PMS 2.0 1392 - Peter Schrager, Damien Woody, Andrew Hawkins, Jason McCourty, Darius Butler, & AJ Hawk

26:13There is thoughts around the league about who's the best offensive coach, who's the best defensive coach. To a man, everyone says, no one knows clock management, game management, down and distance better than Vrabel. Is he Ernie Adams?

26:25Darius Butler:Is he new Ernie Adams? Yes. And this is his Ernie Adams stretch. So you're not going to see him. Look, you start comparing guys. You can just throw around. Ernie Adams is a legend. Ernie Adams is a legend. You know that. Respect here. Stretch is Ernie Adams. Ernie Adams for the Gen Z folk. Yeah, could be. He could have a career arc like Ernie if all goes well. But I mention him because with Frable, it comes McDaniels. It comes Stretch. It comes a whole different coaching staff, and there's a professionalism around it that they didn't have last year, and that's no insult to Gerard Mayo. I think that staff might have been overwhelmed, might have been a lot of situations there with the roster.

27:06They just feel like they are significantly better and much improved. Ty Schmidt, what do you got? Yeah, D. Wood, curious your take on the Steelers. Obviously, they've went all in this offseason, and their offensive line I think has improved, or Steelers fans would say it has, but there's still a lot of question marks. Do you think they're good enough to keep Rodgers upright for most of the season, and are they a legitimate Super Bowl contender with all the moves they've made? Listen, I think the offensive line with the Pittsburgh Steelers is the biggest unknown. And I think the biggest factor in how well this Pittsburgh Steelers team can play and how far they can go.

27:45Because I think if the Pittsburgh Steelers are getting the Aaron Rodgers that we saw like towards the end of the season last year when he was healthy, I think the Pittsburgh Steelers will be hell to play against. Because, listen, first of all, any Mike Tomlin coach team is always going to come prepared to play. We know their identity lies on the defensive side of the football. But the one thing, when you saw the Pittsburgh Steelers last year, when they collapsed, the primary reason why they collapsed is because they couldn't get anything generated on the offensive side, particularly quarterback position you didn't get anything out of.

28:18I don't think that would be the case with Aaron Rodgers. Here's the key. I think running the football in this Arthur Smith offense, I think that's going to be the key because what you don't want is for teams to start teeing off on Aaron Rodgers, just getting the third and long and all that type of stuff because you can't run the football. If they can run the football with these two tight ends, Friar Muth and John New Smith, and DK Metcalf on the outside, I think the Pittsburgh Steelers will be cooking, and this is going to be a team that we're going to be talking about a lot later on in the year and in the postseason.

28:52If you've got a fantasy draft coming in the next two weeks, late-round flyer Calvin Austin, I think a lot of attention is going to be to the tight ends, a lot of attention to the wide receivers. I know that early on Austin's been a stud in camp, and already they're talking about him being a legitimate number two. So I would think Seeler's offense should be better. Tone Diggs, what do we got?

29:12Darius Butler:Yeah, I loved hearing you talk about that, D. Wood. But let's talk about the team that Aaron came from, the team that they play in week one, the team that you finished your career with, the New York Jets. It feels like they actually finally have an offensive line. Through the draft, they got their tackles, and then in free agency kind of being in tiered arm on Manbu. Shrags. Do you feel good now about both lines of scrimmage being the kind of strengths of that team? And what are you hearing out of camp about Justin Fields and the quarterback and how he's coming along? Yeah, listen, I think the line of scrimmage, particularly the offense line, is going to be the strength of the Jets.

29:48They're going to want to run the football. I've said before, when it comes to this Jets team, if they're not leading the league in rushing attempts, I don't know what the hell they're doing in Florham Park because that's exactly the formula they should go we know that you know that they this is not going to be some air corial type of offense in new york they're going to get off the bus and you're going to know exactly what they're trying to do with bad intentions they're going to want to run the football and you got a dynamic quarterback in justin fields and i've always said like they should incorporate some of that early lamar jackson baltimore ravens type you know type of offense you got to play to this young man's athletic ability and i think when you got a three-headed backfield led by Brees Hall and Braylon Allen, the athletic quarterback and offensive line.

30:33That's going to be the recipe for them. They got players on all three levels on the defense, so it's going to be defense and running the football for the New York Jets this year. I got a lot of friends back in New York who are Jets fans. One of my buddies, Danny, is a longtime season ticket holder. At the end of last season, gave it up. Wow. I'm over it. they had one preseason game where the guy had 38 minutes of offensive possession against the Packers in the rain and he's like all right I'm intrigued then this past week it was awful at practice for apparently the offense and then preseason like D-Wood you're there in Jersey you know many guys like Danny my friend who's a diehard Jets fan even though he gave up his season tickets reason to be optimistic this season or are we talking this is just a bridge year let's get a quarterback next year and let's move on i think you know listen here's what here's where i'll be optimistic because of aaron glenn aaron glenn has set the tempo in that throughout the whole organization they're going to have an identity they know who they are and they're going to play to those strengths okay anyone who knows ag he's not he's a no-nonsense type of guy he's not going to take any bullshit from anyone he's going to call you out and that's been like a long, that's been a far cry from the way it's been at Flown Park over the last four or five years.

31:52And so those players over there are going to be accountable. I don't know how many wins they're going to have. But the one thing I do know what they're going to be, they're going to be disciplined, they're going to play tough, and they're going to play smart. And then let the chips fall where they may. D-Bop? Hey, Woody, now, two-time Super Bowl champs, you've been in locker rooms, and even, I'm sorry, more teams that could have won the bowl. What teams do you see out there? We know the Eagles, we expect them to be dominant again. The top of the AFC is absolutely stacked. But what other teams out there that you can see from the outside looking in that, okay, they maybe have what it takes, you know, offense, defense, special teams, and then head coaching it organization-wise to make a deep run in the playoffs and maybe raise that limbo at the end of the year?

32:34Listen, I've been on them. I've been talking about for a while the Denver Broncos. Okay. I think the Denver Broncos, to me, are a team that not enough people are talking about. they could have the best defense in the league this year. Like, they were a damn good defense last year, and they only improved throughout the offseason this year. Bo Nix with Sean Payton in year two, you know, we know how these things go. Year one and year two, this is usually when you make your biggest jump. I think Bo Nix is going to light it up this year. Obviously, you got Cortland Sutton. Keep out on Troy Franklin.

33:11You know the young wide receiver that I think is going to break out? They're going to be able to run the ball. They got, you know, talk about offensive lines. They may have the best offensive line in football in Denver. And so when you look at everything that the Denver Broncos got going on, I'm telling you right now, do not sleep on the Denver Broncos this year. You bold enough to put them over the Chiefs? I'm not there yet because I know the Chiefs have improved, but I will say this. This will be the hardest journey in the Patrick Mahomes era. you know, in this division and in this conference because of that team that I just talked about.

33:50I think Denver is legit. I think they're going to be one of these teams that we're going to be talking about late in the season that's going to be a contender in the AFC for a Super Bowl. Before we let you go, you're in Jersey, obviously. You hear people talking. Right now, there is a lot of Giants optimism. And you saw Jackson Dart, how well he played against the Jets. You see the energy. Jameis is doing videos with Eli. Of course, you've got Russ, who's going to be the starter. Giants. Just looking at it now on August 20th. Your thoughts heading into this season?

34:24Man, I think the Giants are better than what people are talking about. Okay! Like, we got to stop sleeping on the Giants. I don't know if people have – I don't know if the national audience have really peeped out their front four.

34:37Darius Butler:Oh, yeah. I think they got the best front four in football. Like Dexter Lawrence, Brian Burns, Kayvon Thibodeau, and Abdu Carter are going to give people hell out there. Okay? Like they're going to be really good on defense. They got a star wide receiver in Malik Nabors. Okay? Here's my – Peter, here's my only question. Yeah. Can they play with a lead? Yeah. Can they play with a lead? If they can get leads with that defense, the New York football giants, Will be a problem. And oh, by the way, that young quarterback Jackson Dart, big time juice. Big time juice. I don't know how much longer Russell Wilson will be able to hold that young man off because what I've seen in the preseason, I would be inclined to start him and just let it go.

35:30Let it rip. Just go play. Like that. Out the gates. Love that. One of the great things that I can do being in New York, I was able to go to those joint practices, and you go to the joint practice and Russ is starting taking the ones and Jameis is the hype guy. Dart, though, Dart has, and I don't know if the word is swag or it's just moxie, but Dart is carrying himself like he belongs. And having watched Daniel Jones and Zach Wilson, there's been first-round picks that are like, all right, we think maybe this could pop. Jackson Dart, and I'm not comparing him to Daniel Jones just yet. I'm not comparing him to Zach Wilson, who was a number two overall pick.

36:10Jackson Dart was walking around that practice field like he belonged. The players were responding to him. And there was like a carefree feel to it where the pressure of the world is not on him right now. This could be the perfect situation. Let Russ start a couple games. Let Russ go as far as Russ can go. And then when it's time, everyone will know. All right, let's give Jackson Dart the ball. Real quick as we end, Brian Dable, a guy you know, obviously. Give us a good Brian Dable story there, Damian. oh man i put like confetti and brian dayball's like uh air vents this is back this is like in new england and so we always play pranks and stuff like that so dayball got pissed as hell got red as hell that was first time i seen him like get ticked off but man we got so many stories like we don't even have enough time on the show to really go over all that stuff okay all right We do, but okay.

37:06We appreciate you coming on. Thanks so much for jumping into the show. You're the man, guys. Damian Wood. Damian Wood. Fantastic. Yeah, great. He's the best. That guy's good. Broncos, not getting enough love? I feel like they're getting a lot. Everyone's talking about him right now. So we have Damian Woody on the show. We clap him up. The second he hangs up, I'm like, that was wrong. Well, it's fair. I mean, the biggest problem is that division is amazing. is better than any division Brady's Patriots were ever in, but Mahomes and the Chiefs.

37:35Darius Butler:But to his point, they're not getting Super Bowl love. They don't do that. People are saying, oh, watch out for the Broncos, but the Chiefs I can't. It's rightfully Chiefs, Bills, Ravens. I understand that they might have the best defense in the league, but I still don't think Bo Nix is... If Bo Nix is going and they have to play Buffalo again like they did last year, Buffalo beat the shit out of them. They killed them. They didn't run the ball for shit. So, I mean, we'll see. Yeah, they drafted Harvey in the second round, right? R.J. R.J. Harvey. And they obviously got Dobbins. They brought him in.

38:13He's coming off the Achilles. I don't know what they have. Is that a beard in the first round? Yeah, is that a beard in the first round? And Jaleel McLaughlin at a Youngstown State, a nice run. So, they've got four running backs. When I look for these teams, though, and we can look that up again, that division, I was like, a sleeper to me isn't a team that made the playoffs. So you got 32 teams, and two years ago, the Texans came out of nowhere from the second-worst team in football to make the playoffs. Last year, the Commanders came from second-worst team in football to make the playoffs. There are 32 teams, but there's really only, like, 8 to 10 teams that could be your, like, sleeper sleeper.

38:45And I think we're going to hit that a little bit more. And that's why the Broncos – That's a tease, Dre. Yeah, the Broncos make, like, sense as one of those teams because they are plus 325. To win it all. Just to win the division. To win it all. But when you're talking about the sleeper teams, you're just kind of looking at the bottom two in every division. That's what's interesting about the Cowboys. If all this stuff wasn't going on with Micah, I feel like I would feel pretty good about the Cowboys with Pickens and CD and Ferguson getting paid and them finally having a running back again. I score.

39:16Yeah, you know what I mean? And that division is always 20 straight years. Yeah, every year it's going to be somebody different. Giants plus 3 ,000? that's insane is that real plus 3 000 yeah it seems real a couple things go their way good defense that's how the brown they have the worst odds of any team oh they're not they're the brown the browns no no the browns are plus 3 000 giants are plus 3 000 that's kind of speaking of the browns we're gonna bring another guest and i love this guy um great great espn personality and i love that he's hopping on with us now because i've known him prior to his espn days back when We're NFL Network colleagues with no further ado, former Bengal, former Brown, Mr.

39:57Andrew Hawkins. What's up? Oh, he's got the Slapshot jersey on. Yes, the Hinton brothers. I'm going to carry you. Got a wrap. Go on. Johnstown, Pennsylvania native. Johnstown, Pennsylvania native, Shregs. I love that.

40:10Darius Butler:I didn't know you were from Johnstown. I didn't know that you were from Johnstown, Pennsylvania. Oh, yeah, baby. UPJ. Essential PA Yenzer. I visited UPJ a few times. It's a dry campus, but other than that, it was great. Dry campus? Is that right? UPJ was, yeah. UPJ? Okay. I don't do my child like that, man. It's a fun time. Hawk, I love you, man. I love you joining the show. One of my favorite guys. I go to Cleveland when I think of you because you spent all those years there. And you grew up in Ohio, obviously, when you were not – I guess you grew up in Pennsylvania. But you always were around that Browns team.

40:40What do you make of Flacco being the starter and then Shador being fourth on the depth chart? Look, it's a process, man. I think they named Flacco the starter because it quieted the noise. And that's also helpful for Dylan and Shador as they keep battling. I mean, look, the reality is, yes, we see what Shador is capable of. And I would say if you go back to the draft and you redrafted it, I think everybody would agree that Shador would go way higher than what he did in the fifth based on what he's shown so far. But that being said, he's still a fifth round pick. And there's certain things that come with that.

41:12You got to work and you got to grind and it's not going to be handed to you. And I don't think the Browns bought him in to what some people say are sabotaging him. but he's going to have to go earn it and he's going to have to go take jobs. And that is the position that he's in, which is a new position for him. But so far, so good if you're asking me what my opinion is. Does it feel like same old Browns or does it feel like they're actually like they have a plan here? Andrew Barry, we trust. Stefanski is a former coach of the year, we trust. Like, let's give them the benefit of the doubt here.

41:39Yeah, I think so. I think they have a plan. I think they got more than what they bargained for with both of those quarterbacks. Like Shador, again, that was like the talk of the week whenever he started his game and he performed the way that he did. But I would even say the same thing about Dylan Gabriel. Like Dylan Gabriel is undersized, but if you look at some of that ball placement, it's like next level, especially for your first NFL game. And that's the special part about both of them. So I think they got more than what they bargained for there. I think they also get Isaiah Bond as an undrafted free agent, which is crazy because he's essentially a first round talent there.

42:08You mix that with some of the other draft picks and they're starting to build this stable around them, right? So depending on what Flacco does, which I feel like you know what Flacco's feeling is, I'm not expecting Flacco to come out here and light it up. And I don't think the Browns are expecting Flacco to have a career year. If you want to know what Flacco is going to do, take his 17 seasons, average it out, and that's probably what you should expect with the Browns, right? And if some of these young guys can continue to mature, show something special in a third preseason game, continue to develop throughout the season, maybe early in those weeks, and they feel like, yo, we're looking at a ceiling here that's a lot higher than what Flacco is showing us at the moment, that's where you might have fireworks.

42:44Hawk, what year did you come out of college? 2008 draft would have been my draft. 2008 draft. Pre-social media, pre-TikTok, pre-all this stuff. Who would have been the player that you think would have been the biggest social media superstar back from when you were coming out of college if they had really been in this era today? Good question. The biggest social media star from that era. You mean like that was coming out of college When I was? Yeah, the guys Who are the guys that you think if you dropped them into 2025 Would have the podcast, would have The Instagram following, would have the State Farm Ad with Jake, you know, whatever Whatever Darius Butler Good answer Yes Elite athlete Personality that people didn't even realize Was there because he was just a DB That just went to work Like, Tulsa Media in that day and age?

43:42Come on, man. Forget about it. That's my heart's my guy right there. No doubt. I ask you these questions because I always think of you as so much more as just football. Because when you were done with football or while you were even doing football, you were at Columbia getting a master's degree. And then you got this amazing company coming up. And I want you to explain to the viewers the virtual reality company that you did create and that you did usher in and how people are actually using it. And I'm going to bring up something else that Boston Conner and I are going to discuss with you. But talk about your virtual reality project and kind of how you broke off and did something different than just being an ex-player talking ball.

44:17I appreciate that, man. I think, you know, as football players and even as analysts, man, we love this game. And for me, growing up in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, which is football country, everybody is Steelers fans in Johnstown. And I'm like, this is my life's work. Since I've been six years old, all I've ever wanted to do was football. And I didn't want that to end when I was when I was done playing. And so I've tried to always do things off the field, whether it's in business, whether it's in technology that affects the game and that are things that I want to see out in the world. So a status pro is created by me and my my co-founder, Troy Jones, who also played quarterback in college at Maryland and Western Kentucky.

44:51And we're able to recreate what you see on the field in a simulation to give a viewer a better view of what it's like to be the player. And we have a video game besides the media product, which is a visualizer on ESPN. we have NFL Pro Air the video game and we have the best office of coordinator voice that money can buy and when I thought to myself what is a distinct voice that the people will always remember that will make the people feel something we got one Darius yeah that's why I love you speaking you know what I'm going to pivot a little bit speaking you just got my mind going offensive voices and I remember as a lifetime Dolphin fan, it was one guy that put his neck out, that stood on the pedestal for Mike McDaniel, and it was you.

45:36You called him a genius, you called him a football savant, and now going into this season, for a lot of people, it seems like he may be coaching, you know, for his job, him and Chris Greer. What's your outlook on the Miami Dolphins and Mike McDaniel as a head coach? How do you see them kind of taking that next step, just showing us as Dolph fans some promise? I look at it like a contract year. Like, imagine with the players that we watch or we talk about, and it's like, man, this guy has to get to its potential. We see it there. We've seen it in spurts. We see him have success. And then in that contract year, it kind of all comes together because the money's on the line.

46:11That's the situation I think Mike McDaniel is in. And I actually think the Dolphins will be a lot better than people suspect them to be. And the reason why I was such an advocate for Mike McDaniel is because when you're in this football game, we all hear the same things over and over again, especially as players, because it's a lot of regurgitated information that is passed down from the coaches that were talking about it in 1950 to the coaches that are talking about it in 2025, which is good and OK. But when I was with Mike McDaniel in the Cal Shanahan's, you know, and obviously they come from the McVay, you know, tree as well.

46:42It's like these are guys that innovated the game. I had I heard things that I had never heard in the game of football at 28 years old. and me being a student, I'm like, man, this is crazy. And then I would see it in practice. I would see it in the games and I would see it put, you know, to test and it would work to an entirely different level. And so that was what was always special about Mike McDaniel is that if you're looking for a ball knower, there is nobody better than him because he's like a mad scientist. Now the question becomes, can you get your players to live up to that expectation and to play their best?

47:14And that'll be the biggest, the biggest key for him. I think when you look at that team this year, there's a little less star power, right? They've moved the pieces around, and the hope is that it'll be addition by subtraction because everybody will be pushing on the same page and the same accord. Hawk, who was on that squad? Because I remember Brian Hoyer and Menzel were the quarterbacks. You had you, Josh Gordon? Josh Gordon on that squad? JG was on that squad too. He was suspended for a number of games. Miles Austin was on that squad. And I'll say this about Miles Austin. In my entire career, there was never a player that I pegged wrong more than Miles Austin.

47:48This is like when I came to Cleveland, he was dating Kim Kardashian. And I'm like, man, here we go with this, dude. You talking about my favorite teammate of all time? Like maybe even my favorite person of all time. The pride of non-miss. That's my Mike Austin story. Love that. And then Kyle Shanahan's the offensive coordinator. Mike McDaniels is what? Mike Daniels is the wide receivers coach? Receiver coach, yep. Okay. Who else? Patton's the head coach? Patton was the head coach. Hathny was the DB coach at that time. Who else? It was a wild time in Cleveland. The Johnny Manziel experience. Johnny's my guy.

48:30I want to say that sincerely and truly. However. That was a movie-like year, though, for us. It was kind of crazy. I'm not going to lie about that. No, we love Johnny, too. You guys started off, I'm not mistaken, and you guys were like 6-4, Brian Hoyer beats Tennessee, big comeback and then it all fell apart. You're going to pull these scabs off, aren't you? I'm sorry. You want to open these wounds up for all of America. Yes, we started off 7-4. So here's my thing. I was with Cincinnati the three years prior and I grew up a Bengals fan because my brother played for them when I was a little kid.

49:06I'm playing for my childhood team, right? And I go to the Browns, which is still in Ohio and I'm like, cool, I'm staying in the state. I'm going to everyone thinks when they go to the team, you're going to be the catalyst to turn this thing around. Right. So here we are. We're seven and four. I'm the leading receiver. I'm a number one receiver. All five, seven of me. Never in my wildest dreams that I think I would leave a lead an NFL team and receive it. And I'm killing it. The coach calls me. We're seven and four. He's like, hey, I think we're going to put Johnny Manziel in. And I started laughing because I think he's joking.

49:40Right. Right. Because if you talk to Johnny, Johnny's like, I wasn't trying to play. I wasn't ready to play. He was not joking. Within two games, we put Johnny in. Hoyer, you know, he had some tough games that made it a little easier of a transition. And we end up losing the rest of those games. And I'm sure Johnny is like, if I had a better number one receiver, I'm sure I would have did a lot better. But we did not go to the playoffs. And I was not the catalyst to turn the Cleveland Browns around. Drake, that's the that's the end of the story. Boston Connor, you were talking before the show that Microsoft is a new AI deal.

50:12Yeah, Hawk, I mean, you graduated from Columbia, so you're probably the biggest brand we're going to have on here in quite some time. So I'm going to ask this question for you specifically, especially with all your VR experience. But AI and Microsoft are partnering basically to increase the insights from coaches to players, from the sideline to helmet. What the hell is going on? are the AIs going to be telling these coaches where the quarterbacks need to be looking based on some sort of future mathematic problem that none of us are going to be able to know except for the AIs? Or is this something that's just going to make these offenses even more ridiculously good as they are now?

50:54Short answer, yes. It is probably going to change football. I don't know how quickly it's going to change football, though, because you've got to realize this. And I always say this about sports technology and its implementation in the NFL is that most of the coaches that are there would rather use a lucky pair of draws than they would any data, because that's just the world we live in. We go off a gut feeling. So basically what AI has the capabilities and will have the capabilities to do is instead of having to search all week for those football brains, I can find those tendencies to say, hey, this receiver is playing with his gloves before every pass play.

51:27Or, you know, I noticed that that left tackle, he's like a little more weighted back or his knuckles are a little white, which tells me it's a run. A.I. will be able to do all of that in real time. And it will also say that, you know, hey, coach Boston Connor has been coaching for 10 years. And every time they're plus 45 and a third and 10 down by a touchdown, he runs this defense. So this is what you should be prepared for. And they'll be able to have that recall and that baseline database to essentially be able to tell you exactly what's going to happen because we're still human. And every time the bullets are flying, we're going to go back to what we know.

52:04So for the last 15 years, all we've heard about me, it's like the rise of analytics and how everyone's hiring these kids from Harvard and these stats guys. And every team's got the old play with your coach, with your gut coach isn't in danger. I almost feel like AI is going to eliminate that whole class of the Harvard grad who does the math because we could just pop it into the thing and get the same answer. Pretty much. I mean, that's across the board, even the gut coach. Right. Like Bill Belichick is always like, you know, obviously doesn't say much. He eyeballs certain things, but his brain works like a computer.

52:41So just because he is not a data scientist, he doesn't use analytics any less than the analytics guy that came from Harvard. He just inherently has it in his system. And I think a lot of the good football coaches that you talk about in this way are like that. Again, they're not data scientists, but their brain kind of thinks in patterns and recall and they can see it and there are indicators for him. Well, now it's essentially going to even the playing field. My question is, is that what we want? Don't we want the gut feeling? Don't we want like, man, subjectivity? 100%. It's 5 '7", but there's just something about him, Shregs.

53:17You understand what I'm saying? I want the 5 '7 wide receiver. I want a coach who can call over Johnny Manziel to the sideline, pretend like he's whispering to him, and then you get that fake play. I want that. Hell yeah. I can't get that from AI. Those guys will always be there. They'll never die off. I hope so. I don't want the robot. It's a whole point. Belichick and Ernie Adams are kind of that guy. Fourth and two game, my rookie year. Going forward on fourth and two, that was analytics. Everybody would do that now, but that was 2009. What, when the Kevin Falk pass? Kevin Falk, yeah. And he got killed in the media after that.

53:50His first thing to us was like, look, I'm always going to make the best decision. I feel like it's best for the team. And I'm not going to play scared. You know, that's how I felt the game was going. And as a defender, that second half, we couldn't stop Peyton. He figured this out. He figured out what was going on. He's finding matchups. And it made sense. If you have a chance with Tom Brady, Wes Walker, Randy Moss, Kevin Falk, to get a first down and basically win the game, you take that chance. And that's maybe where I have an issue because everyone has access to the AI. We might not have the Microsoft co-pilot.

54:20Hello, our corporate sponsors. But we do have, you know, whatever. You can type in anything. And they will say third and ten. This is what you should do. So, like, everyone thinks they have the answer. But then you actually have to play football. Until the Boston Dynamic robot comes in and knocks us on our ass, like, there's actually a player. They don't have a chance. Yeah, they're not allowed. Yeah, they don't have the. They don't have the heart? Lateral quickness. They don't have the heart. There you go. Lateral quickness, peripheral vision. Yep. Can't measure the heart of it. Can they put cleats on?

54:45Darius Butler:No. Can't lie to the heart of a 350-pound offensive lineman that has 27-inch arms out of Penn State University. I'm scared of these robots, though, bro. You should be. You should be terrified of them. You should be more scared of the AI. See, that's the real problem. The shiny object's the robot. Yeah, it's AI with the robot. AI we let in. No, I mean, we're talking about you get the AI in the brain or the heart of these robots. You equip this thing with a machine gun? We got problems. You ever seen Terminator? Yeah. iRobot? I did not kill him. Yeah, right. iRobot. I thought he was wrongly accused.

55:23He was. I watched iRobot last week with my kids. Why? And there was like, because I wanted to see, man. I'm like, all right, maybe this is a scouting report. I got to see what's going on. And so they have like a scan to pay. And they like zoom in on him scanning to pay. Like it was so futuristic. and my kids were like, why would they zoom in on that shot for Apple Pay? And I'm like, well, it wasn't no Apple Pay back then. And there wasn't FaceTime. There was no Siri, but they're like, this is the dumbest movie I've ever seen. Self-driving cars. It's worse than the technology we have now. It's crazy, man.

55:59And I was watching, like, I forget what it was. It might have been Sopranos or Seinfeld or something and like, they didn't have a cell phone. So like, oh, I'm like, well, no, you just call them on the phone. Oh, they don't have one of those. So like, there in a pay phone. I'm like, this makes no sense. That's what it was. Better times. Better times before the robots I'm really old right now. Hawk, I appreciate you. We appreciate you. Awesome job on the show, man. We'll be seeing you soon. Thank you. Pretty good first hour. He's almost too smart for us. He's great. He's unbelievable. That's crazy what that AI thing will do.

56:32What he said is really resonating with me. AI is actually the heart. The robot's just the physical. Exactly. The bone. And they got a long way to go. If you will. Yeah. And they're just starting. Yeah. Long way to go. It's scary. Wait until they equip them with weaponry. I know. It's happening. Things of that ilk scare me. Yes, they do. Things of that ilk are frightening. Guys, we have another hour coming up. Pat McAfee's show. I'm in here, Peter Schrager. Loving it. Thank you for having me on. Stay with us.

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57:35So you were scrolling on Marketplace, and there it was, the bike you'd been searching for. You sent a message, and it turned out the seller was super chatty, kind of funny, and an avid cyclist. The next thing you know, you're in a cycling crew. Well, a community cycling group. The thing about Facebook, you might find more than what you're looking for. From a browse to a bike ride, this summer, find more on Facebook.

58:06Including football! Nailed it. Yeah, nailed it. Hell yeah. Nailed it. We're having a blast. We're joined by the wonderful Boston Connor, Ty Schmidt, the great Tone Diggs, Darius Butler, the Bulls Black. And now I want to introduce one of my favorite players to cover when I was a budding journalist over at FoxSports.com and he was a former top five pick leading his team to not only playoffs every year but also a Super Bowl championship. She has become a good friend of mine. And one of my favorite people's faces to just stare at as Seth McAfee is talking. Mr. AJ Hawk joins the show. Hey, baby, Paul.

58:41Paul, what's up? Shregs, I love it. You starting off the show talking about you doom scrolling old creepy guys with young girls on vacation. I'm good for it, Shregs. My life. That Instagram is trouble. What happens is you start scrolling and then they suggest things and you say, well, why not? And then you start seeing that and then suddenly you're in a hole you don't want to be in. And then you got to dig yourself out and just look for some quality, good content. Flop shots, flop shots, flop shots. And one of the things I saw was first day of school photos. So, AJ Hawk, I see that, and I love that.

59:11And that's where that's the good stuff. That's the good stuff on Instagram, right? Yeah, that's the great stuff, I guess. That's what it's for, like the old school Facebook. Update your parents. Yes. Oh, Shregs, I don't know if you see this, right? You see this? Oh, right, Shregs. You see that Dr. Pepper staring right back at you? I was going to say, speaking of the good stuff. It's the official drink of the Thunderdome. Why don't you pop one of those bad boys? Dr. Pepper is the official drink of Fansville. It's now the official drink of Thunderdome. The Thunderdome. Is it game day? Is it Saturday?

59:42Not unless you're drinking Dr. Pepper. Grab some today.

59:46Darius Butler:Let's go. Cheers, Convin. Also, while we were doing the Jerry thing in the first hour, AJ texted and said he's also three episodes in and absolutely loves it. Yeah, AJ Hawk, let's get your thoughts. you were someone who played against the cowboys for all those years you won a super bowl in dallas um the documentary thus far blowing you away oh it's awesome i mean debutt talked about like it is cool how jerry brings his family along and they know nothing about it and here we go hey here we're running this whole thing and we're gonna make it uh gigantic but it's the documentaries are made by the people that are getting interviewed like michael irvin is a dream i would imagine for somebody that is doing a documentary.

1:00:25His reactions, how he speaks, he's awesome. And that whole thing is filled with so many unbelievable old players that played there that are also huge personalities that you don't really see anymore, I think. Yeah, that's what's sick too is that the first three episodes, at least from what I've seen, the personality is Michael Irvin. He's kind of the one. They do Charles Haley, which is very interesting, and they do Emmitt Smith and Jimmy Johnson and stuff. and Jimmy's unbelievable. But Irvin's there. And then I haven't seen it yet, but I guess Prime has a – Saw a clip. Yeah, I saw a clip as well.

1:01:01It has a large thing about himself, so I'm assuming he starts to take over. Hawker, you strike me as someone who would have loved when Jimmy Johnson didn't let the team eat on the plane after a loss. Is that something you looked at and you were like, yeah, I would have loved to play for Jimmy? I don't know if I would say I would have loved it, But I think once you get over that and you realize that, hey, this guy's just trying to win. But what's awesome, too, is they talk to Jimmy now, current day, and he has no remorse for it. He has no – he's not back down one ounce. And he talks about playing Berline over Troy Aikman.

1:01:36He's like, I didn't care about anybody's feelings. I'm trying to win a football game. I loved it. It's really good. Him cutting a player that fumbled on the spot. They talked about how a guy fumbled the ball, and he was coming off the field, and Jimmy John said, your cut get out of here and then what he said when he when they asked him about he said you know coaches say you know cutting players it's like one of the toughest part of the job it's not for me yeah i'm trying to win his games and then what he said like and i want to ruin the doc no no he was like yeah you know once took the job you know i was all in and everything kind of just had to go you know and it's like jimmy tells his wife of 26 years we got to get a divorce yeah oh wow i've never seen or heard any shit like this obviously people will prioritize things and maybe other things would just wither away.

1:02:19But him just making that decision and him just being all in, and that's all he cared about and how he ran that team, that was crazy. That's tough to do with pros when you're coming, especially coming from the college level and coming up to deal with these guys and all these different personalities. But Jerry Jones, and he was obviously on the same page, but it worked out until obviously it didn't. It's of the moment to talk about the Cowboys doc, but I also love the Chiefs doc. Have you been watching the Kingdom at all? It's on ESPN. And you get this Clark Hunt story, which is completely different.

1:02:50And it's Clark Hunt was this entrepreneur who took on the NFL, comes over from the AFL. And it says, okay, well, if you're not going to give me a team in Dallas, Texas, or if I want to do it, it just a wild history there also. And AJ, I think of your career, you go to green Bay. There was no owner. There was no patriarch of it all. What was the dynamic there when you were at the Packers? Peter, just to, just a real quick tie as an owner. so that is fair that is fair so that is fair i didn't win aj played though but to not have that jerry jones clark hunt like patriarch of the family or a mike brown or a mara or a rooney was that weird it's it is kind of weird when you think about but i was drafted there so that's all i knew at the time my my 10th season i went to cincinnati and that's the first time we had an owner i'm talking to mike brown and it's a very unique situation too they have in their front office compared to what other front offices might look like and and they're very open about it's another family-run business like that, another family-run team.

1:03:47But it's pretty sweet because think about it. If you're a football team and there's no owner trying to siphon off all the net profits, those profits go back to the team. They take very, very good care of you with facilities and everything that you could possibly need in Green Bay. So yeah, there'll never be a situation like that again, will there, Schrags, where their community owns a team? There would never be an expansion team in a city like Green Bay. It just wouldn't happen. They wouldn't put one in a town like that, which is what makes Green Bay so charming and makes it so wonderful. Yeah, I mean, that was the biggest takeaway from the draft this year for me at least was like, oh, okay, so this is an entire town dedicated to this team.

1:04:25That is the role they play in that town, and they love it, clearly, based on the draft and how sweet it was. It is surprising that a commissioner just never anointed one, wanted to for the Packers, Now it's just at the point where there's no way they'll never have one now. Ty, we're two weeks out. You're our resident Packers fan. How are we feeling about the 2025 Green Bay Packers? There was Super Bowl buzz early. Then people were discouraged after the left hand injury. Now love is already going to be set back for week one. Are you feeling this is a Super Bowl team? Yeah, I mean, I think you kind of have those hopes every year with the Packers just because you know if they can put everything together and get hot at the right time.

1:05:08that they could because I think it all comes down to Jordan Love. If he plays better or he has a jump on what he did his first year as a starter when they went to the playoffs and beat the hell out of the Cowboys and took the Niners right down to the wire and almost went to the NFC Championship. I think he was just kind of hurt all last year. It wasn't a good start. He got hurt again in Jacksonville, and it kind of never meshed. They were playing arguably their worst football of the season going into the playoffs, and then obviously Philly was a juggernaut at that point. So we'll see, but I mean, Josh Jacobs is going to be the key to this thing.

1:05:46He was unbelievable last year. They're going to rely on running the football because by and large, everything you've heard from camp is like Matthew Golden is going to be the go-to guy. And although he's unbelievable, obviously, we'll see. Anytime a rookie receiver is kind of your clear-cut number one guy and you need him to have a big year, if the defense has improved again, I don't know. I mean, it's tough because the NFC North is so tough. It's such a – but it's like, all right, so let's go around the horn here. Just NFC North. Caleb Williams, Jared Goff, Jordan Love, J.J. McCarthy. I'm going to go around the horn, A.J., including you.

1:06:23Which one of those quarterbacks has the most pressure on them this season to perform? Probably Goff just because he will get murdered and everyone will say, oh, it was Ben Johnson the entire time. That's the only reason he was successful. And Goff's great, I think, so that's why. Yeah, I agree with that. But I would say Caleb Williams just because there's so much hype with him. And it was supposed to be like, hey, Ben Johnson is the guy who's going to unlock you. And you will be a top five quarterback in the NFL. And I don't think if he has a moderate improvement or he's a little bit better, I don't think that'll be good enough for people in Chicago and people in the media.

1:06:53Darius Butler:Caleb Williams is my number one. But Jordan Love is a close second. Yeah, I agree. Because he got paid. And then they're going to say he got paid off of one season and it hasn't produced since then. AJ, what do you think? Yeah, I mean, I was going to say Jordan Love all along just because I think if he doesn't play well this year, if they don't have a good season, people are going to start questioning whether he's the guy or not. And they paid him like he is the guy. So, yeah, I think obviously they all have a ton of pressure on him. But, yeah, where Jordan Love is at in his career, he can go one way or the other, I think, this year.

1:07:19Yeah, first response would be Caleb Williams because of the Ben Johnson thing. No excuses. Great weapons around him too. But another guy, after that year that Sam Darnold had with the Vikings, J.J. McCarthy, Ben handed the keys. Obviously, you get drafted, you get hurt, you don't get an opportunity. And then you just say, hey, we're going to move on from a former top three pick who had a career year, and we're going to hand the keys to you. And everyone knows, just like Ben Johnson, KOC, I mean, I would say even more so because he's done it from the head coach position. He can call the game and he can get production and great play out of the quarterback regardless of who's taking the snaps.

1:07:51So I would say J.J. McCarthy because of everything around him and him being handed the keys after the year that they had last year. Think about this division then. We just went around the horn, and you can make the argument for each one of the quarterbacks. I actually go with Connor. I look at Jared Goff. He's got all these accolades. He's been to Super Bowl. He's been to two NFC Championship games. He's led two franchises from the wreckage all the way to the top. And yet, we headed to the season and people are still shrugged shoulders. And you said you're not doubting him, but people are like, is he good?

1:08:19I don't know. Let's see him without McVay. Let's see him without Ben Johnson. And to me, that's the ultimate insult to what Jared Goff's career has been. Pro Bowl, All Pro, all this stuff. Agreed. Chanting his name. And yet, I think there's a lot of people around the league who are like, all right now you're the guy yeah can you do it he falls into like the purdy category for me where i mean to me that's that's not insulting but it's like whoa it's not insulting it sucks for the player it's like they're they're amazing but they'll never get credit for it it happened to brady for the first you know 10 11 years of his career like if purdy wins a super bowl people will talk about shanahan and the team around him i feel like it's the same with golf and last year was the first year where you know mvp like in the finals and people i feel like had a lot of respect for him but i don't think anyone's thinking like if golf has a bad game you know they don't have a chance like with gibbs and amon raw and the old line and now hutch being healthy and the defense like i think a lot of people do look at golf and say hey if they don't win or go to the super bowl it's probably because of this guy and granted they the same thing could happen again as it did last year where everybody and their mother gets hurt and yeah they go into the divisional round with half a team.

1:09:27But I feel like now is, you know, when we talk about windows, the Lions window is as open as it's been, and they kind of have to get it done now. Whereas, like, J.J. McCarthy, no matter what, he gets a year. Caleb, I feel like Caleb probably does make the most sense because, like, if you're just talking about pressure, if he doesn't get it done, you're assuming Ben Johnson's the one that can tell the ownership, like, yep, let's put Tyson Bajan in because I can win with him. Just signed a new deal today. Hell, yeah. I missed that. He's spending it this preseason. But, yeah, I mean, it'd be interesting.

1:09:59But it's crazy that Jared Goff gets that kind of disrespect. I understand he's had great play callers and he's had great players around him. But dude was the number one pick. Yeah. He was the number one pick. He paid twice. Monster contracts. Yeah, got paid. Went to a Super Bowl. So, like, you can have great coaches. You can have great players. You still got to have a trigger man that can read it, that can make those type of throws. So, I think Detroit is getting behind him. This will be a big year for him, though, So post Ben Johnson, obviously he will have that pressure viewed on it. But he is easily the most established and the most, I would say I would have the most confidence in the quarterback in that division.

1:10:34It would be Jared Goff easily for me. The guy's name is John Morton. He's the offensive coordinator. He was in the league forever. He was working with Peyton in New Orleans, and then he's been with the Jets. John Morton's been a 30-year coach, and he's now the new offensive coordinator. So this isn't one of these 28-year-old whiz kid. This is a guy who's been in the league for a long time. I don't know if that's a good or bad thing. Mark Brunel is the quarterback's coach. They lost Tanner Eggstrand to the Jets. Has he called plays before Shregs? Has he called plays in the league yet? John Morton has, yes.

1:11:00He's been a full-time offense. That's a big thing. That's a big thing. Not with great success. Still, though. Still, you learn a lot. I cannot imagine how much you learn the first time you're the actual play caller. That's such a difficult job that the great ones are great, and the ones that suck are pretty bad. Oh, yeah. Zito, can we see the division odds again? I just want to see the NFC North. So Lions are favored. Packers, too. Vikings, who went 14-3 last year, are third. And then the Bears are there in fourth. It's all tight. Yeah, all plus money. All plus money. That is a gong of a division.

1:11:36Yes, it is the tightest division, yeah. Yeah, by a lot it's. NFC West. That and the West, yeah. West gets weird, though, after. The Niners are favored over the Rams, huh?

1:11:47Darius Butler:I find that kind of shocking, too. I don't know if it's close because Stafford's back or what we kind of talked about this yesterday where people are saying every single one of those teams is going to be good this year and we're like that watch out for the Cardinals yeah I like the Seahawks yeah that's what everyone but I'm finding that with all 32 teams like here here's what you get now in August and Jason McCourty's going to join us and he'll laugh because he knows this is like an NFL Network special now that we're all partners we could say three people on director's chairs in a polo with either ESPN or NFL Network, and it's a cheap polo made from whatever, name the company.

1:12:24Gilden. Yeah, you're just sweet. It's a good company. Yeah, Gilden. I'll take that. Whoa. And the coach comes over. Everything's rainbows and roses, and who's the young player that's stepping up? Well, this guy, and everyone wants to drive in fantasy. That's 32 teams, and that's what it is. It's two reporters are hosting a reporter on a director's chair with the next player and then us just glazing over the coach, the young quarterback, everything. Everyone's awesome. But as we know, not everyone's going to be awesome. And I don't care so much as like this team could be good. Is that your pick?

1:13:00Like if you're saying, I think the Cardinals are a sneaky possible, maybe possible dark horse kind of maybe contender. I don't care. Are you picking the Cardinals to win the NFC West? Like I like the Titans because Cam Ward brings it like, are you taking the Titans? So back it up because to me and 32 teams, like everyone loves everyone right now. Well, and that's the convo with the Broncos. Like that's the thing with the Broncos we were just having is like, yeah, you can like the Broncos and think they're going to have to beat them. How much do you like the Broncos? Yeah, do you think they're going to beat the Chiefs in the division?

1:13:28Like last year I fell for it. Last year I was like, the Chargers are going to do it, man. They're finally going to beat the Chiefs, and this is their year with Harbaugh and stuff. And it's not, you know, and it's probably going to happen this year. Again, I made the comparison earlier, and with the Chiefs now, Brady won 17 AFC East Division Championships. So I can't even imagine how many times going into the year it was the Bills or the Dolphins or the Jets. The Bills, Dolphins, Jets. With Russ Ryan and those teams, but it never actually is. And I feel like the Chiefs, it's the same exact thing.

1:14:00The Broncos could probably go to the playoffs for the next 10 years, but if you also told me they never won the division, I believe. Yeah. Well, this stuff will dissipate, too. We have two weeks until the season kicks off. So, like, hey, if you want to get those shots in, you've got to get them now. Because if you're picking the Cardinals to win the division right now, that's awesome. Say it loud. And if they get beat by five touchdowns week one, you know, you'll look like an asshole. But, you know, right now you don't. But it's like, you know, I like the Texans this year. Someone said to me, I forget who it was.

1:14:26I really like the Texans. How much do you like them? Do you pick them to win the AFC? No. Well, they did that last year. They went to the divisional round the last two years. So what's the next step? Like them the same, you mean? You know, like you like them just because they were, yeah. Jason McCordy is going to join us right now, one of my favorite people in the world, and he's doing us a solid here. Look at him there. Hey, man. So Jason and I co-hosted Good Morning Football on the NFL Network. I consider this man a brother, and now we are here on ESPN Airwaves together. Jay Mack, how's the summer been?

1:14:57Man, it's been awesome. I've just been sitting here thinking about which teams are going to make it. I think, you know, the commanders, if they get Terry McCord in there, They're going to be the favorite in the NFC East. But if Michael Parsons gets his deal done before week one, they may be the team. But can you imagine if Jackson Dart is as good as Jaden Daniel was as a rookie? The Eagles have no shot in the NFC East. That's all I came in to say just for this. But J-Mac, you know what I'm talking about. This is what we do in August. It's like we visit a camp for literally three hours. You come out and you're like, wow, I mean, gosh, the Bengals.

1:15:29I know that everyone has a team. But, like, who is the team right now? Now, if I'm putting you on the spot, because I trust what you say, who is the team that maybe not everyone's talking about that you at least have your eye on? And not maybe sort of, but like, hey, I'm going to roll with this team this year. If I'm picking one and everybody's talking about them, I would say, or just mentioning their names, I think the Denver Broncos. And not just saying that, all right, they're going to be good as a good football team. I think the Denver Broncos can compete and be a team that we're talking about later on in the season as a possibility to get into the playoffs and go on a run and be talking about them as a Super Bowl type of team.

1:16:07I think Bo Nix has that ability to take the next step. Sean Payton is a head coach that has been in this position before and has been building for this. As good as they were on defense last year, you go out and you sign Talanoa Hufunga and you sign Dre Greenlaw to come over to that side of the defense and go and be able to dominate and run around. So when I look at them, RJ Harvey in the backfield, another explosive weapon. Evan Ingram, another guy on the offensive side of the ball. This was a team last year that when they were in the playoffs and we started talking about them and they were in close games against the Kansas City Chiefs, losing by a blocked field goal, we all were shocked.

1:16:46We had no idea Bo Nix was going to be that type of player last year. There's going to be a little bit more of a target on their back this year, but I think they've made improvements where it's not just, all right, they're going to make the playoffs, but they're a team that I think can go out there and can compete and beat every team in the AFC. You were down in Miami for a bit at the end of your career, and they're a team that everyone's immediately writing off saying they're done. I'm actually – I've turned completely – I've turned the – I think I'm in on the Dolphins. Like, I like the fact that no one's talking about them.

1:17:16How in are you, Shregs? How much do you –

1:17:19Darius Butler:All the way in, AJ. All the way in. I honestly think the Dolphins – this is like – And I got to kind of work this, you know, we workshop, like, my reasoning. Yeah, I got to talk through. Yeah, sure. You better workshop. I got some good. But I feel like any, like, anyone that Mike McDaniel wanted out is out. And that might be Jalen Ramsey. It might be some of the other malcontents that Ramsey wasn't a malcontent. But, like, guys that maybe weren't all on on the plan. I feel like Mike has all of his guys now. And it's like, if we do have one more year to show it, like, at least I'm going to do it my way.

1:17:50And we're going to roll. And we're going to play offense. And we're going to do our best with defensive guys getting back. You were in Miami. A couple guys are still on that team. Tua, of course, was a quarterback that you saw close up. Has the train passed by Miami, or are we now back thinking maybe they are still that team that put up 70 on the Broncos two years ago? Right now, I don't see it. And you mentioned they've gotten some of those guys out that maybe Mike didn't want there. But my question is, who are the guys that you've brought in to replace those guys? When they were talking about trading Jalen Ramsey and finally dealt him to Pittsburgh, my concern was, all right, you got rid of Ramsey.

1:18:28All right, Kendall Fuller, who was your starter last year, he's gone. Who are the cornerbacks that you're bringing in that are sure fires that you're like, all right, these are going to be our two guys on the outside. And that's not to mention Akater, Kohul, and Artie Burns all getting injured. So when I look at this Dolphins team, the little bit of the stress they went through last year and adversity and the Tyreek Hill stuff at the end of the season And all of these different things, we continue to say the same thing about the Dolphins every year. And I know my guy, D-Bud, is out there in South Florida.

1:18:56He's saying they're not a team that can play in cold weather. They're not a tough football team that can run the ball when it matters. What has changed from the last few years to this year that you're going to say, all right, we see this team and they're taking the next step and they're going to do this or that? I just haven't seen those moves in this offseason to really get behind them. Are they going to be a solid football team? Absolutely. You got Tua. You got Jalen Waldo. You got Tyreek Hill. You have those explosive players. What is Darren Waller going to look like? Just activated off pup.

1:19:24Out of football for an entire year. Can he come in and have the type of impact that Jonu Smith had last year? I don't know. There's a lot of question marks to me with that. Yeah. Before we go around the horn, one of the guys you played with there is now a New York Giant. Get Giants fans excited. Tell us about Javon Holland, who was a fellow defensive back with you at the Miami Dolphins. That's my guy. And all I've heard all training camp is that he's been a complete ball hawk. I think for all of these young guys, when sometimes you get drafted by a team, you're there for Javon Holland. He was there with three different defensive coordinators.

1:19:55A lot of change that happened around. Sometimes you need a little bit of a new scenery. I don't think he was even offered a contract by the Miami Dolphins. So now you become a member of the New York Giants. They paid him. They believe in him. So now you get a chance to go out there and be one of the older guys in that secondary and become a true leader. This is a guy that became a captain in his second year. and he's a football player. So I think his ability to get out there, conduct everything, play in the deep part of the field, move up, be able to blitz, and do the things he did when Flores was there with Josh Boyer as a defensive coordinator, I think is going to help him a ton.

1:20:29So I'm really excited about what Javon's going to bring to the secondary. And, hey, the Giants are a team that got a lot better. Here we go. I ain't saying they're going to be a playoff team, but they got a lot better on football. You're there in Jersey. What's the vibe? I know you go into a wah-wah. Oh, you're stepping into your shop right. Someone's going to stop you and want to talk Giants. What's the vibe on Giants right now in Jersey? Big Wawa guy out here. We finally got him up in North Jersey, not in South Jersey. People are fired up. Dable is in my town, so I see Daves all the time. I'm rocking my Franklin Lakes peewee football gear on.

1:21:02He's out there with his son and his daughter. People are extremely excited because when you turn the TV on and you're watching a Giants game, you get excited about what you see in Jackson Dart. When you see Russell Wilson throwing a moon ball down the field 80 yards, you get excited about that. When you log on to social media and you see Jameis Winston talking about guys going to chapel and believing and hitting the crossbar on a throw at the end of practice to get them out of meetings, you get excited about that. There's just so much positivity right now that surrounds the New York Giants. A year after they have planes flying over, we're saying this is a dumpster fire on game day over top of the stadium.

1:21:41It's a completely new hope right now with this New York Giants football team And then you have Abdul Carter tweeting out and calling out the Jets and talking about BTS like this Did you like this? I know you're kind of old school. Did you like this? I did but it just it was Michael Parsons a few years ago with Leonard Fournette. It was like I'm a D-line man I literally had one of the coaches on my peewee team that was like man Abdul Carter man This kid's not any good. Did you see him win the game? I'm like, did you watch any of the game or did you just see one highlight of him getting chipped?

1:22:13He's been dominating out there. So I think everybody just loves this New York Giants team. It's trash talk a little bit. It's hard nose. This is what you want. A little bit of flair and all of that. Did you guys know that Jason McCourty was once on Saturday Night Live? What? J-Mac, tell him the story. I didn't know that. Hey, well, you're an identical twin and you grow up single mom. And we got to create income however we can. man. Moms was driving us in and out of New York City, auditioning for this, auditioning for that. Obviously, we weren't too damn good because you didn't see us in anything.

1:22:45But we ended up getting casted on Saturday Night Live. It was a Martha Stewart special. And we was just extras. We're just sitting on the ground while they're doing the skit. And that was our big claim to fame. We was in Saturday Night Live. No one knew we were there. Our names probably didn't even roll into credits at the end but we were able to live and tell that story it was all day i hated it i wanted to just play sports as a kid of course all right let's go around the herd here boss economy yeah now your real claim to fame is being a super bowl champion for the new england patriots thank you for your service brother i very much appreciate that but uh looking forward to this season i wanted to ask you you know what young db you're excited about but really the the young db everyone's kind of got their eyes on is Travis Hunter now playing both ways.

1:23:30How do you think that is going to go realistically? D-Butt told me that in Madden his conditioning is 100 and he never gets tired. So if that happens in real life, then he should be okay. But do you expect him to do both the entire year? Do you think it will be kind of split between one and full-time the other? What are you expecting to see out of Jacksonville and Travis Hunter? I'm expecting him to do both. I think it's going to be extremely hard. I still have question marks about his ability to be able to do that throughout a 17-game season. But if I'm the Jacksonville Jaguars and I draft him as high as we did and made moves to get up there to get him, you don't draft him just to go out there and play wide receiver and provide that access for Trevor Lawrence to get the ball to him.

1:24:11You don't pay him to go out there and just play defensive back and go cover receiver. You need this guy to be explosive, to be exciting. fans coming up wearing their Travis Hunter jerseys because you don't know where he's going to align. So I expect it to maybe be a game-by-game thing where it may be, hey, we need him to match up a little bit more defensively with this guy this week. Or hey, offensively, we think we can find mismatches to get him the ball in certain situations. So I very much see them having him go out there and playing both ways and doing the most that he can unless something stops him physically from being able to do that.

1:24:48I can't imagine them not doing that. But as far as young DBs, Jaday Barron on the Broncos, I'm excited to see what he can do, blitzing and covering and doing all of those things. I hate to cut you off when you're doing a Barron bit. I wanted to ask you, though, because you know the defensive coordinator in Jacksonville very well, right? You know, Camp, tell them about who that man is and what you think he might bring to that team. People that got a chance to watch the end-season hard knocks in the Miami Dolphins, you got to see just a preview of what Anthony Campanelli is all about. When you mentioned New Jersey, when you think of what New Jersey football is like at the high school level, it's the Italian guy screaming at the top of his lungs, getting people fired up, slamming things in the room, throwing a chair through the window.

1:25:32That is Coach Camp. And throughout the course of the week, he loves every single guy that he gets a chance to coach and come in contact with. So Anthony Campanelli is going to be one hell of a defensive coordinator down in Jacksonville. AJ, what do you got? I got a question for J-Mac? Yeah, Jace, speaking of defensive coordinators, the Bengals brought in Al Golden this year to try to shore up things in the defensive end. We know Joe Burrow is going to put up points and how good that offense is, but what do you expect from this Bengals defense? And I guess what do you expect from them as a team?

1:26:00Well, watching them against the commanders, I don't expect a damn thing. I look at this for Al Golden. I'm coaching peewee football right now. If we go play the neighbor in town and all of their kids are six foot and they look like monsters and I'm rolling out there with little twerp nine and ten-year-olds, it don't matter how great of a scheme I have. We have no shot for the Bengals. They have to figure out to get these young guys that they've drafted to play at a high level right away. Find a way. Pay Trey Henderson. Get him the money. They need as much good players on the defensive side of the ball as possible.

1:26:36If I'm Joe Burrow, I'm standing on the sideline and I'm watching this, I'm in everybody's face slamming helmets. Dude, we got to figure it out. Make a trade, do something. There's no way we're just going to hit repeat on exactly what we did last year. That defense was ugly. And I know it's just the preseason and all of that. But I always think about this. When you look at the preseason, whatever was the point of emphasis from the season before, it better look good now in the preseason. We talked about Caleb Williams not holding on to the ball, all of those things. In the preseason, it looked better.

1:27:07It looked like something they were working on. I don't know what the hell the Bengals are working on last season, but we need to see more from that defensive side of the ball. Who do you have week one? I know you do CBS games, and you've got a great crew with you. You're with Andrew Catalan and I believe Charles Davis this year. Who's your first game? We're at Indy. We've got Daniel Jones and Miami's coming to town. Daniel Jones is the tongue of our love. Sorry, man. Sorry, man.

1:27:30Darius Butler:Hey, you're going to enjoy Indy, but, yeah, sorry about that, brother. Which quarterback would you have rather faced, AR or Daniel Jones? to me I would hate to see AR out there because if I'm on defense I'm terrified of the unknown you don't know if this guy's going to scramble and run you over as a DB you don't know if he's going to flick his wrist and throw the ball 60 yards down the field so I would much rather face it Daniel Jones and that's no disrespect but Anthony Richardson creates that unknown that to me is terrifying as a defense Ty J-Mac just curious uh what do you how you feel about the Packers defense going into this year throughout as a Packers fan all offseason they kind of let everyone from their cornerback room walk and they they did sign you know Nate Hobbs from Vegas but then a lot of the talk was hey Bo Melton this receiver we're gonna put him at cornerback and we're gonna see and you know they've been saying he's been doing great but they were much improved last year with Jeff Halfley obviously their safeties are very good uh do you expect them to you know take another step up this year because I feel like if they want to do what everyone thinks they can do, their defense needs to be much better again this year.

1:28:38D-Buck, where did Bo Melton go to school? I hope he didn't go up that shitty school up in Jersey. I hope not. You're damn right, baby. Pascataway. Rutgers, baby. Jesus. Why do you think they put so much trust in my guy? I look at this Packers defense and you're hoping they take a step, But when you lose guys, it typically takes a little bit of time to gel and build that chemistry for everybody to be able to come together. So it's not going to happen right away. You lose a guy like Jair Alexander, who played a lot of good football, has been banged up the last few years. And now you're throwing guys out.

1:29:13You mentioned Nate Hobbs. You mentioned bringing Bo Melton from the offensive side of the ball to the defensive side of the ball. You're not going to just hit the ground running and everybody just pick up. It's going to take a little bit of time. but in that division you don't have that much time so I look at this Packers team yes Jordan Love Matthew Golden his addition the defensive side of the ball I think they're going to be good but I don't see that step forward happening right away it's going to be throughout the course of the season how much better can they improve from a week to week standpoint and getting guys on the outside that can play more man-to-man and get them out of the cover two and the cover three which they played a lot of last season I got a tweet just saying when we're in the dome it's not around the horn it's around the dome so let's go around the dome not around the horn oh i like that what

1:29:57Darius Butler:do we got yeah jason we talked about jalen ramsey earlier and him going to the pittsburgh steelers uh as we know the front seven there uh has been incredible will be incredible but getting jalen ramsey getting darius slay they are very very happy with those two how do you feel about the steelers defense as a whole the steelers secondary and can they lead them deep into the playoff i think we're going to see a lot of ramsey on the inside in the slot i think that's where he's going to be most effective, where he can blitz and do all of those fun things. Man, when you have pass rush that the Pittsburgh Steelers have, assuming Cam Hayward gets back out there and everything is settled with his contract, man, that makes life easy when you got 30-year-old DBs out there.

1:30:36Darius Slade played his butt off last year on a Super Bowl winning team. I don't have a reason to just guess that he's going to fall off a clip this year. So him and Ramsey out there, I think, are going to be special. And then Joey Porter Jr. I think for those guys, you have a Joey Porter Jr. on the outside that can go and follow around the other team's number one wide receiver, which makes Slay and Ramsey's job a lot easier. The issue they're going to have is when you show up on Wednesday and you start game planning, who's going to be content with covering the number two or the number three wide receiver?

1:31:06Because all of these guys at points in their career have been that guy. So I think from a confidence standpoint and what they're bringing on the defensive side of the ball, they have nothing but dogs out there. So now it's how do we implement this thing and put it going forward so that we can go out there and dominate on the defensive side of the ball. But it's exciting to see because this is what we've always known the Pittsburgh Steelers franchise to be. Guys going out there, winning the game on defense, and then having an offense to go out there, running the football, and making the plays necessary.

1:31:36Where do you stand on Pittsburgh? You in on them going into the season? People are either in one of two camps. They're Rodgers' toast, and I don't want to do this all over again. I did with the Jets last year. I got excited. or they're all in, I'm all in. Like, where do you stand with the Steelers? Well, I don't think they're the Jets. I think that comparison, just because Rodgers was there, isn't fair. This is a team that has been winning, has been in the playoffs. They're not bringing Rodgers in there to save them. So I do like the Pittsburgh Steelers. I like them to win a playoff game this year.

1:32:02I like them to get there. Wow. So I look at them as a team that I think they do take those steps. I don't have them as a Super Bowl contender, though. Final Four is pretty good, though.

1:32:12Darius Butler:I think we would take that at this point. That's it. D-Va, what do you think? AFC Championship. So, Jason, you played – I know you played for Bill. Conman mentioned your Super Bowl championship up there in New England. I believe you overlapped a little bit with Mike Vrabel, not maybe in Tennessee or maybe in Cleveland. What are the similarities and differences between Bill and Mike? And what's your expectation for past Drake Mays year two and then Vrabel, you know, the prince that was promised back in New England? The prince that was promised. I got a chance these last two weeks during the Patriots preseason games of being around Braves and the team a lot.

1:32:47The similarities, I think, is the expectation that he has for the guys out there on the football field. It is all football with him, and he expects guys to go out there and know what they're doing. And if you're not, he is not afraid to tell you about it. Talking to Drake May a little bit, he mentioned that when they get in there in the team meeting room, Vrabel will put a play up and talk about somebody not doing their job. He's not afraid of anybody when it comes to that type of stuff in the room. I think where they differ a lot, which you can appreciate this as well, D-Buck, is Vrabel is a guy that he very much loves that personal connection with his guys.

1:33:21If you've seen him on Busting with the Boys, with Taylor and Will and those guys, and Busting their Chops, like he loves to do that. We're sitting there and I'm watching him make fun of Jabril Peppers as we're talking about me and Jabril being a part of the 0-16 Cleveland Browns. That part of coaching, I think he loves just as much as he loves teaching the guy. So I think it's extremely high expectations for Drake May in year two of taking that step. The thing, talking to Josh McDaniels with Drake May is, as soon as they got there, they unloaded and they gave him everything. Last year, he wasn't calling it at the line of scrimmage with, hey, we're going Mike here, we're setting the protection here, all of those things.

1:33:59They gave him all of that. He has loved every part of it and the growth that he's had since he's been there, the leadership and speaking up and all of those different things. What's your vibe on Belichick College, Coach? Because, I mean, they got the Patriots fans here fired up. Yeah. We talked to Damian Woody. He's like, I think it's the most fascinating story. Are you in on that? Like, do you think that suddenly Belichick is going to take the North Carolina Tar Heels to prominence or is this just a cute story? Whoa. Man, those are two drastically different things. I'm not going to call it a cute story.

1:34:33But I think for me, I'm intrigued because either they are going to find a way to win games. Or to your point, it's not going to be a cute story. It's going to be a train wreck. So I think just watching is going to be fascinating to see. The one thing with Bills has always been about eliminating every single distraction and all of those things. And since he's gotten there, all we've talked about is everything except for football. So seeing these clips are fascinating because it's just like, this is the Bill that I know. Oh, he actually coaches the whistle. Exactly. Twirling of the whistle, looking at guys like, I mean, what are we doing?

1:35:07You got to block the guy in front of you. We talked about this. Like, that's the Bill that we all know and love. He didn't give a damn about asking me about how my wife's doing, how my kids are doing. Hey, Jay, when you show up, what's your assignment on cover too? That's the only thing we talked about. So this is the Bill Belichick that I want to see and this is the Bill Belichick that's gonna be winning games Were you surprised when you saw like all the Instagram stuff last year with Jordan when they were doing like the mermaid on the water and all that? I don't know if I'm even allowed to talk about it It's kind of eliminated the distractions What you think of all that?

1:35:40She wasn't working for North Carolina when that stuff was going out just by the way Dude, there's not a guy that played for Bill that's not gonna say they weren't shocked by that He was on the beach with her lifted in the air For one, we didn't even know he was capable of doing that. So that was the most impressive thing where you would hit the group chat and be like, damn, go ahead, Billy B, live your life. But it was like you can't imagine he would be the guy out there doing those things. But hey, life is short, man. You got to enjoy it while you can. We both have sons the same age. I'd be remiss not asking.

1:36:14Give me an update on your son Caden's athletic career. Where are we at? What are we playing? And what is the future for this young man? Man, we're in our second year of tackle football. And because he probably not watching it the other day, we know the pads go on. So we start coming up with all these hitting drills. You got to get them fired up. Like, you got to go in there and lay a shoulder. So, you know, my son. So I'm going to match him up with some of the best kids on the team. So we have another kid that's really good on our team. Caden's the tackler. He's running the ball. He drops the shoulder.

1:36:42Boom. Caden hits the ground. Full of tears. I'm sitting there as a dad. I'm just like, come on, man. Get your ass up, man. I got you out here embarrassing the family. Now everybody know McCourty's name's on the back of the jersey. Shut up, man. You can't be doing this. But he's doing good, man. He's fine in his way. He's a little speedster. He has some McCourty in him, so he's doing good, man. Appreciate that. I'm trying to get him to be as good as Mel Schrager out here, shooting hoops and knocking down the three ball. My little guy has been working on that jump shot all summer. We'll see how it goes.

1:37:11We'll see how it goes. And the Brooklyn Basketball Academy. We'll see. We're talking youth sports. You know, Little League is going on, too, of course. Good Fairfield. Jaluti, though. Yeah, Joey Jaluti. Joe Jaluti from Irmo, South Carolina. That kid's no joke? No joke. Connecticut plays today, right? Yeah, Fairfield, last two undefeated U.S. teams. Nevada versus Fairfield, Connecticut. Oh, South Dakota lost? South Dakota lost. They got their shit pumped by, oh, let me check, Fairfield, Connecticut. Is that right? Who would have thought? I worry that it doesn't matter.

1:37:40Darius Butler:It doesn't matter. That Taipei team is... Yeah, they have the home run kick. They do have the home run kick. Tell me about it. Give me a scouting report on Taipei. The first game that I watched, he stepped up, hit a home run, and then was throwing 83 Little League, which I think was like 106 in the majors. It's like 115 MLB equivalent. So good luck is what we're saying. I've never been to Williamsport. Have you guys ever gone to that? No, never. Little League World Series? No. It's in like the middle of Connecticut, like the no one cares part of Connecticut. Is it in Pennsylvania? Oh, there you go.

1:38:12I disrespect Connecticut like that. She told you. Yep. It's all good. J-Mac, good luck finishing up one more Patriots preseason game, and then you'll be on the road all season with CBS, and you'll be doing stuff with ESPN, I believe, as well. So, J-Mac, thank you, bud. I'll be there, baby. I'll see you. All right. That's the man. Let's clap it up. Yeah! We're killing it, J-Mac.

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1:39:42It's called Taipei. What is the... Chinese Taipei. I don't know if I'm like, what is it? It's Chinese Taipei. Yeah, we don't need you to start a world war. I don't want any problems. We already started with the AI robots. I don't need a world war here either. Give me the latest. Are you guys watching it? Oh, yeah. It's on every day after the show. It's on every day after the show. Today is the winner's bracket for the U.S. side. It is the semifinals. Winner goes to the United States Championship. Loser plays. Oh, I love Dr. Pepper. Loser gets Dr. Pepper because they're feeling like shit, and then they get Dr.

1:40:13Pepper to feel better. And loser also plays in the championship game of the United States side. So this is the last two unbeaten United States teams today. But you're allowed to lose one game? Whoever loses plays Joe Jaluti's boys to get back into the United States championship. South Dakota's already? South Dakota. I believe they play Jaluti. They play Jaluti to go to the losers. Jaluti's Nevada? No. Irmo, South Carolina. South Carolina. Yep. There you go. So right now there are. Yeah, since there's two sides, there's three games left on the United States side and three games left on the international side.

1:40:48I'm going to give Shrags a visual. I need something. Jesus, what are we doing back there? That's fine. I think it ends either like Monday or Tuesday of next week. Oh, I was going to say, I would have just guessed that Sunday will be the championship. There it is. There it is. Here we go. So is the pitcher? Yeah, through two games, he hadn't yielded a hit yet. and again, you got 85 pitch counts, so these kids are getting pulled a little bit early, but boy, if you see Jaluti on the bump no sense in even bringing a bat up to the plate AJ Hawk, you heard Jason McCourty talking about his kid in youth sports, give me a good youth sports story as AJ Hawk, the sports dad he's the coach right now you see the photo from, yeah, okay, good yeah, I don't know, I've coached girls basketball in the past for my daughter earlier on, that's obviously its own thing.

1:41:38It was fun watching the girls come together. I tell you what, if you want to coach some competitive people, coach some girls fifth and sixth grade basketball because if there was a girl on the other team that was a punk, they were not scared. All ten of them were ganging up, and they were going to go at that girl the rest of the game. So I respect that. I loved how they had each other's back like that. But, yeah, I'm coaching a little tackle football. A lot of the kids, it's their first year in tackle. But, like, as McCourty was saying, if a kid gets trucked, if he gets run over, like kids always talk, oh, you're getting trucked from playing Madden and stuff.

1:42:06And I'm like, when a kid gets run over, I get juiced. And I go pick him up and bring him up off the ground. And then I yell at the rest of the kids that are acting like it's a big deal. I'm like, what are you talking about? At least he had. No, I'm saying this guy's got the courage to get run over. I haven't seen you guys even put yourself in position to get run over. You try to like pump him up. Like, hey, I respect. I don't care if you get run over 50 times in a row. Like, at least you're going to put your head in there and give it a chance. So I think it's football is a great sport, I should say, for that.

1:42:32It really helps you learn a lot about yourself. Absolutely. Amen. All right. Next thing I want to show before we wrapped, we were talking in the pre-show. There's already a mock draft out. Field Yates put out a mock draft. Already? Oh, yeah. This is going to go horizontally and then down. So one to four, as you see, because you might be saying, wait, Caleb Downs too. So Field just threw teams out there. Don't get caught up on where he projects your team. He's a nice guy. Field Yates is not going to have a crystal ball and tell you exactly where it's going to be. The more important thing is the players.

1:43:03So I like seeing this because it's 32 names for me to kind of watch this season if I'm an NFL fan. And you go across here, he's got Arch Manning as the number one overall pick and Lenora Sellers as the two. Club Nick, the three. I'm looking for Nussmeier, Nussmeier, Nussmeier. All the way down at 16. I was told Nussmeier is going to be the guy. Is this controversial that Nussmeier is all the way down there?

1:43:24Darius Butler:Well, so first off for Field, unlike this year, he has six quarterbacks here in the first 16 picks. Damn. five in the first 11 picks of next year's draft. It has been touted as one of the better quarterback drafts in years. Obviously, last year, people were saying it was not one of the best quarterback drafts in recent years. But no, everything that I heard coming out of the Manning Passing Academy was that Arch Manning and Lenore Sellers were in a different category from the rest of everyone else. They said that Arch and Lenore, the way the ball comes off their hand, how big they are, the way they carry themselves, they were in a different tier.

1:44:04Darius Butler:And then it was that the Garrett Nesmeyer, Cade Clubnick tier. I didn't hear much about Sam Levitt. I mean, he popped onto the scene last year at Arizona State. He was a transfer. He's got great moxie. Transferred from Michigan State, but people were on high in them. And then Drew Aller, I believe, didn't go to the Manning Passing Academy, so I didn't hear a ton about him. But obviously, we know him. He didn't go. He's a big boy with a huge arm. He's athletic. I'm out on him. So, no, most of us. We watched him last year. And when I'm hearing, most of this kind of checks out as far as the quarterback.

1:44:34Can I ask? This is dumb. I'm just looking at it. Where's the Florida quarterback? I love that guy. He cannot come out yet. He's not eligible. Ineligible. And what about Arch? What's his name? Ladway? Ladway. I love that kid. Yeah.

1:44:45Darius Butler:He's a ball player. What were you saying? He's a monster. I know Arch's grandpa basically says, no way in hell he's coming out and entering the draft. And then I think Arch came out and said, I don't know where he got that from. So where are we right now with Arch? Is he going back? He's standing in fields, just said, F it. I'm going to put him on my draft. A lot of us felt the way that Archie did, his granddaddy, about that Arch would be there for two years, just because that's the Manning way. Peyton stayed until his senior year. Eli stayed until his senior year. So we figured, you know, Arch would do the same.

1:45:15Darius Butler:Now, Arch said, you know, that's not exactly the case. He's just taking things one day at a time. And a lot of people were suggesting, just reading the T-Laves, that maybe that's based on who has the number one overall pick this year. He may have seen Fields mock draft and said, yeah, my grandson ain't going to play in Cleveland. He wouldn't let Eli go to San Diego. I'm sure as shit not letting Arch. And he wasn't letting Peyton go to the Jets. Yeah, exactly. So that could be something to talk about. Is this unanimous? I like Arch Manning. I mean, because I was on with Get Up. And again, I come in as an NFL guy.

1:45:45And we had Heather Dinich, who was great. And Paul Feinbaum, who was great. And Jordan Rodgers. And Jordan Rodgers, who I respect because he does it at SEC Network and watches it all, was like, Arch might be the fifth best quarterback. Yeah, that's crazy. Now I'm seeing him number one overall. Is that just based on speculation or what?

1:46:02Darius Butler:No, I think field maybe just has a better read of the situation. Yeah, I do. There's a difference between college quarterback and an NFL prospect, right? Yeah, there is for sure, 100%. But no, everything that I was like, Arch and Lenores are the guys right now. But I saw another – he works for ESPN too, Matt Miller, NFL draft scout or whatever. He had Cade Klubnick going one overall. So, like, as of right now, before the season starts, there's a lot of quarterbacks who have the potential to go. So if you're a Browns fan and you're hearing this, there's six quarterbacks in the top 12, are you really getting so worked up about Shador Sanders?

1:46:36Because, gosh, we have the Jacksonville first-round pick and we have the Cleveland first-round pick. We're going to root for our team, but even if we package them and move up a couple, like, there might be the next guy and we'd have to wait 10 months, you know, seven months. Yeah, that would suck more. Interesting what you said about Feinbaum. Don't think that's the case. He loves Arch, right? I have no idea. I was just talking about what you said about him. But Arch, though, the thing Arch might be thinking about, and granted it really doesn't matter in his situation, but next year with all the lag way hype, sorry, the 2027 draft, like his grandfather is claiming, with all the lag way hype, that might be another thing, too, where Arch is looking at his situation.

1:47:18Maybe it is a good first overall pick this year, and he's like, well, why would I take my chances? Like, I might as well just come out this year. Like, you know, I don't know, just a team that would pop in my head that has like a good team around them that maybe everyone thinks is going to be good and they kind of fall off. Like, what if Seattle has a really bad year and then all of a sudden the Seahawks are the one?

1:47:39Darius Butler:What if Stafford's back, flares up, and they have a bad year? Well, then they get Anthony Richardson and go 11-6. I know we're talking. I don't think Arch is thinking about any of that. No. You know, the keys are handed to him. He has all the expectations in the world. And with the people around him, his family, I'm sure they're to, hey, it's one play at a time. It's one game at a time. Who cares about the expectations? And you asked, was it unanimous earlier? I'm sure it's not, especially with, like, the football guys, because a lot of us, we got to see it. You want to watch it on film? I haven't seen it yet.

1:48:11We've had phenoms. We've had, you know, highly rated players. And with all the things that are around him, you would definitely bet on him. Most people are bullish on him, but you still got to see it on a big-time level in the SEC, playoff, how does he perform, all these different things. All the other things on the outside that come with being a franchise quarterback, even with his name. So I'm sure it's not unanimous, but if you're a betting man, he's what, the Heisman favorite going into the season. First year as a starter, so the expectations are there, but a lot of people, you know, you got to see it and believe it.

1:48:41Well, to your point, too, the last two guys who were just like the, yep, number one pick, no matter what, Caleb Williams and Bryce Young, and it was C.J. Stroud and Jayden Daniels right behind him. So even if it is right now, everyone, yep, Arch Manning for sure. Typically, at least the last five years, the for sure number one pick has been the one that has taken much longer versus the number twos that come in that maybe aren't the unanimous. C.J. Stroud's thing was that he did bad on that fake test. The SQ or the S2 or whatever. James Daniels thing was his age and his elbow and all that stuff.

1:49:16And his weight. And his weight, yeah. He's too small. First week of the season is Ohio State-Texas, such a matchup, but also Clemson-LSU, so like two monster games. Bama. Bama plays who? Florida State.

1:49:31Darius Butler:Miami-Notre Dame is a top ten as well. Miami-Notre Dame. I'm curious about UNC-TCU. This is a really good week. Did they announce where game day is going to be yet? So it is – yeah. I don't want to embargo anything. We're in Forsberg. Yeah, it's Ohio State. So that game's on Fox, but the Texas – okay, so I like that one. Game day is where the Fox game is. That leads to some good stuff back and forth with their pregame, right? A little bit. You could say that. We'll see. They got Portnoy. We got McAfee. Let's go. Let's duke it out. Okay, everyone got quiet out here. Looking at these matchups, is there LSU-Clemson?

1:50:06Is this one of those deals if Brian Kelly loses again in the first week of the season? Is everyone just calling for his head?

1:50:11Darius Butler:Yes, I believe so. Probably because that's four years in a row that they would lose week one, which is insane. Tough scene. It would be – I know he's not exactly on the hot seat, but that would warm it up pretty quickly, I think. Yeah, how much does that recruit that they got help? Because I saw a clip of a 6 '5 guy playing cornerback for LSU, and he's the tallest corner in the history of football. Is this correct? They also got Nussmeier's little brother just committed there. So, I mean, he's doing good recruiting and everything like that, but unless he wins on the field, that doesn't matter at all.

1:50:47Yeah. Notre Dame-Miami, last year Cam Ward was a superstar, you know, breakaway star, and Miami was back and relevant. What's the view on them to start the season? Miami. Aren't they the early favorites to fall off a cliff and crush and burn? No.

1:51:01Darius Butler:Carson Beck, brother. ACC, we got a nice sketch. There's a potential chance. I mean, last year at this time, I bet you in Fields' mock draft, Carson Beck was probably somewhere in the first round. Obviously, the season didn't go like it wanted. He had some turnover issues. What's his vibe right now? I don't see his name anywhere. It's a good thing. It's a cool vibe. Well, he's coming off of the UCL surgery that happened in the SEC. He broke up with that girl? Yep, yep. Then they got back together. Or she broke up with him. Oh, are they back? I'm not aware. I know they broke up. I'm not aware if they're back together or not.

1:51:35Darius Butler:But, you know, it's just all for Carson Beck now down in Miami. I doubt. I mean. Is anyone going to go to that game? Or is a Miami Americans fan going to show up? Of course. Yeah, they're going to have that least from the 35 to the 30. Should be better on defense. Carson Beck was that guy. He was the number one guy. You know, it's like we're hardly even talking. That's crazy how that works. That's good. I'm sure these guys, they don't love. Well, some of these guys maybe do. But I like when you kind of fly under the radar. Gosh, could you see that schedule again? Next Saturday is a monster day.

1:52:02Monster.

1:52:03Darius Butler:And then the Notre Dame Miami is Sunday night, and TCU North Carolina is Monday night. Which is honestly better because they're staying alone. I love when there's the – You're a Boston guy. You're a Patriots guy. Are you rooting for Bill to succeed, or do you kind of want to see the shot in front of him fall on his face? No, I absolutely want him to succeed, and I do think that he will, whether it's this year or in three years, but I do think they're going to be very good, And I'm assuming the quarterback they got from South Alabama is going to be so good at football. And they're going to find a way to win games for sure.

1:52:35What about you guys? I'm rooting for them. Everyone roots. Because you know there is a contingent that's like, I would like to see this be a complete mess.

1:52:43Darius Butler:Obviously, our good Paizan friend, Michael Lombardi, being the GM there, helps our rooting interest. It's a tough match of week one because TCU, they've got a lot of returning guys on that offense. And they score a ton of points. So we'll see how Bill and that defense and him and his boy are dialing it up for week one. Before we wrap, AJ, I think this is important. We were talking pre-show. I was not familiar with Justin Herbert and his game, and I was not familiar with Madison Beard. Do you know who that is? Yeah, what's going on? No, but I did see. He's pictured – he said he's playing chess with her.

1:53:17No, what is her backstory? Yeah, it sounds like they're not together. They are together. Now, I would never usually dance in these waters because typically I'm in just all ball. But after Josh Allen got married to Haley Steinfeld and Travis Kelsey is with Taylor Swift. Stefan Diggs is with Cardi B. I think it's fair to say, okay, but I'm embarrassed. I wasn't familiar with Madison Beer. I didn't know who that was. And then I have a crew here that did. Who would like to explain who Madison Beer is? I can do it without Bruce and his profanity because of how disgusting he was earlier. but Madison Beer is a musician artist.

1:53:56I guess she is from the Olivia Rodrigo type era. Artist of that ilk, if you will. Singer songwriter. And allegedly the song Driver's License by Olivia Rodrigo. Very popular tune for the Gen Zers, I believe. I believe that is about Madison Beer. In a good way or a bad way? In a bad way. The song Driver's License is about... A bit of beef, if you will. Yeah, exactly. Confirmed? Not confirmed, but also not denied. So I believe we can't just completely rule it out. I did read on her Wikipedia she blew up because in, I want to say circa 2014, 15, Justin Bieber posted a link to one of her YouTube songs, and then she exploded after that.

1:54:42Oh, Bieber? She's a Long Island girl. I like that. We just want Herbert to be happy. I just want her to be happy. Forget Herbert. I want Justin Bieber to be happy. Everyone to be happy. And Justin Bieber, take her life. Guys, we got a chess tournament here. Chess tournament. We love it. Awesome show. Thanks for having me, everybody. This was fun. We're going to be wrapping up now, and I will tell you this. This was an ultimate honor and a dream. Thank you, guys. Thank you, Shrakes. Thank you, Shrakes. And now we go to YouTube. Hell yeah. Good job. Nailed it. Well done, Shrakes. Well done. I've got multiple texts.

1:55:09You're the best. Holy shit. This Shraker guy's good. Don't have Hawker back. He's up yesterday. Just keep Shrakes. AJ is the man. AJ texted me. He's like, I'm going to be with you tomorrow. I'm like, hell yeah, you are. I can't do this without you. So, AJ, I appreciate that. Shregs. I love your juice, Shregs. I was watching the Open. It was beautiful. You were like running in place. You almost jumped through the ceiling. Yeah, it was great. Well, it's like I want to bring the energy. I want to equal what you brought yesterday and what wraps you brought Monday. And then I want to do the brand service.

1:55:38So I maybe go overboard. I got a text from one of our executives saying that they thought you might have to like hold me down because I was a little bit too excited. Yeah, but that's what you want. Just like I forgot what coach. Kyle. It was Kyle. Yeah, it was Kyle. You're right. You want to, you know. Toe the line. Yeah, you want to be yanking those dogs back. Who said that? Which coach? Kyle. Bill Kyle. I want to say, whoa, not go. Yes. I want to say, whoa, not go.

1:56:05Darius Butler:A lot of these coaches have a saying for that. Whoa, not go. That's a good one, too. Yes, it is. It is. It is. I like the whoa, not go. That's it. the beauty of this show though is like I've done a lot of other shows and it's to those shows Good Morning Football or Fox Kickoff or even Get Up, whatever, it's like here's the rundown you guys basically were like what do you want to talk about today and we did and for two hours you're talking with your boys it's like that's a dream, so this is unbelievable and you guys are awesome, so the questions we asked were great our guests were really good this is really awesome the conversations end on their own volition was that the term?

1:56:42Darius Butler:is that the Seinfeld line, Nick? He wasn't listening. I heard you. I'm just not sure. Tony, it's a very, very attuned line. He pulled. He cut there. No, it's not. No, it's not. What's the line? How have you been enjoying the hosting? You've been hosting a bunch of shows on the network. The suit and tie is different for me. I never did that. Oh, yeah. Is that mandatory at the New York show? No. It's not mandatory because I don't think Get Up. I don't think Greeny wears one. but I don't like not wearing one. If I'm going to wear the full other thing, I feel like I'm showing chest hair, so I wear one.

1:57:18And then the first day I came in to do first take, one of the producers was like, ooh, no tie. And I'm like, so I was like, yeah, no tie, pal. Shut up, fuck you, yeah. Yeah, men's warehouse were like, Jose Bank, and I got the tie on. I'm like, am I good? Like, yeah, so it's been great.

1:57:37Darius Butler:You should have wore a full suit and tie today. Today? I was thinking about going back. I thought you were going to. I was thinking black tank top. That would have been good. That would have gone well. That would have been good. If I saw you in a full suit. For the viewers at home, what you see is what you get. These guys are all our best friends. You come in and it's just a hang session. That's what I would want to watch. Yeah. What's pertinent in the football world today that needs to be discussed? And we did it. And we do it. And it's fine. AJ, we didn't get your thoughts on the Micah thing.

1:58:07Yesterday you spoke about it, obviously. But a day later, Schefter saying, you know, there's a divorce on the way, whether it's immediate or it's next year. Just your big takeaway. I think it has to get done. I know when Schefter says this, yeah, it makes me think, all right, this is much worse than I thought. But I don't know. Like, I don't trade. Triggs, have you did you? I don't think you talked about it. Like, has Jerry ever drafted a guy and then let him not get to a second contract, especially when the dude is a franchise player and one of the best players in the NFL? Like, does that happen?

1:58:36No, but it seems like this guy, for whatever reason, Jerry has no affection for. He doesn't seem to feel the same way he does about his homegrown guys. Jerry loved Demarcus Lawrence. Jerry loved Travis Frederick. Jerry loves, if he drafts you, Jerry loves you. And I see no love for Micah Parsons in any of this. I mean, Demarcus where? Demarcus, that made me think. Was that a free agent thing? I feel like that was kind of late. That was the end of his career. It was like 12 years. But was he cut? Yeah. He might have been cut. Yeah, that's what I mean. I know it was a long time. He was still great in Denver.

1:59:12Yeah, he was still all pro.

1:59:14Darius Butler:Yeah, he was drafted there, was there from 05 to 13. Yeah, so he had him. And then played three more seasons with the Broncos. But, Stregs, he can't play this year. Shefty said, oh, I don't know when it could happen after this. So you're telling me he's going to come back and play this season? That's what I don't understand. Yeah, and then they're just going to be like, okay, now we're going to tag you. If he doesn't get the money this year, it's his choice to not play. And then he's getting fined crazy amounts of money every week he misses. I think of Chris Jones in that week one game when he was with the Kings playing the Lions.

1:59:45He's with the Cats brothers up there just watching. And they're like, all right, we'll get it done. But is that what happens with Micah if it's not done? Or is he not going to show his face at all? I don't know.

1:59:54Darius Butler:I saw him at practice yesterday. He's there. He has to be. Because he gets fined if he's not. So he's holding in. But it's so awkward. Why wouldn't you trade him right now? Let's just say he plays this year and he doesn't have as good of a year as he has had. And he has seven sacks or something like that. And he gets banged up a little bit. His trade value then is way less than it is right now. Everyone who would trade for him right now, you are getting the Khalil Mack package. Teams will trade three first-round picks and maybe a defensive starter and maybe another pick. You run the risk of if he doesn't have another all-world season, and you're not going to resign him.

2:00:30You don't envision that. you don't plan that anyway, then you're just cutting what you could get from him in half completely almost. Yeah, I think his market value right now is as high as it's going to be because if he doesn't play this year, it's only going to go down, and then the Cowboys don't have any leverage. What's the fair compensation, though? So Mack was what? Do we have that? It was like two first-round picks? It was.

2:00:51Darius Butler:It was two firsts. And then like a third, a fifth, and then the other team. They swapped or something? I think the Raiders got like a second pick from back. Yeah, the market has kind of changed a lot, though. Because remember, Jamal Adams went for like multiple first-round picks, too. So, I mean, but Micah is of that ilk, as we like to say here, where he will demand at least a couple first-round picks in maybe like two seconds. I can see him maybe a player. That doesn't help the Cowboys now, though, right? Cowboys still got 11. And I don't know if it's accurate. Ricky the dog didn't tweet it. But someone did tweet that the Packers offered two first-round picks and a second-round pick for Micah, and they said no.

2:01:32As a Packers fan, well, first of all, Jerry's not saying he's looking to trade him. That's all Micah saying, I want him to trade him. Jerry's like, I don't care. As a Packers fan, what's that do? Hell yeah. I like it. I'm taking the Packers fan. I would say if the Packers today offered two first-round picks, a second-round pick, and like Quay Walker, because the Cowboys need a linebacker, I would say, And we need to keep AJ as well. Fuck yeah. Do that right now. Do that right now. Because Rashawn Gary is good. They paid him like a premier guy, but he doesn't get the type of production Micah does.

2:02:06A lot of people have been saying like Lucas Van Ness, who was, you know, I think the 11th or like the 13th overall pick. Unleash him, man. Yeah, unleash the beast. I've been saying that for a long time. Like he and a lot of people are saying he's been unbelievable in the preseason so far, but we still haven't seen him. He's year three. Yeah, exactly. They need guys to get home and get to the quarterback, especially if their secondary isn't going to be quite as good this year. So, yeah, this guy is a top three to five defensive player in the NFL. If it's an option, get rid of those two picks because you're imagining those picks are going to be in the late 20s anyway.

2:02:41Yeah, that's the thing. That's a key part. So, let's play roles here. All right, so you're Jerry. You're Brandon Bean. All right. Oh, great. I am so pumped. I know. Sorry, you guys. I know we all want to be Jared, but they're going to be one. Two first-round picks and Ed Oliver. Get the fuck out. Have you seen Ed? Two Bills first-round picks. So you're looking at 28, 29. None of those teams can – like unless they're – and Ed Oliver is a great player, but, like, they just gave a D-tackle$90 million. Yeah. So, like, why would they – you know? And the Bills are, like you were just about to say, they're the last five picks of the first round.

2:03:24Those teams just don't make any sense. I mean, unless it is three first round picks. Well, it's got to be a team that's going to pay him huge money once he comes, so he'll get it. And if I'm Micah, I'm kicking and screaming, do not send me to a nothing team. That's what sucks. He has no leverage, though, as far as where he gets. He demanded a trick.

2:03:45Darius Butler:Here's the thing also. So I was looking at this yesterday because it's his rookie contract. I believe he hasn't made a ton of money, which is to your point why – Yes, relative, which is why he is at practice. But like – so what? He's made$3,$6,$10,$16,$17 million. Yes, that's a lot of money. But relative to the NFL, he's supposed to make$25 million this year. Oh, this guy should make$40. No, no. I know what he should make. But he's due to make$25 million. He's going to make more this year than he did his previous four years. Combined? Yes. By$8 million. Is that a reason? To not play. Yeah. Or he's, hey, this is like$25 million.

2:04:27Darius Butler:I'd love$25 million. Listen, Mike is going to get$100 million guaranteed. Eventually. From somebody. But yes,$25 million. They've got to get it done. Still a lot of money. So AJ, week one, Michael Parsons is a cowboy. I don't know if he's playing or not. Week three, I think by then, yeah, he's in there. because let's say the first couple weeks he doesn't play and they don't really get any pass rush. You don't think Jared's going to run to the dotted line and sign him up? Sign this motherfucker right now. We didn't talk about McLaurin today because I'm kind of tired of it. It hasn't really done anything.

2:04:59It hasn't changed. No, really. They're going to reach it. Stalemate. Stalemate is what it is. He wants a certain number. Commanders see it a different way. I would think those –

2:05:08Darius Butler:Did you see there was a video floating around the internet where people were lip-reading. It was him and Adam Peters talking. and it looked like Terry, it could have been AI, but it was from far away or whatever, but it looked like Terry say, I can't do less than 66, which kind of makes sense because all the talk has been he's been looking for 33, so I'm assuming the 66 was guaranteed. But then everything else we're hearing is that the commanders are probably not going to go there. He's a wide receiver one in the NFL. The going rate is either going to be 20 to 35 or 40. To me, figure it out. But I do see the side just in a vacuum, not thinking about, hey, we came so close last year.

2:05:52Terry McLaurin to me, and you guys crushed me when I said it two months ago. I don't see him in that Jamar Chase, Justin Jefferson ascending. I said Malik Neighbors, and you guys lost your minds. I think Malik has looked that way because Malik had 108 catches in his second-year player. Malik's a dope. McLaurin's 30. it's hard to and i know what pittsburgh's paid for dk but i would also look at dk as a different body type and maybe a different type of receiver for what they're doing um but to me it's not about what he's worth in the matter of principle to me it's like we're all in like we're we're here we just got tunzel and debo this is the year we need terry mcloran pay you need to watch he's also never played with a another legitimate guy in debo so he could be not not even including jayden yeah Yeah, like Debo is finally there.

2:06:37He finally has someone on the other side of the field of him that can take a little bit of pressure off. I hate this to sound negative. You're up at night thinking about Jamar Chase the night before a game. You're up at night thinking about it. Jamar Chase is different. Jamar Chase, Justin Jefferson. You're thinking about those guys. Those guys are – Are you losing sleep over Terry McLaurin? Yeah, Terry McLaurin. Cover him one-on-one, you are. He's a game wrecker. He's still a game wrecker. Now, Chase Jefferson, those guys are kind of on a – they're on like an all-time great trajectory. But if you look around the NFL week to week, like as a corner, as a defensive back, okay, we got T-Mac week four.

2:07:15He's definitely a guy that you're circling, that you're game planning for 17. Okay, where is he on third down? Where is he in two minutes? Where is he in the red area? And he can impact the game in different ways. D.K. Metcalf is also a guy that you have the game plan for you've got to be aware of because any point in the game, number four now can take the top off of defense and be explosive. Now, the big thing about it is 17, McLaurin, he's there every week. That's a big deal too. You look back on Jamar Chase. He's pretty much there every week. These guys who are there every week, not like, okay, he has a great four to six-week stretch, and he's going to be out for a couple weeks with a hammy or a calf or something like that.

2:07:56Up until this point, that hasn't been the case for Terry McLaurin. And for Jaden, man, like you're a second year, you want to build that rapport with Terry. And then for Terry, this is the first time I believe he's returning with the same starting quarterback. So as a big-time receiver and as a big-time ascending quarterback, you want those things in position. You don't want to be trying to figure shit out in week two that you could have figured out, you know, two weeks before the season started. So Adam Peters, they got to figure it out. I understand both sides, though, why they're kind of at a stalemate.

2:08:24You would think that no matter what, it's like, hey, the only goal here is we have to make sure that Jaden Daniels, his trajectory is going to continue to rise like this. Because Debo obviously is a nice piece. We've seen what he can do. He's great. But that's not nearly as attractive if Terry McLaurin's not on the field. It's like if Terry McLaurin is on the field, it's like, oh, shit, look what we can do with Debo now. Like, you just – why would you run the risk of – Jaden Daniels had an all-time great rookie year, and now we're talking about the commanders. Like, hey, could this team go to Super Bowl?

2:08:58And you have the money to spend. Exactly. And you have this ownership that since they've come in have basically said, like, hey, we're going to spare no expenses. You need new practice fields? Let's fucking do it. You need new everything. You know, like, we're going to do it. Yeah, exactly. Tunsil, like, you're doing all this stuff, and then it kind of goes back to, you know, like how we've talked in the past. It's like, does that send the right message, too, where it's like, this guy has done everything you've asked for. And he has been the consummate teammate, consummate professional. And you're going to squabble over a couple million dollars and potentially ruin that relationship.

2:09:29It just feels like they're so hot right now, and this could really be like a ticking time bomb that ruins everything. And I almost feel like the Commanders fans, who are very vocal, the sentiment went from pay him, pay him, what are we doing, what are we doing, to now it feels like they're almost like, okay, well, if those numbers are what he's really asking for, back to the team being the team, like now we're pro-team because, well, wait, no, he shouldn't make that. He should make this. He should make 31. He should make 30, not 35. At the end of the day, though, all that, it's great. Like, it's millions and millions and millions of dollars.

2:10:03But to me, at this point, Adam Peters, the GM, doesn't want to just give in after now digging his heels in. And Terry McLaurin and his agent, I believe Buddy Baker, indie guy, they've dug in their heels. So there has to be a compromise. And I assume there will. But, like, you're right. Whereas you might say Micah does a podcast and Jerry doesn't love that and maybe Micah's not this or that and that. And I think Micah's pretty clean off the field. You look at Terry McLaurin, he's everything you want. And if you don't pay that guy, what does that tell the rest of the locker room? Yeah, exactly. But he got paid two years ago.

2:10:39Yeah. Hey, times have changed. Yeah, exactly. That also wasn't from them. That's how it works in this business. They weren't there two years ago. Yeah. So if anything, you know, hey, you guys are new. I'm the elder statesman. Like, you need to pay me. You know, I need to get what I get because I'm sure he also sees on the horizon like, oh, well, if I'm out there this year and Jaden does better, that means Debo does better. Does that mean there's less money for me if, you know, they have to pay Debo? Because Debo's on a one-year deal now. He got the whole Stefan Diggs rework that Stefan Diggs did when he went to Houston.

2:11:13So, like, it's not as if Debo isn't going to be looking for a bag after this year, too. He's going to be motivated, too. Yeah, and for Terry, you would have to think, like, this is the last big payday. Yeah, probably. So, you got to dig your heels in. And then for Adam Peters in the front office, this is their first, you know, real adversity, you know, as far as when it comes to a big-time player. And, okay, now how do they handle hold-ins or hold-outs or whatever contracts? I don't think they can trade him. Like if New England comes in and says, we're giving you a first round pick at something else for Terry McLaurin, I don't know how Adam Peters can look to the fans of the commanders being like, we got this close last year with this group and we're going to trade him for a pick.

2:11:54I don't see it. I feel like you can't – McLaurin's that guy. You've got to keep him. I agree. They get guys like you, though, comments. They can leak through the media, hey, this guy was asking for$50 million a year. Of course you have to trade him. Like, that's what they can kind of try to craft the narrative that, hey, he was asking for way too much. And that's already begun. Yeah. Always. That's how it goes. Terry feels like the only one that, hey, they're going to get it done because of everything that we're talking about. Like, the other two seem to be. Micah and Trey. Yeah, Micah and Trey seem to be actual, hey, who knows.

2:12:28For Adam Peters, though, like, if you're Adam Peters and everyone's telling you stuff, if I'm Adam Peters, I'm telling everyone to shut the fuck up. Saying why? Because look what I built in year one? Bingo. Yeah. Like, hey, this was the biggest dumpster fire. After the Texans' whole entire thing, everyone immediately looked at Washington like, oh, this is the shittiest building by a mile. Whether it's the actual building or the people working inside of it. And then Adam Peters comes in and in a year they flip the entire thing on its head like, yeah, fuck everybody. Yeah, but Terry is such a big piece of that.

2:12:58Exactly. Huge piece. And that's why I think it's going to get done. But as far as hearing outside noise for Adam Peters, fuck those people. I'm sure it's just like Howie Roseman. Howie Roseman probably feels the same too. I hear a lot of outside noise. I've rebuilt two separate teams, three separate teams, really. But I'll still understand. If you had to stack the NFC East right now, forget the Giants and the Eagles for now, who are you saying going into this season, Cowboys or Commanders, who you would say are the better team? Commanders. Commanders. They went to the NFC title. This is no Micah, right?

2:13:35This is with Micah.

2:13:37Darius Butler:I worry about the Commanders. I would take the Cowboys. I think I would too. I'd take the Cowboys. I worry about the Commanders strictly because of, I mean, how many, it was like. They won a lot of one-score games last year. It was like the Vikings, the one year where they went undefeated in one-score games, and then they went 7-9 or whatever the next year or whatever it was. Now, they have one of the best young quarterbacks in football, and that gets you a long way. But they won a lot of one-score games last year. I mean, between those teams, it's a toss-up. Yeah, I'd probably say Cowboys. You got to pick one, Tony.

2:14:10Cowboys. AP Tony. Cowboys. If you look at the premier positions, I like the defense. You'd probably give the advantage to Washington, but you wouldn't go levels, levels, levels above. Yeah, a quarterback. I don't know that I would give the advantage. Oh, you love. Second year, second year. That was number two in MVP two years ago. I know, I know. You give the advantage to the Cowboys receivers for sure. Yeah. Yes. Yes, I would. Cowboys tight ends. Yes. You could argue running backs because, you know. I don't know about the Cowboys defense. Well, in my mind, Mike is already a Packer. So, you know, that's kind of a big part.

2:14:45But, like, Eberforce comes in. Corners, you lead Dallas. Yeah. Lattimore in Washington. Deron Blanton. We got it. And I love Lattimore, what he's done career-wise. He's not young. I got to see this year. Can he get back to form? I love Mikey Sandler still. He's a dog. He's got some other young DBs. Bobby Wags, he's a savvy vet out there. But, yeah, I think I would still lean Dallas. I guess after talking about it right now, he's like, wow, yeah, Dallas is kind of. They are. Overshaw, Mike. They love Booker. The rookie. Who's Cunningham on the Cowboys? I've gotten a lot of texts about him. Is there a guy Cunningham, a pass rusher?

2:15:24Randall's boy? Look that up. Is there a Cunningham on the Cowboys? This is my... I got a text about Cunningham.

2:15:34Darius Butler:I'm not seeing a Cunningham. Okay, maybe not Cunningham. Who's the second round... There's a BC kid, second round pick. Oh, oh. Donovan Azaraca. That's one. And then there's another kid who they had last year that they drafted. And I'm sorry, I don't have the name in the depth chart. The HourLads depth chart in front of me. That's exactly what I'm looking at. Of course. Who are the pass rushers? What do they got? There's me, though. Oh, we got it on the screen. All right, here we go. I'll tell you the guy. Everyone was excited about someone. Who was it? Murray. I don't see that name. Is it Buddy Johnson?

2:16:07Overshawn? Overshawn, he's a weak player. He's a player. I stand corrected. Might have been Sam Williams. I don't know. I don't know. Someone was at the joint practice for the Rams.

2:16:18Darius Butler:I mean, they paid Osa big money. They did. Overshawn's not starting. No, he is. Oh. He's just out right now. That's not the R-Lads, so I don't trust that. I don't know what. Oh, I see him behind Kenneth Miller. I trust the R-Lads. It might be Sam Williams. I don't know. Someone was playing awesome in the inner practices with the Rams, and they were like, you know, Micah's obviously the best player, but they got this guy, this guy, this guy, this guy. And I'm like, those are not household names. Those are not household names. So they must know something if they're not shaking their boots over Micah.

2:16:49Yeah, I don't know. I just feel like from what we've heard about the Cowboys, that they're going to be better than what everyone. expects.

2:16:57Darius Butler:And to be honest, like from what we have heard, to be honest, uh, one of the main things that I took away from draft night was that, uh, just talking to coach McCarthy, he thought they were going to be good. He did. Yeah. Like he was, he felt really good about the team that they have coming into this season. And like, you would think like a coach could be jaded or something like that. We never unpack that. Mike McCarthy worked on this program for the draft. And I figured I didn't know. I haven't spoken to him since he and Jerry part of ways. I came in there like eggshells like so nothing but love for the cowboys nothing but love for jerry nothing but respect and like he loves dak and he loves dak and i'm like okay so that guy could be bitter jaded could say oh let's see how they play without me no he's like they're gonna be very good yeah he's like shot he's the man he was like positive on sweet he's very high on a lot of yes he was very high on trey lynch i'm not surprised to see him you know obviously if you're a charger fan you hope you don't see him play and trey's only like 25 still 24 somehow he's just bright hopefully we were talking about trey lance earlier with like richardson it's you don't know you know it's like you put him in this situation didn't work out and now he's 25 years old and we're like oh trey lance is on his third team or whatever it is but then you go to that preseason game you're like oh that's why he was the third overall pick but that's the nfl well and i just like we've been talking i understand if you're a fan of the colts why you would be fucking pissed if daniel jones is starting and not anthony richardson but like for you know his agents be like well we've lost trust in the organization.

2:18:19It's like, hey, these motherfuckers are going to get fired if they don't have a good year. So I don't think they're like... But wasn't the writing on the wall when they signed Daniel Jones for that money? I mean, probably. Probably. You knew he was going to get a legit shot, but you would think... And Shane was there when they drafted Anthony Richard, correct? He drafted Anthony Richard. Okay, so you would think the GM, Chris Ballard, and the head coach, the guy you drafted, that's the guy you would want to win the job. But you bring in a guy for, you know, insurance and real competition. Okay, let's see.

2:18:48And from everything that we saw from the outside looking in, okay, Anthony Richards showed up in shape, in better shape physically. He was doing different things, you know, learning things as a quarterback because we all knew it would be a process when he got drafted for overall. So when Daniel Jones is named the starter, to me, it just tells me that he earned it. Yes. And he just won the competition. And obviously I'm close to a lot of people in that building. So when I reach out to the people in the building, it's the same thing for them. All right, this is our guy. He won it. You know, he won the job.

2:19:17It's because, you know, we're in there. We're trying to win games. No one is there saying, wait a second. Chris Ballard isn't saying, like, let me tank for Arch or Shane Steigen. Like, these guys, especially with a new ownership group, you know, same family, but new people calling the shots. Like, everybody's on high alert to do whatever's best to make sure that they're there the next day. So, if they made the decision for Daniel Jones to be the guy, to me on the outside looking in, who isn't seeing the practice, the meetings, the walkthroughs, everything that's going on day to day, I just got to accept, okay, that's the reality.

2:19:46And now as a fan, you got to be optimistic about it. Now as a Colts fan, since Andrew Luck retired, it's been a revolving door. And even players have come out and spoken. It is frustrating not having that consistency and continuity at the quarterback position. But this guy came in. We've seen Baker Mayfield. We've seen Sam Darnold. We've seen Geno Smith go to other places, fresh starts, and become better players and kind of reach that potential. So that's the only thing you can hope for at this point. And he has the pieces around him. So, I mean, we got to see it. I understand Colts fans have been pissed.

2:20:15Draft the guy four overall. He doesn't pan out, but shit, it's a national football league. It is. The best man win. And I think there also is this piece to it where if you have Richardson starting and he struggles out of the gate as a fourth overall pick, this is reverse psychology, and he struggles mightily, and then Daniel Jones comes in. You're not going back to Richardson. In this case, Daniel Jones starts. All right, it doesn't work out. Now you've got your fourth overall pick. He had some time, and it's like, okay, now it's on your plate. Now it's your opportunity. It almost might benefit him if it doesn't work out for Jones out of the gates.

2:20:46Either way, whatever he was going to do on the field this year was going to be like his – it's like, hey, this is your last chance. You've got to prove whether or not you're going to be the guy. So if he doesn't start and then he gets an opportunity and he comes in and he wins, you know, he goes 5-1 or whatever and looks good, like, yeah, he might get that opportunity. But if he would have started and they start 0-4, like, he's done. He's not going to be the Colts quarterback. I don't like the shit from the agent either. Yeah. I don't like the shit coming out. Like, just shut up. It's already enough on Anthony Richardson's plate.

2:21:14It's already enough noise around him. It's going to be talked about. Whenever you're in a quarterback battle in National Football League, it's going to be a big story. We don't need to hear these side conversations with, oh, the trust and this and that. Because when I listen to Anthony Richardson talking, this is all through training camp, and then after Daniel Jones' name is started, he's saying all the right things. He's sounding more mature. He's sounding like he's learning. He's knowing. Hey, I just got to stay ready. You're one play away. So you don't want that outside noise of somebody that's representing you.

2:21:40you know oh we lost the trust and it's a lot to talk about it's like let him go to work and figure it out and when his number is called which inevitably it will be again maybe not in indianapolis you want him to go out there and show you know show what it is and that he can do on the field when he gets his shot nfc south is always going to be like they could always win the nfc south as good as the texans are like the colts like that division like you could compete in that afc south yeah afc south titans and jaguars are probably not there yet so like you look at the Colts, they have a lot of veteran pieces.

2:22:12They've got a good fan base. They've got a good home field advantage. To me, they should be competitive this year. Should be. Yeah, they've got a good fan base if they're in it by week 10. That's most fan bases. Did they bail that soon? Yes, but that's the thing. People are kind of sick of it because they're not going to do anything this year either way. Every week, the Giants would trot out, here's Chris Snee and Justin Tuck, and here's David Deal for the last 10 years. They do and let's honor the 07 and 2011 champions. It's 2025. The Colts are getting towards that maybe. We have a new quarterback.

2:22:47They're there. Here's Reggie Drain, and here's Edgerin James, and here's Pat McAfee, and we're really – we're still the Colts. But it's like, guys, we want to be relevant now. Yeah. And they are still there, it feels like.

2:22:59Darius Butler:It's been a decade since they won the division. Yeah. Is that right? Yeah, they haven't won the division since like before. I think it was before Andrew Luck. Or did Andrew win rookie year? We won multiple divisions. Okay, okay. I don't know. I don't know. See? Those have to be road playoff games, right? 2014 was the last time. They beat the Chiefs in the playoffs in the wild card. Big comeback. Yeah, and then they beat the Broncos. Broncos. In a divisional. In Denver. In Denver. And then they got shit pumped in New England. We got cheated, but, you know. With Andrew Luck as quarterback? Yes. That was the year.

2:23:33That was the deployment. Dequel Jackson gets the pick. Gets the ball over. Okay, yes. 38-10. Yes. I took a piss next to Ryan Grigson in the press box that game. And I'm like, I'm sorry, bro. And he's like, yeah, fuck it. Shut up. Shut up, Prager. It's a good game at halftime. I like Grigson. Oh, yeah. I thought he was going to get some opportunities. Where's he at, Minnesota? Minnesota. They've got a good front office there. He's a ginormous. He'll probably come back home next year. Kweci Adolfo Mensah looks like Wood Harris right now. He looks like Julian Campbell. He's got the mustache. He's got the mustache.

2:24:04I haven't seen the mustache. I haven't seen the mustache. Yeah, it's pretty good. I saw it and I said, holy shit, that's Avon Barksdale. That's it. I like the wire. He's been piecing together quite the roster. He has. They have. Vikings are loaded. It's just if this kid's good. Yep. Big question. I don't know. Find out. Gonna find out early. Mad Dog had a take on Michigan. They think they know the dames. That's a good point. You ain't know the dames. Is that what he was mad about today? Yeah. Oh, he does. That they think they're like, that they have this, and AJ's obvious to Ohio State, but like Michigan gets this penalty and Michigan still carries themselves.

2:24:34Like they're above it all. and there's some class thing. Like, no, you just got penalized. AJ Hawk, if you'd like to comment. I mean, I don't know. It's all that matters between the lines. We don't talk about T.T. U.N., bro. They paid that kid$10 million?

2:24:53Darius Butler:Apparently. Did they? Over what? How many years do you think he has to stay to get all$10 million? I don't know. $10 million? Three? How many years? And they've got – He's there. Larry Ellison and his lady are just funding everything now. It's cool. It's something. It'd be probably a good time to go to Michigan. Michigan's great. Yeah, right, AJ? Right, AJ? Which part? What's great? They're a good football team. They're a great football team. I'm not denying that. They were. I don't have any desire to go, but yes, they are. I respect them. I have never been to an Ohio State game. Really? Yeah.

2:25:31You got to try it. Come on, man. Went to the pro day a couple times, but I've never been to a game. I went to Michigan a few times. That big house is awesome.

2:25:40Darius Butler:You should go week one, Texas. Week one, Texas. And that's on Saturday, noon? Yep. That'd be the one to go to. Might be something to think about. Who's their cupcake in week two or three? I like seeing a win. Miami, Ohio. They do play. They play Grambling. They play Grambling? I know Ohio is also on the schedule, too. Ohio, the Bobcats? That's who I'm thinking of. Athens. It's one of their only home games. That's a night game. Quick trivia. Who's the greatest college basketball player out of the University of Ohio? Clark Kellogg's boy. Yeah, Clark. Tim Kerchigan. Tim Kerchigan. Wally Zerbiak, Miami of Ohio.

2:26:20Gary Trent, the Shaq of the Mac. Gary Trent. Hey, buddy. Tim Kerchigan. You didn't have that one. That was Timmy K. We're leaking gas here, guys. Timmy K played at Duke. Yeah. Who did? He was Bobby Hurley before Bobby Hurley. Okay. Tim Kirchner actually is the one that threw the pass to Leitner. No. Jay Billis? No. No, it was Grant Hill, but I understand how you could make that mistake. Did Tim Kirchner really go to Duke, or he's just BSing? No, we just have a picture of him just fucking driving by Cal Ripken Jr. to the cup. Straight up hooping. Yeah, had no idea that Tim Kirchner was a grade A hooper.

2:26:55He is. Good ball. Yeah. That's it. All right, so Texas, Ohio State, week one, LSU, Clemson. Look at that. Lefty? Looks like Jerry Seinfeld. He does. What did he say again? You rich, I teach. You rich, I teach. Yeah, and Cal Ripken Jr. was like, shit, he's right. He actually does. He actually does teach. He nutmegged him right after this. I like Cal's kicks. Both of those. Throwback. Cal's wearing jeans? What's he got on? Those are sweats.

2:27:23Darius Butler:Those are definitely old school. You know how we had the swishy pants in gym class. You slid on the floor of the burn bar. Cal's sweating his ass off. Yeah, Kershyn's giving him that work.

2:27:34and walter walter ios jr is like the most famous photographer ever sports illustrated all the ali covers like that's the guy so he took the photo that's pretty cool kirtan's got that yeah

2:27:44Darius Butler:that's timmy k that's up in the office for learn something new every day i love that we're gonna start tomorrow's show with walter ios jr talk all his top 10 greatest si covers so we'll see. It's good. All right. That's what we got. Great job, Craig. You were fucking awesome. Do you know how we end? No. Tell me. I've never watched the full ending. You say team on me, team on three, one, two, three, team. Team on me. A little juice to it. Your normal juice. Team on me, team on three, one, two, three, two. I like how you started the show. Team on me. team on three don't make a fucking mockery out of it right now you're making a fucking mockery out of it and we do this every single fucking day team on me team on three one two three I love it sorry thank you

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