NFL: Good Morning FootballGMFB Wednesday Hour 1: Aiyuk Future, Hard Knocks, and Rookie Watch
Hour One of the Good Morning Football Podcast begins with the future of Brandon Aiyuk. Hosts Jamie Erdahl, Kyle Brandt, Peter Schrager, and Akbar Gbajabiamila debate potential landing spots for the WR. White Board Wednesday looks at rookies to watch this season and what childhood toy you want to see make a comeback!
Stay tuned for Scott Pioli coming up in Hour Two of the GMFB Podcast!
The Good Morning Football Podcast is part of the NFL Podcast Network
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Good Morning Football.
Hi, everybody, welcome to Good Morning Football live here in Los Angeles. I'm Jimmy or at all. There is a bar Bushbiavilla, lovely color on you.
Thank you so much.
Out in New York City is Peter Schrager and Kyle Brandt's back inside from camp. Spent the last few days Jets Camp, Giants camp. Guys, I have to tell you something something.
Are you doing breaking news? We should have a ticket right now.
I feel like a true Californian. Experienced my first earthquake last night. Oh okay, okay, so I'm I'm more to raise in the Midwest. I'm sitting in my house. All the children are asleep, It's very quiet, and then I start to think, like, wow, it sounds like a wind storm outside, which is a very common thing to happen in Minnesota. So it's I'm upstairs, and then all of a sudden, the house starts to wiggle, and I'm like, that's not wind that and I just sat there quietly, not sure what I should do. I realized how ill prepared I am for this experience, and then I did what everyone naturally would do, is I tweeted about it.
So it happens what you do now.
You know, if you if you're from LA, you know, you don't really move or do anything or sweet about okay till it's like a six point zero and then.
I'm six qualified.
They used to say, you're supposed to go in a doorframe. No, you're supposed to go right away and tweet about it. It's a really special moment though, Like I remember when I moved to New York and the first time in New yorker gave me the middle finger.
I was like, I feel like.
I really I really belong here now. So Jamie, that welcome to California.
That's exactly right, And I swear I will never do it again. I just had to put it out there and document it. And I do feel like it was like a welcome party.
You should have hit me up, you should have called me like, hey, what do I was that real?
Is that exactly how I assessed it? Okay Akwar told me the advice was I would have gotten out of the house, and I was like, well I did not do that. So here we go.
We're in our house.
This is GMFP. We're gonna start with the lead block a few hours so north of us Brandon, a Yuk. Brandon and a Yuk might be on the move. According to Ian Rappoport, it's more likely that Ayuk will be traded rather than re sign with the forty nine Ers. The team is having discussions so far, reportedly with the Steelers, the Browns, and the Patriots about a deal. Kyle Shanahan said yesterday to not rule anything out, but Christian McCaffrey might have had a slip of tong and is already viewing Ayuk in the past tense.
No, for me, I don't deal with it. You know, that's not part of my job. It's not part of my position. I think obviously as a as a former teammate or you know, teammate of his. In general, any teammate that you have, you love, you respect them, you want the best for them. As far as the business side of this game goes, it's always difficult, and so I stay out of it completely. You know, that's that's way above my pay grade, and I just try to focus on what I can do every single day. But obviously we always wish the best for any of our teammates, whether they're here or not. Obviously we hope he's here. Just you know, it's it's a it's a tough part of the business.
How badly did Chris Rose and Steve Voice want to pounce on that when he said it? But they led the answer right out, Peter. It feels like this could be just a matter of time. Initial thoughts on Brandon, what you heard from McAffrey yesterday, But really, how this is all unfolding.
I gotta give Steve Weis and Chris Rose a ton of credit from that clip because I.
Wouldn't be the same journalists they would be. I'd be, oh, what you say?
What you say?
And you know what, because I've got this cozy studio here in the air condition, I could put my shoes.
Up on the table.
Let's get back to that.
Let's roll it back a few times. What did McCaffrey say about Ayuka.
Let's go ahead, obviously as a as a former teammate or you know, teammate of his in general. Obviously, as a as a former teammate or you know teammate of his in general.
Yeah, to see it one more time.
Here's a done deal to me, see yuh peace wet Like that's it.
That's a slip of the tongue.
He probably so mad at himself as he walked away from why did I say that?
Barket, Like, do not bring that up tomorrow to start your show please, Like here's McCaffrey, most polished guy in the league, has never said a wrong thing, like is mister America very likable? Offensive player of the year like break and I heard that.
And I'm like, ooh, that's a slip. That's a slip, he said the Emperor former.
I gotta think you because all book gone. The question is does you want to go anywhere else? Because from what we hear Matt Mioko, who I shouted out last show, like.
This guy's on it. He's in San Francisco.
He works for NBC and Comcast out there. He's like, yeah, New England's no longer in the mix. He doesn't want to play for New England. So okay, who else is left? We heard about Cleveland. I gotta think Pittsburgh's the place. I've been hearing about Pittsburgh and IUK since the draft.
And you look at the Pittsburgh Steelers and you look at their depth chart, at wide receiver.
And you've got George Pickens, and you've got a bunch of things in parentheses.
You've got Roman Wilson.
Who's a rookie who played at Michigan last year. You got Van Jefferson who's bounced around the league, Calvin Austin.
Were waiting to see Scotty Miller. We know he was in Atlanta last year, but he was the Tampa.
Hero of that game against the Packers. And then Quez Watkins who used to play for the Eagles. Like you at Brandon Ayuk and George Pickens, and then we're talking about possibly challenging the Bengals and the Ravens and the Browns and the AFC North, and you add that with obviously what they got at quarterback. I thought the moves at quarterback were instrumental and it moved them in the right direction.
But they can't be done yet.
The Steelers need one more piece that they're going to compete. It's Brandon Ayuk. It's at the wide receiver position. And when the star player on the team accidentally slips and says former, I mean current, I see, let's go.
Let's move on.
The Niners are trying to get to the super Bowl. Win that thing. I don't think they want to hear about Brandon Ayuk anymore.
Well, if they're trying to Peter trying to make it to the super Bowl, this is the window to do it. We've seen now over the last several years they've been very, very close. They keep getting better and better. Obviously they you know, they have their slip ups here and there and not being able to being able to get to the super Bowl. But you don't let a guy like Brandon Ayuk walk out. You gotta make it work. And I get it, Brandon, and you probably got real salty feelings about maybe not being able to get the money that he wants, right, But you know, we talked about the alternative obviously. You know, you look at where he played his ball. He played ball and you know Nevada, or played high school ball in Nevada.
Went to school in Arizona.
I mean, he's a California get played pro ball in California, so he's been on the West Coast his whole life. I'm not quite sure, you know, this is kind of worth maybe going out and playing out in cold weather Steelers or bad New England, like they got to find a way to make it work on both sides. I think about and Kyle, I'm sorry if this hurts your feelings, but I think about Jerry Krouse breaking up that nineteen ninety eight Chicago Bulls, I mean, coming off of their sixth title. Everybody was like, what are we doing? This is where I'm gonna be looking at Lynch. I'm like, man, you got to not crous this forty nine ers team, because I think everybody understands that the forty nine ers are so close, They're right there.
Why can't you make it work? The Eagles made it work.
They were able to get sa Kwon Barkley and keep aj Brown and keep all of their star players and not really lose.
They have their core team.
In place, so this is an opportunity for them to keep that core team. Whatever you gotta do, you do not let this guy walk out now, I will say, and I don't know how old the clip was, but it's really weird, really weird to see Brandon Aiyuk walking on the field and dap it everybody up on the hoodie, just walking whatever the holdout, hold in whatever he's doing, and just chilling. And then y'all about to ship him out something just I don't know what I'm feeling right now, but I'm like, I'm actually kind of lightweight pissed, like you guys would let the you know, the forty Niners would let him walk out like that, if you just trade it, that's a bad move for the forty nine ers.
He's trying to say face like he's trying to show whatever team he goes to, like I'm still a professional. Look at me, like these guys are about to ship me out, but like I'll come to your field too, and I'll dap everybody up, Like I don't think it doesn't matter what hoodie he has on wherever he goes, he wants to get paid and he's going to be friendly to anybody on the field.
Yeah, well, listen, the late Jerry Krouse broke up the team because he had ten years of psychological abuse. He hated Phil Jackson, Michael Jordan, bullied him psychologically every turn, called them crumbs. He had some kind of issues going on that I don't think the Niners have going on and made Jerry Krouse rest in peace. I just am here with the Brandon Ayuk thing, and I said yesterday, listen, he's a really good player. I think he's about the ninth most important player on the forty nine ers roster. And everybody clutched their pearls about that and disrespectfulness, because how dare you not say everybody's the best player ever, make the most money ever.
I stand by it. I stand by it completely, and listen.
I think the forty nine Ers it's a question of limits with Ayuk and ceilings with Ayuk. I think they really like him. I don't think their head over heels in love with him. I think he's important to their offense. I don't think he's crucial to their offense. I think he's very good. I don't think he's a superstar. I mean this is a guy who like they do things differently there. They have a very expensive fullback, they have a great tight end, they have a running back who catches seventy balls, all right, and you look at this Brandon.
Yu because really the wide receiver.
Two, he's thirty six in the league in targets, thirty six, So it's like he's not that involved, he's.
Not that crucial.
And if you look up at the top of the league in targets, you got your CD Lambs and Tyreek's and Davonte Marquee guys where the offense goes through them. I don't think that's the case here, And that's okay. And if everyone thinks this is crazy and Akbayer respect you, they can't let him leave.
Brent, you're an idiot.
I will side with the front office who makes the decisions to go to four title games and two Super Bowls in the last five years. They know what they're doing. And just in case you needed more proof that maybe this is moving on the video tape, please go on Good Morning in San Francisco, roll the video tape.
As a former teammate or you know teammate of his in general obviously as a as a former teammate or you know teammate of his in general, so.
Mad about it or he's probably so mad. I just Christian again, such a good guy. So that's a big misspeak. You can't say that in that interview at that time. Sorry.
I wonder what brock Perty would have to say that matter.
Fine, he has so money option you got dressed him out.
I think so he really depends on them. The third and long, I mean we saw that in the the Little highlight clip where I mean, we can't forget that that catch, that face mask catch.
All we go, he got their.
Third down, guys, they got their They're good, let's go.
Let's to me.
This is hanging over this team.
It's a cloud and he hey, look to Kyle's point, they've had success five years, four title games, two super Bowls. If they make this move and all of a sudden, party can't complete a pass because the ana Vayuk, they'll wear the egg on their face. But at this point, as we move into preseason and you don't want this thing hanging around Anymoreffrey.
Maybe you said former on purpose. I'm going all the way now.
Maybe he decided to put it out there, say a former excuse me a currency?
I mean like Christian's taking some leadership role there.
I'm went all the way over, say and those in those meetings that they would feel even the ability to save form, Like do you think there's some conversations going on when Ayuk's not in the building amongst the players and amongst the coaches about Ayuk.
This is the stuff I'm talking about. But when you have a slip like that saying former, well.
I will say this though, and Kyle you said this, you know, you talked about the rankings for Brandon ak Brandon Nyuk is the most in the last two seas, the most targeted wide receiver for the forty nine ers.
I mean, but that's because you're going by position. You still have Debo, you have Christian McCaffrey of Georg Kittle because they don't play that position. It doesn't mean that I'm just no.
No, no, no, it's a unique it's a fair point. But what I'm saying is we can't take away his value. We can't say that. I'm like, I'm pro Brandon Nayuk. I'm programs staying on the forty nine.
But the Kyles the beauty of the Kyle Shanahan offense is the creativity of it and the fact that he doesn't rely on this traditional wide receiver one two mentality. He has all these options. Clearly, it's worked thus far because he's been able to do it with the offensive weapons without having to rely on a wide receiver too.
In Brandon and I, so we just jump off, We just jump off the man and not give him his bag.
He should get his bag.
And here's I think he's very good and very productive. He's a very good and and honestly, he's a homegrown player like they drafted him.
Those are the guys that you want to pay. He's young, he's good.
I just think he probably wants more money than they want to give him. I think it's that's something they don't want to be done with Brandon Aayuk. They don't want to move on from him. He wants a huge contract. We have too many players and too many players that are getting paid. I'm sorry, Brandon, the ball doesn't bounce your way, and if you have to do it somewhere else, we'll root for you every time you got up.
Not saying we shouldn't, we don't. I'm not saying I don't think he should get paid. He can get paid somewhere else.
That's all.
That's really good. He's really good, And to Peter, I think Peter made the point yesterday. He could go anywhere they could get something for him, a wider back that probably could still lead the team in targets at the wide receiver position, and they'd still be okay. They'd probably get a draft pick out of it, and then he will get paid. It just isn't going to be in a forty nine er jersey, which.
I get it.
It sucks, but when we look at the trade partners, youet two of the three on the list of potentials, even though we still list the Patriots and out Peters saying that and Patriots are out, he.
Doesn't want to go there.
The point is, NFL Network has preseason games this week as a part of our Week one preseason slate. Thursday is Panthers head up to Foxboro for girod Mayo. We're in the headset for the first time and Drake May's debut. Friday, the Texans visit the Steelers. All eyes are going to be on the Pittsburgh quarterback situation.
Naturally.
Both games kickoff at seven pm Eastern right here on NFL Network and he cold stream it on NFL Plus. Preseason Week one games are of course on our air. Here we go Thursday, Friday. Jayden Daniels. That's also this weekend. The Commanders announced yesterday that Jayden Daniels will be playing against the Jets on Saturday. What other rookies are we looking forward to watch this weekend?
Whiteboards next.
Plus he got Speaking of Jerry Krause, he got the Chicago Bulls intro music on HBO last night. If you watch Hard Knocks, they played the nineties Bulls intro music for Caleb.
What about that offense?
Who's his Ron Harper, who's his Tony Kukos, Who's.
Gonna be hit the corner? Three?
Like Craig Hodges on the first title run, We're gonna talk Bears.
Are they gonna live up to this hype? Are they gonna put points on the board.
This is good morning football, not former current television show that you're watching right now, and we.
Love you for it. Good football.
Cale Williams going from USC to the Chicago Bears yesterday, he had this to say about the new look and Bears offense and him at the lead of it.
We're gonna be explosive. And that doesn't mean that explosives are drawback fifty yard bombs s for you know, as the higher you get is gonna be a lot tougher, and so there's gonna be a few of those, but explosive wise, whether it's screen game, run game, quick game, getting the ball in our guys hands and letting them work guys.
Caleb Williams is the most exposed young player right now. The coverage of him is wall to wall at this point, Peter, if you compile all of your early impressions of this young man, what do you make of the Bears quarterback?
Well, look, last night was the first Hard Knock, so we got an extended view of Caleb, and I came on the show yesterday live from Giants Camp and I provided this commentary on what I wanted to see from Caleb Williams on Hard Knocks. What it was was me saying, you know what, I want to see how he does on the Rookie Show. If he comes onto the Rookie Show and he says, I'm too cool for this, I'm gonna do a rap lyric and I'm gonna try to do it right, or I'm gonna sing a very basic song, or do my fight song and I'm gonna take it very self seriously.
Then I'm gonna be like I might be out on this guy.
Instead, He's sang John Legends Ordinary People was terrible, had the worst high pitched voice and was completely clowned for it, and with the Veterans for Thrones, and he was smiling and loving it. I like humility, and I feel like just a little bit we're seeing some humility. Now there's confidence there, but I love seeing him lean into the humility part of it and be a butt of the joke, which he was yesterday.
On Hard Knocks.
And I think that's a good barometer for how he's perceived by his teammates, that he's just one of the guys. Because also, I'll say this on Hard Knocks last night, he's hanging with Tyson Bagent, and he's hanging with Austin Reid, and he's hanging with Brett Rippon, and it doesn't look like he's better than them. It doesn't look like he's keeping them from an arms leanth like. It seems like he's one.
Of the guys. And I think that is so important.
When you're the first overall pick and you're the most hyped rookie in the NFL maybe since Andrew Lucky.
Here Elsen, you're not from the Midwest, You come in and you everybody knows that you made a bunch of money last in the year through Nil's everybody. The first thing you have to do is go in front of the team and say, my signing bonus is twenty five point five million dollars. That's tough, that's tough to set yourself apart. You've been in commercials. You're one of the first true celebrity quarterbacks to come out of college in terms of money and endorsements and things like that. And yet you listen to him and like, you may hate the Bears, you may be a Packers fan, and I can spend. He doesn't come off unlikable. He comes off pretty confident, pretty relaxed. And there's this time of year, in this day and age, like when you're in camp and getting as many reps as he does, people are looking for that phone video of like, ooh, a pick six that he threw.
Look at this terrible throw.
All the memes are like, Caleb Williams are already off to a great start, and he'll show some you know, embarrassing and completion. I haven't seen much of that, and I think a lot of that is just how many players are around him. He has so many good players and so many experienced players that just throw it in the vicinity of number two DJ Moore, and he'll make you look good, calm, relaxed, no weird SoundBite yet, no terrible cell phone video yet, just looks cool and looks composed and there's a long way till the opener again. I'm gonna say this lot in this month, a home game at Soldier Field against the Tennessee Titans. It was almost like the Bears could pick their schedule, Like, what's a soft rollout? Can you give us a home game against a team with also a young quarterback, maybe a new coach.
Like, let's don't don't let us open against the Ravens.
Okay, it couldn't be a better opener home against the Titans Week one.
We'll see it.
There's a long time from them, but I like what I see. I can't come up with anything not to Like, there's always something that people don't like in this day and age. You see anything, they're like, yeah, but he does this or he's douchey.
I don't see it.
I was watching it all man, I was. I was taking it in.
Yeah, I wanted to see kind of like you get a real good feel, especially in the locker room environment and camp environment. You get a real good feel about how guys are. And everything about him made me like him. I didn't know, and I still don't know, you know him from from anything else, Like, so this is my first time really getting to see his interactions with his other teammates. But it made me think, like, Yo, this dude's got the juice. You can see the setup everything around it is set up for Caleb Williams to be able to go out there and just shine and do his thing, and so for that, I'm for him. The one thing I don't like, I know, yeah, I'm about to get negative.
Okay.
I like the fact that I love the fact that that Nick Saban was there, But I don't like the expectations that are being set for Caleb Williams. And he can't control that. I can't control that, no one else can. But this just seems like a recipe for disaster. They had me all up in my feelings. They had the Chicago Bulls thing playing. Then they get the dude on the mic, Kyle. You probably know his name. I don't know his name, but it sounds super authentic. I was sitting there like no, and I start I was like, oh, oh my goodness. I was like, in there, I'm going if he does not live up to this expectation, he's done, done, done right, because there's just so much of the build up. But I love what Nick Saban said when he was talking about, you know, liv up to the expectation, and sometime what gets lost in that is the development. He's still a young quarterback. Yes he's got all the intangibles, all the skill sets, but he still has to learn and get developed. So we just got to be careful that the expectation doesn't ruin this young kid, you know what I mean. Like that's the part that was like, oh, like Nick Saban was he was preaching over there, like they should have put some church music behind him.
I actually think that worry and stress that you have about him implies is how likable he's been, because at this point you're not really rooting for him to stumble like everyone. It goes back to the combine Peter if you remember, and you can speak to.
This as well.
It was like Pete, that's.
Where people really started to look for like, well, look at him. He's not showing up, he's not engaging in as many meetings as we thought, he's not submitting his medicals. And then when you hear the justification, it's like, well, why would he if he knows he's just going to go to Chicago, why would he expose himself that way to other thirty one other teams. If he knows, he's just going to go to Chicago. And now the things that Peter and everyone else has said about Chicago when they met with him, it was always like, let's go playbook because you're our guy. Now you're like, well, that makes sense. And he wouldn't expose, he wouldn't disclose his medicals. Like everything he's done, people are looking for the bait and he hasn't given to them. That answer to Stacy Dale's was I thought, awesome, He's like, we're gonna be explosive. Now let me tell you why you shouldn't misinterpret that, like he has the answer to any time anyone is gonna want to backfire on him. But to your point, off bar you being stressed about him tripping is just I think it is proof as to why he is so.
Likable and also too because I realized when the expectation is high, that you know people are coming after you, and that's what I don't want people coming after him. So and it's just like when I when I look at them, I'm like one mess up. Like Kyle just says something like, well we'll see how many you know how this develops in the other episodes and any other episodes he says one bad thing, and people are ready to probably make it, make a pivot, you know, and they're looking for something to take on.
So we'll see.
I also think in that market it's really interesting. So it's the first time the Bears have done hard knocks out and it's also the first time the Bears have had a number one overall pick at quarterback in our generation that we've been watching.
But like they traded up to.
Number two to get Trubisky didn't work out. They traded up number eleven to get Justin Fields. I think we're all fans of Justin Fields, but it didn't work out. So there's this added pressure of it being on the Bears. It's not like he's c J. Stroud or Bryce Young going to the Texans or the Panthers, which have had success.
I've been up, I've been down to one.
They could have homes, you know, Like there's a lot and.
Like as we're watching Jayden Daniels footage and as we're watching Drake may footage, like you don't want to miss on this one, and the fact that it was a slam dunk and it was like, they're not meeting with anyone else. It's gonna be Caleb Williams from the start, Like there is an added level of expectation, there is added pressure, and it's the pressure out of ten is eleven right now on Kayleb Williams.
I'm trying as hard as I can to have a Caleb Williams conversation. And I really am tired of saying the name justin Fields. And I know why you do it, Peter and most people do it. I'm just I'm kind of going cold turkey. It's like it's it's pathetic, and it's sad to keep looking back that people have nothing to do with him and Tribisky. I mean, Caleb was I think in junior high when they drafted Trubisky and you come in there and then none of the players were there and none of the coaches were there.
The hype is fine, bring the hype.
I I disagree, Far be it from me to disagree with Nick Saban, Like this is twenty twenty four. Every number one overall pick who is a quarterback, who specially goes to a big market, the hype's never going to be low.
The expectation never gonna get low. Youree, he'll be the guy like it don't.
My body was like I was like what, yes, it's like, it's not you mad, but you ain't gonna be coaching.
If it takes a year three that's what.
He'll be gone. And like we just toss C. J. Stroud like light it up. So it's different.
You don't sit down for three years and then warm up like Week one Titans, Week two primetime against the Texas. The hype is real. Hype's not going away. The media has changed, the industry's changed. Embrace it.
The guy does.
The guy looks like he's very calm. He's played at Oklahoma, he's played at USC like he's been there.
He's eddy.
So the hype isn't gonna be just put away in a sock drawer somewhere.
It's there. Can you play through it? I don't know if he can.
I don't know.
You don't know. I don't know if he knows. We'll find out.
KNFL Network has every NFL preseason game, including twenty one live. It is time in case we were worried. It's sign for football. The NFL preseason starts August eighth. Starts right here on NFL Network, blackout restrictions apply. Also stream it on NFL Plus. He needs a subscription for that, though it is required for the NFL Plus. The Blues as we used to like to call it. Sherry Buris, Good morning to you. What's going on around the league? Well, good morning, Jamie. The big story out of Niners camp. Of course, as you guys talked about all morning, Brandon Ayuk and will he still be in San Francisco, But as they get said to take on the Titans on Saturday, we do have some concerning news about running back Christian McCaffrey. Head coach Kyle Shanahan announcing McCaffrey will miss a couple of weeks of practice as he's dealing with a calf strain and unlikely to play in the preseason. Shanahan also said McCaffrey suffered the injury a couple of days ago, but.
Luckily he didn't pull anything. And more NFC West injuries, as Ram said, coach Sean McVay said wide receiver Poopa Nakula is considered week to week as he deals with a knee injury, but the injury isn't anything serious, so good news for all you fantasy managers out there, like they says, there's no threat Nikola will miss the season opener against the Lions.
And as we all know.
Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill had himself a week voted number one on the Players NFL's Top one hundred lists, than followed by signing a big fat extension. Well, he'll crediting the Dolphins organization for his elitist accomplishments.
I'm grateful to be in this position, you know, I told coach McDaniel, Man, without you, I still be getting ranked number fifteen in Kansas City, you know. So it's also man to be a part of this man with Chris Grier, mister Ross even to a man like helping me become a better player.
Man.
So I'm excited. Man, I'm grateful, Like I won't. I won't never take any of this for granted.
Well, Tyreek, they're really praising his head, coach, But don't go anywhere more. GMF becoming our way.
I think on the table, I.
See boards, I see markers, whiteboard Wednesday.
Coming your way next, Good.
Morning football, It's Wednesday. We're gonna bust out the whiteboards. Preseason Week one officially kicks off tomorrow night and into the weekend. Your first topic is as follows rookie that you have your eye on in pre season week one, Kyle Brant, whatever you're chuckling about, righting on your board.
Okay, here you go.
I'm on the gram.
As you can see Schrager if you're just watching Good Morning Football for the first time. Everyone else has a twelve year head start on Instagram with me. I just joined, so I'm trying to get those followers up into the double digits. And this is the guy that I've been watching, Maleek Neighbors. Yesterday, Kyle and I were at Giants practice and it was a Molik Neighbors showcase. He was catching balls on Tarry Arnold, catching balls on Kirby Joseph, and he was dominant. It's only August sixth, and he is a rookie wide receiver. And yet when I watched this guy at practice, I'm like, is he the best player on the field right now? He was unstoppable yesterday And when we spoke to Joe Shane and Brian Dable, you couldn't get the Chesshire grin off their faces over how good he's been. Just a rookie, and yet he's been explosive and he's been dominant.
Now, we had fistic cuffs yesterday at practice.
Does that carry over into the first preseason game against the Lions.
We know he and Kirby, Joseph and Terry and Arnold.
Went at it.
I don't know if those guys are gonna be on the field. I don't know if the Lak Neighbors gonna be on the field.
But I'll be watching week one Thelik Neighbors because I remember, yes, I do, when Victor Cruz put on a show in the preseason, he made a name against the Jets.
I think this could be the day from Elik Neighbor. It's little different story.
It's sicked overall pick, but I can't wait to see Malik dressing up for the Giants on Saturday.
Well, Peter, you know who hasn't been fighting. I was talking to coach Ball last night, Jim Harball, and he's saying they haven't had one fight in practice.
Oh but at the Bolt.
But I will tell you the one rookie I'm looking forward to, and I'm keeping my eye on his. Out of the Chargers, mister Brendan Rice, they got rid of Keenan Allen and Keenan Allen's gone, and you know, I'm trying to figure out what this wide receiver, you know, unit is going to look like. I think there's a great opportunity for him to come out of nowhere. I like this kind of thing. He's a seventh round pick, he's a son, of course the Hall of Famer Jerry Rice. And this is one of those guys who I think we're going to be talking about. I know, you know, you like McConkey, you know, over there, but I think this is a guy that we're going to be talking a lot about.
You know, Brendan Rice.
People are gonna forget, but when you look at what he did at USC, twelve touchdowns, I mean, the dude was amazing. He had a last year. His last year USC, he really kind of blossomed. I think he came into his own. I don't think people put him under the same umbrella as his father. So he gets to stand out on his own, and I hope he stands out with the Chargers ockbar.
We have incredible synergy here.
I love this because Chargers they're going to play on the eighth this weekend at one o'clock and you're talking about a Chargers wide receiver. Well, when they throw it to Rice Deep, I'm going to be looking at a Raiders safety, the master of puppets.
Raiders rookie Trey Taylor. That's the guy I'm looking at. You know why I'm looking at him.
Trey Taylor was the guy who had the Mahomes puppet a couple of weeks ago in training camp and had it and did the impression, and there was a Taylor.
That's the guy.
Trey Taylor is who I'm looking at. And he's still on the team, Peter, Now, he's still on the team. In fact that if you look up his draft profile, Lance Zerlin says he is a really good player and has a shot at making the team.
Also, we love this guy because he went to Air Force.
Of all the people who would have Patrick Mahomes puppet in training camp and become a viral moment.
He is a safety.
He'll be going up against that Chargers offense this weekend. If this guy makes the team, and he is as a seventh round pick out of Air Force makes the team. Despite that early video incident that I'm sure Antonino and Pierce did not love. That's a real story. That's the documentary I want. That's my guy, Trey Tailor. The Master of Puppies is already Guy's nickname. That's why I'm watching this weekend.
Can't let him be a disposable hero. Kyle, all right, we've all heard coach talk at the podium.
Jamie, that's a deep cut.
You obviously googled Master of Puppets, and I'm impressed you did the work. It was a very heavy song about war and the damages it does to the body and the mind.
That's an incredible.
I was gonna check it with Ac Particy if you were classically trained in the Metallica references.
No, I don't.
Okay, So we're gonna have the same bank.
Okay, you will do what I say when I say it's.
That we No, that's kiss Topic two. We heard coach talk at the podium. We know coach speak, but every now and then we actually get a coach who's brutally honest. And Jim Schwartz, the Browns offensive coordinator, delivered that this week.
Can I be vague and non committable though, here's a question. Yeah, what's a question with this one?
What do you wish that coaches were more honest about Peter. You must have in your years of press conference attendance, you must have.
That one thing.
And you're like, come on, coach, just give me there.
You're a little one looking for you know. It's funny.
We talked to these coaches and Andy Reid is one of the greats, and Andy Reid always says, you know, I want these players to be the best versions of themselves.
And when he was.
Asked about Travis Kelcey and his off season, he's like, hey, look, I want Travis to enjoy life because he should enjoy life and he's earned that, and as long as he's ready on Sundays, that's all that matters.
And I appreciated that.
Across the league, you asked these coaches about things that come up on social media, and they're always like, well I didn't see that, or they're like, you know that that's him on his off time.
It's it.
I wish one time a coach would be like, you know what. I hated the fact that this player went on social media after the game and answered a fan. I hated the fact that this guy after a loss was seen at a club and doing social media. I hated the fact that afterwards, when I said my words that this player had to give some subtle, cryptic, quite frankly lame tweet that like, we're all.
Dissecting, coach, what's you thinking about your player unfollowing the team on Twitter?
You know, I haven't seen that story yet.
Get a chance.
I want an honest answer.
I want an honest answer to be like, yo, dude, stop it, Like what are you doing?
Doesn't help the fact. So I want to hear some honesty.
They saw it.
He's like, I was out on the can, I was scanning and.
I saw it.
I follow him, I was pooping, I had my phone open. I saw what this player I did and I hated it.
Yeah, and I hated it.
Okay, I would love to see that.
Okay, I want to take over for Rockbar because I have one that I think from the top of the show, it totally applies. Specifically, I just want brutal honesty out of Kyle Shanahan about what he thinks. When Chritian McCaffrey said former teammate like with it a Freudian slip, what are you actually talking about? We need the honest answer because when we heard former, and then later in the interview actually in the same answer, McCaffrey's like, and I really hope he is in the building, and I want him to be a question what did you mean? And Kyle Shanahan, we want to know the honest answer to the fact that there was a bit of a former teammate situation that happened during an ITC interview yesterday. Kyle, what do you got?
We're just kicking McCaffrey and the shins over and over on that he deserves it and can't say former. This is its first week of August.
I guess this is a low hanging fruit.
But coach, just for one week or maybe just one day, dude, just tell us that we should draft in fantasy.
Can you just let us know? Can you just tell us?
And you know what, there is a comp I remember vividly this. This is a throwback twenty thirteen the Buffalo Bills. Twenty thirteen Bills not a great team. The offensive coordinator is Nathaniel Hackett. Okay, and he comes out in August and this is a quote from Nathana Hackett. It's real simple. We're gonna give CJ. Spiller the ball until he throws up. He's either got to tap out or throw up on the field.
Let's just put it that way. And everyone was like, thank you draft CJ.
Spiller.
The coach just said he's literally gonna have to puke to be not given them.
Breddie Jackson had more carries by so I thinks I probably got hurt.
I hate to say it, but I would just love that right now.
If someone just came out, if Demiko Ryans was like, look, we plan to get Joe mixed in three hundred touches this year, great, I will draft him early.
They never do that. They know we want to hear that information.
If you can tell us about the Cooper cups before, and if you could tell us about listen, lad mcconkey's legitally going to catch eighty balls for this year and we don't just say it. Please just for one day would help us a lot.
Thank you.
I like how you wrote with the dude at the front of your board too, like, dude, just tell us please, we love our god.
Dude, come on all right.
During yesterday's show, we debated if the slipping slide because there's two to to video of I'm engaging a slip and slide was the best backyard water sport. Peter brought up his son Mel he got a super soaker as a gift, and then Betty was a one year old is not handling it well and it was too extreme at this point. So for our last question on the whiteboard, Wed was what is one toy from your childhood that makes you nostalgic? Because Peter had a great breakdown of the what the water gun used to be.
Like, Yeah, used to have this little plastic water pistol with like a little plastic piece of tongue.
You'd put it under the sink and you'd put.
The piece in to plug it, and then the plug would go through that hole.
So then the water pistol was done. And it was like, there's something really nice about that. Kyle Ackbar, Jamie maybe you as well. I know Kyle and.
Ackbar are big WWE slash WWF fans, oh wrestling buddies.
Wrestling buddies. If you were like a twelve year old kid and everybody else is talking about Teddy.
Bears and there, and they're fluffy a cabbage patch kid, a wrestling buddy of the Ultimate Warrior, and those are the armbands I have right there on this thing.
Those are my armbands.
You could take this thing and you could pick it up, and you could slam it on a couch and you could jump on your bed, and you can pile drive and you can.
Go off the rim and it was it's really a stuffed animal, but you.
Felt like a man.
You were like, I'm gonna I got my wrestling buddy, and this is Hogan and Snook.
But again, I'll tell you this. It was really a teddy Bear. It really was what it was. But it was like a cool teddy beg.
I want a ted I want a million dollar man, okay, And I don't want Virgil.
I want a million dollar Man's Virgil.
Yeah that's Virgil. No, no, no, we don't.
That's with Virgil.
For me, I didn't have a lot of toys growing up. We had to sneak playing the old school Nintendo and it was this game that made me fall in love with football. That's right, Tech Moobo and Bo Jackson. If they could just bring this back to me. You know, I know that Madden's got all the four k's in the eight k's and the beautiful graphics, but there was nothing more beautiful than seeing those block players with no fundamentals, just sliding around the screen and all you have to do was just hand the ball off to Bo Jackson and you knew he was gonna break. For one, if you weren't playing with Bo Jackson, you were playing with Jerry Rice. And don't forget the Mark brothers too, because I loved playing with them as well.
For the Dolphins, duper and Clayton.
Absolutely shout out cap Boso the Bears tight end. Right now, we're in this golden age of lawn games.
You know, there's a million things.
And it's it's corn hole, and it's can jam, and it's a spike ball, and every time you go online there's some new dude bros who quit their corporate jobs and came up with a new game, and big things are coming. We invented the new game to play in the parking lot or your yard. Let me take you a time called, let's call it nineteen eighty seven where your dad might go out in the front yard, have a few michelobes and just decide to throw around these things called lawn darts. This was a real thing when they would give you basically a miniature javelin and you would chuck it fifty feet up in the air and a full ass metal spike would come down into the yard and you try to get in the little ring and then the other person would throw it back. But you're just basically thrown around giant machetes all over your yard and no one thought twice very dangerous, and you're halfway in the bag and the yard isn't that big. And of course they were like compleately banned because you heard all these stories about terrible things happened. But like that's classic eighties and now they're out there and they're all rounded at the bottom or they have like sand bags at the bottom. Back in the day, they would get they would get hammered, go out in the art and just throw spears around, and that was a Tuesday afternoon.
Lawn darts don't ever bring them back.
But I remember a day where like there wasn't a yard that didn't have a lawn dark You look at the roof and there's the nerve frisbee up there that someone threw, and then there's a lawn darts in the yard, and there's a.
Pogo ball in the driveway.
That's how it's I haven't thought of a pogo bawl long and then you.
Have a skipp it, you know that one. They're all on the driveway. That's what we did it nineteen eighty seven.
I haven't so long over.
Skipp it's really the beginning of the Achilles injury.
I've never heard of that.
I avoided lawn darts at all costs. Yeah, I'll side mine in just to bolster the you get back in the kitchen and stop talking about football argument. The easy bake oven was a great toy for me as a kid, like to have the command of creating your own baked goods was a great thing to be able to do at the age of between five and ten. And frankly, I wish we could bring it back, and I can't wait for my kids to make brownies with a light overtop. I mean, it's a great thing. Summer games in Paris coming to a close, looking ahead to LA hosting the twenty eight Olympics, and of course flag football coming on deck. Now, Jalen Hurts qualified as one of those guys who could make anything look cool. At this point, that must be awesome for the Colisee. I'm being an LA guy.
Yeah, that was fire right there. Seeing that. That's iconic right there, seeing that ball go up there like that. I can't wait.
That's gonna be really interesting to have football a part of the Olympics.
Like, that's a big move. It's a big move.
Hmm.
Gentlemen in New York thoughts.
I've got a take on this, Jamie.
I've got to take if I'm justin Herbert and Matthew Stafford, I'm pissed off used to leave this guy and spent the money to fly him across the country to come into our city and do some lovely drama. Like I'm Stafford, I got a Super Bowl championship, I'm Herbert, I'm the future.
We're in LA.
You could save costs on money, NFL. You could just use my guys. Give the two LA guys a chance. Really good, you're gonna fly, Jalen Hurts in, come on, that's a really good.
Motivation chip on my shoulder.
Very nice.
I like mosting for that.
Still a great
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