The Bowers That Be: Predicting MVP and Other 2026 Awards

27:14Ben Solak:Dark horses I'll go first I'm going to go Amarion Hampton here. There's no way dude this is so bad I'm so surprised that didn't have higher odds. Yep, plus 4 ,017 in odds. He's below rishi rice a player who i'm not even sure will like get actual usage this year he's tied with kenneth walker is high with action genti no hampton's got a crazy season question for you is there a single player in the nfl who got the uh we call it the moving up on board who got a single bigger upgrade in total circumstances when you consider the coaching change with mike mcdaniel the offensive linemen coming back knock on wood the additions at blockers bringing a fullback blocking tight like have you seen anyone in better better hands right now than marian hampton have you seen hampton's numbers when he runs the football with slater and all actually on the field it's zero carries for zero yards it's never happened right he's yet to have the opportunity even with those guys right and then right you folded the fact that last year they were starting Gadsden at tight end who Gadsden himself said at a press conference two days ago he was like I was getting thrown around in the running game like not like I was rough I was bad I was getting thrown around for his words accurate he was watching his own film out of boy um yes then you have to be put Colin and Joker in the building and then with McDaniel uh McDaniel is going to get him in space so much easily like you brought the the running game and the ball carrying aspect Hampton's also about to get like 50 catches like Hampton can catch the football I know they're using Keaton Mitchell a lot that way in camp, but I think Keaton's like a 10, 15 snap a game player maybe.

28:54I think Hampton's still going to be taking like 40, 45 snaps per game, and Herbert likes to check the ball down. So, man, no, Hampton is a very fast, very large man who breaks a lot of tackles, who was getting hit behind the line of scrimmage on like 57 % of his runs last season. That number's about to flip on his head.

29:10Ben Solak:I'm interested in seeing how the run game, because we assume it's just going to be copy-paste Dolphins, but he's such a different back from, not such, but he's a he's he is a different style back from devon h and i wonder if mike mcdaniel will have a little bit more comfortable running him between the tackles um it's funny ben i've been like catching up you know doing these uh division previews listening to interviews and reading interviews with coaches it feels like the entire league just watched the mike mcdaniel run game this offseason and is trying to borrow copy steel in some fashion but the chargers get the real thing and i feel like i yeah it's we're talking about him as a dark horse but like it feels like it shouldn't be a dark horse it's it's fair because like i said it's so stacked on top there's so many offensive superstars but you know like we were talking about with this charges offense if the run game ascends the way everybody anticipates it will he will surely be the beneficiary um okay defensive player of the year i have a boring but i might be the favorite my pick is boring my pick is boring and is the favorite it's miles garrett okay i went will anderson jr yeah um okay here's the thing about miles garrett miles garrett had 23 sacks last year on a very bad team and now he's playing for a very good team yeah like there's only been three repeat defensive player of the years uh donald was last one to do it for the rams 2017 2018 jj watt did it 2014 and lawrence taylor did it in 81 but like this is the sort of award where you set the sack record we give you defensive player of the year what if he just leads the league in sacks again what are you gonna do just be like no this time it's nick bonito no you're gonna give it to him again and and i also think the team change i think benefits him a lot in terms of like narratively i I think if he does in Cleveland, okay, for Jim Schwartz, you know, so on and so forth.

31:10Yeah, but then if he goes to the Rams, and let's say the Rams end up the one seed in the NFC, and they go and they barely tip the scales over the Seahawks, it's going to be lauded as, well, yes, because they went and they got 16 sacks, 17 sacks from Myles Garrett, whatever it ends up being. And so to me, there's going to be, assuming the Rams have the year that they're expected to have, they're the favorites in the NFC, then Garrett, you know, McDuffie obviously could have a ton of stats as well, but Garrett's the one is more likely to accumulate counting stats is going to get a lot of the attribution there.

31:39And so I don't know. I have no reason to believe his production is going to decline. I don't think edge rushers endure like wear on the tires like, oh, no, he had so many pass rushers last year. No, they're still going to use him at a very high percentage of the snaps are going to use on the sack getting downs. And he converts pressures into sacks at a historically good level even before the 23 sack season. So yeah, Miles Garrett, man, why not?

31:59Ben Solak:I might have overthought this, but my two things were one, the repeat. And like you said, it can happen for sure and then i thought he's gonna i was garrett's gonna get double teamed and then the rest of the rams offensive defensive line is just gonna go crazy and it might just be like too many defensive player of your kobe turner i mean the aaron donald being back thing is is going to be a big oh i have heard about that yeah i've heard a couple whispers somebody mentioned that to me that that might happen my feeling was it might it might just be perceived as like too many stars but again if he comes anywhere close to approximating what he did last year in sacks You're right.

32:34Ben Solak:So Will Anderson Jr., another very safe and boring pick. I have them as the best defense in football. I think he's going to have, well, opportunities is one thing, right? Because he's been very, very good, and his numbers keep going up, up, up. But I think he's one of those guys who can hit another level with the improvement that he can see shows. He's such a complete player. But last year, the advanced metrics love him. The other thing I like, though, is he has opportunities. It's interesting. So Daniel Hunter gets double teamed. more than Will Anderson Jr. And I was looking at all the elite guys, double-team rates, and, you know, Miles McGregor was through the roof.

33:11Ben Solak:Michael Parsons was 38 % before he got hurt. Will Anderson Jr. is part of a fairly small group of guys who get double-teamed under 20 % of the time, along with Nick Bonito and Brian Burns, and that's basically it. So I thought the opportunity will be there. He gets to brush opposite Daniil Hunter. He gets to play in front of incredible secondary who will buy time. I just feel like this could be the young player taking yet another. He's already one of the three or four. Taking out a leap as part of an elite defensive unit. And he's the face of it. So, you know, I went to go build a dark horse case for Daniel Hunter.

33:51And my theory was, we're all so excited about Will Anderson. What if Will has a classic Will season, great TFLs, great production line, but like 12 sacks and Daniel has like 17. Then Daniel's going to get it. And I went, I looked at the numbers. I was like, oh, wait, shoot, no. Like, Daniel gets the primary pass rushing attention still, which opens up Will to have, I think, more of the spike season than Daniel has. Obviously, like, I don't think you're wrong picking in either direction, but Will's got more of the right young ascending player, just signed his big extension, talked a lot about what it could be if the Jags lead properly to Texans.

34:20Well, imagine if the Texans end up being that Broncos caliber team, that one seed caliber team with, like, a good offense and an uproarious defense. Like you said, Will Anderson's the face of that. Though, you know, Derek Stingley, with the way he addresses the football, Like if I don't like betting on corners for defensive player, if I'm going to do it, it's going to be Stingley because the nature of that defense, because of how well he produces on the ball,

34:37Ben Solak:the way he addresses the football is such a funny way to put it. I imagine Derek Stingley holding the ball like Yorick. I'm going to intercept you. Yeah. I mean like the, I think you just want a piece of that defense and Anderson Jr. Seems like the easiest pick there. Dark horse. I'll go first. I definitely don't think you have this one. So I was tempted by Josh Hines Allen because I'm very, I looked at that. I looked at that. I like the Jags defense. I think last year he underproduced in sacks relative to the amount of pressure he was getting, which is another thing I like to look at. It's a little bit weird, but I'm going to just say it.

35:11Ben Solak:Jalen Carter on the Philadelphia Eagles. No birds. My dark horse pick. I didn't think that the Eagles are going to have a top five defense. The defense is pod. Pretty hard not to see it that way. And I think he had a bit of weird last season, right? Started off very strange. Felt like it was a little bit inconsistent from him relative to early in his career. To me, taking a step back, looking at this defense, looking at the way they're built, looking at what it all revolves around, and I think thinking through what he is capable of as a pressure getter, I feel like there's another level. This could be the year he hits those Chris Jones-type numbers.

35:47Right, yeah. The shoulder's better this year. Lay down the odds.

35:50Ben Solak:He's healthy, and from all accounts, from camp, he's absolutely crushing it. Give me some Jaylin Carter. I just scrolled real quick. the last non Aaron Donald defensive tackle to win defensive player of the year was Warren Sapp in 1999. That's been a minute since a non Donald player was a caliber enough to get that award home. It'd be a big deal if Carter had that, that sort of a season. Who's your dark horse? Uh, I have Kyle Hamilton down here, uh, plus 5 ,000. He's tied for dark horse. Yeah. And I think that everybody knows Kyle Hamilton is the best safety in football. and so it's just a moment of okay how can we narratively get him there and it's hey what about a defensive scheme change is it really that big of a scheme change probably not moving from zach or to jesse minter but in a we have a we have a defensive minded head coach let's say the ravens and and i don't think this will happen but let's say the ravens become a like defense and run the football sort of a team who wins more grimy games who wins more slow uh scoring games hamilton's the sort of guy who plays in enough positions to accumulate enough counting stats right it's hard to win defensive player of the year from like deep safety because you're just policing the deep third and like discouraging targets last safety to win this war was Troy Palomaro right in 2010 being in the box being your line of scrimmage creating sacks creating forced fumbles we know that Hamilton's a big bat the pass guy right can we convert some of those into interceptions there's just this the chance that like we're in week 15 and Hamilton's got like that scorecard that's like first player in NFL history to have like 100 tackles 10 tackles for loss five sacks three interceptions three forced almost like you know just like it's just like a laundry list of plays on the ball that put him in a spot where if it's a quiet year for edges right everybody's kind of got the same 14 15 sacks then hamilton pops out he kind of also is the inverse of your brock bowers like everybody's talking about tight ends his position is sort of the i don't really think people vote that way they're like what is the current meta of the nfl and is it the big nickel position and i had that down on my notes i didn't say it there but i did have it i was like could i just do it on the little trey hendrickson maybe having a crazy high double digit sack season because i don't that's actually really where's he at odds wise i don't even see him i don't know that's a good one but you know with the additions with getting a bit of madabuike back if one of those other young edge rushers takes i did look at speaking of defensive tackles i did look at a jeffrey simmons at plus 10 000 jeffrey simmons in a robert solid defense is about to be unsafe film all right i'm excited to see it all right uh you kind of foreshadowed one of the people I want to talk about.

38:16Ben Solak:Let's take a quick break, come back and do coach of the year. As you know, managing maintenance, repair and operations is never easy. But for the ones who always rise to the challenge, Grainger has your back. From professional grade products you can count on to fast, dependable delivery, they're there to help you keep things running smoothly. Plus, their technical product specialists are here to help you answer your toughest questions. And because Grainger knows safety is always a priority, they're committed to being your partner in protecting both your people and your facilities. Call 1-800-GRANGER, click granger.com, or just stop by.

38:49Ben Solak:Hard Knocks is back, and so is the official Hard Knocks podcast. This year, the award-winning HBO original Hard Knocks training camp heads to Seattle to follow the Super Bowl champion Seahawks. Go behind the scenes with the team as they make another run at a title. Get unfiltered access to the personalities and challenges that define a championship team. Watch the official Hard Knocks podcast on HBO Max, YouTube, or listen wherever you get your podcasts. And watch Hard Knocks Training Camp with the Seattle Seahawks on HBO Max. Oh, oh, oh, O 'Reilly! Check engine, ABS, or maintenance light on. Take the guesswork out of your warning lights with O 'Reilly Veriscan.

39:27Ben Solak:The service is free and provides a report with solutions verified by ASE-certified master technicians. And if you need help, we could recommend a shop for you. Ask for O 'Reilly Veriscan today.

39:51Ben Solak:All right, I'll go first. So I teased this, so I might as well just get to it. I got Jesse Minter for coach of the year for the Baltimore Ravens. So coach of the year is the turnaround award, right? But the problem is I don't see any obvious turnaround candidates that really jumped out to me as being like the Mike Rabel. I remember last year, I think I actually did pick Mike Rabel when we did this pod last year, when I did this pod last year. It was like either going to be Mike Rabel or Ben Johnson. And yes, I don't feel that way this season about any turnaround jobs. So Baltimore is not quite a turnaround, right?

40:27Ben Solak:But they were 8-9, so they did have a losing record. And I think that Minter has the chance to do a unit turnaround so maybe he'll get some credit for that which is to say i and i've been those secrets about this i think this defense has the potential to really make a leap this season and some of it has nothing to do with jesse mentor some of it has to do with the additions and matt wiki coming back they were 30th and adjusted games loss on defense um but a lot of it does have to do with jesse mentor i mean i like i've said this before but like la man what he did there or going from a defense that was 2019 knee-paper-play the year before he came, and then going back-to-back seventh is pretty remarkable.

41:13Ben Solak:I think that also is a group that's, frankly, less talented than the one he has in Baltimore. So in my mind, if this team does a complete turnaround, obviously, cries a full healthy season from Lamar, he could get a lot of credit for the improvements that I think we're going to see in this defense. Yeah, and we see a lot of first-year coaches, right? We see Dable in 22 with the Giants, obviously, Vrabel last year. Nagy in 2018 won this award. McVay in 2017. Nagy in 2018 winning this award, which is one of my favorite historical events that Matt Nagy bears coach of the year. You are very high on the Ravens defense.

41:50I can't fully get there. I need to see the edge rusher room before I believe in the edge rusher room. I wasn't my green guy. Hendrickson at his age is a question to me. And then corner situation where how much do you like a Nate Wiggins and then how good do you feel about the depth behind Nate Wiggins? If he can do it, I'll be one of the biggest mentor defense, excuse me, head coach of the year winner proponents by week eight because I feel like I'm coming in preseason lower on this defense.

42:15Ben Solak:Look at the corners in L.A. They were like rotating. I mean, I'm still like, go. It was fine, but like, come on, like Cam Hart. Like it was. Yes. I'm just saying like, I think, you know, he's shown that he can make something better than all of his parts. They were a super zone heavy defense. defense, but most zone heavy defenses that are very good are like this defenses that give up a bad success rate, but then they have turnovers and takeaways. They lock it down to the red zone. He was a high zone defense who didn't give up a high success rate. Do you know how rare that is? Like that's what the Fangio boys all aspire to and Minters want to pull it off.

42:50So there's a chance Minters just like gas.

42:51Ben Solak:And it always felt like there were like four guys around the football. Yeah. Anyways. Yeah. But you mentioned the first year head coach thing. I mean, no one else really jumped out. So who's your pick? Maybe you have one. Because I was looking at the first years, the turnarounds, and nothing jumped out to me then. So Vrabel wins it. It's his second stint as a head coach. He takes a team that was just absolute bottom, you know, world-dwelling a four-win team and brings up to a 13-win team. And Robert Sala's second tenure as a head coach now, moving, you know, not the Jets, but with the Titans. He's going to take a terrible Titans team and probably not take them to 14 and three.

43:25But I do think that the Titans are capable of making the five game jump, right? 12 of the last 15 winners for coach of the year have added at least five wins to the team's record from the previous season to then the upcoming season. That includes both the first year coaches, then the guys who have been floating around for a little bit. And so to me, when I go to look for coach of the year, I just go to, okay, who was the bottom seller dwelling last year? Who can I talk myself into being pretty good? I think this pass rush can be pretty good. Pretty good.

43:50Ben Solak:Pretty good. I think the pass rush could be excellent. All right. I'll, I'll, I'll escalate the adjectives. I'll give a hoop. I think the pass rush could be sensational under Robert Sala. Um, like free agency. Do I love the amount of running that was spent on Wanda Robinson into Alonzo Taylor into Cordell Flott? No, the team's better. All right. Is this team going to have a winning record? Cause you ain't winning this unless you have a winning record. They can be nine and eight. Okay. That's, that's a, that's a six game improvement, right? Yeah. Uh, yeah. Three and 14 to nine and eight. That's plus six.

44:20Absolutely. they go respectable 500 yeah the the brian dabel first time hanging out with a quarterback jump all right he gave the jackson dart he gave it to daniel jones just a quick shot in the arm that is the quarterback running game and an rpo or two i'm not carnell looks good i'm drinking the kool-aid

44:38Ben Solak:on the titans uh let me clear out some other options for you then i don't know how i became a i'm drinking the kool-aid on the titans but you gotta get to a winning record to for the do to win the war that's why i'm putting your feet to the fire a little bit um okay let me throw out some other options i mentioned him kevin o 'connell if the kyler thing works out he's got a real good shot at it this year right um he won it in 24 right with the donald year uh oh yeah right yes yeah i don't know how often can a guy win it in two or three years two different coaches that'd be kind of new i voted for dan campbell that year personally oh ron rivera rivera run it in 13 and 15.

45:15Ben Solak:I forgot about that. Okay, I'm going to keep throwing out some names. Clint Kubiak was one who, for all the Titans reasons, the turnaround, if the rookie quarterback looks good, if they somehow... I just have trouble seeing them get into nine. I was trying to figure out if they could get to the winning record, and I started a little bit with that. Kellen Moore? Can I interest you in some Kellen Moore? The Saints were to win the NFC South? I'm a Saints division winner believer. Yes, ma 'am. Fortunately, uh fortunately like so i voted for mike mcdonald last year who should have won but it's again it's because of the it's not a two-year turnaround award otherwise i would say ben johnson and liam cohen both should be contenders but that's just not how it works which is stupid yeah i could see i could see either one getting it from a like like if johnson or cohen becomes like emphatically like a sean mcveigh cal shanahan level of schemer for sure though i have my dark horse you have not outside yet.

46:08The one guy who I really like.

46:10Ben Solak:My dark horse is Brian Schottenheimer. It's Brian Schottenheimer. Yeah, I think Schottenheimer is such a good. They were a seven win team last season. They win the NFC East. They win double digit games. They win on the back of a really explosive offense. And and shot is running shot his offense, man. They don't know exactly. This is your shot. Yeah. Yeah. And you know, he made I mean, you bring in if Christian Parker is what people think he can be. If the defense approaches average. and I think like you know, Sean Himer's like really well liked. I mean he's really, really liked both in the building and around the league and I feel like people would love to give him a little credit for, I mean this was a hire that nobody was terribly enthusiastic around.

46:53Ben Solak:Maybe some people were, but for the most part it felt like a bit of an afterthought and if he smoked it this season, I think he would deservedly get some credit for that all right assistant of the year uh it's it's mike mcdaniel so let's just choose people other than mike mcdaniel yes so i think mike mcdaniel should win it um i will say like the reason why i didn't go for brian schottenheimer was because i do think christian parker's got a pretty good shot at winning this award cowboys defense last year was if not 32nd then 31st and pretty much everything that we look at in terms of like passing game metrics is points per drive allowed epa per drive so just a unit that that lampooned and otherwise playoff caliber season from the offense.

47:31Well, Parker steps in and I'm not positive. This will be a great defense in September and, you know, okay. Coming out of, of, of training camp, they're going to play some rookies, some serious snaps, Caleb Downs, Jay Sean Barham. They're going to have a couple of guys who are coming back from injury. You know, Siobhan Revell hasn't seen a lot of play action time. You're going to have Kobe Durant and Jalen Thompson. I think it's a bunch of newness, especially in the back seven in November, December, we started to figure out what we want our pass rush groupings to look like, right? How would we want to use Gary?

47:59Does Donovan Azaraku take a step. Quinton Williams, obviously, I think is going to be like a big blue chip, you know, scale tipping player for them. But he was acquired last year. Like that's not like a move that gets talked about this year. So I think Parker, I think Parker's going to step in. I think the defense is going to still be rough in September, but I would not be surprised if it's better and better and better. And then we get to December time. We're trying to decide between like six assistant coaches here and the Cowboys are finishing the break in the NFC East and the defense is really starting to pull its weight.

48:24The way Parker talks about, you know, philosophy is he's clearly a branch out of the big fan, Joe Tree. But I do think he is going to be a little bit more aggressive than some of those guys, a little bit more blitz willing than some of those guys, a little bit more press of the line than some of those guys. And that'll create opportunities for takeaways as well. So Parker is my pick outright for this award.

48:41Ben Solak:Not Mike McDaniel. He's not your pick outright. Well, no, he's my pick that I wrote down on the things. I knew we weren't allowed to do Mike McDaniel. I was positive that you were going to let us do Mike McDaniel. To be clear, we both think it's Mike McDaniel. Okay, I just want to get that out there before we... It's a weird award because it's not like... you look back at some of the guys who have won and it feels like kind of different amount credit is being given for different things. Like sometimes it's the unit that was the best. Sometimes it's a turnaround. Josh McDaniels won last year, which I agree with.

49:14Ben Solak:Before that, it was Ben Johnson. Duh. Right. Before that, it was Jim Schwartz with the Cleveland Browns. Interesting. Before that, D 'Amico Ryans with the Niners. Defense coaches, man. Dan Quinn with the Cowboys in 2021. People forget that year that before it all fell apart. Dable, Greg Roman hilariously, 2019 Ravens, Fangio with the Bears. So, yada, yada. So, anyways, it is not, there's not like an obvious rubric that people use. So, it is a mixture of, in my mind, like some newcomers, but then also you can give it to a guy who's just been good a long time, like a Vic Fangio or a Vance Joseph, and it wouldn't be crazy.

49:51Ben Solak:It just kind of depends how things shake out. Brian Flores should, you know, probably win every year. Yeah. Uh, so I, I threw out a couple of other names that I wanted to Christian Parker is on my short list of names who I think people will be looking at. Um, Anthony Campanile in the Jack with Jacksonville. So I like him amongst the defensive coordinators because one, I thought he was very good last year, but I also think it's a defense that, um, people look at and don't see like superstars. Right. And they'll look at it and they'll think the coach in any, he does a lot of interesting things, particularly with, you know, with pressures and whatnot.

50:24Ben Solak:But I think it's not like Chris Shula in Los Angeles. We're like, are they really going to give Chris Shula credit for miles Garrett and Aaron Donald? Probably not. Right. You look at Jacksonville. I could see Campanile getting credit, getting a lot of head coach looks, getting a lot of buzz. People know that I'm pretty high on that defense. Um, offensive guys can throw out some names. Can I just do a little drew pets in Detroit? Cause that's a good pick because of how bad people feel like the offense was last year. even though it was like 70. Yes, yes. It was a great pick. We were in the NFC North this week and I was looking at all the Lions offensive numbers from last year.

51:01Ben Solak:And if you, yes, you look at it and you're like, wait, why did this feel so bad? And then you look and they're top 10 or better in everything pretty much except for, you know, the offensive line, which I do think should be better. So I think Petsing could be the beneficiary of that like gap between perception and reality. I also think he could do a really good job, right? So to me, he's being given a set of tools to build something pretty impressive. So, yeah, I liked him. A couple of first-time offensive play callers I've got my eye on. Declan Doyle, you alluded to in Baltimore. We'll see. Total unknown.

51:40Ben Solak:Again, I think could benefit from just getting those pieces. And then Brian Fleury in Seattle, I think. Again, total unknown. It'd be tough to win. mad shot in the dark i know narratively but i know because that that's the opposite of the lions where people think that it was like yep yep yep like json's gonna only have like 1400 yards and nine touchdowns people think that the offense is worse but i kind of think well anyways put a pin in seattle because i'm gonna get back to that um so yeah i i think mike mcdaniel should be the favorite and we don't have to get into the million reasons why all over again but those are some other names that intrigued me yeah one defensive guy that you didn't bring up that i think is great for it is jim leonard the new dc of the bills because that defensive roster is tough and it's very much not like it's very much sean mcdermott's defense and he's got to figure out those pieces but again it's narrative let's say the bills have an incredible season and like you know okay we're not going to give it to joe brady because the offense is just as good as usually is josh allen's won the mvp we're not going to give it to him but hey this defense is actually kind of you know, fucker than we thought then Leonard gets put in the conversation and like, he's like, you know, kind of got a big, fuzzy young head coaching name.

52:51And so he's another guy

52:52Ben Solak:I thought of that curve in new England's another. Yeah. Right now. Could he have even won it last year? Cause he didn't have the title of coordinator. I don't know how the award works. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, okay. We don't have to spend a lot of time on executive the Eric is frankly, who cares, but, uh, it's another one where, where this is a little bit all over the place in terms of what is rewarded John Schneider won last year. This is, you know, these are all votes before the Super Bowl, obviously. The my pick for this year, will you go first? Actually, I've been going first. Yeah, so the this award is the my team did really well in the regular season.

53:29Yeah. And oftentimes, like it is the my team did well in the regular season award. And also I had two first round picks in this in this year award. So the first name that I wrote down is Nick Casario. I think that if you get a good Texans season then a big part of that conversation will be about uh young receivers you know you assume like a jane higgins a jaylen noel a tank dell somebody is stepping up but you also expect running game to be way better right they traded for david montgomery they totally retooled the offensive line a lot of that credit is going to go casario's direction this defense even if it's not something he did this year like it's a ton of drafted players kamari lassiter kaylon bullock will uh will anderson derrick singly they just added a re-blankenship so casario feels to me like a little bit of like a lifetime achievement slash, you know, Texans go 14 and three.

54:14We don't want to give it to D 'Amico because we're too busy giving it to like a shiny new head coach. We're not going to give MVP to CJ Stroud. Let's get Casario executive of the year. The other guy that I wrote down for my dark horse, because the fans of this team will hate this as much as like, I think of the average fan, but it still is very possible to me is Brett Veach, the general manager of the chiefs, right? I got her. I think it's been very heavily villainized and not wrongfully for the recent performance of the chiefs, But man, three defensive picks in the top 50. What if Mansoor Delane, Peter Woods, Armation Thomas, all play time, all contribute, and then also the Chiefs offense is just back.

54:47Kenneth Walker runs the ball really well. The Chiefs are 12-5. What are we going to do? Give Mahomes an MVP for another 4 ,000-year season? No, man. Brett Beach is the executive of the year. So just Chiefs fans, batten down the hatches and prepare for that potential outcome this year.

55:00Ben Solak:I have as my outright pick George Patton, the Broncos GM. Nice. Because if the wattle trade hits the way I think it will, And if this team is as successful in the regular season as I think they will be, I think he will look kindly upon for the reconstruction of this roster. And I think some of those other teams, like I think about Schneider, part of the appeal was like, well, he doesn't have a Lamar or Josh Allen or whatever, but he got a quarterback on a middle-class contract, which never happens. And so I think there's some, there might be like some hesitation to give it to a guy with an elite quarterback.

55:41That's a good point. Cause like Brad Holmes, last couple of years, how he bill Belichick one of the year for the Mac Jones year, like a little bit is a not elite quarterback.

55:49Ben Solak:Yeah. So it's a rookie quarterback. I mean, and if he has a great season, they'll be like, well, look at the guy who drafted him. Look how he recovered from the rust trade granted of his own making. But, uh, yeah, I mean, it is, it will go down as like one of the all time, like roster fixes, turnarounds, you know what I mean? Like, um, in a pretty rapid order. And I think this team is extremely good. Like the roster is so good. So obviously he deserves a lot of credit for that. A couple other names I threw out. I had Nick Casario on my list. Joe Hortiz in LA. Yeah, I thought about that one. Chargers offense is what we think it will be.

56:21Ben Solak:I think he's going to get some credit. And then, I don't know, maybe less Snead for an F them picks if the Rams are as dominant as. I thought about Snead. What if, like, you know, Stafford misses time in like December and Ty Simpson goes two and one. and then it was a less need man. He saw the vision. He did it. He did it. All right. Shohei Otani's interpreter was fired today. Ipe Mitsuhara ran up gambling debts to a Southern California bookmaking operation. The inside story of the biggest scandal in modern baseball. He was absolutely bananas, the amount of bets he was making. I've never seen anything like it.

56:57From 30 for 30 podcasts, this is The Betrayal of Shohei Otani.

57:02Ben Solak:presented by Gusto. New episodes available now. Listen wherever you get your podcasts. As you know, managing maintenance, repair, and operations is never easy. But for the ones who always rise to the challenge, Grainger has your back. From professional-grade products you can count on to fast, dependable delivery, they're there to help you keep things running smoothly. Plus, their technical product specialists are here to help answer your toughest questions. And because Grainger knows safety is always a priority, They're committed to being your partner and protecting both your people and your facilities.

57:35Call 1-800-GRANGER. Click grainger.com or just stop by. I like things my way. My coffee, my schedule, and my treatment. So I talked to my doctor about self-injecting with the Vivgard Hytrulo Pre-Filled Syringe, which contains F-Gartigamide Alpha and Hyaluronidase QVFC. It's injected under your skin subcutaneously. It means I can inject in my space on my time. It's my treatment, my way. Visit VivGuardMyWay.com. That's V-Y-V-G-A-R-T MyWay.com. And talk to your doctor about VivGuard Hattrulo. Brought to you by Argenics.

58:10Ben Solak:On to more interesting ones. So let's do offensive player last. Let's do defensive rookie of the year first. Okay. I shall go first.

58:24Ben Solak:So it's a little hard because usually you want the guy who gets a lot of sacks. But, well, it's hard, right? because defensive rookie of the year is not like defensive player of the year where you necessarily have a double-digit sacks getter. So I thought about the pass rushers. I was most intrigued by Bain Jr. Same. The Veya thing has me a little spooked. So I'm going to go with the defensive player who I think is going to be one of the biggest stories in football this year, and that's Caleb Downs. Wow. Safety has never won defensive rookie of the year. I know. I was looking at all the pass winners.

58:58Ben Solak:I know. but linebacker won last year i i just think now i have some hesitation because i don't think he's like a and this could be famous like for it's maybe he'll get a ton of interceptions but like the appeal of caleb downs is not that he's going to get you a million interceptions the appeal of caleb downs is that he will contribute in ways that maybe aren't even obvious right to the naked eye and that is a little bit scary because you are betting that people are going to actually watch the film and uh and take the time to understand everything he does to unlock this christian parker defense we talked about but i genuinely believe he could get a bump from the like when you think about it's kind of a lot of the same stuff you said with christian parker if this defense takes a big leap forward right right talking about we're gonna be talking about caleb downs like we just are so and there was already like the storyline that this was the best defensive player in the draft oh my god how did he fall to the cowboys so i just think everything's kind of set up for him let me tell you why this is a really good player let me tell you why this is gonna happen is because when i my like post-draft piece that i wrote was setting the table for offensive rookie of the year defense rookie of the year who's the favorite and whatever and on my defensive rookie of the year list i wrote a paragraph where i said listen i'm not going to talk about caleb downs because the safety has never won this award and like i think he's a tremendous player but i just i don't think he'll ever get the award because historically we don't give it to safeties so for the sake of cowboys fans getting to screenshot that i'm now living with a lot of confidence that Caleb Downs isn't going to win defensive rookie of the year.

1:00:23Listen, 22 of the 26 winners this century have been first round picks. 20 of those 22 have been first half of the first round picks. It tends to go to name recognition guys, guys who were drafted early enough that the general public knows them. So which Downs qualifies, right? He's the top 16 pick. And so on that logic alone, he's within like a very small list of guys who could do it. And yeah, he's got such a big, sexy name appeal as Dallas Cowboy. Like I, I'm now honestly very certain that this will happen i have bane down as my favorite i didn't think about the vea of it

1:00:54Ben Solak:all i just think that he's right you saw this yeah good if there's no vea do you would you take it take it back no i see i think that when i try to answer the question of for whom will opportunities in the pass rush game be manufactured in tampa bay my head just goes to bane like this they were thrilled to get him at that spot they desperately needed a primary sack getter todd bulls is obviously a heavy blitz guy but when you're a heavy blitz guy you can also be a show pressure to manufacture one-on-ones to get my my premier sack player to you know produce that was like the Shaq Barrett theory when he was there and I think the Bain can be that caliber of a pass rusher very different play styles obviously but that caliber of a pass rusher such that he dominates those opportunities right those manufactured schemed up chances just like the rest of that roster you just don't see the guy who's going to be taking those snaps from him um and the reports out of camp right now that he looks very strong in terms of his uh how well he's performing in his NFL readiness he's got NFL size clearly he plays all three downs like I just I trust him more than I trust David Bailey with the jets and I, you know, I think Bailey I'm hearing looks good, but yeah, no, I, well, he plays for a better defense too.

1:01:55Ben Solak:So I think that's going to help. Um, Arbel Reese is a fun one, but I do think he's the kind of guy who's more likely to look better year two, year three than year one. Um, I do think there's a good chance for Sonny. I think, cause I think that Sonny can, uh, Sonny Styles was taken by the commanders linebacker just a decent amount of linebackers have won by the way i know i was like linebacker won last year but i'm looking at the list and so when it's like i said 22 to 26 or first round picks those remaining four were all off-ball linebackers who were taken in round two and just accumulate a ton of tackles or talking about demiko ryan's we're talking about shack leonard carson sweschinger last year those sorts of guys so cj allen with the colts is my dark horse because he fits the mold of 120 tackles because he's a day one starter on a colts defense where He's playing behind two good defensive tackles, two in Grover Stewart and DeForest Buckner.

1:02:45So he's going to have opportunities. So to me, linebacker can get there. Sonny, I think, is cool because I think Sonny's going to have the opportunity to make more high-value plays on the ball, pass breakups, interceptions, sacks, that he didn't get in Ohio State because he was playing next to Reese. And Reese got the reps that are on the line of scrimmage. Sonny's going to get more of those in the league than he did in college, which is weird. So Sonny's another guy that I like for this.

1:03:05Ben Solak:I have his dark horse, Hakeem Mizador, in L.A. Yeah, right. Opportunity there. replacing OA opposite. They brought back Khalil Mack, Tule, Tule Pelo, he didn't get paid yet. He's going to get paid. You know, I actually, who did I talk to? I think I discussed this with Khalil, actually. Yeah, we were at Chargers camp and I asked Mack about, you know, last year when they would do those three, when they would put all three of them on the field and line up Tule inside. I was asking if we would still see those looks, but with Mesidor opposite them and how he thought that would go. and he was super enthusiastic about what he's seen from him and his opportunity, I think, to take advantage of that, or potential rather.

1:03:48Ben Solak:So, you know, should be a good defense yet again. Should be well coached. Curious to see whether there's going to be any differences with Chris O 'Leary, the defensive coordinator. They're very tight-lipped about it. But Benzador also, to me, is like a guy who could really hit the ground running, similar to Bain, right? A water player. Yeah, polished. So, you know, I like that. he's way down the odds, but yeah, downs felt safe. All right. Offensive rookie of the year. You can go first because I just went first on defensive rookie of the year. So I'm still picking Fernando Mendoza here. And I feel like this is like now at the point, it's a little bit becoming me like obnoxiously just putting my like crossing my arms and being like, I think he's going to play independent of like anything that gets said.

1:04:29But John Daigle tweeted this out like last month and it was rookie year starts by the first quarterback taken in every draft since 2015. Jameis had 16. Goff had 7. Trubisky had 12. Baker had 13. Kyler had 16. Joe Burrow had 10 before he got placed on IR. Trevor Lawrence had 17. Bryce Young had 16. Caleb had 17. Cam had 17. It's really hard to have the first overall pick at quarterback burning a hole in your pocket. You can talk as much beautiful team building.

1:04:55Ben Solak:Drake Bay has to sit the entire season. Tom Brady philosophy. We're going to sit for 19 years. We're going to study on a chalkboard. He's the first overall pick. Kirk's going to have a multi-pick game. It's going to happen. He's Kirk. His arm is not that young. He's going to make mistakes. And you don't get one middling Kirk game. And so you start getting questions about Mendoza. And so it's so easy to talk that game now. It's just so hard to stay on that path when we get into the season. And I think so long as Mendoza plays 11 games, like two-thirds of the games, his primary competition is going to be Jeremiah Love behind a terrible offensive line and terrible offensive environment.

1:05:32Carnell Tate, who might not be wide receiver one on his own team, and Jordan Tyson, who needs to stay on the field. So I still like that.

1:05:38Ben Solak:Allow me to introduce another competitor who's my pick. Yeah? Because I just saw him in person. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Good. And I think for all the reasons you just said with the other guys, this feels wide open to me because a lot of the offensive players were not thrust into good offenses. Jadion Price walks into an offense that, yes, it wasn't, you know, one of the top offenses football, still pretty damn good, particularly the second half of the season when they started running the ball better. Um, and a lot of that had to do with opportunity and the way defenses played them. But I genuinely think this run game could look better this year.

1:06:18Ben Solak:Everything that I've heard from Seattle about what Brian Fleury wants to do with the run game, with the tight ends, the way that they're using motion and different personnel groupings to try to improve on the ground in particular, by the way, is was emphasized to me. I think there's going to be a tremendous opportunity continuity on the same offensive line. And obviously you need, you know, another healthy season from Abe Lucas, knock on wood. I think it's really important, but Grace Abel year two, Sundell, you know, more starting experience for some of these young offensive linemen. I think this is a team that's going to use a lot of two tight ends.

1:06:52Ben Solak:It's interesting because they were bad running the football over the course of the season, but in 12 personnel, They were second in EEP ever play when they ran the ball. AJ Barner and Eric Sauber could kick some tail last year. And I think they're going to double down on that. Price to me, too. Like, just I feel like I know everyone's always worried in Seattle. Is it going to be committee? Charbonne is coming back. Holani, pass protection, all of that. I really think he's going to get a lot of run in this offense. I was going to hit you with it, but what about the competition with George Holani?

1:07:23for first.

1:07:24Ben Solak:Also, I think as a pass catcher, he's going to make some really some explosive play. So I just felt like when I looked at all the offensive players, you could talk me into any of them. I think there's risks and questions with all of them. Mendoza's obviously the playing time. Otherwise, the other guys, you know, it's the overall offenses. I look at him and I'm like, I think you're in the best situation and you're a great scheme fit for what they want to do. It's very easy for me to imagine him becoming like a fantasy darling to and out producing seeing like the bad, the bad, what the backs did last year in a way that captures people's attention.

1:07:56I just, I like if Charbonnet comes back by week four, which it sounds like they like feel enthusiastic about him. They have already like price was a splitting time committee player in college. They already showed last year. They want to be a splitting time committee team with Charbonnet with Kenneth Walker, who like it was apparently good enough to become a top five paid back for a minute there for a second. And Charbonnet in particular is like a passing downs back and a goal line back. And so it's like, I'm simultaneously confident that Price is a better player than his college stats indicated, that he can be a three-down back in the NFL level, that he's going to be good for Seattle.

1:08:31And also, I'm not sold that he's just going to get enough carries, enough touches. That's the number one pause that I have with Price.

1:08:37Ben Solak:The final thing is, somebody who had boots on the ground and eyes on the field, that boy nice. My dark horse for offensive rookie of the year is exclusively a that boy nice. uh yeah i mean he just looks nice i was in i was in cleveland oh boy i have him denzel boston okay listen i i i was i'm as a good church going boy as a son of a priest i do not take the lord's name in vain denzel boston had a play in camper i said i was like jesus christ like i could not believe how good he looked out there i can't do it with the quarterbacks all right but um it's going to help him because he's going to make unbelievable catches siciliano i i asked him a few weeks ago i think like in jude or something i was like so how are my guys casey and boston i i you know i love both of them they're both my my guys uh and he wrote back boston period and that's all he just wrote boston i was like i mean and he wasn't even it wasn't dissing casey who i think is also looked pretty cool he looks great but he was just like you he's just like just you know this because you've like done enough training camps and like everything like that but like i think the number one thing that i look for when i go to training camp is like does rookie look like belong do you look big enough do you look fast enough do you look strong enough are you thinking on your feet like you just look like you're playing at nfl speed nfl size and boston just like he looks like a dog dude he's just explosive he's physical he is he's strong he's got size he's got smoothness like he just so clearly is an NFL caliber X receiver and I love the way he looks and if it is Sanders and the offense is inefficient but there's still some plays that get your attention outside of structure balls down field red zone Boston Boston you know Denzel Boston Denzel Boston Huskies legend so yeah I like that as a dark horse but yeah Price is my guy so in summary I'll read mine back to you.

1:10:37Ben Solak:MVP, Joe Burrow. Dark Horse, Trevor Lawrence. Offensive Player of the Year, Puka. Dark Horse, Samarian Hampton. Defensive Player of the Year, Will Anderson Jr. Dark Horse, Jalen Carter. Coach of the Year, Jesse Minter. Dark Horse, Brian Schottenheimer. We're going to have so many of the same Dark Horses. Assistant of the Year, Mike McDaniel. Dark Horse, Drew Petsing. Executive of the Year, George Patton. I didn't do a Dark Horse. Two characters. Executive of the Year. Defensive of the Year, Galeb Downs. Dark Horse, Mesidor. your offensive rookie of the year, Jadarian Price, Derek Horse, Denzel Boston.

1:11:06Ben Solak:And who are yours? Did you have a comeback player of the year? Oh, I didn't do comeback player of the year. I mean, I was just, I was checking. I thought for, I was like, I thought you texted to do comeback, but you didn't. You texted to make sure we did. Zach and assistant coach. Yeah. I mean, I didn't even look at it. It's Nick Bosa or Fred Warner. Am I missing anyone? Patrick Mahomes is like the, by a mile. Yeah, yeah. How many games do you have to miss? Right. You didn't actually miss any games. I mean, if Daniel Jones looks halfway, do you say which by all accounts that can be up there kyler is is very high up in the awards malik neighbors aaron donald is currently fourth in the awards uh i do not respect yeah come back from here low key this year in terms of the total list it's a lot of fun guys uh for me mvp was joe burrow with trevor lawrence behind office player of the year was brock bowers with amari and hampton behind defense player of the year was miles garrett with kyle hamilton behind coach of the year Robert Sala with Brian Schottenheimer uh executive of the year was Nick Casario I had Brett Veach assistant coach of the year I had uh Mike McDaniel if not Christian Parker behind him uh defensive rookie of the year I had Reuben Bain with CJ Allen and offensive rookie of the year I had Fernando Mendoza with Denzel Boston I had some different picks it wasn't all the same I can't believe you had Burrow man I was really like I was you were picking MVP and you were trying to call my shot I was just I was just I was doing my good analysis right you were trying to figure out what I was doing.

1:12:28Ben Solak:So convinced you were going to do Justin Harbert for MVP instead of Joe Burrow. You got to give the Bengals fans the MVP Joe Burrow pick preseason so that way if you dare criticize the golden child for like one play in week six you can point back I picked him for MVP okay I think he's good. It was begrudging. Defensive to selections. I think he's going to have a great season Bengals fans. And also I'm a Bengals offensive line respecter. There's very few of us. We're out here. we check the Ben Solak training camp notebook coming out on Tuesday because we got a lot of offensive line propaganda there for the Bengals all right good I appreciate that uh yeah we're gonna be able to check out all the stuff you've been doing yes uh my training camp notebook comes out on Tuesday for idspn.com it was Colts Bengals Browns Steelers Bills I think is in this one the second half of my tour there um yes you can find all that stuff there on.com I'm on all the socials as per usual I'm happy to be back on the show if it smells like football baby we're getting in there maybe we'll uh talk about some preseason action in the coming weeks um yeah i was texting you the whole time you're a colts fan hey i was guys did the afc south and i referenced this in the podcast with brett i was like please just tell me boot like on the ground how does daniel jones look uh and by all accounts looks okay so we'll see we'll see we shall say this is the second time i have gone to colts camp with josh downs hype and left colts camp with an injured josh down So I really got to stop going to Indianapolis for that young man's sake.

1:13:53Ben Solak:I don't love that. Later this week, I will be doing the NFC North. Speaking of quarterback competitions with Carmen Vitale, I'm living and dying by the, the breathless training camp competition. Kevin Seifert has really crushed it with the post he did about the audible murmur at some of JJ McCarthy's misses really chef's guess. So I'll be, I'll probably have to tap in with everybody there to try to get a sense of what the hell's going on because we haven't actually seen them compete in preseason yet. So anyways, NFC North and then AFC North. Well, then we have real football to talk about. Oh, my God.

1:14:31Have you watched the All-22 of the Hall of Fame game yet? Do you have Carson Beck takes the way Dio does?

1:14:38Ben Solak:Some of the takes coming out of the Hall of Fame game were just, yeah, man. The last one's doing Chandler Zavala breakdowns on TikTok. I was like, we're home, baby. Let's do it. My only Hall of Fame game take was Jalen Brooks. Might be a guy. Might be a guy. We're there on Jalen Brooks. Good. The Cardinals line looked good, but like against. All right. What are we doing here? It's good to be back. It's good to be back. All right. Thank you so much, Ben. Quick programming notes. My television podcast, Viewer Discretion, is also back. We are recapping the show Furious right now, which is really good.

1:15:15Ben Solak:But we will start recapping the show Lanterns, which I'm very excited about watching. And I posted this on my various socials, but I'm doing a little fundraiser for a kid out here in Los Angeles who got into Yale and helping him and his family raise a little bit of money to close the financial gap for them. So I am auctioning off or selling whatever, 15 paintings. You know, I do these custom paintings. Yes. So links are on my various socials. If you have been dying for one of those paintings or just a video message. I get a lot of good fantasy commissioner ones to start the season. My favorites, I think I've had two people do video announcements from me to tell their boys that they're having a child.

1:16:01Oh yeah?

1:16:02Ben Solak:I've done two. So if you're having a child, you'd like to break the news to your male group chat. Do you do anything? Do you have a little popper with like pink and blue confetti inside of it? What's the move? I've not done a gender reveal. Oh my God. Please don't ask me to do a gender. Well, if you want to actually, I'll do it. For the sake of the young man going to Yale, I will do a gender reveal. So check that out. It's on my socials. It's on my Instagram bio, Blue Sky, all of that. And otherwise, thank you as always to the folks at Omaha Productions. Here's Siza Becky, Owen Saylor, Jack Foster, Tucker Tashin.

1:16:31Ben Solak:And I'll see you guys later this week.