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[Assistant] You look at the start of that schedule, and then you look at their last four weeks, five weeks still, then you go at Seattle, okay, you got the Arizona Cardinals, who they lost to last year, but then Cleveland, and then at Baltimore, and then the Cowboys too, man, they just, the start and end of their schedule is no joke.


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[Assistant] Well I wrote 5 and 11, 6 and 10, and 4 and 12. Alright? So you're right there. And I underlined 4 and 12.


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[Assistant] I think if we're gonna be fair with Washington right now, you know, my big thing is, and let me just pull up the complete roster while we're sitting here, my first concern, the defense has a chance to be real deal. Like real deal.


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[Assistant] Where I just look at that and go, ooh, I'm in.


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[Assistant] If their offense can just have some threat of moving the ball and scoring some points, their defense might be able to win them.


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[Assistant] Sean Davis, who I loved at a Pittsburgh, is a safety. That's gonna help out.


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[Assistant] No, it was solid in year one. Uhm, but we know, yeaah, between that, the defense, you know, some improvements on the corner, and, uh, you know, and then don't forget Ruben Foster's gonna be back in the fold at linebacker this year.


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[Assistant] You know, you look at that and I go, okay, and Landon Collins, the way he played last year and everything like that, I think there's a lot of things to like Ronald Darby in free agency. So the defense is also, my point is this, Ahmed.


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[Assistant] Offense, uhm, first thing is, I don't know who the running back's gonna be, so that scares me a little bit. I don't know who the guy we're gonna be able to trust.


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[Assistant] Well, Frank Gore had a thousand yards just a few years ago, right? And he's gotta be... Nope. Nope? It wasn't him? Okay. It wasn't Frank Gore. Hold on, hold on, hold on.


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[Assistant] Mid-80s, in this division, he played Washington, John Riggins. Yep. John Riggins, when he came back that year.


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[Assistant] Antonio Gibson I know has opened some eyes there and he opened up my eyes evaluating him in the draft out of Memphis a little bit. And it sounds like they're going to make him a running back.


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[Assistant] So I guess I just don't know if he's gonna be the guy, right? And I certainly would like to think he wouldn't be the most dangerous guy if all is healthy in this running back. So yea, there's question marks there, I think is what we're getting at, okay? Then we could talk about like,


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[Assistant] Other guys with potential, but that's all it is to this point. So there's nobody else and that's really where my big problem with them is. I can see them being a pain in the butt and losing so many 17-13 games, 20-14 type football games just because


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[Assistant] They're, they're two or three playmakers short on offense from having a dangerous offense.


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[Assistant] Wow. So what were the records you sketched out? I wrote 9 and 7, 10 and 6, 8 and 8 when I went through my little Chris Sims rundowns of how I think the schedule could go. Okay, one, hey, let's just talk about, okay, the schedule as it, as it works out. They have a chance, you know,


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[Assistant] Start of the year, Minnesota to Detroit. Listen, I think those are winnable games. They're division games. And you know, of course people in divisions are treated differently, studied differently. So, they're a little scary there. But what really jumped out to me about their schedule is weeks 3 through 9.


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[Assistant] You know, the one thing that always sticks out in my brain last year is, you know, I do think that the Packers feasted on the week a little bit with how their schedules shook out last year.


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[Assistant] You know, really, when you look at their schedule last year, I think we did look at it. We did, right?


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[Assistant] And they beat the Chiefs without Patrick Mahomes. So those were the only, the Vikings twice and the Chiefs were the only two playoff teams they beat. And I'd like to think that if Patrick Mahomes is playing, they don't win that game.


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[Assistant] I think it'll be a different year. I do think their division is better too.


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[Assistant] Right? This is a tough division for me because I don't think there's one team that like just significantly jumps out. I think Green Bay jumps out the most only because of the quarterback. Only because I just go...


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[Assistant] If he's playing any one of these three teams and it's a seven point or less game, Green Bay is going to win as far as the division is concerned. That's just the way I feel about it.


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[Assistant] I think he's going to be, I, you know, come back a year. I just, yeah, I would think between the motivation another year in the offensive system and


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[Assistant] I heard him say things like he studied himself, Matt LaFleur saying,


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[Assistant] We need to find more ways to get explosive plays. I think he'll be a little, he'll push the envelope in the pass game a little bit more. And what you've heard me say.


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[Assistant] You know, you gotta play the AFC South this year. That's not gonna be easy. Texans, Colts, and uh, Titans.


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[Assistant] I think their division's better, you know, as we've talked about, and then they are playing the, uh, the AFC South. And of course we know the AFC South, the AFC South and the NFC South are very damn good.


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[Assistant] It's really, I don't know if I think they're a 9-7, 10-6 football team, but I think...


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[Assistant] They're really probably like a 7-9 football team that can go 9-7 or 10-6 because of Aaron Rodgers.


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[Assistant] Oh wow, they're right there with Green Bay, huh? Well, I can tell you I'm going under here right now. I'm going under. I think there are seven and nine, eight and eight football team. That's the way I look at it. Uh, the first thing I'm going to tell you is holy tough start Batman.


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[Assistant] You know, Green Bay at the Colts, Tennessee Titans at the Texans, Seattle Seahawks at Seattle, Atlanta Falcons,


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[Assistant] At Green Bay. Everybody there made the playoffs except for the Falcons and the Falcons ended the season on a 6-1 tear to end the season last year and of course we know they have.


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[Assistant] And everybody getting another year to digest the Gary Kubiak, what they want to do on offense. And I, you know, of course, Stefan Diggs me not being there and having that explosive element. Yeah, I just, I think they're going to get off to a tough start. They'll battle. They're going to still be a pain in the butt to deal with.


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[Assistant] I just think it's a year where they're a little caught in the transition of their


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[Assistant] Uhm, and that's why they went and traded and got Yannick and Gokwe. Cause I think he realized, whoa, I got three new corners in here. Whoa. My defensive line looks real freaking average. I need to get one more stud in here.


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[Assistant] Right, we gotta get something else there. So, you know, hey, well, Jaleel Johnson, uh, I think it's Jalen Holmes, they've got a few other guys that have some potential as interior D lineman that gotta show up for them. Uhm, but yeaah, I just, I, you know, they, and,


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[Assistant] And honestly, between the start, some of the things we just mentioned, and that they've been an every other year playoff team for like the last six years or so, this is the year they don't make it. And I'm just gonna go when they don't make it. Alright, I'm going under too. Okay, damn.


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[Assistant] I thought that was a little low. I thought it would be, I thought they might be eight or eight and a half just right there with them. Really? Yeah. Why do you like them? I don't know.


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[Assistant] The Bears to me are the hardest team to get a feel for a little bit.


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[Assistant] I love their defense, to answer your question. Their defense is, to me, it's Super Bowl caliber. Like, it's truly a defense that if you just have a little offense to help out, they can almost win your games by themselves. And them getting Robert Quinn, I mean, that was big time for their football team. I mean, that's dangerous.


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[Assistant] And a team, an offense that couldn't stay on the field. It was like three and out, three and out, three and out. And that's when the dam broke a few times for the Chicago Bears. I think they're gonna be better this year. I do think they're gonna be better. You know last year, well listen, I don't know, they were eight and eight last year. I think they're gonna be right around that again.


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[Assistant] I just don't know. I wish I had some preseason football to look at like just the quarterback situation or is, is Matt Nagy have a different approach? Because to me, those are the two biggest questions I have about the team.


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[Assistant] You know, is Matt Nagy, his creativity on the offensive side of the ball, what do they do? What is it? Remember last year, it's kind of a Rolodex, like, hey, let's call this play. Let's call this play, I like it. But what's the rhyme or the reason for calling the play?


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[Assistant] You know, McDaniels, Sean Payton, Shanahan, McVay, they have a rhyme or reason of why they're calling a play, or they're setting up a certain play, and I don't always notice that with the Bears. You know, so that's where I'm really stuck with them. Uhm, but I think I'm going to go over. I mean, again, I don't think this is going to be much over.


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[Assistant] If Mad Nagy in the run game can just be a little bit better though.


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[Assistant] I mean, I wouldn't sit here and go, I'm shocked the Bears won the NFC North. You know, I wouldn't. Because I just don't think the division's that great. No one team is that great. And like you said, it was only two years ago and they were 12 and 4.


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[Assistant] You know, doing things the right way, making big throws in the pocket. I think he's clearly better than Mitchell Trubisky. Yeah, I do. Trubisky has more talent.


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[Assistant] But can he, can that translate into being a better quarterback? I don't know. We haven't seen that yet. And uh, that's where I don't know. You know, and again, I have questions too. If you want to, you know, the running back position.


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[Assistant] You know, I love Tariq Kon, but he's not their everyday, like, Belkow guy. Sure.


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[Assistant] You know, I know they're excited about Dave in Montgomery, which again is another one to me, where I just, back to the Leonard Fournette thing. He averages 3.9 in yards per carat. Everybody's excited about him, but Leonard Fournette's shit. Like, I don't understand that. I don't. And I would sit there and go,


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[Assistant] There was less support around Leonard Fournette, but yet we're excited about David. I just get baffled in the NFL social media world sometimes. So our first disagreement here. First disagreement.


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[Assistant] I, I, I've argued this for years. Like, hey, you got the head, you got the job because you're an offensive genius. Hey, somebody else call the place. Yeah, you do the offensive game planning. Well, wait, we're paying you $6 million a year because of what you did on the offensive side of the ball. Not so you can just sit there now and forth and go for it.


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[Assistant] No, you were hired to be that. And I think that goes on way too much in the NFL. Guys like that get the job and then they haunt it off to somebody else.


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[Assistant] And all of a sudden the thing that you were brought here to be great at, you're not great at. That makes no sense. That's not good. So Matt, Patricia, you're right. Secondary, they've tried to make some improvements. We'll see where that goes.


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[Assistant] Two reasons. I liked what I saw last year before Matthew got Stafford got hurt. He was great. Right. He was having maybe the best year of his career. I agreed. And then, you know, the way the running game and Kerryon Johnson looked, but then of course he got hurt, so there was issues there.


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[Assistant] So, there's like things I looked at last year where I went, okay, I think they're on the right track, and then...


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[Assistant] And then there's the secondary, like you talked about, and I think that's gonna be improved because Desmond Truffaut


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[Assistant] They got Jeff Akuda. We'll see. They haven't even named him a starter yet. I know you're not high end Jeff Akuda. Well, I mean, I know he hasn't been able to practice the whole time, but again, to me these are context clues where I want to go, well, it's starting to show. He probably wasn't worth the third pick of the draft already. Third picks of the draft, like,


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[Assistant] You know, at corner? Cover that guy? That's slam dunk. Oh, it's day one. You're the third pick of the trap. You're starting.


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[Assistant] The fact that you're having that conversation to me is not a good look. And then, uhm. You got Jamie Collins. Yes, big time. Denny Shelton a little bit big, some size up front. They're gonna be big on the defensive side of the ball. Got Trey Flowers from last year. Yeaah. I don't know if this is playoffs. I'm going over on the 6.5 though because I'm gonna bet Stafford stays healthy.


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[Assistant] I think the defense is better and then the desperation factor. The desperation factor of Matt Patricia.


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[Assistant] Bob Quinn. This is it. And maybe even Matt Stafford. It could be. Right? I mean, I know we talked about this a few weeks ago, where if this is a bad year, Detroit might just go, eh, okay, hey Matt, you were awesome for us, you did a lot of great things, but we gotta start a new regime, it just didn't work, whatever.


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[Assistant] I mean, I'm picking Green Bay, I guess, just because of Aaron Rodgers. Yea. But I don't know necessarily if I feel like...


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[Assistant] Either way, it's a playoff team. I look at it that way. And I don't-


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[Assistant] Like to me the worst they could do is 9 and 7. Like the worst. Wouldn't be shocked like if you're saying it was 12 and 4, 13 and 3 again. Certainly wouldn't. I guess I'm playing the law of averages of


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[Assistant] Man, it's been really good years. The division is a little bit better. Maybe they lose a game or two more this year. And the fact that you're playing the AFC West, you know, the AFC West and the NFC North.


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[Assistant] Uh, the ASC West especially is what I'm looking at, because I think that's a dangerous division right now. But, but uhm,


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[Assistant] Yeah, I, I think you're right. I just look at too many things on their team to go. It's, it's top notch. I mean, it's top notch.


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[Assistant] Well, I mean, I don't know if I would say he's the top, but he's really freaking good. I mean, he is, you know, him.


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[Assistant] Uh, paired with, let's say, Zach Bond now, as far as their second round pick out of Wisconsin, that excites me. You know, the secondary, yea, Malcolm Jenkins, you got Marshawn Lattimore, uh, you know, yea, there's, there's a lot to like there, and of course their defense align to me is,


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[Assistant] One of the most physical units in all of football. And if they can just get something from Marcus Davenport to be another big time pass rusher.


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[Assistant] I would go, woah, that defense could go from like being really really good to great.


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[Assistant] And that's the only thing they're missing on that side of the ball. And you mentioned the offense. They got just about everything.


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[Assistant] I'm going over. The one thing I just say this that jumps out to me with them is weeks 8 through 16.


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[Assistant] Like at the Bears, at the Bucks, 49ers at home, Falcons at home, at the Broncos, we know they're gonna be improved the Broncos, at the Falcons, at the Eagles, Kansas City come home, Minnesota come home,


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[Assistant] You know, that's not an easy stretch. That is one tough game after another there, whether it's on the road or teams that are up and coming.


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[Assistant] No, we don't ruin the stretches like this. It's battle tested, I think that's what you're talking about. They're never like, they're not like, oh gosh, oh gosh, we gotta go on the road three weeks in a row. Here it goes, here it goes, here's where we lose a bunch. Yeah, right, right. No, they're more like-


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[Assistant] And then they also know their coach is gonna have a few tricks up his sleeve to like pull it out too.


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[Assistant] Yeah, you're right. They've had a few stretches like this. One that'll jump out to me just to get off base for like two seconds. Like in 2018.


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[Assistant] And that's, to me, was like impressive. That's what's impressive about New Orleans. New Orleans can get a shoot out with you and throw for 400 yards and win a game. Or they can go, oh, you want to play a slugfest Baltimore? Oh yeah, we'll put Taysom Hill back here and we'll just run it down your throat all game. We're not going to be bullied by you.


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[Assistant] And they won that game. So they have so many ways they can win games too. You know, they're very versatile that way and the talent's good. And yeah, I, I expect them to be in the upper echelon. We saw them last year win games even without Drew. Echelon. Echelon. Echelon. What did you say? Echelon.


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[Assistant] Expecting an improvement from their team here this year. Those two first round picks from 2019. Lindstrom and McGarry. You know, yeaah, they both got hurt last year.


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[Assistant] You know, that was huge. It made them reshuffle. So, I mean, yeaah, injuries decimated them regardless. They are a very top heavy team.


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[Assistant] So that's a very realistic thing for them to happen. You know, three, four guys get hurt, it changes their team. Because they don't have the depth that some of the other good football teams have that, okay, yeaah, he's our backup, but he's not that much less than our starter.


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[Assistant] And in Atlanta, they have a lot of scenarios like that, where you go, the starter's a superstar, the backup is like fringe makes the roster guy. And that's, you know, you get the injury bug, you're screwed.


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[Assistant] Uh, but to get Dante Fowler Jr., you know, in free agency, take a shot on the Charles Davis as far as a pass rusher, I think that's their big thing.


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[Assistant] You know, who are going to be the guys that can be real, legitimate, awesome pass rushers off the edge for that football team because it's the Seattle scheme as we've talked about so much.


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[Assistant] So, can Todd Gurley help out the offense? We know the passing game's gonna be good. I mean, I mean, you hit it. It's gonna be the O-line, and can the running game give them something? If they can do that and stay healthy, like, I'd say watch out for Atlanta. You said it was 7.5? Yeah, 7.5.


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[Assistant] Yeaah, I'm definitely going over. I'm going over. And we went over with the Saints, right? Because that was ten and a half. And I just, I went barely over there. So yeaah, I'm going over.


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[Assistant] Basketball and baseball, a lot easier to do that because you have a lot of just, it comes down to the one guy moment. You know, the one guy moments in football.


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[Assistant] almost never happen except for maybe receiver where it's like, oh, it's one verse one and we threw him a ball and my guy won. That's all there is to it. But yeah, everything else is predicated on what you got around you. Tampa Bay Buccaneers.


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[Assistant] And Tom Brady's a lot better than Chris Sims, we know that.


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[Assistant] Yes. I am gonna go... Reluctantly going under. I mean, of course, I recognize the talent. I'm rooting for the Bucs. I mean, the Bucs after the Giants are my second favorite team. You know, let alone, I know my personal relationship with the 49ers, but I'm just saying, if there was no personal relationships, it would go Giants and Bucs. I mean, those are my squads.


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[Assistant] Okay, so ehm, first off, this is where I think my first thought lays, is that I think we're doing a little bit of a disservice, or not giving credit to a team. Yeah. Right? And it's like, it does take something to gel as a team, and play together, and ooh, there's these new moving parts, and we're all together for the first time.


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[Assistant] You know, it's, it's, it's not always, it's like Cleveland last year. It's just not always easy to go like, oh, look at the names in our roster. We'll just come together on the field and kick ass. No, it doesn't always work like that. The coaches are still evaluating what they got. What's he do good? What's he do bad? Okay, we need to find the right scheme that fits what we're doing, all those things.


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[Assistant] I think we're disrespecting that a little bit because we're caught up with the names. I do.


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[Assistant] I also think, yea, Tom Brady, do I have question marks? You know I do. You know? Is he gonna make as many plays as Jameis Winston did last year? No. He's not.


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[Assistant] Is he going to make as many mistakes? No, he's not. You know, he's not. Good and bad. Right. You know, Bruce Arians is another guy I'll just say because I said this on the show the other day. I think he gets a little bit of a free pass sometimes. We talk about him like he's like a three time winning Super Bowl coach. And he's had really one legit awesome season as a head coach.


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[Assistant] So just between those things right there, it's like I just would like to see a little bit more, let alone, you had a secondary that sucked last year. Suck.


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[Assistant] 30th against the passing yards per game last year.


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[Assistant] You know, that scares me. So I guess what I'm saying is I'm just not ready to put the stamp and go, the Bucks might get in the playoffs. I understand that. And if they went 12 and 4...


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[Assistant] I wouldn't be shocked either, but I can't just sit here and go, I think 12 and 4 is going to happen. I've never seen this team play. They got all these new parts and everything like that. They're going to implement a new offense and you know, have a new tailback involved and hey, they're out on proven secondary, but they got Gronk and Brady. They're going 12 and 4. I just can't do that. I can't.


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[Assistant] And okay, just a few things about their schedule that jump out to me.


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[Assistant] Board of the first five games, you know, for a new offense, a quarterback learning a new offense, they got some good defenses. At Saints, at Broncos, week three. Right. Chargers, week four. And Bears in week five. Those, those are real. Like, you know, those are not the kind of teams you want to play where you're going, we're just getting our feet underneath us and getting used to football here. You know, hey, yeah, I expect them to beat Carolina, but those other games are going to be tough as hell.


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[Assistant] All these new guys. Ten wins for them. I just can't say yes to that yet. I can't. I can't. And again, if we're wrong and everything, we'll say it. We know it. I see the potential. I understand what to get excited about.


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[Assistant] I just think we can't disrespect some of the things we've talked about as far as-


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[Assistant] I'm going under too. No, I'm with you though. I'm going under. I think you're right. I mean, if they're 4-12 and a pain in the ass and in a bunch of handful of games, 4-12 is not that bad. They changed their team over. I give them a lot of credit. You know, they went totally defense and young in the draft.


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[Assistant] So they're gonna have a lot of young, inexperienced, learning life in the NFL, and they're gonna be dependent on them week one. Like, hey, you gotta play. Like, you gotta play, and you gotta play good, and, you know, with college guys too, it's always a hard adjustment because they're like, wait.


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[Assistant] If I don't win my battle every play, the play stinks. You know, in college, you got away with that, where you're like, oh, I didn't block the guy, but it didn't matter. We still got yards. The NFL, like, you make a mistake.


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[Assistant] The other team succeeds. That's the way it is. Like there's no plays off in the NFL. So I, you know, all of those things are going to be reality that they're not used to. New coaches, you know, new offensive system.


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[Assistant] I like their offense and some of like the weapons, you know, like you just McCaffrey, DJ Moore. Hey, Teddy Bridgewater. I'm excited to see what he can do. Uhm, uh, Robbie Anderson.


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[Assistant] Getting him in free agents, even the Jets. And then Curtis Samuel, who I like too. I mean they have three guys there that can go. Like if you want to press bump man to man that group, see ya. Teddy's gonna throw it over their head and they're gonna run away from people. But I'm with you, I can't go anymore.


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[Assistant] Than that. And, uh, my big thing too that I took away from anything here was


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[Assistant] Out of the first 10 games of the year, the Cardinals were the only team I could look at to go.


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[Assistant] They might be better than that. I'm not gonna say they're better than the Raiders, the Bucks, the Chargers, the Falcons, the Bears, the Saints, the Falcons, the Chiefs, or the Bucks again.


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[Assistant] At least in my money they are. So that's where I look at it and go, yeah, they might be a pain in the butt and play some close games there, but ultimately, yeah, I'm with you. I think it's a 4-12, 3-13 type year.


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[Assistant] The only guys that jump to me where I go, ooh, watch out for them, they could maybe challenge this, this year. And I expect McCaffrey to be number two, but Keane, the next guys on the list. Keane and Allen and DeAndre Hopkins. And I don't, actually the more I think about it, I'll say Keane and Allen, no. Cause I think they're gonna be a different offense there this year. Where they're gonna be a little more run-centric.


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[Assistant] So I'm gonna say his totals come down. I guess the Hopkins is the one I look at to go.


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[Assistant] I wrote out of my, like, three prediction models, right, that I've told you I've done here, the 10 and 6 was the worst I got, really, where I went 11 and 5 and 12 and 4 were my first two schedule run-throughs when I did it with them. Alright, so I look at that, okay, so here's a few things that jump out to me. You know, they are a little banged up right now, that scares me a little.


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[Assistant] Yeah, it's scary right now, but they, you know, I know yesterday they said they were thinking they were going to have Richie James and, and Deebo Samuel maybe back by week one. It was looking good. We'll see where Brandon Iuke is and, and all that, but they got Kittle and Kendrick Bourne and all that. And Shanahan is


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[Assistant] I think that's one area, if they're a little less than, it won't kill their team because he's still gonna get people open. Very rare that a team that goes to the Super Bowl really doesn't lose people via free agency or get like, uh, you know, uh, would've pillaged by the rest of football.


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[Assistant] That's, that's pretty amazing. So I think when I look at it from that aspect, I just go, man, the 49ers, it's the rare, like, team went to the Super Bowl.


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[Assistant] And teams gonna come back a little bit better, I think, in a lot of ways. I do. And that is the fact that it's gonna be Jimmy Garoppolo's, finally, second season in the system. You know, a lot of these guys, there's a lot of young contributors to that football team last year. So, I just look into that.


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[Assistant] You know, of course I have great faith in my friend Kyle Shanahan, you know that. Uhm, but I think the other thing that makes me feel confident, and I, because you always worry about Super Bowl hangover,


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[Assistant] Cardinals, Jets, Giants, Eagles, Dolphins to start the year.


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[Assistant] They're better than all five teams. Now I know it's the Eagles, like listen, that'll be a little closer certainly as far as talent and everything like that. But I have no problem sitting here right now and going, no, the 49ers are better than the Cardinals, the Giants, the Jets, and the Dolphins. No doubt about it.


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[Assistant] Like, no doubt about it. I have not even, I'm not even gonna think about it or anything. So, I look at it from that and just go, man, the first five weeks, I mean, I almost go, the worst case scenario is four in one.


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[Assistant] To where, okay, even if you're not playing your best football, you could still be 4-1 or maybe 3-2. They do have a tough stretch, you know. The middle of that schedule is a little tough. 7-13, right?


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[Assistant] When you look at, at the Patriots, at the Seahawks, Green Bay coming to town, at the New Orleans Saints, at the Los Angeles Rams, Buffalo Bills, that's a legit stretch right there.


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[Assistant] Um, so, you know, that'll, that'll tell a lot as far as where I think their playoff seeding goes and things like that. But yeah, I'm, I'm going with the over here.


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[Assistant] I know, I know. McKinnon's the one that's scary, right? But I think Tevin Coleman and Motster, I think Motster will be one.


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[Assistant] Kevin Coleman of E1A, and I think McKinnon will be the pass game specialist. Okay. And I don't know that, but I just know that's where their skill set is, and I know when they signed McKinnon, that's what Shanahan was very excited about, was McKinnon's ability. You know, again, Shanahan played for John, you know, he coached for John Gruden.


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[Assistant] You know, that's Sean Payton's scheme. He's been wanting that running back to come out of the backfield and be that Alvin Kamara type guy. He hasn't had that. So I think that's going to be another part of their offense to look out for too.


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[Assistant] I wouldn't be shocked if Seattle won the division this year. And, you know, they're the one, two, or three seed and, you know, the 49ers are the four or five or six seed or seven seed, whatever it is.


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[Assistant] I wouldn't be shocked. I think the thing that would stop me from that a little bit is, you know, as far as


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[Assistant] Their defense, I just, I like some of the signings and draft picks they have this, this offseason. You know, like, Quinton Dunbar, that, I think he really fits their scheme. Uh, Jamal Adams, of course, that trade and what they did there.


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[Assistant] You know, the drafting of uhm, the kid from Tennessee, Darrell Taylor, Jordan Brooks, Ed Linebacker, like, they did some there. I do think they're still missing, like,


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[Assistant] An unproven big time commodity on the front as a pass rusher.


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[Assistant] Jadavia and Cloney would help. Right, you know, does, does, you know, Bruce Irving show up to be that guy? Does their first round pick from two years ago, LJ Collier, can he be that guy? There's a lot of bad mo' foes on that defensive line. I'm just not sure if there's that one guy where I go, oh,


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[Assistant] I mean, that's one of the things that jumped out to me about last year's schedule was I went, damn, they struggled against every good offense they played last year. Every good one. You know, do they win some of those games here and there?


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[Assistant] You know, I just look at their losses, the Saints, the Ravens, the Rams, the 49ers, the Cardinals at the end of the year when they got it going. They won an overtime game against the Bucs where they were down big time.


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[Assistant] You know, the Browns, they couldn't stop the Browns either. Baker Mayfield just made some dumb mistakes, where anytime a team had a decent scheme and some talent, Seattle's defense struggled. So that still worries me.


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[Assistant] But yeaah, I'm definitely gonna go over. It was nine, nine point five. Nine point five. Yep.


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[Assistant] First three games not easy though. That's the one thing I'll say about them. But they're the ultimate battle test and never give up. Like you said, I've never seen anything like them. They're amazing that way. I'm gonna go...


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[Assistant] Next year. I think those are all real questions, I know.


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[Assistant] You know, and I think a lot of it will be, you know, Falcons week one in Atlanta, Dan Quinn knows their team, knows that scheme, right? I mean, there's going to be great familiarity. Those are always scary games. And then they got the Patriots and Cowboys coming into town.


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[Assistant] I wrote down 9 and 7, 8 and 8, 10 and 6, like 10 and 6 being the best one, 9 and 7 was, yeaah, I, I mean they're, they're, they're right there in that range. I do think people to what you're saying are sleeping on the Rams a little bit. Yeaah. I do. I mean first off, Hey It Hurts They Lost, Corey Littleton, I get that at everything.


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[Assistant] Certainly a good player, but now the Cooper Cup's back healthy.


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[Assistant] Ashawn Robinson, who I think is one of the big, bad, scary dudes in football and interior D line that nobody knows about. And then Leonard Floyd on the edge? I go, damn.


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[Assistant] It's gonna be, they're gonna be able to create some havoc. I know Leonard Floyd didn't live up to his top ten billing and all that with sacks and all that. He's still a really awesome, good football player. They didn't sign him to a one year, ten million dollar, fully guaranteed contract because they thought he was shit, right?


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[Assistant] Uhm, and I expect the offensive line to be better. But I think the defensive front can really create some havoc on some people. And, of course, they're secondary.


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[Assistant] Jalen Ramsey's a difference maker, and the rest of the secondary is pretty damn good too, to where I think it's, you know, not household names, but there's talent there. Yeah. So you are gonna go? Over. Damn, I think I am.


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[Assistant] I think I- You can copy me. I am, I'm copying you. Uhm, where I worry about them a little bit is two different stretches. Okay. First three weeks.


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[Assistant] Like, if you're still trying to figure out, like, what we're talking about, oh, we got a new plan of attack on offense. Cowboys at Eagles at Bills. Right. No fans though in Buffalo. No, no defensive coordinator, you know, new defensive coordinator, all those things, but damn, those are, that's...


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[Assistant] You know, Dallas and then on the road to the East Coast, two weeks in a row against, you know, pretty two good physical football teams.


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[Assistant] And then the other stretch I just look at is weeks 10 through 12, where I go Seattle Seahawks at Buccaneers and then the 49ers. Sure.


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[Assistant] You know, and yeaah, they got the Cardinals sandwiched in between the Patriots. Those will be real stretches there. In McVeigh we trust. I tend to want to think they're going to be better than people. I don't know if it means they make the playoffs.


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[Assistant] What was the, what was the record at? 8 and 5? 8.5? 8.5. 8.5. They were 9 and 7 last year. I could see them going 9 and 7 and not making the playoffs. I could see them maybe winning a game or two that we don't expect and them going 10 and 6. Yea. And I could also see them going 8 and 8. I mean, that's about where I think


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[Assistant] I don't know if I'm ready for that yet either. I think it's an organization and everything's pointing up, you know, like with a green arrow and we're excited and I'm excited. There's a lot to be excited about.


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[Assistant] Some other young receivers that are exciting. Kenyon Drake back there in the backfield, and Murray, and yeaah, that's gonna be fun, and uhm,


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[Assistant] Hey, just signed in Buddha Baker, Byron Murphy in year two. My computer died by the way. Oh, you're going off the top of your head here.


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[Assistant] You know, Simmons as far as first round pick, that's going to change their defense a little bit. Still got Chandler Jones, you got Patrick Peterson. Right. I guess interior D-line and O-line to me are going to be a little bit of the issues I'm worried about for their football team. You know, I think that's where I look at it and then


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[Assistant] Yeah, I mean cover corners. That was an issue too. Patrick Peterson. I don't know what to think about him anymore. I'm sorry. It was a down year last year. Yeah, coming off of PEDs. So I question whether he was doing PEDs for the last four or five years. I don't know what to think.


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[Assistant] So, we'll see where that goes. I think that's the question marks to me too. And let alone they're in a really tough division.


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[Assistant] And they're really in a second year of almost a rebuild here. So I hope people don't expect too much from this team. I like Cliff Kingsbury and I'm with you. I mean, Kyler Murray, I think it's going to be special. But I wrote 6 and 10, 7 and 9, 8 and 8.


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[Assistant] And then I even wrote, ah man, they could go 5 and 11 if it went, you know, the wrong way.


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[Assistant] Uh, the one thing is, let's throw up the schedule, Kristen, if you don't mind, just to look at it, because I thought they have at least a chance to get off to a decent start. They're not gonna beat the 49ers, I don't think.


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[Assistant] Right? They could be sitting there after four or five weeks and that's gone. Three and two? They're three and two. Maybe some miracle they're four and one. Right? Right? So.


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[Assistant] Uh, I, I do think there's a chance there for them to gain some early confidence and maybe be that team, but I could also see them going 4-1 and then losing to the Cowboys, losing to the Seahawks.


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[Assistant] Beating the Dolphins. Losing the Bills. Losing the Seahawks. Losing the Patriots. Losing the Rams. Beating the Giants. Losing the Eagles. Losing the 49ers. Losing the Rams. I can see that you're like, we all get excited about them early in the year. We're like, oh, they're three or two. They're four and one.


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[Assistant] Wait, they've lost 8 in a row now, guys. What are they going to do? You know, I can see that totally being a realistic scenario.


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[Assistant] That was my best bet. Saints, saints, yeaah.


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[Assistant] I think I'm with you on the Saints Over. I'm gonna join that party there. Alright?


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[Assistant] And then the next one I think I like is the Falcons.


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[Assistant] Man, it just seems like there's a lot of good players on every football team. It does seem that way. Hey, this is NFL football. That's why I'm excited about it. The difference between the best team in football and one of the five worst teams in football is like a handful of plays and just two or three players. That's how close it is at this level. And that's what makes it awesome. So, uh, what'd you say Pete?


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[Assistant] I'm not, but I really want him to come by because I would have heckled him and had fun with him. Well let's keep it going for another 15 minutes and see if he walks by. And Florio calls me his evil twin anyways, so. Which we've told Roger that story before and he's got to chuckle out of that.


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[Assistant] But that's it. That's it. Uh, next week, next week is football time, Tuesday next week, cause it's Labor Day Monday, Tuesday, we will come back with


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[Assistant] Playoffs. Playoffs. Playoffs. Cheechy, you'll have the answer key. I'll lay it out for you, okay? Then I believe our other podcast next week will be Friday.


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[Assistant] You're not invited. I'm not. That's where you do the picks. It'll be me and Mike Floria. I've done my picks here. It'll be me and Mike Floria though on Friday. But that's what to look forward to next week and we'll get the season schedule laid out here for everybody because you know I'm going to start doing my deep dives and film crap and all that. I'm excited to do all of that. So, Ahmed, you the man.


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[Assistant] Did you have fun today? It was good. Alright. Over-unders were good. I liked it. I think we're good. Alright. I'm gonna dominate. Mathematically works out. Alright. Peace out. Hope everybody's good. Enjoy your Labor Day weekend. Be safe.


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[Assistant] Hi, I'm Mike Tirico and thanks for watching. Make sure to hit subscribe for the latest news and highlights from NBC Sports.


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[Assistant] I always build that into my life, the fact that you're gonna be late, so don't worry about it.


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[Assistant] Whatever, a discussion that I just, uhm, you know, I'm glad I missed it, so I'm sorry.


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[Assistant] I don't know, let's see, my favorite uniform, uhm.


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[Assistant] Or whatever color you call it. I don't know what it is. Their stadium is awesome looking too, with the colors. Uhm, I would say Green Bay really ranks up high for me.


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[Assistant] Just with history, everything, just such a great look. And they don't change it. You know, that's the other thing. It's kinda...


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[Assistant] Stay the same for a long time, it seems like. Kinda like Alabama, some of the great schools in college football that...


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[Assistant] Penn State, Alabama, I don't think they, have they ever?


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[Assistant] Probably a good thing, you know, I like it. I looked at the salt this morning, you know, the rams.


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[Assistant] You know, the white uniform, I just love white uniforms, period. So with their coloring and all that, it's gonna look great.


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[Assistant] Uh, uh, night games, it'll even look better. So that'll be cool. But I, it's, it's kind of interesting to see so many changes. Some teams need to change just to get a better feel. I don't know. It's just like.


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[Assistant] Let's try to change things around here and change the uniform. That's a good way to start. So, uh, that's my take on it.


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[Assistant] Good, because, you know, social media, if they hate you, that means you're doing well, so. I don't know.


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[Assistant] Yeaah, well listen, of course he did change the game, and you know, we've talked about this I think before that he...


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[Assistant] Uh, their whole scheme, in other words, make sure it tackles blocking, uh, and when he first came in the league, usually it would be a running back or the guard would have to pull out and try to block him. Now a guard pulling out trying to pass block Lawrence Taylor, uh, you know, you have no chance. And it's the true story. We had a scrimmage.


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[Assistant] Uh, I wasn't at the quarterback, uh, but the Giants, the first scrimmagee was in, and I think, you know, I don't know, I...


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[Assistant] I don't know how many plays he lasted in the scrimmage, not many because they had to take him out because they couldn't get any passes off. So, uh, and of course LT.


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[Assistant] The fact that we did have some really good teams, he was MVP, defensive MVP, or league, MVP of the league I guess one year.


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[Assistant] All those things and his personality and everything that's gone on, uh, easy to remember him. I thought Reggie White was another guy that could, you know, almost single-handedly win a game by his


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[Assistant] What he did on the football field, what he freed other players up to do. I'm trying to think of the really good running back. I mean, uh, defensive back for the Philadelphia Eagles.


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[Assistant] Had such a great feel because their defensive front was so good.


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[Assistant] That he would be running across the field covering somebody, and he literally would stop.


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[Assistant] Eric Allen, very good, very good. And he was really great at it. And it was amazing how


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[Assistant] He, you see, oh man, if we get some time, I'll, I'll throw to his butt.


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[Assistant] He would leave his guy like, not at the end of the play, almost from the start. He'd run a few steps to go, oughta hell with this, I'm going where the quarterback's looking.


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[Assistant] And, uh, he was great at, so Reggie White would be another guy besides a quarterback that could just dominate, change the game, change players, change the way you play offense, everything. It was, as I've said before, true story, down in Philadelphia, sitting in the locker room. I wasn't studying my playbook. I was just sitting there going, all right now, hang in there. Come on, come on, you can do it. Cause I knew the beating was coming.


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[Assistant] And that is not an exaggeration. It was just about having courage to stand in there and throw balls and know that Reggie White, Jerome Brown, Claude, uh, uh, not Claude, Claude Simmons.


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[Assistant] It's just, it was endless. My gosh, everybody that was there and no matter what, how good you were, it didn't matter. You were going to get beat up when you played the Philadelphia Eagles back then with that defensive run.


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[Assistant] Yeaah, Vince Lombardi because he changed, you know, the Green Bay sweep was not just, that was in a day where...


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[Assistant] You said to the offensive tackle, block this guy at the defensive end. Well what if the defensive end lines up?


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[Assistant] You know, a whole spot different from where he was. Do you still block him? And they go, oh, don't worry. He won't do that. You know, so they were, it was kind of like that. The NFL was just.


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[Assistant] It was not complicated. Uh, people didn't move around. Almost every team ran the same place. Look, Vince Lombardi.


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[Assistant] From my knowledge, they thought, oh, if I can't block the guy where he's at, they would make line calls and switch it up. And that's one reason why they could run the Green Bay sweep, no matter how you lined up, because they had line calls. So for Vince Lombardi to kind of do those things.


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[Assistant] There's the ashtray, watching the thing, smoking the room, watching the tape, and all the cigarette butts in that ashtray. You go, boy, he's been in there a long time.


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[Assistant] So that, that was great. I mean, that's, and then Buddy Ryan, of course, his defense was, and still used today.


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[Assistant] But when he used it back when the NFL before it became such a passing league, it was very complicated.


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[Assistant] Hard to understand and so unusual. It was the only one of its kind. Uh, you know, the 46 defense that that was, I thought that was a great innovation. Uh, Lawrence Taylor changed things and.


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[Assistant] You know, we've kind of done this before, just the guys that have all affected it. And Bill Walsh, in a league, even at that time when he came into the league, still, most teams are going split backs or one back week.


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[Assistant] I think that was, you know, uh, I used to watch film of them, you know, as they were...


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[Assistant] Playing and played against him a couple times his first couple years.


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[Assistant] And I just go, wow, it looks so easy what they do. And it truly had a beauty to it.


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[Assistant] And he admitted over time, the league started to change, getting more athletic, just different things. And he says he, he even admitted, he goes, I got to start changing with it more because he thought the league was catching up to, of course people were copying and all those things. So that, that I.


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[Assistant] Well, you know, for the last one, I wouldn't even get into it, but you know, Jerry Jones was really a great innovator for the NFL. Uh, there was pushback when he started getting his own endorsements just for the Dallas Cowboys and all that.


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[Assistant] But he does not get any pushback anymore. He's, he money wise for the owners, he was probably one of the greatest.


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[Assistant] Uh, maybe the best person ever to come in the NFL and, you know, financially just help the players.


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[Assistant] The owners, everybody for what he did. So, but I look at today's game. It's hard to just look at players, um, offenses. Coaches can, can do it.


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[Assistant] But, but two players that really stand out without question, Patrick Mahomes and Lamar Jackson. And probably the most, the one we won't see, well, I think we'll see


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[Assistant] Quarterbacks like Patrick Mahomes in years to come. I do because he is the standard and I got a four year old grandson. Christopher's got a.


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[Assistant] Son, how, I should know this. How old is Philip?


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[Assistant] He's out there, he can't just stand there and throw me the football. He's gotta throw a sidearm, jump.


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[Assistant] I've said this, you know, of course, I throw with a lot of kids and watch them and what


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[Assistant] And they're good at it. I see many high school kids in this area that that's.


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[Assistant] I'm not gonna say they're gonna be more talented, but we're gonna see a lot of players.


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[Assistant] That have emulated him going through the system when they were young kids all the way through and we'll see those guys in NFL before we know it.


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[Assistant] Well, I think it's really good. I think when Russell Wilson came in the league and really even till today, it's just playing in a normal NFL offense. It's not like specifically built for him and he just operated under systems that, you know, yeah, it showcases his skill.


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[Assistant] But, you know, uh, I just, uh, I think when we see Lamar and Patrick Mahomes, it's a little more, I don't want to say creative, but it's something we haven't seen before. And Russell Wilson...


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[Assistant] Yeah, well that, and you know, and then of course just the whole style of the way he plays. And you know, when he was coming out of college, I got it.


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[Assistant] I mean, I have to give Christopher credit. He said, you know,


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[Assistant] Mahomes should be the first pick of the draft. He said it right after the NFL season was over. And I, I know I've said this before. I go, Oh my God, Christopher.


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[Assistant] I'm gonna wait a couple weeks before I start watching college players. My god, the season just ended. But he saw it right away. And I watched him and went...


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[Assistant] Wow, these throws, they were so unusual. I just go, I don't know. That was my first thought. I just don't know. Is this going to work in the NFL? Well, we found it out quick. I was so excited to watch him play against the Denver Broncos the last game of his rookie year. And I remember watching it going.


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[Assistant] Oh my gosh, it's everything you saw in college. He made some phenomenal throws in that game. But, I, the,


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[Assistant] The way he plays, that's what it's about. Where are you going to be able to in high school? And it's like we were, I did, before all this came about.


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[Assistant] Just, you know, do something. Just drive your coach crazy.


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[Assistant] And they do it, and it's so awesome just to play uninhibited that way. And I'm pretty sure, I don't know, but I'm sure in high school,


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[Assistant] He played exactly like he's playing now, but was probably even more just, oh my gosh.


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[Assistant] Of course, because his talent was so overwhelming, no matter what level he was at, especially in high school and in college, so.


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[Assistant] Yeah, you know too, when you draft a guy like that, you know what you're getting. You let him play to his style too. It's not like you're going to draft him and try to change him. You know, just bringing up Ed Oliver from the University of Houston, first round pick by the Buffalo Bills. I watched him early last year. He was like a bowling ball.


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[Assistant] To see in so many blocking patterns and of course the men are different in the NFL.


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[Assistant] And it took him a while, but once he started getting the hang of it, like all of a sudden you see, oh, he's hanging in there. And then by the end of the year, he was starting to be an impact player. And you know, that's to me, not to change the subject besides quarterback, interior defensive lineman.


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[Assistant] That might be the second hardest place to adjust to the NFL because the NFL runs many running schemes and


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[Assistant] Blocking patterns. We're college, come on. They don't have the time. It's very basic, very few different runs.


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[Assistant] So these defensive tackles, they come in the NFL, they think, Oh, beat my guy. This is great. Then some tight ends coming across the formation.


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[Assistant] Von Miller was basically, when they were especially at home, he was unstoppable. He was really unstoppable.


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[Assistant] I saw the Patriots playing, they did everything and he hit Tom Brady. Tom Brady took a beating and the year they went to the Super Bowl, he took so many hits.


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[Assistant] The most I ever saw him take in his whole career during that game when they finally went on and beat the Carolina Panthers in the Super Bowl.


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[Assistant] Well, do you remember, I can remember like it's yesterday and you know, and I just wondered about Cam Newton, saw him of course at Auburn and I knew about him. I saw him play a spring game for the University of Florida. I just went, Christopher, you know this story. I just went, who is that? And I mean, it jumped out right away and Tim Tebow was the starting quarterback.


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[Assistant] And I had a neighbor whose son was playing defensive end of Florida. I called him during the spring game and I said, who's that play? Well, what about this? Cam Newton? He goes, Oh, you saw him. He like, it was a secret. And I.


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[Assistant] It was incredible. He didn't play much in it, but his talent, his size, he threw a few footballs. I was like, oh my gosh. Uh, of course we know the rest of the story, but.


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[Assistant] The Chargers would take a gamble during the off season. That was always kind of on my mind because he would fit.


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[Assistant] To what they really want to do out here. Anthony Lin run the football. You've got a quarterback that can power run, still scramble, of course, and can throw it down the field and stand in the pocket. So there's a little bit of everything that the Chargers would really want and a big name to draw fans, but they didn't want to pull that trigger. Probably for many reasons. I'm sure health is a big one, but I think it's other issues too. Do you, do you guys agree with that? That it's more than just the player.


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[Assistant] They know what comes with it. A huge personality, a great following.


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[Assistant] Fans are gonna go crazy. The media's gonna go crazy because...


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[Assistant] You know, like it or not, he is a star.


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[Assistant] I tell you, I think, I don't know. I get a great kick of seeing him walking into the press conferences. Just, you know, all his arrivals at the stadium now.


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[Assistant] Yeah, well, sorry, my phone was ringing. I can think when you say that there's only three teams that I can think of. Kansas City can handle it. The Baltimore Ravens could handle it. And Aaron Rodgers could handle it.


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[Assistant] And you going from there? Name me another team that can handle it if he was there.


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[Assistant] Yeah, they're going, hey, how do you like that, man? You know, cause he'd actually walk in and probably go, damn, I didn't know they were this good. Uh, that's about it though, Christopher. And I went through every one of them and, you know, I thought about Philadelphia, you know, I said, okay.


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[Assistant] Philadelphia though, I don't care what kind of system they run or whatever, he would fit in. They will give him his place. And you know, the big thing is...


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[Assistant] He's gonna scramble in passing situations sometimes as we give it to him. And if he gets health, truly healthy, he's gonna be that.


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[Assistant] You know, running back, uh, at what he needs to a few times a game to get you crucial third downs or whatever. That's gonna happen.


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[Assistant] So, look, the guy can throw the football, if he's healthy, that's always a big if, and I know, but uhm, that somebody, I, again, I thought, another one that came to mind, and I know we didn't know if he was healthy or not, I can't, but, you look at the Chicago Bears, why wouldn't he have been a good fit there? You know? I know.


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[Assistant] Yeah, so if he did, something did happen to his health, at least you'd have Mitchell Trubisky backing him up. But they chose a different path, you know, to, to go with, uh, Nick Foles.


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[Assistant] You know, and he would fit the town, uh, he could.


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[Assistant] Turn your team around and just, him being on the field, his presence and who he is, makes your offense, I think, tougher. I really do. And he, momentum, he...


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[Assistant] All those Carolina games when he makes the play, everybody goes crazy. The emotion in the stadium is there. You feel it and they just, it kind of keeps going. And uh, you know, he, he just has that effect on.


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[Assistant] Fans, I think he has it on players too when he's out there. Uh, maybe you don't like some of his antics, uh, maybe in the locker room or off the, off the field, but when he's on it.


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[Assistant] There is something he brings to it that you just can't really, very few people can match.


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[Assistant] Wait no, one more thing. Before we, yes I can, I'm a div... Game changers. Here's one. Tom Brady. Why is he a game changer? Because...


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[Assistant] He knows during the off season, working on his feet and throwing the football, he stays on it all the time. I saw a little video of him on YouTube or whatever about a week ago and I went, damn.


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[Assistant] And some of these young guys, they get a lot of money away. I just wonder, are they really putting in the time, working on their craft?


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[Assistant] Physically, like they really should be, and I just, I think a lot of them don't. I think they just kind of hang out, do a little workout, go out and toss the ball around, nice help, that was great.


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[Assistant] Uh, he's been a game changer. You want to play for a long time, you got talent, you can do it, he's showing you how.


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[Assistant] Well, yeaah, boy, that's a tough question, and on the top of my head I have nothing in front of me, but I think, you know, I gotta see the Bengals, uh, jump out of that bottom five before I believe it. Uh, just as I looked at their roster,


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[Assistant] Last year I went, wow, it seems like I've been studying the same roster for 10 years. And, you know, they needed.


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[Assistant] Hey, Joe Burrow's gonna give him a great shot in the arm and all that stuff. Some few new play, uh, whatever.


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[Assistant] Uh, we'll see, but I still think it'll be hard for them just because the division they play in, uh, the way the league has gone, maybe hurts this virus.


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[Assistant] Could hurt the young quarterbacks. Joe burrows going to be the only one of all of them that's going to start. So that could, that could, uh,


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[Assistant] Keep them where they are. So I gotta see it to believe it when I talk about the Cincinnati Bengals. Yeah.


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[Assistant] Yep, very good. Redskins, absolutely. It'll be interesting to see how they do. I worry about, uh, yes, weapons, young quarterback and a secondary that was, you know, last year was awful. And, you know, they just, so that's the fact that they got a new coach really hurts them because, you know,


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[Assistant] Ron Rivera could kind of set a whole different feeling in the building with the players and all that during the offseason. So he can still do it. He'll just have to do it, of course.


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[Assistant] If we do get a chance to play, it'll be in a much shorter time period.


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[Assistant] The Jets because, you know, there's still some holes on that football team.


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[Assistant] And you know, you just can't look at it and go, wow, we got just these guys that could win games for us. Uh, so, and...


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[Assistant] They, I think they have the second toughest schedule. What does that mean? I think it means a lot. I think that schedule's real. When you play the NFC West and the AFC West, you're talking about going out there. There's no gimmies for anybody, uh, when you do that.


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[Assistant] So their schedule is, you know, once again, it just seems like a jitz. Yeah, it's brutal.


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[Assistant] When you're not a good football team, you could just get this hardened almost right away if you go out there and get wiped out by two or three of them. Uh, it's hard to recover sometimes mentally, physically, whatever you want to say and belief in your coaches.


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[Assistant] When you go out there and lose, you know, a few games in a row to start off with, to start the season.


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[Assistant] Mike Florio goes to you, he claps his hands and goes, exactly, did you get that?


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[Assistant] Okay, okay, well I was first time, all the times I watched was the first time I'd seen him do it. It was a pretty good imitation of it though, that's for sure.


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[Assistant] You know, Joe Burrell's actually gonna go out there and go, wow, this is a good group, cause, uh, first...


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[Assistant] You think about it, he's gonna go, wow, my receivers at LSU were better than this. But no, it is a good receiving group. So who was the guy that asked the question, Ahmed? Who was that?


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[Assistant] Mitchell, I think you can really hang your head on that if you have high hopes for your football team this year.


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[Assistant] That that receiving corps and of course the offensive line has to be better. It doesn't matter what. It was awful last year. And of course with Joe Mixon.


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[Assistant] Back there too. It's really interesting. So, Zach Taylor has a chance to kinda...


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[Assistant] Can move the ball and do things. Of course we know it all connects and football helps your defense and so on. So that'll be interesting. And I have thought about that. T Higgins, AJ Green, and you know, uhm, oh shoot, the Pittsburgh wide receiver. Not, not John Ross.


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[Assistant] Yes, I loved him when he came out, uh, and it took him, I think he got injured the first year, slow start the second year, but now I think now you can see that he's a legit.


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[Assistant] You know, NFL receiver, you can count on him, he's a pro. And I think he's going into year four if I had to guess. I believe you're right.


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[Assistant] Yeah, so you're, you're right Christopher, that was a great Lombardi-ism. You know, he said, you gotta have a basketball team. Mike Lombardi said it to me once at, uh, the receiving corps.


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[Assistant] And of course I've used it many, many times and never gave any credit, so I thought I'd give him some credit this time.


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[Assistant] You bring up a great point. All these great receiving cores.


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[Assistant] We just probably went through the greatest wide receiver draft in history, just to, I don't even think that's overstatement. Uhm, and, and we've talked about this, is that, you know, kids, hey, why be a running back? Let's be a wide receiver.


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[Assistant] You know, and I think it's happening, and you always talk about him, Christopher. He's always talking about, this is a running back who's just decided to hell with running. I'm playing receiver.


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[Assistant] And uh, you know, Baylor had a kid that went to San Francisco. He was a running back in Tennessee.


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[Assistant] And he went out, uh, went down to Baylor for a year and just played wide receiver to get ready to, for the NFL, so.


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[Assistant] It's just, we're gonna see an influx of wide receivers, I think, every single year.


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[Assistant] Colleges are throwing more, guys are more ready, more of them are playing that position.


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[Assistant] Even when you watch games on TV, you can tell right away that's a big time NFL player when you watch them play.


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[Assistant] Oh, no question. High school kids, uh, you know, before this came around, we had a high school kid.


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[Assistant] Uh, Tommy Sweeney went to Don Bosco right here in this area. He was a basketball player and a football coach goes, you know, son.


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[Assistant] Get strapped by the bills, has a good solid year, all that, just a...


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[Assistant] We're gonna hear that story, it's gonna be endless how many times we hear that story. Hey, just my last thing, cause I do have something to do. A little pet peeve.


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[Assistant] When you, for now on, when you do the draft, when you talk about it, don't talk about running backs, oh well, you know, he has a lot of wear and tear, in other words, a lot of carries. It doesn't matter.


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[Assistant] It doesn't matter, you're not looking to draft or running back for 10 years.


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[Assistant] So they got a lot of wear and tear. Well, I tell them they got great experience and they could know how to handle themselves and they take care of all those things. And of course, the one we heard it about this year was Jonathan Taylor. And, uh, so again, you're not exactly like a franchise quarterback.


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[Assistant] I'm at day, good to talk to you. Keep him straight. You know what? I'm really proud of you, son. You didn't curse. Holy carumba. Good for you. Okay. Set an example for the young people.


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[Assistant] Yo, yo, what's up? Come on, man. Subscribe on YouTube to Chris Simms Unbuttoned Podcast. I need you. Please hit the subscribe button, please.


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[Assistant] Speaking of shitting his pants, I did that last week, and I'm very disappointed in myself.


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[Assistant] Episode 150, a great accomplishment for the podcast and NBC Sports. I'm still here, they didn't fire me yet.


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[Assistant] And dad in that picture, and you're wearing the headband. I think you're doing that Adidas, uh, photo shoot where you had a headband on that might have said fill on it or whatever it may be. You got your cool shades on.


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[Assistant] I'm still trying to learn John Gruden's offense and I'm, I'm intimidated by that because every day I had a new group of plays that I knew I was going to have to be able to spit out my mouth and be able to, you know, orchestrate it in my brain and then go out there and execute it on the field. But two, you know,


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[Assistant] And I just, I remember sitting there going, I mean I was hyperventilating and stretched going, I wasn't this nervous for Texas, Oklahoma the last two years.


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[Assistant] I mean, I, that was really my big moment as far as like, wow, this is NFL and these guys are grown men and they're ready to practice today. Uh, I think that would jump out to me and you know, there was a few moments, my rookie years of sitting on the sideline where I just couldn't believe what I was seeing in front of me. You know, my rookie year was the.


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[Assistant] Well, it was, it was for a real good cost. And you know, listen, full transparency, I think I paid like $22,000 for it. What, what was I thinking?


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[Assistant] What, I can't remember, it was something through Jeff Garcia and I can't remember exactly. So I thought, oh, this is a good purchase, whatever else. And let me just tell you.


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[Assistant] I have had more issues with this watch. Okay. And I'm still convinced that the jeweler that provided some of these things for us to bid on at this charity, he put one out there that he knew was not working correctly. And I'm telling you, I've spent thousands of dollars to fix it and I just got it fixed finally.


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[Assistant] Like, I think for good, uh, just here recently. So that was probably some of the dumbest stuff I ever did. I had another watch that I bought a little later on in my career too, and I ended up buying dad one too. Those would probably be the dumbest things I really spent, you know, money on and at least was frivolous with.


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[Assistant] Hey, Phillip Rivers, yeaah, the arm is not special, but that doesn't mean anything, especially when it comes to him, alright? And I know he, he had some mistakes last year, certainly, was careless with the football at times, but also,


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[Assistant] You know, man, he still makes a lot of plays. He really does. When you break him down and watch him on film...


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[Assistant] You go, wow, man, does he stand in that pocket and push the ball down the field? I mean, listen, no arm rivers. Hey, Mike Williams, the receiver on the chargers, he had 49 catches for over a thousand yards. So they weren't throwing him bubble screens and crap like that. They were pushing the ball down the field. So I think between that.


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[Assistant] Why it wasn't being worked out. Obviously the Bangos were asking for too much because they've released him now and now he got the sign with anybody he wants. So I think we hit, was it Jameis, Andy Dalton, and who was the other name we hit on? Was that it? I think that was it.


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[Assistant] Oh, well, oh, we won't sign any quarterback and we'll wait till Cam gets healthy in April. Oh, wait, wait, April's over. He's not ready yet. Oh, we'll wait till May. Oh, wait, May's not ready yet. So when do you do it? So they, they went with something that they felt comfortable with at Phillip Rivers and I understand that.


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[Assistant] Hey, offensively, it's not going to be a huge drastic change. You know, yes, you might have to call a few more dominant left-handed formations. You gotta be a little conscious of calling to play action


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[Assistant] You know, there's going to be things where Ryan Fitzpatrick, he's going to run some bootlegs to the left during training camp. So the offense isn't going to be like, oh, whoa, two is in the game. Coach, timeout. We can't call boots to the left. I've never practiced that before.


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[Assistant] They'll get all of that stuff in there. I mean, they will. And, you know, you guys also see it all the time. You have those play action passes for even a righty where they just turn their back and do a little flash fake.


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[Assistant] You know, it's just going to be on the play caller, like Gruden. Gruden used to like cuss me out in a funny way when I would be in the game. If we were in a preseason game and, you know, Brad Johnson was in there and then it was my turn, he might call a play and go, uh, uh, uh.


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[Assistant] Hey, big Phil, cause I don't want to keep you on here forever. That's, I know, you know, we, we asked, we answered some questions, some AMAs, but I know you had a few things that,


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[Assistant] Yeaah, alright, so two things first off, because yeaah, we've talked about this, me and Florio have had a talk about this. First thing I just want to address, you said about the ravens, I don't know where they get all these picks from. The ravens, like the Patriots, have mastered the compensatory picks conversation, the NFL.


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[Assistant] So they're masters at getting those extra third and fourth round picks. But to your Browns thing, I mean, I'm with you. I tried to...


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[Assistant] You know, he's outspoken, he's brash, he's got a cockiness about him, all of which I like.


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[Assistant] Listen, uh, you know, he lives it. You know, that's what we do in our house. It's the family business, and you know, it's kind of family and football. That's really all we really care about, and it's where a lot of our conversations go. You know, I'll be on the phone with my dad,


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[Assistant] He's working with college kids, high school kids, some NFL players. So he's got it all going on and still always tinkering with the mechanics of the position and what makes a guy good and not good and all those things. And he's, he certainly trained my eye through my years as far as.


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[Assistant] That's cool. I, I got some good memories of, uh, you know, Steve Sable. Sable, certainly, he came to the house a few times through the years where, you know, I was, you know, the best. And I was obsessed with NFL films as a kid, so I was like, man,


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[Assistant] But, but yeaah, I can see him respecting a guy like that. And certainly, yeaah, when you're getting to hear the behind the scenes clips of Parcells talking shit to my dad and whatever else.


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[Assistant] There is, uh, you could talk shit about me and my career all you want. Talk shit about it. You start talking shit about my dad and his career, I'm gonna set you straight.


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[Assistant] Oh my gosh, they're playing the Bears. They're going to hurt my dad. Like, you know, cause you're just, oh my gosh, now I'm nine. They're playing the Eagles and Reggie White and Jerome Brown. I mean, I used to go to games.


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[Assistant] No, well, yeah, I mean, you know, we've had this conversation. When you talk about first round picks, top 10 picks,


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[Assistant] At times, people are overdrafted because of...


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[Assistant] You know, we take a shot on potential or there's a trait that the player has that's special and you go, ooh, that's special. Not a lot of people have that. I know some other areas are lacking, but we think we can bring that along or, you know, accentuate the great strength that we do see. So yeah, you look at that top 10 of that 27 NFL draft.


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[Assistant] Yeah, no, I don't even think that's a no-brainer. You're right. I mean, come on. Any one of these teams would have traded in their picks, uh, to get Patrick Mahomes, you know, before where he was picked by the Kansas City Chiefs at number 10, so.


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[Assistant] You know, he's certainly one of the best players in the NFL. For me, he would be the third best quarterback in the NFL. I would put Russell Wilson 2 and Deshaun Watson 3. So he's special. He can take over games. We've seen that.


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[Assistant] You know, I hate that Mitchell Trubisky gets blamed for it all the time. He didn't pick himself to go to the Bears. The Bears picked him. So, don't get mad at Mitchell Trubisky for them messing up the pick, but.


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[Assistant] Either way, yeaah, I think Watson is, you know, fortified himself as, uh, one of the great quarterbacks of the game and, and just starting to hit the peak of his career. I mean, that's what's crazy about Mahomes and Watson.


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[Assistant] Listen, George Kittle's coming up for me too. He's not coming up at number three. All right. But he is certainly on my list here as one of the 10 best players from that draft. And, uh, you know, so like I, like I told you to start, I kind of just stayed by almost best player available type thing. And to me, the next guy up, I'm going to go with Myles Garrett.


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[Assistant] You know, I, I am. I'm gonna give the 49ers of that three pick the Myles Garret. Myles Garret is...


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[Assistant] Well, I mean, he's been the cream of the crop as a physician. I mean, he's arguably the best running back in the NFL right now. He's certainly towards the top of that list. I don't care who you are. As long as you're watching football, you gotta look at him and go, man, and he's,


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[Assistant] At the top of the list as far as dual threat running backs too, as far as pass game, run game and everything there. So, you know, I'm not going to argue with you. You're right. I like how you're kind of staying within the position that they drafted. That's cool that you're doing that. Now, I'll say, I think life would be a little different.


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[Assistant] You know, for him, if he had to play, uh, you know, with Blake Bortles and that Jacksonville offense who couldn't block or scare anybody in a pass game. But regardless, the talent is real and he has certainly justified being a top 10 pick and now being the highest paid running back in football. Again, another guy I love. He'll be on my list. He's coming up shortly.


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[Assistant] I don't agree. I don't agree yet. Okay. So I went with Jacksonville taking their version of cam chancellor and then taking Jamal Adams. That's where I went here and Jamal Adams is


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[Assistant] And Jamal Adams, I think when you talk about the best safeties in the NFL, you know, I'm missing somebody else in that conversation that I'm blanking out on right now. But Jamal Adams is, is right at the top of the list. There's somebody else I'm missing that I usually throw out there and I can't think of. Derwin James? I mean, he was hurt. Are you thinking Derwin James?


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[Assistant] Definitely, that's, if you give me two, the, you know, them healthy.


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[Assistant] You know, that's just special in that, that, that skill set. You know, he's awesome in the run game. He's awesome sideline to sideline running people down if it's, you know, outside sweeps or, or bubble screens or whatever it may be. And he can cover and he's a great blitzer.


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[Assistant] You know, and he brings attitude to your defense. So that's why I went with Jamal Adams. Uh, you know, I'm going to say, yeah, he's the fourth best player in this, in this draft. So, uh, we'll see. All right. Who you got number?


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[Assistant] Oh my gosh, would that be some duo now? It really would be. That would be in the conversation for the best duo in the game. I'm, uh, I'm a big fan of both of their games, but hey, that's nice to see. We got, alright, we got, so three of the first four picks, we have the same guy.


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[Assistant] Right? Correct. Our only different, our only different one is the number three pick so far. So, alright. Now...


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[Assistant] Would the number 5 pick the Tennessee Titans? First off, like you said, they drafted Corey Davis there, where at the time, I just saw just a little backstory. I was adamant, like, please somebody don't take Corey Davis in the top 5 or the top 10, alright? He was being a little overrated, and I'm not trying to say to this point,


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[Assistant] But it was like the Jerry-Judy conversation all, oh, his route running, his route running, his route running. It's all he was drafted on. And again, that's a nice trait, but you don't draft somebody in the top five because they can run to the white line and make a right turn for a 90 degree angle. That's not why you draft somebody. Adding to the fact,


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[Assistant] You know, I would always be skeptical of drafting any receiver who takes, stays in school for four years. You know?


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[Assistant] You know, live receivers are the freakiest of the freaks. I mean, we know that. They're the greatest athletes on the planet in my opinion. So, you know, the great ones leave school after three years. They're like, what? Fourth year of college? I'm so above this league. It's not even funny anymore. Let me go on to the next thing.


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[Assistant] Corey Davis was not that, and I always never, I never understood that pick. So either way, this is where I'm going George Kittle. I'm going with George Kittle of the Tennessee Titans right here. You know, Kittle is the best tight end in the game.


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[Assistant] He deserves to be in the top 10. He's, you know, arguably I think it's him or Lane Johnson as far as the best right tackles in the game right now. So I'm with you. I mean, here's another guy, you know, spoiler alert is going to be in my top 10 too. He's just not quite here yet.


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[Assistant] I mean, you look at what he's done the first three years, he's got more sacks than Miles Garrett. Now he didn't get suspended for the last seven games or six games of the year last year, and that's certainly hurt that pause. But TJ Watt is quietly one of the best pass rushers in the game. You know, I mean, it's double digit sacks the last two years.


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[Assistant] He can, he's awesome in the run game. He can drop back in the pass as being a 3-4 outside linebacker. And of course the biggest thing is, is he can rush the passer.


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[Assistant] So, he's a really well-rounded football player who, yeaah, I think if teams could do this draft over again, he would be looked at and certainly viewed as one of the ten best guys in the draft selection process.


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[Assistant] This is where I'm going CMC. And like I said, I didn't do undraft need. I didn't do all the due diligence you did. I just kind of went top 10 guys from that draft. But Christian McCaffrey, for all the things you mentioned, you know, just he's too special of a football player in both the run game, the pass game. You see what Carolina, how they value him.


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[Assistant] Yeah, no, not so bad. I mean, it's arguably one of the best running backs in the game. And then, you know, to even further that more.


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[Assistant] You know, that's where he's scary. I think he's a little bit more of a talented runner that way. I don't think he's necessarily as good in the pass game, but man, if Dalvin Cook sees a crack in the seam, forget it. He's gone. So I'm not mad at you with that pick at all. It makes a lot of sense. This is where I went Ryan Ramshack.


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[Assistant] I went with Ram's Check to the Carolina Panthers here. I mean, oddly enough, if they had him, maybe Cam Newton is still healthy and they're not having to, you know, sign Chetty Bridgewater and do all that.


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[Assistant] You know, you mentioned Ram's Check. Ram's Check is one of the best right tackles in the game.


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[Assistant] Kahlil Mack and Vaughn Miller line up on both sides, so you better be able to block them, whether you're a left tackle or a right tackle. That day is over. And between that and his ability to just plow people out of the way in the run game, he's a very special player.


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[Assistant] Those are three really good first round corners. I actually went with Marlon Humphrey.


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[Assistant] You know, Marla, I like Trinavius White, I like Marshawn Lattimore. It's not even a matter of that. It's not. They're all awesome.


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[Assistant] And Humphrey is asked to do that game by game week, you know, week by week and play by play. And for my money right now, you know, I think Marlon Humphrey is one of the three, four best corners in the NFL. And I just gave him a slight advantage over, you know, Trinavius White and Marshall Latimer, who I think are both hell of a player too.


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[Assistant] Yeah, well, I agree. They kill it in the draft every year. You know, they have a vision for what they want their team to be year after year after year. Right. And they stick with that vision and they got a great eye for picking the players that fit that vision as well. And you know, listen, the guys you mentioned are all awesome.


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[Assistant] And you know, I think Ozzie Smith is still there as kind of like the godfather to throw a, you know, hey, what do you think of this guy? You know, hey, kiss my ring. I'll tell you what I think of him. You know, I, I still think he's a little bit involved down there into where he hasn't been totally phased out, but you're right. That's a special group down there. They kill it every year. And Eric DeCosta is one of the best in the game.


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[Assistant] Uh, but, you know, a little bit, hey, Dalvin Cook, I think is gonna look, would look a little bit like the guy they just drafted, Clyde Edwards Hilaire, where it's just explosiveness all over the field.


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[Assistant] But it's, it's funny that you and I were kind of thinking the same thing. But again, I, I got no problem with that. I understand what you're thinking. I mean, Alvin Kamara, that's a similar offense between Sean Payton and Andy Reid. I think he would fit in real nicely there.


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[Assistant] You know, you could argue, you could argue he was the best running back in the game or certainly one of the most dangerous. I mean him, Derek Henry, Christian McCaffrey. I think that was probably be the top three guys you talk about in the NFL in the 2019 season.


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[Assistant] You know, with Dalvin Cook in my pick there, you know, you've mentioned all the things to talk about. He can run with power. He can run right around the edge. You talk about that Saints game.


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[Assistant] You know, he had some big plays in that football game. He had big plays all year. The whole offense is based around Dalvin Cook and what he could do in the run game. Everything off, everything on the offenses, it feeds off of that. So that to me always shows a special player too. When the team, the program, the systems being built around one guy's skill set.


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[Assistant] Uh, that usually means that player is really damn talented and Kamara and Cook are both really talented that way.


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[Assistant] And I think there's something to be said about that. I think that's why he has amazing contact balance and power for somebody that's not that big.


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[Assistant] Because, you know, there's never a foot that's too far from the ground to where it can get back on the ground and handle the shot or the, the blow he took to the hip or whatever and he keeps his balance and keeps going, so.


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[Assistant] I think this is going to be a big year for Kamara. I do. I think with him, you know, I know last year at the Super Bowl, he told us that he was really beat up throughout most of the year and didn't get healthy to the very end.


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[Assistant] You know, I think it'll be a big year. I think Sean Payton is going to want to use him more. It's Drew Brees' last season. And I think Alvin Kamara might be clamoring for the ball a little bit more too. You okay? You dropped something? You good?


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[Assistant] I honestly think it's going to be a guideline for a lot of businesses as they look at this and go, hm, the NFL put out something that makes a lot of sense. Hey, how about we try to start opening up our business and follow some of those guidelines that they have set forth.


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[Assistant] Uh, it's looking good. All we can do is cross our fingers and hope. But man, I want football in 2020. I really do. And I think the NFL and just from my coach friends and some front office friends that I know.


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[Assistant] I think they're getting more and more into, ooh, I think it's going to happen. And I think the biggest reason they think it's going to happen is just from the steadfast


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[Assistant] No blink, uhm, signals they're getting from ownership.


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[Assistant] And, uh, they also have the ability to pull strings and make things happen that we can't make happen. And, and because of that, I think a lot of coaches and people involved with NFL teams are starting to think, yeah, it might not be a full season, but.


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[Assistant] No, I mean, I guarantee I know the picture, I've seen it many times, but go ahead.


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[Assistant] Yo, yo, what's up? Come on, man. Subscribe on YouTube to Chris Simms Unbuttoned Podcast. I need you. Please hit the subscribe button, please.


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[Assistant] I'm all ready for the full hour and a half, hours, yea.


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[Assistant] My first thought, my first thought when Pete told me, cause I was just coming off of watching as much of the Masters as I could, all those guys have so many, like, advertisements on them. I know you do the Lowe's commercial, I'm like, oh, Chris is gonna have, like, collars with, like, one company here, one down this side, one on the sleeve.