Top 35 Position Battles You Should Care About

23:24Nick Shook:It's one of the higher pressure situations for a second corner to enter in the NFL because you're playing opposite Pat Sertan, which means you're going to see a ton of targets. And Riley Moss saw the most targets in the NFL last year at 116. And the numbers that he put up were pretty solid for the most part. You know, he tied for first in the NFL with Carolina's Mike Jackson and passed his defense at 19. Ball hawk rate was decent at 16.4 percent. Not as good as Mike Jackson, but that was a completely different defense and situation that Jackson's operating in. If you're trying to find some comparisons, a lot of man coverage out there, which is where Riley Moss thrived.

23:56Nick Shook:He had a really good separation. Average separation window was like less than three yards. His tight coverage percentage was really good, too. Like he was consistent in being in tight coverage. But what he had a problem with was penalties. 12 penalties last year became a running theme with him. in this Broncos defense. And if you're looking for another, you know, say he piles up a bunch of penalties again, early in the season, well, you have a guy that you can easily roll out there to replace him. So I think what we're going to get is somebody in a contract year who they trust to play a solid number two corner in Riley Moss.

24:25Nick Shook:And they're going to find every Avenue possible to get Baron out there. And I thought what Sean Payton said about Baron during OTAs was interesting. He said, I quote, I think there will be two things. A he has position flex inside and out. then there will be packages where I'm sure he's in where I'm sure we're in throwing situations Vance and those guys are going to look at what we're wanting to do with our people but he said he's out there and competing and doing good he sounds like he's high on him he said he's wise beyond his years all these things that are typical of a second year player getting ready to make that jump it's just that we haven't been able to see him do it last that you know so far he played 30 % of defensive snaps last year like he just wasn't on the field all that much because they didn't need him to be so I'm curious because of what you said about McMillan and how they love him at the slot, do they find a way to force Baron on the field or eventually do they just say, Hey, we got to get you out there in Riley Moss a spot, given that Riley Moss is on a contract year and you are our future.

25:14Nick Shook:So that's one that's going to be fun to watch from the very beginning, because I think you're going to see a lot of both of them with the idea that eventually this should be Baron's job. If he can go out there and take it. Look, and they are a team that's going to be among the AFC favorites. And it's a good problem to have. They have, they have a couple of safeties and Hufanga and Brandon Jones, who they love, but you can use Barron in a few different ways. So it's maybe not as simple as Moss versus Barron. I'm just saying, if a guy that talented, the light goes off, then suddenly he might be on the field.

25:44All right, our next three are what I'm calling wide receiver morasses. You know, you don't really use that word. Morass, is that how you pronounce it? I mean, it doesn't sound right. You know, it's just, it's kind of like a confusing bog of a wide receiver position on three different teams. I'm going to throw out Washington after Terry McLaurin. There's just a group of players. Traylon Burks, their rookie, Antonio Williams. Free agent, they brought back De 'Ami Brown. Luke McCaffrey's a relatively high pick that's been around for a while. Jalen Lane is another one that's been around. Van Jefferson is on this team.

26:20They just have to figure out what's going on after Terry McLaurin. Again, Shook, I'm going to list a lot of names here. The Giants wide receiver situation until Malik neighbors gets back on the field. These are the receivers. I've never listed so many players, you know, but you have no idea if they're even going to make the team. It's outrageous. Darius Slayton, you would figure is pretty locked in. After that, it's Malachi fields. The rookie Darnell Mooney's on this team. Juju Smith Schuster's on this team. Odell Beckham's on this team. Braxton Berrios is on this team. He's a special teamer. Jalen Hyatt was a high pick pretty recently.

26:55You never know. He could bounce back. I threw in Xavier Gibson, who was a pretty good return man for the Jets for a while. He's around. Isaiah Hodgins has actually been their second or third receiver at various times. I mean, this is just an insane group of receivers. And until Neighbors is back on the field, this is all their receivers. And they basically have to figure out with the new John Harbaugh, Matt Nagy staff, what is the order going to be? Can we really have Odell be our third receiver? Like is, is Mooney like the number one slash two? I just don't know. Is a rookie going to show up in terms of field?

27:31It's just totally wide open in terms of their receiver. I'll stop there. Cause that's a lot of names between Washington and the giants, which intrigues you more.

27:39Nick Shook:I think that it's gotta be the giants just because like, I have no idea how they're going to actually sort all of this out. And because ideally their top two, once neighbors is back is pretty set in stone. and the rest of it's just like figure out who's had a good camp and who we believe in from the short and maybe long term. We're also entering a season with a team that has the same front office, but a new coaching staff. So you are thinking like, okay, some guys like Jalen Hyatt, for example, typically in past years with the same front office and coaching staff, there would be a little bit more leeway.

28:12Nick Shook:We have to justify this pick. We give him more runway to prove that he is going to be on this team, that he deserves a place on this team. Well, now you got the same front office, but a new head coach. So you're not in lockstep in that area. If the coach says he's not cutting it, guess what? I don't care if that was a pick you made. He's not good enough to make my team. He's out of here. So I think his margin for error is much slimmer. But you go through the rest of that group and you're looking at like Malachi Fields and you're looking at like Darnell Mooney, two very different players in their places in their career at this point.

28:39Nick Shook:You look at Juju, who I feel like has been on nine teams now, but continues to find jobs. Odell, does he have anything left in the tank? Why did they sign Odell and Braxton Berrios on the same day? Like there's so many questions to answer here and to figure out where they fit into the system. And we don't really know that much because it's a new staff. So I'm fascinated to see how this plays out. And I have a tough time projecting exactly how it's going to, because a so many recognizable names all in different places in their career. And I just don't know exactly how they're going to work with Jackson dart in this entire offense.

29:09I checked the pronunciation, at least from the dictionary and I think it would be morass. Morass. Okay.

29:15Nick Shook:So we need like a flatter. something like that. But you can say the end of the word. And yeah, I'd throw the Dolphins entire receiver group in the mix. I just kind of grouped these three together because it's just like three groups that are kind of a mess. Yeah. From top to bottom, you have Jalen Tolbert, who used to be on the Cowboys. You have Malik Washington who's been there a couple years. You have a couple rookies in Caleb Douglas and Chris Bell who's coming off an injury. Taj Washington, Terrace Marshall. Who knows what's going to happen there. Let's wrap up before the break with the last two quarterback battles in terms of starters.

29:47I put your boys Deshaun Watson and Shadira Sanders here with Cleveland. And then the Arizona quarterback battle is open. Jacoby Brissett and Garson Beck and Gardner Minshew. What do you think there?

30:04Nick Shook:I think the Browns are going to do everything in their power. I think I've said this for a while now that to make Deshaun Watson give you one. And I think that they're going to say everything that they need to say to push the propaganda machine in that direction. and it's not until they take the field in the preseason where they're actually going to be held accountable for that and they have to be honest about where they are in that battle. It's a low-ceiling battle. I'm not excited to see how it plays out. I just know that's their best two options, and I'm pretty sure that neither of them are going to be their option going into 2027.

30:32Nick Shook:So it doesn't really matter all that much to me other than the fact that it's going to be what they have this year. I'm much more intrigued by the Cardinals situation, not because that team's going to be any better. I think they're actually going to be worse, but because we have a nice little comparison between journeyman veteran who's proven to be a very like he's a plus backup he's a guy that you can count on he's a guy that actually you know generated more offense and more success for you last year than he did with kyler murray versus gardner minshu who's a backup that i would like to have on my team but i'm not excited about starting him and then there's the unknown and his name's carson beck and nobody would have thought that he would even be in the consideration for a starting job at this time if he hadn't led miami to the national championship last year and i got a weird feeling that it's going to be Jacoby's job.

31:12Nick Shook:And at some point in this struggle filled season that they're about to embark upon, Carson Beck's going to see the field. Yeah. I think you should care about it because the Cardinals are better than you realize. I think, I think if they were in the NFC South, you could convince me that they could come in second place. Like, I don't think this is a bad roster. I think the offensive line has potential. I think the skill position to group outside a quarterback is good. and Mike LaFleur, it's a little bit of an early test of his coaching ability. We've seen coaches like Shane Steichen lift up Jacoby Brissett, Frank Reich.

31:48We've seen Jacoby Brissett put up numbers with the right coach. And so if he's out there with this talent, I think they could be an entertaining offense. Their schedule is brutal. We talked about it on our last show that it's the hardest schedule in the league. And so they're not going to end up with a great win-loss record, But I think they could be watchable, more watchable with Jacoby or Minshew for that matter than I think they would be with Carson Beck. But we'll be tracking the rookies development in training camp, too, because, again, when it comes to rookies, especially mid round guys, you're kind of battling against the midseason version of whatever Jacoby Brissett looks like.

32:23Is it worth taking a look at Carson Beck? I think you're absolutely right. And when it comes to the Browns and Shadur, like, hey, surprise me, kid. I think he could at least be more entertaining than Deshaun Watson would be. And look, if they're going to be talking about Shadur on ESPN every day, we'll try not to over talk about him here. But I'm going to watch every game anyway, Shook. And so I want it to be as entertaining and watchable as possible. I think there's a better chance for that with Shadur this season for Cleveland. You never know. The better the Browns are, the better the press conferences are going to be for Todd Monken.

33:02I think that would make that.

33:03Nick Shook:Oh, you know what? I like that. That's a good reason to hope that they have a little bit of success. I don't think they're going to, but that's a good reason to want them to win some games. All right, let's take a quick break. We're going to come back and fly through the rest of our top position battles of the 2026 training camp. It's just a few days away.

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36:23Back on NFL Daily. Cardinals. Panthers. Hall of Fame game. It's July 20th. If it feels to anyone listening like we should be further along at this point, you're right. Training camp is starting on like the latest day possible because of just how the calendar fell this year. Now with the teams going over to Australia, those teams are starting a little early. The Patriots and the Seahawks are on a Wednesday, so they're coming earlier. But if you compare it to last year, you know, teams were already showing up. For the most part, the rest of the NFL will be showing up over the weekend. This week, some of the teams come and start training camp.

37:10But it is about as late a start as we ever had, which gave us a little more time to prep this list. I got 70 position battles written down, Shook. I think we'll get to 35 that are maybe worthy of mentioning on the show. This is where I started to get dorky. I kind of am into a couple linebacker battles with the Dolphins. Jacob Rodriguez is a rookie that I really am curious to see how he fits at the NFL level. He could start next to Jordan Brooks, but first he has to beat out either Tyrell Dodson, who used to be with the Bills and has been there for a little while, or Kyle Lewis is there, who is also kind of an interesting prospect.

37:45I don't know if you had any takes on the Indiana product, but that's kind of a fun little group. I would assume Rodriguez is the favorite there to start, but that's something I'll be tracking.

37:54Nick Shook:yeah um i'm i'm curious to see exactly how they deploy kyle lewis because he's like six feet like what is he 200 pounds 220 and and he kind of projects more to me as kind of like a box safety than a traditional linebacker like he worked out with the linebackers the combine he's listed as a linebacker i see him as a sub package linebacker not as somebody who's playing you know first and second down although the majority of defenses now operate in sub packages so i guess it's kind of an example of the evolution of the position i think but it's it's an interesting group on a team that I don't expect to be very good, but does have some intriguing players because Jordan Brooks is a noted pillar of how they're going to rebuild this team.

38:31Nick Shook:Jacob Rodriguez would probably be a first round linebacker in most other classes that don't include Arville Reese and Sonny Stiles. And so I think that he's actually going to come in with some pretty high expectations, just a matter of figuring out exactly how they all slot in. And Dodson is a veteran who was pretty productive for them last year, all things considered. I think it's the one, one of the few position groups where they actually have some pretty good depth and it's a good problem to have that they have to sort these guys out and i expect all of them to play i just think that lewis will be more in a specialized role than somebody who's going to see a ton of snaps yeah there are so many dolphins positions that are wide open but this is the one where it's like oh these i'm actually intrigued by these guys with these guys yeah cornerback is way down my list where it's just a million guys that should not be competing to possibly be their number one cornerback uh the other linebacker spot that intrigues me is in dallas where they're probably going to start to Marvion Overshown as their middle linebacker and have the green dot in the summit, but it's not guaranteed.

39:27And there's just an intriguing group there with him, Dee Winters, who they traded for from San Francisco, Jayshan Barham, who was one of our guy, Ollie Connelly's favorite draft prospects. Shamar James is another veteran that's been around. And so just shake all those up. It's a brand new offense, defense rather, with Christian Parker. And I think sometimes with new coordinators, you have surprising results. So that's what I'm going to keep an eye on. My next group is a ton of offensive line positions. And I'll start with the Cowboys who say that their first round pick from a couple of years ago, Tyler Guyton is going up against Nate Thomas, who played some for them last year and that it is an open competition.

40:05So whenever you get like a left tackle spot, that's open on a quality team. To me, it matters. The bears left tackle spot is open. Braxton Jones is back and is probably the favorite over Jedrick Wills and Theo Benedict, who are behind him. They just keep re-signing Braxton Jones, even though they always wanted to replace him. And then the Panthers, their left tackle spot is pretty open with Rashid Walker, who was a free agent pickup. And then Monroe Freeling, who is their first round draft pick, you would think is the favorite, but you never know. They might bring him along slowly. So those are three teams that are trying to compete this year that have left tackle spots open for you.

40:41Which one of those stand out to you the most?

40:42Nick Shook:I think the Cowboys talking about an open competition is them trying to push Tyler Guyton to take the next step. I don't think that it's actually a legit competition based on what they saw from Thomas last year. Maybe I could be wrong. Rasheed Walker versus Monroe Freeling is pretty wide open because Freeling comes into the NFL with a pretty high reputation as a rookie, whereas Walker was a guy who a lot of people thought was going to get a pretty big deal in free agency and didn't and just lasted out there and lasted and lasted and finally ended up in Carolina, which kind of speaks to how the league views him versus how maybe we view him.

41:15Nick Shook:And I have no idea exactly which direction that's going to go, because they're also in a situation where they're kind of just trying to figure out who's going to play in place of Iki Ikuanu for now. Right. Maybe not long term could be, you know, it could be wide open long term, but for now. And then the last one, the Bears, I don't think Jed Wills is going to compete seriously. He didn't play football last year. His final year with the Browns was not good. And I think that that's probably Braxton Jones's job, but it's good for them to have some depth there. considering some of the injuries that they dealt with up front last year, a team that comes in with high expectations.

41:51Yeah, kind of the flip side, another similar spot is the Lions' right tackle where Blake Miller, I assume, was going to be penciled in as their right tackle of the future. He's their first-round pick. He fits the profile in Detroit. I would consider him the favorite, but the local reporting says that Larry Borum, the veteran, will have a chance to win that job, so that's just something to keep an eye on. You never know which rookies are going to show up and just not be ready for pro football. And so that's what training camp is for. And then I threw in the Patriots first round pick to Caleb Lomu, who's taken snaps at right tackle in the offseason, but also took some snaps at left tackle where Will Campbell is going to be.

42:32And so it's Morgan Moses is the veteran there who's going to have a lot of veteran days off. He's older and there's just a scenario where if Lomo looks awesome, that they're ready to kick Will Campbell inside. I really doubt that's going to happen this off season, but it's just kind of figuring out where Lomo fits for the, for the Patriots.

42:52Nick Shook:I don't like to sit back and be like, I was right all the time, although I do it occasionally. But I do feel like the entire football world needed the Superbowl to then get on the Will Campbell move to guard train and now they won't let it go. And I think that even the Patriots drafted, if with that kind of in mind, like maybe this is what we do long-term by selecting Lomo. I would be very excited to see him come into camp and just tear it up right away. Like that would be awesome. And given his background, you know, Utah offensive line and that sort of thing, like I would be very excited to see that type of player just instantly make a difference and then also solve this issue because we're going to continue to hear about this.

43:28Nick Shook:Like, and it's not really even a knock on Will Campbell. He, I've always said solid average to solid tackle, but could be a very, very good guard. And I think that's still his long-term path. Maybe this is the first step toward that. Maybe they delay it for another year, like you said. But the idea that having another talented young guy in there to make that happen, that's always going to catch my eye. Yeah, injuries will play a big part there. Like if Moses suddenly goes down, then it's all set. Lomo is at right tackle. But the Will Campbell believers will tell you that he was coming off in the injury in that playoff run when it didn't look quite as good.

44:02So he's going to have to prove he's healthy and looking good. The other offensive line battle I thought was most interesting here was the Bears center, where it could be the rookie Logan Jones or Garrett Bradbury, the former Patriot who they traded for. So that's one to keep an eye on there. Let's go to some running back ones. I had four running back battles that I thought were intriguing. I'm going to make the case of why you should care about the Chargers preseason. There was an assumption, including by me when I took Omari and Hampton very high in our running back draft, that he is the next big fantasy battle.

44:33I think that's very possible to even likely, but there were times during his rookie year where he was a little tentative. It is a new offense with Mike McDaniel and Mike McDaniel in the past has liked to rotate his backs until one really earns being the guy. And the other two players in that backfield are Kamani Vidal, who was one of the best pass protecting rookie backs you'll ever want to see. and was a tough player and a guy who can eat carries. And Keaton Mitchell, a speedster who they handpicked in free agency to have a role. So to me, Amari and Hampton is going to have a role, a big role, likely the starting role on this team.

45:17But I do think how quickly he can pick up the offense and look in some preseason work will impact whether he's getting the lion's share of the carries or maybe they're going to spread it around. that's going to affect not just a really good team with the chargers, but a lot of fantasy drafts.

45:33Nick Shook:I hope that those who went to the Amari and Hampton experience last year, got a nice dose of reality in the fantasy world, which is that stop spending high picks on rookies who haven't taken an NFL field yet. Please, please stop doing it. I hear it every year. I have my friends be like, what do you think about this rookie? Don't take rookies high. I just, it's, it's a blind selection. Please don't do it. Having said that his tentativeness from last season, I think could partially be blamed on the fact that he started the season injured. Like he was, he had, he battled health issues for a good portion of his rookie season before he was able to really hit the ground running.

46:07Nick Shook:And so if you give him an entire off season to really get acclimated to this new offense, I think that he could really flourish in it because what you described in the two guys behind him and Kamani, Vidal and Keaton Mitchell are two very different styles of running backs. Hampton is the perfect blend between the two where he's got speed and power. And I think that he could be a force in Mike McDaniel's rushing attack. However, I like the strengths of this entire backfield as a whole. I love a good Mike McDaniel backfield that relies heavily on different types of running backs who can be rotated in and out and just thrive behind good blocking schemes because that's what he's always been a master of.

46:41Nick Shook:So I would really love to see this offense run the football this year. And I don't care who it is running the ball because they love to run it. They tried to establish it as their identity, even when they lost their offensive line, mostly the most of the offensive line last year and couldn't do anything offensively. You come back with a healthy offensive line and all of these different types of running backs there. Let's pound the rock, baby. Like the hat says behind me that you can't really see even if you're watching on YouTube. Run the damn ball. Run the damn ball in LA. Yeah, I listed that one high just because I think these players are intriguing and I don't think it's as much of a cinch for Hampton to wind up with 300 touches this year with such good players around him.

47:17And so that's a good problem to have though. Yes, it is a good problem to have. And so that's similar to the other three quote-unquote battles that I listed here. I put the Commanders, Bucks, and Seahawks running back situation. It's just ones to keep an eye out. With the Bucks, you have Bucky Irving coming off a bad year. You have Kenny Gainwell, who's making a good amount of money, who I think is going to have a big role. You gave Sean Tucker a pretty aggressive tender in restricted free agency, making sure that he stayed home. And so those three guys are kind of figuring out the mix with this staff.

47:50Rashad White and Bill Krosky-Meritt in Washington are going to figure out what they're going to do. And Jerry McNichols is still there. And then in Seattle, I kind of mentioned the battle of Jadarian Price was drafted to start. So he's got to prove that he can be that guy right away. They also signed a veteran, Emmanuel Wilson, who was last seen with the Packers. You had George Helani, who was taking some snaps in the Super Bowl. So, you know, that's worth something and then Zach Charbonnet's health is just something to watch there and because it's the Seahawks and the defending champs everything matters a little more but I think all three of those spots are fairly open in terms of figuring out like what the in terms of participation of

48:31Nick Shook:each one of those running backs are going to be yeah I agree um two of these three groups I'm excited to see because they're well balanced and they have good depth and they can do a lot of different things like I like the the role of of Bill Krosky Merritt in the second year after hopping on the scene, but not having to be the guy because Rashad White's also in that backfield. I don't think there's quite as much depth there as there is in Tampa where Bucky Irving, if he has a bounce back year, you pair him nicely with Kenny Gainwell, who was one of my favorite pass catching backs last year. I think he can do a lot of different things.

48:56Nick Shook:Sean Tucker, one of my favorite, just like classic power backs, guys that run hard. Kyler was even taking kick returns last year. I love the depth of that backfield and what it presents, you know, the options that it presents them. The Seahawks, I'm a little bit more cautious with because as much as I like Jadarian Price coming out of Notre Dame. He is a rookie and the depth there is a little bit concerning, not just because he lost Kenneth Walker, but also because Zach Sharper is coming back from an ACL injury that he suffered in the playoffs, which means, you know, he's not going to be probably a hundred percent to start the season.

49:27Nick Shook:And like you mentioned, George Lonnie playing in the Superbowl. Yes. But he was also a guy that's at the bottom of that depth chart, Emmanuel Wilson veteran. Like there's just not as much quality depth there that I can rely on at this point in the season. That's the group that I'm more concerned about than excited to see unfold. And we'll be playing in the first game of the year. And I would expect Zach Charbonnet to be on the PUP list or short term injured reserve. It's just really tough to come back from that injury that quickly at that position. And Price, a rookie, has never shown he could be the guy.

49:57I don't really think he profiles as the guy. I think he profiles as a great compliment to a guy like Zach Charbonnet. But in the meantime, I am curious how that's going to look on opening day. I love quarterbacks. And so I'm putting some backup quarterback battles here in my top 35 at the Mason Rudolph versus Drew Aller versus Will Howard combination in Pittsburgh is funny to me. And whoever wins that battle, you know, could wind up playing if Aaron Rodgers got hurt and we can kind of see who is Mike McCarthy's favorite quarterback of the future. We have a Ty Simpson versus Stetson Bennett, quote unquote, battle.

50:35if Ty Simpson can't beat out Stetson Bennett and they can't trust them to play a little, if something happened to Stafford, what are you doing? Taking them 13th overall. And then you also just for, uh, just for laughs, I'm into the Sam Howell versus Joe Milton, uh, preseason that we're going to have for Dallas. Those are my, those are my backups that I like.

50:57Nick Shook:That last throw in that last throw in so good because it's just like, really? Come on. But you're right. Uh, well, this is why I do this exercise, Nick, cause I was going through each and every team, looking at the depth chart, reading some about each team. And I was just like, Oh, I kind of forgot Sam Howell's on that team. Yeah. And Joe Milton is still there. I was just like, I just saw myself on like Saturday night, August 13th, watching some Sam Howell, Joe Milton experience that we were going to end up talking about. And we're like, Oh my God, Sam Howell is having a Jared Stidham preseason.

51:28Nick Shook:No, I'm just kidding. That's not going to happen. The best of these three, I think most intriguing to me, me is pittsburgh because this has already divided people into camps in pittsburgh if you're really paying attention to it there are the mason rudolph diehards who are like no matter what you have to keep him on the roster because god forbid aaron rogers goes down the whole season's over but mason can save us and keep us afloat which he has proven in recent years that he's capable of keeping you afloat but then there's also the drew allers the future camp and we spent a third round pick on him because he's going to be the guy.

52:02Nick Shook:And then there's that group of people in Pittsburgh's front office who were leaking stuff or maybe speaking on it publicly last year. And then into this off season before the draft, they were like, Will Howard's awesome. He didn't see the field at all last year, but we really believe in Will Howard so much that we spent a third round pick on Drew Aller. And I'm not a hater against Will Howard because he got my team a national championship, but all three of those guys are not going to be on the roster by the end of camp. So it's just a matter of who goes and do you go youth versus somebody who's older and proven and mason rudolph there's some who have a theory that rudolph's just not going to be on the roster i have a hard time believing that if you are really i am that guy i will i would say he could make it to the practice squad and you just pay you know you figure out some salary somebody's poaching him from the practice squad because there are worse backup situations in the nfl than pittsburgh and that's why i'm like i can't really see that as a like a feasible option if you believe that you're going to compete because if rogers does go down granted he rarely he gets hit because he gets the ball out so quickly, then you're in a bad spot if you're turning to Drew Aller or Will Howard to try to carry your team.

53:02I'm most interested in Ty Simpson because they have traditionally played their number three quarterback all throughout the preseason. You would think they would want to get Ty Simpson some experience. I don't care how much you try to lower expectations. He's a top 15 quarterback in the entire draft. I'm going to to be very curious about the daily camp reports and also what he looks like in the preseason. And you better beat out Stetson Bennett. Speaking of guys we talked about a lot in the draft, Jermon McCoy, I threw in here as my next position battle. We're up to about 25 on the list. Jermon McCoy was practicing a little bit in OTAs.

53:42It's wide open there at the cornerback two spot for the Raiders where Eric Stokes is number one. I guess Darian Porter would be the favorite, but McCoy, you know, has a chance to really prove the Raiders right that, uh, they've had faith that he didn't need any more surgery. It was a fourth round pick, but I'm just kind of going to be tracking him because of his draft journey and how talented he was when he was on the field at Tennessee.

54:05Nick Shook:Fourth round pick with a first round status before his injury, um, at, at Tennessee and somebody who I think if he can get healthy, I kind of think about Will Johnson last year with the Cardinals where he was coming off of injury and he wasn't quite the guy that you thought he was going to be year two after such an injury is usually when they get back to themselves if they're ever going to get back to their former selves at all it's that's when it happens so maybe it's a little bit early for McCoy but the fact that he's out there on the field is encouraging um and it's a team that look we had a lot of optimism or at least excitement with them last year when they got Gino and we saw how much of a nightmare that was because their offensive line was the worst in the NFL I feel actually more excited about them this year because I think they're actually doing a pretty good job of rebuilding this team and that's one of those like underlying little secondary storylines where you're like, oh, Gerard McCoy, also a guy that slid the fourth round and ends up actually playing.

54:51Nick Shook:I kind of caution against being excited about his rookie season because of the injury that he came off of, but he didn't play football last year. So this could be year two and maybe we do see it. And that's one of the ones that will be intriguing for sure. We're starting our division preview series a little later this week. And so we're going to talk Raiders more there. I'm intrigued, too, of how they kind of shake out their edge position, wide receiver. They have questions, but we'll leave it there for the Raiders. A cornerback spot that doing research for this surprised me a little was the Buccaneers cornerback spot.

55:22And so this is going to make my top 35 because, again, a team I think is going to make the playoffs. These are good players that they have at cornerback in terms of Zion McCollum, the second year player, Benjamin Morrison, Jacob Parrish is in that mix. and those three are reportedly competing for two spots on the outside. Now, McCollum makes a lot of money and it would be the heavy favorite and it's expected that he's one of those two spots. That leaves Morrison and Parrish, who was great last year in the slot. And yet, all the reporting from Tampa suggests that the slot job is just going to be handed to Keontae Scott, who was one of my absolute favorites in the draft.

56:03I chose him as one of my guys and he fell all the way to day three. And yet they're saying now that the slot job is going to be County Scott's, which great. That's going to make me feel smart. Although it's pretty rare to hand a day three, pick a starting job right off the bat. And if that's the case, that's a good battle on the outside. And I'm curious if Jacob Parrish, who was really good, can, can translate that. So I know we're getting in the weeds here, but this is a Todd Bowles cornerback group. I think this defense has really high variance. I think they have top five to eight potential.

56:37And like a lot of Todd Bowles defense, it could look bad in a given week. But there's a scenario where this is one of the more intriguing cornerback groups in the entire league. And then you have Antoine Winfield in a good safety group, too. And they can really be dangerous.

56:50Nick Shook:Yeah, I think that defense's ultimate ceiling comes down to how effective Reuben Bain can be right away because they have lacked that edge rushing presence really since like the final year of Shaq Barrett or final two years of Shaq Barrett, really. It's been a while since they've had a difference maker at Edge Rusher because Hassan Redick didn't work out there, right? But the strength of this defense is that secondary. And they felt so good about it that they moved on from Jamel Dean. They moved on from Christian Izian. In the offseason, they let them both walk. And then they went and spent that pick on Keontae Scott because they like the group overall.

57:20Nick Shook:This is one of the ones that I'm not necessarily so much fascinated as I'm just excited to watch how they all kind of settle into their roles and how they could be moved around. because I think this is going to be what they need to depend on is the back end of that defense, unless that pass rush gets a lot better than it has been over the last few years. So it's good. It's just a lot of talent. And you like it when you see a lot of talented players in the back end of the defense. They're pretty wide open in terms of their second linebacker spot too. So I'll keep an eye on that. I have the Titans wide receiver group up next, mostly because I'm curious Calvin Ridley could be traded depending on how training camp lines up.

57:57So follow my line of thinking here, Shook. All right. Carnell Tate is locked in as one of their top three receivers. Wondell Robinson, he gave a lot of money to Brian Dables there. He's locked in. And then you have these rookies from a year ago, Alec Io Manor and Chimera Dike, who both showed some potential. You have Calvin Ridley, who took a reduced contract to stay and is really talented and had great seasons in the NFL and could be a really good number three. I just think depending on how camp looks, how the second year players are improving and fitting in a new offense, Either Calvin really could wind up leading this team in receiving, it's possible, or he could wind up getting traded in camp if kind of the younger guys step up.

58:39And that's why I'm just kind of keeping an eye on this Titans wide receiver spot.

58:42Nick Shook:It's not that it's a team that's necessarily desperate for cap space, but they could move on from him if they wanted to. They'd save 7.7 in cap this year. And it would make sense given that he's 32 years old and that he does have some variance in his career. Obviously, he only played seven games last year, but after a thousand yard season, his second of, you know, second straight in the last two years, he had 303 yards. Like it just, he was non-existent in this receiving court. And it was a receiving court that desperately needed a player like that, given that they relied so much on DK and on I am an or last year for cam Ward.

59:12Nick Shook:So this is part of why I'm more excited to see the Titans this season. I'm just more optimistic about them. Maybe not in terms of overall record, but just how this offense is going to function because I think finally cam Ward has some, you know, improved weapons around him. Wandale Robbins, it was excellent last year. I thought it was a great pickup for them going into this season. And Tate, you know, they're taking a big swing on him at fourth overall, but he's also a very good receiver and was the best contested catchmaker in college football last season. I think that translates immediately.

59:36Nick Shook:So he's got better options. It's just a matter of how do you sort out this group? I think it's the four minus Calvin Ridley that you're going to end up seeing on the field for the most part. And I think that moving on from Ridley is very realistic, especially if they feel like now is the time to get the younger guys more reps and really push it toward the future. but Ridley could have a bounce back. He could, you know, be healthy and be the productive guy that he was two, three years ago. And then it just adds more depth to the group. I just feel like if there's going to be a time for them to move on, it's probably pretty soon.

1:00:03Sneaky old Calvin Ridley. It's weird for myself with, you know, my increasingly gray hair on the side of my head to call a guy that's 31 years old, sneaky old, but I just wouldn't have guessed that Calvin Ridley was, was 31 already. It's up on me. The Bengals edge position is something I'm keeping an eye on. I assume Miles Murphy will start opposite Boye Mafi, but I'm curious if they're going to get anything out of last year's first round pick, Shamar Stewart. I'm curious if they're going to trust Cassius Howell to just be a fireball off the edge as an early second round pick, a pass rusher. I liked a lot, so I'm going to keep an eye on that.

1:00:38The Giants cornerback situation has some names I'm kind of interested in. Colton Hood was a second round pick. Your old guy, Greg Newsome, who's bounced around the last year from Cleveland to Jacksonville, now to the Giants, I would assume is the favorite there. And Deontay Banks, their former first round pick is still around. There's some more wide receiver three battles that I like. Josh Palmer and Keon Coleman is an interesting one in Buffalo. How about a little Xavier Leggett, Chris Brazel, my two lane guy in Carolina is kind of fun. And then New England after Romeo Dobbs and AJ Brown, it's pretty wide open with good players.

1:01:15And I'm not sure they're really going to figure that out in camp, but I think they could wind up trading a guy like Kayshaun Booty or Matt Collins or Demario Douglas. I don't know. Kyle Williams is there as well. So that's a lot of depth, that wide receiver. Do any of those wide receiver battles strike your fancy more than others?

1:01:32Nick Shook:Well, first I want to say that, yes, we don't know what we're going to see out of the Bengals edge guys, but they have more depth and more options than they've had in the last four or five years. And that should be a reason to be encouraged if you're a Bengals fan. So that, that alone kind of just tempers my, or it assuages some of my concerns. Right. But when it comes to this receiver group, you're right. And I, and when I look at the group for the Patriots, I think, oh, well, now is probably the time to move on from Mac Hollins. If you're going to, you know, sort out the rest of this group. Well, where should Mac Hollins go?

1:02:01Nick Shook:Oh, he should go back to Buffalo. Oh, but that's an indivision trade there. They would never do that. But that's exactly where I would like to send him because I don't like the bills receiver situation still because yes we're coming down to number three between joshua palmer and keon coleman and you think well that's not actually a bad set of options to have but behind that it gets really thin again just as where they've been over the last few years and i would like for them to have a return trip for matt collins but uh yeah so there's there's different situations it's a not an embarrassment of riches but it's a bit of a luxury for the patriots as opposed to the bills who would probably happily take one of those guys but i don't think that that would ever happen between those two franchises given that they're competing for the same division title but in a perfect world if i could play matchmaker that's what i would do it drives me crazy that the patriots would be way less likely to help out their division rival bills by trading mac hollins i totally agree with you then the celtics were to trade jalen brown to the 76 oh sure here you have jalen brown well well one of our biggest rivals did they kind of sell mac hollins down the river publicly when they tried to trade for somebody else did they do it did they sell mac hollins down the river when they tried to trade for AJ Brown and then actually did trade for AJ Brown.

1:03:11Ridiculous. How about your rival? The last one I have listed is another wide receiver one. I just thought because the 49ers are going to be competing to be one of the best teams in the NFL. That's their hope that I just keep an eye on Deshaun Stribling, who is their rookie wide receiver. Christian Kirk is in that mix. If we're looking at depth to Marcus Robinson is still on that team. And then I also included just Ricky Pearsall's health. Obviously, Pearsall and Mike Evans are going to be starters if they're healthy. But Pearsall is just a guy that has not been able to string multiple weeks of help together, especially in training camp.

1:03:43And so if he can't, then Stribling's development, Kirk staying healthy. Just curious how that shakes out with a wide receiver friendly offense and a wide receiver focused coach in Kyle Shanahan. I believe that's our 35th and final position battles. Are you excited about the 49ers camp? Do you care about

1:04:05Nick Shook:all these are you ready to go shook yeah yeah this has been a good primer and um i've shifted from holding on to the final glimmers of summer and i am now ready for football season to arrive because of this exercise that we've gone through and also i feel a little uh more excited because some of the guys that we mentioned i did list on players i expect to improve this season because the situation surrounding them ricky pierce all trail on burks a couple of those guys that come off the list off the top of my head. So plenty of reason to watch. We training camp is basically here. I am going to the hall of fame game, which is around the corner.

1:04:38Nick Shook:Come on, come on, get ready folks. August 6th, not that far away. I, you know, could release a position battles list. How about number 36 to 70? I just don't know if the interest would be there. Maybe you have to sign up for our extra secret newsletter to find out that Kalen Rutledge versus Jake Andrews is number 57 on my personal list. We've got Austin Booker and Dio Odenbo, the Bears edge battle way down the list. There are a lot of cornerback battles. I feel like every cornerback two spot is wide open. We've got some running backs, but we'll get into it all. That's what we do on NFL daily. We have a daily show really starting Wednesday.

1:05:17We're going to be going daily for the rest of time. Sorry, Eric Roberts out there. And thank you. I'm thinking about pitches right now for your sub stack, the Gregular season.substack.com. It's like, just like, I don't know if people would be that interested in the rest of them, but I'm going to use it for my own preparation. I wanted to say thank you to Eric Roberts, who's back on the ones and twos helping to produce us this week. He was gone last week and Kyrie Douglas did an incredible job manning the ship. So I also wanted to send a big thank you to quab and to Kyrie Douglas for handling the audio and the video last week.

1:05:54They did a great job. Like I said, we'll be back to daily really starting Wednesday. Me, Jordan Roderick, back in the studio. It's not quite QB Island, but it's close. You'll see. It's a brand new edition of a QB Island. We got spinoffs going on NFL Daily. That's coming up on Wednesday. We'll see you then.

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