Around The NFC In 48 Minutes

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The Heed the Call Podcast

could defeat a gorilla in exactly 48 minutes.

No problem.

We got that.

Welcome to Heed the Call.

Dan Hansis, Mark Sessler here.

Yes, 48 minutes, not a random number.

It is part two of our annual look at the entire

picture of professional football.

We'll go around the ANFC in exactly 48 minutes.

But before we do, Seth,

before we do, I gotta just hit on something real quick.

So I don't really know where it fits in otherwise, so let's just talk about it now.

Okay.

You know, we all have regrets in our life, right?

It always gets.

Well, speak for yourself.

Yeah, I was going to say, well, maybe.

You know, we all do.

And the people that don't always say they don't get on my nerves.

I live life with no regrets.

Well, I can assure you i have i have some regrets that was um that was people that say that things like that are like the feeble-minded or overly medicated or they're like a paul brother like everybody has regrets and i want to say to you mark you will have such regret if you do not in this moment in time

help bill belichek

Your Bill Belichick connection, anyone that listens to this show knows how deep it goes.

You idolized the man as a coach on the Cleveland Browns.

You wrote him letters.

You wrote a long form on NFL.com

detailing your admiration for him and the Browns and that correspondence that you had with him or his executive assistant.

Well, sure.

You've never actually had real one-on-one communication with Bill Belichick.

I thought we might, speaking of regrets, thought we might.

He worked with us for a very brief time.

No longer the case.

Now he's at UNC as the coach.

And Bill's in the news right now.

And can we play?

He was on CBS this morning.

There's an interview that has really kicked up a little bit of a hornet's nest in Belichick World.

The other change for Belichick is 24-year-old Jordan Hudson, his creative muse, as he writes in his book.

Make sure that that's the

Jordan was a constant presence during our interview.

You have Jordan right over there.

How did you guys meet?

Not talking about this.

No?

No.

It's a topic neither one of them is comfortable commenting on.

Though Hudson has recently posted about it on Instagram.

Yeah, so and then in the athletic just today, in fact,

or on Wednesday, I should say, headline.

Bill Belchekcoma Girlfriend ended UNC's hard knock stallions as fast as it began.

Why?

You know, remember that 2000s movie, Saving Silverman, Mark?

Yeah.

Oh, yeah.

Yeah, they go and they try to save the guy from American Pie from Amanda Pete.

I think

you can save Bill, but you just got to get in touch with him.

No regrets, buddy.

Find him and talk to him.

Well, I guess the, and I, in my heart, I'd want to save the Bill Belichick I thought I knew previous to some of this.

There is clearly a barricade between me and Bill Belichick.

We've learned that.

So it would take an enormous amount of cunning and work.

Beyond Jordan Hudson.

Yeah.

Well, I mean, I think that would be part of the barricade.

Like, I think we're not, she's, there are, you know, there are stories out there previous to this news, this news interview here that's slightly difficult.

And so

I come at this from a couple different angles because I think like up in the air, like people can fall in love and vary from different backgrounds,

different ages.

But I would say this, like,

Bill Belichick's sort of cue rating and what we thought about Bill Belichick has changed so drastically in the last couple months.

Um, that would be my major concern for him.

I think we need to

de-emphasize

her a little bit, this photo with the beach thing.

Like,

am I wrong here?

It's like, I believe that human positive.

I'm not wrong here.

I'm asking you to literally save him.

I mean, this relationship.

I don't like anything I'm hearing about it.

I'm very concerned about

her effect on him.

We've all been down this road.

We've all had this type of situation.

I'm very concerned.

All right, let's welcome in.

Yeah.

Let's welcome in our

fellow

hedonists, our heed the callers, Jordan Rodrigue, Michael Sean Dugar.

Jordan,

I'm worried about Bill.

Tell me I'm wrong.

Tell me why I need to calm down with my feelings about this.

I feel very strongly.

Want to just take a brief moment to say

I speak as a Jordan with a you.

Okay.

And in fact, if you could please address me so that we have the Jordan with a you energy throughout the show as the like the dominating force of energy of Jordan on the show.

I would appreciate that.

Okay.

That's fair.

You know what?

Actually, this is a little takey.

I understand that.

But

I think he's acting the same as he always has because he was like this with Linda, wasn't he?

I mean, she ran.

I mean, I would not be surprised if she was the one writing you letters, Mark.

Like, she was

pre-Linda, I can promise you.

She was, I know, she was like running, she was running the charity.

She was doing, she was very involved in sort of the, the management of the Belichick brand and his life and all of that.

She just didn't have an Instagram account and she wasn't 24.

And does this not feel a little heightened?

Is this not a little heightened?

But that's what I'm saying.

I think it's, I don't, I don't know the extent of what that was.

I mean, I, I got to say, I didn't study it too closely at the time.

And I'm not actually studying this too closely either, except it's everywhere.

You can't, you can't avoid it.

But I have, in talking with people who have been in that market for a really long time, because this is all anyone want, we're all talking about it, that like it's the, it's the same.

Right.

It's just heightened

perception-wise because of the heightened perception of his job now in the NIL world and the recruiting world.

And then also the perception of somebody who actively runs very public-facing social media branding is very out there in the world.

Where, whereas I can't recall, you guys will have to help me with this, but Linda was not that way.

But people in that market are saying it is very similar to how

it's Mike.

Let me just add this, that

we had been hearing whispers about this situation behind the scenes for months and months without getting into too many details, but we knew that there was something percolating.

And here's, I think, the problem.

Like, I don't know if Linda was qualified to be doing what she was doing, but this woman apparently is not qualified for being as hands-on as she is in all facets of his life and career.

And I still, I think Mark should save him.

Mike, what do you think?

Two things.

This movie reference, one, it reminds me a little bit of one of the subplots in the movie, Breaking All the Rules.

It stars Jamie Fox,

Morris Chestnut, Gabrielle Union.

But also in the movie is like this, I forget the actress's name, but like young chick taking advantage of like the old rich guy is one of the subplots of the movie.

This feels very much like that.

Like she, he just was hypnotized by her.

He couldn't break up with her, which is part of the theme of the movie.

This feels very much like that.

The other thing is, when I think about that, now I'm wondering, Dan,

I'm going back and forth on who's taking advantage of who.

Is it Bill taking advantage of

her or is it the other way around?

I was really at first like

Bill to her.

And now I'm just like, oh, she may be just like a hustler.

Like she's

coming across as someone who's playing the long game, which is a little weird, but kind of normal over here in America.

And so I can respect it a little bit because that's a real hard long game to play.

And she looks like she's about to win it.

And my last comment, I'll throw it to you, Mark, is a little bit weird for her to shut down a very high-profile interview with we're not talking about details of our private life when she's literally posting photos in a mermaid outfit with Bill Bill Belichick in front of the ocean.

There's some things that to me that are in standing in opposition of one another and walking the red carpets and being very much enjoying being the girlfriend of Bill Belichick.

Scorpion woman, in my opinion.

Mark, final word to you.

There is an incongruous nature to the way that I think the thing is, it's very clear.

She feels uncomfortable with him speaking verbally about anything having to do with their relationship.

And so it's like, you can't speak, but I'll control all the social media.

There are some red flags.

I'm going to be honest.

I sense some red flags on the horizon.

But also, it's like, Bill Belichick, you've been grinding in football since like the 70s.

I guess my other thing would be like, go do what you want.

We can be concerned.

And I think there is a fair amount of concern.

But I guess if you're Bill Belichick, you go do what you want.

You want me to stop him, though?

I hope he's doing what he wants.

And I want you to save him.

There's a photo of them.

I think you guys showed it.

That's they're on the beach

doing some sort of like yoga ladies thing.

Well, it's what you do with a newborn.

I don't

think he seems to me like a man in need of much help in that photo, particularly.

That's fair.

He seems to be enjoying himself.

So,

you know, two adults, you know,

two adults in a consensual relationship.

They are adults.

Okay.

He's

senior.

He's senior.

He's a senior adult.

All right.

And listen, there was no easy way to fit that into the show, but I had to have the conversation.

And it's that important because Belchek, as much as I detest what he did to my sports fan experience, is part of my football life.

And, you know, now we pivot, hard pivot around the NFC.

A lot of great feedback.

Brandon Perna

joining us, killing it on the AFC side.

Two fun facts here before we spin in.

Jordan and Mike, the first episode we did as a Foresome was around the NFC in 48 Minutes back in August.

That's kind of cool.

Jordan, a year ago,

before Around the NFL's life was snuffed out of its soul, you,

you, my dear, were making your debut in the Chris Wesling podcast studio.

I'm pooping my pants.

Yeah.

I was

nervous.

Not that I could tell.

I was so dang nervous.

That was, we were texting about that this morning, Dan.

Oh, my God.

I was so stinking.

I don't know how you guys like dealt with my energy.

Like, you had to sit next to me.

I was like radiating anxiety.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

You did.

But you did great.

Yeah.

Like people were like, you don't need to be nervous.

You did great.

And it's, it's the big reason why you're here now because you, you made a great first impression.

Now.

Let's get into it.

And Mike, you made a great first impression too.

Oh, thanks, Dan.

Let's get into it.

Actually, Mike was on the show before Jordan.

That's true.

He said, I believe during COVID times to some degree.

This young Seattle has some juice to him.

All right, let's get into it.

Start with the NFC East.

Everyone knows the rules by now.

Everyone knows the rules by now.

Three minutes.

Do not go over the three-minute allotment.

Everybody takes turns setting up a team, and it just so happens that I will get things going, setting up a team that people probably don't think I should set up but I'm doing it anyway.

Here we go.

Now sound the horn.

I want to use my time here to clarify my position on the defending champions because there are misconceptions.

In the past I've taken issues with the general temperament of the head coach.

most intoxicated man at a papa roach concert energy

and the national media

And the national media's cloying and homogenous treatment of the general manager, though that hero worship proved to be justified last year.

But I have nothing but respect for the big picture here.

This is a wonderful roster of players, and I fully expect them to weather the losses of Milton Williams and Makai Bechton in the trenches and get

plus production from first-round pick Jihad Campbell.

I admire the Eagles' operation the way Bobby Baklava venerated Junior Soprano.

What are you looking at?

I'm in awe of you.

I am.

Thank you, Eagles.

Don't you think that the seed, I want to, I'm going to see how this goes, Dan, and I'll say this quickly because when Jihad Campbell under Vic Fangio works out perfectly and it kind of proves that the Eagles' roster in its current state allows them to take chances on players and have them fall to them perfectly and take on more risks than other teams because of what they built already.

I do think that's still going to rankle you to some degree.

I can see

that

misconception.

Well, I just, I just made, I couldn't make my point more clear.

Like, they're a bit what, as I'm going through this exercise, the first thing I do, I find some of the beat writers and I read and I go through the rosters, updated rosters.

And Jordan, this roster is stellar.

And I know the offensive coordinator is

gone, got a head coaching job.

Elling Moore.

And

if history repeats itself, the last time that happened, their offense kind of hit the bricks.

So we'll see.

We'll see on that.

But Fangio's back.

This roster's back.

They're going to be really good again, I think.

Yeah, they did have to replace two coordinators.

Last time they totally imploded with that post-Super Bowl run burnout situation that happened to them.

And I think this roster is deeper now, actually, and more complete.

So maybe the spine of it won't shatter if they try to go for a repeat led by my quarterback, Jalen Hurts.

And I feel like this is an interesting fit for Jihad Campbell because like it's one of those picks where like as pick by pick pass down the board, he was one of my favorite players in the draft because I think he's outstanding.

And I know teams were really worried about that injury.

And the Eagles.

for a variety of reasons, don't have certain red flags that they just put on players where they do a lot of that research and they come up with different results than other teams.

And as the picks started falling off the board, I feel like 31 other teams were watching this guy fall and going, oh, frick.

Howie Roseman's coming.

That's it.

Three.

And he was trying to move up and he got him anyway.

You don't like to burn a timeout early, but I'm going to use one.

That's like two minutes into the first quarter.

The Eagles went to the White House.

Take it away, Mr.

President.

We also have to recognize the Eagles' head of security.

You know, this is a guy.

They say he loves Trump.

This is a guy, and I had Saquon give him a big, beautiful hat last night because I've been hearing about this guy.

He likes Trump.

His name is Dominic DeSandro Big Dom, and he's sort of a legend.

Maybe this makes its way into the next edition of Silver Horses, Mark.

Well, we'll see.

There's a lot of rich content to mine.

They say he loves Strump.

Are you surprised at all?

No, I am not.

Mike, anything to add on this before we move on to the Commanders?

Oh, Justin's going to get a lot of great use out of that drop.

Oh, my goodness.

Particularly as it pertains to Saquon

and maybe the Bosa brothers, brothers, but definitely Saquon.

I think you got to get Mark saying it.

They say he loves Trump.

You have to get Mark saying it as the impression, and then that will be the drop.

Oh, yeah, that could work too.

Mark, you have time to work on that as we watch Saquon get off Marine 1, I believe it's called the helicopter.

All right, I have no other, I have no other public comments about it, but Big Dom.

Big moment for Big Dom at the big house.

Let's head to,

speaking of Washington, the Commanders with the Sess Dog.

What a hot year they had, the Commanders, because you go from like complete dark nothingness to one of football's, I think, sexiest operations right now from where we stand.

And so, how do you keep it going?

Um, that's the big question.

Because they didn't have the flashiest draft, they only have five picks, and at first, that's how you get ranked down low in the power rankings of like the drafts.

But why?

Um, because they traded for Laramie Tunsell and for Debo Samuel, and they grabbed in the first round a big tackle, Josh Connolly out of Oregon in round one.

He is the future left tackle, and he may not play right away left, obviously, with Laramie Tunsell, but he can play right tackle too.

And what I love about Washington in general is that this is what you do in the NFC East and really across the league, but you just keep adding big bullies up front.

And I like their draft for that reason with what they had to pick.

They also took a really good interesting corner in Trey Amos.

And the other thing is, this is what they did last year.

They re-signed a bunch of the veterans.

who made that locker room work and helped transform that team.

So all of this is really about Jaden Daniels now that you've got him.

And I would ask you, Mike, some people, I hear little whispers like this is a regression candidate.

Like it's not going to go as well.

It simply can't.

You're not going to have Hail Marys and something can't go as perfectly as it did last year.

Do you say regression target be damned?

Are you buying into that?

Yeah, I think, well, first off, Josh Connolly Jr.

from South Seattle, by the way.

Shout out to Seattle.

Shout out to hometown, Rainier Beach High School.

Anyway, I think you'll probably regress a little bit on offense just, you know, because defensive coordinators get paid too.

You know, you give them an offseason to really look at you like these guys are sickos, man.

They will spend time away from their families to make sure they can stop Jaden Daniels.

I mean, the good coordinators will do that anyway.

The bad parents, I guess, but good coordinators.

What I do think, though, is how they can be better despite that regression is just a better defense.

Their defense quietly was just kind of whatever last year, and they got exposed in a few games, but in particular, the last game against the Eagles,

did they give up like 60 or something like that?

like they were just getting smoked and so i think if their defense is better they can be a much better they can be even better team even if i do think their offense will take a step back let me set it up to you jordan like this because what a difference a year makes we just talked about your first episode with us was on this show and in that exercise we started the convo by saying whether a bad offensive line and a suspect cliff kingsbury would doom jaden daniels in his rookie year well that didn't happen and and my my takeaway from this all and kind of connected to mark is yes I agree that everything makes sense on paper, adding the veteran left tackle, the wide receiver, using first-round pick on another offensive lineman.

But I am in that group that wonders if this was simply a good, promising team that got hot last winter rather than a true juggernaut in the NFC.

Well, I think offense doesn't lie.

If you can score points, you're going to have a shot.

So I think some of this makes sense.

I don't like moving a tackle to the other side immediately, but I like the rest of their picks.

They had to do what they could with what little picks they had.

Fair.

You like that.

Gave me 11 seconds.

And you absolutely nailed it.

That was smooth.

Good job.

A lot of commanders in Washington, D.C.

in the Pentagon.

Yeah, that's why it's stuck, Joe Theisman.

The Dallas Cowboys with Michael Sean Dugar.

All right, so the Cowboys kind of fall into a bucket of teams that I feel are disproportionately counting on improved coaching more than an improved roster to kind of get them to the promised land, which is pretty dangerous.

They were quiet as usual in free agency, but had it, and but you know, they had a decent draft, but nothing.

I expect to be a bunch of uh difference makers, which is unfortunate because we just talked about two teams that represented the NFC in the title game in their own division, which is kind of scary.

Um, as you guys know, I'm a big Brian Schottenheimer guy.

I think he's going to do well, um, but it does feel like Jerry Jones he likes tells people he wants to win, um, but also maybe secretly feels like it's just more fun if you just get the Cowboys fans' hopes up every year and then just let them down and just let that cycle keep going.

Do you guys know, you know, the meme of like, it's like one of the versions of Spider-Man, it's Toby Maguire, and he's like got the webs coming out of both arms and he's holding the train back and is like straining as hard as he can.

To me, that's Will McClay and the draft every year for the Cowboys versus everything else that happens around the Cowboys constantly over the rest of the calendar year.

I did like this draft class a lot for them.

I think that, yes, we're going to go into the offseason once again talking about large ticket items like Micah Parsons and the contract and all of those things.

But quietly, I do think that this team did get better at a couple positions they needed to get better at, minus maybe running back, which is still a curiosity to me.

But Tyler Booker, I love that pick.

I think that his physicality and then his captain qualities and his leadership, R.

Dane Brugler, who does great work at the athletic,

had this great write-up for Tyler Booker that I encourage people to read about, just some of the things, ways he motivated teammates.

I think that'll be good for everybody, including Micah Parsons, to kind of get along with a player like that and to kind of...

raise the floor of this team.

And I agree with you, Mike, that they are relying a lot on Schottenheimer coming in and fixing a lot of things because they didn't give him a running back still.

Dan, I will ask you this because there was this like Jerry Jones promising that they were working on significant trades around the draft.

And my thought was like, is that possibly like a Micah Parsons to go up and change the world didn't happen, but like Cortland Sutton was whispered, but is that just Jerry Jones whistling Dixie or did they just not pull these things off?

Well, I think a lot of teams probably have designs of maybe big moves and they pick up the phone, but Jared just talks about it.

Jared won't stop talking.

He needs to share everything.

And what I guess he hasn't learned that when you talk like that and then you don't do it, it just creates more disappointment for a franchise and a fan base that's kind of sick of being disappointed at this stage.

I hate saying this, we say it too much on the show, but I trust the Cowboys.

I trust their drafting ability.

And so the players that they added, all I expect them to be good players.

But yeah, I'm annoyed as somebody that had like CeeDee Lamb in fantasy last year.

Who else can scare you on that offense, really?

That has an effect.

What a sound.

I heard this song in the grocery store in full the other day, and I stopped in my tracks and looked up at the ceiling like, whoa.

I mean, is there anything better than a grocery store playlist?

It's like, oh, it makes you think, what would it be like to be like an overworked mom in 1992?

Like, just like turning the radio on in front of the kitchen.

All right.

The G-Man, which George.

As a matter of fact, I wanted to be a coach.

I don't think we were allowed to have credit cards at that time.

So probably some things were better than that.

Okay, the Giants.

I said to you guys prior to the draft that I believed Brian Dable wanted to go get a quarterback who could help him showcase his coaching and development ability as he's in danger of losing that reputation after the last couple years in New York.

I think that's a big reason why we're going to see Jackson Dart.

potentially play way earlier than the normal on-ramp when you have quarterbacks who are veteran quarterbacks, such as Russell Wilson and Jameis Winston, also around him.

I do still have big questions about this offense.

But on the converse, I really loved their plan for their defensive line.

They went with some cool pairings in the draft by picking Darius Alexander in the third round.

He'll play alongside Dexter Lawrence.

So they went with real size there and dynamic ability.

Both guys can rush the passer.

And then they matched that on the outsides with pure speed in Brian Burns and Abdul Carter.

And the Giants picked up Kayvon Thibodeau, friend of the program, his fifth year option.

But it is very much still, he is on notice.

And this is a a prove-it year for him because I don't think he's a secure starting role anymore.

And I do think that he could be the third rusher and a strong one in this rotation.

But he is very much on notice, I think, for the long-term future.

They picked up his fifth-year option.

If you said that already, I apologize.

So they are at least, they believe he could finally fulfill the promise of being like a superstar edge guy for them.

But yeah, maybe now his role is going to be different.

Yeah,

again, Mike, with this stuff, I get, I don't like to get too caught up in it because if Jackson Dart can play, this is awesome.

They absolutely hammered this draft.

And Abdul Carter, if he turns out to be what everybody thinks he is, but we're not going to know.

But I think they put themselves from where they were, put it this way, from where they were a couple of months ago.

And I'm like, what are these guys doing at quarterback?

Now I see the plan.

Everything makes a little more sense.

And if you're a Giants fan, there's a reason to be excited.

Yeah, Jackson was one of the quarterbacks I watched ahead of the draft.

I was not a big fan of his.

I just felt like his problem solving wasn't great.

It was just like, if someone's not open, I'm just going to take off and run.

Good athlete, though.

And also the Jackson thing, right?

If he can play, this is great.

But what I think, why I didn't like them signing Russell Wilson is because remember how Russ came into the league.

He was a third-round pick,

but he saw Tavares Jackson and Matt Flynn, who they had just paid, as like, he respected them as veterans, but was like, I'm going to take your guy's job by Labor Day.

And he did.

So how's he going to view Jackson as the kid coming for his job by Labor Day or whatever?

And

Russ is going to try to light it up.

And Russ isn't a bum, right?

He's going to look great in training camp throwing on air.

So I think this is a situation that can get messy where the coach, like Dable, like Jordan alluded to, really wants to play the young kid, but maybe he's not giving them the best chance because Russ looks great in camp.

Maybe the owner has to get involved.

Like the Giants are dysfunctional.

They kind of put themselves in a spot where they could be good, but also this could be messy like we've seen with New York teams time and time again.

Well, they also had

a top three draft, I think.

And don't forget, like, Cam Scatabo is an interesting running back to pair with Tyrone Tracy.

Like, they hit a lot of different areas.

No devils.

Maybe.

Maybe.

I'll take a dart here because I just want to put it right in me.

Put it inside me.

To your point, Mike, I'm watching the Knicks, you know, who are grinding out this playoff series against the Pistons.

I'm not feeling good about anything.

But, you know, they're at the Garden.

One of the best things about MSG, especially in the spring, is like celebrity row and they're showing everybody and everyone's there.

I mean, every New York celebrity and then a bunch of star athletes, including both the quarterbacks of the Giants and the Jets.

So Justin Fields, he's looking good.

He's looking clean.

And then there's Russell Wilson and he's wearing the dark shades and the, you know, the really expensive outfit and carrying himself as that alpha guy.

And it's like, wait, that's not even the guy that's, is he even the quarterback of this team?

Like he's carrying himself.

And that's okay.

Of Of course, he's.

He's Russell Wilson.

He's a borderline Hall of Famer.

He's going to carry himself like I'm the face of the Giants next to Justin Fields, who's ostensibly the face of the Jets right now.

But is he even that?

And how will he handle this against some kid from Utah with like a low-temper fade?

The answer is not well, Dan.

I can tell you that.

How will we handle it?

He's gapping up Jalen Brunson after playoff wins.

No, he's not just going to take a back seat to Jackson Dart.

I can tell you that right now.

Let's go.

Let's ride, baby.

It's on my radar a little bit, by the way, that like I've seen eight quarterbacks at the NBA playoffs have to stand and turn around from the front row and whip the football.

It's like everyone's doing the same thing.

Like Caleb Williams, it's like eight of these guys in like a two-week period where it's like, we're all basics in the end.

We get it, though.

Throw it out to the NBA.

What would you like them to do?

Well, maybe none of it, but like Russell Wilson looked kind of, that was like one of the cool things.

No fun allowed.

No, but

that was one of the cooler things that Russell Wilson did when I saw it.

And he didn't know, like back then, it was like he was the quarterback for a New York minute.

I'll tell you what you guys go and watch Kelsey Plum rocket a t-shirt into the stands at one of these games.

She should maybe she'll be the New York Giants quarterback when all is said and done.

Keep your options open, Justin.

All right, we're going to do the same thing we did around the AFC.

We're going to build out a underdog pick'em entry by pulling one play from each division.

And my NFC East.

I see the dollar signs in Dugar's eyes right now.

It's like, what, what, money play?

Yeah, mine too.

I'd love to hear Mike's thoughts on each of these.

But Malik Neighbors, his higher-lower receiving yards is 1,174.5.

He was at 12.04 last year with a myriad of bad quarterback play.

I can't imagine he has a worse season, so I'm banging the higher on Malik Neighbors' receiving yards.

Yeah, I love that.

I love that in particular, especially if Jameis has to play any more than like three games.

I don't think he will, but that's how you hit it over is you play with Jameis Winston as a receiver.

Oh, such a great call.

Because you know what?

That there will be a guaranteed, whether they win the game or not, or whatever, there will be a game where Jameis Winston and Malik Neighbors connect for 214 yards.

Absolutely.

And right away, like you build that into one of the games out of 17.

All of a sudden, now you just have to hit like, what, 60 yards a game?

It's Josh Gordon.

Like, I mean, it doesn't matter how the team's doing.

All right.

Let's move on.

By the way, I played the ticket on the AFC

on my underdog app, and I'm going to do the same with the NFC.

So let's win some money.

Let's get Lil Susie the braces.

To the NFC North with the Detroit Lions and Michael Sean Dugar.

All right.

So the Lions roster kind of reminds me of that scene in Avengers, Endgame, where Captain America thinks it's over.

They're going to have to fight to the death.

And then all the homies come back from the dead.

And then they obviously go win.

F kind of feels like I guess Dan Campbell would be Captain America in this, where he's getting all his injured players back in theory.

They all come back from having, you know, being snapped away by Thanos.

Because I went and looked at their final

roster from their game, the last game they played.

And it's like, dog, who are these guys?

Like, they're pulling random dudes off the street to play meaningful football.

So now that they got their pieces back in theory healthy, I really think like this is a beast of a roster.

And as long as the injury bug doesn't bite them again, like this is just as good.

You mentioned Dan, if the Eagles roster is loaded, I think the Lions roster is just as good, and they should be in the Super Bowl.

Anything less is a disappointment to me.

And Dan, you're going to like this.

I was looking at the athletics write-up.

They called it a Dan Campbelly weekend, the draft, after I said.

One click away from Lions.

It feels like there's an understanding here.

Because Tyleek Williams is massive.

They took two offensive linemen.

You're 6'7 and 6'6.

and a 6'4 wide receiver.

Like, this is what the Lions are, like, we're just going to get bigger, stronger, and destroy people left and right.

Here it is.

The reason why you nailed that in the mock, in the mark draft, and why you just heard that is, Jordan, the Lions have what every team wants, which is a true identity.

So it's probably easier to identify the right guys when you know what you are and no one knows what they are more than the Detroit Lions.

Yes.

And the way that they combine that identity with their draft strategy, I think Brad Holmes and Dan Campbell have done masterfully, which is they go and get their guys and they make them work because that top-tier communication between the coaching staff and the front office about everything going from the scheme and development plan to the draft strategy itself that works because they know what each other wants.

And forgive me, Ahmed Hassanin, if I butchered your name, but he had a video where he told Dan Campbell, like he's willing to die on the football field for him.

Isaac Tesla,

he is basically like this like stocky, like power slot kind of player.

And it's it's one of those things where these guys have types, they do, and it's working.

Um, this is a big reason.

And again, another draft that that felt like very Dan Cambly, very lions-y, very Brad Holmesy.

Um, this is another draft that is reiterates the reason why I did put the lions in my power rankings at number one because of the guys they get they're getting back and also the way they're

continuing to add to their identity, which is super important.

Oh, I didn't rant long enough.

Damn, now you had the get there.

The one time I shut up.

These guys have

a good potential drop, though.

I like them.

Sometimes the person ends it so beautifully.

We just got to enjoy it.

The one time I needed to shut up.

I love this exercise so much because I know it just ties Rodriguez up in knots.

There's just

a lot of cooking in the old dome.

All right, moving on up next is the Minnesota Vikings with Mark Sessler.

This is, I just did the commitment.

This is another team that had one pick in the top 100, but I really like what they did in general.

Like Brian Flores' defense adds Jonathan Allen, Javon Hargrave.

They re-signed Andrew Van Genkel for an extension.

The offense adds a big guard in Will Fries and a center in Ryan Kelly and Francis.

And all it really is, they kept Aaron Jones, like all it really is, right, is Kevin O'Connell, even though he did a most incredible job with Sam Donald a year ago, he's got to double down and do it again with J.J.

McCarthy.

It has to be a parallel move.

There can't be a big drop off at quarterback.

And it's like, I love it because this coaching staff is fascinating.

They've got a great front office.

And it all boils down to turning this young quarterback into a ready-to-go starter right away.

Otherwise, you got problems.

Yeah.

Isn't it interesting, too, like that

we haven't talked about how much pressure Kevin O'Connell's under?

And it's not, it wasn't all his decision, but I'm sure he had a voice in the room.

We knew he admired and really loved coaching Sam Darnold.

Darnold, but if Darnold goes to Seattle and balls out and then the kid stumbles and the Vikings come down, that's going to be kind of a referendum on the whole organization and their decision making at the game's most important position, Mike.

Yeah, although, yes, 100%.

And it's very rare we get those like super obvious one-for-one swaps we can compare.

You know, I think of like the Justin Jefferson, Stephon Diggs, like, oh, we got rid of him, swapped him with him.

You know, you can do those one-to-ones.

And yeah, the Vikings one at quarterback is going to be interesting.

It kind of extends to the Raiders as well.

You know, who's going to be the best quarterback?

JJ McCarthy, Sam Darnold, Geno Smith, you know, teams chose one over the other.

I'm actually very fascinated by that because like Sam, I've been watching a lot of Sam Darnold film during the season and afterwards, reluctantly, still not in the hive.

Like he was fine.

It's coming.

You know, like there's a it's a high bar, I think, for JJ to have to reach, you know, for a team that, what did they win 14 games last year?

Like if they're just like a frisky wild card at 10 and whatever or 11 wins, I can see the franchise being really upset.

That's a step back.

And if JJ has to do with that because he didn't hit whatever level he's supposed to, you know, that's a really upsetting season, I would imagine, in a division that's going to be just hard as hell again.

One of the things that really bit them in the ass last year and especially hurt Sam Darnold on that hot streak that he was on was when their offensive line started dealing with injuries, when their offensive line just started falling below the par of what they were supposed supposed to be playing at, especially to protect a quarterback who's really only throwing intermediate to long range passes and there's not a lot of outlets naturally built in for him in that offense.

So I like the Donovan Jackson pick because he kind of unlocks your left side.

He could play tackle if you need him to.

That's where he played at Ohio State, but he also can play left guard.

So he sort of like allows you to have not just a starter, but a backup at either of those two positions.

And the interior is going to be absolutely crucial for a diminutive frame J.J.

McCarthy.

They spent over $100 million to add Ryan Kelly at Center, Guard Will Fries.

And I love the Jordan Mason move.

Love it.

Wasn't that Dan just making a transition?

Is that a dart-worthy?

No, I deserve the dart.

It was fair dart.

Yeah, that mark caught that one.

Ooh, right in the neck.

Right in the old esophagus.

Sticking up for our host.

Doesn't work with the pressure.

I appreciated it, though, yeah.

But as we know, Justin, he completely oversteps his boundaries with that weapon.

Every

time.

Sorry.

That was more on you, Jordan, to perceive it as well.

That was a perv.

All right, let's move on to the Green Bay Packers.

You know, I think the Packers secretly agreed with the sentiment of many, myself included.

I think Mike, too, if I recall.

The roster lacked a true alpha at wide receiver.

I expected them to make an aggressive play

for Devontae or DK, somebody like that.

But instead, they did what they always do.

They look to grow their superstars inside their own tank.

So enter first-round pick Matthew Golden, one of two wideouts green bay takes in the first three rounds last weekend.

The depth chart now, in addition to Golden and Savion Williams, includes Romeo Dobbs, McColl Hardman, McColl Hardman, Jaden Reed, Christian Watson, Dantavian Wicks.

Is there a true star in the mix here?

Does there need to be, Jordan?

I think it's Matthew Golden, honestly, because I think that he can do so many different things in this offense that he doesn't necessarily have the size and the build that we're used to seeing in a prototypical like a Mike Evans or the ones that we kind of all came up with and admire.

But also like he's a motion player.

He's a space manipulator.

Like he can align from a variety of spots.

He's got game-changing speed and he separates and is such a sure target.

with his catch radius, but also his hands.

He was my receiver one, actually, in this draft class.

And Mike, you'll be happy to know Kyle Williams was not far behind.

And I think that this is such an important player for Jordan Love because he's going to be like a security blanket, but he's also going to unlock a lot of the pre-snap shifts and the motions and a lot of the different like space things that.

Matt LaFleur does want to and like to do before the snap that continues to create areas of the field to get the ball to the receivers for the quarterback.

So I really do think we might see, I guess, this fantasy football advice, Matthew Golden spam the over, I don't, the, I mean, the higher, right?

Yes, nailed it.

But into Dan's question, like, I think LaFleur felt like they lacked that guy because they spent two draft picks on wide receivers.

So Golden is that guy.

And like, I think the only problem is there's way too many mouths to feed here.

Like when I, when I think I read the same article that Dan did where Miko Hardin was listed like second, I was like, what?

Like he, he's not the second guy in this list, but there you go.

I mean, didn't Josh Jacobs at the Super Bowl say that they needed one of those guys as well?

Like, yeah, it isn't just the any fans or pundits or whatever.

Like, everyone can see it.

And yeah, I've been big on that.

I thought the Bills and Packers were fooling themselves last year going into the season saying, we don't need a wide receiver one.

Yeah, you do, man.

You do.

You just need that threat there.

Don't let Brandon Bean hear you.

Yeah, and I was,

I'm with Jordan, like Matthew of the receivers that I watched.

He was my favorite that I watched.

It was really good to think that watching a film just in the middle of the night and then see Steve Smith have that opinion as well.

That made me feel really good, like validated my film watching credentials.

Yeah, I think Matthew's going to be a star.

He gets open.

That's it.

That's why he gets open better than the other guys in this class, I think.

Jordan Rodriguez on the Chicago Bears.

What could go wrong?

That's my.

Okay, so I'm a Bears appreciator.

I'm not a Bears fan.

So I can comfortably say, take me on this ride without fear of getting hurt in the end.

Because the Bears, once again, have crushed, in my opinion, the offseason and brought their fan base a lot of joy.

For me personally, they had one of my favorite offseasons and actually made it even better this time because I actually trust the head coach this time and I trust his scheme and I trust his ideas.

And they already had a great defense and they added good things to the offense.

I know by picking up Colston Loveland, everyone's saying that the Bears are going to use a ton of 12 personnel under Ben Johnson, but I read a great article by our great colleague, Ted Wynne, this morning that I actually am on the side of, who says that this offense is ready-made for 11 personnel with Loveland as like the hybrid blocking and skill tight end player because they also have the three dynamic receivers that they can rotate in and out with the perimeter ability, the yak ability, and they build layers within every level of this offense.

Also, I've mentioned this on the live stream, but a literal jet was taking off behind me.

So I don't know if you guys can hear it.

I think that Colston Loveland, because of his blocking ability, actually does help their offensive line and was also a move for their offensive line as well.

Ben Johnson, I really believe in, and that is the reason I have hope beyond some of the like splashy, flashy moves the Bears have made in previous offseasons, because I do think that he provides the edge that this team was lacking with some of his ideas.

I mean, Ben Johnson, like he improved the line by 175% in like a week in free agency.

Like Joe Tooney, Jonah Jackson, Drew Dallman, what else can you ask him to do?

I guess in a way, it's kind of like you came from Detroit and you want to be powerful up front.

I don't think they could have to be or can be a Detroit offense.

I want to see how it looks different and how he uses what he has to become the best version of the Bears offense.

Yeah, I'm never going to fault.

uh teams that just like pour a bunch of resources immediately into their offensive line like the vikings same thing right they watched uh sam get his ass kicked uh in that lions game um and oh the rams game was that last game that was really bad uh and they were like oh we should invest in our offensive line if that means overpaying for Will Fry's, or in this case, they're probably paying a little too much, Chicago is for like Jonah Jackson.

Who cares, man?

Like, you got to do something.

Like, everybody's job, everybody's well-being, everybody's private, everybody's kids' private school tuition is riding on Caleb Williams, basically.

So you need to do whatever you can to make sure Caleb Williams is upright and hits the higher.

Justin that we have for him on his passing yards this year.

So yeah, I don't know if it's going to work.

You know, Ben Johnson's unproven, obviously, but I just, I'm never going to fault teams who do that.

I will say to throw a little wet blanket on it.

I was not a, what's the receiver they drafted?

Burden.

Luther Burden.

I was not a big fan of his when I watched the receiver.

So maybe 12 personnel might be the move after a while.

But hopefully, I'm wrong about that, kid.

Very interesting team going into the season.

We said that last off-season, but this season, even though we say it every offseason, yeah, it's true.

Bears fans know.

Yes.

Sounds like Mike was peeking at the rundown because for the NFC North, I do have Caleb Williams.

I did not choose Matthew Golden's 699.5 receiving yards, but that's definitely an option.

Caleb Williams, 34.99.5 passing yards, higher or lower.

He was higher last year in a super dysfunctional system.

This, to me, is banking on Ben Johnson, giving him a bump.

I think Caleb Williams goes over 4,000 passing yards.

34.99.5 feels easy to me.

Yep.

I feel like the way to win these underdog games is to always go lower.

I feel like I'm always getting banged by optimism, but in these cases, these feel like good choices.

Yeah, the only real danger to me is injury, but that's why I like to do a flex play where you only have to get three out of four right because then the injury concern doesn't wise.

That's wisdom.

That is.

It's like a man on top of a mountain with a stone tablet.

The wind is blowing.

All right.

Speaking of

a man that hoped to be on top of a mountain, that was Justin Graver, halftime, by the way.

And we've hit this on the live stream, the draft last week.

Wow, it was a week ago already.

And then we covered it some more that night.

But Jordan and Mike have not had the opportunity to share their thoughts on Jordan, on Justin's failed attempt to dunk.

Justin cannot dunk.

And we thought before we get into the next division, Mike, Jordan, any thoughts on this painful, painful personal setback for our producer?

That was close.

I thought this was a really, it was a really good effort, man.

Justin and I were talking about this before we started going live today.

I, too, am just like a fringe dunker, you know, because I have small hands and can't palm the ball.

So as Justin is showing, like if you, if you can't palm it, or at least palm it cleanly in Justin's case in the later attempts, it's very hard to get your wrist all the way over the rim to dunk it so like justin's probably like me who could dunk a tennis ball or a golf ball or a baseball things that we can palm uh so i i was i admired justin i thought that was a a good try that was really i admire him too jordan even with carney hands he still is unbelievable his effort level

would you try to dunk it with your strong hand there justin um

no i I respected the effort.

It is certainly more than I could do.

And my worry for you was when you would land, and I would kind of tense up because sometimes you would land on it.

I was like, oh, there goes his ankle.

Or, like, he, you know, and then the other thing, the other thing that I just got such a kick out of, those two guys did not give a shit that you were

pulling the cord with them.

I was dying.

The other people in that gym, because he's breaking up a one-on-one game, and then you got the guys loafing around in the behind the basket.

They thought he was a complete psycho.

Well, they're like, if we see, if we

It's sort of like they're like, if we just pretend he's not here, will he go away?

That's exactly what he did.

But eventually he did.

The energy walk.

After four sad attempts at dunking.

Okay.

I have a tiny update that nobody cares about.

And frankly, I don't care if anyone believes me or not.

Before Sunday night's Glue Guys game, I decided, you know what?

What the hell?

I'm going to try it.

I'm going to risk a ref seeing me and ejecting me from the gym.

I dunked the ball on Sunday night.

Only one person witnessed it.

It was Jessica.

As soon as I did it, I looked at her.

I'm a reliable witness.

Can you believe it?

And she was like, oh my God, do it again.

She pulls her phone out to record it.

I try again, and it's exactly like all these attempts.

So, again, I know in my heart of hearts what I'm capable of.

That's good enough for me.

And I don't care what it is.

It's such a coincidence because I was at a basketball court in town here yesterday with my wife, and I dunked too.

Sure.

She didn't record it.

Well, I don't have a wife, so I guess I can't dunk.

Well, I'm with you.

All right, to the NFC South.

One thing, Justin, come back a second.

No, I've given you a hard time.

I'm actually a pretty good basketball player, and I thought before I saw that video that I could beat you one-on-one, but I think you have a lot of athleticism, even though you didn't make that dunk.

And I think you would be a handful for me.

I'd use my old band game.

I'd go a little inside-outside on you.

I'd bang you down low, bang you hard down low, low, and then put some threes in your face, and you wouldn't know what to do with me exactly.

But I think your speed and agility would cost me in the end.

So I respect you as an athlete, not as a dunker, but as an athlete.

Well, thank you.

I think we should play.

We should find a chance next time I'm in L.A.

and make content out of it, a little one-on-one game.

I'm pretty good at defender in the post, but you definitely have the

girth to back me down there.

What are we talking about?

The NFC South with Jordan Ruck being a very girthy division to get into

girthy division.

All right.

Go ahead.

Start the clock.

I'm on the Bucs, right?

Yep.

You don't want to be on the Falcons because of the name of the quarterback with the girthy puns there.

Hello.

Clock's ticking.

Oh, no.

Okay, well, the Bucks.

Give her a fresh clock.

Give her a fresh clock.

This isn't fair to Jordan.

All right.

Go.

Okay.

The Bucs have drafted and developed so well, especially up front over the last couple of years, that they can kind of afford to take these picks in the draft, especially in the earlier round, that I think some people would consider to be a luxury based on the depth chart of the rest of their roster.

And I'm talking about Amika Buka, who is one of my favorite players in the draft overall, let alone my favorite wide receiver.

He is a player who drew comps before the draft to Chris Godwin and having that type of ceiling as a long-term like franchise cornerstone player.

Well, obviously the Bucs have Chris Godwin on the roster, but he's healing from a pretty severe injury suffered during the season.

And Jason Light said earlier today that this was so that he also doesn't have to rush back.

And also they're looking at a future, you know, after Mike Evans, Evans, who we love, who is our king, like ends up, you know, retiring or walking into the sunset of his career.

So I think this would, these were really smart.

I have questions about their defense still.

But again, some of the players that they did draft, Jacob Parrish, the inside-outside corner, who has that like versatility and a lot of twitchiness, they just fit.

The players at the Bucks, it's similar to the Dan Campbell-Brad Holmes conversation.

The Bucs.

just understand what players they need and what players fit.

And I do think this is an extremely high-ceiling offense and high-ceiling team this year.

I think for me, it's like,

yes, I think Ibuka like does a lot because he's a good,

a really physical run blocker too.

That says a lot to me about Bucky Irvin because that's, that's also true of Godwin.

And like their run game last year was

a nice surprise.

And I think they want to be able to do that again.

But if you're, if you're Baker Mayfield, and I don't want to be too simple about it, you have your third offensive coordinator in three years.

And are you going to run the same offense?

Is Josh Grizzler going to do what Liam did?

Like it's these are different people in different relationships.

And I think that just hangs out there for me as an unfortunate bit of a wild card for Baker.

But they've got the personnel to do what they did last year.

And I hope they can.

I guess the only thing I would say, Mike, a little cold water, would be you used your first round pick.

It's kind of a luxury pick when you have two.

very good wide receivers ahead of him.

I know it's the modern NFL and having a third guy, that's great.

But I'm just saying there are other needs on this roster.

And the defense has some holes.

Your second round pick, this guy Benjamin Morris had two hip surgeries.

So

that's a bit of a question mark.

Just throwing that out there.

At all sunshine.

Yeah,

it could kind of go south, I think, on defense, you know, in like a worst case scenario.

I do like the corner that they took, though, you know, injuries aside.

And yeah, I'm with Jordan on the receivers, too.

I think Ibuka.

also from Seattle,

kind of Tacoma south of Seattle, but whatever.

I'm just claiming everybody from

this area today that got drafted.

We had a couple of first-round picks.

It was really cool.

He just does everything well.

And I think that that's fine.

You know, take good players, particularly in the first round.

Guys who can help you win, figure out the rest later, especially if your GM's competent, which the Bucks GM.

Nicely done.

The Atlanta Falcons.

Can I call it, this isn't a real timeout, it's a fake timeout.

Yeah.

Okay, one thing I love about this exercise, do you guys know when you're watching the video, the old like box TVs, and they have the screensaver on it, and the little thing goes pinging from corner to corner to corner?

And like, if it lands perfectly in the square, you get the utmost satisfaction.

That's how I feel watching people land the plane perfectly.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Great play.

Okay.

Nice transition.

Atlanta Falcons.

The Falcons have not qualified for the playoffs in seven seasons.

This is...

insane considering their milquetoast confines in the NFC South.

But they operated during the draft like an aggressive contender trying to crawl through a Super Bowl window.

Enter Jalen Walker and James Pierce Jr., two very promising pass rushers who will be asked to be immediate contributors.

Kind of, or else.

If they're not, and if Michael Pennix, the girthy one, isn't something approximating an all-star passer this year, that first-round pick that they traded away

also insane.

Could be as ugly as the bi-weekly paycheck they're sending to their backup quarterback.

Mike, am i crazy i i don't want to be too down on the falcons all the time but i i struggle with them

yeah i i don't have the number in front of me but also perhaps crazier than their playoff drought is the fact that i can't remember the last time they had a top 10 offense like maybe maybe they have and i just can't remember but that's like a year after the super bowl they've spent so many resources on offensive skill players in particular and just like dude you just can't produce even a high-level offense that's the really damning part you know it's like you're using all these top 10 picks on offense and you can't can't get anywhere uh i do like being aggressive for for pass rushers i mean you watched the falcons last year you know god bless you if you did that with any consistency their pass rush was just awful there's an arizona's where some of the worst i've seen in in a long time so i just like i was applauding teams for being aggressive and fixing their offensive line i don't mind throwing extra resources uh at you know, that problem because it's really, it was a really, really, really bad problem.

So I'm okay with that.

I think Pennix will be okay.

But yeah, I can applaud them for that.

Their pass rusher situation was bad.

I don't think they'll be like a good team because they have some other holes.

But yeah, I can't believe in the Falcons because they're the Falcons.

But I can see the attempts in the draft.

The Les Need kind of, he's in that.

Howie Roseman kind of world for me where if he calls me about a trade, I'm probably not picking up.

You know, like, I'm probably losing if Les calls me about a trade.

Or if he likes the trade that I propose to him, you know.

Jordan, I would ask you, like, if it's because it's raheem morris like we're seeing this all over the league now people doing a little bit more ramsey stuff coming off that tree like they've got a great relationship like he's not going to want to fleece raheem morris but is it raheem morris saying like i've seen this work out west i'm going to be aggressive and do things that i want to do right now Yeah, especially go get the player he wants.

It had kind of leaked.

Part of the thing that doomed the Falcons on this, it had kind of leaked out to the other teams how badly they did want James Pierce.

Like they were considering maybe they need to pick him in the first round or earlier in the first round with their first pick.

Like it had kind of leaked around to the other teams.

I will say anyone can get that work from Sneed.

Like it doesn't matter the relationships.

Like he will fleece whoever.

It doesn't matter or try to.

And so I think that that was the case of go get the player they want to get.

Fox and Square.

Timeout.

How are we doing in our timeout situation?

We got two.

This is our fifth timeout, I believe.

We We had a fake one.

One little timeout at.

I wish Tom Thibodeau would have used the fake timeout yesterday.

All right.

This Ulbrick thing.

For audio listeners, Mike is cracking up right now

out of sound.

Poor Knicks fans.

I'm sorry, Dan.

That was brutal.

Brutal for Jeff Ulbrick also.

This is a good guy.

We've gotten to know him as a Jets fan.

Like, high-motor,

intensity, well-liked.

It's a little bit of a fish out of water when they promoted him and you fell for him last year, coaching a doomed team.

Gets a fresh start in Atlanta as D.C., where he's very capable.

And he is in the middle of one of the more embarrassing, like parenting gaffes

on the public spectrum that we've seen, which is his son, Jax.

Is that what it is?

Jax.

Friend of Brick, friend of brick, best friend of Brick.

Taking Shador Sanders' phone number off of dad's iPad and then pranking Shador.

You know the story by now.

And then the NFL comes out on Wednesday.

They find the Falcons 250k.

Okay.

That's all right.

I mean, what are you going to do?

It was embarrassing for the league.

But they find Ulbrick.

They find Dad 100 Gs

as well.

And and that seems like a bridge too far to me if he truly was innocent of all this it was just his son being a jackass but Ulbric spoke to the media and this is how he opened his press conference obviously not not happy and

shocked and so I made the the Falcons aware of the situation and then

our next course of action was to to try to get a hold of the Sanders family so we could apologize in person, which we were able to do.

And

the Sanders family, Chadur and

Coach Sanders, were amazingly gracious, more gracious than they needed to be in a moment like this.

Yeah,

it's another part of the regret.

You know, obviously a tremendous amount of regret for

what my son did and for what I allowed in being neglectful in that way.

Yeah,

it's difficult, but like I said, it's something that

I brought upon myself and my son brought upon himself.

So it's one of those things where

we got to take this on the chin and we absolutely are doing that and taking full responsibility.

And I'm hopeful we'll grow and be better because of it.

Here's the only thing I could say, Mark, to

maybe lessen the pain of the Ulbric family right now

is that I read an article this morning in the New York Post.

About a man, a blue-collar worker, who came home from a late shift and opened up the front door.

And on the living room couch,

his wife

and his son, stepson of the second wife, were engaged in carnal action.

It could be worse.

Yo, if I was going to say, that's the only thing you can say about the matter.

I see your point.

That does feel

worse.

But it's not the worst thing a son can do to his father.

He goes to old Miss, right?

The child, Jax.

I would do the old, hey, I just got a summer job on campus.

I'll see you maybe next Thanksgiving and just let this thing simmer because otherwise it's going to be a lot of yard work.

Oh my God.

George.

I want to pivot.

I want, well, not pivot.

I don't want to pivot because this is important.

I do want to point listeners to...

our friend and someone I really admire, Dave Damashek, who is always great on this show as well, has his own show, the Dave Damashek show.

He dropped a bar today.

He's talking about this incident and he shared it out on social media.

And I just thought, because there's this growing trend of terminally online

people and young people.

There is.

And a disregard for empathy and a like that it becomes uncool to care or uncool to treat people.

You know what I mean?

it's, this, it's this thing that's permeating.

And I'm sure you guys are dads.

Like, you have to be on your guard all the time about this with your kids.

And Damashek, he had this great line.

It's, uh, he said, it's a growing trend of replacing comedy with cruelty.

It's like a prank call that just goes and takes it in this direction.

It's a real dick move, frankly.

And, you know, it is.

And I know it's hard.

You know, if you're Ulbritt and you're the dad and you're like, well, I shouldn't have left my stuff out, obviously.

But then at the same time, it's like, I mean, I'd ask you guys, because I'm clearly not a dad.

It's like, how would you ever think that your kid is going to pull something like that?

You would never think it.

And it's, it's, yeah, a terrible thing and a bad decision.

And, uh, but you, you love your kids unconditionally and you always

root for them to grow from it.

So I would say that

it was a dick move, but he kidna made a mistake.

And we talked about it on the Tuesday show.

Like, even Mark and Connor did stuff like this.

Not at this level, obviously.

I did see the Connor clip.

I was dying.

I have to know what he said to his history teacher.

Yeah, I think that's a good idea.

Like, I have to know.

Every parent's going to deal with something in this realm.

Yeah.

You are.

This is more high-profile than dad daddy.

I know you're right.

And I know that people want to view Jax Ulbric as the Antichrist or something.

He's just a college kid that made a stupid mistake.

Well, I think it's interesting.

I like that you guys are talking from the perspective of the, like being, you guys are both fathers.

I mean, all three of you now, Michael Sean is back with us being fathers and like raising your kids in this world where like, you know, something's coming at some point.

And it's just

like, you know what I mean?

I didn't actually wasn't thinking like that, Jordan, but you're right.

And thanks for putting that on my grid.

Holy shit.

No, but I mean,

people are humans that people F up, you know, and they're going to do stupid, mean things sometimes, especially in this world we're in right now, where, like i said it's it the every terminally online people are doing things for tick tock or whatever and then it's just like okay well you as parents i i i really i hope this coming across i really deeply empathize with the swivel your head has to be on at all times of like okay this is coming from that direction and now it's here and like gonna give me hives

am i making am i transferring my anxiety to you yeah you're bringing yeah you're bringing it on me you're making good points but i can't think about this anymore justin it's like you're like trying to turn it.

What does that show on HBO?

Euphoria.

You're like turning this into a euphoria scenario for me.

I don't want to think about it.

Yes, Justin.

I just saw something that I thought was really interesting about this whole situation, sort of a perfect storm.

The only reason that Jax Ulbricke was able to get Shador Sanders' personal phone number is because he doesn't have an agent, whereas the number listed there would have typically been the agent's phone number.

So it's like it happened to be the most high-profile person in the draft who didn't have an agent whose number got discovered.

And like, it all just is, it's kind of crazy.

It is crazy.

And by the way,

you know, stern dad energy off the charts with Ulbrick.

If you're really down on that kid, that college kid, understand that his dad is like a hard-nosed defensive coordinator and he is going to pay for this in ways that, you know.

All right.

Let's move on.

Timeout over Saints with See.

Okay.

Floating through deep space on a rusted-out, oxygen-free craft, the entity once known as the New Orleans Saints.

I am like, I don't, again, I think we latch onto these things that annoy us, and the Saints are one of those things, but they really mystify me.

I don't want to be overly dramatic, but the biggest story coming out of the draft was Derek Carr at a church, a mega church, explaining that he does have a shoulder injury and saying basically, like, I don't want you to listen to the news or some lady on a podcast.

And some lady, from what I understand, was Diana Rossini, basically, on a very reputable podcast, saying that this was a little fishy.

Some lady.

What's wrong with a little fishy?

Like, the whole car thing has been fishy.

And I'm just wondering, kind of, like, you're Kellen Moore.

It always concerned me to take this job versus some of the other ones.

I get that you take it.

And, like,

what do you want at this point?

Do you want Carr, do you want Tyler Shuck, who has a seven-year college career and a big injury history and needs to be helped along in his career?

The Saints, to me, after a quiet free agency period and a pretty milquetoast draft, like, I'm just concerned, what the heck are you if you're a Saints fan right now, if not a little freaking out?

I already said milquetoast today.

You can't say it also.

We used up the allotment, the one milquetoast.

Well, scrub it.

Yeah, the Saints are they're on a short list for me,

Mike, of the teams that I don't know if they know what they're doing right now.

And some of their moves

speak to that.

You know,

they're almost trying, some of their payouts and free agency spoke to aggression, but the roster clearly isn't there to actually contend.

So they're kind of caught in this between world that you never want to be in the NFL and the car thing is just messy.

Yeah, and I'm not really a car guy as is, too.

So, I mean, if this was an excuse to get from out from under him, that would, I'd take that off ramp immediately if I could.

But yeah, that between world is, I feel like it does a disservice to their, their fan base too.

From what I can tell, like Saints fans are relatively smart.

So if you like came out and told them, hey, we're going to have to gut this thing.

There's some lean years coming, but we're going to get back to like a championship caliber roster or whatever, you know, they would understand.

They wouldn't just stop coming to games for those years.

They would still be online.

They'd still buy tickets.

They'd still buy jerseys.

The fact that you feel like you kind of have to like trick them into thinking we're just going to always be competitive every year so they show up.

It's weird.

I don't think Saints fans or trick themselves, Mike, right?

Yeah.

They're convincing themselves of a reality that's not a true one, Jordan.

You're not going to win anything with the way they're doing it like at all.

You're just going to keep losing in this girthy division.

Always right when I'm about

funny how that works.

It's so funny.

And that, I think, too, is part of the issue is like they keep making these bridge moves.

For a long time under Mickey Loomis, what they've been doing is making bridge move after bridge move after bridge move.

And Tyler Shuck in the second round is also a bridge move, even though I do know that Kellen Moore really likes him.

It's still a bridge move.

Carolina Panthers with Michael Sean Dugar.

I was trying to see if the Panthers drafted someone from Seattle, but it doesn't look like they did.

So

no shout outs here.

Tough stitch.

Yeah.

The segment.

Yeah, Carolina Panthers.

Thanks for listening.

They went from being like a pretty unserious operation last year to like quietly giving the two Super Bowl participants a run for their money within like the same month, I want to say last year, the Chiefs and Eagles.

They took them both down to the brink.

So like they have something with Bryce Young getting his swagger back.

But this offseason kind of does feel like what happens when your head coach is on the offensive side of the ball.

Because for me, when I watched the Panthers, I was just like, okay, cool.

You need another corner.

You probably need two new safeties.

You need like seven edge rushers.

rushers and they kind of just did none of that uh and you know they use their top pick on a receiver who i wasn't a big fan of who apparently steve smith me and him are aligned on that one as well feel great uh but yeah i just laughed on our live stream about the tattoo pick yeah he was he was not not a fan i'm not either uh but anyway uh yeah i just feel like they're gonna be a frisky once again that's kind of the word i like to use for them but i really just wish they had done more with their defense because really it's it's the it's jc and you know a bunch of guys and that's just that's just not going to get it done.

Even though this division is not super stacked with firepower, that's just tough to expect anything more than being like a fun team with that setup.

JC and a bunch of guys, New Testament.

Yeah,

they took edge rushers in the second and third rounds.

So they did address the defense.

But yeah, taking the wide receiver, I thought he was going the way the draft is set up, Jordan.

I thought he was going to Dallas, Tet McMillan, and that would have made a lot of sense for them.

And Carolina could have focused somewhere else on their defense.

But they went this route.

And I think that's tied into Legette, too, that he failed to ignite last year.

So now they're doubling down on another prospect here.

Yeah,

they tried to, reportedly, they tried to trade back.

I thought entering the draft that they were in a really good position at eight to trade back.

But the way the board started falling, Tet on a lot of boards, would have been the best player available.

And then there was like some reporting out there from our reputable colleague, Diana Rossini, by the way, not some lady, Derek Carr.

Some reputable lady

who

was saying that even the Rams were seeing what it would cost to come up and get Ted McMillan with Sean McVay looking for like a larger frame receiver slash tight end.

So I think that it's interesting.

You saw what they what their different strategies were, and they ended up with what I think, like I said, a lot of players, people would have on the board as the best player available at that pick point, not me personally.

But

I'm mostly concerned about the back half of their defense and their linebacker position, which they pretty much have turned over.

Shaq Thompson is not there anymore on the inside.

And their corners have been injured, and they need juice there.

Cecily had some trenchant thoughts and the Panthers will never know.

I was just enjoying to hear, you know, the analysis coming from the rest of the room was

just bathing in it.

Thank you.

Mr.

Graver.

All right.

I am going to go with a narrative for this NFC South play.

Mike Evans, 11 consecutive seasons over 1,000 receiving yards.

Underdogs being sneaky here.

They've got the higher-lower receiving yards set at 999.5.

So basically.

Horrible.

I love that.

Will the streak stay alive or not?

And

he's taking the lower.

I think that's the only ends.

Didn't he hit 11 this year?

Am I crazy?

No, he had 1,000 in the last play of the season.

Didn't he hit 11 consecutive years this year, though, is what I'm saying.

Oh, yeah, yeah.

Isn't that what I said?

He already did it, though.

So why would we bet on it if he already did it?

Well, it's a great bet because we win.

No, I said he hits.

It's not a bet, by the way.

It's a game.

I said he hit 11, and I said, will that he keep the streak alive?

Oh, I thought you were saying that

we can delete all of this.

Sorry.

No,

people need to know Jordan's understanding of this world.

I'm just saying

with how close it was last season.

No, we got you.

We got you.

We got you.

Will he do it again?

A thousand yards?

I love it.

I love it, Jesse.

I say no, but

it's up to you what you want to play for.

Because I just think

that.

I know Godwin's injured, but they have a new, really good receiver who's going to demand some targets.

And just how close he was last year, they had to keep him in a game that he wouldn't have even played in just so he could hit his streak.

I feel like it's not going to be a good thing.

He's missed like five games.

and he played on half a hamstring.

He's older than he is than he's ever been.

So the ravers suddenly turned older and pessimistic about the world around us.

Dan, you were saying earlier the smartest way to do this is to play the lowers.

I know, but in the case of Mike Evans, they will do anything.

to keep this man's streak alive.

They will.

We saw that.

That's why you take it.

Also, randomly kind of related to Mike Evans, but not much.

Watching the NBA playoffs made me think about this.

He looks a lot like Fred Van Fleet.

Like,

it's crazy.

I just never thought about that until last night.

I think the Rockets played.

I'm like, oh, my God.

I've never seen them in the same place.

Yeah, they might be the same guy.

Same cut, everything, same beard.

It's very, very spooky.

This is turning into one of our vintage programs, and I love it.

Oh, yeah.

We're all over the place.

The NFC West.

Let's

close this thing out.

Jordan, three minutes.

Time to set up the team that you cover, the Rams.

Good luck.

Shocker.

Jordan's going to talk about the Rams.

Okay, so I actually want to offer two slightly different counterpoints to the idea that the Rams are loading up specifically to go after a quarterback in the 2026 draft.

One, they may not even have one of these picks ahead of the trade deadline, depending on how their own season and Atlanta season is going.

If they're winning a lot and Atlanta is winning a lot, they may trade it for a star who can help them go on a playoff run because that pick would be lower.

If Atlanta is not winning or they look shaky, they'll keep the pick.

I also would not rule out anything with this team, including stockpiling up to get a rookie.

But the other reason I counterpoint I wanted to offer is that I actually don't have much proof that Sean McVay can develop and has the patience to develop a rookie quarterback long-term.

And there's a level of understanding and information that he's grown accustomed to with Matthew Stafford over the last few years, a level of pace that he's used to working at.

And it'll be tough to be the guy who comes after Stafford and there are only a few who could actually legitimately do it.

So I don't think it's actually out of the realm of possibility that they look at a post-Matthew Stafford world with a player that's currently in the league and potentially stockpiling those picks to trade for said player.

In the offseason, the Rams

think they fixed their run defense, signing Puna Ford.

Ty Hamilton, a draft pick, will back him up.

And also, I say this every year, but folks, this might really be the year.

More 12 personnel.

I do think they're going to do it in that 11.5 personnel fashion with Terrence Ferguson, who was Sean McVay's favorite player in the draft this year, that they would have drafted at 26 if Atlanta hadn't have come up and traded with them.

A couple of other teams also wanted to come up and get a quarterback.

I'm going over.

I know that.

It'll still be 11.5 personnel, but I think Terrence Ferguson is going to play more of that power slot role that they love to run their defense through in the past.

Did I?

It has to be secure.

Jordan, I think.

It's never it.

You're so right about like Nick Vay.

I think he just found his Kismet with Safford, like a ready-to-go veteran.

But does it matter if it's

if Arch Manning Manning stays on trajectory?

Like, Manning is different than fill-in-the-blank other person for your organization, for everyone.

How are they getting Manning?

I don't really think we even know what Manning is yet.

I'm just saying, Arch Manning is probably the number one pick next year.

Like, you've got two ones.

Like, if you keep it in the middle of the year.

They would need more than that to go get Arch Manning if they're not.

But they would be willing to give it, though.

They've done, they've done more than that to get what they want.

Arch Manning's not coming out next year.

Yeah, there's mixed opinions on whether

he will or not.

There's mixed opinions on whether he actually will or not.

He's got to stand up, make a lot of money at, you know, at UT.

But,

you know, I do think that, I mean, I don't think I know that this is a conversation that they will have.

Is it more valuable to the championship caliber of this team in a post-Matthew Stafford world

to go out and get a player who will immediately match Sean McVay's pace?

Or are we going to go the full developmental track with a young roster and then we also don't have to pay that quarterback big money?

True or false, Jordan, Jalen Ramsey is a member of the Rams by Trading Camp.

I'm leaning true right now actually.

I'm leaning true.

If he's a post-June 1st, the number for the Dolphins significantly gets more digestible.

I was asked a question, Justin.

Jesus.

All right.

We move on to the Seahawks, but before we do that, I wanted to play my favorite, one of my favorite clips from the draft that slipped out of our grasp last weekend.

Jalen Milro

doing some post-draft presser work, and then I'll throw it to Michael Sean Dugar.

Jill, do you think you're the best quarterback in the draft?

And do you have any message for the teams that passed on you today?

No pass.

Ass.

Michael Sean Dugar, the Seattle Seahawks.

That was a very fun moment in the draft room because Aerie,

she's the younger member of the PR staff.

I think she's only like 24 or 25.

She basically had to explain or just like reiterate what he said so that the other people, the middle-aged white guys in the room, knew what Jalen said and

what it meant.

It kind of reminded me of the time, but I had to explain.

We need that help sometimes, Mike.

I think I've had to explain on multiple occasions what no ditty or pause meant when a guy says it during a press conference.

I know what it means.

Mark doesn't.

So, for an example, tell Mark what those things mean.

I mean,

they both are just, just, you're just trying to signal that you are not homosexual, I guess.

Is the implication in both lines?

Yeah.

Oh, no, diddy.

I put that one.

Dark Dan.

Yeah, there's the no Diddy pause.

Yeah.

So that was a, that was interesting.

Thank you, Mike.

Mark, thanks you.

The Seattle Seahawks.

You know, I actually had a totally different way I was going to go with this, but now I'm just going to insert chaos.

So when Jordan mentioned that they might not have that pick, or they want someone that the rams that is would want someone like more aligned with the timeline which i agree uh that sean mcvey like doesn't seem like the most patient cat with quarterbacks i was then looking at like well who's he who would he trade for that lines that up so now i'm gonna insert a chaos scenario where like sam darnold gets hurt like really early and then jalen milro has to come in and play uh and then he kills it uh and now it's like hmm what do they do with sam darnold and now well i tell you they're not getting a first for him no no no so yeah i wouldn't, I don't think any quarterback, when I just scan this list in my head, is worth a first like that matches that.

But then you trade whatever you have to.

Then that's a guy who's like competent that aligns with the timeline.

Not the first round pick.

I don't think they're going to, you only do that for a rookie.

But like you said, his time, the timeline might not match.

That's like a chaos scenario.

I just played out in my head over the last like 40 seconds is like where Jalen Milro kills it because his upside, you know, he's in the audio we just played.

The best version of Jalen Milro is like excellent.

You know, he could be like what Jalen Hurts is now, or he could just stink and and be Trey Lance.

You know, like, there's, I think, both scenarios are plausible.

But in the one where he's like Jalen Hurts, his homie, what do the Seahawks do with Sam Darnold?

There's going to be teams who would use that.

I think Sam would only be like 29 going into 2026, be a very covetable, coveted asset, I think.

And now I've kind of just shipped him off in my head.

So I'm sorry, Sam.

He's already been on five teams.

And you were happy to do it.

I didn't do it on purpose, but like that scenario just.

Oh, you couldn't wait.

I like it.

He's not.

I've even seen Sam play it, but yeah, I just 27 years old give the kid a chance that's true but you mentioned sam darnold going out by injury and he comes in and like what what if like i think in a way even though organizationally i love that they took him like is it a disservice to a sam darnold who might be a little streaky in there that you've got a backup that like is an electrifying young athlete that people just want to see i feel like i don't like those situations for sam darnold type guys

yeah i think that like teams are probably apprehensive about taking taking Shadur because of the like backup distraction thing, which I think that's real, especially in a world where kids just tape everything.

That's that's like creates the distraction even more.

Jalen,

by no fault of his own, is that same way.

Like you just watched some, watch the Georgia game, Alabama, Georgia last year.

Fans are going to want, Seahawk fans are going to want him to play.

Sam has one of these stinkers where he throws like three picks or whatever.

It's going to be Milro City.

And that's not Sam's fault.

It's not Milro's fault.

But yeah, they've created that.

And that's not fair to Sam.

Sam did this to himself in some ways, those last two games, but we're right back.

We're always having the same conversation about Darnold, talking about how he's going to fail or when he's going to lose his job or whatever.

I'm a little annoyed, but I understand he's not going to be able to get it.

But he keeps getting

younger quarterbacks, though.

He's the NFL Sisyphus.

It's so true.

The Niners.

The 49ers are undergoing a bit of an on-the-fly makeover, which can be annoying.

Nobody wants to go to Disneyland when Pirates of the Caribbean and Space Mountain are closed for renovations and or cultural adjustments.

But hey, shit happens, and John Lynch and Kyle Shanahan were smart enough to realize they needed to find a way to crowbar their Super Bowl window open once more.

Their draft told the story of a team that knows what they needed to work on.

The Niners used their first five picks on defense.

Headline by first pick, Edge Michael Williams.

I love the Robert Sala hire at DC.

I feel bullish about this team getting better quickly on that side of the ball, even if there are some growing pains, Jordan, in the early going.

Yeah, it is interesting.

You're seeing this become possible more frequently for teams.

We've talked about it on a previous show where they can sprint rebuild if they

really kind of nail the draft.

And I think when you combine that with Robert Sala and then going all defense to start the draft the way that they did and then having Robert Sala in the building, probably one of the few people who can tell Kyle Shanahan, hey, we're going all defense for the first part of this draft with our premium picks.

I do think that that's an important variable here.

You need to have the right coaches in place as well if you do want to get this back on the right track.

And so you're kind of combining a young, cheaper group on that side of the ball with a still very expensive, about to get more expensive most likely with the quarterback, and then pretty veteran group on the offensive side.

and sometimes that can really work out we saw it with a couple of teams the bucks the rams um the eagles uh although theirs was a little bit longer um of a rebuild but yeah it it is possible now and i think they're following that blueprint

i i refuse i'm refusing to panic about the 49ers at this point i was really concerned earlier in the offseason when a bunch of like genuinely good players especially on defense hit the road but they feel to me like one of these teams that's going to do a little two-year rebuild rebuild and we're going to be okay with what happens this year but they kind of remind me of the rams and what the seahawks did in that same division that it doesn't we don't do four-year rebuilds we do it in a year or two and the coaching staff the general manager like there is a lot to like even in this weird time i mean the niners they they have a history with uh sorry dan they have a history with kyle shanahan like the year after they stink they go to the nfc title game i think they've done that like two or three times with him uh the only thing i really worry about

needs to rest yeah you have to take a step back back, look at a step forward, uh, but it really, the injury thing is always gonna be my biggest concern.

Like, I think they had a guy get a concussion and a walkthrough before under Kyle Shanahan, and then what's the uh, the safety?

Malik is just like, oh, yeah, by the way, like, his knee doesn't work anymore.

Like, you know, they just have stuff like that happen with them, and that's always going to be, I feel like, the biggest holdup.

Not Kyle Shanahan's ability to scheme, they just really have the injury button bite them pretty bad.

If this is like a two-year reboot, Mark,

you're the whole center of your offense, Christian McCaffrey, is turning 29 in June.

I don't know if he fits anymore in that way.

Hey, I'll take him on my team.

Shut up.

Arizona Cardinals, Mark Sessler.

Well, okay, of course I get the Cardinals.

I get that this is my pet team of old, and they have a tendency to annoy.

And I'm not,

no, I am being careful, but I will say that Monty Austin for at the GM at least is giving Jonathan Gannon everything he could ask for.

They had seven.

Yes, Justin.

They had seven of eight defensive players drafted.

Like, they loaded up all over the place on defense.

And I think that, obviously, to Mike's point before,

you couldn't rush the passer.

They had all sorts of issues on that side of the ball.

If anything, I like, I love drafts where one team just says, F it, this year we're just going to load up entirely on offense or entirely on defense.

Hit on half of them and you're different.

And they also, they did a lot in free agency.

So I am not falling for this again.

That's not what I'm advertising.

Mostly, like I, I'm mostly not, I think, but I, I'm remaining optimistic because it's a good team building process.

I remember back in

2020, I think it was, the Matt Rule, Carolina Panthers win all defense in the draft.

That went well.

I feel like it's kind of like when teams do that, it's like, oh yeah, that makes a lot of sense.

But I don't like when teams do things that like a fan would do.

It's like, our defense sucks.

All picks on defense.

It's like,

I don't know.

I think it can work.

Simple-minded.

Didn't the Cowboys do that in the mica draft, too?

I think when Dan Quinn showed up, they went super heavy on defense.

I'm saying it doesn't work, but it seems a little surfacey.

Like, I want my team to be a little more savvy than that.

Like, well, I don't even need a lot of it.

I think it's got to complement your free agency, too.

Like, for instance, I think the Patriots spent a lot of money on their defense and free agency, and then had most of their draft picks, I believe, are on offense, or at least the high ones.

Balance, I think.

Yes.

Yeah.

Like, so it makes sense.

You got cheap rookies, and then maybe you pay for a Milton and Carlton Davis and some of the other guys they paid on defense.

You go draft on offense.

I think that's a fine strategy because their offense was just so bad, you know.

Put it this way, Jordan.

Are the Cardinals is the Cardinals' offense so well off right now that they could just take one lineman in the whole draft?

Because I don't think they're necessarily a finished product themselves.

Well, I think if they can sustain like they they kind of cracked out middle of the season late middle of the season for a few different reasons in part because the passing game was just not functioning it was more erratic than anything else and trey mcbride was like the one person who was making that thing go and i think that um they have a complete really a really pretty complete offense i think it would have been okay to see them add a little bit more in the skill positions but it's pretty clear where they're going to go with the ball um with kyler murray as well who's coming up

He, I think, is under a lot of pressure this year.

What I like about what they did, and I joked about that Panthers draft, but what these guys did in Arizona really well.

All of these guys, I'm looking at the Beast right now and running down their draft, they are such scheme fits for what Jonathan Gannon wants to do.

And a lot of them are twitchy with upside.

I think it's great for what Gannon wants to do.

We just

went around the NFC in exactly 48 minutes.

Justin, one last thing before we get to that.

I'm like cat ears.

Our last addition to our four-way underdog pick'em entry here.

I'm pulling from the Seahawks.

Sam Darnold's passing yards higher lower is set at 3,500 and a half.

There you go.

He threw for $4,319 last year, and then I looked at what Geno Smith did with the Seahawks.

I know new offensive coordinator, but Geno was at 4,320, just one yard off.

But I kind of, I'm worried about potential injury.

I'm worried about potential Jalen Miller.

I'm worried about potential regression.

I think I'm going to go same old, same old.

I'd love to hear

what Mike's thoughts are on 3,500 yards for 3,500 yards.

I mean, Sam does just

losing his job.

So, I mean, predicting him to lose it is not, that you want to talk about a safe bet.

He does it everywhere he goes.

I just think there's a lot of avenues to him going under,

sorry, to him going lower than 35.

Of course he will because everyone still thinks he stinks.

Just like you, Raver.

Just like you, Dugar.

Just like all the world thinks.

Oh, how could Sam Darnold throw for 3,500 yards?

What year is this?

1986?

Well, I do think something else that complicates it is the fact that they're already planning on having Jalen Millroll take some of his snaps.

My friend Donald told us on draft night, he was like, Yeah, Sam's going to take about 90%, but we're going to work Jalen in there however we need to.

And it's like, if you're doing the

what the Niners did with Trey Lance and Jimmy G a few years ago, what the Steelers were just stupidly doing with Justin Fields and Russ, like that just creates a weird dynamic.

And yeah, I've never really liked that plan.

So if they're already trying to make Jalen Millroll like Black Taysom Hill or whatever, like that's not a good sign for Sam.

So I think I like the lower here as well.

A few issues.

All right, here's the full play.

Malik Neighbors, higher than 1174.5 receiving yards.

Caleb Williams, higher than 3,499.5 passing yards.

Mike Evans, lower than 999.5 receiving yards.

You can play the other way if you want.

Sam Darnold, lower 3,500.5 passing yards.

Dan, you can play the other way if you want.

Put all four of those into one ticket.

Standard play for a $10 play pays $100.

Or like I said the other day, if you make it a flex play, you only got to hit three out of four, little injury insurance, and you can get started by scanning the QR code on your screen or sign up with the code HTC for our U.S.

audience only.

Must be 18 or older, 19 or older in Alabama and Nebraska.

19 or older in Colorado for some games.

21 or older in Arizona and Massachusetts.

And present in a state where underdog fantasy operates.

Terms apply.

Concerned with your play?

Call 1-800-GAMBLBLER or visit www.ncpgambling.org.

In New York, call the 24-7-Hope Line at 1-877-8-HOPE-NY or text Hope NY-467-369.

Thank you, Justin, very much.

Thank you to Jordan Rodriguez and Michael Sean Dugar.

Make sure to follow everything they do over on The Athletic.

Thank you to the listeners and the viewers.

We are having a big, big, big jump in viewership on YouTube.

Girthy.

Girthy jump.

And we have you to thank, obviously, for supporting us through the draft.

Huge numbers for the live stream and then the draft recap afterwards, the Saturday show,

the Around the AFC show,

all way up year to year and even month to month.

And I assume, Money Mike, the same will happen with this program.

And if it doesn't, just like everybody likes to scapegoat Sam Darnold, there's only one way to go with the criticism.

I'd have to go to Jordan and Mike is the reason why.

You're the outlier, yeah.

I'm currently Googling which states underdog is legal in because it's not in Washington, but apparently legal in Oregon, which is only a short drive.

Because Justin, the odds he gave on that ticket were actually kind of good.

Let me see if one of my friends who lives in Portland

wins some money because I wouldn't make the bet, honestly.

You would never drive over state lines either.

A mad fit of gambling addiction.

But like some people.

I would try to make my friends some money.

Yeah, that's what I would do because that's a good payout there.

So yeah, I'm going to hit up my friends in Oregon and see if they want to make some cash.

I'm just happy I got to transfer a little bit of my anxiety over to Dan.

That was not right.

Yeah, and you involved my children.

That's dirty pool.

But

I will think about it.

The euphoria nature of parenthood.

Thank you, everybody.

Have a great weekend.

Until next time.

And by the way, on the Patreon this week, it came from the subreddit week.

So that will show up Friday.

So make sure you check out that.

Until next week, do what you must.

Heed the call.

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