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Football at Four: NFL Divisional Preview; AFC East Plus Eagles Opponent: Bills · Inside the Birds: A Philadelphia Eagles Podcast

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Speaker 1: And Football four is powered by the Inside of the
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Birds Podcast. It's brought to you by BET three sixty five.
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Whatever the sport, whatever the moment, it's never ordinary. At
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BET three six five, you know it's that time of
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the year. We are into our division previews. We will
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start with the AFC East today, Andrew to Checko. Each
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Thursday with Andrew will look through the divisions and that
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will lead us up to the opener for the Eagles
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eight weeks out from the opener, eight divisions. As we
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take a look at the AFC East today, which has
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been ruled by the Buffalo Bill nobody circles the wagons
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like the Buffalo Bills, or Andrew to Checko, who joins
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us now from the Inside of the Birds podcast here on
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the Sports Fashion We love talking about the divisions. Andrew
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has such a depth of knowledge of the draft and
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all the free agent moves, and that means Andrew, we
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are into the official stretch run of football season. What
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is up man, Mike?
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Speaker 2: How are you man? Great to be with you.
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Speaker 1: As always, we got the footballs Now training camp less
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than two weeks away. We're gonna be looking at all
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the teams competing to try to take down the Birds
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this year, and we're gonna start in the AFC East.
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The Buffalo Bills, I would imagine if you look at
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the big picture of things, they are a threat to
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the Eagles for a Super Bowl. This is a team
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that has been on the cusp and they made a
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couple of move this offseason. Joey Bosa is in the
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mix there, but let's start with Josh Allen. He gets
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the extension and what he means and where he is
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in the pantheon of leading teams to a Super Bowl.
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Speaker 2: Well, Josh Allen's interesting, Mike, because he has all the
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accolades that you look for from the position, but he
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has yet to deliver Buffalo a super Bowl, much less
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appear in a Super Bowl. But I think he's a
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unique case because despite all that, you have to look
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at him as a top two, maybe even top three
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quarterback in the league. Now. I like what the Bills
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have done and surrounding him with more of a balanced attack.
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You have Khalil Shakir the wide receiver who can stretch
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the field, Elijah Moore someone who can work the middle
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of the field, the two tight ends, and Dawson Knox
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and Dalton Kincaid. I think are gonna help and take
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a step forward this year. And James Cook is a
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player that when you look at what Josh Allen had
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to work with, they were largely a pass heavy team
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and now they have some sort of balance to complement that.
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And I think James Cook's gonna have another big season. Yeah.
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Speaker 1: You obviously you mentioned the we talked yesterday with Mosher
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Jordan Football at four about you know, Jalen Hurts wins
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the Super Bowl, Super Bowl MVP, yet he's not in
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that category for many with the Josh Allens of Lamar Jackson's,
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the Patrick Mahones. But at some point, Lamar Josh Allen,
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they're gonna have to get what Jalen Hurts was able
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to accomplish, and that's a super Bowl. You mentioned Shakir
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they brought him back. They also, you know, signed Joey
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Bosa on the defensive side of the ball, and you're
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wondering he's kind of a boomer bust guy for that
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defense because the year before, the Bill's love so many pieces,
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they just you know, they got rid of digs. They
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just started dismantling that defense. Is their defense able to
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hold up their end of the bargain.
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Speaker 2: Well, they have a couple of additions that I really like,
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including drafting cornerback Maxwell Harrison out of Kentucky. They also
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signed Michael Hoapt who's a sort of under the radar
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defensive lineman with the Rams, and he's more of a
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depth piece, but I think he can provide something there.
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Also Larry Ogan Jobi, who's sort of a journeyman and
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he's bounced around a little bit throughout his career, but
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he's a good interior presence there. But I like the
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addition of Jolly. It's never been a question about ability
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with Joey. It's been about staying healthy and being able
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to sustain that level of consistency, and he hasn't had
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that luck in recent years. But I think that they
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have some decent pieces there. I do question their safety
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situation with Taylor Rapp and their ability to really be
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a rangey back end, but I like some pieces that
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they have. Tarn Johnson the nickel corn is one of
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the best in the NFL. He's up there with Cooper
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Egen and Kenny Moore. So yeah, I mean that they
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have some pieces there defensively to help him out and
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kind of play complimentary football.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, so, I guess the big question last year was
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did they have enough weapons for Josh Allen. They know
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a lot of young players. When they got rid of
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Diggs the year before, they got of a lot on
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young guys. They brought in Josh Palmer. Do they have
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enough weapons for Allen? I mean, I know he's good
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enough by himself to do some nice, you know, amazing things.
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You mentioned James Cook, great running back, But do they
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have enough weapons in the past game?
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Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean they have Keon Coleman and Curtis Samuel.
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They have a collection of pieces, but they don't have
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the dominant player that like a Stefan Diggs that he
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could throw to in any critical moment and he was
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the go to guy. They have a lot of pieces
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that teams are going to have to account for, but
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no one, in my opinion, that's going to command the
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football or the teams are going to have to game
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plan for. There's just a number of different pieces. Maybe
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Keon Coleman is that guy who takes a big lead forward.
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I like this tap quite a bit coming out of
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Florida State, and so I mean he has all the
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makings to be a number one, but we have yet
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to see it, so it's largely a projection.
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Speaker 1: And Andrew Checho Football for Look at the Bills, who
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obviously are a Super Bowl contending team they won the
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East last year. The Dolphins, who have not won a
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playoff game since the year two thousand. They are trying
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to get themselves back to the playoffs, get a playoff victory.
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They did it. Let's start with the quarterback situation in
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tu A Taiger Vaiolola, who I always have trouble mentioning
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and pronouncing his team, but obviously to is a guy
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who's very polarizing. Where is he and where is this
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offense with him?
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Speaker 2: I mean, honestly, I think he's a player that he
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is polarizing because of the health, but also when he's
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been available, he hasn't been someone who's going to elevate
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and take advantage of such a dynamic offense. And when
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you have someone like a Tyreek Hill and you have
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a Jalen Watdo and that Devin a Chain, I mean
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that is those are our weapons that a lot of
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quarterbacks would salivate for. And so I don't think that
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Tua has really maximized that he doesn't have the arm
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strength to really push the ball down the field and
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accent what some of his skilled players do. Barn about
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his health because he's sow a number of different head injuries.
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But since like every year, we're waiting for him to
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take this leap forward and we don't really see it,
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he kind of has sort of hit a plateau. And
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I think it's what you're seeing around the NFL MIC
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is it's really difficult for teams to part with even
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middling quarterbacks because the fear of the unknown through the draft,
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I think sort of alters their perception. So teams are
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more inclined to keep what they know and kind of
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try to hope to build a round and stock by
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a lot of assets.
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Speaker 1: Well, and they went out brought in Zach Wilson too,
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who was the second overall pick. Has been a complete bust.
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But it just goes to show that teams will just
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keep giving you a chance if they think you have talent.
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Because one of the problems with Miami as just to
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h maybe hasn't reached the potential that we thought he would.
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Whenever he goes out, they've been a complete disaster, and
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some of that is because they just aren't good enough
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around them. You take a look at the weapons there,
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because they've got a ton of weapons. I mean, they've
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got some great weapons. And we always talk about quarterbacks,
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whoa what would he be without these two guys. Two
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has got two of the best to throw to.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, he's got two of the best to throw to.
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I mean they also have Darren Waller, the tight end
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who obviously needs to be able to stay healthy. Of course,
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Devin A. Chain I really like Jayalen Wright from Tennessee
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is that back up behind him, dynamic runner who I
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was Me and Greg Cosell were really effusive in our
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praise of coming out of the draft a couple of
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years ago. And they also drafted Jonah Sevana. I believe
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he's a right guard, and they drafted him in the
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second round, so they even armed him with some protection
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up front. So I mean, there really aren't any more
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excuses you can make for Tua Tungo Vailoa. And whenever
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I see him sort of mentioned in the upper echelon
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of quarterbacks, I always tend to WinCE a little bit
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because I mean, I just don't see it. He's had
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his opportunities and they've been bypassed by a lot of
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younger quarterbacks. I know defense.
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Speaker 1: You know, Vic Fangio was there a couple of years ago.
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He comes to Philadelphia. Everybody praises him for the reason
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a big reason anyway, that they won a Super Bowl.
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There's a lot of talent on this defense. They just
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re brought back Menka fifth Patrick. They traded Jalen Ramsey away.
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When you look at the Dolphins defense, they just drafted
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Kenneth Grant in the first round as well. Is this
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a playoff level defense?
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Speaker 2: I actually like what they did in the draft, right.
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They drafted Keent Grant in the first round. They added
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Jordan Phillips at defensive tackle from Maryland, who I got
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to see up close at Pro Day. They got him
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in the fifth round. I had a third round grade
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on him, a late three. Of course, there's Jayalen Phillips,
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who's there. Menka Fitzpatrick who you mentioned. Cam Smith is
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a cornerback who has really good length. But I never
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really I never really saw I think they want to.
9:04
They reached for him a little bit. I thought he
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was more of a project and he really hasn't panned
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out to probably relative to expectations where he was drafted.
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But yeah, I mean, I like, I like what they've
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done on defense, but I don't know offensively if they're
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gonna be able to do enough to play complimentary football
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because they are such a vowatile unit with two a
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tongue of ro lower there quarterback.
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Speaker 1: Yeah. They were eight to nine last year, by the way,
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and that's a team that has not won a playoff
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game in twenty five years. It's unbelievable. The Miami Dolphins
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really trying to get that playoff win for them.
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Speaker 2: And that's where I think the cornerback spot for them
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with Storm Duck and Cam Smith is going to be
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a problem area for them as well. I think they're
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gonna have a tough time stopping teams.
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Speaker 1: All right, Angel, let's look at the five and twelve
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Jets a year ago. Obviously, Aaron Rodgers is out, and
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when you take a look at the quarterbacks situation, there
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at no Rodgers. A lot of people thought just getting
9:58
Rogers would be good enough for them to be a
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possible Super Bowl team. Last year, well, they didn't even
10:03
make the playoff. They were five and twelve. The season
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was an outright disaster. They brought in Justin Fields, Tyrod
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Taylor will be the backup there. What do you think
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about Fields now leading this Jets offense.
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Speaker 2: Well, sometimes a change of scenery works, Mike. But for
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Justin Fields, I mean, I think that you want to
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supplement a young quarterback with talent, and I don't think
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outside of Garrett Wilson that they've done enough to get
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him surrounding town. I mean, you have to give me
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something more than Josh Reynolds, something more than Tyler Johnson.
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Alan Lazard is a player whose name is mentioned seemingly
10:40
every offseason and doesn't quite make that impact. Malakai Corley,
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the wide receiver from Western Kentucky. I talked a lot
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about him on your show last offseason. They drafted him
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in the third round. He really hasn't panned out to
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this point. He's more of a Deebo Samuel type of player.
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But I mean for Justin Fields, I think to be
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successful you have to help him out a little bit.
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So I think the surrounding cast is a little underwhelming.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, you take a look at also at wide receiver
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Garrett Wilson was Manifield thought was on his way to
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start him here. He seemed like he had a rocky
11:15
relationship with Aaron Rodgers or something just didn't click between
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those two. Is he a guy that could be a
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number one a wide receiver?
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Speaker 2: Oh yeah, absolutely, Explosive, twitchy, fast, and he can run
11:30
every route in the route tree. He may not have
11:32
the prototypical size of a number one wide receiver, but
11:37
I mean he can go. He's going to command a
11:39
high volume of pass targets. Now, I'm just curious to
11:42
see what this offense looks like under Tenor Engstran and
11:48
head coach Aaron Glenn, who of course was the was
11:52
with the Lions last season, So I mean that that
11:54
could look a lot different. But I think for justin Fields,
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they need to find a way to get him into
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a rhythm. And a wide receiver like Garrett Wilson is
12:02
somebody who can because he can run every route in
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the route on the route three and and really get
12:07
things going early in games.
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Speaker 1: INEW Checko Football for our AFC East preview. Our Division
12:12
previews begin today. Membo was the draft pick for them
12:15
in the first round, armand Membo. They also took a
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tight end from.
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Speaker 2: LS Mason Taylor as well, Ye.
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Speaker 1: Who will be a yeah, interesting part of their offense.
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We'll see what they do. Recall, that's another one.
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Speaker 2: That's another thing that that's going to help a young
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quarterback like Justin Fields. Get him a young tight end
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who I believe Mason Taylor is going to be the
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best tight end in this draft class when their careers
12:39
are all said and done. I like his ability as
12:42
a receiver, as a blocker, he can work the seams.
12:45
But I also think that he's so green that he
12:48
has another level that he can tap into. Whereas some
12:51
of these other players, like you know, some of the
12:54
higher tight ends, the lovelands of the world, I think
12:58
that they've they've they have a certain level that they
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can reach where I think that someone like a Mason
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Tawler was continuously evolving. Yeah, I know, now lsu used them.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, I was gonna say, I remember you talking about
13:08
him during the draft that you actually had him as
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your top tight end in this draft. He was the
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second round pick by the Jets. Hey, they were supposed
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to have this great defense last year. What happened to
13:18
this great defense last year that they were supposed to have.
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Speaker 2: Well, the offense wasn't very wasn't very helpful, and they
13:27
were they kind of got exploded a little bit. They
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were on the field a lot and certain players didn't
13:32
didn't play the standard. CJ. Mosley is no longer there. Look,
13:38
they have obviously will McDonald, who I really like. He
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was a first round pick in twenty twenty three, Quinn
13:44
Williams twenty nineteen first round pick, one of the best
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players at his position. Jermaine Johnson first round pick, edge rusher,
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very good there. Linebacker, they're vulnerable. That's where I think
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teams are going to pick them apart. Now you're relying on,
13:58
you know, Quincy Williams, Jamien Sherwood, So yeah, I think
14:04
they're gonna get picked apart there their secondary. I obviously
14:07
saw Scardner everyone's very familiar with. But an addition that's
14:11
gonna fly under the radar who I really liked when
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he played the nickel role with the Ravens is Brandon Stevens.
14:17
He gets his hands on a lot of footballs. I
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studied him quite a bit when he was at SMU.
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That's a quiet under the radar edition. And they also
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have Andre Cisco who they bring over from Jacksonville to
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play safety opposite either Malachai Moore, who they drafted or
14:32
Tony Adams.
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Speaker 1: All right, let's take a look at the Jets, of
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course at five and twelve and move over to the
14:38
New England Patriots. I think the Patriots, obviously they got
14:42
some buzz. They got a new coach. We just talked
14:44
about the Jets. Aaron Glenn is in there. Mike Vrabel
14:47
is the new head coach with the Jets. Let's start
14:49
with them and that move. How big of an impact
14:52
do you think Vrabel might have as the new head
14:54
coach because this team has been dormant for the last
14:57
couple of seasons.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, I think he's gonna be buy some juice. I
15:01
think he has some excitement and he's going to kind
15:03
of restore order and provide some structure there for the Patriots.
15:07
He's obviously played there for many years. He's been there
15:10
for a lot of the high times for them, and
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I think you're because of that. When you when you
15:16
have that kind of experience and you've been a prominent
15:18
figure in the team's history, you sort of command that
15:21
respect right off the bat, regardless of what you've done
15:23
in the past as a coach. So I think that's
15:25
going to go a long way and sort of re
15:27
establishing some sort of continuity and cohesiveness.
15:30
Speaker 1: All right, So Vrabel's in and you take a look
15:34
at that offense and what they're going to build around
15:36
on offense, Drake May year number two for Drake May.
15:40
Diggs is there. They signed him in the off season.
15:42
Old Buddy mc collins, the Maaro Douglas not a great,
15:45
you know, talented wide receiving corps Ramonde Stevenson. They've got
15:50
him at the running back May Hunter Henry is the
15:52
tight end, top level quarterback.
15:57
Speaker 2: If Stefan dis can stay healthy, perhaps there's a player
16:01
there that I think is going to be a target monster.
16:05
So if you're into fantasy football, you might be able
16:07
to get this guy very late. And that is to
16:10
Mario Douglas. He caught a lot of passes with the
16:12
Patriots with Drake May last season, but I mean maybe
16:16
he was in two seasons ago. I don't remember now.
16:18
But he is somebody that I think is going to
16:21
be the beneficiary of a player who's going to see
16:26
a lot of volume over the middle of the field
16:28
and be a security blanket. Hunter Henry he moves really well.
16:33
He's been in the league for a while. He's had
16:34
some injuries, but he moves well, he runs good routes.
16:37
That's another security blanket, safety valve for a young quarterback
16:40
in Drake May And they also have supplied him with
16:44
young offensive linemen that he can grow with in Will Campbell,
16:48
in Cole Strange. You talk about bringing over Morgan Moses,
16:53
and Garrett Bradberry is a veteran center. So they have
16:56
some pieces there that should allow that offense to get
16:59
off the ground a little smoother than last season.
17:02
Speaker 1: Yeah, Will Campbell was their first round pick, by the way,
17:04
the offensive tackle out of LSU. They signed Morkan Moses,
17:07
Garrett Bradberry's there, so that they've put some stock into
17:11
that offensive line, which was a disaster. Their offense was
17:13
a disaster the last couple of seasons. So we'll see
17:16
if they can get that on board. But they spent
17:19
a lot of money on defense, including adding Milton Williams.
17:23
You got Christian Barimore there, You've got Harold Landry there.
17:26
This defense should be much better than you know, more
17:30
of the Patriots defense as we remember.
17:34
Speaker 2: Yeah, Keon White, the edge rusher, taking the second round
17:37
in twenty three. Former Eagles linebacker Christian Ellis is also there,
17:41
and they brought over Carlton Davis to play corner he
17:45
was with the Detroit Lions formerly. I really like Kyle
17:48
Dugger the safety. He's more of a hybrid type of player,
17:52
but kind of rangey for his size. And Jabrill Peppers
17:56
is all over the field, and so Christian Gonza else
18:00
is another guy. And my two favorite guys in that
18:02
secondary Christian Gonzales the cornerback who was their first round
18:06
pick in twenty three, and Marcus Jones their third round
18:10
pick in twenty twenty two, who plays the nickel role.
18:13
Super fast and just really dynamic in short area and
18:17
has that kind of quickness, so that I like what
18:20
they have there on defense, especially.
18:21
Speaker 1: All right, you're asse East. You know, we take a
18:23
look at only one team finished with a winning record
18:26
last year. That was Buffalo thirteen and four, Miami eight
18:29
and nine, the Jets five and twelve. That was a
18:31
disastrous season, and New England got their coach fired, Jared
18:34
Mayo after one season at four and eleven, and we
18:38
looking at one playoff team in the East again this year. Andrew,
18:42
how do you have the AFC East going in twenty
18:45
twenty five?
18:47
Speaker 2: One playoff team Mike. For me, that'll be the Bills,
18:50
but I have it sort of slotted out. Excuse me,
18:53
Bill's Dolphins, Patriots, Jets.
18:57
Speaker 1: All right, so Bill's at the top. Dolphin again, paid
19:00
make sure it's making a move out of the basement.
19:01
And the Jets, all the Jets fans. I'm talking to
19:04
you guys up there in Long Beach Island. We're talking
19:06
to you guys up there in Ocean County. Your Jets
19:09
are gonna be in the basement, says answer to check. Oh,
19:12
all right, football at four. Our division previews continue next
19:15
week with the AFC North. We'll finish up with the
19:18
AFC South and West in the month of July. When
19:20
we get to August, we will be turning the page
19:23
over to the NFC and that will lead us up
19:25
to the opener Eagles and the Cowboys. Right here on
19:28
ninety seven to three ESPN. Andrew to check. Oh everybody,
19:31
thanks man, enjoying the rest of your day, you bet man,
19:34
you too, All right, there's Andrew to check o. Our
19:36
division previews continue all throughout the month of July and
19:39
August here on the Sports Pass