System of a Caleb Downs: The NFL’s Most Improved Position Groups

32:44There's another thing I think that defensive line helps, and that is the tackling. And it's not just like literally, can the guys up front grab players and bring them down, but more just what can they do to make life easier for the players behind them? And so Bengals players missed 170 tackles last year. According to Pro Football Reference, it's 39 more than anybody else in football. And we talk about this with offensive linemen a lot, this idea of if you can't run the ball and you're stuck in third and long, your offensive line is going to stink because you're going to have guys just stuck in pass pro all day.

33:18They're not going to have a chance to hit players. They're going to be in situations where every exotic, every blitz can get dialed up. And so it's going to be rough for those guys to ever look good. the same thing's true, I think, for the linebackers and the defensive backs in Cincinnati, where, like you said, they were 32nd in pass rush win rate, and they were 32nd in yards allowed before first contact for run plays. And so you had guys consistently getting to the second level, third level, either by catching the ball or on run plays where they were hitting with a full head of speed. And it's harder to tackle those guys in open space than if you have a good defensive line bottling players up, where they're slowed down, where they're, you know, if it's a zone run, if they're not hitting the hole at full speed, if it's a gap run, if it's duo or counter or something, if they're having to slow down to find the right lane to hit.

34:02And so the players are better. Like Boye Mafe is a better tackler than the guys they had last year. He's a good run defender. Boye Mafe is a very good run defender. Brian Cook replacing Geno Stone as a tackler is like the single biggest upgrade any team has made at any position doing any one task this offseason. Geno Stone had a 20 % missed tackle rate last year. Brian Cook was at 4.5%. And that is a, again, you're improving the player, but the context in which that player is going to operate is also going to be easier. And so I think you're going to have fewer missed tackles, fewer big plays.

34:35You're going to go off the field more often. You're going to have the offense on the field more often. I think it's going to be a really holistic thing, even if we don't get crazy pass rush numbers from this Bengals team. Yeah, I have to wear this. I thought Geno Stone was a fine signing. I thought so too, but again, you live you learn we have to reflect reality here free agents you just never know man uh and that could happen with mafe but i'll tell you this you know from seattle he certainly benefited from being part of rotation we'll see how he does when he's asked to take on a little bit more but as you said there are they have multiple players that they can put on the field and i do think his floor on this defense is providing better than average run defense now he gets to play next to Dexter Lawrence um I do wish that a linebacker you know I feel like it's kind of a problem but uh you know yeah I think uh I I really think this defense can with this revamped front be average over the course of a season and average is all they need with the offense are you at all nervous about Dexter Lawrence you know so last year he was playing through injury from what I've heard yes he had an elbow injury but he also had an elbow injury in 2024 and so now he's had an elbow injury for a long time elbows is weird trying to think of like the history of guys with elbow injuries and whether that goes away i mean i feel like for a guy that size i'd rather have him have an elbow injury than like an ankle or foot so um i know i i look i don't do they think they bought high yeah right like that um but but this so if you're asking me do i how do i feel about the trade?

36:14How do I feel about his ability to dramatically improve this defense? Feel good about it. And I think for Cincinnati, given the urgency required improvements, they had to make this offseason, not just from a team perspective, but from a like, let's not make our quarterback angry perspective. It's probably worth it. It was kind of one of those moves where like, you don't want to say necessarily both sides won. I do think New York got incredible return, but I also think the Bengals priorities are just so different from the Giants right now that it made set also like I there's no one in this draft on the defensive line yeah who's comparable to Dexter Lawrence to me yes just a lot of money for a player who I mean he was the best run defender on the worst run defense in football last season I know I've been yeah that was the linebacker play in new york was so bad yeah black guys are also bad that's it that's the problem all right your final improved group oh you got an interesting one here uh i'm actually scared for you to put this universe and say it out loud i think oh yeah you should i need you to like sage the screen or or perform some sort of anti-satanic ritual before you say what you're about to say i actually you know what i'm gonna cover my face because i don't want to be yeah this clip you don't want to be part of this all right the most improved final most improved unit chargers offensive line how could they be worse than they were last year mina how dare you put those words out into the universe the left tackle missed when have we ever gone wrong touting the Chargers.

37:56When has this ever come back to haunt us in horrific, awful fashion? The Chargers left tackle missed the entire season. The Chargers right tackle missed pretty much the entire season. Maybe they're two best players on the entire team after Justin Herbert. I think they're going to combine to play more than like three full games in 2026. And then upgrades on the interior. Mekhi Becton never worked out. Bradley Bozeman was seemingly at odds with Justin Herbert when it came to setting protections last year. There were multiple clips of him arguing with the franchise quarterback, which is a great way to upset the fan base.

38:37He's now retired. Tyler Biotish is not a superstar signer, but man, talk about buying at the right time. Tyler Biotish, you sign him a week before Tyler Hinderbaum just completely breaks the center market uh such a major upgrade they bring in cole strange who i don't think is a great player but had a good season last year under mike mcdaniel um they they draft jake slaughter in the second round i don't think they were even going to go guard in round two i'm excited about that he's moving from center but we'll either see him play center or most likely convert to guard i think there's talent there and i just think in mike mcdaniel you have a player or a coach who's going to make his players lives easier he's not going to get them into bad run spots he thinks because you don't have opportunities for them to be in good running situations.

39:22I do like that point, too, about the offensive line and the benefit of the coach. You wouldn't co-sign any of the other stuff, but you're like, okay, the coach, I get it. Well, yeah, because I know Mike McDaniel's not getting hurt. That's the one thing that I— Don't rule it out. Do not—you remember Sean Payton getting hurt on the sideline? Mike McDaniel pulls up with a pizza oven injury. What is the most easiest way to imagine Mike McDaniel getting hurt? slips putting on very expensive new shoes that he buys at a sneaker store in Los Angeles and like dislocates his shoulder uh all right so look everything Bill said is correct and the Chargers yeah I mentioned that the Panthers were like 29th in offensive line combinations per the sharp football stats uh the Chargers were unsurprisingly 32nd yes uh it felt that way on paper everything that they've done and of course the players coming back suggest that it can't be worse.

40:20I just, I've learned my lesson trying to be optimistic about their ability to improve this group. I just like, to me. I would love for it to happen, obviously. You know, I'm a Herbert fan. We talked about the Panthers offensive line and it's like, okay, well, they will be better this year. But like the 85th percentile outcome for the Panthers offensive line is like, okay like they're like league average which is great that would be a very good turnout i think it could be better than league average i do actually yeah okay so we'll say we'll say top 10. okay but the charges to your point right if stress if you could tell me right now that slater and alt are playing 80 games each yeah the season what is your confidence level that that's gonna happen oh blow because if you if it wasn't gonna happen you're right is one of the better offensive lines in football this could be like maybe one of the three or four best offensive lines in football you have the best tackle football best tackle combination in the league if those guys are healthy and that is upside that i think slaughter i don't know about i don't i i will say i'm a little bit apprehensive about the interior slaughter is rookie beatish strange you know it's not but yeah no no i mean it is the two excellent top 10 tackles in the league did not play so yes they will they should be better if they play if they're saying i've been burned before but you know what i've got 10 fingers i have burned like eight of them on the stove i've still got two left i just want to save this clip for when it inevitably happens all right coming back we're gonna talk about the biggest remaining questions we have all right we're back i'll go first um i've been talking the last week about the chief's draft the defensive players we've talked to NFL live how I like a lot of the players they took the fit all of that sure we sure Patrick Mahomes has enough people to throw the football too that's my question um because they're kind of running it back they did draft Cyrus Allen out of Cincinnati who um Matt Harmon who's I really trust a lot on receivers is a big fan of I was reading his report on him uh he's also by the way scored 13 touchdowns.

42:36Just insane. This dude, Cyrus Allen. So that's great. But right now, the top three is, again, Rasheed Rice, Xavier Worthy, Xavier Robbeck, Taequann Thornton. And then to couple into that, they didn't add any tight ends, which is a position I thought. Surely, when everybody in the draft was like, ooh, we're all going to take blocking tight ends. I thought Chase would, and they didn't. So once again, it is Travis Kelsey, Noah Gray, Jared Wiley. I want to talk about Rasheed Rice because I think if I had to point to a single biggest problem last year, that would be it. Just the drop-off from his rookie season.

43:11Obviously, he was hurt in 2024. And I was looking at ESPN's receiver score to try to figure out what was the biggest problem. I have my own thoughts from watching him. And the biggest thing was that he finished 155th in catch score last season. He had a 10.2 % drop rate in 2025. Still got decent yards after the catch, which is his calling card. But, you know, went a little bit down there as well, as opposed to 2023, which he was like incredibly productive, you know, and unbelievably so after the catch in particular. So to me, it seems like they're making a pretty big bet on him bouncing back, Bill.

43:50And my question for you is, how do you feel about that? Because, yeah, it was not great last year. I thought, and then just to start talking about what I saw from him, other than the catch issues uh i just i thought wasn't separating the way he did in 2023 he didn't look like he had as much juice after the catch so i'm a little bit skeptical yeah there's like a debo dream scenario for him right that's what i think his best case scenario is and instead we got like the debo from 2025 with rashi rice in 2025 which is a lot of drops occasional big play here and there, but not the same level of just breakaway, creating after the catch, being the, you know, the force on crossers.

44:35And I think Mahomes really needs when that offense is playing really well. I can see the case. I can see if you're Brad Feach, and again, you have holes elsewhere in your lineup. I could see you saying, hey, Rashi Rice was a guy we valued very highly in 2023 who played at a pro bowl level at his best. Xavier Worthy was a guy we used a first round pick on. He is a natural compliment to Rashi Rice. He basically, he was effective. I think as a rookie, I think frankly, Mahomes let him down a fair amount of the time. He was getting open deep and Mahomes was not delivering accurate throws to Xavier Worthy.

45:11We saw towards the end of the year, bigger role, had a big game in the Super Bowl when no one else did. expected him to take a leap and then he gets hurt week one running mesh maybe it's a lost season maybe it's just he was never right and so i could say okay we have two receivers healthy right it was just like oh this is how this season is gonna go someone who has both travis kelsey and xavier worthy both of them on my dynasty team not a great way to start the season okay now as someone who as someone who loves mesh seeing mesh run so poorly on the opening drive of the year was ominous and then the bills ran mesh 87 times this last year um mesh it was a tough year her mesh um i could see my feet saying hey listen we have two young receivers who we expect to improve who we've seen at different times be legitimate starting caliber plus players i could believe that i'm a little surprised even with hollywood brown and jujitsu leaving they didn't maybe add a veteran to that wide receiver room just to have some depth in case one of those guys johan jennings i don't understand why especially now that the the compic formula has passed and everything's locked in every every nfl analyst favorite receiver to just drop onto any team is johan yeah he just fits he gets oh mina third down and red zone he gets open no one's gonna argue no one's gonna argue that like you need to have good players on third down rather than the red zone.

46:35It's like the easiest possible fit. I was more surprised about the tight ends. Like you said, not only because of the number of tight ends who were available, but just sort of wondering what this offense does, how it transforms if there is any major change. Number one, because Patrick Mahomes is hurt to begin the year and we're probably going to see Justin Fields, but number two, just the league has evolved. Like this offense is no longer a cutting edge offense. The RPO intensity of what they do, the spread element of what they do, you know not that they have to follow where the league is going but just with kenneth walker coming in it felt like a natural transition of hey we like our offensive line maybe we should running more more gap scheme stuff maybe we should running more design runs as opposed to rpos running play action off of that and yet it feels like yes without the tight ends to do that they're not going to be more of a heavy personnel team gray is like their best block yeah i think that's because if you could have sold me on the idea that this is this offense rather than at receivers it's about the scheme changing and evolving and obviously they invested heavily in the run game um with both walker and then emma johnson out of nebraska who's again another pick that i liked um and they've heard what everybody's been screaming about the rpo games not working anymore the way that it used to this team needs to get better at getting downhill their strength the offensive line is the interior get downhill run the ball um that you could argue also like that the play action game needs to be a bigger part of this offense and a better part over the last three years this has been a below average play action team and that could open up opportunities for the receivers maybe you know what i mean where it's like okay we can actually create some zone voids for rashid rice to run into cool i do wish again if that is the vision and I wish they had done more than just sign it back, right?

48:24Like, so we'll see. I'll believe it when I see it. I think there needs to be a total transformation in the run game for this to all work. I want to throw out one more thing before we move on. If you're Brevich, would you consider trading a 20-27 second for George Pickens?

48:46I don't think so. I just think they have all their picks, so. Okay. that was that always makes me nervous when I'm doing all my fake trades and I know yeah I looked it up yeah this random tree has traded their fifth round pick in 2027 and I didn't realize it I would not because I don't know if Patrick Mahomes is actually going to be healthy and if you're already playing with one hand tied behind your back for a quarter of the year for one year of George Pickens I would not do it okay would you want eggs maybe there's still some receivers juan jenny juan jenny just a little juan let's juan i i would even say like a david and joku i'm kind of surprised they have not reached out to it been like hey let's bring another veteran talent who we can play in line yeah i think you're right it depends a lot on their own self um scouting of patrick mahomes and how they view uh okay your next questions who do i not like okay um i will say what about the lions okay secondary you said you sent this to me and i was like what and then i looked at it and i went whoa when you opened our lads uh when the play which um obviously our lads does what's the is it chrome that's like you visit this website way too much every time i open our lads they're like this is your 500th time visiting our lads.com today anyways when a player is hurt they they put the player's name in red and i'd completely forgotten i think that both kirby joseph and brian branch were injured uh so it is scary hours a little bit back there yes and not not just injured but like yeah really serious injuries brian branch coming off of an achilles kirby joseph week 14 too yeah late season achilles Kirby Joseph, like the sort of mysterious knee injury where there's rumors about stuff where it's like chronic and bones are involved.

50:40And it's just like the sort of thing where you're like, OK, I can't count on safety, which was a huge strength for this team over the last few years, being an essential piece of this defense. Amik Robertson, who to me at times was their best cornerback over the past couple of years, leaves in free agency. Al-Khadeem Ahmed, who's not a defensive back, but an edge rusher who had a really good year last year, didn't just leave, but left for like one year and$4 million. They did not even bring him back for what would have been a pretty reasonable salary. So on top of all that, Mina, having only added Roger McCreary and Chuck Clark in terms of significant additions to the secondary, you're talking about a team that loves to play man.

51:26And they were a little less man heavy without Aaron Glenn last year. But I do think part of their identity is playing a lot of man coverage. And so you don't have safeties you trust at this point. Your cornerbacks. I mean, Terry Donald has been okay since entering the league, but he has not been like an instant star at cornerback the way some other cornerbacks entering the league have been. DJ Reed is a really good player, but DJ Reed is probably 30 or 31 at this point in his career, right? Yes, definitely over 30. Sorry, he turns 30 this year. Sorry, DJ. i that is my fault um i i see my mind he's been in he's one of those players who i feel like in the nfl for like chuck clark when you said that i was like i feel like i've been talking about chuck clark my entire working life how old is chuck clark i'm gonna guess i'm gonna guess he's 31.

52:1331 good guess dj reid feels like he was like a backup on the legion of boom like like uh jeremy lane and dj reid were like practicing together for the seahawks a decade ago um but i just like the context matters here right like this is a team that i think asks a lot of their defensive backs and suddenly this is a major major concern yeah and showed no inclination to ever deviate kevin shepherd or the you know uh erin gunn before that like it's just what they do and yeah yeah this does feel i do wonder if perhaps there will be some pressure on shepherd to change it up a little bit this off season given uh the players at their disposal and you know and didn't make super significant additions.

52:55Curious to see if they can get anything out of Ennis Rekestraw, who's just unfortunately been banged up, who's a player I remember liking in the draft and just hasn't been healthy. Yeah, because that would be really helpful and really needed. And I think, like you said, the branch Achilles that lead in the season is just so brutal. Rekestraw's a good example though, right? like i think in a good example with a team that has the right depth it's more like hey if we get something from him that's a plus we're in a good spot if you're relying on him that's concerning to me all right i'm gonna stay in the division okay i wrote packers defensive line and corners question um choose your fighter uh yeah start with the defensive line i oh i said i think i said this on live last week i don't know if there's a more load-bearing player in the nfl right now than micah parsons as someone who is currently trying to buy a house the load-bearing analogy really resonated with me i was like i know what that term means now well because if he comes back i i don't know his timeline just yet sure and he looks like micah parsons i think they'll be okay you know i still have some question marks about the corners and the defensive tackles or whatever but they really need him to be Michael Parsons and this is what happens when you pay both your quarterback but also you give up all that draft capital right and given the contract these are the consequences you need those players to be unbelievably good um and I think it was I think you know it's so interesting to like Halfley Jeff Halfley who knows if he'll be a good head coach, but I was a little surprised that he got that opportunity in Miami over some other defensive corners around the league because this defense really fell apart as the season went on.

54:56And so now Kingsley and Ubar is gone. Kobe wins gone. They picked up the option for Lucas Van Dess, who did play well. I thought at times, but man, this is a thin group. They drafted, they signed Jehovah on Hargrave. Sure. Devontae Wyatt got hurt last year He'll be back The first player They drafted the second round was Brandon Cissé We'll talk about it in a second But then the second one was Chris McClellan Who I think is going to be a nose It's Jonathan Gannon So it'll be a 3-4 I just It's not a good group Outside of Micah Parsonsville Remember last year Earlier in the show When you were talking about Tennessee and you're like, okay, when you add a Cardinal Tate, it's like, okay, everything fits into place.

55:46And you could see kind of the logic of how it worked. Do you see the same thing here with the Micah Parsons trade in reverse? And obviously they have that one with Micah Parsons, but they traded Kenny Clark, who was probably overrated by value of that trade, but still a very good, good to very good defensive tackle. They now replaced him with Javon Hargrave, who has been bouncing around the league. They had Rashawn Gary, who they had, I think is probably underrated, but also probably not as good as the guy, the Packers, they were hoping to get when they signed him to an extension a few years ago.

56:19But they replaced him really with nobody. Lucas Van Ness was an essential, a sort of secondary tertiary piece last year. I liked him actually most when they were reducing him inside on passing downs and he was rushing against the interior. And now he has to be a dude on the outside. He's not really been that player. Kingsley Inigbari leaves and they haven't really replaced him at all um the one thing i would say and this is a again the uh one of the things you learn covering the nfl is like teams do really care about compics and that that deadline even though it's not june 1st like when that compic deadline that june 1st compic deadline um hits teams do actually approach things differently there are a lot of edge guys left there is joey boasted there is aj a panesa um there is a hassan reddick left not that those guys are going to be superstars for you but the packers did have four comp picks coming their way because of the guys they lost in free agency i do wonder if this is a team that at least up front adds a veteran antracher because they desperately need one yeah clowny ageless clowny he's still out there man oh you know he's gonna sign with like the ravens and like He's going to sign somewhere and have seven and a half sacks and be an impactful player.

57:36Or he's going to have literally zero sacks and be fighting with the team. Those are the only two options for Genevieve and Clowney. Also, Cam Jordan, who I feel like will re-sign in New Orleans, who was actually pretty good last year. Yeah, Bosa is an interesting one. I could see that. That would make a lot of sense. They definitely need someone. By the way, DJ Reader still hasn't signed, right? I believe that's true. um do you think they are do they have any hope at cornerback maybe is the question i want to okay so that's the other part of this right so yeah it that was i think the position that was most exposed as the season went on and it was we realized oh if michael parsons doesn't wreck stuff which he usually did this is not a good situation on the back end so you're bringing back um you know nixon and valentine but they signed they drafted cc was their first pick who is a player I do like um I don't know if he should be playing outside in the NFL and he is a little bit raw he was like kind of a high upside player super athletic corner out of South Carolina gave up gives up some big plays though gets a little grabby so I don't know sounds like a quarterback to me well but he gonna have to play fast because I mean the thing about the Packers defenses the spine is great right like the linebacker they've added zyra franklin and then safeties are obviously excellent it's just the perimeter that's that's a problem yeah i think the problem is you end up giving up explosive plays that way like i think we saw when teams picked on kesha nixon it wasn't for five it was for 40 and that is the problem for me it's just i feel like you know yeah i if you're a packers fan again i know i was just saying i wasn't super impressed by the halfley's defense but i do want worry they might be fearful that gannon is just going to be joe berry 2.0 ask the corners to play like 10 yards off yeah you know every down i don't know we'll see i mean gannon i'm interested actually i mean this is an interesting spot for him because arizona defense kind of let nick ralas call the show super wonky um it's gonna have to be I think early on in this season because of the lack of talent without Parsons.

59:53Yeah. I mean, they really, it's going to be about just avoiding big plays. I think early on, I think it's going to be very sort of like conservative Fangio. Again, his first year in Philadelphia when the Eagles fans hated his defense and it was just. People forget. Yeah. We're playing 15 yards off and it's just going to be absorb, absorb, absorb. I think that's the only way they can play until Parsons comes back. All right. Your final team that you have. question this is an interesting one i had to do it to you and unfortunately had to do it oh no you have two more right you have two more you only did yeah yeah sorry you got two more okay well you can do the one that you're alluding to i was thinking the other one i um seahawks offensive line i mean i i know they just won a super bowl it's also not against the rules to upgrade your offensive line after you win a Super Bowl.

1:00:48And it's not like... You know you're allowed to do that, Tim Robinson voice.

1:00:54I did watch that game, and the Seahawks, I don't think, allowed any sacks or allowed one sack in that game. That was all Sam Darnold. That was not because of the offensive line play. I'm going to get to the other side of that, actually, with my next one. The lack of sacks in the Super Bowl. Yeah, yeah. Yes. I just... I know it worked last year, but that was not a consistently great offense last season and when it was i think it was in spite of the interior of the offensive line not because of it and so i'm a little surprised they did not devote more resources there um it is john schneider and john schneider you know it's right and high deservedly so has done a lot of good work not always a place they want to go they did draft both stevens in the fifth round which is pretty significant draft capital for a john steiner draft but again a veteran guard i was shocked they did not add more to the interior even given that they're coming off the title yeah bo stevens the guard out of iowa i think like the entire iowa offensive line i feel like got drafted um there's some guards still out there zeitler looking at it right now they could if they wanted to beckton uh anthony bradford was the much maligned right guard yeah um i my fear actually in jalen sundell's center he's okay but you know it certainly could have upgraded either center or right guard my fear is not actually i think you know you're treading water right you're just running it back my fear is just you're not gonna get a full season out of a blukas again like you did last year yeah quietly like the most one of the most important parts of the seahawks super bowl run was that they paid a blukas and it actually worked like because he had been injured he came out as rookie year he was awesome i think it was third round traffic and then uh and then he was banged up and i would i think when i look at like the really bad seahawks offensive lines um in 2022 or 2023-2024 it was really right tackle play was a huge problem for them so the depth is not great you know and and i think if they were to lose him or cross for any length of time you do worry a lot about this line and good teams continue throwing resources at it a little bit surprised Seattle also right like but John Schneider's never been I mean not never like that's been a I know this team just won the Super Bowl and everybody's riding the high but this is this is a team that's had very bad offensive lines over the last 15 years for many of those years.

1:03:26Do you think so? I'm going to sneak in a bonus Seahawks question here from my friend who's a Seahawks fan. If they do add something, now that the comp pick formula is over and they can add somebody without impacting that, any position you think they are actually going to hit in the weeks to come? Seems so unpredictable. I mean, I think you could add another veteran offensive lineman, but I don't think it's going to be one that'll get people super excited. That's sort of their tendency, like a Jonah Williams maybe for depth or um but you know there's there's no I mean Zeiler I think might go back to Tennessee it seems like they're all fitting on that down there yes uh you know there aren't many Betonians they would add somebody on defense maybe they could add a pass rusher yeah definitely had a pass rusher I thought they might draft one and they didn't so yeah I could see them going and into the first round running back it's gone well so many times before for the seattle seahawks let's do it again i've just no commented on it just like i can't even uh okay uh there's two more so i'll go i had one more you had one more so i i've hinted at this when you talk about the super bowl patriots pass rush all right specifically the edge rushers So right now it's Harold Landry, Draymond Jones was their signing.

1:04:51They drafted Gabe Yakis, who is a very good run defender. And that's kind of it, man. Obviously the defensive tackles are fantastic on this team. I think what is notable here is how much better this team was getting pressure in the postseason and whether or not we think that they're going to look more like that defense or the one we saw. Now, Milton Williams missed some games. And when you look at pressure rates, Milton Williams was by far the best defensive lineman. After that, it was Chase On, who was 50th, who's gone. And then Landry was 102nd. So I'm a little concerned about this group. Now, the back end is so good, that helps.

1:05:37And I think it's a very well-coached defense. and I think the defensive tackles certainly help but during the regular season this defense really struggled to get pressure on the quarterback and it does I don't do I do think Draymond Jones is pretty good in Baltimore I just don't think there's a reason why people were walking uh pass rushers to the Patriots and they didn't take one yeah Draymond Jones I think is a he's like he's a better pass rusher than to a player like I think he can be a little how can I put this he he can he's the kind of guy where like you see him jumping into a gap that maybe he's not supposed to jump into and then like a freelancer maybe a little bit at times and so that opens up run possibilities for the other team i think that can be that can wear on coaches maybe here and there um awesome spin move which i i love a good edge rusher with a good spin move and draymond jones has one um but i do think caleb on chase on was a little better than the numbers indicated i think maybe it was just like he was when he was good it was like often at like on a key third down he was actually 21st in past rush win over the course of the season i thought he was he continued to improve i think that's actually a pretty significant loss but something i do think that helped them get more pressure is they blitzed more second half of the year into the postseason um they blitzed 33 of the time the fifth highest rate of any defense in football they sent six or more at the third highest rate of any team in the league.

1:07:05And you can do that because of what you mentioned. You trust the dudes in the secondary. They drafted Christian Gonzalez. They signed Carlton Davis. Those dudes are two of the best man corners in football. When you can have man corners you trust, you can dial up your exotics. When you're playing teams starting quarterbacks who you and I have vaguely heard of before in the second half of the year for losing teams and you're playing from 14 points up, you can dial up all your exotics and blitz a crazy rate so i'm really intrigued to see if they keep that up into 2026 playing tougher competition not playing from ahead quite as often playing um a more nfl caliber slate of starting quarterbacks or if they say hey that worked for us into the postseason let's just continue to be a man heavy blitz heavy team throughout the entire year yeah i think one thing working in their favor too is like this is year two for zacker right who became their defensive coordinator at and you know his backup elevated when uh he had to when terrell williams got sick and and i really i think really impressed people and yeah now he's got a full off season um you know i think showed a lot of creativity down the stretch and um i think that my short answer is like is this defense more like the postseason or is it the one in the regular season i think the truth is probably in between uh and but i do think this is still not a great group of pass rushers so they might be another one by the way who could be like a bosa or a clown like they might also be a team that i would look to add another because the depth is just not very good all right your final unit that you have questions about no we're sticking in the afc east and i think if you ask brandon bean he feels like they've resolved their concerns but if you're a bills fan do you feel like you're set at wide receiver right now all right so the group dj moore who they traded big for and paid josh palmer who uh had a lot of injuries who's kind of their big sign last year he's only josh palmer's only 26 by the way uh clear who got banged up keon coleman the much uh got banged up by ownership it uh and they drafted skylar bell which i thought was an interesting one out of yukon especially because he has a lot of similarities to shakir so i liked that yes you know they got another yards after the catch monster but yeah that's that's the group you don't you don't think it's good enough do you know this is one of the craziest stats in football to me do you know where the bills rank in cash spent at wide receiver this year well dj moz can pay pretty good right what is it six they are the six of wide receivers and football behind the seahawks who have a superstar yeah right the eagles who have two superstars for now the bangles who have two superstars the cowboys who have two superstars and the niners who have i think still a superstar in mike evans and have a lot of talent but it blows my mind the bills crazy this questionable and are spending this much it feels like so much is riding on dj moore yeah and i don't know i mean dj moore did not have a good deal last year it felt like he fell out of the offense i mean he's known for freelancing at times i don't think he's like the best effort guy on the planet he's tough like i think he's a tough player will get into some places that you need your wide receivers to go and that's valuable but i just go back to that play when the Bills ran mesh against the Chiefs on that fourth down two years ago in the playoffs and Steve Spagnuolo blitzed Trent McDuffie and I believe that's because he's not concerned about any of those guys beating man coverage and I look at the Bills I look at this team two years later after what happened last year a team that was giving Brandon Cooks like real reps at wide receiver and Tyrell Shavers real reps at wide receiver late into the year before Shavers got hurt and i just think do they still have that guy is that guy on the roster who like josh allen is going to be able to go to the way he could stefan digs a couple years ago i just don't know i continue to believe looking at i'm just pulling up the death chart again that their best weapon against man coverage remains dalton kincaid which is not great like no not that he's not a good i actually i'm a big kincaid fan i kind of think he's underrated but he's a tight end right like You should have a receiver who you trust.

1:11:42How do you think DJ Moore is going to be used in this offense? I think that's something close to a traditional X. I think it's going to be, can you be our contested catch guy? Can you be big force over the middle of the field? Can you be our slant guy? Can you be our dig guy? And then on scramble drills, can you separate and make big plays downfield? And we saw him do that at times. I mean, he had that. He was the one who had the really long catch against Keishon Nixon in overtime to win the Bears that game against the Packers, right? I believe that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was him. Yeah, it was.

1:12:19Right. Like, like, there is physicality there. But you're talking about a player who was 97th in receiver score last year. And those are a pretty heavy 12 and 13 team. And so that does, you know, you don't have to play a ton of wide receivers on the field every single snap. but I just don't know that like the more from two years ago I think would have been a good fit and actually would have been what the Bills needed but I just don't know that he's that caliber of player anymore the Bills must face like near the most man coverage in the NFL right like without it feels like the last yeah the only reason you wouldn't run man coverage against the Bills is just because Josh Allen is terrifying I just pulled this up just out of curiosity because I was like Kincaid is their best rep against man coverage I kind of said that casually so he is third amongst all tight ends and yards per route run against man coverage nearly two you know guess who has more than twice as many as any other tight end in the nfl yards per route run versus man coverage last year great dulcet that would be very funny i i did uh anyone with a decent target volume okay tucker craft holy mackerel his stats against man i mean tucker craft was like insane that's why by the way i i i was like i i'm not writing off the green bay packer i know it's hard on the defense i think this speaking of things speaking of things that have not uh have not come back to bite us before or not been takes that we uh look back on and regret by the first week of the postseason every single year i feel okay about that group i still believe about the defense um all right that's it for uh our most biggest question mark is there anyone else you considered putting on there by the way oh you know the obvious ones the the raiders pass catching group which i do think they should add you on jenny's holy mackerel they should add juan getting spits um commanders maybe commanders uh front seven front seven but you're just adding a bunch of pieces they had a chase on sunny styles it's off i away yeah tim settle um really on the whole yeah yeah why did the i feel like the Patriots should have tried to keep Chase on because I don't think they paid him that much.

1:14:23It was like a one-year deal, like$11,$12 million or so. It was probably a good face to make up for the NFL. I just looked at that very grassy. Okay, that makes sense. Yeah. Yeah, you know. Do you feel Texans' offensive line has actually improved? We talked about this on the show. I don't know. I'm trying to think of a comp for this. it's like your friend who just keeps dating a completely new guy every year and at that at a certain point you're just like i don't know maybe this will stick kind of how i feel like i i like the players better i definitely remember last offseason being like these aren't good football players this is not good and everyone's like no they've invested so much and i was like just because you invest much doesn't mean it'll work out and this time i'm like okay i actually think these are some competent players at least um i don't have hard takes on bisontis but uh you know i think brayden smith is at least at minimum a competent right tackle um yeah so i think ursory or two you could see him taking a leap as well so you know i yeah i feel better about it we'll see um i giants linebackers could have been a most improved one easily by the way with reese and Edmonds.

1:15:44It was still show last year. So I could have gone that, but I've talked about our bell Reese a lot. So love our real Reese. All right. That's bill Barnwell. Uh, you can catch him on the bill Barnwell show when he is back from London. Uh, he's going to London. Sorry. Doxing you people in London. Uh, and I, now I'm back to the once a week cadence, as I've mentioned. So I'll be back next week. Um, I think I'm going to do coach and GM rankings next week. Uh, And you can check out my TV podcast with David Dennis Jr. called Viewer Discretion. We are covering The Boys and Euphoria, which is quite a show.

1:16:21Quite a show. All right. Thank you, as always, to everyone at Omaha Productions who makes this pod. Kirsten Sebecki, Owen Saylor, Jack Foster, Tucker Taschen, and I'll see you guys next week.

1:16:40No.