Raiders Camp With Jack Jones and Your Mailbag Answers

Published Aug 7, 2024, 7:20 AM

Gregg Rosenthal is LIVE from Raiders camp where he talks to Tashan Reed of the Athletic about the outlook for the Raiders upcoming season (2:40), Raiders CB Jack Jones about the Raiders defense setting the tone during camp (15:30), and wraps things up with a look in the NFL Daily mailbag (23:34). 

Note: time codes approximate. 

Welcome to NFL Daily, where we call Aidan O'Connell AOC, but it's a little confusing. I'm Greg Rosenthal. I'm down in Costa Mesa at Raiders training camp. That's gonna be a little different NFL Daily. I talked that to Sean Rieda, the Athletic about the Raiders deep dive. I'm a little optimistic about this Raiders team if it wasn't for the quarterbacks.

Man.

The quarterbacks struggled here on Tuesday, but that's been the case throughout training camp. I think otherwise, this roster kind of frisky, including their defense, including Jack Jones, who I also spoke to. So you'll hear an interview with Jack Jones, which was a lot of fun. And we'll wrap up the show with some questions from y'all out of the mail bag for NFL Daily. But quickly gonna hit the news to start the show. Brandon Ayuk, I hit it on our last show, got permission to talk trade with the Patriot with the Browns. They've agreed to trade terms and now it's in Brandon Ayuk's court, and I think the silence speaks volumes right now. That the forty nine ers were maybe in a position where they thought, Look, Brandon Ayuk doesn't necessarily want to go to either of these teams, but we'll have to wait and see.

No real updates on that as of yet.

Girod Mayo, the Patriots head coach, said he's learned from his guy Bill Belichick not to talk about players on other rosters. Other than that, just got some updates about who's playing in the preseason who's not. We got Jared Stidham as the starter in Denver. Drod Mayo said he's going to play all four of his quarterbacks, So we get some Drake may we get some Jacoby Brissett this weekend, which I'm very excited about. Jayden Daniels is going to get the start for Washington this weekend, and just selfishly, I want as many good players as possible to play in the preseason this week because Nick Schuck and I are going to wrap up all the games on our show that airs Monday morning. More interesting players, the better this week in Texans are also going to play their start, and Jordan Love is also.

Going to play.

Other than that, couple of minor moves, Adrian Amos signs with the Jaguars might end up being their starting safety. The Lions lose Emmanuel Moseley, who is a cornerback, was potentially going to be their starter at nickel, and that's a little tricky because they might have to move Brian Branch into that spot eventually, not what they wanted. Also, everyone's favorite kicker in America, Harrison Bucker, became.

The highest paid kicker in the NFL. A great kicker.

They would not win those Super Bowls without him. And I will leave it at that for Harrison Bucker and for the news. Let's get to Tshan Reid and start talking some raiders. All right, we are here to talk some raiders with Tashan Reid of the Athletic, one of the best beat writers out there, the best two man combo with Vic Tafer at the Athletic. Go check out their coverage. They do a great job. We were here watching this offense struggle. Was that typical? That typical you've seen down here.

It's been a pretty constant thing through throughout training camp so far, I mean, and really since OTA's I mean, it's been rough for the offense, particularly the quarterbacks.

Obviously, this was a great defense last year. They were ninth in scoring.

So they're going up against a tough unit, but you would like to see more flashes than they they've shown so far.

I'm gonna I'm gonna start on the optimistic front, and then we'll get into the quarterbacks and the offensive struggles. And the optimistic case for them is that these lines, to my eye, could be pretty good. I thought the offensive line was underrated last year. You think differently after we talked ahead of time, so maybe I'm wrong. I don't trust myself, and that the defense could be a top ten group, and that the skill position players if you really look at it.

Davanta won, Jacoby's a good too. I liked what Tray Tucker did.

Two really good young tight ends, like that's more than enough to win with. So usually Raiders fans are incredibly irrational, overly optimistic. They're always getting on me for doubting them, and usually I'm right the last twenty years. But this year I can actually kind of see the irrational Raiders fan case.

Are you feeling that?

I don't feel exactly the same way. I do.

Think there is some good things to celebrate. I mean, like the defense. I think they're legit, and there's always that question when you have one unit dominating the other in training camp is or are they good? Or are you just going against a bad offense or vice versa. But I don't have any doubts about this defense. I mean, they were a top ten unit last year, and really after AP took over, you know, those last nine games of the season, they finished I believe, first in scoring defense.

The rest of the way.

I mean, we saw what they did to the Chiefs on Christmas Day. They went on to win the Super Bowl, and they brought back nine starters last year, and one of the starter change was a massive upgrade, you know, getting Christian Wilkins defensive tackle from the Dolphins. And I mean, you know, Patrick Graham, this is his third year with the Raiders, and so he's really starting to, like, you know, starting to loosen up the playbook. And I think AP referred to like rolling dice out there. He's just trying stuff, playing Russian roulette. And so the defense is clicking, and I think that'll translate even when they're not going against the struggle on offense. In terms of the offense, like I think their offensive line last year struggled really towards the beginning of the season. Like towards the end of the year, they started to have more success running the ball and then protecting the pastor a little bit better. And so they did make some progress, but they needed to make upgrades, and I think they did that this offseason. I mean, they drafted Jackson Powers Johnson the guard out of Oregon. He's probably going to be a starter at left guard if he can be healthy healthy right now, he's on the pup list. You know, you got Colden Miller back. He's one of a pretty solid left tackle. And the rest of the unit is coming together well also. And so as you said, I mean there's no shortage of talent on this team when it comes to weapons. I mean DeVante Adams arguably the best receiver in the league. Jacob Myers is super underrated. You know, two tight ends. You know, Brock Bowers. I know he's a rookie, but he looks the part. So far as he looked.

They saw him lining up out wide on one play where the receivers were actually on the inside.

That's cool.

Yeah.

I think some thirteen personnel where there's three tight ends on the field, I think the third was Harrison Bryant probably so like, yeah, how has Bauers looked.

Yeah, I mean he's sort of like a I don't want to call him a jack of all trades because he's really good, but they use him everywhere. I mean they have him lined up in line as a traditional tight end, they have him split out wide as an outside receiver, they have him in the slot. You even see him at h back sometimes. We've seen him take jets sweeps like they're using them all over the place and trying to maximize the skill set. It helps to have more of a traditional tight end like Michael Mayor who can play in line. You know, he's a he's a bigger guy, he's about thirty pounds half yer. He's a better blocker, and so that frees them up to utilize Bowers in a lot of different ways. And even Harrison Bryant, I mean, he's he's been a solid third tight end for him. He's a he's a really good blocker. He's lined up his full back. They don't have a traditional one on the roster anymore. He's even made some pays in the passing game as well.

So he made a nice catcher too. Yeah, that dude's a big man. Those tight ends are crazy.

Yeah, So I mean it's they have all the talent and even Zamir White, you know, running back, you know, he's he's taken over for Josh Jacobs this year and that's those are big, big shoes to fill. I mean Josh Jacobs, he's been a start running back for years now. But he's looked pretty good. The issue has just been there their core.

Yeah, let's get to it.

So today was pretty rough, Aidan O'Connell especially, just not a lot of confidence with where he's gonna go with the ball. To my eye, a lot of just pumping where you can just see he's not on time where pump pump goes and then throws a pick. I think he had he had a handful today. We're gonna have Jack Jones on right after you. He had a couple of them. Yeah, and he didn't He did not look like he was comfortable in this Luke Getsy offense. And that's one thing that gives me a little bit of pause when I thought their offense looked capable enough down the stretch last year, but that was a different offensive scheme. It was an intermoc Bohard degree. He's gone Luke Getzy comes here from the Bears. You mentioned changing it to kind of a zone scheme in terms of running just a lot that's different. Like tell me where those two guys are at Minshew and O'Connell in this competition.

Yeah, they're neck and neck, but not in a good way, you know, like they've they've both been struggling. I think O'Connell, you know, he's more of the stationary pocket passer type of guy, Like he doesn't have many athletic traits, Like he's not going to be moving around, so he's going to stand back there and fire, and the timing isn't perfect and is not on the money, then he kind of freezes up when he has to improvise. He's not going to move around too much, you know, And so that that leads to some of those anticipations throws where he Jack Jones was three on three drill, I believe, and it was a slant route and he telegraphed it the whole way and Jack just jumps in front of it and picks it.

And so but even that one was late, like you could have thrown it earlier, and he kind of he kind of pumped it.

But you can kind of see he's almost like determining what he's gonna do before he does it, and like that works sometimes and you need an element of that in the timing base offense, you know. With with Luke Getzi, I mean, he has some of those those Shanahan elements, you know, coaching under the floor, but that can't be what you do all the time. And Gardner Minshew, he offers more of that escapability outside of the pocket. He's more of a gamer type, but he takes it too far, you know, pretty often, and that leads to some other costly interceptions. I mean, he got picked off today towards the end of practice by safety Trayvon Merrick on one of those kinds of plays. And so he takes risks that a quarterback should take if you're you know, Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen, Brett Farth kind of talent. He doesn't have that type of talent and so it's been a struggle for him. I mean it's it's early in camp, so you don't want to overreact, but they still have a month to try to figure out. But it hasn't been hasn't been.

Right, They keep saying, the coaches that they want someone to step up. Minshew apparently was better at the scrimmage, which checks out like no co coach that's coach Cardner Minshew has ever really fallen in love with him. Off practice, they always kind of not want to play him, and then he gets in the game, it's like okay, and he ends up out playing the guys that are there. And so if I was a Raiders fan, I'd be a little disappointed.

I personally, I went back and watched him O'Connell, and I.

Thought, man, for a rookie, he did good things, and they're the upsides bigger I gotta say for my one day of scouting here.

Just the arm.

I thought he maybe had plus arm strength and maybe I don't see that he has a bigger arm than Gardner Minshew, but not not even a plus arm.

So he's his thing is more accuracy.

Yeah, But but the issue has been, like, as I said, when things kind of get off schedule a little bit and he has to create, like and you have to move around and make throws on the run and maybe make throws at a little bit more difficult, that's that's when it starts to break down for him. And so for me, Aiden like, I don't, I don't, you know. I mean, he was a Day three pick, right, I mean, he's a he's a good backup. I think in my mind, who can be a spot starter in a situation If you get that out of a day three pick out a quarterback, like that's a win. But they're asking him to be something that's much more than that, you know, and in terms of competing for a full time starting job, you can't just be that type of guy, and so he may not ultimately have that ceiling. I mean, he's going to be twenty six years old this season, so he's only a second year player. But you know, I mean that he's twenty one, you know what I mean. And so we'll see, Like again, we still have a month to go before the season, and so maybe he makes a ass improvement or even minshe because Minshew hasn't hasn't you know, play lights out either.

And see if it's close. Though I would not that we could do this at the NFL if it's in Vegas. Like to me, it's gonna be Minshew week one if it's that close, because I think they'll just trust in the money that they gave him and the experience that he's had at least showing he's a gamer and give him a chance. I wanted to get to you on how insane Max Crosby appears to be. I mean he is just talking during the whole practice, so fired up getting after these right tackles, to the point you almost feel a little bad for him just he's beating up on him.

Yeah, he's a mad man. I mean he plays the same way you see him in games. I mean he never comes off the field effort. He's talking. I know, he went viral a couple of years ago for his interaction with Patrick Mahomes and then going back and forth. That's how he is all the time, you know, like that's not an act that he turns on for game day, you know, day in and day out. I mean he has a off insane offseason regiment. I mean he's in the facility pretty much every day at like six am.

He stays late.

He's really diligent about his body and so he takes it as seriously as as anyone that you'll see in the league. And that translates to practice and you always feel bad for the right tackle. Last year was Jermaine and luminoor and he got it every day this year. They are Munford and the rookie DJ Glaze, and so he doesn't hold back, and they view it. The Raiders, they don't try to pull him back because they view it as an Iron Sharpen's iron type of situation where if you can come to hold your own against the Max Crosby, then when you're going against you know, a social pass rusher, you'll be all right. But you know those early days of camp when he's really getting after you and he's beating you play out to play and letting you hear about it, that can be demoralizing to a guy. And so but I think you need that because, I mean, you're going to go against some tough pass rushers in this league. And if a guy can't hold up against you know, some of the better ones, like you can't trust him as you're starting right tackle or left tackle, depending on what side that next Crosby is on. And so if those guys can't stand the fire, then you know you need to make an upgrade at their position.

They got a chance this here because the defensive line talent is excellent. I think it's deeper than people realize Malcolm Coons is a good player. The players inside are stepping up. Obviously, Wilkins and Pierce got those linebackers. That's where I give him a lot of credit just playing at a level you wouldn't have expected last year. The secondary a bit of a question, but certainly some talent there, and they're bigger than they're better than some of their parts you saw, and that happens with defense and energy. I guess give us someone that you've seen, maybe on the defensive side in this camp that stood out to you that surprised, Maybe someone people don't know that much about.

It's gotta be Drecorian Bennett. Like you said, coming into camp with the with the defense, the question was really is that secondary complete? I mean, we knew what the safeties could do with Marcus EPs and Trayvon Merrick. I think they were one of the better safety tandemps in the league last year. Jack Jones, once he got picked up, really came on strong. Nickelback Nate Hobbs I think is one of the better nickols in the league. But a big hole was do.

They have another outside starting cornerback?

And ja Coryan Bennett, he was a rookie last year he came in, he had a really strong camp training camp, started the first four games of the season, but he really struggled and he got hurt and he lost lost his job and fell out of rotation. With training camp, he's been balling man number number zero.

Yeah, so he had a nice day too. Yeah, yeah, hey all did though? Do you know what to think?

The secondary has been leading away? Honestly, I think they've been the most impressive unit on defense because you know, when the pads aren't on, like you know, the trench play is kind of hard to fully evaluate that, but whether the pads are on or off, the secondary has been balling. But like all those days when the pass do come on, you see the defensive line start to dominating. How they kind of feed off of one another. And I mean at linebacker Roberts Plaine, I mean he came out of nowhere last season. I mean not just in the run game, but he was really good in pass coverage. So I mean, this defense to me, like it has all the makings of potentially being a great one this year.

I love our Raiders fans that are listeners because I feel like we have a lot.

I feel like we haven't covered that that much over the years.

Is because they've been so boring, and this is the one year I come in thinking like, I don't know, I saw that over unders like six and a half or something. I know they have a tough schedule. I think eleven of their first thirteen games are either in division or against playoff teams from a year ago. They start with a couple of road games, but those Indivision games like now, maybe Week one half Chargers doesn't look too bad. If Herbert's not one hundred per Broncos aren't great, I'm I'm definitely feeling over six and a half. I was feeling maybe a couple over that. But are you're not feeling it? Well, no, no, no, no, I will put them above six and a half. I think that's kind of low.

I think they're going to be somewhere around a five hundred caliber team. I think the pessimism just I mean, it's a quarterback driven league, So if you have, you know, an uncertain situation standing right over there, if you have undertain situations, then you know that that kind of makes people less optimistic about you. But you know, I think with their defense, if they can get their run game going if the offensive scheme change under Luke Getzi, if it ends up being a better fit. You mentioned that they have weapons, like I think there's enough there for them to stay competitive and win some of those games. Maybe that people don't expect them to make, like do they do they ultimately make the playoffs? I don't know, Like the AFC is tough like this is.

Yeah, I don't think so. I'm not going that far.

But just to make it interest, I mean, give us, give us. It's just been so many years of trying to convince us. Oh yeah, the Dennis Allen Raiders are going to do it to the Gruden Raiders like had a like a little moment, but uh, these fans are starving. I want to see it for them. So I'm on your side this year. Raiders fans appreciate you.

To Sean appreciate you having me.

H all right, I am.

Here with Jack Jones, the Raiders quarterback, who, if he keeps up this pace from today's practice, is gonna set the NFL record for interceptions this year and kickoff returns. You're not in all seriously, I'm half joking or you're actually gonna do that? Nah?

Yeah, that's that's the goal, you know, to go in there and do something that's never been done.

Yeah, I picked the right day.

A couple of the other writers we were watching this, They're like, oh, who are you gonna have on? I was like, oh, Jack Jones is coming on. And then you get one pick great anticipation out of eight and O'Connor was like a three on three Joe, you get another pick later you have a big return. You boot that return actually so far it almost took out our guy Drake here behind the camera. So I was like, this was the right day to have Jack Jones out. You've had a lot of days like that out here.

Yeah.

Every day.

You know, the defense been coming out, stepping up and you know, playing hard, and I think that right there is going to leave the players being made.

Yeah.

I wonder when you look at your role in this defense, do you think you're it's part of your job to take the ball away and score some points for this offense.

Definitely, you know, I can't be a guy giving up touchdowns, giving up a lot of passes, giving up you als. You know, that's not good coming from a dB, especially when you have a a D line like we have you know, plays have to be made.

Yeah, where do you kind of see yourself? You've had an interesting career.

Obviously, you start out in New England and really a great start to your career on the field. Some things don't work out there. Then you come to the Raiders and make a big time impact and really you're their best cornerback. I think the way you played last year and coming into this year as a number one cornerback, where kind of where do you see yourself amongst all these league cornerbacks out there?

Thank you, I appreciate that, But I mean, if you ask me, I think I'm the best corner in the league. And I think every corner that's going out there stepping on that field, you feel like that. You know, it's a thin line between arrogance and confidence, you know, so you got to be confidently going out there, and if you're not confident then you, you know, you setting yourself up for failure.

So I believe I'm the best.

So does that thin line getting you in some trouble sometimes going against the same guys every day on offense?

Definitely definitely were.

You guys getting and there wasn't much fights anything. But how's it been. It sounds like the defense has kind of been dominating day after day against this offense.

They're getting upset.

H I mean, we're just trying to push the offense to be the best that they can be, because we know if we if we go hard and don't give it them any breaks, then you know, that's gonna make them better in the season. So we just try to go out there and compete and show them a real look.

Yeah, we we had you.

I did a show with my friend Mina Kimes on ESPN a couple weeks ago where we each had to pick an X factor for the Raiders and separately, we actually both picked you, just because the ceiling feels very high for you and really for this defense. It was kind of representing this defense. Where do you guys kind of feel like you fit into the NFL where the Raiders defense is at.

I believe we have top five defense in the league, you know, and this upciping season, we're going to show exactly why we're I believe we're a top five, you know, defense in the league. But you know, without a question, I think we top five.

Yeah, it's crazy because you got here in the middle of last year. And it was pretty close to when Tonio Pierce got the job and that defense really took off. What was what was it like joining this culture and like, how was the difference in how this team operates, especially on the defensive side of the ball, and like where you came from in New England.

I just think ap Ap get the guys going, you know, he know how to bring the best out the players. He can get you, he can get the fire, you know from the players and have every player player going out there with their head on fire, you know, just flying around willing to give it off for the team. And I think if you don't have that as a as a player, have a coach that you really believe in, then it's gonna be tough to go out there and give give you all. So we have Ap and I give hasts off to him, give all the credit to him.

Max also kind of get you guys going, get me going, just watching there.

Yeah, definitely, Max is a guy that shows up every practice, every play almost you know, it's just undeniable.

What was it like you had that Christmas game where you really shut down that Chiefs defense. That was a big time moment for your team. And now you're back, it's your first full season with the Raiders and you're looking up at those guys as the back to back defending champs three three Super Bowls. What is it like going against that team and Mahomes and having that target for you guys to go after in this division.

That's a good team right there.

And we know every time we see Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs, this is gonna be a tough game. You know, if we don't come out there, you know, playing a Simon Alim Simon alignment game, then we'll lose. Because that team, they're real disciplined, you know what I'm saying. They have a great quarterback on their side. So we know the type of challenges we have when we when we face the Chiefs. So I think it's gonna be a lot of you know, a lot of click clack and a lot of talk and good game coming from the Raiders and the Chiefs.

Yeah, because it had been a minute since the Raiders could could shut down the Chiefs like that?

How did you do that? Once again, credit to AP and credit to the defense and the team. You know, one thing I noticed when we was out there on Christmas Day was you know, sometimes some games we would be like defense would be like, dang, defense, back up, we want the offense to score. But that game, we didn't blink, you know, we didn't question it when when defense was up, everybody had they had on ready to go and was ready to step on the field.

All right, I want you to talk me through one of my favorite plays from the twenty twenty three season. I think you know where I'm going with this, that interception that you had against the Chargers. I'm probably not the first person to ask, but that to me is what it's an all time like cornerback play, a play I think people are gonna remember where you reached back and you read the play. Kind of walk me through how that play took place for you.

Last year it was a film study for one for two Coach PG. You know, Coach Pat Graham. He made the call to put me in position to make that play. You know, we played cover two on that play, and that allowed me to take that chance to make that play. If PG would call cover three or man a man, you know, I would have had to stay back and do my technique. But PG put it sent a great cause to be able to make that play. I've seen some four by one Okay, I seen Yeah, I've seen four by one piecing out.

That's what I was looking for.

And after that, you know, PG, he just I mean after that I made the play. I went up and made the play. PG put us in position seen four by one?

I want and got it.

Do you have a moment like when you're making a play like that? And that was on Thursday night football. I actually had my my son. That's the only game of the week I get to.

Watch with him.

Did you even have in that moment?

I'm sure you're going crazy, like, man, that's a play that's making eight year olds go crazy all over the country.

Nah.

I didn't think that, but I was in my head when it happened.

I'm like, wow, one hand, like you know, because when I ran back there, I was I was going up with two hands, but I realized I was running past the ball, so I just kind of reached back with one and you know, plucked it out there.

That's awesome.

Last thing for you, I saw you, you know, entered training camp that you had noticed a little bit where the national media was putting you that you maybe saw some predictions out there where I think six and eleven was one that you mentioned. I guess what, what's your opinion on those predictions that have been out there that the Raiders. You know, not a lot of people have expect a lot out of the Raiders this year.

Yeah, I don't know why they don't have faith in us when you know the season that we had last year with the coaches switch middle of the season quarterba I mean obvious obviously wasn't here, but you know, quarterback switches, you know, throughout the season, and we have more wins than six wins. So and I think this year we're a better team. You know, we have a solid foundation. So for them to say we're gonna win six games, that's kind of like a slap in the face, you know, and you know the team feels that, so we will go out and show.

So that's something you guys talk about. Bongst yourself definitely. Okay.

Jack Jones, the cornerback for the Raiders, looking forward to watching you this year.

Thank you, thank you, thank you for having me.

All right, that was a lot of fun with Jack Jones. I'm easily swayed. I come down here and the defense is so dominant and I'm convinced in O'Connell is going to be trash this year and that this defense is gonna be awesome. Man, O'Connell just did not look comfortable at all in this practice. But the playmakers are there and Jack Jones and Max Crosby at the top of the list. We're gonna wrap up this show down in Costa, Mesa by going to the mail bag. You can ask us questions at NFL Daily Podcast at gmail dot com. I want to hit another mail bag early next week, maybe later this week. NFL Daily Podcasts at gmail dot com. And yeah, while we're here, go go to the YouTube page subscribe, like help us out. I loved all the encouraging emails that we were looking at between me and Randy and yeah, Randy, we're now through five teams doing a deep dive on I need that big board.

We've hit five out of the thirty two.

If we haven't hit you yet, we've hit Eagles, Raiders, Rams, Charges, Bears. We are going to hit you at some point this season. It's going to take a while, all right, Let's get to the questions. Let's start with Eldon, who asks how many starts for JJ McCarthy This year. I'm putting the over under at fourteen. I don't think it's gonna be long. JJ McCarthy at training camp getting positive notices. Sam Donald is still Sam Donald. I would almost put it higher if not for the injury risk for McCarthy, But I don't think Donald's gonna last more than two or three weeks. If I had to guess. Their schedule is pretty difficult at the beginning. They would love Donald to do well, but I think JJ McCarthy's really playing against himself at practice and in the preseason, and so far, so good. I think if he plays well, they're just not going to wait around that long to get to him. Our next question is from Oliver in the UK. He asks, what is the best case scenario for the Colts this season? What's their ceiling assuming Richardson stays healthy in plays to what you believe his ceiling is this season? I mean their ceilings high twelve wins, twelve and five, like three seed in the AFC. Of those teams that you go into the playoffs thinking like could the Colts really go to the super Bowl? And probably won't, but I've seen lesser teams in terms of line play make it to the Super Bowl and richardson ceiling Fantasy wise top five and NFL wise. If he can hit enough big throws, this guy is a great decision maker. He is tier one as athletic, a runner and in terms of his arm strength of anyone that's ever played in the NFL. He's not going to be that accurate. But if he can just make good decisions like he was making as a rookie, stays healthy, he hits his ceiling. I like the weapons around him. I love the offensive line, I love the defensive line even more. To me, they have as high a ceiling or higher than the Texans. I do think those are two of the best teams in the AFC, and the Colts should be a little disappointed if they don't make the playoffs thanks to Oliver.

Let's go to Jack.

Jack was determined and we got a lot of these emails determine, why do you got to be so determined not to like this show?

Like?

I get it.

I felt the pain of around the NFL ending as much more than anyone obviously, and I did have a little bit of time to kind of grieve and get used to it and understand life sometimes gives you things you didn't expect, gives you things you didn't want, and it's how you respond to that. But you don't need to be rooting against this show and not wanting to like this show.

Love this show.

Love the new show from Mark and Dan that's going to be coming out Heed the Call. They announced that, and I know that's going to be awesome. And I mentioned that partly because Jack has a Heed the Call tattoo like myself.

I love it. So I remember the words of Chris Wesley. He told me that.

The first time he told me that was and I'm gonna sound like this is a humble brag. Actually I was in Hawaii and I was having a little bit of a personal crisis of I can't do the job that I had, which was in management anymore.

I just couldn't do it.

I had to be happier, more fulfilled, do something like I ended up doing with around the NFL more full time and with the network and now what we're doing with NFL daily. And that was the first time Chris gave me that advice. You know, he was technically someone who was under me at work, but I always went to him for advice and that was all about it's a short life and you got to do what you love and what matters to you. And I'm doing it now. Even though it's not around the NFL, this podcast is going to mean a lot to me, and I really appreciate everyone who's along for the ride. He does ask a football question. He says, I think Tony Pollard's a brilliant example of a truly exposive, valuable second running back who excelled in that role, but when given the RB one role with no viable RB two struggled. So who are your top five RB twos for twenty twenty four? Five best RB twos? Well, immediately I think of Taj Spears and Tony Pollard in Tennessee. Whoever you call the RB two there, that's too. I love what I'm hearing out of AJ Dillon that Matt Lafleur says, this is the best AJ Dillon has ever looked. And so whether it's him, whether it's Marshawn Lloyd in Green Bay, I think those are two guys that are gonna be absolutely electric as a backup running back. And then, man, I'm going through the roll of decks right now, Justice Hill, this might be a little high for Justice Hill, but I think Justice Hill is going to have a great season. And I'm gonna think of all the RB two's out there that I should have picked for this in like five minutes, and it's gonna drive me crazy. And to defend Tony Pollard, I think he struggled because he was coming off a broken leg in the season that they were asking him to do more.

He was set up for failure there.

He just was not confident in that leg last year, and that's gonna be big for Tennessee if he is this year.

We'll see our next.

Question from Andrew loved the show, wondering if this could be a segment that would focus on the Panthers possibly being good this season. I know it's unlikely, but could be a to talk about teams that don't live in the spotlight.

Now.

I don't know about an entire segment, but I will give you a mailbox answer. Defense is more variable every season than offense. I do not like the personnel in Carolina, but there's a reason why Carolina did not let a Giro Evro, their coordinator, go to Los Angeles where they wanted him to be their coordinators because he's one of the best young defensive coordinators in the league. He has a young group, and even if it's hard to see the image, I've seen coaches make young teams like that be average when they didn't have any right to be. So you get the average defense there. Bryce Young and Deontay Johnson, I think are going to be a really good connection. I think they can improve quite a bit. I think of Alex Smith's career arc when I think of where Bryce Young is at right now. One of the worst quarterbacks they've ever seen was Alex Smith as a rookie. Second year gets a better coordinator. They improved a seven and nine. He was around league average. To me, that's the recipe for them being good. Mingo steps up a little bit and that they're just watchable and that you have a guy that can be a starting quarterback.

So not an entire segment, but I gave you like a minute. Thank you, Andrew.

This one's also for me a different Andrew, a diehard Dolphins fan that has been so accustomed to mediocrity, asks you a bigger question. I wanted to ask me about the Dalton Scale. What our entire teams this year that lie on the Dalton line. So for new listeners, the Dalton scale was Chris Westling's invention of how to measure whether you have a franchise quarterback or not. If that quarterback is better than Andy Dalton, you have a franchise quarterback. If that quarterback is worse than Andy Dalton, you do not have a franchise quarterback.

So I'm here.

You know, in Coasta, Mesa rather with the Vegas Raiders, they do not have a quarterback that's even approaching Andy Dalton back when he was with the Bengals. They are below the Dalton line. To a tongue of Iiloa. He's not as high above the Dalton scale line as Dolphins fans think, but he is above entire teams.

Is funny.

I thought about this for a while. At first, my thought was the Saints because they're so off the radar, no one really knows what they're gonna do. Their entire franchise is just can we keep our jobs for one more year. They're just trying to get to eight wins, nine wins like they had a year ago, so that everyone can stay employed. But I thought about their talents not even as good as Andy Dalton, they're below the Dalton scale to me of teams, and I think they'll finish below that. And I came up with the perfect answer. Come at me, Jags fans, it's the Jacksonville Jaguars. Now you have a quarterback in theory that's like a top ten quarterback, but it's more in theory. And Trevor doesn't get me excited. Now he's definitely above the Dalton scale. So that makes them a tricky pick here. But as a team, I look at them and I just don't know what to think. I think, yeah, they're good, they're fine. Their coach is good, their defense should be okay with Ryan Nielsen, like they'll be better. The weapons round, Lawrence's pretty good, the offensive line, Anton Harrison, they got some questions, but it's like it's okay. Like it's a lot of okay and a quarterback that hasn't been enough better than okay. So the Jags are my pick for the team on the Dalton scale. And finally, last question, it's from Torque who says he loves the chemistry with Claybahn and Jordan, and yeah, I love it too. We're gonna build it up together. We're gonna have the regulars in these couple of weeks you might realize are different than the rest of the season is going to be. I'm doing all these training camp tours. A lot of the network people like Steve Weiss and Colleen and Patrick are all over the country, and so it's a little different than when we're gonna be in the studio almost every day.

But it's been fun going out to the teams.

And yeah, Patrick is actually on tomorrow's show drafting some fantasy players. I'm looking forward to that. Torque's question is about the eighteen game schedule. What do you think of the timeline and steps getting to the eighteen game regular season. I've seen thoughts out there, including two buys reducing the preseason even further. Yeah, you hit it. There's not even any question preseason will go down to two games. They will, I believe, add a week to the season, which now gets us to the day after the super Bowl being President's date, which is why I don't think they're going to add another buy. If they did that, then they would have to start a week earlier. I don't think they would want to do that, and even though the players I think would love that time off I don't think that's going to happen. If the owners are actually willing to give up some money and pay the players a little higher percentage of total revenue. I think this could happen before the twenty one p thirty one CBA agreement is up, that they could go to the table, and this could happen sooner than later because the players seem open to it. I don't totally love it. I think that's asking a lot for these players body, and I think if you're going to do it, you should add that extra buy even though that's going to give us all an extra a week of work, which I don't really want to do. And so that was from Torque again. All the emails, all the support. You can send the emails to the NFL Daily Podcast at gmail dot com and that will wrap up today's day down in Costa Mesa with the Raiders. Tell me what team you want to hit next When we do some deep dives. We don't want to don't want to do it too often, but we'll do it every so often. And yeah, I mentioned Patrick Clayband, Marcus Grant, Mike Florio gonna be on our next show. Drafting the first three rounds of a fantasy draft. We're gonna have a lot of fun then until then, see you next time.