear of his own, but just as a straight juice fly off the ball, Herbig is right there with absolutely no defensive architecture to help a pass rusher out. Zero. And yet he flies off the ball. He wins inside, outside, spin move, dip and rip, whatever you one he is I think a massively difference making pass rusher and yet he has to spend half of the season begging for snaps and so I find that very frustrating has played a lot more this season and we've been able to see the the kind of impact he can make yeah like I you know when I was just writing down some names in case you guys didn't mention just to give little shout outs I was like does Herbig still qualify and yeah the answer is absolutely yes because I think on a national level people still don't realize he's that quality of a pass rusher.

40:10And if Mike Tomlin is only going to play him a combined, I counted him up 56 snaps the last two weeks in, in money time, like when they absolutely need it, then yes, he is still underrated. It, I don't, I don't get why it's mind boggling.

40:28Ollie Connolly:And if you look at the way offenses treat him in terms like double team rate, chip rate, like all the offenses get it. He's right there with like Will Anderson in terms of like how offenses attribute resources to try and stop him while also having to deal with TJ Watt. And yet the coach on the other sidelines, like take him off the field. Alex Heisman is going back in. Alex Heisman is a good player, but TJ Watt has a, Nick Herbig, excuse me, has a different level of juice coming off the ball. Yeah. There was one, there was one snap. I remember citing earlier this season where I saw, you know, they're sending the help to Herbig and Watts on the field and Watt makes a big play.

41:02And I was like, that's, that's pretty cool. that like her big is setting up why and it it really says a lot who else do you got uh shick so i found myself in this exercise kind of falling on a bunch of rookies and maybe it's just because i'm like aspirational when it comes to this and i'm optimistic and i just like to project outward but like i look at both of the falcons rookie edge rushers which they spent two first round picks on which we can argue about whether that was good for them long term and i kind of mix and match between the two like i have jalen walker here because he's more consistent than James Pierce, but then James Pierce has also had a sack in each of his last five games.

41:36I'm not like a sacks driven guy or anything, but I do like the, the, what Walker kind of brings to the table that you're able to project outward because he's just, just very consistent. He's a PFF had a grading article the other day where they said he's one of the lowest negatively graded players in the rookie class, which I think bodes really well for you long term that even if you're not showing up in the metrics or maybe it's not a per play basis where you're making a difference, disrupting the pass or anything else. As long as you can put together consistent reps as a rookie, I think that bodes really well for you long term.

42:08So when you kind of dive into that, he looks better and more reliable on a snap-by-snap basis. And then you pair that with Pierce, who has become more productive over the last month and a half. And I like the direction that they're headed in, even if they're maybe headed for a regime change as well. You got on the Falcons for this trade, Ollie. A lot of people did. Not the Jalen Walker pick, but going for Pierce. It kind of reminds me of the Pelicans trade for any NBA fans out there where everyone absolutely killed them for trading away their first for Derrick Queen. And that was a bad trade. And yet Derrick Queen is looking pretty good.

42:42Has Pierce convinced you at all that this trade wasn't completely insane? Not in the slightest, no.

42:47Ollie Connolly:I respect Shook's opinion mightily, as you know. I still think he's a one-track player and he is getting a tremendous amount of scheme protection and scheme help. And if he was just left in a one-on-one assignment in a down four defense, I think he would get swallowed up and he'd have the three or four splash plays because he can move off the ball like few people in the NFL. Jalen Walker, though, Chuck's pick, I've told you before, I think we're dealing with something unbelievably special with this guy. I think he moves differently. The brain is at a completely different speed to most rookies you see playing there.

43:17Ollie Connolly:Block recognition, block destruction. As all these guys speak about in the offseason to these young guys, no one sees it, reads it, and kills it as quick as this guy as a rookie. So you add that to then the physical makeup, which is all the potential is like a put the hand in the dirt and get after it past Russia. I think he's a truly, truly special one. Which is crazy. Cause they're asking him to do a lot of new things, but maybe you guys are more college guys than me. Maybe Kirby. I don't know. Maybe that defense is so crazy that they're somehow mentally prepared to do a lot of different things in the NFL.

43:47I don't know. There's a reason how he Roseman keeps going back to the Georgia. it's not just, you know, a circumstance. Like it's, it's this, these players come NFL ready and they tend to be specimens. They're four and five star recruits. They spend three, four years in Kirby's defense. They're ready. And you pair that with the athleticism, the natural talent, and you see why they produce as a rookie like Walker has.

44:09Ollie Connolly:Who else you got, Ollie? I've got Josh Hines Allen, who probably is not slightly as underrated now, but I don't think he's being discussed quite the level he's reached now. He has the same number of quick pressures this year as Miles Garrett. Now, Garrett has all the sacks and all the finishing and all the holy bleep. Did he just do that moments that Josh Heinz Allen doesn't quite play that way? He's a bit more structured in the rush. So you can kind of like go past you if you don't have these, you know, breaking through a triple team as Miles Garrett did against the Patriots, if that's not quite there to like go viral or whatever.

44:39Ollie Connolly:But in terms of consistent down to down production, he has just become a complete force and menace. I watched last weekend him throw Quinton Nelson into the backfield and on the safety play that Riley Leonard had. That's Josh Heinz Allen coming in on a stun and flattening. There he goes, throwing Quinton Nelson to the ground, give me the quarterback. So his burst, his speed to power, as I said, he's still kind of a in the box type pass rush, but that box is pretty damn productive. He also signed a contract in the 2024 offseason, which is aging very well, like they do if you make them long enough.

45:18I know it's like an average per year over 34 and a half, but the first few years is very reasonable and he's done something which i think is is very hard to do he has probably been the jaguars best player for three years straight like three four years straight not just on defense just who is a better player on the jack like he has been the best player for their franchise for a number of years straight and that kind of consistency is awesome and you're right he doesn't get thought of as much who else should i should we just throw out little names if you I have a name. I'm going back to the rookies again.

45:53Donovan Azaraku in Dallas with the Cowboys. I love what he's shown so far. I think his trajectory, not quite limitless, but pretty close. He's good at pressuring quarterbacks. He's good at run-stopping. He's going to be one of the top rookies of this class. And I think that while we have spent so much time talking about how they got rid of Micah Parsons and everything else, I think they've done a fairly good job of reconstructing that front, and Azaraku is going to be a key part of it.

46:18Ollie Connolly:He has really blurry speed. he does have a little bit of the thing where if you're just really active with your hands and you move a lot it looks like you're doing an awful amount whereas sometimes it's better just be like controlled and understand what you're doing but i admire the hustle i admire his game an awful lot the other guy i would throw in there would be yaya diaby who i think is in this josh heinz mode where it's like big physical imposing and attack the inside shoulder from out to in all power rush and that is so incredibly valuable if you can get someone with real speed up the arc off the other side and i think we saw it early in the season when hassan reddick was healthy how different the Bucs front look because they have this perfect blend of a guy who goes out to win and a guy who sweeps around the arc.

46:53Ollie Connolly:And you kind of have to build a pass rushing package together with all the different skill sets. Not everyone's going to be Miles Garrett, Micah Parsons and be able to do every single thing for you. But Diaby is an incredibly effective, valuable pass rusher. Yeah, Diaby with the Buccaneers, he's been good. Byron Young has had a breakout season for the Rams as an edge who's pretty good on every down. And he's going to get a nice contract if it's not from the Rams. And then just a shout to my beloved over the years, Demarcus Lawrence, still getting it done. You can pick a lot of Seahawks, really.

47:26Demarcus Lawrence, Derek Hall is an interesting player who's just a really good player and very powerful. So is Lawrence. They're different, and yet they kind of remind me of each other. And so those guys have been underrated too. Let's go to the interior. We'll wrap it up here, Ali. Who do you like?

47:44Ollie Connolly:I'm going to go with a guy who I think was on your All Vibes team. I'm going to go with Kobe Turner from the Rams. And I watch him and I think that he's kind of the spiritual successor, not quite at this level. Don't want to be too hyperbolic just because of players I love watching, but in kind of play style and how he sees and views and executes the game to Cam Haywood, where it's a lot of lateral quicks. It's a lot of smarts. It's a lot of understanding the angles and throwing guys the other way. And he's really quick moving laterally. That's kind of where he makes most of his money. But there is a real different level of understanding in tight, confined spaces of how to play, how to dress a blocker, how to free guys up so the landmans of the world can go and get paid.

48:22Ollie Connolly:You know, a landman should maybe toss a couple of dollars his way for that contract. He's an absolute mauler and killer inside. And such a nice guy off the field, which is why he made the vibes team. You never know what the personality change is going to be, but he just seems like a fun-loving guy who loves to be out there playing ball, and he's a wrecking ball. Who do you got, Shook? uh i you know i try to kind of dig deep on this um just because underrated i wanted people that like you know i run to a guy at the gym and he's talking to me about his team i'm like yeah but did you notice this guy on your team they're like no i know his number though and i'm going jalen redmond the defensive tackle for the vikings he has had a phenomenal season now i know they've had their struggles but it seems on a week-to-week basis he is always making a play in the backfield he is stuffing the run he's sixth among all defensive tackles according to next gen in run stops.

49:13His quarterback pressure percentage is near 10%, which as we know, that's pretty difficult to achieve as a defensive tackle. If your name is not Aaron Donald. And he's like right somewhere between Vita Veya and John Franklin Myers in that category, which tells me first year in the NFL, you're going to have a quite a good career. Not to mention he's just a load. Like he's a guy that plays with tenacity and unbridled enthusiasm where he's just going at a hundred miles an hour all the time. And he's producing big plays as a result. So I think that, you know, on a front that they He also added like Jonathan Allen and everything.

49:42Redmond's been the star. And I think he's going to be continue to be a star for them for years to come. I love like the no name defensive tackles. I'll just throw like the guys on the Texans. They're kind of. Yes. Yes. This is one of mine too. Okay. Okay. Just go. Cause Togi. I set Tim settle, whoever, whoever you want. Yeah. I was all Togi. this is a guy who came from Ohio state who started with the Browns who I thought had a lot of potential and never really saw the field in Cleveland. And he, he's another guy where just on a week to week basis, you watch the Texans and suddenly out of nowhere, it's Tommy Togiai making a play and then it's a test of can the broadcaster properly pronounce his last name because a lot of guys won't but he just consistently is in the backfield he's great against the run and he's another player that just plays with violence and and desire that is just like never limited and I think it's also because of the depth that they have up front that he's able to do that but man in so many key spots there's Tommy Togiai the old Buckeye making a difference.

50:34Ollie who do you got on your for your interior guys?

50:36Ollie Connolly:The last one I'm going to go with I I went through about five or six different names. I'm going to go with Malik Collins from the Browns because he just got shut down for the season. And I'm not sure we've ever seen a 10th year breakout star. A guy who you've just waited on and waited on and waited. I don't know if he went to Kobe Bryant's clinic in Germany or wherever, did some kind of blood spinning. But he came back with a level of burst off the ball. I've never seen him play with which you've waited for every 10 years. We've waited for this coming out of college. Say, is that player ever going to make it in the NFL?

51:03Ollie Connolly:He gets to Cleveland. and they just say, hey, don't worry about anything that we're doing over then attack the quarterback. That's all we care about. And his interplay with Myles Garrett was a huge part of the early season success they had, and it's going to be interesting, I think, to see what they look like down the stretch now that he's out. Disappointing that he was going to get rewarded for that too. He was a free agent. Selfishly too, I'm making these lists, and just like the Ravens signed Travis Jones on Thursday, and it's like, oh, there's another name to cross off. Pretty good player.

51:35Not perfect, but would have been a fun guy. And it's just like anyone decent, you're just crossing them off these free agency lists. And unfortunately, Malik Collins is going to get hurt. Wait, you said you had five or six to choose from? I mean, you could give us some rapid fire, even if they're not the official selections. Give some people some love.

51:53Ollie Connolly:I mean, we could keep going down with Christian Balmore in the bounce-back year in New England after everything he's been through. Health-wise has been sensational. Calais Campbell, I don't think we're still quite recognizing. Obviously, he's a ginormous name, but what he's doing in the production he's putting up in that unit this season to me is just out of control. You mentioned Tim Settle was a guy I had on my long list. I like going with with someone on that defensive line because everyone else gets all the credit on that defense, including my, you know, great love Jalen Petrie, who is the glue that holds everything together.

52:24Ollie Connolly:But having that rotation of guys in the interior to collapse the pocket up front is kind of what helps those two superstars on the outside out. I got one more. We're going to go over to New York. We're going to go to the jets, a team that doesn't have a lot to smile about. Johan Briggs has had an excellent year for them in the interior. He's another guy like Togia that just consistently makes plays. He's kind of fits closer to the Jalen Redmond mold. And maybe it's because he also is a former Brown. And I've just had my eye on interior defensive linemen with potential, but I swear, man, every week he seems to be one of the shining stars of this front.

52:56And there aren't a lot of them at this point. I mean, there are more on the edge than the interior, but he just consistently blows plays up. He splits double teams. He splits, you know, zone schemes. He's got an innate sense for what's going on in front of him. And then he uses his strength and his power to finish plays off. I really like where he's headed in his career. I like that vigorous head nod from Ali when he heard Juwan Briggs. This is proof it's the Saturday Sicko Show. Eric had Juwan Briggs tape ready. A national show is talking Juwan Briggs. Why the vigorous head shake?

53:25Ollie Connolly:I just did a deep evaluation of him this week. I cannot believe Shug brought him up. It's so exciting. yeah i i can't believe how good and impactful he is down to down now there are some reps in the run game he tries to split every double team and sometimes you do that and you get dog walked back into the linebacker you are yaya black that's just the life you live um but he has really he has top end juice for it like undersized interior linemen and i can't believe they just kind of they lose quinn and williams he has replaced the production quinn and williams was giving to the jets quinn is obviously a significantly better player and is more impactful with the Cowboys, but the production he was actually offering the team early in the season has being replaced by breaks.

54:03Ollie Connolly:And that was not something I was expecting. You know, Darren Mugi, their GM, weird offseason, but he has had a lot of good trades that he was a trade pickup. They basically gave up nothing to work. They picked up Harrison Phillips in a trade like he's been pretty useful, like for them. And then, you know, the sauce Gardner trade, that was like a little bit of luckier that the, you know, the Colts traffic is getting better and better. but I think he did pretty well in the Quinnen Williams and Sauce Gardner trade. So Darren Mugi getting it done. I was listening to the all PHLY podcast. They were talking about who was their defensive MVP this year.

54:39And they had Jordan Davis on the podium. I was like, okay, he could, that seemed a little, a little much, but it has been the best Jordan Davis season. Certainly eventually I think they settled on, yes, Cooper DeGene, Quinian Mitchell are better players and more valuable. But in terms of like beating expectations for what they thought and has been really important to them, Jordan Davis has had a nice year. And then an annual guy I always think is under. There's always a couple of guys like this that they just float around. They sign late or just team brings him back in the last second. It's like Daquan Jones for the Buffalo Bills.

55:11Like you just put him back in there and he'll eat some innings for you and he'll be totally solid. And he's like been doing that his entire career. It's like one of those guys never gets any respect. So a little love for Daquan. I'm going to give one more shout out. Thierre Tartt with the Chargers. I told you there were multiple Chargers here. I just love what he's done this year. I love the way he started the season, batting down passes against the Chiefs in week one, and his grades are really good too. And he's another guy that you kind of have to watch closely to see the difference that he makes, but I'm a big fan.

55:36I don't know, maybe I'm partial to big interior linemen who blow things up and make a difference that nobody really pays attention to. That might just be my thing. I think it's everyone's thing. We're dangerously close to just a naming some guys podcast.

55:49Ollie Connolly:There's nothing that's exciting more than being on a dudes naming guys podcast with Nick Shook. That's like all I've ever wanted in my career. It's finally happened. The last couple of names I would just like to read out to you is the Denver Broncos guys get, I feel like, zero love nationally. It's just penciled in that they are great. Vance gets a lot of the credit and deservedly so because he just operates at a different level to most people in the league. But you look through their roster, how deep they run, the volume of packages they run, and how those guys got to the team. One of them is just, obviously, Zach Allen comes with Vance.

56:19Ollie Connolly:It's like if I'm coming to Denver, Zach is coming with me or I'm not taking the gig. But the rest of it is all these undrafted guys, wherever we mentioned Justin Strenard earlier as a late round pick. It's McMillan. It's Singleton. It's Tillman. It's Roach. It's just all these undrafted guys leading this historic level of defense. And yes, they've got Benito and Cooper in these absolute speeds off the edge. But the pieces that tie it together are all these just well coached, well drilled, nowhere to be type players. Yeah, I can't wait to see what they look like in this stretch run where they have like very difficult game after very difficult game.

56:52It starts on Sunday against the Packers. That's the next time we'll be in your feed for the big time week. What are we at? 15 recap. The stretch run has started. Thanks to Ali. Thanks to Shook. Glad we got you two together. Made this magic happen. But we can do it again. And we can do another Name With Some Guys podcast, Ali and Shook. We will see you on Sunday night. Shook will be there with myself, Jordan, and Patrick. We will see you then.

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