Hello and welcome to the mm QB Monday Morning NFL Podcast. I'm your host, Gary Gramling. We are moving through our division preview series with a very special guest once again, it is Andy Benoit. Andy, how's it going all as well? Which? Uh, which division are we doing? Which one? Do you? What do you say? You pull the lever? Yeah, you gotta, you gotta pull the lever and you gotta sort of sort of sort of uh mix the cards and then it tells you the card will tell you which ping pong ball to select, and then you crack open the ping pong ball and uh, you find out what division you're doing. I did all those things pre show because it's like a three hour process, but it came up. NFC East very good. NFC East to love it. The Monday Night Football Sunday Night Football Division. Yeah. Yeah, it's interesting because there's really only two teams worth putting on prime time in this division, or at least I think so. I guess maybe maybe we'll we'll dive into that a little bit more as we break down the teams here, but as we always do, we are going in order of last year's standings. We will make predictions at the end of the show. But this is order of last year's standings as we do our breakdowns, and we are starting therefore with the defending division champion Philadelphia Eagles. Look, the big story for the Eagles by the end of last season was the fact that they just, uh it was. It was certainly the slowest receiving corps in the NFL. It might have been the worst. I I feel like I'd be hard pressed to think of a less talented one with all the injuries they had. But the moral of the story is they went out and just I mean, they brought in speed on top of speed this offseason, so they will have speed. I I don't know if it's great speed. You know, we'll see what Jalen Reagor is when he gets out there. The rookie John High Tower of fifth round pick is also there, and then of course Marky's goodwin and uh humably they get to Shawn Jackson back. But that is speed on the outside. And what does adding all that speed do for this offense at this point, Andy, I think it does a lot for the offense. We we know they needed the speed. It was apparent that I mean defense is sat on their routes more than any team in the league last year. And Carson Wentz is such a vertical thrower and and mindset and when when we say that, you tend to think, okay, well, he's just even the ball deep, which Wentz is more than willing to do, and at times he can be quite good at it. But really, where you get aggressive as a QB is how you attack the intermediate levels. And Wentz is about as aggressive as anyone. Uh. He's very similar in style to Andrew Luck and Carson Palmer when they were playing in the Bruce Arians offense in terms of being a big, strong pastor who's willing to throw with defenders bearing down on him, and he's willing to make those tough intermediate throws with defenders bearing down. The problem is if you don't have speed, then those intermediate windows become condensed and you get a more crowded outside passing lane. So it's not about necessarily finding the speed to throw too, it's about finding speed to create better opportunities for the offense as a whole. Because I think what the Eagles have realized is Wentz is going to play this way no matter what. That's just his style. Of quarterbacking. It's worked for him a lot, and it's certainly in college and in the NFL, and you want him play in this way. I mean, the injuries are a concern, but let's let's make that a separate conversation. This is what Carson Wentz is great at. So let's build an offense that's going to make him as great as possible, given that it's very clear he's going to play this way no matter what's around him. Alright, So a bit of a bonus question here for the offense, because usually try to do one offense, one defense for for each team. And look, I don't expect you have a great answer for this, but I am just kind of curious what your reaction was. Brandon Brooks goes down with a unfortunately, with another ruptured achilles, he will most likely miss the entire seay, And so they brought back Jason Peters. Now Andre Dillard presumably is the left tackle. Now they brought back Jason Peters, and you know it, reports are that Peters is going to slide in at right guard, so you're moving inside and you're changing sides of the line as well for Peters. Just gut feeling you know, we haven't seen him out there, but gut feeling, do you do you think that works? Yeah, gut feeling, I do think it works. And the shout out to Cody Schwartz, who's done a lot for for me as one of our researchers and heeds a big Eagles fan and he brought this up with me weeks ago. And I don't know if I entertained the discussion quite as much because I didn't want to bother with unless it actually happened. You know, if Peters wasn't playing this year, he's never playing again, so you know, we move along. But he's back, and I think he could be a high level player. I don't know if he'll be a pro bowler. I don't know if he's quite Brandon Brooks, but I think they'll be just fine at that position given the difficult circumstances. Okay, uh, Let's remember Peters was a tight end early in his career. It's not like and he played right tackle, left tack. Cool, so he's played both sides before. And I think it's easier to slide to guard from tackle than it is to even just change sides. And I understand he's changing sides. You know, he's going from as you said, left tackle to right guard. He's gonna have guys next to him in all scenarios though he'll have help it on his left and is right. He's not playing on an island the way he would be as a tackle. So I don't think the switching sides is a big deal in this case. I think he'll be just fine. Yeah. And also the help he'll have our our two you know, all pro caliber guys and Jason Kelsey and Lane Johnson, so that that is helpful as well, Uh, defensive side of the ball. I just want to I want to ask you about this pass rush because it is, it's such a high pedigree pass rush. He got, uh, three former first round picks that they obviously they paid big money for Javon Hargrave coming over from Pittsburgh and free agency. But it's, you know, it's it's it's a relatively old group up here. You know, it's it's gonna be uh if you're going right to left on the starting lineup here, you got Derek Barnett, Javon Hargrave, Fletcher Cox, and Brandon Graham. I mean, what what do we make of this is this still cabable of being the kind of high end for man pass rush that they had, uh you know back in eighteen or does it feel like this is maybe a step behind, uh you know, maybe maybe not quite adding up to the let's say name brand value of these guys. It's it's probably a step behind if we're talking seen, which I know you're not saying that exactly, but that's what we got. None of us can help but think that when we're talking Eagles pass rush, because they basically won a Super Bowl on the strength of that pass rush. Um, even though I don't think that pass rush did a whole lot in the Super Bowl that they won, but they got to the Super Bowl with it, and Brandon Graham ice the game or sealed the win with a big play there, so uh, they can. It's an above average pass rush, there's no question. There's also no question it's not the pass rush at it was a couple of years ago. I think some guys can play better. I don't think Graham has slowed down a whole lot. Um. Fletcher Cox, my sense was he maybe wasn't himself at times last year. To me, he's one of the best power players in the league, and he can. He's not just a power guy either. Hard Grave we've talked about a little bit. Well, I love him. I love him as a first and second down guy, but I do think they brought him into play third downs as well. I think he'll surprise some people. I don't know if he'll be there every snap on third down. If it's third and ten in the fourth quarter, I don't know if if he's the guy or not, but certainly if it's second and long and it's that kind of that mixed range of third down where it's still kind of I guess it's not second down, but you know the run past scenario, but it's more likely to be a pass. Hard Grave is going to be a really valuable asset for that package. I like the guys, and I think Derek Barnett, by the way, it was one of the best defensive ends in the NFC last year. You just want him to do it more often. His good plays are as good as anyone's. Gary. What seems a little different is that that year in seen they had a lot of their depth was very effective. Barnett was coming off the bench a year obviously, Chris Long was part of the equation. They had a nice rotation there and everybody played fast. I don't know if their depth quite as good as it. It's not as good as it was, and the question is can it be as good? And what do you think? Do you know anything about Jernard Avery? Uh? Not? Uh not that would not that would stand out about him? Um, you know he's uh. I thought he bolt up a lot. He was kind of more of an edge guy. Uh. If I remember correctly, Memphis guy, right, I believe it's from Memphis. I know I've I've watched him closely, Yeah, Memphis. I watched him closely with the Browns early in his career. I think there's a lot to like there and I understand why they traded for me, and a guy to me like Jenard Avery is a great representation of how this defense could go in either direction. Because Avery, there's been times he hasn't been on the field a lot and stretches of his career, and then there's been other times where he's on the field and you think he's one of the best players. He's a he can be a real pure pass rusher. He's a versa little guy too. I don't think he's just an edge guy, race off the edge and be fast, but he can be that as well. To me, that's a great representation of the Eagles. Can a guy like Jernard Avery get you six sacks this season, six to eight sacks and be destructive and give you some diversity with some of your pass rush designs. And if the answer is yes, then maybe there's a trickle down because Malik Jackson's kind of that kind of guy if he's healthy. Josh Sweat jury is still out a little bit, but you see the raw explosiveness. Um. I don't know anything about Shariff Miller, their fourth round pick a year ago. I don't know what kind of he's I see his ways to fifty four, so I'm gonna assume he's a speed rusher. You know. It's how those second string guys play gary that that I think will decide it as much as the first string guys. Yeah. I always like Joshua Shreef Miller is uh, he's an edge guy. He's a little bit stiff to me. I don't know if he's a big time impact guy at any point, but um, you got you know, yeah, you got some guys who could go either way. I kind of have an eye on sweat more than Avery, but uh, well, we'll see how this thing plays out here At this point, I guess when you look at this unit, do you see uh, you know, Jim Schwartz, it seems like is blitzing a lot more, uh in recent years than that he did. Certainly you know what his old reputation was with the wide nine stuff. I mean, do you still have to rely on the blitz a little more than maybe you'd like to hear or does this front four feel like it's good enough? I think the front four is good enough, and I think Jim Schwartz has done a nice job of finding the happy medium. And the happy medium is he's going to blitz all out at some point, usually early in the game, and it's at a point that you typically don't get a cover zero or an all out blitz. And I think his belief of this is is that it plants a certain seed in the quarterbacks of mine. Hey, let's make them aware that this is possible. The possibility of these all out blitz is when we can bluff them and bring them or whatever we want to do. But let's just get them playing fast and at our tempo and having them react to us early in the game. And if we do that, and we do it effectively, we don't have to blitz a whole lot. We're just going to When we do, we're gonna make it count. So that's very different than being dependent on the blitz where you really don't have guys that can get home. They've got guys that can get home. They have reason to believe their four man rush will be fine. But Schwartz does want to plant that seed in your head with that, And a big part of it, also, I think, is how versatile they have been with the deployment of their safeties, and they're they're very disguise oriented with their safeties. You're not sure because partly it's Robby Mclouden how aggressive he is, But even when Malcolm Jenkins was there last year he did this as well, So they're clearly coached this way. You're not sure if you're seeing single high or too deep. With some of their concepts. They play what you call a Cover three robber, where the free safety basically shoots down and becomes the middle linebacker, and so it starts and Cover three but becomes Cover two and I know offensive coaches hate it because your cover three beaters are very different than your cover two beaters. So what are you calling to beat that coverage? Because it's basically both coverages. That's what they do. The question is can they continue to do that with Malcolm Jenkins gone and if they feel that they can't. If they because they're having those two versatile safeties was a big deal. If they feel they can't do that, then I could see them being a more straightforward pass rush team overall, because I don't know if Shorts will be quite as comfortable going all out with some of his pressure designs. But they're gonna give it a shot. They signed Darius Slay to be a cover corner, that kell Roby Coleman is a great slot blitzer and an underrated all around player, and Jalen Mills a lot rides on him moving to safety, so they've invested in the secondary. They're gonna give it a shot. But it's all has to work. And we haven't seen these guys play together as one unit before. All right, let's let's go to Dallas and let's stay on the defensive side of the ball, and and and in the secondary. Actually Uh, if you were going to circle a weakness on the team, it probably is the defensive backfield at this point. Uh, how problematic is that in a Mike Nolan defense at thirty feet It's it's very problematic. And I have a feeling you you already know that you're this is a leading question or you're just asking the question to be the narrator. You already know. We've talked about Mike Nolan and the man demand a lot. But but I forget things so quickly. Oh yeah, you have right, You've got the best memory of anyone I've worked with. I think Mike Nolan wants to blitz and manufacture a pass rush that way, that's his philosophy anyway. Now, he's been around long enough to know that you're going to succeed the NFL by playing to the strength of your players. So Dallas, I don't know if they're a team that has to blitz necessary lee they really lack a number two pass rusher so and really specifically off the edge, they lacked that number two guys. So my yeah, well maybe unless Alden Smith is what he used to be. But that's a big if. But um my guess is they will have to blitz to manufacture consistent pressure, and that's how Nolan will want to play, which means you're gonna want man to man corners, and so your question basically is are they good enough at corner to do that? Remember, playing man demands a little bit different when you're an aggressive blitzing team because as a man defender, you understand the ball is likely to come out quickly, and therefore there's fewer routes to defend, and you can kind of be aggressive and jump at what you see and you can be more aggressive. So you know, Kindall's corners play that way, they'd probably be fine with that. I think a Woozier's decent enough player. Trevon Digs is a big deal. I for a guy forgot they took him in the second round. That's that's a big deal. As far as I remember gear, he's a little bit more of a physical guy, isn't he coming out? Yeah, he's a long, physical guy. He Uh, you know, you would you would sort of Seattle style as far as size, but I think his movement skills are are really good for a guy his size and with his length, well, and that can be real advantageous too, because if you're blitzing, at some point your opponent knows you're blitzing, and so everybody knows the ball is coming out quickly. And when those long armed, physical corners get up on the receiver and jam them and disrupt the timing, you know, that's that's a big problem for the offense when the ball is coming out. So they've invested in a corner that suggests they're going to be aggressive, and a lot will write on how those two guys play. Of course, how's that for analysis? A lot rides on how the starting corners play for the past defense. But I think those guys are capable. I don't know if they're Byron Jones, but they're capable. Yeah, And I I do wonder how much we we look at it and sort of have that bias and being like, boy, they lost Byron Jones, so obviously they're they're gonna be They're gonna be worse. You don't lose sort of a top five corner in the league and and get better. But uh, you know, they've got a lot of guys who are pretty good well and Jones, yeah, yeah, pretty good. I've been watching curb your enthusiasm. So um Jones is a good fit for Miami, by the way, because what's different with Miami and that New England style is they'll ask their corners to play man to man a little bit longer. They don't. They do blitz. They bring the creative pass rushes, five man rushes, but at their core, those schemes are about having to help defenders a free safety and then usually some kind of robber slash double team are depending on the concept. But the ball is not expected to be out right away, so therefore you need corners that can really stay with guys, which is by Byron Jones gets paid all that money. That's why Stephan Gilmore's as valuable as he is. Dallas would not be able to do I'm guessing they would not be able to do that given their secondary But if if they are being a blitz oriented team and they're wanting you to throw the ball right away, then I think a Woozier and Jordan Lewis and Anthony Brown, those guys are good enough athletes. They've got a chances as role players and ha ha, Clinton Dicks will be a good fit in that kind of system too. Yeah, yeah, potentially, I guess we've said that about him for years in Green Bay and it never fully came all the way to that fruition, which is why he's here. But long bodied guy, better downhill than back pedaling, So you know, I think he'll be used as a blitzer a lot often side of the ball. I mean, look, we we've talked a ton about about Doc and their whole situation there. Uh. Just I'll ask it very generally, Andy, Uh, Mike McCarthy is in Uh, he retains Kellen Moore. What did you like most about this Kellen Moore offense last year? What is what is your favorite part of it now that you've seen it for a full season. I thought when Kellen Moore had especially in games where he had a lot of time to prepare, So coming out of the Thanksgiving game, um off the bye week in the week one, certainly, I believe they played the Giants that week. He was extremely good with with the different wrinkles and their formation ng some of the motions that they did and how often they would shift to one formation from another, the diversity that they deployed Marie Cooper with. And I think Cooper is the guy you need to help with the scheme like that. I think he's lethal if you can help him with the scheme. They were great with that. And what also stood out that was different than other Dallas teams with the release concepts. They'd have bunches and stacks and a guy who's lined up at number one, and then he's got a guy inside at him who's number two. Will number one might become number two after the snapper or some variation of that. They did a nice job with all of those things making life hard on the defense. I think More will be more consistent with it this year, now that he's got a whole season under his belt. I don't know this at all. I I don't know Mike McCarthy one Ben O'Kelly More, Okay, I don't know Mike McCarthy one bit. My guess is McCarthy will turn over a lot of that design power to Kellen Moore, and that McCarthy in the second act of his career is going to be a little bit more hands off schematically, because Kellen Moore most likely wouldn't still be here unless the Cowboys really loved them and probably said something to McCarthy like, hey, why don't you guys working together here and McCarthy obviously more wouldn't be here. McCarthy didn't believe in him either, So I think it's going to be a lot like a Kellen Moore offense, which will be a better version of what it was last year. It's gonna be more that than it was a McCarthy offense from Green Bay. I I agree with that. Uh, let's uh, let's sort of jump over the chasm here to the Giants. Maybe maybe the also rans of this division. Seems like there are a couple of halves and a couple of hal knots. Uh So the Giants year two. For Daniel Jones, it is a uniquely built offense, especially for for this day and age. A great running back, good tight end, they've they've invested in the offensive line. You figure that's going to be better. Uh, and some shifty slot type receivers. I I like Darius Slayton, but I don't think anyone's looking at Darius Slayton as you know, a sort of a true number one in the outside. Um, they're just sort of built up the middle a little bit. Does that make sense for for Daniel Jones as far as his development that's a good point. All that you're right all these guys are into interior receivers because Tate and Sterling Shepherd are both really they're both slot shifting type of guys, like you said, which means they're running crossing routes and they're starting out inside. Slayton is okay vertically, he's better than okay vertically, but he's not. He doesn't have the body to be that. He's six nineties. He's really more built like a Z than the next receiver. So and then their best even overall is probably Evan Ingram, who's a tight end, so naturally he's inside. Even when he splits out wide, it's usually in a minus split, so he's still inside the field numbers. So the passing game all occurs inside. And that that can be a little bit challenging um because with say Kwan Barkley there, I assume you're going to be a pretty run oriented team, not that Barkley can't do a lot of other things. But you have Barkley, you have Andrew Thomas, the right tackle that you took in the first round. You pay big money to your guards. There's some investment here that suggests it's going to be a balanced run oriented offense. I don't know if that kind of offense, the run first or run oriented goes hand in hand necessarily with a quick strike interior passing game, which is what the receivers are built for defensive side of the ball. This is Uh, this unit has just never really come together, you know, a couple of years inter James Betcher, it just didn't really work out. They've obviously they're not built like the old Giants defenses with with the all the stray hand and talking and humaniora coming off the edge. Uh. Stylistically, it seems like it's built for the kind of New England style defense. Patrick Graham obviously he's he's there. He coaching O'Brian Flores last year. It seems like it's something of a of a relatively seamless transition to Graham. But is it is it good? I mean, is is that a good thing? It didn't quite work out the last couple of years. Should they still be going down this path? Well, they're they're not. They're not equipped to thrive down this path right away because they're they're just not very big at linebacker. And the Blake Martinez signing to me, was very interesting because they gave him good money, and I understand why someone would want to invest in Blake Martinez, but he does not fit the Patriots style linebacker really at all. He's not he's two thirty seven, he's not small, but he's not a thumper. He's not Dante Hi Tower, who I'm guessing it to fifty something um or or Jamie Collins who's two fifties something. Martinez is a pretty classic traditional linebacker, and they don't play that way in that Patriots scheme. They had those guys. Almost everyone's a quasi D tackle slash linebacker and the system at its purest, So that gives me a little pause. The fact that they signed Martinez after having Graham aboard makes me wonder if they are going to run what Graham wants to run there. I assume Graham wanted what Graham has run at other stops as an assistant. I don't quite know Gear, to be honest with you, but you're right there. D tackles. I mean, their defensive line is a really good first and second down unit. It's I mean Leonard Williams, Dalvin Tomlinson, Dexter, Lawrence B. J. Hill. Those are all at least second tier players, and maybe some of those guys can become first tier players as a first and second down defensive lines. And maybe that's why they feel okay with Martinez. They can have a smaller backer knowing their D lines good. But it's gonna be a different style still. It will be more four down fronts, not the five down fronts that you see from New England. Their secondary is to me really intriguing, because, well, do you think Johnny, you know it's and it's a serious deal, so we're not gonna take it lightly. Do you think DeAndre Baker will be available this year? Standpoint? Yeah, I don't know. Yeah either. It's hard to because sometimes, honestly, what happens when you get some of these you almost hate to say this, but when you get some of these really serious legal issues, sometimes they takes along going the fold that the guys, the guy is more available than he would have been if it had been the misdemeanor or something, or it's they're gonna let it play out. I don't know if that's the case in this one, though. Yeah, I mean, he had a it's funny, it's not funny, but you know, working up to the draft. I mean, like he was on my favorite prospects in the twenty nine team draft, and there were just these you know, you hear those whispers, I oh, red flag guy, character guy, and it's like it's tough to really spot anything that you'd see. And you know, there there's no like, uh, there's no rap sheet that would make you say like, oh, this guy has always been troubled in the past. But um, you know when it when it, when it pops up like this and you've already heard the whispers about the guy, Uh, it becomes a little more concerning at that point. But they I mean, look it, Baker is not available. I mean they used that supplemental third round pick back in on Sam Beale, who's who's had injury problems and you know obviously hasn't quite become what they hoped you would be. And they went out, you know, that's why they had to go out and spend on James Bradberry. So, uh, it was a good number one corner. But yes, that was that was valid money spent. They didn't overpay him what they paid him, but it it wasn't like they're not reaching for that necessary I think he's a solid cornerback. Yeah, yeah, that's uh, it's it's just there are a lot of question marks in that secondary. It's a young secondary, plenty to like about it, but it's just a lot of question marks considering the investment that they put in it. What is that fair? Yeah? I think that is for what what really intrigues me about the secondary because I liked Baker more than most people did last year, I'm or now. I liked him and that I could see why he was the first round talent, and um, I also could see why people didn't like it. I mean, he was wildly up and down. His downs were very bad and at times, but he had a lot of ups that just don't show up on TV but show up on film. So I was high on him than other people. If he's not there, that's a problem because they're they're not deep at all at cornerback. They on't even have a true slock. I mean Grant Haley can fill the role there. I don't know what Darnay Holmes is a fourth round Do you know what the fourth round rookie is? The c l A guy Darney Holmes? Uh fast. It was sort of a boom or bus type, the guy at E C l A. Okay, Um, But what I guess what I was gonna say is what intrigues me most about the secondary is a safety position. I think Julian loves the best player. This is too hard, but this is going too far, but he's to some degree, he's the best player that nobody knows about. I think there's a lot of upside and potential there. Now, obviously they don't well, I'll say obviously, but I don't know if they see him as an All Pro candidate because they did draft Xavier McKinney in the second round, who's the safety. Of course, they traded for Burro Peppers last year. They might understand though, that three safeties is mandatory in today's NFL. And McKinney we talked about him as a slot guy, possible slot guy before the draft. I believe, yeah, yeah, so you know he can Uh, he's probably a guy who you want to move around more than you know, just just just have him sitting, uh, sitting back there as a as a center fielder or or as a pure box guy. Um. And Peppers is that kind of guy as well. So they've got some they have potential and versatility at the safety position. That's to me, that's I always like that. That's intriguing. Alright, let's uh, let's go to Washington football team. Uh look, offensively, Dayne Haskins work in progress and nothing nothing wrong with that. He should be a work in progress at this point. He was a one year starter at Ohio State. Uh, physical talent, showed some flashes last year, but still you know, a little ways to go here. Now he had a coaching change. Uh, so he's uh, he's got work to do. They obviously want to lean on the run game as far as with their identity is gonna be this year. And for a lot of years, you know, you would have looked at this offensive line and said, you know, that's a that's a really good group, and you know they they've had good backs behind it, and that's been the you know of a fun thing. I suppose if you want to say that Bill Callahan has been one of the best. Uh, I don't know about this unit. Now, Well we'll see Brandon schurf uh playing on the franchise tag no more. Trent Williams obviously didn't have him last year. Anyway, It just looks like sort of a shaky mediocrey unit, and uh, I don't know, I don't know if they're going to move the ball at all. Yeah, it's it's it's not one of the more talented old lines in the NFL for sure. And uh Bill Callahan's in Cleveland now working on that staff. So which makes sense because that's an outside zone running scheme that they're gonna run there and that's what Callahan coaches. Um, So it's it's, yeah, there's concerns. There's no doubt, there's concern We only even know who the left tackle is right now. It's Cornelius Lucas. Maybe I imagined Garen Christian the third round or pick a year ago. We'll have every chance to win the job. But it's a little bit unsettling that he didn't get on the field more given all the questions along here the last year or so. I'm kind of with you on this offensive line and Morgan Moses was not as good last year as he's been in other years. Al Right, defensive side of the ball, the strength of this team obviously is going to be the past rush. Chase Young joins them, they already had so many so many talented first round picks invested up front. Obviously, Young was just too much of talent to pass up with the number two overall pick in this past draft. Uh, Jack del Rio is in. I mean, what what should we expect from this from this defense? Because they're they're really good up front. It seems like there are plenty of question marks in the back though, and so I would imagine del Rio is going to play to the strength of the front, of course, and keep it simple on the back end and trust that our front is going to dictate the game and therefore our guys in the back end can be a little more comfortable, kind of like what we're talking about with Dallas ball coming out quicker. Now you that that's more literal with the blitz when it's a play called that is defensively designed to get the ball out. But after a certain amount of time, the DBS noticed when Chase Young's getting home and when Ryan Carragan's getting home in Montez sweat and even those interior guys are on Payne Jonathan Allen. This Gary, in fact, it's probably far and away the highest pedigreed defensive line in the NFL. They got five first rounders right there, and four of them are still on that rookie deal. Karrogan hasn't slowed down, and I would argue that their best defensive tackles Matt Ionitis, who's who was a fifth rounder in twenty team. And also not that we're getting to our getting pretty deep in this, but Tim Settle at nose tackles slash d tackle for him. I thought he was a real flash player at times last night, and think that he was, it wasn't open to interpretation. He's a good I mean, this is maybe the best defensive line in the NFL of all goes well, and then you're gonna just play simple coverage behind it and take advantage of that. Yeah. Yeah, it's interesting because the guys they have behind him. I mean, look, they brought back Kendall Fuller. That's that's good. Obviously we know they invested in Landon Collins, uh two off seasons ago. The rest of the secondary, you look at it and I don't want to I don't want to be the dude is like, if if these guys all play at their highest possible level, this team won't give up a single point this year. But uh, Fabian Moreau Ronald Darby and and Sean Davis a free safety. They're all kind of guys who are like they toggle anywhere between like B plus players and F plus players that they're they're just they're all kind of hit or miss. But if you take that, you know, if the pressure uh sort of sort of takes you know, a good amount of you know, at the time they have to cover off of their shoulders. It's it's an interesting unit. It isn't interesting. Darby is an interesting one because he was in Philadelphia and it was a pretty decent starting corner for them. Uh this when they won the Super Bowl behind that great pass what show we talked about at the beginning of this show. So he's played behind that before. And I'm sure the Reds excuse me, the Washington how many times is that going to happen this year? That's gonna be a hard one. I know, I I had not said it a whole lot not to I tried not, I've tried not to say. But you you just get carried away the Washington football team or the Washington Sentinels if you're to believe some rumors lately at some point. But uh, I'm sure they saw that in Derby, and they realized that guy is a route jumper. He's kind of a Sante Samuel style in terms of off coverage. I on a pastor. He doesn't have to play that way. He's not. He's not tethered to that or limited. But that's when he's rolling. I think that's how he plays. That goes well with the kind of pass rush they have. And you know, at the safety position Landing Collins is they're paying him a bunch of money. It's that's fine. You know what you get there is a very good run defender. The guy you mentioned, Sean Davis, is the wild card and the interesting one. Very different. Let's assume they're going to be basic schematically, because that's the smart thing to do, and del Real usually almost always does whatever best fits its personnel. So this scheme in in Washington is very different than the one in Pittsburgh that Sean Davis ran for a lot of years. And quite frankly, it'll ask him to think less and therefore play faster, and I'm eager to see how that goes. I like that. I like Sean. I was higher on him than other teams and other fans. I guess it'd be fans of the Steelers didn't love them. I think there's some talent there. Yeah, this is a man. I'm just envisioning this team playing on that. You know that that that FedEx Field always kind of looks a little bit ugly, especially when you get into November December and uh, they're just gonna uh they're gonna try and win some games like thirteen to ten. Here. It's not gonna be beautiful football. Uh yeah, there could be in an ugly field, doesn't That's not naturally great for a pass rush, by the way, it's yeah, that's a good point too. Might want to lay some turf down. Remember who was it? The Patriots mid season one year just put in turf. Their field was so bad at Foxboro? Is that true? It was? Maybe it was Gillette Even there was a year for sure, and some someone will tweet us there was a year for sure that midseason they said, fine, forget the grass and here's the turf. The Cowboys also changed turf mid year, but they were always a turf team, but they went from astral turf to the long that kind of turf we see everywhere now where it looks like grass, so so I don't know, maybe you get a midseason change of some sort. You're googling it now I can tell no, I'm not. I'm writing myself a reminder that I wanted to talk to you about urninals at this point in the show. But um, the old this is only because you brought up Foxboro and Gelette stay Him and all that. You got a story, the story about the old Foxboro Stadium and formerly uh Schaefer Stadium. I guess when they were constructing it, the guys making the locker rooms said, well, these are professional football players. Uh, they're they're huge, so you know, put the urinals higher. And they put them too high. They built them for like basketball who are like nine ft tall, so they had to, you know, they had to put like little stands in front of each yurninal so guys could use the urnals. That is, uh, that's a urinal portion of the of the podcast. All right, Well, and while you were telling that, and that's a guy. I love that. That's a that's a very good anecdote. I'm googling Patriot replacement turf. The problem is they replaced the synthetic turfen after week one because it was just a bad product, so they needed safer turf. That's not what I'm talking about. Though. There was a year that they had there was a muddy field. It was always muddy, and they finally threw up their hands and put in grab or put in the fake turf. I am positive of that, and I can't remember what year it was. M hmmm, I don't remember that to say it was at Chillette. I think that might be like the screenplay even working on Okay, yeah, I can't. I'm sorry. I can't back you up on that. That's fine. Someone someone out there is saying like, yes, yes, I remember that too, and they'll tweet us. I trust them. Okay, okay, well let's uh tweet us if you're not on Twitter. We shouldn't just assume everyone's on Twitter. Some people have lived their lives different and probably more fulfilling the way. You can also, you can email. You can email me that is that because I don't look at the tweet. Look, I say tweet us, but I'm one of the people that tries to have a fulfilling Yeah, so I usually don't see whatever you tweet me. To be honest, you can email me about about the Patriots changing turf mid season. Uh that is Gary dot Grambling at si dot com. And also if you have any thoughts on urinals, you can you can put those in there too, So uh, let's uh, let's go to the projections. All right. By the way, I have a photo of Tom Brady covered in mud at well he's in his blue uniform, so he's it's one of the old stadiums follow two thousand two. Oh wow, okay, all right, yeah, we will we will look into it further. Um. Yeah, it's a great Dave Brown from the Concord Monitor. That the paper you grew up reading that's near you as No, no, no, no, not not to bust something monitor. I was. I was in Connecticut, so I got the little Connecticut paper. But he wrote Can I read his opening paragraph? Yes? Please do it's it's he wrote. In the fall of two thousand two, the New England Patriots embarked on a conquest against nature, opening a brand new stadium that many thought would never exist, and raising a championship banner that seemed even more improbable. The Patriots now sought to battle the very earth they stood on. They tried to make grass grow where it didn't want to and they failed. And then he goes in to explain how how bad the grass was that year. So it was when Jeanette Gillette was brand new. That's good. That is a good, great opening. Yeah, nice job lead as they call it, and they spell it wrong for some reason. L E. D E. It's it's just say it's an inside joke amongst editors. Huh, it's not. I don't know. Uh, projections Andy, the projections portion of the show. Uh, let's start with let's start with the order of finish and let's just let's split these up Eagles or Cowboys. Well that's not fair. Come on now, and you know how I feel about just writing off NFL teams. Well, one of one's gotta win the division though. Yeah, but I'm saying, I'm saying you're not even leaving open the possibility that Washington wins the division or okay you okay, you can pick any who. All right, let me rephrase it. Who do you think is gonna win the division? Eagles? Give me the Washington To be fair, though, we just said they've got the best pass rush potentially and that means something. And if Dwayne Haskins takes a leap forward, and I do think he fits Scott Turner's system new offensive coordinator there. You know, I have to be a big leap for Haskins, but he improved last year. It's not inconceivable that any of these teams can win the NFC East. I'm with you the Eagles are the favorite, but I don't I don't know if they're laughing stock teams at the bottom. Okay, that's that's fair. I will I will chuckle at them just a little bit. I think Eagles in the division. I agree with you. I think Dallas is a playoff team. I do think. I don't think it's I don't think it's a toss up. I think a lot of people are saying there's sort of position between Philadelphia and Dallas. I do think the Eagles are are clearly the more complete team on both sides of the ball, and that's why I think they are the certain favorites in this division. But Dallas's playoff team, I don't know. It's really hard to see either the Giants or Washington winning eight. Let's say, yeah, And I know the Eagles they believe they've got a an Alvin Kamara level guy and Miles Sanders ready to go. They absolutely love him as well. He's good, diverse offense. We even talk about Jalen Hurts and not that he's going to factor into why you'd win the division. Ary dam, I'm sure it's you all have limited snaps. But with all the speed and diversity in the backfield with with Sanders and Hurts, this team could do some creative things as well. And then the US is does is that an advantage in a year where there's been such a weird offseason that some teams, especially early in the year, are probably just gonna be trying to find their own footing in their own system. Defensively, I could see the Eagles coming out and doing a lot of different crazy things in weeks one, two, three, and four. Schematically, yeah, I mean you think about how painful it was to watch that offense in December and January. I mean, the good Lord that you know that the playoff game when once went down, Uh, it's it's gonna be a breadth of fresh air here for for Eagles fans. Different team. I mean, they've got they had like eight guys hurt and that I hate to say this way, but I was glad they lost that playoff game because they just they weren't a playoff team at that point. They were down to their backups in almost every position. It's incredible they were even in the conversation. Uh so I'd called the I'd call both those teams, both the Eagles and Cowboys. I'd say super Bowl aspirations are are fair for them and the other two teams probably not so much. Is that? Okay? I can live with that. Okay. Uh, here's my could more likely to win m v P Wentz or Dak Wentz. Yeah, I agree. We don't have anything to really argue about it this one. I do like DAC and that Kellen Moore system. I think Wentz is uh. I feel like everyone sort of forgot how good Wentz was a couple of years ago before the c L. I agree with you completely. Carson Wentz was the league MVP before towards a c L, and now he's not. You hardly hear him on anybody's top five QB lists. Not that maybe he's top six or seven this' but but the point is, yeah, I'm with you on that. He's he's a superstar QB and uh most likely to win Defensive Player of the year, you think, like a, I feel like Fletcher Cox is no longer quite at that level as good as he still is. Tank Lawrence, maybe U might be your front runner here. You could say Chase Young. If you're really high on Chase Young. You know we what Nick Bosa did last year, that's true. I don't know if Young will quite get enough snaps to be able to do that. I think I think they're going to rotate a lot, and so they might have forty five sacks as a unit, but everyone's gonna be between eight to ten. Yeah. The the other thing, not only the rotation, but you kind of wonder how often will they be trailing in the second half, And therefore teams are a little more conservative and and uh, I don't know if the opportunities are quite there, kind of like how it was from Myles Garrett a couple years ago. Uh yeah, yep, I hear you. If Dallas, we know Dallas will be on TV a lot no matter what happens, and if their defense is to play well, I don't see how that defense doesn't play well. With the Marcus Lawrence not having a major, I think he has to have a big time season for them. To be a high level defense. So a lot of big time plays on national TV. If it goes that way, I guess I would say to Marcus Lawrence, I probably put too much stock in this who's on TV for the voting? But oh no, we gotta go back and look at the number of games guys played on national TV for each year on the NFL Postseason Awards or a regular season awards. No, that's a good study. I'd be up for that. Yeah, that's you know what that strikes me as a Ryan Taylor's study. Yeah, I'd be up for making someone else do it. And yes, that's someone else's Ryan Taylor. Absolutely, And so we'll see if he just does it on his own or if I have to email him. I got an email him like some kind of idiot. All right, Andy, I gotta reassemble the machine to see who we are going to select for next week's division preview. But unless you have any more projecting you want to do, this is ah, this is the end of the show. Oh good, No, I'm fine with this. This is good. Yeah, I'm happy to be done called this. Just goodbye for now. We'll see you next weekendy, all right, thanks the mm QB Monday Morning NFL Podcast is me Gary Gramling at Special Thanks once again to Andy Bennoit for joining me for this one. We are produced by Shelby Royston, Sis, Executive producer of podcast to Scott Brody. Ben Eagle is Director of Editorial Projects and product Mark Ravick is Emeritus editor of the MmpB. Andy Benoit is the founder of the MQB NFL podcast. Keep up with our entire line of the podcast five days week by subscribing to the MmpB podcast for free on Apple podcast and while are there, please do us a favor and leave a rating M review. It really does help other people find the show, which is also available on Spotify Radio dot com, Stitcher, si dot com, and wherever else you listen to podcasts. M