Latest / NFL Power Rankings / #23: The Chiefs are Champions!
Transcript
- 0:04Speaker 1: NFL Power Rankings is a production of the NFL in
- 0:07Speaker 1: partnership with iHeartRadio.
- 0:13Speaker 2: The season was over, the super Bowl was glorious.
- 0:16Speaker 3: We are all back in our respective homes, minus the
- 0:18Speaker 3: studio in Los Angeles High and Andrew Eric at home
- 0:21Speaker 3: over there, No over there camera. Andrew is in his
- 0:24Speaker 3: home in Chicago. But yes, because you asked, and not you, Eric,
- 0:30Speaker 3: I mean everyone listening and watching, watching, and because you begged,
- 0:33Speaker 3: and because you tweeted at us and wrote us dms
- 0:36Speaker 3: on Instagram and Facebook and TikTok, we are here for
- 0:40Speaker 3: a post super Bowl edition of the NFL Power Ranking Show,
- 0:46Speaker 3: presented by Energizer.
- 0:49Speaker 4: A very special episode.
- 0:51Speaker 5: Right, like you said when we were kids, Right, That's
- 0:53Speaker 5: what they always said, it for everything.
- 0:54Speaker 4: So I'm happy to be here. Even if it's a
- 0:56Speaker 4: one off. This is great.
- 0:57Speaker 5: We have one last chance to tell the people what
- 0:59Speaker 5: the what the rankings are.
- 1:01Speaker 3: If you're listening to this in your car, or maybe
- 1:04Speaker 3: working out and listening on podcast version, or maybe if
- 1:07Speaker 3: you're sitting at home on the Fast Channel and you're
- 1:10Speaker 3: wondering what's wrong with your.
- 1:12Speaker 2: Voice, the answer is I went to Vegas. However, However,
- 1:16Speaker 2: this is not Vegas voice. This is I have a
- 1:18Speaker 2: sinus infection voice. Too much information. It's not what you think.
- 1:22Speaker 3: Okay, Okay, scan the QR code on the screen and
- 1:26Speaker 3: when you do, it takes you to the front of NFL.
- 1:28Speaker 2: Dot com and you have the power ranking.
- 1:30Speaker 3: I know there was a lot of drama as to
- 1:32Speaker 3: who would be number one. If you guess the Chiefs,
- 1:35Speaker 3: you'll right, number two, the forty nine Ers, the Ravens
- 1:40Speaker 3: and Lions. The two teams that lost in the conference
- 1:43Speaker 3: championship games are three and four. And then it's kind
- 1:46Speaker 3: of a missmash of playoff teams. The Bills made it
- 1:49Speaker 3: to the divisional round. The Cowboys were out in the
- 1:52Speaker 3: wildcard round. The Texans beat the Browns in the wildcard round.
- 1:56Speaker 3: They are seven, the Texans, that is, and the Browns
- 1:59Speaker 3: are eight. But let's open Eric with the team that
- 2:04Speaker 3: you opened the season with at number one. Kansas City
- 2:08Speaker 3: didn't go wire to wire. But the team that you
- 2:11Speaker 3: had in September is the team that hoists the Lombardi
- 2:14Speaker 3: Trophy in February.
- 2:16Speaker 5: Yeah, I took a dip in Week one, right, They
- 2:18Speaker 5: lose to the Lions and immediately had to drop them
- 2:20Speaker 5: in the rankings, but they found their way back in
- 2:22Speaker 5: classic contender style. I mean, look, I'll be honest that
- 2:26Speaker 5: at no point during this season up till about Christmas
- 2:29Speaker 5: when the Raiders came in and spoiled the holiday for
- 2:32Speaker 5: Kansas City, did I think this was going to be
- 2:35Speaker 5: the same kind of team that we'd seen in past
- 2:37Speaker 5: Chiefs champions. It just didn't feel like the points were
- 2:39Speaker 5: adding up, you know, it didn't feel like the defense
- 2:42Speaker 5: was going to be able to continue to carry the load.
- 2:44Speaker 4: And yet here they are.
- 2:45Speaker 5: Incredible road performances to get to the super Bowl and
- 2:48Speaker 5: then obviously beating the Niners, who spent a long time
- 2:51Speaker 5: at number one as well. So an incredible postseason run
- 2:55Speaker 5: just got to get hot at the right time. And
- 2:57Speaker 5: you also have to have Patrick Mahomes and one of
- 2:59Speaker 5: the best defense in the NFL. It's, you know, just
- 3:01Speaker 5: two things that every team wants to get right now.
- 3:03Speaker 3: Yeah, and during the season a couple of times that
- 3:06Speaker 3: it feels like Mahomes is inevitable. The inevitable though it
- 3:10Speaker 3: took a while to get rolling. They lost those five
- 3:12Speaker 3: out of eight. The Christmas Day game was to me
- 3:16Speaker 3: a sign that they were done.
- 3:17Speaker 2: I didn't think they would be here.
- 3:19Speaker 3: I talked to Patrick Mahomes from Disneyland Monday on NFL
- 3:23Speaker 3: Total Access after he and Brittany and the kids flew
- 3:26Speaker 3: there from Vegas, and I asked him, was there ever
- 3:29Speaker 3: a time in which you really doubted that you would
- 3:33Speaker 3: be here? And he said no, but at the same
- 3:36Speaker 3: time he knew there was so much work, and I
- 3:40Speaker 3: thought it was also interesting. I asked him point blank,
- 3:43Speaker 3: have you ever told Tom Brady you know how badly
- 3:47Speaker 3: you're gunning for him? You know, you mentioned Brady to
- 3:51Speaker 3: Chris Rose on Game Day final on the field Sunday night,
- 3:55Speaker 3: And he didn't say yes, but he did say seven
- 3:59Speaker 3: is the goal. It's obviously the goal, is what he said.
- 4:03Speaker 3: And as long as he is there, Eric, you're dumb,
- 4:06Speaker 3: not you, you meaning the football world dumb not to pick him.
- 4:11Speaker 5: Yeah, And that was how I happened to pick the
- 4:14Speaker 5: Chiefs in the game itself. I would finally stop, you know,
- 4:17Speaker 5: denying what my eyes were seeing. The best player on
- 4:19Speaker 5: the field.
- 4:20Speaker 4: Still got to.
- 4:20Speaker 5: Get Chris Jones signed if they can. Still got to
- 4:23Speaker 5: get the Jerry Snee there's some issues there. Love to
- 4:26Speaker 5: see him get a little more wide receiver. Help after
- 4:28Speaker 5: what we saw last season. But yeah, absolutely, you have Mahomes,
- 4:31Speaker 5: you have a chance, I think yep.
- 4:33Speaker 3: And now they got to figure out Chris Jones Lgerious Snead.
- 4:36Speaker 3: As you said, it's free agency time and the forty
- 4:38Speaker 3: nine ers have to figure out how to move forward
- 4:40Speaker 3: and get over this hump again.
- 4:41Speaker 2: It's like, if Mahomes is there, how do you beat him? Again?
- 4:44Speaker 3: Eric, they had the opportunity with a lead in the
- 4:47Speaker 3: second half, so they are number two, But I don't
- 4:51Speaker 3: know that they have an answer now of how to
- 4:54Speaker 3: rework this team or tweak this roster to finish out
- 4:58Speaker 3: this game.
- 5:00Speaker 5: That's a great question, right, You're not competing in the
- 5:03Speaker 5: same division as Patrick mahone, but like you said, he's inevitable. Right,
- 5:06Speaker 5: You almost have to factor in that one of these
- 5:09Speaker 5: great AFC quarterbacks, and Mahomes being the leading candidate right
- 5:12Speaker 5: now based on history.
- 5:14Speaker 4: Is going to get to the Super Bowl.
- 5:15Speaker 5: How do you defeat that type of quarterback, whether it's
- 5:18Speaker 5: Josh Allen, whether it's Lamar Jackson, whether it's Mahomes, somebody
- 5:22Speaker 5: else on that list. That's really I think got to
- 5:24Speaker 5: be at least part of the offseason focus. I mean
- 5:27Speaker 5: Rock Party played pretty darn well. Left some points on
- 5:30Speaker 5: the field, no doubt those field goals are you should
- 5:33Speaker 5: have been touchdowns in some cases, or you'd like him
- 5:35Speaker 5: to be anyway. But they have McCaffrey, they have all
- 5:38Speaker 5: those offensive stars, They have the core of a title
- 5:41Speaker 5: contending team. The question is, like you said, what gets
- 5:44Speaker 5: them over the top. Is there anything they can do?
- 5:47Speaker 5: And they've been aggressive in past offseasons to change that,
- 5:51Speaker 5: to alter the little chemistry they have in that locker
- 5:54Speaker 5: room to just get over the top.
- 5:55Speaker 3: Wouldn't you argue that the Ravens face a similar challenge.
- 6:00Speaker 3: As we moved down to number three on the power rankings,
- 6:04Speaker 3: Baltimore is up four from where they began the season.
- 6:08Speaker 3: You had it at seven, they finished at three. But
- 6:10Speaker 3: Lamar Jackson now has as many MVPs eric as he
- 6:16Speaker 3: has playoff victories at twenty seven.
- 6:19Speaker 5: Yeah, and obviously I mean that, you know they're gonna
- 6:22Speaker 5: continue to build around Jackson and pin their hopes on him.
- 6:24Speaker 4: That's why they signed him last offseason.
- 6:27Speaker 5: But you know, for instance, look at what the Philadelphia
- 6:29Speaker 5: Eagles had to face this year. They had Jalen Hurts
- 6:32Speaker 5: in a Super Bowl that they should have won a
- 6:34Speaker 5: year ago, had the vast majority of a great team
- 6:38Speaker 5: a year ago. Coming back looked strong much of the year,
- 6:41Speaker 5: and then everything kind.
- 6:42Speaker 4: Of fell apart.
- 6:43Speaker 5: And I worry about that bit. Ravens defense too, in
- 6:45Speaker 5: the sense that I don't know they're gonna be able
- 6:48Speaker 5: to have everything in place, and also they're gonna have
- 6:51Speaker 5: a defensive coordinator and Lewis Orr who's gonna be, you know,
- 6:54Speaker 5: younger than some of the guys who are lining up
- 6:56Speaker 5: on the field.
- 6:57Speaker 4: For him, so that may not be a huge factor.
- 6:59Speaker 5: The Ravens have a core in place, but I agree
- 7:02Speaker 5: there's still that question of is there They're a sort
- 7:05Speaker 5: of a glass ceiling for this team. That's that's kept
- 7:08Speaker 5: them from moving on from that point.
- 7:09Speaker 3: And with all these teams, they have all these questions,
- 7:12Speaker 3: especially in the top ten, because they were all good
- 7:14Speaker 3: enough to be there, but at the end fell a
- 7:16Speaker 3: little bit short. Some with higher expectations than others, Baltimore
- 7:20Speaker 3: being one of them.
- 7:21Speaker 2: Zach Orr.
- 7:22Speaker 3: If I get thrown a little guse me the new
- 7:24Speaker 3: DC not to be confused with Syracuse legend Lewis or Yes,
- 7:30Speaker 3: the Booie and Louis show coming to an NFL stadium
- 7:33Speaker 3: near you.
- 7:34Speaker 2: Number pologies, Oh, don't apologize.
- 7:37Speaker 3: Thanks for putting it, you know, into Syracuse basketball parlance
- 7:40Speaker 3: for yes, truly here number four of the Lions again
- 7:43Speaker 3: NFC Championship game. You know, a couple of weeks ago
- 7:46Speaker 3: we talked about Dan Campbell's decision making. They have a
- 7:50Speaker 3: decision now on Jared Goff. I think he has earned
- 7:52Speaker 3: that new contract. His number coming into twenty twenty four
- 7:55Speaker 3: is about twenty seven million.
- 7:57Speaker 2: He has outperformed that.
- 7:59Speaker 3: And if Brad Holmes keeps drafting like he has the
- 8:02Speaker 3: last two years, who maybe they're in New Orleans next year.
- 8:07Speaker 5: Yeah, and all those great draft picks they've had are
- 8:10Speaker 5: and they're going to be in their second, third, fourth year,
- 8:13Speaker 5: so you can just see the core of this team kind.
- 8:15Speaker 4: Of growing up.
- 8:15Speaker 5: They won't have as many cracks at bat this year
- 8:18Speaker 5: in the draft, not as many high picks as they
- 8:20Speaker 5: did a year ago, but they do have some cash
- 8:22Speaker 5: to spend, and if there is a golf deal that
- 8:24Speaker 5: may even clear up some space in the short term.
- 8:27Speaker 5: So I think they're gonna be hyper aggressive and attacking
- 8:29Speaker 5: that defense. You know, it's not all the fault clearly
- 8:33Speaker 5: of blowing the twenty four to seven lead. There was
- 8:35Speaker 5: the fumble, there were other loss plays on offense on
- 8:38Speaker 5: fourth downs, but still the defense put them in a
- 8:40Speaker 5: tough spot at times throughout the season. Right, So I
- 8:44Speaker 5: think that's obviously going to be the focus there. Get
- 8:46Speaker 5: Aaron Glenn, some more talent. They've got Ben Johnson coming
- 8:49Speaker 5: back for another year. Look, I think we're all kind
- 8:52Speaker 5: of graduated. You know, we've graduated the Lions to contender
- 8:55Speaker 5: status right now. But how will they handle Andrew being
- 8:59Speaker 5: in the spotlight, being that you know, they're not the
- 9:01Speaker 5: little kids on the block anymore. That's a new challenge
- 9:04Speaker 5: I think for Dan Campbell and that staff.
- 9:06Speaker 3: And it's also a challenge coming up in Buffalo here Sean.
- 9:10Speaker 2: McDermott lives to see another day. This team won a
- 9:14Speaker 2: playoff game.
- 9:15Speaker 3: It just didn't get by the Ravens in their own bill.
- 9:19Speaker 3: I'm sorry, the Chiefs rather big accord in their own building,
- 9:22Speaker 3: and they two are fifty million in the red. There's
- 9:25Speaker 3: a Stefan Diggs question. Really, they might have to rebuild
- 9:29Speaker 3: the entire defense, and even if you go back, I
- 9:32Speaker 3: think to the end of season. Pressers from McDermott and
- 9:34Speaker 3: Brandon Bean eric I sends to a tone of we're
- 9:38Speaker 3: not sure if we're ever gonna get Trey White back
- 9:40Speaker 3: the way he used to be. I mean they have
- 9:42Speaker 3: big question.
- 9:43Speaker 5: Marks, absolutely right, Matt Milano arguably their best most valuable
- 9:48Speaker 5: defensive player coming off a season ending injury. Those safeties
- 9:51Speaker 5: are aging a little bit too, And you mentioned it.
- 9:53Speaker 5: I mean, who do you turn to at wide receiver
- 9:56Speaker 5: if Stefan Diggs is not part of your future?
- 9:58Speaker 2: Right?
- 9:59Speaker 5: That whole position I think needs a little bit of
- 10:01Speaker 5: an investigation.
- 10:02Speaker 4: Khalil Shakir, it's got a future.
- 10:04Speaker 5: Everybody else either not under contract or they have some
- 10:08Speaker 5: kind of status issue right now. So yeah, with Allen's
- 10:12Speaker 5: cap number going up, it's a lot harder for them
- 10:15Speaker 5: to manipulate things the way they have in the past
- 10:17Speaker 5: few years.
- 10:17Speaker 4: So the window is it closed?
- 10:19Speaker 5: But I think you're right the way they framed it,
- 10:21Speaker 5: or at least the way that we read that the
- 10:24Speaker 5: words from the Buffalo hierarchy, there hard not to think
- 10:27Speaker 5: that their odds have shrunk a little bit, even as
- 10:30Speaker 5: great as Alan could be in those big moments.
- 10:32Speaker 3: Brandon Bean spoke at his end of season presser about
- 10:35Speaker 3: obviously Josh Allen is a drawing card. Free agents want
- 10:38Speaker 3: to come to Buffalo to play with Josh Allen, but
- 10:41Speaker 3: with his number going up, how much money and how
- 10:44Speaker 3: much of a discount are these guys willing to play
- 10:46Speaker 3: for As they try to rework that roster, they may
- 10:50Speaker 3: have to go younger and cheaper around a high priced quarterback.
- 10:54Speaker 3: Same kind of issue in Dallas, Dak Prescott final year, however,
- 10:58Speaker 3: final year of guarantee. Let me rephrase that they are
- 11:01Speaker 3: in a massive balloon year on Prescott's contract where they
- 11:07Speaker 3: need to do something. The likely answer is redo it,
- 11:11Speaker 3: give him another massive deal and clear up some money.
- 11:15Speaker 2: But Jerry Jones said.
- 11:17Speaker 3: That he wants to go all in, like he's not
- 11:20Speaker 3: gonna nickel and dime free agency. He wants to go
- 11:23Speaker 3: all in because he is so desperate to win.
- 11:27Speaker 2: Yeah.
- 11:28Speaker 5: I mean, obviously for many years they had to kick
- 11:30Speaker 5: the can down the road financially a little bit, and always,
- 11:33Speaker 5: you know, spend this time of year Adam Pasifka, their
- 11:35Speaker 5: cap guy, cleaning things up, and you know there's gonna
- 11:39Speaker 5: be plenty of work to be done.
- 11:40Speaker 4: If Jerry Jones does have that.
- 11:42Speaker 5: Level of desperation, knowing that Mike McCarthy's in the final
- 11:46Speaker 5: year of his deal. Knowing like you said that Dak
- 11:48Speaker 5: is coming up on a critical season, even though he
- 11:50Speaker 5: played terrific for the most part last year.
- 11:53Speaker 4: They've got to make a call on him.
- 11:54Speaker 5: They've got to decide the future of the quarterback position,
- 11:56Speaker 5: the future of the head coaching spot. I'd say there's
- 11:59Speaker 5: a lot on the line here. So yeah, maybe there
- 12:01Speaker 5: is a different level of aggression if they can find
- 12:04Speaker 5: the money and if they can find the right pieces
- 12:07Speaker 5: to move out and supplant with the more accountable ones,
- 12:12Speaker 5: more dependable versions of the of those players who have
- 12:15Speaker 5: maybe aged or not worth their salaries anymore.
- 12:17Speaker 3: I thought one of the biggest headlines, and Emmitt Smith
- 12:19Speaker 3: has shared with both of us, I think over the
- 12:23Speaker 3: last year his frustration. But when our friend McLevin asked
- 12:28Speaker 3: Emitt Smith, why is Mike McCarthy still the GM and
- 12:31Speaker 3: he or the coach? He responded, because I'm not the GM. Okay,
- 12:37Speaker 3: time nowt for power moves here presented by Energizer. The
- 12:42Speaker 3: other team in Texas made a huge move. The Texans
- 12:45Speaker 3: finished at seven eric they opened at thirty one.
- 12:51Speaker 5: Wow, Yeah, I mean you can't now maybe I have
- 12:55Speaker 5: him a little higher than some people do it at
- 12:57Speaker 5: number seven. But even if we put him at ten
- 12:59Speaker 5: or twelve or eleven or whatever, that is an incredible
- 13:02Speaker 5: one year jump. Now, if you love CJ. Stroud and
- 13:05Speaker 5: Will Anderson coming out, maybe you had better vision of
- 13:07Speaker 5: this than I did. I certainly thought Stroud was the
- 13:09Speaker 5: best quarterback in last year's draft, but not by the
- 13:13Speaker 5: measurable distance that he appeared to show in year one
- 13:16Speaker 5: versus Bryce Young or the field for that matter.
- 13:18Speaker 4: A rookie quarterback, so.
- 13:20Speaker 5: Special quarterback, special defensive talent if he can stay healthy,
- 13:25Speaker 5: special head coach in Demiko Ryans possibly. I mean, look,
- 13:28Speaker 5: obviously it's a feel good stories coming back home to
- 13:31Speaker 5: save the franchise. Year one couldn't have gone better, getting
- 13:34Speaker 5: that defense shaped up a little bit better, cleaning up
- 13:37Speaker 5: some issues on the offensive line, and they still have
- 13:40Speaker 5: a first round pick from the Deshaun deal. So look,
- 13:42Speaker 5: I mean it's not as if they're going to be
- 13:44Speaker 5: overly punished this offseason or anything. I mean, they're in
- 13:47Speaker 5: a great position to keep building what they started this year.
- 13:50Speaker 5: Playoff win just another you know, sort of launching point
- 13:54Speaker 5: into the offseason, and you know.
- 13:56Speaker 4: They could add a running back May not cost them
- 13:58Speaker 4: that much.
- 13:58Speaker 5: And somebody who's pretty good, you know, considering their salaries.
- 14:01Speaker 5: So I'm excited to see what their plans are soft
- 14:04Speaker 5: season given everything we've seen up to this point in
- 14:06Speaker 5: the last year.
- 14:07Speaker 3: They are seven in your final power rankings, one ahead
- 14:11Speaker 3: of the team they knocked out of the postseason, the
- 14:14Speaker 3: Cleveland Browns, who swept almost every major award.
- 14:17Speaker 2: They had four awards.
- 14:18Speaker 3: I mean, obviously didn't win the MVP, but Schwartz got
- 14:20Speaker 3: an award, Miles Garrett got awards to Fanski got an award,
- 14:24Speaker 3: and what's the other one I'm forgetting. Oh and Joe
- 14:30Speaker 3: Flacco Comeback Player of the Year, and he will likely
- 14:33Speaker 3: not be coming back to the Browns. He could be,
- 14:35Speaker 3: in all certainty going somewhere else. What do you think
- 14:37Speaker 3: about them?
- 14:39Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean, obviously I tried to measure postseason success
- 14:42Speaker 5: in regular season success.
- 14:44Speaker 4: Obviously, what they did during the regular season.
- 14:46Speaker 5: What earned Stefanski Coach of the Year I suspect over
- 14:49Speaker 5: guys like Damiko Ryans is the fact that Deshaun Watson,
- 14:52Speaker 5: even when he was healthy, was a question mark. Flacco
- 14:55Speaker 5: comes in off his couch in mid November and somehow
- 14:58Speaker 5: leads them to the playoffs. They had a ton of injuries.
- 15:00Speaker 5: I mean a million crazy things happened last season. So
- 15:03Speaker 5: I'll be fascinating to see once they get all their
- 15:05Speaker 5: talent back.
- 15:06Speaker 4: Could this team be even better? Sure?
- 15:09Speaker 5: But you know again, they have to repeat a tremendous
- 15:12Speaker 5: performance on defense again next year. They've got to find
- 15:16Speaker 5: more offensive threats. And I think they've got to find
- 15:19Speaker 5: a way to get Watson right whatever that means right,
- 15:22Speaker 5: is it mental.
- 15:23Speaker 4: Physical, fitting the scheme to the player.
- 15:26Speaker 5: It's a lot of things that they have to ensure
- 15:28Speaker 5: this offseason that they're better at quarterback with him.
- 15:31Speaker 3: With Ken Dorsey now as the OC, and we don't
- 15:35Speaker 3: yet know, as you point it out, whether or not
- 15:37Speaker 3: he is calling plays coming up next. We don't yet
- 15:41Speaker 3: know how the new look Eagles will look in twenty
- 15:44Speaker 3: twenty four with two new coordinators. Where are they in
- 15:47Speaker 3: our final power rankings? That's next on the NFL Powerranking
- 15:50Speaker 3: showpers and by Energizer. It's the NFL Power Ranking Show Everybody,
- 16:01Speaker 3: presented by Energizer. But wait, there's more. The Green Bay
- 16:04Speaker 3: Packers exceeded Eric's late summer expectations. They finished up twelve
- 16:10Speaker 3: at nine the Eagles plummeted down eight to ten. They
- 16:14Speaker 3: were one and done in the postseason. Dolphins eleven Rams,
- 16:18Speaker 3: twelve Bucks thirteen. Look how much those.
- 16:21Speaker 2: Two teams exceeded expectations of eighteen and fifteen.
- 16:24Speaker 3: Steelers were what we thought they were. The Saints are
- 16:27Speaker 3: the best non playoff team in Eric's size, and then
- 16:33Speaker 3: the Jaguars here sitting at sixteen. It's open to the
- 16:36Speaker 3: Green Bay Packers because I think Jordan Love, when you
- 16:40Speaker 3: saw him take off the second half of the year,
- 16:45Speaker 3: gives this team so much reason for optimism. They blow
- 16:47Speaker 3: out Joe Barry, they bringing Jeff Haffley. There's an interesting
- 16:50Speaker 3: college football conversation there as well. But you'll like Green
- 16:54Speaker 3: Bay moving to twenty twenty four.
- 16:57Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, I have to.
- 16:58Speaker 5: I think with all the talent on offense, especially wide
- 17:01Speaker 5: receiver and tight end.
- 17:02Speaker 4: I mean, one of the reasons why I kind of
- 17:04Speaker 4: held back on him and hedged.
- 17:06Speaker 5: This offseason was thinking, how are all these these young
- 17:10Speaker 5: guys gonna mold with a young quarterback who's got you know,
- 17:13Speaker 5: one start and a handful of games under his belt.
- 17:15Speaker 4: But it ended up working beautifully.
- 17:17Speaker 5: A lot of those guys had built chemistry behind the
- 17:19Speaker 5: scenes and obviously had flourished eventually even after some tough
- 17:23Speaker 5: patches this year. So assuming they take the next step
- 17:26Speaker 5: and Christian Watson stays healthy because I think he could
- 17:29Speaker 5: be their number one, or Jayden Reid possibly, but you know,
- 17:32Speaker 5: they have something really special built if Jeff Hafley can
- 17:35Speaker 5: build up that defense, especially that secondary. I think safety
- 17:39Speaker 5: and corner, you know, two spots that need to be fixed.
- 17:42Speaker 5: And you know, look, I mean the division with the
- 17:45Speaker 5: Lions improving, the Bears at least taking a big step
- 17:48Speaker 5: this year and having a lot of ammunition this offseason.
- 17:51Speaker 5: You know, the Vikings, you figure are going to be
- 17:53Speaker 5: closer to the thirteen win team than the team that
- 17:56Speaker 5: had quarterback issues after Kirk Cousins got hurt, so the
- 17:59Speaker 5: competitions raised. You can't assume they're going to take a
- 18:01Speaker 5: big step forward. But the Packers look pretty good on
- 18:04Speaker 5: paper going in the off season.
- 18:05Speaker 3: The old financial disclaimer past performance not necessarily indicative of
- 18:09Speaker 3: future games to me fits perfectly with the Eagles at ten.
- 18:14Speaker 3: I mean, they're down eight from where you had them
- 18:16Speaker 3: at two to begin of the year, But like I
- 18:18Speaker 3: don't know who they are.
- 18:20Speaker 5: Yep, I had trouble putting them. You know, I didn't
- 18:23Speaker 5: know where exactly they deserve to be in the in
- 18:25Speaker 5: this rankings. Like you said, if we did a week
- 18:27Speaker 5: twelve power ranking, they were up number one. I believe
- 18:30Speaker 5: after that point you could argue they belonged amongst the
- 18:33Speaker 5: Arizona Cardinals of the world. That's a team that beat them, right,
- 18:36Speaker 5: So you know, it really is a fair question to
- 18:39Speaker 5: wonder what was the what was the cause of all
- 18:42Speaker 5: their problems down the stretch and is it fixable in
- 18:45Speaker 5: the future. You still have Jalen Hurts, you still have
- 18:48Speaker 5: DeVante Smith, AJ Brown and some really good players on defense,
- 18:51Speaker 5: but hasan Redicks As for a trade, we don't know
- 18:54Speaker 5: where AJ Brown is headspace wise. Is he happy with
- 18:57Speaker 5: the arrangement there? You know, there's still a lot to
- 19:00Speaker 5: figure out. And oh, by the way, Andrews second straight
- 19:03Speaker 5: season with two new coordinators.
- 19:05Speaker 4: That's that's not typical Eagle community that we usually see.
- 19:09Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, by my count, and I count maybe off,
- 19:12Speaker 3: but I checked it a couple of times.
- 19:14Speaker 2: If you include the new head.
- 19:15Speaker 3: Coaches everywhere and turnover include obviously a new DC technically
- 19:20Speaker 3: in Buffalo as well. Of the sixty four offensive and
- 19:25Speaker 3: defensive coordinator positions in the NFL. Thirty two of them
- 19:29Speaker 3: will be new in twenty twenty four to two with
- 19:33Speaker 3: the Eagles, one with the Rams as well as Kris
- 19:36Speaker 3: Shula takes over for Raheem Morris. You have the Rams
- 19:39Speaker 3: at twelve, Eric, that's up eighteen from week one where
- 19:42Speaker 3: everyone thought they were tanking.
- 19:45Speaker 4: Yeah.
- 19:45Speaker 5: If I put you at thirty, thirty one or thirty
- 19:47Speaker 5: two and next year's power rankings, is a good chance
- 19:49Speaker 5: for going up because I underestimated the Rams and what
- 19:53Speaker 5: they could do defensively. I mean Byron Young, Kobe Turner,
- 19:56Speaker 5: two great picks for them. Special teams were a mess,
- 19:58Speaker 5: but it didn't really cost them too much. They were
- 20:00Speaker 5: able to salvage a three and six start and make
- 20:03Speaker 5: the playoffs. This is success, great coaching from Sean McVay.
- 20:06Speaker 5: You know, Stafford's back for another year, and you know
- 20:09Speaker 5: maybe has some magic with with Cooper Cup and the
- 20:12Speaker 5: KUPA and all these weapons. But there's still a need
- 20:15Speaker 5: I think to build up both sides of the ball,
- 20:17Speaker 5: and I would say the defense would maybe be the
- 20:19Speaker 5: one that they focus on. But my question is, too
- 20:22Speaker 5: do they consider drafting a quarterback early? Given Stafford's age
- 20:25Speaker 5: and injury history, that's just gonna be one of those
- 20:27Speaker 5: interesting little little debates we have this offseason.
- 20:30Speaker 3: They did it last year with Stetson Bennett not early,
- 20:32Speaker 3: but they took him, and at the work out, Stetson's
- 20:34Speaker 3: working through some stuff and who knows.
- 20:37Speaker 2: Obviously who the next man up would be.
- 20:39Speaker 3: Finally, here in this segment, the Jaguars who opened at nine,
- 20:42Speaker 3: they finished at sixteen.
- 20:43Speaker 2: Another team. Eric were like, I don't.
- 20:45Speaker 5: Know, yeah, and I don't know really even about Trevor Lawrence,
- 20:50Speaker 5: Like this is supposed to be the number one known
- 20:52Speaker 5: quantity of.
- 20:52Speaker 3: This team this year. Yeah, they side, they don't have to.
- 20:57Speaker 4: They don't have to. They could.
- 20:59Speaker 5: This is the opening of the window to sign them
- 21:01Speaker 5: to an extension. I wonder if they don't take the
- 21:04Speaker 5: two attack of Iloa approached with the Dolphins there where
- 21:06Speaker 5: they say, let's just wait because if you look at
- 21:09Speaker 5: the numbers, and I'm only using him because he was
- 21:11Speaker 5: with Doug Peterson, but go check out Carson Wentz his
- 21:14Speaker 5: first three years. Then look at Trevor Lawrence's numbers. Is
- 21:16Speaker 5: a boy, you know, eerily similar in some ways. And
- 21:20Speaker 5: I'm just saying the turnovers and Trevor knowses have to
- 21:23Speaker 5: stop that killed him down the stretch, that derailed a
- 21:26Speaker 5: potentially very good season.
- 21:28Speaker 4: So there's a lot of promise here. I just am worried.
- 21:30Speaker 5: Whether they can get that momentum back, especially with I think,
- 21:34Speaker 5: you know, the tech improving Colts other teams.
- 21:37Speaker 4: It's not a joke of a division anymore.
- 21:39Speaker 2: It's not a division.
- 21:40Speaker 3: Is infinitely better right now than we thought it was
- 21:43Speaker 3: going to be Week number one coming up next on
- 21:46Speaker 3: the NFL Power Ranking show for is hated by Energizer.
- 21:48Speaker 3: The Bears control the draft, do they control the off
- 21:50Speaker 3: season power rankings? How big of a leap could they
- 21:53Speaker 3: make in two months?
- 21:55Speaker 2: Coming up?
- 22:03Speaker 3: All right, let's get the other teams in here. The
- 22:05Speaker 3: NFL Power Ranking shoppers out of by Energizer. The Colts
- 22:07Speaker 3: are up twelve, they finish at seventeen, Bengals down thirteen,
- 22:10Speaker 3: they finish at eighteen, and then the Seahawks, the Raiders,
- 22:13Speaker 3: the Bears, the Vikings, the Broncos, and the Jets. Eric
- 22:17Speaker 3: let's focus on the team at twenty one, the Chicago Bears.
- 22:20Speaker 3: They have two top ten picks, including number one. If
- 22:23Speaker 3: we were to do this after the draft, they might
- 22:25Speaker 3: be a lot higher than twenty one.
- 22:27Speaker 4: I agree, Yeah, I mean, let's see where all the
- 22:29Speaker 4: dust settles.
- 22:29Speaker 5: But I mean, I think the feeling I have right
- 22:32Speaker 5: now is that Justin Fields is a trade candidate and
- 22:34Speaker 5: then they're gonna use that number one pick or possibly
- 22:36Speaker 5: move down. You never know, right, but one of those
- 22:38Speaker 5: high picks on a quarterback in this draft. So whether
- 22:41Speaker 5: it's you know, Williams, whether it's May, whether it's Daniels,
- 22:45Speaker 5: I think one of those top three guys ends up
- 22:48Speaker 5: in Chicago, and they'll be fascinating to see how quickly
- 22:51Speaker 5: they can integrate, how much they can get out of
- 22:53Speaker 5: the Field's trade and keep bolstering this this team. I
- 22:56Speaker 5: still think that you know, they could go wide receiver
- 23:00Speaker 5: at nine, but they really got to get the infrastructure
- 23:02Speaker 5: of this team in good shape as well, like I said,
- 23:05Speaker 5: a tough division.
- 23:06Speaker 4: So I'll be fascinated to see if what ends up happening.
- 23:08Speaker 4: I don't know.
- 23:09Speaker 5: It's one of these great debates that until we year.
- 23:11Speaker 4: I think we'll be be lingering all off season.
- 23:13Speaker 2: And when you say trade candidate, you don't mean trunk
- 23:16Speaker 2: candidate the former rams.
- 23:18Speaker 4: Yeah, that's right.
- 23:19Speaker 2: How about that? All right, the Jets are twenty four.
- 23:21Speaker 3: Look, if Aaron Rodgers plays well and he's healthy again,
- 23:23Speaker 3: they could be a lot higher some point next year.
- 23:26Speaker 5: Yeah, it's a risky obviously proposition rolling it back right,
- 23:30Speaker 5: what you wanted to do is like last year was
- 23:32Speaker 5: a giant false start. Now, you know Rogers coming off
- 23:35Speaker 5: the Achilles. I know he was practicing at the end
- 23:37Speaker 5: of the year and looks to be on a good
- 23:39Speaker 5: track health lives, but going to be forty one in December, Like,
- 23:42Speaker 5: that's something they have to factor in. And what he
- 23:45Speaker 5: Johnson said it they need a backup quarterback. So sorry Zach,
- 23:48Speaker 5: sorry Trevor Simon, whoever's still on the roster. They need
- 23:51Speaker 5: somebody else behind Rogers. Is that a rookie? Is that
- 23:54Speaker 5: a veteran? You know how they handle that? I mean,
- 23:57Speaker 5: so much pressure on Robert Sala and Joe Douglas right
- 23:59Speaker 5: now to get the right formula while using the same
- 24:03Speaker 5: template they did last year. I just there's a lot
- 24:05Speaker 5: of risk there. But if it works, praise to them
- 24:08Speaker 5: and they deserve their flowers.
- 24:09Speaker 3: Yeah, the second overall pick in the draft, Zach Wilson
- 24:13Speaker 3: and Woody Johnson said on the Red carpet.
- 24:16Speaker 2: We didn't have a backup quarterback class. Oh oh boy.
- 24:19Speaker 3: All right, the end of the rankings. We have some
- 24:21Speaker 3: final numbers here for you. The bottom of the barrel.
- 24:24Speaker 3: The Chargers with the new head coach, they'd be moving up.
- 24:27Speaker 3: The Titans, the Falcons, the Giants, the Cardinals, the Patriots
- 24:30Speaker 3: A thirty eight, the Commanders, and then the Carolina Panthers. Hey, Eric,
- 24:35Speaker 3: you're a saint. You're writing the long article every week
- 24:38Speaker 3: and then allowing me to sit here and poke holes
- 24:41Speaker 3: in it.
- 24:42Speaker 2: Thank you for everything you do. Appreciate you, my friend.
- 24:45Speaker 4: Thank you to you, and thanks for all our viewers
- 24:47Speaker 4: this year. It was a pleasure. I love doing the
- 24:49Speaker 4: Power Rankings and I hope to do it again next year.
- 24:51Speaker 4: So for the student.
- 24:54Speaker 3: If you watched us on the Fast channel of the TV,
- 24:56Speaker 3: thank you to you. If you listen to us on
- 24:57Speaker 3: the podcast, hey keep subscribing. We're going to come back
- 24:59Speaker 3: in the off season. Do other episodes. Draft whatever. I'm Andrew.
- 25:02Speaker 3: That's Eric bye buying.
- 25:10Speaker 1: NFL Power Rankings is a production of the NFL in
- 25:12Speaker 1: partnership with iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the
- 25:16Speaker 1: iHeartRadio app Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts