NFL Season Preview, Bobby Carpenter, & The Mailbag | Wednesday Mailbag

Published Sep 9, 2020, 5:19 PM

Albert Breer predicts division winners to the eventual Super Bowl champion before talking to former NFL linebacker Bobby Carpenter about what things will be different about the game this season. We also talk to SI's fantasy analyst Michael Fabiano about who to start and sit in fantasy for week one, and of course, the mailbag

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Hey guys, a Salven, We've got a fantastic show for you this week to preview the twenty twenty NFL season. Yes, it's here, after everything we've been through less than forty eight hours away. Gresh is in to make predictions with us. Predict division winners, predict the Super Bowl winner, predict awards winners. And then we've got a great special guest coming in to kind of give us a feel for what all of this is gonna look like and how the football itself might be a little different twenty twenty. And then, as we always do, we wrap things up with all of your questions in the sixth pack. Let's go all right, welcome back in. We made it. It's hard to believe it's here when you listen to this. The NFL season will be starting in one day, in a little over twenty four hours. It's the mm QB Podcast with Albert Brier, and you know we're gonna jump right into this. We do have a guest coming. We'll get to your mail all of your questions in the six pack. We're gonna bring Andy Gresh in right now out and grass as somebody who loves this sport, who played this sport. You know, there were some points over the last four or five months where I think this was touch and go and when I may have told you, I don't know if they're gonna be able to start on time. And so I think the result getting where we've gotten based on the greater conditions in our country and all the challenges that the NFL was facing, Um, this is an outstanding result. Like and I've been critical of the league about things in the past, you know, I don't know how you can give them anything less than an a for the job that they've done, finding a way to keep the coaches safe, finding a way to keep the players safe, finding a way to keep all the personnel around their teams, the trainers, the doctors, the equipment people, all those people healthy and safe. Um, I think it's they've done a great job. And that's why we are where we are on the doorstep of Chiefs Texans on Thursday night. And I don't think we can undersell that because there was the questions that you and I and a lot of people around the game had of are these guys going to be able to control themselves? And we're also living in a time where some of the places that they would go, these dens of iniquity or wherever that could be, places where it would be spreading COVID all over the place aren't open, so that helps as well. But there's no question, Burt, the biggest challenge moving forward is still going to be the discipline of the players and keeping them safe so that these games can get played on time. And to this point here, I know that you and I are zoomed it up, but knock on wood, it's been good so far, no question, And uh, you know, as far as the challenges ahead go, I'm with you, Agres. You know you mentioned I'm glad you said that, like the it's not only the responsibility to the players, it's it's also like kind of like what all these guys are faced with. Right So over the next few weeks um and really starting right now, players are adjusting their lives, are being out of camp mode where basically football consumes everything, and for a lot of the players, now they have a little bit more free time. Once the regular season starts, they're going home at a more normal hour you get later in the week, and they're they're they're actually going to have some time off and so yeah, that introduces new things and new challenges into all of this. Coaches will have their kids going back to school. Older players will have their kids going back to school. Maybe some people's wives go back to work. Like, so they're not out of the woods, you know, I think you're still kind of everything here is sort of still riding on what happens in the country as a whole. But they've cleared some hurdles. Now, I don't think travels as big a deal as everybody makes it out to be. I mean, these guys aren't exactly like schlepping through Terminal B, you know. So like if anybody's seen the way NFL teams or pro sports teams in general travel, you know, like they go through t s a basically at the practice facility to the stadium. There, they get on a bus. That bus goes straight into the tarmac. They climb on a plane, they get off the plane. There's a bus waiting on the tarmac for them. There that bus with the police escort, takes into their hotel. Generally they'll have their own exit and entrance, their private entrance into the hotel. Sometimes it will be through the back, and you know, then the area of the hotel that they're in is basically cordoned off from everyone else. So and these trips are twenty four hours. That's the other part of it. So I don't know that's gonna be as big a challenge as everybody makes it out to be. Well, it's those trips that would normally be longer. So if you're an East Coast team and you're going to play the l A Chargers on a sum night, you know, that's where it ends up getting a little tricky. Is where you get the extra day. To your point, I think leaving the facility and getting to the city you're going, that's not a big deal. I'm with you. Then it's trusting uh, the bus company in another city, the hotel in another city where you're getting your food from. That's where I think on the outside look at it and they're like, wait a minute, how are they going to get all that set up? But at the end of the day, you can throw dollars at every problem. That's the great thing about the NFL is they're not gonna get shut out of the nicest hotels in Southern California because they don't have the money to be able to pay for it. Right, So, all right, we've talked about COVID so much this offseason. I wanted to really focus on football here and what's ahead in the five months that we have coming to us again, starting with Houston playing in Kansas City on Thursday night. And so instead of doing the takeaways this week, I figured what we do is we do a prediction show. And this will be in conjunction with the predictions that we have um up on the website at the MMQB dot com, So you can check those out there. I promise, because I have mine up. Mine will match what is up on the website, which is a big thing for me because I would be very prone to saying one thing one place and one another place. So we've got that taken care of. I'm so glad you said that about yourself. That is fantastic. I well, you know how it goes though. Sometimes you get put in these spots where you're like forced to sort of say something or forced to make a prediction, and like you know how that goes, right, Like it's like wait a second, one, So where and I've been on like the radio at times where it's like and I know you've been there where you made a prediction somewhere else, and then you're racking your brain like, what was that prediction that I made like a week and a half ago and then doesn't wind up matching up with what your prediction was a week and a half ago. Yeah, very much. So I try not to go through that. I try to double check that stuff. But again that's the whole again. You're you're you're a reality show unto yourself, being Albert Breer going on in Clean one and all these other places and ripping the big ten. I mean, come on, no wonder you're spitting out so much hot fire. No wonder why you get confused in betwixt and between? I mean the reality of the situation, And I think this can kind of cover me, right, I say a lot of things. All right, So all right, so we're gonna jump into the predictions. Now. I figured grass the way we'll do this. We'll talk about the playoff field and each conference. Then we'll go through award winners, um, and we'll start in the A f C. And you know, I I want to start with the two divisions that will be in play on Thursday night. So um, let's start with the West. I have one team coming out of the West um and it's the only division in the a f C I have that doesn't have a second team. I do think they're gonna cannibalize each other a little bit in that division. That the Raiders will be competitive. I think the Charges are gonna be competitive. The Browns, the Broncos are obviously feisty too. Here's the thing about the Chiefs, though, I can't remember. So I'm doing this quarterback poll that's gonna be up on the website on Thursday. And I do this every couple of years where I ask coaches, scouts, executives like, Okay, give me who you think the top five quarterbacks in the league are gonna be at the end of the year, which I think is an interesting question. Right, I had thirty two ballots back, right, Like, I think I went to about sixty guys. Patrick Mahomes was number one on thirty one of them, like thirty one and these aren't like, this isn't me and you talk and this is like coaches jen like and like, he's what twenty four, twenty five years old? Let's just go mid twenties. He's twenty five years old. I can't remember like, and I want to ask you, if you like, if there was precedent for this. I can't remember the last time there was a quarterback that young, who was uniformly seen as the best player in football, and who if you asked almost anybody, they would tell you he'll be the best player in football five years from now too. So I'm racking the brain and trying to think of a quarterback that would have been in that spot. I mean, Marino, but I was too young to remember that maybe when like way back. Well, that's the thing. I'm trying to think of a modern day reference, because Hayton Manning maybe even when Manny had Brady with next to him, so there. Well, but I was gonna say, is maybe maybe Manning. But the circumstances between Pat Mahomes and Peyton Manning were also very different. Like we we knew Peyton Manning was gonna be really good coming into the league, whereas with Pat Mahomes there was still the question of Okay, this guy didn't play right away all that stuff, So I you know that that's a tough comp Like I was trying to go down the road of like Roethlisberger, but Roethlisberger was never thought of as the best quarterback in the league. You're right, Bert, you might have to go back to the eighties and maybe Marino because they made that Super Bowl splash early in his run there, right right, So that's a that's a long way of saying I I think the Chiefs as competitive as that division is. I think the other three teams beat each other up, and I think the Chiefs beat those three teams up. I had a hard time scene where the Chiefs. Their defense was ascending at the end of last year. Mcole. Hardman's a year older. You've got so much speed already with Watkins and Hill. You add like, I think a guy who's a perfect fit in Clyde Edwards a layer. They're really good on the lines of scrimmage. I like, I don't know, I don't know what outside of like a serious rash of injuries. I don't know what derail is the Chiefs right now, I would agree with you. And when you look at the division, I'm not gonna knock the rest of the division. I'm just gonna look at Kansas City compared to everybody else, and they're way better than the rest of that division. There and you're right. Unless there's a catastrophic injury, It's hard to envision Kansas City getting derailed. But we know that weird things happened, especially after you play that you know, extra uh, the the extra. When you play those extra playoff games, they do take a toll on your body. And luckily for that team, they're they're not at that point of a Tristian yet where that's something that you really have to worry about. But that said, I mean unless the quarterback goes down, and even then I feel like they would find a way to be able to patch work it and figure it out, almost like what New Orleans had to do last year. You know, if God forbid, Kansas City had to do that, I think they could survive. But I'm I'm with you. I don't think there's much discussion in the a f C West. Okay, And we'll move over to the South now, where I'm picking the Texans to win the division again. And you know, I this one was tough because I do think that division is going to be competitive outside of Jacksonville, and the Titans are good and the Colts are good. So here's a little bit of a curveball for you. I have the Colts as a second playoff team in that division, and I like where the Texans are from an alignment standpoint. Here's what I mean by that. I think like over the last few years, they've been very talented, but you've had like, you know, being clownees. You know, DeAndre Hopkins is who were sort of on the let's just say they were in the fringes of the program, you know. And that's why I think Bill O'Brien and Jackie Easter being those guys, hesitated to pay them. Now they've reinvested, and you look where they've spent their money, right Nick Martin, Bernardrick McKenney, Laramy tunsil Um, Zack Cunningham. It's guys who play like inside the tackle box and then the quarterback, right, And it's guys who line up with what they're looking for players. And then you look how they replaced Um, how they went about replacing Hopkins. They brought in Brandon Cooks and Randall Cobb, who are prose pros. Right, And I'm not saying every one of the moves was a stroke of genius, but I do think that that's a pretty aligned place right now. And I think that having more balance and what he's looking at around him and Watson. And I'm not saying again, I'm not saying, like losing Hopkins you're better for that, but I think they've got better balance around Hopkins now where around Watson now where he's got a chance to play point guard a little bit more. And I just like, look at it and like this could be like an eleven or a twelve win team that everybody is sort of overlooking now because they've led a couple of sort of big shiny pieces walk out the door. Yeah, and look, the quarterback changed everything right, Like once Watson got there, Bill O'Brien started to realize, I've got a guy who has the ability to do for me in this offense what Brady did in the New England offense early on, in terms of spreading it around everybody the proverbial throat to the open guy. And it doesn't mean you don't want great wide receivers like DeAndre Hopkins, but they're going to demand the ball more. And look, Houston, to me, Bert is just that comfortable tenor eleven win team. They'll probably lose to Cincinnati or Jacksonville alone the way and then they'll you know, who knows, maybe they upset Kansas City on Opening Night. That to me is the real issue with the Texans. They can play up or they will play down at times. When are the Texans going to get to the point to where this is who we are all of the time so when we backslide, it's not as bad, but we still find a way to be able to climb the ladder, to be able to maybe beat somebody in an a f C championship And eventually they're gonna I mean, like, that's the thing is that they've made the playoffs pretty consistently, and I don't think there's any argument with the job Bill O'Brien's done on the field, Like, right, you can argue with some of the personnel moves, but on the field, they've been pretty consistently good since he got there. Yeah, I'm with you, Like, eventually you have to break through and you have to get to the level of making the conference championship game, and that pressure is gonna be on him more now than ever because he does have the GM title. The second team I have and I see you have him to you have. Wow, I'm looking at your prediction. You have three. Yes, stay out of that division there, because I look, I am also a believer in how you finished, and I think for Tennessee there's gonna be a tangible carry over and bird off of what you just said. They're about Houston. That's to me how I see Tennessee. Once they made the decision on the quarterback and they said, we're comfortable with Ryan Tannehill. He can do what we need him to do. See, I thought, quite honestly, Burt Tannehill was never gonna win that group over because they had the old New England PTSD and that oh this guy stunk. We ate him up every time we played against him. Why would we want this? Why do we think we can win with this guy? And Tannehill went in there and won them over. So I do think there is a carry over to Tennessee. And you and I didn't get into this, and I'm sure we will. This division is very tough because I know you and I are also feeling really good about the Colts as well. I mean, you have three playoff caliber teams in this division, and I think for all of their sakes, you know there, I'm sure each of those three are hoping they're the one that rises, when in reality they may all just beat each other. They're up and end up at ten or eleven wins. So my one reservation with the with the Titans, it's like, this is the other thing I try to look at, like last year career from Ryan Tannehill, career, heer from Derrick Henry, like pretty good health across the board. They lose Jack Conklin on their offensive line. Okay, he hasn't he wasn't the most consistent guy and he had injury issues. They got a huge rookie year out of a J. Brown. Can he follow that up? Um? And then defensively they lose Logan Ryan They I mean, I just like I look at some of the things there where it's like did they have the right like? And I think they're gonna be competitive again. I don't know if they get back to the same level now. I would say this about Indie. One of the reasons I have Indian there is because I remember Whatevery the way everyone was talking about them a year ago like they were the next day they like, and I set it myself they had dynasty potential. Losing Andrew Luck is an enormous, enormous blow to that, there's no question right like, and I'm not minimizing that in the least, and that definitely should make everybody look at them differently. That said a lot of the reason why there was so much a lot of like a lot of the reason for their being that sort of optimism around them. Like look at the way they were drafting. Quinn Nelson and Darius Leonard were first team All pros rookies. That's unheard of, right. The offensive line was fixed in like a year under Chris Ballard. Frank Riik had proven himself to be a really good, you know, really good coach, Like he's built of strong staff. That staff returns intact, you know now, like they've gotten to the point where they've built out like the lines of scrimmage. They trade for DeForest Buckner and I let that their draft too. I mean drafting Michael Pittman and Jonathan Taylor to just hard nosed, tough guys who are gonna set the tone at those positions. I just like, I sort of like what the Colts have going on, and it sucks that they lost luck, you know, like that really blows, like to be in that position where you've got to start over at quarterback, but you know, the very releast, I think they've got a really good program going where you've got a good place holder now and Philip rivers sort of similar to like the Chiefs when they were building and they had Alex Smith as their placeholder. So Bert. Here's my thing with Indianapolis. I'm looking at them and I'm I'm kind of playing the schedule game here a little bit with Indie and thinking that they're going to make the postseason. So if the Cults are the Colts, here are their first six games at Jacksonville home from Minnesota, home for the Jets, at the Bears, at the Browns, home for the Bengals. I think that's five and one for them. And then they're at the bye and then everything starts to change a little bit, and you look at them. Then they play the Lions, then they get the mix of the Ravens, the Titans twice, they get Houston in there, they gotta play Las Vegas. My whole point of this is is that I think they're gonna get off to a good start that will change some expectations in that building a little bit. It might lead them to going out acquiring some town want to help them. And when you're playing Tennessee twice, I know they're in the division where you're playing Houston and at Las Vegas and a crossover at least one of those teams is going to be somebody that you need to bump to maybe end up making the making the playoffs as a wild card. And if they start five and one, ten is not unattainable for this team. And I like, here's the other thing I would I would just mention that I think it's interesting that you pointed out there getting off to a good start could be important this year. This has been a long year for everybody, right like, And I just think part of it, for like, there's part of me that's like kind of like looking at this and saying, if you start out one in three or you're two and for like, how much does the wear and tear of just this year in general on everybody? Like, how like does it break the will of some people? You know? I just think it's interesting. I just think it's an interesting thing to watch going forward. Also, you like this division, Grash, Well, if this division is as good as you think it is, maybe will help Jacksonville wind up with a certain quarterback with long hair. Oh that's right. So if you're in Jacksonville, you could be rooting for the old Dabbo Dabbo, Dabbo double Dabbo. There Helston, Trevor Lawrence, and maybe some Dabo Swenny. Listen, in all seriousness, just quickly on that Jacksonville thing. If I'm gonna throw twelve and a half million dollars at somebody from college to run my organization, I'm taking a run at Saban first and then going for the coach connected to the quarterback that he just happened to successfully recruit and has about a three year relationship with. At least, Debo is pretty good, though, Dabbo is pretty good. He's great in the a c C. I just don't want him picking my players, all right, So he's got a better chance of recruiting players there and he does sign. He's put together, he's put together a pretty good pro like like they they've shown they can identify talent anyway or s and they write big checks. Oh sorry, we're gonna move to the We're gonna move to the af C North now. Um I like again, like I've got a lot of chalk here, But I'm going with the chalk, and I think Baltimore winds up winning the division. Like again, like, I think they've got like a lot of good things back. They have a coordinator, and I think Greg Roman sort of an under rerated piece of this. We've talked about how you have to move it forward and everything else, um when you play offense that way. Well, Greg Roman went through this once before with Colin Kaepernick and San Francisco, and so this isn't his first rodeo. As far as the challenge that he's going to be facing as a coach, I think, you know, if you look around Lamar Jackson, the talent around him should continue to get better. The guys he was throwing he was throwing to last year, Like you had Mark Andrews the tight end. In year two, you had Hollywood Brown who was a rookie. You had Miles Boykin who was a rookie at least on paper grash, Like, those guys should continue to get better, right, So you've got that defensively, they're always gonna be good. I took the Ravens to win the division. I the Steelers are gonna be right up their ass. I think the Steelers are gonna be right there. And I think this thing is gonna be this old school ten years ago street fight for the a f C North because the Steelers finally fixed their defense. Yes, yes, and I'm with you, and I ripped the train of Manka Fitzpatrick. What are they doing? Giving up a first round pick turned out to be absolutely the right move that gave them a chance last year to almost slide in the back door of the playoffs. Now I have the Ravens winning the division and again, and the whole schedule game You look at the Ravens early on, it's not a it's not cupcake Central. You know. They start with Cleveland, but they get Houston, Kansas City, Washington, Cincinnati, and then they get Philly and Pittsburgh that are not gonna be easy. Then they hit the bye week. But bert listen to the last four games for Baltimore, so Baltimore pin danglings around a little bit and their seven and five. Listen to these last four at Cleveland, home to Jacksonville, home to the Giants, at Cincinnati, and and by the way, the game before that is Dallas. I'll refraiding are crapping on alice right now. But that's a winnable game for the Raven so down the stretch, in theory, they could go five and oh and make a late push for either a playoff spot or to be able to win that division title, which I think they're going to do. I don't love what they do offensively. I think they can be beaten. But man, oh man, I think the taste that was left in the mouths last year of having such a great year, some of those dudes needed humbling and and they got it. And now let's see if they're better for it. And yes, mark Ingram is one of those guys in my opinion, and I like that. The other thing that could be a factor in that division, I think Cleveland and Cincinnati could wind up being feisty at the end of the year. Like I don't know where they're gonna be at the beginning of the year, but they're there, like like they may be those teams that are like lying in the weeds, that like start like two and ten and then finish five and eleven, you know, Like, it wouldn't shock me to see that from either of those teams. And to your point, I think there might be a chance that Cleveland is a little more spunky early. Off of what we just talked about. Let's say, you know, they don't have a great year. That's the kind of team that I would be looking at, say, heading into December, where are they mentally? Whereas with Cincinnati I could see the reverse that in the beginning of the year they've taken on the chin, but Borrow gets better, that team gets better and then they finished strong. Cleveland would be a real good candidate. Let's say they're sitting there at four and seven after eleven games, are they gonna go in the tank or they gonna try to battle? All right? That brings us to the a f C East, and this is maybe the most interesting division in the entire league because you've got New England where you know, I uh we like I would say this is about it is uncertain, a spot that they've been in since maybe the first couple of years of the Belichick era, which is almost twenty years ago now, well it is twenty years ago now. And then you get the Buffalo Bills, who are wearing a target on their back for the first time. They are now the hunted instead of the hunter. And then you got Miami and the Jets, who have been in these like long play rebuilds. So you've sort of got three different teams that are in three different spots. I got Buffalo winning the division. I really believe in what Sean McDermott and Brandon built being a built there. It's going to take though a step forward from Josh Allen. Lots of good talent. There are lots of good young talent there. Again, you talk about guys who should continue to get better, Tradavious White, Tremaine Edmunds, at Oliver Matt Milano, um Dion Dawkins, Stefon Diggs, like, they've got a lot of ascending young talent. But but Gresh, it's a different deal when you're all of a sudden now that when you're all of a sudden now saddled with expectations, when it's not, oh, here's this little team that we didn't expect much of and and they're coming up and touching people in the mouth in November and December, when it's hey, we need to get back to the playoffs, versus we're just trying to get of the playoffs. It's a different kind of climb. And I'm with you, Uh, look, I do not have Buffalo making the postseason. They are not well, they're not gonna tank out. But you know, I I just look at here's the thing with New England that's interesting, right, So I have New England went into division and that's the only team out of that division that I have going into the postseason. And we're we're I know, we're gonna get to Brady later on in his effect and all that kind of stuff. But no one has talked about how Belichick can coach up Cam Newton on little stuff like I did some breakdown a Cam ball on a slant route thrown to the inside versus the outside. Can mechanically they clean him up or hold him to a different standard. And I think that Cam Newton is going to be challenged in a way where if he can remain upright in healthy, and the Patriots offensively have to be a big part of that. That he has the ability to give more this year to get the Patriots where they want to go versus what Josh Allen can do. And you may channel and yeah, it's a ton of talent there, but what is the ceiling for him as a quarterback? Because all anybody ever talks about with Josh Allen is great athleticism, great skills, great this great that. When's he gonna be a great quarterback and not just a great athlete playing quarterback? And that's where I keep getting hung up. In terms of those two teams, I think Buffalo could win nine and get shut out of the postseason, maybe because of tiebreakers. I don't think they're gonna tank. I just don't know if they have the one guy who's gonna say, Yo, get on my shoulders, we're gonna get to eleven wins or we're gonna get to twelve wins this year. It's not there. I have the Patriot speak in the playoffs two and this is weird for me because having there's a seventh seed. I almost forgotten roquession. I talked about this before the show, that there was a seventh seed, but thirly seventh seed needs conference this year. And the reason I think the Patriots have a lot of work to do. They're gonna need young players like Juwan Bentley and josh You woul You to play at linebacker. They have an issue on the offensive line at right tackle. What do you do the skill position talent? I mean there there is inexperienced a receiver and tight end as they've been in a long time, and so there are lots of questions. But I think so much of the Patriots program it's just sort of waiting for everybody else to f it up and for it to come to them. And so I think that's let me just ask you this here here, here, here's here's the early schedule for them, right, Miami, Seattle, Vegas, Kansas City, Denver. What's the worst they are out of that? Three and two? The worst? Yeah, I could see, well, I mean Miami's Miami beat him at the end of last year. So I don't know. I don't know, Like I would just say this, like I think I think they get to five dred at least, and I don't And that's not being bullish on the roster. I do think that there are something that they've worked to do there and this is gonna have to happen at some point. They we're gonna have to get younger, and this is sort of the the year where they feel that pain, I mean, like and and they're gonna have a ton of money to spend next year and all of that. They're set up good as far as past this year, I just you know, I think they get to five D. Not sure how far they get beyond that, because I'm banking on I'm banking on the coaching. Now, do we need to give our one through seven here for the a f C. Yeah, So I'm going Chiefs, Texans, Ravens, Bills, Steelers, Colts, Patriots. You and I'm going Chiefs, Ravens, Texans, Patriots, Titans, Steelers, Colts. Remember, now only one team gets to buy, so that's another big adjustment. We're gonna jump right out over to the NFC right after this three to one. Alright, we're back. We're gonna go through the NFC right now in gresh. I you know, it's interesting because I look at the two conferences and I just every year now it feels like when I do the NFC, I'm leaving teams. I don't want to leave out out of the mix, right, And it doesn't seem like there's a lot of rooms for surprise teams because there are so many established teams. I would say at least to per division, right, and we'll get to who I left out here. Um, but we're gonna start with the I would say the most the sexiest division, right, the sexiest division, and that's the NFC South, and I have the Saints winning it because I think as we've gone through all of this, I still think the Saints have the best roster in football, and it's a result of how well they've drafted over the last few years. But gress you look at the number of young superstar players on that team, Marshawn Lattimore, Marcus Davenport, Alvin Kamara, Ryan Ramshick, Mike Thomas, there are corners there and this is gonna be an issue for them going forward because who do you pay. Camara obviously is one who's getting his, Thomas has got his. It's gonna be tough for them to keep everybody. But they've drafted so well over the last few years that I just I look at it, I'm like, that's a more complete team with better cohesion. So I think the Bucks are going to compete with them. I have the Saints winning the division. I have the Bucks winning the division because we're gonna find out if a player as special as Tom Brady can have a Lebron James type effect on a football team, because it's not just what he's gonna do on offense. It's the hope, it's the standard he sets in practice. It's the fact that he walks on the field and everyone believes. You know, Bert, we just got done talking about New England and Cam Newton with Cam Newton and the Patriots and where they're gonna go. They they're still gonna be a bunch of guys who have been there. We're like, Okay, we know what Brady would have done. What's this guy gonna do? And if it goes well, then they got a chance to maybe click early. I think with Tom Brady when he walks on the field, Yeah, there are guys that are in all and then it's everybody is going to get in line, and yep, they've got offensive line issues and they've got to blend you know what Brady does well with Bruce arians philosophies. But my god, you talk about talent. I mean, is there any team on the planet as loaded as Tampa Bay right now and with weapons that Tom Brady knows how to move all over the chessboard. You and I saw for years what he was able to do with Gronkowski, But what's he gonna do with not one but two wide receivers? That he could line up at different parts of a formation, let alone what he can do with Gronk in the running game. We know that, Uh Howard, the tight end is still I mean there. They have so many pieces for Brady to move around. It's can they become cohesive enough to be able to do so? And I don't know about you, but something tells me Tom Brady is really going to enjoy playing for a coach that he can go over to the sidelines in the third quarter and be like, yo, we need to go for it here on fourth and two and here's the play I like, and the guy would actually listen to him. It is going to be the most fascinating battle for a division in football burt between New Orleans and Tampa. And I'm here for all of it. I think it's gonna be and and you know, it's great. It's like this rivalry between the two quarterbacks. You know what the first time they played was that would have been would would breeze wouldn't have been in San Diego? Or would it have been? Oh three oh four with those two on back to Michigan. Oh, I'm sorry Michigan and Purdue. Yeah, Michigan, Purdue I didn't. I didn't read my Big Dictionary today. At the time those two were in the Big ten together. I was there too. I was in the Big ten also at that point in time. So many jokes from true story too. That's that. That's one the truth and no lies told. I was. I was, that was in the Big ten. Also, you're in a Big ten state. Man, My my my activities. My activities might have been a little different than those two. But but yeah, I was agree. Hey real quick on the NFC South, you mentioned the teams that you should I be leaving them off the list you want to get in there? Atlanta is Atlanta's the wild card in that division because if everything goes I could see them, this is crazy. I could see them being six and ten and I could see them being tenants. Sick question us. They're they're they're they're a tough one. And I do think like the one thing I sort of like about Atlanta, like so you saw these quarterback camps or whatever, right, like you see like guys like having you know, they'll have the Fellas down to Florida for a weekend and everybody's gonna, you know, we'll go out to dinner at you know, Prime one twelve, and you know, have have three sets of workouts and and we'll get our continuity in order. The one thing that's interesting, like Matt Ryan ran like a full on off season program, and part of that is the advantage of being in Atlanta, right like that, a lot of players happened to live there full time, so you know it works for you. But I'm telling you Matt Ryan ran like a full on eight week off season program, and Brady did something similar in Florida with his guys. I have to think that counts for something. So it's just something I will kind of keep an eye on, like does it make a difference for Calvin Ridley and Julio Jones and you know, even like a Todd Gurley who showed up a little late, Like, does it make it? I think that has to count for something. Right like that, you were like, so I think that Matt Ryan went to the trouble of like basically creating an eight week, nine week off season program. I think I think it does matter, all right. The second vision we're gonna get to, I think again is another one of these is fascinating. And there's another team I really like here that I left out, and I wound up only giving this division one playoff team on the premise that I think they're going to cannibalize themselves and you might have the records affected by the fact that they are beating the crap out of one another. And that's the other West division, the NFC West. I have the Niners winning it. I really believe in what John Lynch and Kyle Shanahan are building there. I think the Rams, the Seahawks, and the Cardinals are all going to be plenty competitive though. And I like what the Rams did as far as you know, Sean McVeigh kind of revamping his coaching staff, and I think McVeigh has got a little more control and juice in that building now. I like what you know, the Cardinals have done and acting with some urgency to surround their young quarterback with weapons while he's on his rookie deal, and getting DeAndre Hopkins in there, giving giving Kenyan Drake some money, drafting Josh Jones to play right tackle, they draft Isaiah Simmons to add to their defense, you know, and then Seattle Seattle. You know, I think Seattle is going to be competitive, And so I only had one team winning the division. But that doesn't mean that that doesn't mean I don't think highly of the group. That actually means I do think highly as a group, because I do think that there's gonna be some element of those three teams beating the crap out of each other. And I've got two from this division going in. I have the Niners as the number one seed in the NFC. I think they're They're built perfectly for where they need to be right now relative to their division and some of the other really good teams in the NFC. I think it'd be crazy to not think that they were a Super Bowl contender. And I have the Seahawks sliding in and Bert. One of the real and tangibles that I think has become tangible for Seattle is going to be that crowd noise days, which we now know is going to be regulated by the NFL to where there isn't the emotional swing. Now when you're getting ready to play Seattle, you're not pink dingling it around with putting in a bunch of silent signals and things of that nature. You can get to how do they attack us, and really put all your time into the actual football part of it, not the mechanics or the running of football part of it. And I think that's gonna be a big, big advantage for teams going into Seattle and something that Seattle is gonna have to find a way to be able to overcome and muster up their own energy when they need it, because it has been a force that the Seattle Seahawks have been able to hard place to play, no question. I mean it's a hard place play because teams they're far away from everybody, right, so for everyone at a trip getting there, they have the weather which is weird and different, and you know, like you could be playing in forty five degrees and drizzling and the ball's wet and all that different stuff, you know, and then you have the crowd noise which comes out of it now. So it's gonna be really interesting to see the way that plays out. The reason I like like so like again, like the reason I have the Niners first, Guy, I want to mention this before we move on to the NFC North. Like, the reason I have the Niners first is because I just think, like I believe teams that build through the lines of scrimmage are built to be in every game. Like, I just really believe in like building that way. And I think as much as we make a big deal out of guys like DeAndre Hopkins getting moved, you know, and he's been moved into this division, I still think that, Like, ultimately, if you look at the teams who are there at the end, more often than not, they're spending on the lines. The Niners had a potentially dicey situation losing Joe Staley. What did they do? They traded for Trent Williams, who might be a better player, you know, and then they have on the defensive line they lose DeForrest Buckner. Well, what do they do? They draft yvon Kin Law like right, Like so I just look at the way they've managed that team, and man is that roster and to kind of keep feeding the strength of that team the way that they have, you know, I think it really sets them up not just now, but like like to be competitive year after year after a year after a year. All Right, the NFC North, this is the division gress where I think every team could finish within two games of one another. This is a division where I think it could be ten and six, nine and seven, eight and eight, seven, and nine. Like I I think that like I think these teams, I think all four of the teams are really close. I think the Vikings and Packers are good. I have both them making the playoffs. I'm not sure either of those teams are elite. And I have the Bears and the Lions being better than people think. Matt Stafford was playing at an m v P level at the end of last year. I think that roster is very well aligned. Now what I said about the Texas I think exists with the Lions and drafting the way that they've drafted, They've got good, better young talent than I think people realize, guys like Kenny Holiday and Taylor Decker and Jeff Okuda. So they've got good young players there. They've brought in some guys who have the ties to Patricia, and like with the Bears, I just I don't think winning twelve games two years ago was a total fluke. I just think I don't think they have to be great at quarterback. I think they should need Drabinsky to drive the bus, you know. And so I think all four of those teams are really close. I give the Vikings and the Packers the edge, and I put both of them in the playoffs. But but I think all four of these teams could be in the in the running when we get to December. And I don't think that's I don't think you know, I don't think you're gonna get a great team out of that division. I think you can get four pretty good teams. I um, I'm with you in that they could all be a game within each other, but it might be nine in seven, eight and eight, because I just don't I don't buy Chicago at all. Uh, you know the fact that they're gonna start Rabinsky. You know why why did you go and make a move for Folds if you're just gonna turn around and start Mitch Robinsky. And the reason you brought in Folds is because you got nervous about that anyway. So for me, that's one that I don't understand. But I was never sold on Mitch Rubisky to begin with. So for me, I'm excuse me crossing the old Bears off the list. The Lions are intriguing. Here's my mental block with him. It's the same with Buffalo. Oh god almighty, how might how many more years do I need to hear about Matt Stafford and his unbelievable talent and this and that. Jeez, it's not just that crush. He was playing really well less year before he got hurt. And how many times have we heard that narrative, Oh, Stafford was playing great before he got injured, because he gets hurt all the time. Like, I just I can't buy into that guy. I don't dislike Matt Patricia. I think they brought in some core people who have the ability to provide some leadership in that room. But good god almighty, we're gonna be fifteen years from when Matt Stafford got drafted and and they're gonna make the playoffs. That's gonna be like, oh, look, all that taralent paid off when at the end of the day, he's you know what he is? In a way, there's a lot of Matt Stafford and and Matt Ryan. I want him in fantasy. I don't want him on the field because all right, so you say that though Matt Ryan did have the one year explosion, right right, and so did Stafford. By the way, I think I think Stafford has that year in him, Like I think he has that year in him where all of a sudden, lines maybe are a ten or eleven win team, and he's throwing for five thousand yards and forty five touchdowns. Like, I think that that's there, and so much of it's gonna come down to how the pieces around him work, Like is t J. Hockinson gronk like they thought he was when they drafted him. Is Kenny Golladay a true number one receiver, which they believe he is. It's just gonna be a lot of those things. What does the backfield look like? Like? I think DeAndre Swift when he gets healthy, could be a freaking game changer for them. So like they have like a lot of it's just if those things come together the way in Atlanta Julio and Snow and the like, and Taylor Gabriel and DeVante Freeman the way all those guys came together for them that one year in Atlanta. If that happens, I think Stafford is capable of having that m v P bounce interesting. So so for me, I've got Minnesota winning the division. Green Bay is a wild card. Here's my thought, me too. I'm with you, I'm I'm I'm with you on that one. Yeah, Look, Green Packers are my seventh seed again. There's seventh seasons. Yeah, and I and I have missed the six. Uh if you look at the luck quotient, and I don't go too crazy on that. They had a lot of things go right their way last year. Normally that doesn't happen two years in a row. But again, they've got a guy who has already proven Okay, I'll get us one or two extra wins because I have the ability to elevate and be special. And it is interesting that Jordan loved the first round pick was not named the backup at least here for a week one, which I'm sure a lot of Green Bay fans are saying, uh, yeah, we want a lot of close in Our first round pick is sitting on the bench. I sort of agree with that. The reason why I don't mind that if you really saying like you gotta set him, like and that's what's best for him, is to set him, then he can't be the backup, right, Like, if you're really committed to that, If you're really committed, like like we're doing what's best for the kid, right and he's not ready to play and it could be damaging to put him in games, then don't make him the backup because the backup is one now, emergency situation, you gotta go to your third quarterback. It is what it is. But if you're really committed to like we're giving him all the time he needs, then I don't mind that at all, Like that makes total sense to me. In your mind, he's better running scout in practice than he It's not me saying that though, It's like what every It's like what every scouting coach said ending up to the draft, that that that that like what he needs. He needs a couple of years to learn. So you're gonna scout team. But you know what I'm saying, like like if if if the idea is it's what's best for him to see what's best for him is to sit, that, don't make them the backup, all right? Last division, NFC East. This is always an interesting division. I think New York in Washington to me are like, I think you can see some promising signs for them from them. I don't think I think the Giants. I think the Giants are gonna be feisty. I I don't know what we see an enormous leap from either of them. And I think the teams that are at the top of the division. Are good not great, like I put them in that Vikings Packers category, and I have the Eagles winning the division. I have the Cowboys as the wild card. The Andre Dillard injury, I think it is a sneaky big deal for the Eagles. Okay, I still have them winning the division. But I think that is a sneaky big deal for the Eagles because there are another one of these teams again where they're built through the lines of scrimmage, which again I think it is the correct way to build. But here's the thing, crash. They've been so strong in that offensive line, right, So they lost Brandon Brooks, who was one of the best guards of football earlier in the off season for the year. They bring in Jason Peters to replace him at guard. And now you've got Peters in there. Well, Andre Dillard at left tackle gets hurt, so you're moving Peters back out to left tackle. So now that guard problem that you had crops back up again. And so I'm just sort of on alert for that. Um. But I still think the balance of the Eagles roster is pretty good. Um, I'm not where I was last year on it. Last year I think I thought going in it was the best roster and football. I'm not there with them yet. I gets good enough to win the division. So I have the Eagles as the four seed and we'll go through the seeds. Now, I have the Cowboys of the sixth seed. So if you stack this up, I got Saints, Niners, Vikings, Eagles, Bucks, Cowboys, Packers, and I have the Eagles winning the division. I don't have anybody else in this hot mess of a division the playoffs, and this four seed may end up being an eight and eight team that just gets, you know, wiped out by the number five seed, because you know, my guess is that it's either the Bucks or the Saints that are going to be the number five. So that number four seed, you know, they might be in a whole world of trouble getting the best of those wild card teams. And as I'm sitting there listening to you talk about the Dillard injury, I look who who does Philly open the season with at the rams Hi Aaron Donald. I'll you know what, I'll draft him this week for two and a half sacks because he'll be eating people up on the inside. But this division, I mean, you know, again, it's kind kind of it's a little sad because it's like that this is like the flagship division. This is like growing up crash, you know back when like CBS had the end had the NFC package and it was summer all in that and this was like like everyone growing up, like growing up in the eighties. I just you remember these were the signature teams, the signature matchups, the four o'clock game on CBS, right that, the four o'clock game on on on CBS on Sunday afternoons with summer all in that in there. And whether it was the late eighties or the early nineties, these were like the flagship franchises of the NFL. And I mean they still have juice, Like they still have juice that there's still huge markets and popular teams and all of that. But it's just not the way it was. No, it isn't you have one named football team, you have another one where the owner is running things. Still. Hey, let me tell you something. I got me in a lot of town there we're gonna trying to go now, I'm jacking around with you today. Old Jerry can't wait for those uh, can't wait for those Tuesday morning phone calls to the local sports radio station for Old Jerald to run is what not as to why they're eight and eight for the nineteen consecutive year or whatever it is. But yeah, this this division is terrible and more than likely unless the Eagles can letely stay healthy or find a way. They have the most talent in the division. I do expect the Giants to bounce though. I like the way they're built. I think they could climb to seven and nine or eight and night, which would be a big climb from where they were last year. Okay, we're gonna go rapid fire. Now we're running a little low on time. As expected, We've gone a little bit over here, so let's go rapid fire. Through our individual awards m v P. You have Pat Mahomes, I have Deshaun Watson Offensive Player of the Year. You have Thomas Edward Brady Jr. Wow quarterback quarterback. I'm going with Alvin Kamara from the Saints Defensive Player of the Year. You have Darius Leonard of the Colts. Guys that like that, love it, love it. I've got Nick Bosa from the Niners Offensive Rookie of the Year. You have Clyde Edwards Hilaire again, when you're connected to the guy that I think is gonna be the m v P. I think it's a natural pick. Here's something to watch on Thursday night too. All that speed clearing space out underneath and there was no back in foot in college football. Who is better in space last year than Edwards Hilaire. So I love the love to fit there. I'm going with Joe Burrow as the offensive Rookie of the Year Defensive Rookie of the Year. You've got it ship. It kills me that you and I are sharing a brain. And then it's connected to Ohio State. But Chase Young because Washington is gonna be awful and he'll be making a lot of plays. And the defensive line there is really good. You know. It's sort of like from a defensive line standpoints, sort of similar to what Nick Bose was walking into. Tons of former first round picks on that on that defensive line. And your coach of the Year, Gresh, this is finally the year without Tom Brady to get in the way, did William Hoodsworth Belichick finally gets a just Do award coming to him. That's a good pick. I'm going with Frank Reich of the Colts because I have them making the playoffs, as does Andrew Gresh the third. And finally, let's wrap this up with our Super Bowl pick who over who? In Tampa in early February, oh Man for the for the a f C Championship Game. I have the Ravens over New England, who will pull an upset in what will be known as the Cam Newton Game. The Bucks over the forty Niners in the NFC title Game, and I have the Bucks over Uh. I have the the Ravens over I wrote the Bucks over the Saints like an idiot, the Bucks over the Ravens to win the Super Bowl. Wow. Tom Brady winning his seventh Super Bowl title at forty three years old, How about that? That's what I'm banking on. It's the Lebron effect, Okay, And I do think that that is what he was looking for, going and getting a Leonard four net like like at the last second. Totally exactly what they're looking for. Okay, Uh, exactly what Brady was looking for. I am going and I've got I've got one pick that's the same as Rushes and another pick, this from the same division I'm going with the Ravens Ravens over the Chiefs to win the a f C Championship, and I'm going with the Saints over the forty Niners to win the NFC Championships. So then I've got the Ravens like the like like Gresh has coming out of the a SEE, and I have an NFC South team coming out of the NFC just like Gresh does. But I have the Saints not the Bucks. And I'm going with Lamar Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens to defeat the New Orleans Saints in Tampa. Lamar Jackson wins the Super Bowl in his home state, and the Saints come ever so close to getting Drew Brees second championship, but fall just short. And I can't wait to see all this play out crash like I am. I'm so fired up, hey, friend, Like we are finally here. We've all been sitting around, We've all been waiting there. It's been a weird training camp. We don't have the same kind of buzz. My god, I can't wait for Thursday night. Okay, he's Andrew Gresh the Third again. That's how he's known in this podcast. Gresh, I always appreciate you coming out, and we will get to our special guest right after this. Alright, so to kick off the season, we're gonna bring back one of our favorite guests and my buddy Um. You guys know him from having played at Ohio State, first round pick of the Cowboys, played at six seven years in the NFL. I believe Um, and he is now co host of the Mornings Juice and this is a promotion, so this is important that I get this in here, Bobby Uh, co host of The Morning Juice, which is the new morning drive show on one the Fan in Columbus. I think I have that right right, Bobby. They get everything right there. You were correct the Morning Juice six to nine one the Fans, So thank you, Albert. So there is You can also catch him on on Get Up on ESPN during football season. And the reason we wanted up Bobby on now is because he does have all that experience playing and he played a very physical position and that kind of takes us into where we are right now. We've got um less than when you when you guys are listening to this, less than forty eight hours to kick off of the NFL season and it's been a very different run up for all players. There's been no there was no spring workouts, so that's O t a S eight weeks O t A S out the window, no mandatory mini camp, no rookie minicamp during the spring, and the summers look very different. Normally guys would be putting on pads in late July. The pads didn't go on for most teams until August. There have been no preseason games, really about three weeks of real camp um this summer. And so Bobby, I, I guess like the first blanket question I would have for you is do you think that the casual fan is going to be able to notice that in any sort of way on the game field, either Tomorrow night with the Chiefs and the Texans or at any point during Week one. I guess I just look back a little bit to what I saw with Navy B. Y U on whatever that Sunday Monday night when that played, and Navy is a team of execution, and when you don't practice really in pads and you don't hit each other and you don't go live like you're gonna have some execution issues. And Navy B y U is probably better, But Navy looked atrocious. They didn't look like a typical Navy team, not like some of the best people that we have in our country that we're gonna be sending off to defend us one day. Like. They did not execute well and that is a calling card for them. And so I look at this season like, Okay, what what could this look like? What are some of the issues that could come up? Number one, I think some of the coaches are gonna lean on more veteran guys, guys who they know, they're comfortable with, They understand uh, they understand the scheme a little bit better. They have an easier time practicing and getting ready than maybe younger guys do who don't really understand all that. So I think that's a piece of it. You'll probably see some sloppy play. And because you know, as much as people talked about, you know, in the in during the off season and stuff, you know, limiting contact and getting away from pads all the time, and now you really have seen an offseason that's void of any of that. You know, very very little contact, very little, very little practice tackling, and the tackling in the NFL has not been good. As of late anyway, and so it's probably only gonna get worse like and so that'll be a casualty. I think you'll probably see some soft tissue injuries. Guys have a ratch up. They've been moving more, but I don't know if they've been truly tested, and they didn't have the preseason games. As much as we joke around about it, there's still an element there to playing in an elite level and playing against other people when the cameras are on and you're on a field and you're being judged that you cannot replicate, and so I think that you're going to have, you know, heightened awareness, heightened sensus. Guys are gonna dehydrate, they're playing hard, and so you see the hamstrings, You'll probably see some groins, they'll see some achilles stuff like that. That will creep up. I think in the first couple of weeks, when it's gonna be really hot and guys are gonna be asked to go for three and a half hours, something that they probably haven't done. And then lastly, and this is something that people kind of laugh at, I think you'll probably see substitution and special teams issues because that's something that you usually built through the preseason and you get the game reps and you understand this guy goes out, this guy comes in. These are situations you work on and if you're going with guys who are younger, who have never been in those, you're gonna see some issues because that's really the most complicated part of the game that gets neglected. And so I think Albert that's probably the last bet says it's there's just gonna be some things that aren'tst polished up, like and that's the reality, Like it's gonna be more like taking your car through you know, the normal car wash that you just running through, as opposed to taking it to a detail shop. Do you think, so, does that mean like that last part, Does that mean like random time outs like when you don't expect it and then to put the camera pans over and the coaches throwing his headset like that sort of stuff. Yeah, I think you're gonna look out there and there'll be ten guys on the field. There'll be a guy that's misaligned, and you know, you look at a coach like John Harball who majors and special teams. I wouldn't be surprised if he tries to throw some stuff out early in the season to test some of these teams. Who you know what, the guys didn't get the typical reps in camp, they didn't get the typical work in the preseason games, and the challenge to see if they can get aligned to something that isn't as traditional as maybe they're used to seeing. Alright, So I want to go back to the hitting part of this, because I think you sort of bridge two eras right like you were you came into the league during kind of the old era, which was two days kind of you know, I think camp used by a lot and you played for parcels so like cam'p used a sort of callous the team and toughen the team and get the team where it needed to be physically, and then you saw and then you know, you played past the eleven lockout, which when a lot of those rules changed and two days were done away with, and the way camp operated was just, I mean, I think forever different. So like having gone through that and having seen it like a couple of different ways, like as a football player, how much do you really need? Like and you see some of this now, like where they I feel like the camps I was at, there was more eleven on eleven than I than I normally see, but it's really truncated into three weeks. How much like, did you really feel like you needed as a pro football player to be ready to go week one? I think box guys needed a lot like offensive lineman, they needed, you know, defensive lineman to a certain extent. I think there's an element there, um And you mentioned bridging to errors like I came in my freshman year to Ohio State. Was the last year in college that you can go two days at consecutively without having a break. And so I think we went like thirteen straight days of two days, and then we went to the two one model. Then I get to the NFL and parcels you We're grinding, grinding, grinding, and you know, then it started to ease up a little bit. And then after the you know, two thousand and ten season, after the lockout there in eleven, then it's just one practice a day. And so I was a veteran at that point. I'm thinking, if I had this for the last four years, I'd feel great. And so your body feels a little bit better, and guys that know how to do it, and they understand the techniques, you know, I think that they need it less. But for young guys, especially when you talk about college now, like offensive linemen are severely underdeveloped albert when they come to the NFL, because all they do is line up zone right, zone left. It's all you know, the zone option, the read zone read stuff. You know, the white people or the r P O s and there's not any technique development. And that's why you see these ridiculous scores that are in the fifties. There's no defense and it's not real football. And I know the NFL has adopted some of that, but they're the margins and athleticism are much slimmers, so you can't do a lot of the same things. And so I think young offensive lineman like rookies coming in and asking them to do this, like it's gonna be a lot more difficult, and especially guys that you're looking at as developmental players, like I don't think you can really even count this season. If you took an offensive tackle in the fourth round and you thought, hey, give him two years, he might be able to unsea it our start and will move on. I don't think you can count a year like this, so you might see some of these ramifications down the road. So you look at like Tampa, for example, the fact that they're planning on starting Tristan Worths, who was I think seeing as a little raw coming out of Iowa at right tackle like and one of the book ends protecting Dom Brady, Like that could be a factor with somebody like that, and absolutely could be a factor because it is in a situation where in college you can just you can make up for lack of technique with athleticism and strength. In the NFL, and you get the South and some of the guys, you know, Cameron Jordans, like you know when you get ahold of that guy, like he's big, he's fast, and he's really skilled. And so if you get something like that, like dude, your kid just overpower that guy or cheated. He has all the tricks and he knows everything. And so that's the stuff that those guys are gonna be asked to do. Now, what would you like if you were a coach right now, how do you think you would be managing your roster? And I don't know if you saw us, but Josh McDaniel said something really interesting On Tuesday morning, there was something along the lines of like managing different guys, and he said, like, we haven't seen our guys in game conditions yet, and we don't know what what a guy is gonna look like when he's got to play seventy plays. So like, you know, put your coaching hat on. You know you you've got you've got that in your blood too. How do you think you would be managing players right now? If you were a coach number one, I would try to make sure I have as much depth on my roster as possible. And you know every coach says that, but I would be willing to trade some top end talent to make sure that I had you know, a full like five linebackers that would be able to play at any given point in time. Like to me, that would be more valuable to be able to have three running backs you could go to, as opposed to maybe a rookie who you know, you didn't have the time to develop any pass blocking skills, so I gotta may be able to run the ball. You never learned really out of passprow in college and even learn a passprow on camp now, and so you need to have as many bodies because you mentioned the seventies snaps. You need to be able to roll guys, I think, and you're gonna have to be able to make sure that you have depth and then the other thing as you need known known quantities. This was not a time to be able to ask guys to kind of change positions, whether it's college to the NFL or even guys coming from one scheme to another in the NFL because they didn't have the time to get that technique work in I'm going with guys who I know, guys who have seen in the same type of systems before, and we're just gonna roll with that. So do you think, like, I don't know, Like do you think if you were, if you were a coach, that you'd be subbing more early in the year then, like would you be like because that was one thing that Daniel has brought up to when he was saying this was like kind of how like you know, he could see where teams are platooning more in general, because you're not like completely comfortable that a guy's in game shape yet because you haven't had a chance to have him out there in game situations, Like do you think that you'd like you talk about building depth, Well, the advantage of building depth would be like, okay, like I feel comfortable with eight offensive lineman instead of just the five who were starting, Like, do you think that, like maybe you would consider rotating a positions where maybe you normally wouldn't know. I think that that's part of it. I don't offensive lineman's tough line is that's tough as a communication, right, there's a communication piece, there's a continuity piece, which that's why I thought that that's the most difficult position to get to try to develop players and develop the team. You don't have any of those physical reps, and so I think that I would try to keep that as stagnant as possible. But any positions that you could rotate, and you know, the mid level vet has kind of been eliminated from the NFL. If there was ever a time to try to keep guys that you think could be good rotational starters, this was the year, especially if you think you have a team that is built to win, because you'd much rather have a guy in his sixth seventh year who maybe you know, doesn't have the high in potential, maybe costs a little bit more than a rookie would. But you know that he can go out and give you thirty five snaps and he's gonna know what to do, and he can play special teams and he doesn't need all that technique work. I know you sort of hit on this already, but I do want to. I do want to kind of dive a little deeper into the value of preseason game because that's the most obvious thing we're losing, right Like, so from a players standpoint, how valuable was that? And I'm gonna play this into the like the the whole comparison to college too, because I know that was one thing that a couple of guys have brought up, um where they said, you know, okay, like, well, I know Belichick brought this up. Well, you know, like that this is the way the way it is in college, like three weeks of camp and then you're in the game week. Um. I've had some guys push back on that, like, you know, John Harbaugh said to me, well, that's true, but there's an entire ramping up over the course of some that the college programs are doing that you're not really counting for when you're just talking about camp. So like for you. The first question I guess off of that would be what was the value of preseason games, Like, did you when you were a player, did you want to play in the preseason games? When I was young, my first couple of years, I thought it was really necessary, And even as a vet, I didn't mind you know, getting you know, two or three series, four series, And did I want to go out there and play an entire game, you know, probably not, but if I could get you know, a quarter and a half, two quarters in you I felt pretty good about that, especially handling situations because it's the first time in practice you do move the ball drills. A lot of times you're working on all right, you know, it's first down, or it's run period, or we're gonna do third down stuff now, but be able being able to transition from first down, Okay, we got them in second and long, Okay, what are they gonna run here? All right? Now it's a third and short. Now what is the stuff that's coming? You have to continue to digest this information over and over and that's the only way that you can kind of do it while you're being fatigued and while you're being tested, and then you're also going up against players that you don't make have scouted, but you don't really know exactly how they move and how they operate. You practice against the same guys all the time, and you get to see some of their tells, and you know, getting a chance to play against some really good tight ends, whether Jason Witten, you know, Rob Gronkowski, Aeron Hernandez, guys like that. I mean, you got to see some of their tells, and so guys in practice could guard them probably better than the people at large, just because they saw them all the time. And so seeing somebody different. And you mentioned previouseason games, a lot of coaches like those joint practice is better, but those were eliminated too, Albert like, so those working situational issues there was eliminated. And then to jump to this, you know, the college aspect, the ratepup is totally different because they have fifteen padded practices you can have in college in the spring like that doesn't exist in the NFL. There's no time off, the coaches dominant your time. Like since you're leading in and college still starts out a little bit sloppy, we still see a ton of issues. Usually for the first three weeks and you're not playing like you know, no offense here to anyone, but like you're not playing Kent State. You know, you're not playing South Alabama. You're playing like you know, you're not playing like Air Force and week going. Bruce de Haven, the late great special teams coach who was with me in Dallas, Carolina, long time in Buffalo, he said, there are no homecoming games in the NFL like Indiana and on the schedule. Bobby, you know, you like laughed at him. You didn't really know what that meant until you got in the NFL. And think even a team that's two and fourteen at the end of the year, they won two games and sometimes they beat teams that were nine and seven or ten and six, right, and like it's just it's yeah, I mean, so that part of it's definitely different. The other thing I thought was, like, like I wanted to ask you about before we get out of here. Do you think that And like you made such a great point the last time we had you on about like maybe discipline slept a little bit with the COVID stuff. For you know, a guy who starts, you know, he's on a team that starts wanting six or whatever. Do you think that there's a little bit I don't know, Like it's just been a long year for everybody, you know what I mean, Like, do you think that there's a little bit of a tigue if you're a player right now and that you have had to go through all these measures to go into the building and you've been on the zoom meetings since May, and like, I just wonder if there's a little bit if you think that that, like you'll see a little fatigue from some people where you know, again, if you're on one of those teams that starts out one and three, it becomes that much harder to dig out of the hole because you are just kind of worn out by everything that we've all been through this year. From a football standpoint, I think that's a real part of it, because this was kind of like a never ending camp, Like there were no preseason games to break up the monotony, and you're gonna be going through these extended measures essentially, Like imagine Albert every day and you travel a lot, and you know there's times where I've traveled a lot, but every day before you go to work and work a physical job like going through airport security, Like that's essentially what I feel like some of these players like they have to go through. And like you can laugh about that and like people travel all the time, but I mean, it just psychologically wears on you. And so if you're not winning or you're a younger guy, we talked about hitting the rookie wall because things just are elongated and it just wears you down. I think that might happen to some vets and teams this year, where it just it's psychologically exhaust you and you don't have any release, Like you can't go out and relax and go have a drink or even heck, like going out to dinner with your wife, Like you know, you're worried that you may get it, and then you know, who knows what can happen. And so when you factor all that in, it's like it's like you're in camp that never ends. Like you go to the the facility and you go home. You go the facility, you go home, you fly, you play a game, you play a game at home, but you do that for seventeen weeks. It's just it's like Groundhog Day, man, and you saw Bill Murray at the end. I mean, he's driving cars off cliffs like that gets a little bit of that in your mind. Yeah, And I like I almost feel like that's why, like so many guys go away during the bye week, you know, whether it's you know, some guys have places down in Florida or whatever, like you know, people like like a lot of the guys and and I mean, I correct me if I'm wrong here, but it does feel like like during the bye week a lot of times it's like, well, you know, I went through six weeks of training camp and then I went through seven weeks of the regular season, and I just need to get that I just need to get hell away from all of this for a little bit, you know, like it feels like that would normally be what it is, and even something like that, you're not gonna have that this year. No, it's so bizarre, Like you just need to see something different, like for your own emotional state, like for your own like mental sanity. You have to see something a little bit different, interact with somebody different than you see every day. Because as much as you love your teammates, like, it's just it's too much and your coaches are always on you and so like you can get away for a couple of days, reset, and then you're good again. You get a little taste of normal society, Like that's not going to exist this year, and it's going to be interesting how that's going to impact everything. You know, Guys that are you know, grinders that have been doing this for years. It's not gonna affect the Tom Brady's, it's not gonna affect that, you know, the Drew brees Is, you know, but guys that you know, like these physically demanding positions, Like there's an element to where it's tough to keep sharp, to continue to do the same thing over and over again if you don't ever have a release. Okay, so let's take all of that into account. Now, we'll wrap up here. Take every bit of that into account. And I won't bring up Cobbo either, because I was actually thinking about that. I knew you were, Yeah, I was waiting for it. Yeah yeah. So like let's take all of this into account, right, Like, give me a couple of teams that you think are playing from ahead because of this, Like, which teams do you think our best equipped to manage this and to handle it and to compartmentalize it and to deal with the lows that I think every team faces over the course of the year, Like who do you look at as teams that you will be like that team is gonna have Armadillo skins for this, you know. I look at some teams. You know, everybody's gonna point the Tampa because they have Tom Brady. You know, New Orleans because they have Drew Brees. And I do think you know having you know, Bruce arians be a you know, he's an energized and energetic guy. Sean Payton the same way, uh down in New Orleans. But I look at a team like the Baltimore Ravens. You have a young quarterback Lamar Jackson showing up. He's gonna have juice every single day. And then you have veterans like clay Is Campbell out there too. Guys are hungry to win and they're gonna be able to stay focused. They're gonna keep everything together. And you know, John Harball is a task master, He's very discipline oriented. You know, their special teams are gonna be good. And so I look at the team like that that you know, this might be an area where they're gonna probably have some more inherit advantages than maybe that they would, you know, otherwise. And I'm trying to, you know, and believe they're really good last year and sometimes you know, it's tough to bounce back and come off, you know, a season like that. And you look at the Falcons and you know they haven't recovered from their Super Bowl lots yet. But for some reason, I feel like they're better equipped in this season, might actually play into their hands a little bit more than it typically would otherwise. And I think, like, I don't know, I just think like Lamar's there's something about Lamar that's like a little different too, Like there's just like he's just such a he's like a genuine normal guy I that doesn't seem overwhelmed by all of this at all. Is the same. It's just like there's something about that guy, like he's just like every day coming to work with him would be fun. It feels like, you know, like like it seemed like and he creates that at practice. And so I'm with you on that, um all right, So he you can catch him on ESPN. You can catch him on nineties seven Won the Fan again, the new morning show. From what I've heard of it, it's fantastic. I'm still working on getting permission to call Anthony Schlegel Schlegs too. I gotta, I gotta. I don't know if I'm at the point now, but I did. I did slip up and call him that because I heard you guys call him that. Yeah, I got busted on that one. So you guys can catch him every morning if you're in Columbus one seven one the fan and he's also the general of the Big Ten Army and I'm a foot soldier. I'm just a foot soldier. We're trying to get a Big Ten season here, played Bobby. Always appreciate you coming out, Albert. Thank you so much, sir, anytime man love coming on. Okay, and we'll get to our new special segment right after this. Okay, Well, we promised you a new segment this week on the podcast, and we're bringing it to you right now. More specifically, DraftKings is bringing it to you. And to do this the right way, We've got a guy that I actually worked with for a lot of years of the NFL Network and now he's over at SI dot Com. We couldn't be happier to have him on board. Michael Fabiano welcome into the podcast. Hey, it is an absolute pleasure and it's great to be back working with you, Albert Uh. We had we had a nice good relationship there at NFL Network and now back together at s I. I'm loving it man, all right. So here's what we want to do. Every week. We want to give everybody an idea first of all, what they should be doing with their daily fantasy teams. You can go to Draft Kings take care of all of that business there after you get done listening to us, of course. And so every week we're gonna give We're gonna give you three bargains that are out there for you on the daily fantasy scene. So fabs wout further ado take it away, three bargains for a week one NFL season, right, and we're thinking this is gonna be a high scoring game here in the Kansas City Houston matchup on Thursday night, so we'll focus on that one here. Most people are probably gonna put Patrick Mahomes in is their captain, which is gonna cost you about eighteen thousand, nine hundred dollars. So there's going to be some players out there that you're gonna want to put in the flex positions that aren't as expensive. So one of them that came to mind for me Randall Cobb. At he's cheaper than Brandon Cooks. He's cheaper than Will Fuller. And Kansas City was really tough on wide receivers last year, but they weren't as tough against slot receivers. So Randall Cobb is somebody to take a look at Jordan Nakins as well. I mean, he's very cheap at thirty, not a household name by any stretch of the imagination, but Kansas City actually gave up the fifth most fantasy points the tight ends, and this looks like a potential high scoring game. And you look at the line. The Chiefs are laying nine right now, so aime script could end up being in the favor of the Houston Texans. And then, finally, a really hot name in high stakes right now is Darryl Williams. Now, I'm on the Clyde Edwards Hilayer band and I love him, okay, But is Andy Reid gonna give him a full workload with no preseason in Week one? Maybe not. And Darryl Williams is the number two back in Kansas City and he's at eighteen hundred dollars to flex this week. So keep those three players in mind when you're setting your DK lineups. So you guys know, of course, you know, everybody's excited football is here and we're gonna have fabs with us all year doing this with us. He is talking about he did make me a little nervous there about my first round pick. That's Clyde Edwards Hilayer was my first round pick in my in my legal my with my college buddies, and I actually felt good about it because I got him in the eleventh overall and now you're kind of you. I love him there. There was not a better fit for running back in the draft class than Edwards Hilayer in Kansas City, and everyone had like Dandry Swift going there, but it wasn't Edwards Hilaire. He wasn't even projected to be a first rounder. But I say this time and time again, every running back in his first year as a featured back in Andy Reid's offense has been an RB ten or better in fantasy. Okay, going back to Do Staley and Brian Westbrook and Lashawn McCoy and Jamal Charles and Cream Hunt Damian Williams. I mean, let's let's let's not get it twisted here. He was a bum in Miami. I mean, he was waiver wire fodder in fantasy and suddenly he goes to Kansas City boom. So to me, I feel like Williams is so cheap. He's in a great position in that offense because running backs just flourish in that offense. And this week, maybe Andy Reid is not gonna give Clyde Edwards Hilaire twenty touches, maybe it's more like fifteen, and maybe there's enough there for Darry Williams to sneak in some value in DFS and the price is right, and I'm fired up to see what it looks like too. I mean, like Andy Reid, just so everybody knows, has never taken a running back higher than the middle of the second round. That's where he took Lashawn McCoy I think now eleven years ago. So he's never taken a running back in the first round in over twenty years of running football teams. And like FABS said, that offense is so set up for him because this guy was so good in space, and you're gonna have Sammy Watkins and Tyree Hill and McCole Hardman clearing out space for him underneath. Okay, before we let you go fabs. The other thing we're gonna do on a weekly basis, we want to give a little juice to the Stardom Sidham column, which I think you told me off the air was in its twentieth year. Now is that my twentieth year writing this column dating back to my time at CBS Sports Believe it or not, that was back in two thousand and one, is when I started this column. So we're looking at the twentieth year here. There are other columns out there who call themselves Startom and Sidham. This is the original, my friend, it's the original. I think I knew that. How about that? Okay, So give people a little flavor for what's in that. We don't want to give away everything, because we want you to go to go to SI dot com and check it out. But give people a little flavor for what they're gonna find in this week's Stardom sid Hum. Well, you're gonna find the top starts and sits uh. And we don't talk about Patrick Mahomes, and we don't talk about Christian McCaffrey. I mean, we know you're starting those dudes. We're we're talking about players who maybe on the border, right, maybe I drafted this guy, I like him, I'm not sure about him this week, or some players who are set up to have really big games that could potentially be guys that you didn't draft to be starters. For example, DeShawn Jackson against the Washington football team he dominates typically his former teams. It's very strange, and the Eagles are banged up at the wide receiver position, So you can check those out at s I dot com slash Fantasy. I'm also including some sleepers at certain positions, and I also have my DFS bargains and my DFS fades in that column this year. I wasn't able to do that in past years at NFL dot Com Albert for obvious reasons. But now I can do those kind of things. And so the column now I'm proud to announce is going to include some DFS love in there. Okay, so just to give people an idea, give me one intriguing start in one intrigue can sit for week one out of the column in DFS and people are gonna think this is crazy. I think Teddy Bridgewater is actually not a bad play against the Raiders this week. And if you want to go a step deeper, mitchor Robiskie has actually done some pretty good things against Detroit in his career. And I know everyone's crapping all over him, and I get it, all right, I understand that, but you know there could be some points put up on the board in that game. In Robiski is a guy that if you're looking to go cheap at the quarterback position, he and Teddy Bridgewater are are certainly a couple of those options. Tyrod Taylor two is another good play, uh in DFS and if you're in a redraft where you have a super flex or it's a two QB league, he is a very very intriguing player against Cincinnati. Okay, that's Michael Fabiano. You're gonna have the benefit of his twenty years of expertise in this field over the entire d of the season. And it's gonna be a different season, fabs. I mean it's gonna be. I think it's gonna be a chance for for fantasy players, for gamblers, this is gonna be a challenging year because we don't know what sort of curveballs are gonna come on Thursday and Friday and Saturday a game weeks. And I'm sure you're prepared for all of that too. Yeah, no question about that. And you're gonna be able to find everything on si dot com slash Fantasy. We're actually gonna be able to answer your questions if you're a part of a fantasy pro as well. So make sure you go out and check that out. But you're right, we've had we had no preseason to to scout any sort of players. I think the biggest thing is how do the rookie wide receivers and tight ends? And tight ends probably not gonna have much of an impact from a fantasy perspective, but you know how those wide receivers gonna fit in? Right? Uh? This is this is a different game. It's a different speed in the National Football League than they're used to in college. So how quickly can they acclimate themselves to the next level. The running back positions for the rookies, right, which guys can pass protect? I mean, if if you've got a rookie running back, we can't pass for deeck, he's not gonna be a three on back in the National Football League's not gonna happen, you know, especially if he's getting his quarterback killed. It's just not gonna happen. So have to look at that as well. And also early on in the season some of these backfield situations. What's gonna happen in New England. I mean, we think it's gonna be Sony Michelle and Rex Burkhead and James White. In Detroit, Jandre Swift has banged up. You know, they added Adrian Peterson, carry on, Johnson is in the mix two. So there's a lot that we have to learn, you know, Albert, you and I both know this, man. You know, we do this for a living. We're always learning, and especially in this year with COVID nineteen, in the situation that we've all gone through. Man, we're all learning. And Week one is gonna be a very educational for all of us out there in terms of being insiders like you, and in terms of talking about fantasy football like me. Okay, he's Michael Fabiano again. Be sure to check out his column at s I dot Com. Stardom said him, that's every single week we have great fantasy content there for you and He's been brought here to the podcast every week by DraftKings. Uh. Fabs. Great to have you on. Yeah, my brother, it's a pleasure man. I'm looking forward to talking to you next week. Okay, we will get to you right after this, all right, thanks to Bobby, Thanks to FABS. Bobby is always great. Great to have Fabs as part of the show. We're gonna jump right into the six pack. You guys know how this works. Ever since the pandemic started, we went back to doing a six pack. That means on Tuesday, I put the call out for questions. Every single week I picked six If I picked yours, you get a like on Twitter. That means I hit that little heart there and to get an answer here on the podcast. First question of the week it comes from Roberto wears a mask and you should too. At Ason Jasper who thought it was fair to have some teams with fans in the seats and others without let me guess it was Jerry right. Well, Jerry is one of the people that thought it was okay to do that, but I guess he probably had thirty one of his peers that were on board with it too. Robert of the Bottom the bottom line here, without question, all right, is that this is going to be a different type of year in general, and there are gonna be quirks to this tight to this season throughout, and so I think the main thing you want look at is the revenue shortfall that's looming for everybody. That's not good for owners and if they and the more money they lose, the worst it is for the players ultimately, because that's gonna play into how the salary cap is calculated. And so it behooves everybody to try to save every piece of revenue they possibly can. So for the owners and the players, and I know the coaches won't be on board with this because it affects them and doesn't necessarily benefit them, But for the owners and the players, looking at this pragmatically, you say, Okay, how can we do our best to try to make up for the revenue shortfall that's coming. And again that means trying to recover as much revenue as you possibly can. So that means if you can put fans in the stands in Miami and Kansas City, in Indianapolis, and it's against the law in l A and San Francisco and Buffalo, well, that's probably what you're gonna do, because that's gonna help everyone manage what is going to be a tricky situation the next couple of years stemming from the fallout of all the revenue lost in two thousand and twenties. So Roberta, I would tell you, I think everybody, Um, I think all thirty two owners are probably on board with the idea of doing this, and I think a lot of the players, if you ask them, will be okay with it to knowing what the final result will be. Question number or two from Raphael bergeron g Saints or Bucks when the division. We've already been over this, but I thought it was worth answering your question, Rafael, and why I picked the Saints maybe dive a little deeper into that here. I just think the Saints are a more complete team. And I look at the Saints roster, I mean, really, maybe the one area where there might be a depth issue to some degree as a linebacker, but they've got one of the best in the game there a da Mario Davis. The secondary is very talented, and that you have Marshall Lattimore, Genorris Jenkins, Marcus Williams. Um you look up front, Marcus Davenport, Sheldon Rankins, Cam Jordan's. The offensive line is one of the best in football, with Toron Armstead and Ryan Ramschickause the book ends and two high picks and Eric mccoye sees Arruise inside along with Andrew's Pete who was just extended after being a high pick himself. At tight end. You've got Jerry Cook and receiver. You've got Michael Thomas and Trey Kawan Smith the player they really like, and you've got a veteran addition and Emmanuel Sanders. And then you've got Drew Brees at quarterback, and you've got Alvin Comarrett running back. And there just aren't a lot of holes in the roster. So that's what I would tell you. I have a hard time poking holes in what the Saints are going to be from a roster standpoint. The Bucks, you know, you need the young secondary to come along, you need Tristan Worths to play well at right tackle. There's just a lot more variables with the Bucks roster than there is with the Saints. Question number three from Derreck Robbins. That's at coach Deek and he she has the stealers, stay healthy, overcome their coaching staff, and actually live up to the talent on their roster. Derek, I think that they're going to really benefit from last year, as I said, with crash Um having gone through what they went through in two thousand and nineteen, I think winds up being a benefit for them. Now they'd always sort of They've become very reliant, i'd say over the years on Ben Roethlisberger. Well, last year they couldn't be and they discycled through Duck Hodges and Mason Rudolph, and I think that forced other parts of their team to grow up. They're very good on the offensive line, and it looks to me like the defense is finally fixed and you've got as sending young players guys like Minka Fitzpatrick and Devin Bush and t J. Watt in addition to some mainstays guys like Cam Hayward and Stephen to it. And now I'd say Joe Hayden's in that category. To Um, it's a team that can win on defense again, which they haven't been able to do for a while, which means they don't need Ben Roethlisberger to be you know, Ben Roethlisberger from seven years ago. They just need him to be a lot better than what they have. It had a quarterback last year which is fully capable of being Question number four from Jack. That's at j Blanco giants really good or really bad. I don't see them in the middle, well, Jack, I I think you might find them in the middle when we get a little deeper into the year. There are questions, of course, on the defensive side of the ball. From a talent perspective, how are they gonna hold up with two or three rookies starting on the offensive line. I think that that's a fair question, um, you know. But I do like the buy in that that Joe Judges getting for all the crap that he got for the laps and all that stuff. He I really feel like, you look at where where where they are and what they've been through. I think that that's going to be the sort of team that's gonna be a tough out on a week to week basis once we get to October November. May take them a little while to get their feet underneath me fee underneath them, but I think you're probably looking at a six or seven win team is pretty competitive all the way through a question number five from Reese Hitch that's at research. Why won't there be a Super ever be a Super Bowl Saturday? Reece? I really like this question from you. The reason why Saturday is traditionally a really bad ratings night. Sunday night is traditionally really good ratings night. And so people are conditioned to watch football on Sunday. And you know the ratings across the board on television or better now you may it may say to me, well, you know, isn't the Supabowl immune from those sorts of things. Well, sure it is. It would put up a huge rat rating no matter where you put it. You can put it on a Monday afternoon, it would put up a big rating. But the thing is, they don't care about me and you, the people who are really locked in and watching football. When it comes to a game like that, they want to bring in the fit, fringe fan who could either take it or leave it. They want the person who you know, might might be watching freaking Masterpiece, theater, Dateline or whatever else on a normal night. They want that fan because that's what boost the ratings. That what's that's what takes them to another level. And that fan is probably more likely to stay in and watch that on a Sunday night than they would be to stay in and watch that on a Saturday. Finally, question number six from Darrino Dink at rinto Dink sixty nine, why are you losing your mind over the Big Ten playing? Well, they're not playing right now, hopefully they'll play by the end of the week. I'm not losing my mind over it. But I will say this, there are a lot of good people working really really hard on this, and I think that the the thing that the things that you're going to be costing a lot of the kids by not playing. It sucks, man, it really sucks. And there are players on some of these rosters they can literally play themselves from say the third round to the first round. I give you three examples. The receiver from Ohio State Christal Laves one, the tight end from Penn State Pat Friar muth Is Prior muth Is another, and the defensive meant from Michigan Quity Pay would be a third. All three of those players I think have first round level talent but probably need another year of putting it on the field to get there. And if you want to look at the difference between what a first rounder and a third rounder makes. There's differences in the money guaranteed and the amount of money that's guaranteed. There's also an enormous difference in the gross total. And so you know, I think for guys like friar Muth, for guys like Lave, for guys like what you pay um, there is a ton of money to be made out there. I think all three of those guys could be top twenty picks, and I'm not sure that they would go in the first round if they didn't play. So for those guys, I think giving them the option to play, that's why I look. I feel really strongly about that. And if there wasn't a safe way to play, then that be one thing. But one thing that the last few months have taught me and seeing the NFL handle this and again, they've had I think five positive tests across the NFL players getting tested every day since they went into pads or since they actually started like real football practice, um with the O t A type stuff, and then they went into pads a few days after that, they've had five players test positive. That is an insanely low total. Well, how did that happen because they could test and test and test. You can't get covid um in the building. You can't spread COVID within your building if you don't let covid in your building. And that's what testing allows you to do. It allows you to prevent COVID. I'm coming in the building and quite honestly, I you know, if if daily test testing is there, I don't think there's a real reason why you shouldn't give the kids a chance to play and give certain programs if a program wants to opt out, fine, if players want to opt out, fine, everybody should have that right. But you know, I think you're taking away something. It's a golden opportunity for a lot of kids. Appreciate you guys coming out. Uh, we are going to kind of have some moving parts here the next few weeks, so I'll keep you guys post on that. With the different feeds and everything else, we're still figuring out how all of that's gonna work. But again, i'll keep you post on all of that and how all that's gonna work. And I want your feedback too, because we are going to be adjusting some things as we go here this year. With my podcast, whether it's on a separate feeder or stays on this feed, you guys know where to get me at Albert Brier on Twitter, at Albert are Bury on Facebook, at Albert Underscore Brier on Instagram, And regardless of how it's set up, you guys should be listening to all of our podcasts, Gary's Pot on Monday mornings, h Jenny and Connors Pot on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and for now, we'll still be doing the Weekend Review podcast on Fridays as far as I know, and you guys know where to find us again, whether it's on one feed, two feeds, whatever it is, you'll be able to find us on Spotify, Stitcher, tune in, Google Play, Apple podcasts, wherever you guys get your shows will be there same time. Next week, we'll have some games to talk about then, see guys,

The MMQB NFL Podcast

The MMQB NFL Podcast brings you unique, informed and immediate analysis from around the NFL. Whether 
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