Which AFC team has the best supporting cast around its quarterback?

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1:50Robert Mays: Then schedule a pickup right from your home or office. For a limited time, go to stamps.com and use code podcast for a free welcome gift. Taxes and fees apply. Welcome to The Athletic Football Show. I'm Robert Mays. Really fun show on tap for you guys today. We've done this over the last couple years. I really enjoy doing it this time in the offseason. We are ranking every supporting cast in the NFL by conference over two shows. We started today with the AFC, me and Derek running through all 16 supporting casts in the AFC. Just laying out the ground rules for this a little bit. We didn't explicitly talk about it during our conversation.

2:28Robert Mays: This includes not only the talent level on the other 10 starters and even into the depth for each team, really weighing the ecosystem and the infrastructure for these teams with the plate callers as well. because I think that that can do a ton of lifting and really change the way an individual unit feels, even independent of some of the talent concerns that you might have. So that's what we took into consideration when we made these lists. I will say Derek convinced me on a couple teams. I had a couple tweaks mid-show because he really did kind of expose some flaws in my thinking that I was open to hearing.

3:01Robert Mays: So very fun conversation with me and Derek ranking all of these. One bit of housekeeping before we get into the show, the merch design contest on our discord starts or ends on june 5th so if you want to get in on the merch design contest one please sign up for the discord a link to that is in the show description below and two that contest ends on june 5th so be on the lookout for that for now let's get to me and derek chatting through the afc supporting casts right now

3:39Robert Mays: It is officially June, and that means it is time for one of my favorite offseason exercises that we've done over the last couple years. We are ranking the supporting cast on offense for every team in the NFL. We're doing over two shows, and today, Derek, we are kicking it off with the AFC. I love these shows. I am very excited about digging into this over the next couple weeks. i'm really excited i mean these were shows that it's funny looking back at some of last year's lists right where we had like the ravens like first or second or something like that and obviously that's a major miss but then looking at some of the ones that we hit on i think were fun too like teams that we had maybe put a little bit higher and it ended up being good or again vice versa like us having both the seahawks i think 15th or 16th so these are these are always fun shows and good like time capsule shows there's so much uncertainty and we'll dig into this right I mean, there are teams that I think based on the way one thing goes, if a play caller is good right away, that team moves up like six spots.

4:37Robert Mays: Like we'll talk about the Ravens on this show. Like they're probably lower here than I even thought going into it just because there are so many question marks associated with them and kind of their offensive infrastructure that there hasn't been over the last couple of years. And so I think that's what happens. Right. And I think that was partially had this conversation a million times. But Clint Kubiak was just so much better as a play caller last year than I think we thought he was going to be. And that's why the Seahawks felt dramatically different. And we'll talk about Clint Kubiak here. The Raiders also feel like kind of a tough team to place, because even if you have some faith in him, they have questions at their pass catching spots.

5:11Robert Mays: Like it's just a unique set of teams, because I think we have a couple of teams at the top. But even some of the mainstay teams that we typically would have at the very top of some of these lists, Baltimore, the Chiefs, I feel like, are kind of at this weird inflection point where there are more questions about them than there have been in years past. And so the AFC has always been the conference where the quarterbacks do a lot of lifting and everything around the quarterbacks comes with a little bit more uncertainty. Now I feel like that might be even more dramatic because of some of the moving pieces in so many of these places.

5:50the elite quarterbacks and the handful of places that had like decent rosters but unknown play callers those were the hardest ones for me to put a placing on this entire uh this entire like uh this entire thing here so we'll get to some of those scenes when we get there but those were

6:06Robert Mays: the trickiest for me the timing on this worked out nicely the aj brown trade happened yesterday after we recorded about miles garrett we'll talk about the aj brown trade when we talk about the Patriots. I think that's just the easiest way to do it. So we will be getting to that on this show. So if you're looking for any sort of breakdown of that, don't you worry. It is coming a little bit later. Let's start at 16. The range of this that has the biggest chance of embarrassing us over the next six or so months. For me, this one was pretty easy. I thought there was a pretty easy team to drop at 16 here.

6:35Robert Mays: I'm curious who you had with the worst supporting cast going into the 2026 season among the afc teams i i don't think you can even debate this one it has to be the miami dolphins right i i mean it's just it has to be and like because at least with some of the ones at the end of last year it was like okay you can squint and see why maybe they should be 11th or something like with the seahawks even though we had them low you could squint and see why they should have been hired not like win the super bowl higher but like had a path there was often man you're really having here at the bottom of the nfc ones last year there were like four or five teams.

7:09Robert Mays: And I do think there are some tiers here, but I do think the Dolphins are kind of in their own spot at the bottom. And this is by design. It's okay. They were trying to do this. Right. This would be worse if they were not trying to arrive here, but they have kind of purposefully arrived their roster here. And it's pretty much, you know, Devon H.N. and a couple of young offensive linemen that you're excited about. And that's kind of it here. The offensive line is the best part of this and you've still got like decent amount of question marks right Jonas Savanay is gonna be flipping sides this year he had his issues as a rookie Austin Jackson is I think not long for that job over you know like in a multi-year way and you have Caden Proctor getting dropped in as a rookie at left guard and so even if you really were excited about what Patrick Paul was last year Aaron Brew was justifiably like an all-pro center there are still plenty of things left to be resolved along that offensive line.

8:04Robert Mays: And that is the best part about this entire situation. And that even the offensive line probably played better than we would have thought last year and would have imagined. But that was also in part because like Mike McDaniel was pulling the strings. And I think there's actually a decent chance that like Slowick and that staff can put something nice together. I don't think they're Mike McDaniel. Like Mike McDaniel, I think, has proven time and time again that he's very good at this. And so So what if that, you know, whatever the X factor that McDaniel was giving you for the offensive line, what if that falls back a little bit?

8:35So there's just so many parts of this that it's pretty easy to see how they would, you know, maybe they can end up being like the 13th best by the end of the year. But it's pretty hard to see what even an average outcome here would be.

8:47Robert Mays: We talked about the pass catching group a lot. I mean, it's bad and then unknown. I mean, hopefully Chris Bell gives you something when he gets back healthy, but who knows when that's going to be or what it's going to look like. Like your most enticing receiver is a third round pick that's coming into the league injured. Like that is the state of affairs of the Dolphins receiving core. Yeah, that's where they're at. Their best, their guy who could maybe be the guy who's the savior. Like, I don't know, he's probably not going to play week one. Like it's just they're in a really difficult position with that.

9:16Robert Mays: Where are you at on round two of Bobby Sloak here? Do you find yourself being pessimistic about it? Do you find yourself maybe a little bit more optimistic than you might expect? Like where do you land? Because when you go through this exercise, obviously you consider every single element. When you were thinking about the second go around for Bobby Sloan, how did you kind of find yourself feeling as you were weighing that for them? I don't even know if it's optimism or pessimism, really. I think I'm just kind of open to the fact that he might be fine. Because I think he showed that early on in his first tenure, obviously with Houston, that it wasn't perfect, but he was at least able to piece together like the vanilla version of what the Shanahan offense is supposed to look like.

9:58And I'm willing to believe that a guy who has gone through, who has shown some of those highs and has now gone through some of the trials and tribulations that he had obviously had as a play caller, being able to take a step back a little bit, being able to work in some different environments. Like, I'm open to the idea that he could come back with some new ideas and kind of look refreshed and start to piece this thing together. I think obviously for 2026, I don't think that's going to mean we're going to see good offense. but I do think that there's a chance that we see more from him that makes me go, hey, all right, man, if they can get one more piece on the offensive line in 27, and maybe if one of these receivers works out, or maybe they add a guy in free agency next year, okay, then maybe I can start to sell myself on this.

10:37So I'm at least open to it.

10:38Robert Mays: Yeah, I mean, I think when you think back to how bad it got near the end and why I wasn't surprised that he got fired at the end of the 2024 season, the infrastructure of the pass protection world for them just completely collapsed. And so there was a decent amount of good stuff around that, but they just never figured it out up front. Teams just picked on them to such an extent. And if they can clean up a little bit of that, and if he's learned some lessons and kind of how to protect himself in that area specifically, I'm open to the idea that this can look better than it did during the end of his time in Houston.

11:09Robert Mays: The last thing that's worth mentioning here, I think there are some people that will probably say, what about the running game? What about Devon H.M.? The Dolphins finished 28th in rushing success rate last year. like Devon H.N. is a very exciting player but even with Mike McDaniel and that staff orchestrating the run game it still wasn't an efficient or even that it was not a successful or efficient run game down to down and so obviously Devon H.N. is a really exciting player but the run game is not a definitive strength for this Dolphins team it was the home runs and strikeouts running game like Devon H.N.

11:43had his pops but he also got hit in the backfield as much as anybody in the NFL and I I don't think that that's going to change probably.

11:49Robert Mays: All right. So who'd you have at 15 if the Dolphins were at 16? I had the Tennessee Titans because I still have a, I just still, there's so many questions about what Austin Slotman and Cordell Volson is going to give you at, at the interior positions. And even like the left tackle, Dan Moore thing, I think was not even as good as they had hoped he would be last year. And so I liked some of what they did. Like, I think the Carnell Tate pick caught us by surprise. And we've talked about that a little bit, but like was probably the right move, like in terms of just a guy that there were so many drops and frustrations and guys not being the right spot and all that stuff last year that Carnal Tate, even if he's only ever like a B plus player, I'm pretty damn sure that he is going to be that and be a lot of those things for them.

12:31So I at least like that. And you can see how this is going to be better. But the offensive line worries just it's a lot.

12:37Robert Mays: I've fallen to pretty much the exact same spot. Even if you can talk yourself into Latham being better this year because he had the hip injury in training camp last year. He was banged up. He missed some time. He comes back. I don't think he was ever fully healthy. He played better in the back half of the season. And so if he comes into the season fully healthy, playing at right tackle, do we see the best version of J.C. Latham that we have? I'm open to that. Peter Skronsky is a very good player. But like you said, more you were hoping for average there last year. That never really happened. And then you have two massive question marks at two of the interior spots.

13:10Robert Mays: You know, if Kevin Zeitler somehow is in the mix for this team before the season starts, I'd feel a little bit better about that. But as of right now, I think the offensive line is below average at best and potentially like a severe weakness. The pass catching group should be better, but you're really leaning on a rookie, even if it's a guy you took in the top five to do a lot of heavy lifting there. The running game, they were 30th in rushing success rate last year. I think you can argue they downgraded their offensive line from the group we had a year ago because Kevin Zlatler was a part of that.

13:40Robert Mays: You didn't do anything to add to the running back room. Tony Pollard looked, I think, considerably like he had less pop last year than he has in years past. And then the play calling aspect of this, where are you with Brian Dayball as an offensive coordinator in 2026? not excited I can at least get the vision with Cam Ward in the sense that like Ward I do think is a good four and five out in the concept like he's really quick with the RPO stuff I think he sees stuff well when he's in the pure drop back gun world whereas I think even though he can do a lot of the like under center play action throw post route throw crossers and stuff it doesn't feel like that takes it doesn't feel like that gets the most out of his game I actually think he's a very creative player and giving him four and five out in the concept I think is is probably good for him so I think from that perspective I get it I think my issue with the offensive potential construction here and like the play calling and all that I don't see who Ward or Dable have as like the I can give it to this guy and one out of every five times I give him the ball he's going to get us an explosive there's some good players here like I think Wondell Robinson is fine like Colonel Tate I think is like a good guaranteed chain mover type and he does have more take the top off than I think was probably given credit for early in the draft season but it's not like a guarantee just give this guy the ball he can make something happen and like you said Pollard doesn't have that anymore the way that he used to so I think the floor for this pass catching group and skill group should be higher I'm still wondering what the ceiling is and maybe the bet is just that Ward will give you the explosives right because that's the way that he plays but that even still feels like putting a lot on a young player as well and that's not this conversation it we're trying to remove ourselves from the quarterback exactly having this discussion.

15:19Robert Mays: The Giants over the last three years, 22nd, 28th, and 30th in offensive DVOA. Even if you can put a good chunk of that on inconsistency and youth at quarterback, it still just has not looked very good on that side of the ball for Brian D 'Abel in several years. And even the year where they were much better than we expected with the Giants, that was some Mickey Mouse nonsense. Like, I give them a lot of credit for what that looked like. And I think it was actually an exceptional job to get the most out of the pieces that you have. but it was a hyper specific approach that they managed to squeeze out everything they could from it.

15:54Robert Mays: But when they moved to a more kind of traditional world over the last few seasons, I think the results have left a lot to be desired. And so I know getting a former head coach as your offensive coordinator. And again, schematically, some of the things that he wants to do aligns with what Cam Ward can do. I'm open to the idea that this can work and look pretty good, but I don't think it's necessarily a home run right off the bat. I think I still have a decent amount of questions about it. All right, let's get to the next one here. Who do you have at 14? Man, I'm between two and I'm kind of like debating if I should flip who I have here.

16:27Because I, you know what? Okay, no, no, no. I'm going to do it even though I think I like some of the pieces on this team. I'm going to put the Raiders here, which I was between them and one other team. Who was the other team?

16:37Robert Mays: Who was the other team? The Cleveland Browns. Interesting. Okay. I also was between the Raiders and one other team here and just flipped them before we started recording. So I have the Raiders at 13. I had them at 14, but I had another team that I have at 14 right now. So I would say here's what I would say about this. We talked about how I think the Dolphins are in a tier of their own. I think the next five teams, 15, 14, 13, 12, to me, we're all in kind of a similar tier. And the Browns are the last team I have in that tier. so we're i've grouped them in a similar way i think that's fair i definitely had 15 14 13 in the same tier i think 12 is where it actually did start to get a little bit different for me but still having these kind of bunches i'll be interested to see who your other team is but so for the raiders i do fear a little bit that i'm doing like you know we did this with kubiax team last year right where we put them like very low at the bottom and they were way better than we thought they made the offensive line look better than they thought but I think even with all of that being true and obviously I love Brock Bowers I think he's a special player I think Ashton can be really good this wide receiver core doesn't have anyone who's even a number two let alone a number one and that does worry me a lot even if Bowers is awesome and Gentry is awesome and I do think we live in more of a world now where you don't necessarily need like three really good receivers or even an alpha that you at least need somebody who's better than what they got and it does worry me that they don't have that on top of the offensive line being an issue even if they're a little bit better with Kubiak and Linderbaum obviously you saying that we did the same thing with Kubiak last year does make me it leaves me a little bit worried as I sit here and think more about it because I agree with you and but here I'm the exact same spot with the pass catchers but my thought is kind of like what if they just build the whole plane out of Bowers the same way they built the whole plane out of JSN last year and this ends up looking okay I think that's the version of this where we look very silly I still think that's sort of a remote possibility like obviously they're just very different players and building a passing game around Brock Bowers looks very different than building a passing game around JSN just in terms of like the downfield explosiveness you're going to have with the latter but I think that there is a chance that the offensive line conversation does look similar where we have some questions about what the offensive line is for the Raiders right now.

19:03Robert Mays: But by going from the infrastructure that you had last year to what Kubiak is going to give you, where the offensive line play is just going to look better in this sort of universe where the run and the pass are tied together. You're under center. You're having like, it's a lot of play action. You're putting your offensive line in really good positions. Fewer true pass sets than you're going to get in last year's group where, you know, they're just kind of leaving those guys out to dry. The run game was a disaster. I do think that there is a chance where you bring in Linderbaum, and that's obviously an upgrade.

19:34Robert Mays: Colton Miller hopefully is going to be healthier this year. You get a Caleb Rogers coming in, and he wins that right guard job. He is a third-round pick. He's better than we expect. And then again, the ecosystem lifts that group. I can talk myself into the offensive line looking like the best version of itself, where last year it looked like the worst version of itself. It's harder to do that at the pass-catching spots to me. So even if we're acknowledging that Kubiak was a real difference maker last year and could do that again, I still think the pass catching sponsor would push them down this list for me.

20:09And he Kubiak did make that Seattle offensive line look better than it obviously had in years past. But also part of the uncertainty with Seattle was just like, are the tackles going to be healthy? Like it wasn't really an issue of like, are they going to be good or can they play better? We know those tackles have played at a high level. And then the other. it's just like guy that you were throwing into the mix right exactly but who is coming off of a pretty rough rough season and also the guy that Seattle threw into the mix was a first round pick at guard and so obviously the Raiders are doing that um with their center but it just feels like even with the addition of Linderbaum the level of of on paper talent still does feel like a tier lower than what we had in Seattle last year I think that's right especially because we've seen

20:52Robert Mays: Abe Lucas play well when he's healthy. We've never really seen DJ Glaze play well, healthier or not, even if the circumstances are better. But I will say in my notes right here, I said, I think the hope here is that you get a similar upgrade to what the Seahawks got last year. One big addition, and then the scheme change helps lift the rest of the group. That's it. Like, and I am open to that happening, but I still think the pass catchers, it's like, it's harder to tell yourself that story. My, as I try to think about it, it's like, okay, you build the whole thing around Bowers and then And Jalen Naylor is just like a solid rotational piece for you.

21:23Robert Mays: He can do a little bit of everything. And then the other one where it's like, okay, this is the rosy outlook on it. I do see a role for Jack Besh that just looks like what Cooper Cupp did in 2025. Like when you look at the way the Raiders used Jack Besh last year, especially in the first half of the season, he's like their extra receiver, like in isolated situations. And it's like, that is not who Jack Besh should be. And then you go back and watch some of the things he can do in space, some of the things he can do underneath when he's getting a little bit more work, either in condensed sets or in the slot in the back half of the season.

21:58Robert Mays: And it's not that crazy to think that like the exact same deployment usage and just overall role for Cooper Cup in that offense last year is exactly what the best way to get the most out of Jack Besch would look like for Clint Kubiak. I do like that especially like again yeah that was never really the role of what he should have been like Jack Bash was never going to be like Cortland Sutton for you he probably was always going to be better as this like big move slot type of guy like Cooper Cup was I just it's one of those ones where because I can see the world I don't want to like condemn this team to being bad like I do think that there's a chance that this team actually can get to average or something exciting but there's just so many unknowns that I'm willing to kind of leave that open At 14 for me, so you had the Raiders at 14.

22:45Robert Mays: I have the Jets at 14. Really? I had them a good deal higher than that. This probably mostly comes down to the play calling for you, doesn't it? 100%. Like 100%. And it should. It's fair. It's fair. If you look at just the talent across the Jets roster, offensive line combined with the pass catchers, it's easy to get excited about it. It's very easy to get excited about it. You have the young tackles. Tipman has played well for them. You know, we'll see what happens with Dylan Parham and Josh Myers. Like, I still think those are, you're getting by at those two spots, I guess is what I would say.

23:22Robert Mays: But overall, you have a young ascending offensive line that's easy to get excited about. I feel that way about the pass catchers too. Like dropping Omar Cooper and Kenyon Sadiq into this thing with Garrett Wilson. I do think that there is a chance this is a dramatically improved group just from the overall talent level at the pass catching spots. if let's just say trying to think of like the right example here okay here let's say clint kubiak got hired to be the head coach of the jets this offseason and clint kubiak is going to be the play caller for this team with that offensive line with these pass catchers they'd be in the top 10 i mean they would be like in the top seven potentially maybe not that high because there still are questions because the guys are young but they would be significantly higher than they are right now.

24:06Robert Mays: I'm just at a spot where I, why should I have faith in how this is going to go? Like the last two times that we have seen Frank Reich as a play caller, it's not that it's been below average. It's not that it's been bad. It's been disastrous, like truly disastrous. And I just don't have a lot of faith in it being considerably better than that. And so we've seen this how many times, even if you like some of the talent, a majority of the talent, if the ecosystem itself is just completely rotten, you can only be so good. And I think that is my concern with the Jets is that I think that outcome of the entire foundation of this thing just not being something you can build onto.

24:52Robert Mays: I think that's more likely than not. And so that's why I have them pushed down so far. I think that's probably fair. I probably will end up knocking them down a spot or two from where I initially had them on my list because of that. Like I think the thing with the Frank Reich thing is it has been a while since his offenses have looked good. What I have said about Frank Reich before, though, is that when he can put when he feels like he can put a lot on the quarterback, the offenses look good. And obviously this is supposed to be quarterback agnostic, but like I still feel like the offenses can look fine when he's doing that and I do think that the talent is is deep like they have two or they have a number of really good running backs they now have two really good or at least very promising tight ends and guys that are very different right like Mason Taylor is like the almost the memes that we were doing of Jason Witten at the end of his career where it's like he's the most sure eight yards that you can possibly get whereas I think Sadiq is a little bit more of a Ferrari and so I think that they have that going on for them I do think that the wide receiver core now has a lot more than it had in the past, even if Omar Cooper is just fine as a rookie.

25:57Like, I just, the talent here is too appealing for me to get too down on Frank Reich. And maybe that's a mistake. Like, again, like you said, it's been a long time since his offenses had looked good. And even when they were good, they were a little antiquated, even when they were good. And so maybe I'm not factoring for that enough. But I can at least see more of a world where I think this is okay.

26:18Robert Mays: Here's my argument against this. I go back to the 2024 Colts, and they were somewhat banged up along the offensive line. Ryman missed like three games. Braden Smith missed four games. Ryan Kelly missed a handful of games. But it was still, if you look at it collectively, the same offensive line that was really, really good for Shane Steichen the year after. So even in situations where, especially out front, he's had a requisite amount of talent that still didn't prevent the bottom from falling out of the offense. And I think that's my concern here, is that even with a decent amount of talent at the offensive line spots and at the pass catching spots, I just I worry what this thing is going to look like based on how the last couple stops have gone.

27:03That's fair. I think I'm just I'm at least willing to leave the door open.

27:08Robert Mays: I just feel so burned. I think that's the reason I feel so burned. By the end of the Frank Reich era, I just, I can't, I can't get there. Even if I do have, I do believe in the talent that they have assembled in pretty much every area of the offensive roster here. All right, let's take our first quick break and then come back and chat about the rest of these supporting cast in the AFC. This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. For some, summer is their favorite season. Travel picks up, kids are out of school, and adventure is the focus. For others, juggling it all can be tough and can lead to them feeling overwhelmed and counting down the minutes until the kids are back in school.

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30:20Robert Mays: All right, so I had the Jets at 14, the Raiders at 13. You had the Raiders at 14 and the Browns at 13. I had the Browns at 12. So not that much of a difference. But why the Cleveland Browns at 13 for you? They're tricky. They were actually one of the most difficult for me to rank because I think they are the one where of this group from like, I'll even throw the Jets in here. They'll probably be my 12 now. From 12 to 15, I think for most of these, it's pretty easy to see like what the downside cases are, right? But I do think that of these groups, the upside case for Cleveland is kind of high.

30:58Like because there's so many unknowns and it's so many young players like what if Denzel Boston is just Cortland Sutton right away? What if Casey Concepcion is like 85 percent of Jalen Waddle right away? What if the offensive line, because of the four or five changes that they've made, is a lot better than we thought it was going to be? And I don't I don't think that Todd Monken is necessarily a better play caller or offensive mind than like Kevin Stefanski and Tommy Reese. I think that they had generally done a good job with what they had. but sometimes just all this change like maybe monken just sees these pieces a little bit better and he has a really good idea of what to do with these guys like you can sell me on the world good

31:33Robert Mays: they have more pieces are better they have more good part of this even if the names on the depth chart on the offensive line it feels like we're kind of making lateral moves at some of these spots that group has been banged up consistently over the last few years like if you can have like Like Spencer Fano is obviously the big, like the most exciting addition to this. If he can be really good, then you're getting considerably better play at left tackle than you have in Cleveland for a very long time. But even at some of these other spots, like the right tackle spot has been such a revolving door because Jack Conklin has been hurt.

32:08Robert Mays: If Titus Howard can come in and just be solid there. And then the, the interior spots, we have questions like Zion Johnson is a very expensive player based on what he has done so far in his career. But if his best football is in front of him, Like there is a world, despite how, again, the names on that group and how we've thought about the Browns offensive line for the last five years, that it's it would be surprising for people. But I think there is a very real chance that the Browns offensive line, if this thing does all come together, is considerably better this year than it has been over the last couple of years.

32:42Robert Mays: The biggest questions for me are how good are the rookie pass catchers quickly? If they are really good, then there's a chance that 13 or 12 for the Browns seems silly. But I think that there's enough uncertainty with the youth that it would be hard to put them much higher than this. And I actually think that that's a good point, because let's say let's say all this change on the offensive line. It only makes them five to 10 percent better. Like it's a very like it's just not that much better. But if you get that on top of the two rookie wide receivers giving something to you, it's like, OK, hey, you can start to see how they can start to piece together things on this offense.

33:18Because in theory, Boston would, I think, give you more downfield threat than you had, like more downfield, just throw it up to him ability. And then Concepcion would give you more like, hey, can we just get this guy the ball and he can go make a play for us? Because a wide receiver, I don't think they really had a whole lot of that last year. Obviously, for his position, Fannin can give you a little bit of that, but it's a very different consideration you're making with a player like Concepcion. own. I will say I'm very curious to see what Quinshot Judkins looks like next year because just based on last year, he was awesome.

33:50He was a really, really good player when he was healthy, but now he's coming into the year with obviously having broken his fibula last year, dislocated his ankle. So very curious to see what that looks like because I do think him being a player who can be like a 250, 280 carry kind of guy who can really be a workhorse. I think that actually does like change my calculation on what the offense looks like whether or not he can do

34:12Robert Mays: that at a high level think about it and again it's hard to do this because we have not seen the rookies play with Fano and the two pass catchers and even if you're excited about it it's still such an unknown that I think it's hard to just like pencil it in and be like we we know this is going to be a defined strength for them but the more I think about it I I can talk myself into the Browns, like being a part of the tier above this group, because I, so just to spoiler, like I have the Texans not far ahead of them. I don't really, why should we feel considerably better about the Texans than we do about the Browns?

34:49Robert Mays: Like I, we, have we seen Jaden Higgins and Jalen Oates do it in the NFL? That's part of it. And Nico Collins is by far the best pass catch, best pass catcher on either one of these teams. But I think the offensive line, they're very similar in terms of like the considerations and all the movement, how much better they're going to be. And I think I feel better about Monken than I probably do about Nick Haley right now. So like in actuality, like how much different are those two situations as I really sit and think about them? I think that that's that crazy, but the Nico Collins element does really change a lot for me because with the Browns, it's like there are some nice pieces here and they've actually got a lot of depth with a lot of these rookie players.

35:26But who do you say for sure we're building the offense around. Harold Fannin. At least in Houston, I know it's... Well, they might have to try. That might be the answer.

35:36Robert Mays: I say that jokingly. At the same time, just looking up, you look at the numbers for Fannin, and even if you have questions about the rookies, I don't think we've talked enough about how crazy Harold Fannin's season was. I think that's partially because Tyler Warren had this incredible regular season, then Colson Lovelland had this incredible playoff run, and so we've kind of forgotten about how good Harold Fannin was last year. He had the seventh most receptions and eighth most yards by a rookie tight end since the merger. He was incredible. Six rookie tight ends since 2000 have gotten 100 targets in their rookie season.

36:11Robert Mays: Six. Five of those guys were first round picks. Four of them were top half of the league for like top half of the first round picks within the top 16. So these are guys drafted in a range that tight ends are almost never drafted. And that's why they're getting that workload. that what the Browns asked of Harold Fannin as a third round pick is just almost unprecedented at that position and just like what they put on him early on it just speaks so clearly to like how good of a football player he is that immediately even as a third round pick they were like yeah that guy's getting 100 targets this year and some of that is the competition for those targets in that offense but at the same time he was so good with the opportunities that he was given and so I do think that even if I'm joking that you could just build the whole thing around Harold Fannin how good he was last year does mitigate some of the questions you might have about the rookie pass catchers and honestly with like tight end we always talk about how long it takes for these guys to like really ramp up and become like superstar players well part of that is because like you said the runway for them even getting targets and getting snaps is so long but that was not the case for Fannin like he's already kind of jump-started into being able to get that experience under his belt and then the other thing i would say like monken is very familiar with the tight end of his style and caliber like i think isaiah likely was a pretty similar player to harold fan i think fanning is a better blocker together oh he's a much better block he's a more the thing i still think fanning has like a ways to go as a blocker but he tries his ass off and he's he's more than well built enough to do it and so i do think that he'll get there but i think like purely as a pass catcher like they are very similar skill sets and so monken i think will have a good idea of how to use him and then yeah you don't have to worry about taking him off the field because i think he can just be like a pretty standard wide tight end for you if you need him to be the other four tight ends that got 100 plus targets that there's so there are five of them since 2000 sam laporta was the other guy drafted outside of the first round the other four guys bowers jeremy shockey kyle pitts tyler warren we're talking about like some of the best tight end prospects to come along ever in like how and what how we projected those guys moving forward and so for Harold Fana to even be in the conversation with prospects and rookies of that ilk is incredibly impressive so I have the Browns at 12 but this is the one that I almost hope I'm wrong I hope that like halfway through the season we're talking about them in the top seven and because so much of this stuff kind of fell into place because I do think there's a lot to be excited about when you look at what the Browns did this offseason specifically.

38:45Robert Mays: All right, so if you had the Browns at 13, who did you have at 12? I'll put the Jets at 12. I think you've talked me out of it a little bit with the Frank Reich stuff. I probably was not calculating for that enough because I look at the talent and I'm like, God, that seems so cool. And then realistically, it probably will not be as cool as I want it to be. I'm sad that I did this. I kind of regret it a little bit, but I don't think it's wrong. It's not. Like, like you said, he's it's if we were doing if we were removing the play callers out of this, I would be more comfortable putting them at like ninth or tenth.

39:17But I probably need to be a little bit more hesitant about the Frank Reich thing.

39:21Robert Mays: And you also can't remove the play callers from it like that. That's how it would look really silly. Like they do so much lifting and how, what the offense feels like. I mean, there are a couple on here where there, there is one team specifically, probably two teams where I have them just much, much higher than the overall talent level on the offense would lead you to believe just because I have so much faith in like the ecosystem that those play callers are creating. I mean, I can't remember last year, some of the NFC teams, maybe it was the Rams, but there were just teams that's like, all right, they're in the top three.

39:54Robert Mays: Like, even if we have questions about the talent, like what the offensive staff is providing to the quarterback is so definitively good that even if you have, oh, well, what does the right tackle look like? Or they only have two pass catchers. That stuff just matters less. And I think the exact same thing on the other side can potentially be true for the Jets where you look at the talent, you're excited about it. But if the wrong guys are building the offense and what it looks like and what it feels like and how easy it feels for the quarterback, like that's as important to the supporting cast discussion that we're having as the overall talent level can be.

40:31Robert Mays: I truly believe that. I think we have a lot of evidence that would lead us to believe that. There is one team on here that we'll get to them and. I don't know, a handful of picks, but there's one team that has a offensive line. I do not trust at all, but I trust the play caller. And so I think we're talking about the same team there. Yeah. All right. So you had the jets at 12. This is kind of where I had a little bit of a tear break. And I do think that maybe I can talk myself into the Browns, like sneaking into this next group of teams. But this is initially where I cut off the line was after the teams we had ranked 15 through 12.

41:06Robert Mays: And we had that same collection of teams. So who did you have at 11? I'm going to now put at 11. and this this feels crazy given how good they've been for a long time I'm gonna put the Kansas City Chiefs wow this offense is still not very talented to me the and this is tricky because like I like what they did and like I think bringing in Kenneth Walker was the right move for potentially making this offense look better than it obviously was last year and I think the offensive line is clearly it has some talent I'm still worried about the right tackle position obviously but otherwise it as a very talented offensive line that insulates you in a lot of ways.

41:46But I think we're at a point with Andy Reid where I don't think he's a negative for you, but I just don't feel like where he's at and where the NFL is at, that he is like an obvious plus for you in the way that he used to be. I still do not think this wide receiver core is any good, really, especially if we don't even know what we're going to get out of Rishi Rice this year. and then the tight end room I can't believe they didn't add anyone I can't believe it we've been doing the Travis Kelsey thing now for two or three years and he's still a functional player he's not terrible but I'm just shocked that they added nothing there and so this to me just feels like a very incomplete pass catching group and a play caller that again I don't think he's making you actively worse but it just feels like things have gotten a little bit still there and it doesn't feel like they're very additive at this point.

42:36Robert Mays: The Chiefs much higher than this, but I don't disagree with anything that you said. Like, I think that to me, there is like a group of teams and it's hard, like there's some nuance in how it's bucketed. I have like a set of teams at the top that I think is just kind of unassailable. There's like three teams at the top that I think are clearly the best three teams in my opinion. And then there are two teams after that that it's largely driven by the play calling where I just have so much faith in the play caller that I have them kind of in their own separate group. But then the teams from like 11 to six, which is where I had the Chiefs, I think you could kind of move it around a bunch within that group.

43:13Robert Mays: And I think part of the reason I had the Chiefs so much higher in that tier than you seem to, I think it's a couple of different things. One, just benefit the doubt and just overall exposure over an extended period of time. But Holmes is the benefit of the doubt. You're not wrong about this. So that's true in one way. But what you just said about Andy Reid, that is the first time we're saying this. That is the first time where I think he is no longer someone that we are giving that benefit of the doubt. In my notes for the Chiefs, the first thing I have written down is, where are we with Andy Reid right now?

43:49Robert Mays: Because in my opinion, that's probably the most important question associated with this. because I don't think if you look at where we had the Chiefs last year, I think we probably had him in like the top five, right? I think both of us probably had him in the top five. The talent level is no different than it was last year. I think you could actually argue that you're probably feel better about the offensive line because we've seen Josh Simmons play well and hopefully he'll be healthier this year. And that we saw Kingsley Sumataiya be decent at guard. Like that feels more settled. The pass catching spots, even with the uncertainty around Rice, is kind of the same group that we were dealing with before.

44:27Robert Mays: And now you have Kenneth Walker. So the personnel is very similar to what it was a year ago. But I think collectively, we're much more down on this group overall. And I think a good portion of that is driven by Andy Reid no longer being one of those guys where we're just like, oh, Andy Reid will figure it out. And I don't think your hesitation there and I don't think your skepticism there is unfounded. I think there's actually a very real justification for you feeling that way right now. And again, I don't think all of it is necessarily like it's a just Andy Reid thing. It's that I do think that the NFL is just different than it was four or five years ago.

45:08It's considerably different. It has happened so fast that the NFL has just run away from what they were really good at. And there's a chance that because he's been doing this for a long time that they can adapt and they can change. And I do think bringing in a guy like Walker does suggest that maybe they are going to be a little bit different. But I'm kind of at the point that like I would like to see it. And again, I don't think he's a negative. I'm just not sure that he's like that plus plus, you know, fourth or fifth best play caller in the league that we used to think. I will say, too, this group from like 7 to 11 to me is pretty amorphous.

45:40Like if you talk to me in an hour and I would say that the Chiefs are like 7th or 8th, I'd be like, yeah, I could also see that world. But I think if it came down to it, I just think outside of the offensive line, I just have a lot of questions with this team.

45:54Robert Mays: I think that's fair. And again, I do think that you within this tier, you can move teams around a lot. They could be 10. I have them at six, I think, just in part because I think I'm willing to be a year late on Andy Reid and in his ability to turn this thing around. And you seem like you're trying to get out a year early. I kind of and again I just I'm not trying to say he stinks it's just I I'm just there used to be a world where three years ago you would do Sean McVay Kyle Shanahan and then you'd be like let's have the Andy Reid discussion I just don't even think that that really comes into my mind anymore and again they can be a good offense and I think they will be a good offense but a lot of that I think is they have the best quarterback in the world and it's driven by that that's right and I think that if they're going to be higher on this list, if they're going to be a team that creeps up toward the top five like they would have in years past, who are the difference makers for the supporting cast specifically?

46:50Robert Mays: And Andy Reid has to do so much lifting there when you have questions about the pass-catching group. And if he's not going to, then they just kind of fall back to the pack in the AFC. And so, again, I think I have a little bit more faith in their ability to pull out of this, and you combine that with being more explosive on the ground and having Kenneth Walker and that being such a defined weakness of what the team has looked like over the last couple years that I'm a little bit, I give them a little bit, I have a little bit more hope here than you do, but I don't think it's crazy at all to think they belong at the bottom of this tier and not at the top of this tier in the way that they might have a couple years ago.

47:28Robert Mays: All right, so I had the Chiefs at six. You had the Chiefs at 11. I have the Texans at 11. i have them on my next one so this is this is perfect yeah i have the texans at 11 i i think kaylee was solid in year one like i think the offensive line was so messy earlier in the season but i really we talked about this in real time like i appreciated how much tinkering they were trying to do over the course of the year to find what the right approach for them was on offense and i think that i'm excited to see what they can do in year two with an offensive line that I do think should be better. But even if the offensive line is better, it's not a great group.

48:09Robert Mays: Like, I think you're still hoping for like slightly above average, even if it all comes together. You have multiple options for a starting left guard. If Wildteller gets hurt, or you obviously drafted Keelan Roach in the first round, you know, we have, hopefully, you have an upgrade at right tackle. Like, that's the biggest, like the biggest defined spot that will be better is after they moved Titus Howard to left guard last year, the right tackle spot was the weakest point on the offensive line. That should be better with Braden Smith this year. So I do think the offensive line will be better.

48:40Robert Mays: I just don't know how much better to like make them, put them higher on this list. And the pass catchers is probably the biggest defined strength of this group. Like, I just think that with, with Nico Collins, and I think that the combination of Collins, Higgins, and Noel makes sense. Like the skill sets and how complimentary they are. And we'll see if Tank Tell can be back. So I think that to me is the part I'm most excited about. But I think I'm meh enough on all of the other elements of this that I have them at the bottom of this tier and not any higher. And I think that that's fair. Like this is one that I've had to check myself on a little bit because you mentioned with the Browns, like they're the one that I would most like to be wrong about.

49:24I think the Texans are the one I would most like to actually outplay their spot here. Like if it all comes together and let's say they are an above average offensive line and things come together and they can mash people a little bit and they can stay out of these bad down in distances maybe higgins takes a little bit of a step maybe noel can just be like a solid speed three guy for you and now david montgomery is actually getting you the yards that are blocked and not a disaster in pass protection it's like whoa i can start to see the world where cj stroud in this passing offense starts to look pretty good again and like this actually looks nice but like you said i i don't think kaylee he's like bad or anything but I don't think he what we saw last year was where we want to immediately crown him as one of those guys I think it's more of like hey let's wait and see let's give you another chance with some better play callers or some better players let's see how it goes and then the offensive line I like all the bets they made it's still a lot of kind of shaky bets like it's a lot you're moving a guy who you just drafted and it's guys who have been injured and it's all this stuff and so I can see the world where this team makes us look dumb and they are actually like the fourth or fifth best AFC supporting cast if everything works out you can also kind of see the world where it just feels not all that different from last year

50:33Robert Mays: see I think that's harder for me to imagine like I could see them being closer to the top of this group between like six to eleven than the bottom but I don't think I could see them cracking into like the top three or four and so that's why I think I have them as low as I do like I just think even the best case scenario, I still don't think is that great. And so I think that the day, like the downside of putting them this low is just a little bit less than it is with some of these other teams that I feel comfortable having them here. The David Montgomery part is a really good thing to bring up though, because I think just more consistency on the ground.

51:06Robert Mays: I mean, they were the worst running game in the league combined over the last couple of years. And so having David Montgomery as part of this plus an improved offensive line, there's a chance that even if they're a league average running game everything just looks so much better and feels so much easier on offense I'm open to that but if that is the thing that is changing the complexion of this the most I still don't think that shoots you into like a different group of teams I still think that's a marginal improvement even if I think that marginal improvement is certainly possible I think that be fair i think there's something about nico collins being such an x factor and such like a game changer that if you can just get the rest to average and we're giving him and the other options a chance to breathe and a chance to actually make plays i could see the world where it's pretty damn good all right so i had the texans at 11 you had the texans at 10 that's correct yes okay and you had the you had the Chiefs at 11 I had the Chiefs at 11 yeah all right so my team at 10 this is the one that I was the most surprised by when we went through this because where we had them last year but I just think as I thought more about it it was hard to have them that much higher I have the Ravens at 10 I started with them in this right I moved them a little bit higher when it really came down to it but I have them only a couple of spots higher than this so they are again in this like amorphous 7 to 11 range for me.

52:35So let's hear it.

52:37Robert Mays: The offensive line has three new starters on the interior, which may be a good thing, right? Like there is a chance that the interior is just better than it was last year, even removing Tyler Linderbaum by adding Began Juana and John Simpson. But there's a lot of moving parts along the offensive line. So that's a question mark. The pass catchers, maybe we get something from a third and a fourth round pick, but I'm not going to be banking on that as to why this group is going to feel considerably different than it did over the last couple of years when it felt like they were still missing something.

53:06Robert Mays: And then the play caller is a complete unknown. Like I do, I am very, I'm very high on what this offense can look like with Declan Doyle. And I do think that he can be really good. And I'm excited to see what the Declan Doyle offense looks like, bring some of those ideas from Chicago and grafting them onto an offense with Lamar Jackson. Like there is a chance we get to the end of this season and he is immediately one of those guys right that is certainly possible and I I would love to see that happen actually and I think there's a chance it does but right now like we've never seen him do it before and we have still have questions about the quality of the pass catchers overall and there's a ton of moving parts along the offensive line so I just don't like there is a lot of wait and see here with the Raiders or with the Ravens for me to have them any higher than this group of teams.

53:57Robert Mays: I just don't know how you could like do it and feel good about it. I think that's fair. And I, again, I started with them at like probably 11 before I ended up moving them back up. I think how I got back to where I was a little bit excited about them or at least willing to move them a little bit slightly higher in this tier. I think I'm kind of on like, you know, the inverse of the Andy Reid thing. I am so on the like, I'm not going to call Derrick Henry done until he's done. Like, I still think he could be like the second or third best running back in the NFL. And not just that he's good. It's that I don't think the offensive line has to be that much better for you to get the true value of Derrick Henry, where he is just like constantly giving you explosives and like really commanding how defenses have to play against you.

54:45Robert Mays: I think that's a really good argument. And because he was still good last year, even as even as like the foundation of the offense felt like it was. rotting up front. And it was such a frustrating group to watch last year. The rate of the Ravens offensive line compared to the season before, even with even considering that he was still productive because he was still finding a decent amount of those explosives. So I think that that to me is the best argument for why the Ravens should be higher on this list is that you can still build so much of this through Derrick Henry and lean on him in that way that even if the offensive line is just marginally better, you are getting that version of Derrick Henry.

55:25Robert Mays: I actually think that's a really compelling argument. I probably wasn't thinking about it enough because I think I was probably just defaulting to the past game infrastructure more so than I was what Derrick Henry is giving you. But I think that's the best argument for why the Ravens should be higher. That's totally fair. And I get that too, because again, just purely if I thought this was going to be more of a pass heavy offense, maybe I would be worried about that but again I think Doyle is coming from a spot where it wants to be a little bit more run heavy and we want to be able to lean on that and so because of that and some of the other roster moves you know bringing in a Durham Smythe like getting a guy like Vega you want to just the way that he's built and is going to play just even though Doyle is a unknown as a play caller it at least feels like they kind of understand the identity of how this thing is supposed to operate and that if we're wading into uncertainty as a play caller and stuff like that I'll at least give that like a 5 % bump because that makes me feel a little bit better.

56:19Robert Mays: There is a chance that by week four, it's clear they should just belong in the top five. Like you want as a monster, Declan Doyle is just one of those guys. Like I would not be surprised at all if having them out in the back half of this ranking looks very silly, very quickly, but there's just enough uncertainty that it was hard for me to put them much higher. So I had the Ravens at 10. Who did you have at 10 you're the texans i had the texans at 10 and then would you have a night uh i had the i so i had the ravens at eight i'll say that and then at nine this is where i put the pittsburgh stealers and they were also kind of a really oh that's funny okay exactly at nine because i think like the mccarthy thing is really boring but i do think it at least sets a baseline you kind of know what you're getting like it's it'll probably be fine and then I actually think where this became harder for me to rank in terms of do I want to put them at seven do I want to put them 11 like kind of in this range is how excited should I really be about the offensive line I think Zach Frazier is awesome I think Mason McCormick is pretty good even if he has some of his ups and downs and the tackle duo is exciting but it's still a lot of unknowns like Fautanu had obviously a tumultuous rookie season.

57:34I think he was really up and down last year, even if you saw more good play. But now he's moving from right tackle to left tackle. And I know he's natively a left tackle, but that's still a tough transition for guys to make outside of, you know, some of the true all-stars at the position. And then we have no idea how good Max Zianachor is going to be. I liked him as a prospect, but I think even for people that liked him, we knew it was probably going to be like a year or two runway before I think he probably reached his potential. And so I think I'm at a place where I still think the long-term outlook for the offensive line is really good I'm not sure if in 2026 it's going to be like a cohesively great unit that's exactly

58:11Robert Mays: where I land like I everything I have wrote down is pretty much exactly that like McCarthy's solid fine like he's solid like that's great like you know what you're getting it is solid I do think the interesting thing about McCarthy and the thing I'm most interested in here is that so much of that offense in Dallas, even still to this day, is catered to what Dak wants to do, right? Like Dak is such a driver of how they operate offensively in Dallas. And they did, they shifted more toward like a traditional place this year with the amount of play action that they were using and just some of the buttons we wanted to see them press over the last couple of years.

58:46Robert Mays: But I think a lot of what, how the offense operates is driven by what Dak was doing. I mean, Kellen Moore was still Mike McCarthy's offensive coordinator early in his time there. And I don't think they changed a ton even when Mike McCarthy took over as the play caller. And so now you're going from a world that was kind of set in stone to a place where maybe you do things a little bit differently. Like maybe there's just a slightly different version of Mike McCarthy that we see this year than we saw in Dallas. How Aaron Rodgers colors that I'm not exactly sure, but I'm open to the idea of Mike McCarthy being good as a play caller in Pittsburgh and maybe even a little bit better than the solid we're making him out to be right now.

59:22Robert Mays: The pass catchers, I like, I think this group has a chance to be fun like I have made my frustrations with DK Metcalf known I think he's a frustrating player I think complementing that with a guy like Michael Pittman is perfect like it's just that's exactly the type of skill set I would like to offset whatever my roller coaster with DK Metcalf looks like and I think Jeremy Bernard is like a glue guy I'm excited to see what that is and I think we'll see more firemuth this year than we did last year the offensive line is the biggest question. The offensive line is the swing point. And I still land in a place where I believe by the end of the 2026 season, as we project the Steelers moving forward, I will be extremely excited about what that group looks like.

1:00:07Robert Mays: I think it's harder to harbor that excitement now, considering how many questions there still are about how young that group is. I think that that is probably fair. And honestly, it's not like, I think it's one like yeah I just have so many questions about what the tackles are going to look like and then even if you're trying to paint like the long-term outlook for this team it's like it's not like DK Metcalf and Michael Pittman are particularly young players I don't think they necessarily have this like superstar future at the running back position like they still have a lot of questions I think to answer in terms of like the youth at skill player if we're trying to project like 27 28 and all that stuff but this is a unit where I think I'm excited about the offensive line but again, like when it actually comes together, I think is a question mark.

1:00:52If I'm willing to believe that, like if by September 30th, it looks good, I might be like, oh, OK, maybe this offense can actually be really, really good. But I just kind of doubt that we're going to be there that fast with this group.

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1:02:49Robert Mays: and so you had the ravens at eight derrick and so i'll here's my my team that i have at eight i have the new england patriots Okay. I had them a little bit higher, but I don't think that this is crazy at all. I went back and forth on it a couple different times. I think I initially had them at seven, and then the team I put at seven, we'll talk about why, but to me, there's enough of a question about what... So we can have the AJ Brown conversation now. I understand making this bet if you're the Patriots. I think I'm not surprised that even outside of his dissatisfaction with the situation, the Eagles were willing to move on from him for a first round pick.

1:03:28Robert Mays: The 29 year old player has had knee issues for a while. It had showed started to show signs of decline last year. Like there is a chance that we are on the downside for AJ Brown. And I think that's part of the reason that the Eagles are willing to move on. I still understand if you're in New England's position, being willing to take this sort of gamble and just say, listen, we have a young quarterback. We're very excited about. We have resources to spend. This is what you have to pay for difference making players in the trade market. it we're willing to do this I get that but I still think there's enough questions about what he is moving forward combined with the pass catchers they already have and then the offensive line it's like I get the fact that this should be a better group this year with Davis moving to center and then you bring in AVT Vera Tucker's health just like makes me so uncomfortable and just like how often he's been banged up and so there's a chance that if Will Campbell doesn't put it together if vera tucker gets banged up again we'll see what davis does in year two that this offensive line is below average group this year even if it's supposed to be better so i think that the concern like the questions up front combined with what are you really what version of aj brown are you really getting in 2026 is the reason that i had them a little bit lower than i thought i might when i started this so i think all the offensive line stuff it it kind of hard to disagree with like there even if you can see some of the upside cases it's like yeah avt is hurt all the time will campbell not only like is he going to put it together better but like he was just banged up all of last year and so is he going to be as healthy as you want him to be uh moving forward i think i have some some faith in jared wilson at center but that is a that is a projection that is at least a little bit based on like me liking him in college and me liking some of his rookie tape and stuff like that but i i think the offensive line concerns are not unfounded And then Josh McDaniels, I think, is a almost in the Mike McCarthy range, like totally acceptable NFL play caller, probably not like a super additive presence.

1:05:24And so for all those reasons, you would think that I feel lower. But I kind of just think A.J. Brown is going to kick ass again. Like I think if we're trying to. Because it would be like he's incredibly fun when he's good. But it's I think if we're worried about what does A.J. Brown look like in year three as a New England Patriot when he is a little bit older and man, maybe they wish they had some of those picks and stuff like that, that I totally get. I think for right now, for 2026, he can still be one of the best receivers in the NFL and a guy who's a field tilter. And I think there are a lot of reasons.

1:05:58Obviously, this offense was was pretty good last year. You know, the quarterback was really good and obviously the schedule that they face in some ways. But them being what they were in the offense looking as put together as it was in some stretches, despite not having a guy that you could build the offense around at all, like they were getting by with a bunch of guys who were just kind of role players. And even Trevion Henderson, who was exciting, didn't really like burst onto the scene until later in the year and take on a more full role. And so I think them having one, a guy in A.J. Brown, who is like, this is the plane.

1:06:28We can build everything around him or through him. and then also even just your number two is like I think Robion Dobbs is a really good number two for them and just a skill set that they don't otherwise have just like a third and six can we just pin it on you and you go catch it so and then even Keyshawn Booty like him now getting knocked down the totem pole a little bit and just kind of being this like explosive you know kind of move him around wherever uh sort of player you could kind of sell me that this is a really really

1:06:54Robert Mays: good skill group I wonder if Booty's on the team I mean I think that's probably my question is like Like, does he get moved? Is a team willing to trade something for him? I'm open to them being a really good skill group if A.J. Brown is closer to 2024 A.J. Brown than he was last year. And I honestly think one of the elements of this that I'm excited to see and curious to watch, do we see A.J. Brown moved around a little bit more? Because I think that having him be some sort of a movable piece and playing more Z and playing inside a little bit more often off the line of scrimmage, I think that's a way to potentially mitigate some, just like we've seen this with a ton of different receivers like taking a guy out of like a true x role as he gets a little bit deeper into his career that's a way to extend guys's careers it's a way to kind of get the most out of them as i get a little bit older and if you look at the way that stefan diggs was used last year i think aj brown actually is better set up to be that sort of player within the offense than romeo dobbs is i think sticking romeo dobbs on the line of scrimmage and having him be the x so you can move aj brown around i actually think that's probably the best version of this.

1:07:58Robert Mays: And I think that's probably the way you get the best version of AJ Brown in 2026. And I think they can and will do this. And I have there are two reasons why one we've talked about this before AJ Brown, like we were worried he was a slot only coming into the league. So it's like he very clearly is is comfortable operating in that area. I don't think that it's it's been an issue for him that he's, you know, not been the guy who's been pushed outside. I think a lot of that more is just like the function of how Philly ran their offense and what the quarterback was comfortable with there and how they needed to use him.

1:08:29In New England, you have a, obviously we're trying to do this quarterback agnostic, but I think you have a play caller and then a quarterback who is going to be a lot more willing to just throw the ball over the middle. And so I think when you are putting AJ Brown in a situation like that, I don't know if he's going to be like 50-50 or whatever, but I do think it's a lot more likely he gets some pretty good looks out of the slot in a way that he just didn't in Philly.

1:08:49Robert Mays: I think that's probably right. And so here's the reason I didn't have the Patriots hire. I didn't the Chiefs I had at six just as like that was kind of a that was set like the Chiefs are going to be at six they're going to be like outside the top five and at the top of this tier for the reasons that we discussed I initially had the Patriots at seven the reason I moved them down is that I put the Bengals at seven because when I was looking at the Bengals compared to the Patriots I think the Patriots offensive line has a path to be better than the Bengals offensive line but I still think there's enough there are enough questions where I don't think it's a certainty I think the play calling and the infrastructure in new England is better than it is in Cincinnati but I think that's partially because so much of what the offense looks like in Cincinnati is driven by what the quarterback wants to do that I'm not going to ding them for a lot of that and so I think there's enough where they're on equal footing in enough of these categories but then I look at the pass catchers for the Bengals and it's like well Jamar Chase is better than AJ Brown right now Even if AJ Brown is the best version of himself and you have T Higgins on the other side.

1:09:54Robert Mays: And so that's ultimately why I ended up flipping them. And I had the Bengals at seven. You have the Bengals a little bit higher than that. So we'll, we'll get to there. But basically for what you're saying is like Jamar and T kind of goes, kind of goes a long way. All right. So I had the Bengals at seven. Where did you have the Bengals though? So I had the Bengals and I think that I could be talked a little bit out of this position, but I had them as high as four. um for a couple of reasons one I think Jamar Chase and T Higgins are like they're just phenomenal they are it's not only that Jamar Chase is like the scariest person in the league with the ball in his hands at this point I think it's also that Jamar Chase and T Higgins protect the football and are quarterback friendly in a way that no duo in the entire NFL is and I think that that makes playing quarterback very very easy there um not that the quarterback there isn't good but like I think it makes them it makes it very very easy to play it there and then some of the other tertiary pieces are nice and I also think where I actually got higher on them especially compared to previous years with this offensive line I think I'm at least more willing to buy like the upside case for the offensive line like I think Fairchild could be better um I think like I'm still a guy who's like betting on Mims and so I'm worried about what Orlando Brown looks like the further we we do this thing with him but you can at least convince me that the offensive line is good enough in a way that going into other seasons, I was not as willing to actually get there with that unit.

1:11:22Robert Mays: It's funny that last year, I think I had the Bengals at like two or three because I was just weighing the pass catchers so heavily. And I think I just, I wasn't willing to go there with it this year. I think I was probably weighing each element of it more equally than I did a year ago. And when you look at it, like again, even if we understand why the offensive infrastructure for the Bengals looks the way that it does because of the quarterback, we still are in a place where compared to some of these other teams a little bit higher on the list the structure of the offense isn't doing the same amount of lifting and so there's just more on the quarterback and so if we're making that part of the supporting cast I think that's partially what pushes them a little bit further down compared to some of these teams that I just think that the play calling the structure everything else does lift the quarterback in a way that it just dozen in Cincinnati.

1:12:12Robert Mays: And that's partially his own doing. But so I don't really know what to do with that. Like, how do you ultimately weigh that in an exercise like this? I think it's hard to untangle. I think where I ultimately came down with it is that even if we don't necessarily believe that the play calling in the infrastructure is like additive, if I don't feel like they're getting in the way and you tell me I have the best wide receiver duo in the L and the single best wide receiver in the NFL. It's like, you're probably getting a pretty good amount of help from those guys. Yeah. And the other, I think that, and that's a good argument.

1:12:50Robert Mays: And I think the other pillars of like that, the solid argument for the Bengals is that the rest of the stuff is not actively bad. Like the offensive line isn't a good group, but it's not the disaster that it's been in years past. And I think the running game part of this is another point in their favor. Like what they did on the ground in the back half of last season, the Bengals were sixth in rushing success rate over the second half of last year. And I do think you saw them start to tinker with elements of the run game that kind of pushed them there. They had a 10 % uptick in their percentage of under center runs in the back half of last year.

1:13:24Robert Mays: It went from like 30 to 40%. And I think you saw some of the benefits from that. And this was the first year where Frank Pollock was not there. They had Scott Peters come in as the offensive line coach. And he's, I think, just more of like a technician. And like, that's his role as an offensive line coach compared to some of these guys that want to be the overseers of how the run game is constructed. And so I do think it took them a little bit of time to figure out what they wanted to be on the ground. And you saw that happen in the back half of last year. And so the fact that the run game was actively good by the end of the year, the fact that the offensive line is like slightly below average rather than the disaster it's been in years past.

1:13:58Robert Mays: We talk about the play calling and then you have the pass catchers. It's a compelling case. I think they probably deserve to be higher than this simply because of what you're saying with Higgins and Chase. I do think that's right. I just, I'm also like the, Jamar Chase, I like, he's, he, I just think he's incredible, man. He hangs the stars in my eyes. He's just amazing. All right, so I feel a little bit, all right, now I want to change this. Now I want to put the Chiefs at seven. And I think I want to put, I want to put the Chiefs at seven. I definitely want to have the Bengals ahead of the Chiefs.

1:14:37Robert Mays: Okay, so we'll get to the team I have at five, but putting them over that team I think is harder because of what we're talking about with the offensive infrastructure. Okay, so I had the Bengals at seven. Or I had the Bengals at six. I had the Chiefs at seven. So who did you have at seven? So this was another team that I think was really difficult for me to rank, but this is where I put the Jacksonville Jaguars. and I love the play caller and I love how much depth they have at some of the past catching spots like we've we've done the Jacoby Myers things a million times I think Parker Washington is a really nice player Bretton Strange is pretty good when he's out there Brian Thomas Jr.

1:15:15and Travis Hunter I don't know I think we'll see I think those are kind of up in the air a little bit right now even if the upside I think is pretty high for both of those players I think they really got away with it with the offensive line last year and them not adding anything to that group even if we do believe Cohen can lift that group a little bit I think doing that year over year with a group that is is not that good I I just worry about the ability to do that at the same level and so this is not me saying it's going to bottom out right like that they're going to be bad I just it feels like this is a team and unit that we are projecting so much growth for and I think for me it's hard to see and do that when the offensive line is what it is so i had them a little bit

1:15:59Robert Mays: higher and i think it's because i just have a lot of faith in what cohen has done over the last couple years and i like the pass catchers like this group they were top five in both drop back success rate and drop back epa over the second half of last season after they got jacoby myers like i think their ability and their how clearly they figured it out over the back half of last season after adding that and if brian thomas jr is healthier this year like what i said earlier like there's a team that i just have higher than i probably should because i have faith in what the play caller has done and what the staff has done that was the jacks like i i admittedly have them higher than the overall talent level would lead you to believe because i just have a lot of inherent faith in what cohen has done over the last two stints he's had as a play caller and i i don't think that's crazy like if you know i just said i had the bangles at four if it turns out the Jaguars are actually the fourth best and the Bengals are more like the seventh I can totally get that like maybe I'm weighing the superstar value of a player like Chase a little bit too heavily um and again you might not be though I might not be weighing it heavily enough I think that's more that's just as likely it because the thing is like I think Cone is good I think I'm not as certain that he's in the Kyle Shanahan Sean McVay tier yet I think he's right under that which is obviously a huge boost to your offense, but I'm not sure he's in that like automatic, almost no matter who is out there for you, I know the offense is going to be really good.

1:17:31Whereas on the other hand, with the Bengals, until he breaks, I know Jamar Chase is what Jamar Chase is. You know what I mean? And so that to me felt a little bit more reliable year to year where we are with these players. There's a chance that Liam Cohen and the offense looks so good next year that when we have this discussion for the 2027 offseason, that I'm willing to think of him as that offensive mind. And I think that he could totally be like one of those next guys up for that. I'm just not quite there yet, even if I think he can be.

1:18:01Robert Mays: You've talked me into this. Okay, you've talked me into this. This range, you seem a little bit flexible. No, I think because, again, I think there's enough uncertainty here in this range where I think as I'm looking at it, Like having the Patriots at eight and then going chief seven, Jags six, Bengals five. I do think that feels more right to me. I think that to me feels like the correct order. I, I, you're right. Like, I think that Liam Coleman has been really good. I don't think we should be weighing Liam Cohen and exercise like this more heavily than we're weighing Jamar chase. Like there are only a handful of players that I think do have that sort of impact on like what the overall supporting cast for an offense looks like jamar chase is one of those players so i i think i'm fine doing that that feels more correct having the jags at six and the bengals at five also and the last thing i'll say i know some of these players are are exciting in some ways the fact that their backfield is basial tootin and chris rodriguez i don't know that that is not enough to me to put them any higher than they are right and the run game really fell off over the second half of last year like they were like a bottom four running game by any metric when you look at it and so that's another knock against them all right i feel comfortable doing this so you had the jags at seven i have them at six now who did you have at six six is where i mean speaking of uh offensive lines where you have to make a little bit of a leap of faith the los angeles chargers at least they're talented but we're gonna see how healthy they play in in 2026 but this is a unit where like obviously if slater and alt are 90 % of what they can be.

1:19:44Those guys are awesome. And then I've gotten myself there on what the interior can be. I think mostly on the fact of like, if the tackles are healthy and can give them something, if Biotis can just be an adult at center who helps the quarterback even a little bit mentally. And then a lot, so much of this is just like, Mike McDaniel is, he's amazing. Like he, I just think he's, he's closer to me to being in like the Kyle Shanahan, Sean McVay territory of just like purely as a play caller. Yeah, buddy, you're going to figure it out. I have them at four. I don't think that that's that crazy.

1:20:16Robert Mays: Like, I really don't. I really don't. I have them at four. I have the Chargers at four. And the first note is they're this high because of Mike McDaniel. Mike McDaniel consistently. And I know that what they had at the pass catching spots in Miami and just the pure speed they were bringing to the table really did change the calculus for what the offense could be. That's part of the reason they were so tough to deal with. at the same time, Mike McDaniel was regularly putting together. If you look at the numbers, they were a top five offense when Tua was healthy over the last several years, like before last season, when Tyreek got hurt and the whole thing kind of started to fall apart a little bit.

1:20:55Robert Mays: But for the majority of his time there, when Tua was on the field, they were a top five offense. And so I really just have so much faith in what he's going to be able to do with Justin Herbert, those tackles, like you said with Biotis, like having those tackles healthy and having Biotis just be a league average center, there's a chance that the offensive line just feels completely different than it has over the last couple of years. And then you add in the fact that Mike McDaniel has been able to do this with offensive lines that aren't nearly as good as even this Chargers offensive line is likely going to be.

1:21:26Robert Mays: So the McDaniel part of it, the offensive line being, I think we're having Slater and all back, just being considerably different than it was last year. And I legitimately think that McConkie just is in line for a potentially monstrous season. Like them building the entire passing game through McConkie with the offensive line being average and the ways that Mike McDaniels should be able to use a player like Ladd McConkie. Like if you told me that Ladd McConkie had like a diet version of the JSN jump from last year, that to me wouldn't be crazy. I don't think that's like totally unreasonable. I don't think so either.

1:22:02Like a 1 ,400-yard season from Ladd McConkie or something like that, I don't think that like that is is that insane and you bring up a really good point with Miami's you know I think people see their skill group and say oh it was so specific all the speed Tyree kill Jalen Waddle Devon H and all that stuff but even while the overall mark of what the offense was supposed to be was obviously all speed-based McDaniel so often came to different ideas and different creative solutions to oh this got a little bit stale okay we're gonna do this now like he just was always keeping the ball rolling and keeping the wheel turning and so So I think that he's obviously going to be able to do that here.

1:22:37And then the other thing I would say, you mentioned McConkie maybe being in line for like a breakout and being a guy who is kind of has that level to him. I think O'Marion Hampton is like severely under it. Like that dude has some juice, man. Like I'm really excited to see what, again, I don't think this offensive line is going to kick ass necessarily. But if he can just stop getting hit in the backfield one out of every four times he touches the ball, I think a player of his talent could really start to take off. And then that gets back to now we're finally in a spot where this Chargers offense is taking a load off of the quarterback.

1:23:08And it's just it's very easy to see how like one thing snowballs into another with this with this team.

1:23:14Robert Mays: Yeah, I think the tackles being healthy, an upgrade to like league average center play, Mike McDaniel. And I can just like some of the ancillary pieces that they added, like you're remaking the tight end room and what that's going to be able to do for you. O'Marrion Hampton being healthier in year two. I do think that there is a chance that the offense just feels drastically, drastically different than it did a year ago. And that putting them at four in an exercise like this doesn't feel crazy when we actually get a chance to watch what the Chargers feel like this year. All right, so I had the Chargers at four.

1:23:44Robert Mays: I had the Bengals at five. Who did you have at five? Five is where I had the New England Patriots. I think after having talked through this, I might be able, I might be willing to flip the Chargers and the Patriots there and put the Chargers at five, Patriots at six. because I do think even though both of these teams have some sort of offensive line concerns, I think I'm probably a little bit more willing to believe that the Chargers can just be healthy and that Mike McDaniel will help them out. So I'll probably move them up to five. And then, so we already had four with me at the Bengals. My three, this is where I put the Indianapolis Colts.

1:24:15Add them at two. I mean, I kind of think these last three teams being the Broncos, the Bills, and the Colts, I can kind of see an argument for all of them.

1:24:23Robert Mays: I think where I struggled part of it to me by far, like the Dolphins are 16. These teams are the top three. Like that to me is the like the most when I was doing it, I filled in that first. And then I tried to figure out the rest of the middle. I couldn't agree more. Like I started from one and like one, two, three, I kind of just like rattled in. I was like, I'll figure it out the exact order later, but I'm confident it's those three teams. And so, yeah, for the Colts, for me, I think one, the Steichen is a very good play caller. And I think that he proved that last year. And I think he just proved that even with a imperfect quarterback, he was able to really just find ways to make things work for him.

1:25:01And they put together things really, really well there. The skill player group, even if they're losing Michael Pittman, who was like a good kind of glue things together guy, like Tyler Warren was incredible to start the year last year. And maybe he just takes a step as young tight ends tend to do. Alec Pierce was pretty good. Jonathan Taylor, when he has any amount of help for the offense around him, is like an incredibly explosive player. I think we both believe Downs could be better if the role changes for him and the offense changes a little bit. The offensive line, I think, Downs is the answer.

1:25:29Robert Mays: Well, it has to, yeah. Less Michael Pittman means more Josh Downs. That, to me, is a completely reasonable answer. If the answer of how are they going to be able to get past and move past losing Michael Pittman, if the answer to that is more Josh Downs and more Tyler Warren in year two, combined with still ascending Alec Pierce, like that to me is still a very good group of pass catchers even independent of what stiken is bringing to the table right that's why me i think in a lot of cases if a team lost a player like michael pitman i would be a little bit more scared about their group when they didn't really add anyone but i think because you can slot downs in there even if it's a different role and the offense will have to be different talent wise i think they're fine i think the offensive line is probably what put them at three for me instead of above the other two because i think the offensive lines with the other two just felt more certain.

1:26:22Whereas a team like the Colts, I think obviously they have some good pieces there and they played well last year, but you are having to replace your right tackle with a young player who only played a little bit last year. And so I think there's enough uncertainty there that when I look at the offensive lines of Denver and Buffalo, I'm like, you know what? I'm going to give those units a little bit more of the benefit of the doubt.

1:26:40Robert Mays: I get that. I don't think that's wrong. I think for me, what tilts it, a couple of different things. One, I think that Tony Sprano Jr. deserves the benefit of the doubt at this point. Like what they've been able to do as this place that now is consistently getting the most out of these guys. I'm willing to just kind of be like, you know what? I'll believe it until I shouldn't with the offensive line. Even if them doing this again was like, oh yeah, we're just going to have another fourth round pick come in and be like a solid player for us. Well, they've done it like three or four times already.

1:27:09Robert Mays: And so I do have faith that it can happen again. And for me, I think when I look at them versus the bills, the bills offensive line is better. The bills, I think running game is just more consistent, independent of whatever else is happening. Like, even if you have questions about some of the past catchers, the play caller compared to what Shane Steichen is, I think you can still just set your watch to the bills run game in a way that's harder to do with the Colts run game. But I think in my mind, Steichen is he's the difference between him and Brady to me is enough. to put the Colts ahead of the Bills, even if I can admit that the Bills and Broncos offensive lines are just far more proven commodities than the Colts offensive line is with a new right tackle.

1:27:56I think that that is necessarily wrong. I think there's just a part of it with the run game to me where the Bills run game works agnostic of who is playing quarterback. I don't know if that's true of Steichen's offense to this point. Like it does feel a little bit like they're more you know you know uh they need the quarterback to be involved in it it's a little bit more shotgun it's a little bit more rpo whereas obviously the bills do and have done some of that but they have also built this thing to just put two and three tight ends on the field and just mash you until you can't handle it anymore and so i think for that reason it's a little bit different for me like that just feels a little bit more sustainable and i can bet on that come december in a way that even if i think the colts run game can be good and the offense can be good i'm like not as all the way there on that i think i'm chasing the high of what the a little

1:28:47Robert Mays: bit of what the colts were over the first half of last season you and chris ballard there is there is enough of you created the best offense in the league for eight weeks with daniel jones a quarterback i i believe in you there there is enough of that heat still emanating off of the colts and shane steichen that that's nudging them a little bit ahead of the bills for me but it's again this tier is you can make an argument for any of the teams i still think the bills belong in this tier because i still think the offensive line is going to be a really good group even without david edwards i still think the run game is going to be really good and we've talked about this a decent amount over the last every time we've discussed him over the last like couple months dj moore is still a good player like dj moore is much better than the pass catchers that the Bills have had over the last couple of years.

1:29:35Robert Mays: And so dropping DJ Moore into that group, you have him, you get Palmer back, and now he's like definitively your fourth best pass catcher. Dalton Kincaid went healthy last year, was the best he's ever been as a pass catcher. And so I just think that adding DJ Moore to that group, there's a chance the whole thing really comes together. And then you combine that with what the offensive line and the running game are. I really do have a lot of faith in what the Bills offense can be with the moves that they've made this offseason I mean that's where I'm at it just feels like with DJ Moore now in the building they just have so many different options as an offense like week to week game to game whatever it's going down to down and series to series if they need to be with a guy like DJ Moore who you can build a passing game around but Shakir obviously can be you know this guy who wins from the slot and can be a chain mover for you the the running game with James Cook like he was as explosive as anybody last year and obviously just the way that the offensive line blocks They're also a consistent run game.

1:30:35It can keep you ahead of sticks. It just feels like while I think the highs for Indianapolis can be a little bit higher with the right conditions, I think I'm more certain that I can get like B minus days out of and like games and series out of the Bills in a way that I'm not sure I will always with the Colts.

1:30:52Robert Mays: The floor is higher. And I think it's for the exact reason that you said. I think that the run game for the Bills has a chance to be successful, agnostic of who the quarterback is just by the way that it's structured. I think that's absolutely right. I think that does set a different floor. I just think that the fireworks independent of the quarterback are more prevalent with the Colts than they are with the Bills in the passing game specifically based on what we saw last year. And I think that's true because even if you're trying to say, you know, well, James Cook is as explosive a running back as anybody in the league.

1:31:24So is Jonathan Taylor. And I think the Colts pass catchers are more explosive with the ball in their hands than some of the Bills guys. So I think that that is totally fair. so we both had the Broncos at one and then the more I thought about it I was like why shouldn't they be the biggest reason against them is like oh maybe the offensive line is not going to be healthy which I think is fine for like different discussions when we maybe do like our season preview stuff but like if we're just looking at it on paper and these are guys who have like mostly been healthy recently yeah this offensive line is as good of a pass protecting unit as really any and part of that is you know a little bit the way that the offense is structured with some of the boots and how well they keep themselves out of negative downs and distances and stuff like that.

1:32:03But it's a really good offensive line. It was already a pretty good offense last year. And we we complained all of last year, like, man, if they just had somebody with some pop, they would be so good. And they've got one of the best guys in the league who is just an automatic, like get you 12, 15 yards type of guy. So I think it's just like it's really easy to buy in on why this offense would be awesome.

1:32:25Robert Mays: The offensive line was banged up last year. Powers missed a chunk of time like it was not as healthy last year as it was the year before and you didn't even notice a fall off in the play like Forsyth and I don't remember don't know how to pronounce his name but Paul Chesky I assume like those guys he's not bad he's a good like swing interior guy yes and so the fact that they were a little bit banged up last year and you you barely noticed I think really does say a lot about what they've built with their own offensive line ecosystem and we I mean even if Sean Payton's not the play caller anymore that's still it's still a Sean Payton offense.

1:32:55Robert Mays: I have a lot of faith in the people overseeing what the offense is going to look like. And now you have a group of pass catchers that was solid, but unspectacular and absolutely needed one more guy to kind of change the math for you. And then they traded for Jalen Waddle. So, and the other part of it, which I think kind of goes underrated and under talked about, because we've talked about the offensive line is this really good group. They were a really good pass blocking group in 2024. The run game still left a little bit to be desired. They were a top five rushing success rate team in the back half of last year.

1:33:26Robert Mays: So now you're running out of reasons or running out of questions about every element of the offense. It's the best pass blocking offensive line in the league. The run game really clicked into place in the back half of last year. You have a pass catching group that now makes complete sense because you have Jalen Waddle and Sean Payton is still the head coach of this team. So for me, like it wasn't that hard. Like I kind of think they're definitively number one right now. I do too. And like, if you want to get a little bit down, because like they don't have a star tight end or whatever, like that's, that's whatever.

1:33:58Like it just feels like the pass catching now really falls into such a good, just like line of how everything is supposed to work, but with Sutton and Waddle being what they are. And then like, I think Pat Bryant was a little bit exciting last year. And I think is now even more exciting if you consider that he is the three, like he does not like last year, the thing with Pat Bryant, where it was like, well, if we're not throwing the ball to Cortland Sutton, now we're just relying on this third round rookie who is like a little bit of a flex like big slot guy well it's like now he's moving into year two and is very obviously the number three on this team that changes the math there and now even Troy Franklin getting to be more of like a sacrificial just burn the you know take the top off guy and actually opens up space for Waddle and Sutton to roam I you can really start to get me there on how good

1:34:42Robert Mays: this pass catching group could be even Mims now Mims just gets to be like a gimmicky player within the offense because waddle is going to do all the things you actually need like a real receiver with that sort of archetype to be so yeah they're them for me the broncos at number one that was not a hard one all right let's run through these very quickly i had the dolphins at 16 the titans at 15 the jets at 14 the raiders at 13 the browns at 12 the texans at 11 the ravens at 10 the steelers at nine the patriots at eight the chiefs at seven the jags at six the bangles at five the chargers at four, the Bills at three, the Colts at two, the Broncos at one.

1:35:18Robert Mays: I let you convince me about the Bengals, but I, it's in my heart, it's what I wanted. And so I was willing to let it happen. We got each other on a couple. You got me on the Jets. I'm going to try to remember mine. Cause I, I did not change the, like my rankings as I was going, but I also had the Dolphins at 16. How could you not? The Titans at 15, the Raiders at 14, the Browns at 13, the Jets at 12. And then Then I had the Chiefs at 11, the Texans at 10, the Steelers at 9, the Baltimore Ravens at 8, the Jacksonville Jaguars at 7. The New England Patriots, I got there to 6 because, you know, we talked about that.

1:35:54Them and the Chargers, I had the Chargers at 5. Bengals at 4, Colts 3, Bills 2, and obviously the Broncos number 1.

1:36:03Robert Mays: We had a couple that we were a little bit further apart on at the start, but I do think that I'm happy with where things landed. the teams that again i'm willing to there's a chance that where i'm just totally wrong on this and in the sense that like the things that we have questions about get emphatically answered in a good way for those teams i like i hope the browns are a team we're much more excited about by the end of this year i hope that like the jets talent really shines through in the way that we're talking about and so and i hope that the chargers are as good as we're making them out to be here it would be a real disappointment if mike mcdaniel was just bad and the chargers are just a forgettable offense outside of the quarterback again this year.

1:36:42Robert Mays: I really hope that doesn't happen. Well, we've never gotten too excited about the Chargers offense. I know. I just can't believe it's happening again. What I'm already convincing myself of is that I'm going to be down enough on the defense that I have enough hesitation about what they ultimately can be as a team while still being justifiably excited about the offense. That's how I'm going to spin it in my head, even though that's probably not going to happen. Scott, we're getting these Chargers timestamps, right? For like December, if we need to circle back to them. Hour 32 and 40 seconds in the AFC supporting cash show recorded on June 2nd.

1:37:17These are not projections.

1:37:20Robert Mays: These are simply talking about the quality of the infrastructure. That's all we're doing here. All right. That is all we've got for the AFC. We'll be back with the NFC next week. We'll be back with the NFC next week. Tomorrow, we're kicking off our series of lingering questions shows. We did this last year, just kind of picking, you know, three or four questions a show about stuff that maybe we didn't have time to address the way that we wanted to by the end of last season. Tomorrow, there's only one lingering questions about four different players. How did the second year, or how did the rookie quarterbacks play last year?

1:37:56Robert Mays: Projecting the second year quarterbacks moving forward. The four guys we're going to hit, the guys that actually played a decent amount of snaps. Jackson Dart, Tyler Shuck, Cam Ward, Shadr Sanders are going to be the four that we talk about tomorrow. Very much looking forward to that and digging into all of the Lingering Question series over the next month and a half or so. I'm excited to be back. Missed you guys. Was very, very much looking forward to kicking off everything that we have in June. Really excited about a lot of the stuff we have coming in June and July. So please be on the lookout for all of it.

1:38:24Robert Mays: We are back to four days a week starting this week and we have a ton of stuff coming your way over the next month or so. So for now, that's all we got. Appreciate you listening. We'll talk to you very soon. Thanks for tuning in. Make sure to hit that subscribe or follow button so you never miss an episode. If you enjoyed what you heard, please like, comment, and leave a rating. We'll see you next time.

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