Latest / The Tailgate Cam Podcast / Brandon Ogden joins the Tailgate! MLB Trade Deadline Recap, Winners, Losers, + NFC East Preview and Predictions

Transcript

Brandon Ogden joins the Tailgate! MLB Trade Deadline Recap, Winners, Losers, + NFC East Preview and Predictions · The Tailgate Cam Podcast

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_02: On this episode of the Tailgate podcast, we are proud to announce our new sponsor, Death Charts, the most innovative site to track player movements, ratings, where those NFL players stack up on their own teams, and they also have some pretty awesome custom team merch.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_02: I like to think of it as PFF meeting our lads, but with a little bit more depth.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_02: Check them out at death dash charts dot com or depth underscore charts on Twitter and Instagram.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_02: It is I, your host, Cameron Clark, and we are back for another great edition of the Tailgate, where we will be joined by a good friend of mine, Brandon Ogden, later on.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_02: First, let's hit some notes.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_02: Starting in the NFL, a couple deals have been signed.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_02: Guys are fine in the bags, and they are filled with cash.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_02: Most notably, star stud all-pro running back, B.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_02: John Robinson signed a three-year$75 million extension with the Atlanta Falcons, locking him in to Atlanta as their lead playmaker.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_02: It's clear that Kevin Stefanski, their new head coach, has big intentions for B.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_02: John Robinson moving forward in his offense in his first year at the helm for the Atlanta Falcons.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_02: If you play fantasy football, this is a great sign that Kevin Stefansky is committed to Bichon, that he is a major part of the plans if he wasn't, if that wasn't already obvious enough.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_02: But Bichon signs a three-year$75 million extension.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_02: Couple other deals that were doled out in the last uh few days.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_02: Zay Flowers, four years,$140 million.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_02: Don't know that I necessarily love the money.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_02: I like the player, don't love the player.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_02: I do feel like there are some guys, especially some of the younger guys that the Ravens have drafted, most notably Jacoby Lane, that could end up taking a large target share from the Baltimore Ravens.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_02: And then our other big signing right tackle for the Chicago Bears, Darnell Wright, signed a four-year$114 million extension as well.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_02: So if you like Caleb Williams, if you like the Chicago Bears, you are happy that his uh right tackle is locked up, secured, ready to go.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_02: One quick NBA note Najee Marshall signed a$76 million three-year extension with the Dallas Mavericks.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_02: And in the UFC, we have a major announcement uh for UFC 331.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_02: Several fights were announced over the weekend.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_02: As always, UFC does a lot of their matchmaking on Tuesdays following their events.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_02: In 331, we have some great fights on that card.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_02: So the main event for 331.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_02: Let's see, it is Joshua Van versus Alexander Pantoja and a flyweight championship bounce.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_02: So that's going to be five rounds for the UFC flyweight title.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_02: This is actually a rematch.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_02: Um, we have we have already seen Joshua Van and Alexander Pantoja fight before, but uh if you remember or if you're not familiar, um Pantoja actually injured his arm pretty pretty early in that fight.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_02: I want to say it was in the second round, but it was early on in that fight.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so this is a uh do over to that fight, giving Pantoja a chance to challenge for that flyweight championship.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_02: Armand Sixurian is fighting Charles Olivera, Charles Dubronc's Olivera, as I should introduce him by his proper title.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_02: Um, that's a great lightweight uh division matchup.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_02: Obviously, Oliveira is not what he was several years ago, but he is still an electric fighter.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_02: Armand Sixarian is a is a great lightweight, um, good matchup.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_02: Marlon Vera is fighting Charles Jordan and in the Bantamweight division.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_02: And another notable fight that I I picked off that card from the announcements today is Brian Ortega against Renato Moicano in the lightweight division.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_02: Another matchup that I'm just really intrigued to see how that plays out.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_02: UFC 335 331, excuse me, looks like it's going to be an absolute banger.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_02: And some soccer notes, real quick.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_02: We did mention the other day that uh it was rumored that Mauricio Pocatino had agreed to an extension to be the coach of the United States soccer team, and that is official today.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, as a as the day of this recording, he signed a four-year extension, which that means for anyone that might not be aware, that means that he will be the coach for the United States in the next World Cup in 2030.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_02: So that's great.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, we talked about it in depth on the last pod.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, but having him at the helm, I think it's only good things for the United States soccer team.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_02: He got us a knockout win against Bosnia.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_02: Um, we were pretty dominant in the group stage.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_02: So I'm I'm thrilled that Mauricio is back and secured through 2030.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_02: And then another piece of news for the U.S.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_02: men's national team.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_02: I would call him a star.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know if everybody would call him a star.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but Gio Reina has left Borisio Mulgenglavbach, and that is in Germany.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_02: He's so he has left uh his professional club in Germany and gone over to RC Strasbourg in France.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_02: So Gio Reyna has made a move from Germany over to France, kind of a big deal there.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_02: The Tailgate podcast is excited to welcome in our second guest, Brandon Ogden.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_02: Brandon, how are we doing?
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I gotta be honest.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_00: Um, a little disappointed, and we could take this offline that I'm the second guest of the show.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_00: I definitely should have been first.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_02: And it was a minor scheduling error.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_00: That's all yeah.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_02: Brandon, uh, you do you want to share with the tailgate how we met, or should I uh happy to.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_00: We were randomly selected roommates in college.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, your other co-host of the Tiger Diggs, Trey Lessio, screwed up.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, he screwed up our apartment selection.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_00: So he picked a solo dolo apartment, and so we had to scramble into a random four-person apartment, which worked out because it ended up being us three and then our good friend Chase.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_00: So it worked out for the better, but that is that is how we met.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_02: And Brandon and I uh have a lot of shared interests from movies and music, obviously sports.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, Brandon, like who are some of your favorite teams, favorite sports?
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_02: Like, give give the tailgate an overview of what it interests you as a sports fan.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I I watch pretty much everything.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I'm uh born and raised in the great state of Iowa.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_00: So I am a Hawkeye through and through.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, my very first love in life were the Chicago Cubs, um, which is also from Des Moines, which is where their triple A team is located.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so grew up on WGN watching the Cubs every day.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, my wife is still mad about that because of I have the Cubs on every single night, and she's like, I'm so sick of baseball.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_00: When does this end?
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, so that's the baseball team.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_00: Uh unfortunately, I followed my dad's route and became a Dallas Cowboys fan, which is like really cool for his generation.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_00: For my generation, they're like, You're a bandwagoner, and I'm like, of what?
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_00: We have been the laughing stock of the NFL for so long.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_00: So that hasn't been great for me either.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_00: And then uh I used to be a lot more into hockey.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, I have a young son, so a little bit harder to follow hockey for '82, uh, but definitely a Chicago Blackhawks fan and and watch the Blackhawks when I can as well.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_00: And then I went to the same high school as Caitlin Clark, so definitely been into the WNBA and the Indiana fever as well.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_00: So shout out to my wife.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, shout out to Caitlin Clark.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_02: Um, awesome, that was great.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_02: Um, yesterday concluded as the time of this recording.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_02: Yesterday concluded um the MLB trade deadline, and we saw I don't know if we really saw like big moves other than the scuba trade, but we saw a lot of interesting moves that I think make certain teams a lot better.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_02: We saw a lot of teams, even some teams that I like the pirates come to mind right offhand that were a little bit more aggressive than I anticipated.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I'll just kind of read off some of the bigger names, and then we can kind of dive into what our thoughts were.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_02: So obviously the Scoobal to the to the Dodgers was the headliner.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_02: Some of the others, Casey Myes was traded to the San Diego Padres from the Detroit Tigers, Lars Newbar to the Diamondbacks, Clay Holmes, Kevin Gossman, um, and a few relievers to the Cubs.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_02: And uh Adley Rutschman was traded to the Boston Red Sox, um, on and on.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_02: So there were quite a few bigger names, but not necessarily like the big impacts that we sometimes see the deadline.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_02: Did you feel like there was anything that happened yesterday where you really think better or worse of any certain team today than you did yesterday?
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_00: Uh you know, for the deadline, there wasn't that one like play like Mason Miller a couple years ago.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, I'm trying to think of some of like the big shockers that came out of nowhere.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_00: It feels like all the guys that were traded were kind of rumored to be traded.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_00: So it kind of fell flat from that, but there was a flurry of moves.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_00: I think two teams that like my opinion changed for the better is obviously the Dodgers getting Scoobyl.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_00: Like they were already the best team in baseball.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_00: Now you add, in my opinion, the best pitcher.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_00: It's hard not to be like, yeah, that's pretty impactful.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_00: And then um, I'm usually pretty objective when it comes to my teams, but the Cubs getting Gosman and uh for me Clay Holmes, just two guys that are veterans that have playoff experience for how injured and you know, not top line the Cubs pitching rotation is uh is right now, um, definitely changes my opinion of what they can be come October.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_00: And then the two like teams that I one of them I think is a true contender.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_00: The other one, just given where the American League is at, I thought they should have been more aggressive was the Astros.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_00: Uh they did nothing, and like right now they're leading the West.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, they're playing really good baseball right now.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_02: I actually saw a tweet today that there was only one team that was not involved in a prospect trade, didn't acquire or deal a prospect, and it was the Houston Astros.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and then they had the weird trade where like they agreed to get was a uh Walner or Larnack from the Twins, and their owner like nixed it.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_00: And so I just I don't know what they're in a weird spot where like they have a couple of like aging vets, but then some young talent underneath, and I just I don't know what the game plan is for them.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_00: And again, with the AL being so weak, it felt like a couple of moves, and they could have been right up there with some of the top teams come the playoffs.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_00: Sue, that's a great point.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_00: Great call there.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_00: And then the other one is actually the Cubs' biggest rattler right now, which is the Brewers.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_00: Um pitching bullpen, like I you feel really good about the Brewers, as you do every year.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_00: They work because over 162, their lineup is they're gonna find the random guys that are gonna have some pop, they're gonna get on base, they're gonna run the base as well.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_00: But everybody knows in playoff baseball, you've got to have multiple guys that can take you deep.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_00: You've got to be able to get on base, knock those guys in.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_00: And I just don't know that they have enough of the big bats.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_00: Like Christian Yelich is he's not the Christian Yelich that won MVP, and so them not getting any type of bat to really bolster that lineup.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_00: I I feel like it just I've never truly believed the Brewers are like World Series caliber good.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_00: I agree, just kind of reaffirms that for me.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, they're they're kind of in a weird place, and I they were one of the teams that I actually picked out over the weekend of a team that I would like to see make moves.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_02: Like they took over the best record in baseball over the weekend.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_02: They I think they still have the best record in baseball because the Dodgers got swept over the weekend, um, and they lost to the Cubs last night.
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_02: Um so yeah, I'm right there with you.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_02: I totally agree.
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_02: I would have liked to see the Brewers, and no shot against the Cubs, but I would have liked to see the Brewers make more moves and try to capitalize on what feels like a chance to contend.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_02: Um But that being said, I know you mentioned the Cubs, I know you mentioned the Dodgers.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_02: Would you do you think one of those teams, if you had to pick one, who had the best trade deadline?
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_00: Well, just because of quantity, it would be the Cubs, but the Dodgers were also in a position of strength of we have the best roster in baseball, so it's not like we need to go make a bunch of moves.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_00: Even someone like Bubic that they got from the Royals, you just know there's gonna be a playoff game where he's gonna give them like three and a third and strike out like six and just piss everybody off.
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_00: Because it's like, oh, we just got this guy for nobody.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_00: So, like when you have Otani, Freeman, Betts who's not even playing very well, Muncie, uh Tucker who's not playing well, Pajes, who's been really good, uh, you know, their one through 12 starting rotation that they can only select five of, right?
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_00: Like, they didn't need to go make a bunch of moves.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_00: They're just playing in the top-end market, uh, which, you know, means you get school and you get to add that to the to the monster roster you already have.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_02: One other question I want to ask before we pick our best move, our favorite moves, I guess I should say, is I think about this a lot more as an adult, like having an adult job.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_02: And I think about players moving from city to city or like the perception that they have amongst media or their teammates or clubhouses.
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_02: Is there any one player you feel like is well positioned compared to the team that they were on, on the new team that they're on, to really change like the media perception of them or the fan perception of them, or kind of all the above?
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_00: I think two probably come to mind.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_00: One would be your guy Luis Garcia, just because going like no one's watched the Nationals the last three or four years just because they've been so bad.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and he's been a really good hitter for quite a while now, and so going to the New York media market, but also to a lineup that's just desperate for hitting, like desperate for it.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I think you know that that's going to help him from a market value standpoint.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and I think you're gonna see a change in perception on him.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_00: The other one that I don't know that his perception's going to change, but I wonder if it's going to be a shot in the arm and then mix in the fact that he's going to a team where they actually can hit and score runs would be Luis Castillo.
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_00: I'm kind of out on him.
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know that he's got much left in the tank, but Seattle did you no favors when like you give up one or two runs and it feels like you're gonna lose?
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_00: That's a lot of pressure.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_00: Does does the mindset change where okay, I gave up two, but our team can go score like seven in an inning?
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_00: Like, does that free him up to go back to kind of that early Seattle, late Cincinnati run that we saw from him to maybe put together not what he was, but some like productive innings and give them some meaningful starts because they're in desperate need of some some rotation help?
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that's a that's a great call.
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm just gonna kind of piggyback on two teams that you've already called out and both happened to be in the same city.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_02: The two teams that I thought had the most impactful deadline in terms of improving the quality of their roster, I think both of them occupied the city of Chicago.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_02: The Chicago White Sox and the Chicago Cubs both made pretty aggressive moves, and more so aggressive, I would say, from the White Sox, because I wasn't really expecting them to make as many moves as they did.
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but even like an under-the-radar move, like a Brenton Doyle, is a guy that I like because if you bring him back where he's not in a lineup where there's only one other guy that hits regularly, um I think that really could help him be back to what he looked like last year and at the end of the year before.
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and the Cubs, obviously, you you touched on Clay Holmes, and I'm actually gonna highlight Kevin Gosman here in a second.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_02: I I was a fan of both of those moves.
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_02: I know uh the Romas uh prospect that the covers the Cubs gave up was a more highly regarded prospect, but given where the Cubs are, and baseball's so weird, it's not like other sports.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_02: I I think if you get hot and you have a good collection of players, you can upset teams pretty easily in the playoffs.
• 18:25
  SPEAKER_02: Like it's not like the Dodgers are locked in once the playoffs begin.
• 18:29
  SPEAKER_02: So I like the aggression from both of those teams to really bolster their roster.
• 18:33
  SPEAKER_02: So let's with that all being said, let's draft our you know, three favorite moves.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_02: So I'll let you go first.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_02: What was the best move you thought from the deadline?
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and like I wish I could think of a better like A1, but it's scoobable to the Dodgers.
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, it when he's right, he's the best pitcher in baseball.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_00: And I honestly don't even know that it's all that close, especially with what we've seen from schemes uh this year.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_00: So getting him, like the other thing you think about too is with him with Yamamoto, like as your top two, it's not just that you're getting elite starting pitching, it's that now you're also saving your bullpen for when you need them.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_00: And so if they're going six, seven, eight, all you're doing is then all I have to do is use if it's a close game, one or two of my top end relievers for blowing them out.
• 19:27
  SPEAKER_00: I can bring in, you know, a flood guy uh for the last couple.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_00: And so all they're doing is just stretching out their bullpen over a playoff series.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_00: So uh, I mean, it's just I wish they didn't get him.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_00: I wish he went to any other team, but that pound for pound is the best move.
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_02: Totally agree.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_02: Um, my favorite move since you already got Scoobyl off the list, uh, I already alluded to it.
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_02: It's Kevin Gosman.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_02: Um, he's a veteran.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_02: He's I looked this up earlier.
• 19:57
  SPEAKER_02: He's only had one season in his entire career where he didn't have a positive war, which for a starting pitcher that's been around as long as he has is really remarkable considering that he's been healthy.
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_02: Um, even last year, like playing in deep into the playoffs, he had a 0.91 whip throughout the postseason last year, um, 3.85 ERA throughout his career.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_02: It's almost exactly what his ERA is this year.
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_02: Like he's just a very consistent guy.
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_02: Um, maybe not necessarily like the scuba level talent, but kind of like you said when you touched on the Cubs, it's just another veteran quality pitcher that should help them have an advantage in a playoff series.
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_02: So I love that they made that move.
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_02: I was conversely a little bit confused to turn around and see the Blue Jays then acquire Jose Soriano, but that's kind of a different conversation.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, what was your what was the next move that you really liked?
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I'll piggyback off that with the Cubs again getting Tyrone Taylor and Clay Holmes as a package.
• 20:57
  SPEAKER_00: So originally with the Tyrone Taylor, like as a player, I'm not a huge fan, but when you look at what the Cubs have been running out Ian Happen left field, who's gonna give you gold glove defense, but when they face a lefty, he cannot hit right-handed as a switch shooter.
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_00: It's he'd think he has one of the worst averages as a right-handed uh hitter.
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_00: And so Tyrone Taylor's like one redeeming quality, in my opinion, is that he mashes lefties.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_00: And so getting another bat to go against lefties is big.
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_00: He can pinch hit, do all of that.
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_00: It's a good like platoon option with Conforto, uh, when they're you know giving spelling guys, giving guys day off.
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_00: And then with Clay Holmes, and it's similar to the Gossman deal, is it's not just about getting veterans, guys that throw strikes, guys that have been in the playoffs.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_00: It's also pairing that with the Cubs defense.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_00: The Cubs have by and far the best defense in Major League Baseball.
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_00: Both of those guys get a lot of ground balls, the Cubs infield is.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: Is again, it's not there's not even really a close second when you look at Dansby, Nico, Bregman at third, those three are freaking incredible.
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_00: Bush is one of the more underrated defensive first basemen.
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_00: And so it's not just about getting that veteran experience, it's about what that also does for them coming to the Cubs, especially for Clay Holmes, who I know he's been injured, but that Mets defense and like everything going on around the Mets has been a disaster.
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, and so getting them with to have that defense behind them, I think it's just going to make them and elevate them even more.
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_02: Totally agree.
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_02: Um, it's kind of a funny thing about the Clay Holmes trade, is that he's been on the injured list for uh a little over a month, I want to say, maybe maybe closer to two months.
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_02: But as soon as this trade was announced, it was like, oh, he's good, he'll be all right pretty soon.
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_02: He was making a react start.
• 22:53
  SPEAKER_00: The other thing I'll say too, I and I know you talked about Rojas, the Cubs like second best prospect that they gave up.
• 22:59
  SPEAKER_00: If you look at where the Cubs are really strong right now, it's their infield.
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_00: Nico's signed to a long-term deal, Dansby's got a couple years left, Bregman signed, I think, a five-year deal.
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_00: Bush isn't going anywhere.
• 23:11
  SPEAKER_00: So, like from an infield perspective, they were they're pretty set at the major league level.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_00: And then Pedro Ramirez is a guy they've called up that's been amazing for the last month.
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, one of their other top prespects, uh, Triantos is up right now.
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_00: So they were really dealing from a position of strength there.
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_00: So I wasn't even like too concerned about you know what they gave up.
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_02: That's totally fair.
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, the next move that I want to highlight is a guy that I've paid a little bit more attention to this year.
• 23:39
  SPEAKER_02: Um, he's gotten some extended run with the Marlins.
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_02: Um, just moves across the state um from east coast to west coast of the state of Florida, and that's Liam Hicks.
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, the Rays were basically 16th or worse in almost every category that a catcher can be ranked in.
• 23:59
  SPEAKER_02: OPS, homers, average, on base percentage, all at least 16th or worst.
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_02: And Liam Hicks leads baseball in terms of catchers and average uh and OPS, which I thought was kind of startling.
• 24:12
  SPEAKER_02: And he still has 14 homers, like he's not a guy that has no pop.
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_02: So he's not the best defensive catcher, but I just think from an offensive perspective, uh, an area where the Rays love to lean into guys that get on base, I just think it makes so much sense for them to have a guy that doesn't just stop the lineup.
• 24:31
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, I just really and for the value that they traded for him, I I thought it was a great addition.
• 24:37
  SPEAKER_02: So uh give us one more move that you really thought stood out.
• 24:41
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and again, it's not necessarily about the player, but what they can bring, that's Joe Adele to the Guardians.
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_00: When you think about the Guardians in the playoffs, uh, they have a rotation that can match just about any team's rotation, especially in the AL.
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_00: It's always going to come down to, or it feels like it always comes down to is Jose Ramirez gonna hit two home runs or not?
• 25:04
  SPEAKER_00: And like, if not, well, then we probably lost.
• 25:07
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, and so what they needed is someone that can really provide some protection for Jose Ramirez and some pop.
• 25:14
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and Odell, Adele's not a guy who's ever gonna hit for a high average, he's like a 230, 240 type hitter.
• 25:21
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, but last year hit what almost 40 bombs, drove in almost 100.
• 25:26
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, you know, again, I don't necessarily love every aspect of Joe Adele, but that lineup was just starving for some pop.
• 25:34
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and so I really like that move for the Guardians.
• 25:37
  SPEAKER_00: Again, you're grading it on the scale of where the AL's at.
• 25:41
  SPEAKER_00: And it's just there's not a clear favorite in the AL right now.
• 25:46
  SPEAKER_02: That's that's a that's a great move to call out.
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_02: A guy that was a former top prospect from the Angels, got off to a really shaky start, to start his career, and really has turned into you know a reliable big league, big league player.
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_02: Um, the last guy that I kind of want to highlight, kind of similar situation to Abdell almost, but from a pitching perspective, a top prospect with the Tigers.
• 26:10
  SPEAKER_02: Um, was he the first pick of the draft, Casey Mice?
• 26:13
  SPEAKER_02: He was, out of all the yeah.
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_02: Um top pick in the draft.
• 26:17
  SPEAKER_02: Um really has turned his career around this year.
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_02: He had a 2.7 ERA, an under-a-one whip.
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_02: Uh and the Padres have gone on a little bit of a hot streak recently, which really positioned them to be able to be aggressive at the deadline.
• 26:33
  SPEAKER_02: Because I would say two weeks ago it felt like they were gonna maybe trade Mason Miller, maybe trade some of their other bullpen pieces, and then they turned into buyers at the deadline, which I was a fan of.
• 26:45
  SPEAKER_02: So Casey Myers, I think, fits in well into what the Padres are trying to do.
• 26:49
  SPEAKER_02: If they're gonna push for a wild card, I just like getting another arm that's hot right now.
• 26:54
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, I think that makes a lot of sense for them in that wild card race.
• 26:57
  SPEAKER_02: Any last thoughts or major takeaways that you want to leave us with for the MLB trade deadline?
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_00: I just don't know that much like has objectively changed, uh, just based off the talent that was actually traded.
• 27:12
  SPEAKER_00: Like it was always the Dodgers as the favorite.
• 27:15
  SPEAKER_00: That's not really changed.
• 27:16
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know much has changed in the AL.
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_00: So I don't know that just because there wasn't that top end being dealt, that like much has changed for what expectations are for a number of the teams that are playoff caliber.
• 27:30
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, no, I I'm right there with you.
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_02: Um, all right.
• 27:35
  SPEAKER_02: Well, the reason that Brandon is on this podcast, one Brandon's a big baseball fan, so I thought it made sense for him to come in and talk about the trade deadline.
• 27:44
  SPEAKER_02: But as Brandon already told everybody, he's a Dallas Cowboys fan, and today we are talking about the NFC East, where the Dallas Cowboys, for anybody that doesn't know, they play football in the NFC East.
• 27:57
  SPEAKER_02: So Brandon's excited to give us all of his Cowboys takes.
• 28:01
  SPEAKER_02: We're gonna run through each one of the four teams in the NFC East.
• 28:05
  SPEAKER_02: For anybody that doesn't know, that's the Commanders, the Cowboys, the Eagles, and the New York Giants.
• 28:11
  SPEAKER_02: So let's start with the Commanders.
• 28:13
  SPEAKER_02: Um, their win total right now is set at seven and a half.
• 28:16
  SPEAKER_02: They finished in third place in this division last year.
• 28:20
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, Jaden Daniels suffered two different injuries.
• 28:23
  SPEAKER_02: The second one ultimately caused him to be out for the, I don't know, the last two or three games of the season.
• 28:29
  SPEAKER_02: Do we feel like he has a good chance to regain what his rookie form looked like, or do you think there's a little bit more of a adjustment curve from being injured last year?
• 28:40
  SPEAKER_02: Or what are your thoughts on Jaden Daniels in the quarterback landscape?
• 28:44
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's so hard to judge, uh, just based off what we've seen rookie year to last year.
• 28:50
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I I think it's gonna come down to do they try to do the design run game that made him so effective.
• 28:59
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, as far as like health, the O-line is like there's some solid players on there.
• 29:05
  SPEAKER_00: I wouldn't say it's a great unit.
• 29:07
  SPEAKER_00: And then when I think about their wide receiver room, I don't know that there's a lot of guys that are gonna win quick.
• 29:15
  SPEAKER_00: And so I'm not sure outside of like the RPO game, are you getting the ball out quick?
• 29:20
  SPEAKER_00: And so, you know, I worry, I do, I worry about his health.
• 29:25
  SPEAKER_00: He's just so skinny, and what we've seen is like you can be mobile in the NFL and you can survive, but the guys that usually survive are the thicker guys, like Russell Wilson, like a Dak Prescott, who's also had concerns, even Mahomes is a little bit squishy, Josh Allen.
• 29:42
  SPEAKER_00: So, like the real skinny guys, you just don't see survive for now 17-game schedules on a consistent basis.
• 29:51
  SPEAKER_00: So I worry a little bit about his long-term outlook just because of the health factor.
• 29:57
  SPEAKER_00: Because talent-wise, he's got it all.
• 29:59
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 30:00
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, the commanders, much like some of the other teams in this division, really struggled on defense last year.
• 30:08
  SPEAKER_02: When I was doing some research for this podcast, three of the five worst defenses in the NFL last year were in the NFC East.
• 30:16
  SPEAKER_02: They played great offense in the year.
• 30:18
  SPEAKER_02: The Commanders, the Cowboys, and the Giants all finished at some spot within the bottom five of defense in the NFL, both in yards and points per game.
• 30:28
  SPEAKER_02: But the commanders desperately tried to bring in new bodies, new faces.
• 30:34
  SPEAKER_02: Leo Chanel, Amique Robertson, they paid a lot of money to the char from the Chargers, Adafa Oway, Calebon Chase on a firmer first round pick.
• 30:43
  SPEAKER_02: They even drafted Sonny Styles out of Ohio State, brought in a new defensive coordinator, Durante Jones, who was very well regarded in Minnesota.
• 30:52
  SPEAKER_02: Is that enough?
• 30:54
  SPEAKER_00: Is that how many of those guys are impactful?
• 30:57
  SPEAKER_00: Like, if you look at their defensive like depth chart, there's not a lot that stands out.
• 31:03
  SPEAKER_00: Like, you could probably make the argument that Sonny Styles, day one's their best defensive player, and that's just because he's a stud, there's a lot of versatility.
• 31:12
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I have a lot of takes on Dan Quinn.
• 31:15
  SPEAKER_00: Dan Quinn will usually at least put individual guys in the best possible spot that they can be in.
• 31:22
  SPEAKER_00: I just don't know that they have enough like top-end talent from a defensive standpoint to really hold up, which means DQ's gonna be blitzing a lot, which means it's gonna be a lot of one-on-ones.
• 31:34
  SPEAKER_00: You're gonna get some sacks, you might force a couple turnovers, but you're also gonna get hit for some bombs if one guy missed breaks a tackle.
• 31:42
  SPEAKER_02: If you were the commanders, would you have taken Sonny Styles in the top 10?
• 31:47
  SPEAKER_00: I would have traded out and tried to get a bunch of draft picks if that were me.
• 31:52
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, I just as someone who really likes Sonny Styles going into the process, he was linked to the Cowboys quite a bit.
• 31:59
  SPEAKER_00: Uh off-ball linebacker, and I know he provides you some versatility.
• 32:04
  SPEAKER_00: I it's just not going to ever change your defense in a meaningful enough way in the top 10.
• 32:10
  SPEAKER_02: Dan Quinn now enters his third year with the Commanders.
• 32:15
  SPEAKER_02: He came in the the year that they drafted Jaden Daniels.
• 32:18
  SPEAKER_02: Would you say that he is on a short leash this year?
• 32:21
  SPEAKER_02: Would is he going into this on a hot seat?
• 32:24
  SPEAKER_02: If not, should he be?
• 32:25
  SPEAKER_02: Should he not be?
• 32:26
  SPEAKER_02: What's what's the temperature for him?
• 32:28
  SPEAKER_00: I think because of the injury last year, it probably doesn't really matter what happens this year.
• 32:35
  SPEAKER_00: But I'll just tell you, as someone again, that's a Cowboys fan that had DQ as our DC for a while.
• 32:42
  SPEAKER_00: He was really good when they went up against teams where we just had more talent, and you could overwhelm the other teams with just that talent.
• 32:50
  SPEAKER_00: When we went up against offenses that had equal or sometimes even better talent than we did, we looked lost.
• 32:59
  SPEAKER_00: And so I've never been a huge fan of him as like a true defensive coordinator.
• 33:05
  SPEAKER_00: He's a great like guys guy, and he's great in the locker room, and I get all of that, but he also is someone that wants to have his hands on the defense, he wants to call plays, he wants to be involved like day to day with the defense.
• 33:20
  SPEAKER_00: So I hope by bringing in a new DC, like he's pulling himself out of that because I I'm not a huge fan of what he does, like from a down-to-down basis as a DC.
• 33:32
  SPEAKER_00: So, like for this year, we'll talk about where I think they'll they'll fall.
• 33:38
  SPEAKER_00: But the schedule's tough, especially the second half of the season.
• 33:42
  SPEAKER_00: If they go on a long losing streak in the second half, I think the seat gets hot going into next year, but I don't think there's a chance they fire him.
• 33:52
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that's fair.
• 33:54
  SPEAKER_02: One of the position groups that I thought was really interesting, just kind of looking at the commanders, both from like a real football perspective, but also kind of from a fantasy perspective, is their running back room?
• 34:04
  SPEAKER_02: So they have Bill Krosky Merritt still, Rashad White came in from Tampa Bay, Catron Allen they drafted from Penn State, and Jeremy McNichols always just seems to be involved in a few games every year.
• 34:15
  SPEAKER_02: So, what do you think one of these guys is a lead guy this year?
• 34:20
  SPEAKER_02: Do you think three of these guys are playing?
• 34:23
  SPEAKER_02: Like, what what are your thoughts?
• 34:24
  SPEAKER_02: This can be real football, this can be fantasy football.
• 34:27
  SPEAKER_02: Just give me your thoughts on the commander's running back situation.
• 34:32
  SPEAKER_00: It's a bunch of names, none of which I think are special.
• 34:37
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, I'm a Catron Allen fan.
• 34:39
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, I've liked him a lot at Penn State.
• 34:42
  SPEAKER_00: He's just, I think that's the wrong offense for him.
• 34:45
  SPEAKER_00: He's not a zone read, like throw the ball to guy that's singleton from Penn State.
• 34:52
  SPEAKER_00: He's a down the hill, pads forward, kind of run you over, get all of the tough yards.
• 34:58
  SPEAKER_00: And so, like, I just don't love that from a fit standpoint.
• 35:02
  SPEAKER_00: Uh Rashad White's one of those guys that like he's a name everybody knows, and like on paper, he has a lot of the skill set that you want as a running back, but he just you when you watch him, you're just like, Yeah, I I wish he could do a little bit more.
• 35:21
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so it's fine, it's like a you know, it's not a running back room I want any part of from a fantasy standpoint.
• 35:29
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, just because they're probably gonna split carries quite a bit, probably gonna have a couple of injuries just based off those names.
• 35:38
  SPEAKER_00: So like from a fantasy standpoint, I'd be staying away from commanders running backs.
• 35:44
  SPEAKER_02: We're we're gonna list out what we think this this division will fall down as, but their over-under is set at seven and a half.
• 35:52
  SPEAKER_02: I'll go ahead and kind of spoil my prediction for this division.
• 35:55
  SPEAKER_02: I I do this is probably more so a reflection on where I think the NFC is in general, like the bottom of the NFC.
• 36:03
  SPEAKER_02: I do think the commanders have a chance to sneak in as like the seventh team.
• 36:07
  SPEAKER_02: I I do really like Jaden Daniels, and I think if we can see him get healthy and stay healthy, that he can really elevate the floor of the roster and and bring some guys, even like a Bill Krosky Merritt, who's maybe not the most impactful running back, but in a zone read with Jaden Daniels, he's a lot better.
• 36:27
  SPEAKER_02: You know, uh, what do you think?
• 36:29
  SPEAKER_02: Like, if everything goes well, Jaden plays in every game, the defense improves, like, what is the win total ceiling of the commanders this year?
• 36:37
  SPEAKER_00: And I misspoke about their back half.
• 36:39
  SPEAKER_00: It's actually their front half of the schedule, which honestly makes me more nervous because what happens if you get off to the start?
• 36:46
  SPEAKER_00: Their first three games, they're at Philly, at Dallas, home against Seattle.
• 36:50
  SPEAKER_00: Like, that you might be 0-3, you know, a couple winnable games there, but then it's San Fran, home versus Philly, home versus the Rams.
• 36:59
  SPEAKER_00: So, like, you could have two three-game losing streaks in the first half of your season.
• 37:05
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so like that severely limits what your ceiling is from a win-loss record.
• 37:11
  SPEAKER_00: I think maybe they get to seven if everything goes right.
• 37:17
  SPEAKER_02: Nice.
• 37:17
  SPEAKER_02: So you you are you are pretty low on the commanders this year, then.
• 37:21
  SPEAKER_02: I am.
• 37:21
  SPEAKER_00: I just that defense scares the hell out of me.
• 37:25
  SPEAKER_00: You combine like, are we gonna get a full season of uh Jaden?
• 37:29
  SPEAKER_00: Like, yeah, it's a lot of question marks for me.
• 37:34
  SPEAKER_02: Well, let's move a little bit closer to your heart.
• 37:36
  SPEAKER_02: Let's move to the heart of Texas.
• 37:39
  SPEAKER_02: The Dallas Cowboys.
• 37:40
  SPEAKER_02: I think we are both excited to talk about this team.
• 37:45
  SPEAKER_02: Maybe me more so than you.
• 37:47
  SPEAKER_02: Um, they're over under this year set at nine and a half.
• 37:51
  SPEAKER_02: They're entering their second year with head coach Brian Schottenheimer.
• 37:55
  SPEAKER_02: Most of their offense is back, and the big thing that I would like to emphasize is that most of them are healthy, which if you follow the Cowboys, if you follow the NFL, it seems like Dak has never gone into a training camp super healthy.
• 38:09
  SPEAKER_02: Um, some of the big moves for this team, they spent two first-round picks on defense.
• 38:14
  SPEAKER_02: Caleb Downs was the star acquisition.
• 38:17
  SPEAKER_02: You know, the Cowboys don't, you can probably speak to this better than me, but they don't, they're not really the team that spends a bunch of money in free agency.
• 38:25
  SPEAKER_02: If they are gonna make a move, it's gonna be a trade, and it's gonna be probably not at the start of free agency when the value is at the highest.
• 38:34
  SPEAKER_02: Um, they're very smart in the way they dole out their resources, but they did invest in Caleb Downs and Malachi Lawrence from UCF.
• 38:42
  SPEAKER_02: They even took two other defenders in the third round, LT Overton from Alabama, Devin Moore from the University of Florida.
• 38:49
  SPEAKER_02: All four of those guys are guys that I really like.
• 38:52
  SPEAKER_02: So, again, we mentioned on the commander's rundown, every team basically in this division was bad on defense.
• 38:59
  SPEAKER_02: The Cowboys certainly were aggressive in fixing that.
• 39:02
  SPEAKER_02: They obviously went out and got Rashawn Gary.
• 39:05
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but now having Quin and Williams for a full year, having Rashawn Gary for a full year, and having some of these younger, you know, more athletic impact rookies, are you happy with what the Cowboys tried to do on defense, or do you wish they did more?
• 39:20
  SPEAKER_00: No, I'm a big fan of it, honestly.
• 39:23
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I think uh underrated move, a couple of them is D Winters at linebacker, really productive from San Francisco the last couple of years.
• 39:31
  SPEAKER_00: Linebackers have been a spot that outside of overshone has been a nightmare.
• 39:36
  SPEAKER_00: Uh last year we were running Kenneth Murray out there, where if it was power right, he was running to the left.
• 39:41
  SPEAKER_00: If it was counter right, he was running to the left.
• 39:44
  SPEAKER_00: If it was play action, he was tackling the running back.
• 39:47
  SPEAKER_00: So he was a nightmare to watch all year.
• 39:50
  SPEAKER_00: Thank God.
• 39:50
  SPEAKER_00: I don't have to watch that anymore.
• 39:52
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, but then you bring in someone with some experience like Kobe Durant.
• 39:56
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, you get Savone Revel, who I think was the one of the best like peer talent corners last year, who's another year removed from the ACL surgery that he had in college.
• 40:06
  SPEAKER_00: And then safety is another spot where the Cowboys just historically do not put any meaningful resources.
• 40:13
  SPEAKER_00: You talked about drafting downs, but then bringing in some veterans like Jalen Thompson and PJ Locke, uh, just really good depth pieces that this team like severely lacked last year.
• 40:24
  SPEAKER_00: So I think this might be one of those where like the sum is greater than you know the whole of its parts, just because, yeah, outside of like Quinnen Williams is a top 10 defensive player in the NFL.
• 40:38
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe 50, somewhere around there.
• 40:40
  SPEAKER_00: Somewhere definitely in the top 20 for sure.
• 40:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and then it's just a bunch of guys that like haven't you know fully proved it out, but are or have been really solid elsewhere.
• 40:51
  SPEAKER_00: And so I really like what they did.
• 40:53
  SPEAKER_00: And honestly, the biggest acquisition of the offseason outside of Downs might be Christian Parker, their new DC, uh, who was the past game coordinator under Vic Fangio with the Eagles, and like everyone around Cowboys camp right now is talking about the type of communicator he is and what like the different approaches that they're that they're already seeing early on in training camp.
• 41:17
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm super uh excited as a Cowboys fan and like going in with some actual expectation for what this team could be.
• 41:27
  SPEAKER_02: One one of the ways, especially like the more educated you become about football, like it's easy to fall in love with the quarterback, the wide receiver, and you know, all the skilled players and the flash and who scores.
• 41:40
  SPEAKER_02: But an easy way to tell if a team is serious or not is if you look at the big guys that line up up front, how like how scary do they look?
• 41:47
  SPEAKER_02: And this year, I'm just looking across the front of their front four, you know, including their stand-up, but Rashawn Gary, Kenny Clark, Quinnen Williams, and Malachi Lawrence, and even factor in a guy like Devin Ezraku in there.
• 42:00
  SPEAKER_02: That's compared to what the Cowboys have had the last two years, that's such an improvement.
• 42:05
  SPEAKER_02: Even factoring out Micah Parsons, I think that defensive line is more physically imposing.
• 42:11
  SPEAKER_02: I think they are going to be better longer in the games, like in the fourth quarter of games, because it's not just Micah Parsons and you know some other guys basically occupying space next to him.
• 42:24
  SPEAKER_02: I I really like what they have here, and I think there's a lot of room for growth.
• 42:29
  SPEAKER_02: Um, specifically, we've both mentioned his name already, but Caleb Downs.
• 42:33
  SPEAKER_02: What kind of impact do you think a safety can have right away as a rookie?
• 42:39
  SPEAKER_02: Like, is it possible that he can make a humongous impact, or is it really more like week eight?
• 42:44
  SPEAKER_02: And later is really when we'll start to see his name and see him really make flash plays.
• 42:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I was also gonna say about the D-line just quickly.
• 42:52
  SPEAKER_00: Jerry is already flirting with the idea of bringing in Mason Crosby too, uh, or Max Crosby, not Mason, that's a slip-up.
• 43:01
  SPEAKER_00: Max.
• 43:02
  SPEAKER_00: Uh and so you know Jerry loves to make the big deals, so you get someone like that too, and it just takes you to a whole nother level.
• 43:08
  SPEAKER_00: So just something to plug because he's been he's doing the Jerry thing of I've always got to be in the news.
• 43:14
  SPEAKER_00: But sometimes Jerry, when he does that, actually pulls the trigger.
• 43:17
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah so I wouldn't be shocked one way or another.
• 43:20
  SPEAKER_00: As far as downs, so typically safeties for me, it's like they can be a solid player their first year, like Kyle Hamilton type of like just real solid, not make a lot of mistakes, is usually like best case scenario.
• 43:35
  SPEAKER_00: I think for downs, it's a couple of different things.
• 43:38
  SPEAKER_00: One, it's just the versatility of he can play center field, but he's actually probably better down in the box as a tackler, as someone who can cover slot guys, cover tight ends.
• 43:50
  SPEAKER_00: And so it's really for him, it's the versatility of even like playing on like third downs.
• 43:55
  SPEAKER_00: He could play linebacker and provide you like solid.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_00: Pass defense from that spot.
• 44:01
  SPEAKER_00: And so they're already in training camp moving him all around.
• 44:06
  SPEAKER_00: They have a bunch of the players have already been talking about how he's actually the leader of the defense right now and how different he is than any other rookie they've been around.
• 44:15
  SPEAKER_00: And so I always said, like, well before the Cowboys took him that he was the number one player in the draft for me.
• 44:23
  SPEAKER_00: And it was purely just based off I think he's smarter than just about anybody, anybody that was playing college football last year.
• 44:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 44:31
  SPEAKER_00: Because of his versatility, he can make an impact at any level in the game.
• 44:38
  SPEAKER_02: I think the last thing I want to say about Caleb Downs, because you can say a lot of things about him.
• 44:43
  SPEAKER_02: But if you the one thing that I think is the most notable about him is that he played at two schools in college.
• 44:49
  SPEAKER_02: He played at Alabama and Ohio State.
• 44:52
  SPEAKER_02: If you know anything about college football, those are two of the best football teams in college football every year, regardless of some of the upper downs.
• 45:00
  SPEAKER_02: And he was the best player on both of those teams, in my opinion.
• 45:04
  SPEAKER_02: Besides maybe Jeremia Smith, which Jeremia Smith was a freshman and then a sophomore.
• 45:10
  SPEAKER_02: Caleb Downs was the most, at least the most impactful player on both of those colleges.
• 45:16
  SPEAKER_02: And that says a lot to me.
• 45:17
  SPEAKER_02: Like he he went from Alabama to Ohio State, and there was zero drop-off.
• 45:22
  SPEAKER_02: Like he just came in and was automatically their best player.
• 45:26
  SPEAKER_02: So I'm excited to see how he fits.
• 45:29
  SPEAKER_02: Another guy that I love on the Cowboys, though, they brought him back on a franchise tag, is George Pickens.
• 45:35
  SPEAKER_02: We can go ahead and start the Glaze.
• 45:38
  SPEAKER_02: I love CeeDee Lamb.
• 45:40
  SPEAKER_02: He is my wide receiver one this year.
• 45:42
  SPEAKER_02: I think he's gonna have an absolutely monster season, assuming he stays healthy.
• 45:47
  SPEAKER_02: Uh do Pickens and Lamb, are they the best duo of receivers in the NFL?
• 45:53
  SPEAKER_02: Or is it do you look somewhere else when you're thinking of the scariest, you know, one-two punch?
• 45:59
  SPEAKER_02: Uh no, they're the best.
• 46:00
  SPEAKER_00: They're the best combo.
• 46:01
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, you know, he's basically like if you could like almost trade out Jamar and CeeDee, like cancel them out, he's a better version of T.
• 46:11
  SPEAKER_00: Higgins than what T.
• 46:12
  SPEAKER_00: Higgins is.
• 46:13
  SPEAKER_00: Like, they're similar type players, but Pickens is just better.
• 46:17
  SPEAKER_00: Uh and I think that's probably the second best combo, in my opinion, uh, within the NFL.
• 46:24
  SPEAKER_00: Uh Pickens, it's always going to come, it's not a talent problem.
• 46:29
  SPEAKER_00: It's always going to come down to focus and like the mental aspect of it.
• 46:34
  SPEAKER_00: You know, there was a game last year in Detroit where he just like stopped running on a deep ball.
• 46:39
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, he was supposed to run a hitch route and he broke it off and kept going deep, and Dak throws a pick.
• 46:44
  SPEAKER_00: And so it's always you can usually tell on the first drive if it's a good pickings game or a bad bad pickings game.
• 46:52
  SPEAKER_00: And typically it means did you get him the ball on the first series or did you not?
• 46:56
  SPEAKER_00: Because if you did, he's probably gonna be locked in for the rest of the game.
• 47:00
  SPEAKER_00: If you didn't, like strap in because we don't know where this is gonna go.
• 47:04
  SPEAKER_00: And so for him, it's always been about the mental side and just that consistency.
• 47:09
  SPEAKER_00: From all reports, this is the best training camp he's had.
• 47:13
  SPEAKER_00: Uh and they said he's he's looked like a leader in the locker room and doing all the right things on the field.
• 47:19
  SPEAKER_00: So if if he comes to play, like there's not a lot of teams that can stop this offense.
• 47:25
  SPEAKER_02: And normally I would say that I I wouldn't want a receiver playing with the distraction of not having a contract.
• 47:33
  SPEAKER_02: But weirdly enough, I think in Pickens' case, it actually works well for the Cowboys because yeah, with a guy like that that can be can be so easily distracted and like you said, do some of the sillier things, having him know that he's on his last year of his deal the entire season, I think only they may have to pay for it next year and most likely will.
• 47:55
  SPEAKER_02: But I think that only serves them well in getting him to be at his best every day.
• 48:01
  SPEAKER_02: So I I'm right there with you.
• 48:03
  SPEAKER_02: I am so excited to see what CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens can do.
• 48:07
  SPEAKER_02: So we got to talk about the quarterback then.
• 48:09
  SPEAKER_02: So Dak has dealt with some injuries, he's always been a very consistent thrower of the ball.
• 48:15
  SPEAKER_02: At times he's been able to be a little bit more aggressive with his feet, but last year, at least under Schottenheimer, it seemed like they tried to taper a little bit more of that back, probably also to protect more of his lower body.
• 48:28
  SPEAKER_02: What do you think is realistic for what to expect from Dak this year?
• 48:32
  SPEAKER_02: Like, do you think we're gonna get like an MVP caliber performance?
• 48:36
  SPEAKER_02: Do you think it's realistic for him to be like an all-pro bowl kind of player?
• 48:41
  SPEAKER_02: Or do you think it's gonna be kind of like you know, run-of-the-mill, mediocre quarterback play?
• 48:46
  SPEAKER_00: So I think a lot of it's going to like oddly enough come down to their defense.
• 48:51
  SPEAKER_00: If they have just an average defense, then I think Dak can be an MVP candidate.
• 48:56
  SPEAKER_00: I think the last couple of years, they've been chasing points, and it the pressure has solely been on Dak to like if we don't score almost every drive, we're gonna lose.
• 49:06
  SPEAKER_00: And like you scored 35 points and you still lose.
• 49:09
  SPEAKER_00: And so if they can just show that they can be an average defense, get some stops, create some turnovers, and Dak doesn't feel like he has to have everything on his shoulders for every pass, every drive, I think he's MVP caliber.
• 49:24
  SPEAKER_00: Not in the sense of like, I think he's the best quarterback or even like a top five quarterback.
• 49:31
  SPEAKER_00: But one, he's in Dallas, like if you play well, you're automatically going to get all the attention, you know, you're gonna get all of the especially if they're winning.
• 49:41
  SPEAKER_00: Like if they're winning, right?
• 49:43
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you're gonna get every primetime game that you want.
• 49:46
  SPEAKER_00: So if you play really well in all of the primetime games, the voters are watching that.
• 49:52
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, and then you combine that with uh Javante Williams was a big surprise last year.
• 49:58
  SPEAKER_00: CD pickens, Ferguson has shown at times he can be a really reliable tight end.
• 50:03
  SPEAKER_00: They have the weaponry around him to put up a ton of numbers like he has been the last couple of years.
• 50:09
  SPEAKER_00: So I think the ceiling is MVP for Dak.
• 50:13
  SPEAKER_00: Now, does he get there?
• 50:15
  SPEAKER_00: Who knows?
• 50:16
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it's you know, we'll see.
• 50:18
  SPEAKER_00: But I think a lot of that depends on where where the defense is compared to what it's been the last couple of years.
• 50:24
  SPEAKER_02: I'm I'm honestly right there with you.
• 50:25
  SPEAKER_02: We kind of see this playing out similarly.
• 50:29
  SPEAKER_02: It I just want to, before we move on to the next team, any hot takes you you just have tucked away by the Cowboys, like something that most people that don't know about the Cowboys or maybe do know about the Cowboys would be shocked to hear somebody say.
• 50:42
  SPEAKER_00: I think uh all right, this will be my hot take, and I don't even know that I actually believed this.
• 50:50
  SPEAKER_00: Ryan Flanoy will be the second leading receiver of the Dallas Cowboys.
• 50:55
  SPEAKER_00: Whoa!
• 50:56
  SPEAKER_02: Tailgators! You might have to Google who Ryan Flornoy is.
• 51:02
  SPEAKER_02: South SEMO, baby.
• 51:05
  SPEAKER_02: Give us some reason.
• 51:07
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, one out of training camp.
• 51:09
  SPEAKER_00: Everyone's talking about how different his body looks and how much better he's been um practicing.
• 51:15
  SPEAKER_00: He had a really good year last year.
• 51:17
  SPEAKER_00: I don't have the exact uh uh stats in front of me from last year, but there were a couple of games where I think he went over a hundred yards, caught some touchdowns.
• 51:27
  SPEAKER_00: Usually the games where Pickens kind of checked out, like that Lions game, Floridoy was there to pick up the slack uh and just did a lot of the dirty work.
• 51:36
  SPEAKER_00: He's he's going to be their number three wide receiver.
• 51:39
  SPEAKER_00: You have to imagine CD's going to get double teamed almost every game.
• 51:45
  SPEAKER_00: Uh Pickens, maybe they tried to throw safeties over the top of him to give double coverage.
• 51:51
  SPEAKER_00: He's going to get all of the one-on-ones every single week.
• 51:55
  SPEAKER_00: And Dak has shown time over time, like he's gonna throw that seam ball, he's also gonna throw that fade ball, and he doesn't care if you're like five foot six Cavante Turpin.
• 52:05
  SPEAKER_00: He's like, this is where I'm supposed to throw the ball, so this is where I'm throwing it.
• 52:10
  SPEAKER_00: Who was the little white slot receiver?
• 52:12
  SPEAKER_00: Jake Beasley.
• 52:13
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, uh Cole Beasley.
• 52:14
  SPEAKER_02: Cole Beasley, yeah.
• 52:16
  SPEAKER_02: Dak would give him let him fight for it.
• 52:19
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 52:20
  SPEAKER_00: And so like Dak doesn't care about like sometimes you wish he would force feed CD more or force feed pickens more.
• 52:29
  SPEAKER_00: Whatever the right play is, like, that's where he's going to go.
• 52:33
  SPEAKER_00: So Florent is gonna get a lot of opportunity just based off of that.
• 52:39
  SPEAKER_02: Wow.
• 52:39
  SPEAKER_02: Well, that is that is a hot take.
• 52:41
  SPEAKER_02: I was not prepared for that.
• 52:43
  SPEAKER_02: Um, let's move to your favorite team in the NFC East.
• 52:46
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
• 52:46
  SPEAKER_02: The Philadelphia Eagles.
• 52:48
  SPEAKER_02: I know you're excited.
• 52:50
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, their over-under is set at 10 and a half.
• 52:53
  SPEAKER_02: I'm really curious if we see this the same way.
• 52:57
  SPEAKER_02: Um, last year they won the NFC East, but ended up losing in the first round to the San Francisco 49ers.
• 53:03
  SPEAKER_02: Nick Siriani is the head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles, and he is entering his sixth season.
• 53:08
  SPEAKER_02: He is a Super Bowl uh winning coach with the Eagles.
• 53:12
  SPEAKER_02: A lot of chatter about this team, though.
• 53:15
  SPEAKER_02: It feels like from a locker room perspective, it all I already kind of it already feels like they're on a losing streak.
• 53:23
  SPEAKER_02: That's that's kind of the vibe that it gives.
• 53:25
  SPEAKER_02: Like, we're not even into the season yet, and it feels like they have losing streak problems.
• 53:30
  SPEAKER_02: That you know, we could talk about the the Carter stuff.
• 53:35
  SPEAKER_02: They extended Carter, they extended Davis, um, they traded away AJ Brown.
• 53:39
  SPEAKER_02: That's probably the most notable thing that they did this offseason.
• 53:42
  SPEAKER_02: Um, they lost a few other guys, Jalen Phillips, N'Boby Dean, Reed Blank and Chip.
• 53:49
  SPEAKER_02: What are your quick thoughts on just their offseason, like what they did this offseason?
• 53:54
  SPEAKER_02: Do you like what they did?
• 53:55
  SPEAKER_02: Do you think they're better positioned for 2026?
• 53:59
  SPEAKER_00: So I this is one of those where, like, was AJ Brown actually a cancer like in the locker room?
• 54:06
  SPEAKER_00: Do they get better just by not having to deal with all of the antics and like everything that he did to always show up Jalen Hurts that seemed like week in and week out?
• 54:17
  SPEAKER_00: It was just always a soap opera within the locker room.
• 54:21
  SPEAKER_00: The I know when they uh gave Carter the extension, me and you were texting about that.
• 54:26
  SPEAKER_00: To me, one of the most unreliable guys in the NFL is Jalen Carter.
• 54:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 54:31
  SPEAKER_00: Like that's the dude that what was it, week one last year got kicked out of a game because he stole the first time.
• 54:37
  SPEAKER_00: On the first play on Dak pressure.
• 54:39
  SPEAKER_00: Or the second play, I guess.
• 54:40
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, right in front of a ref.
• 54:41
  SPEAKER_00: And then tried to point like Dak did something.
• 54:43
  SPEAKER_00: It was like, you and then you talk about all the immaturity and what caused him to fall at Georgia.
• 54:49
  SPEAKER_00: Like, he's just not a guy that I want long-term commitments to if in my locker room, and I certainly don't want him to be a leader in my locker room, uh, just because uh what kind of leadership are we getting there?
• 55:02
  SPEAKER_00: The thing for the Eagles is there's kind of similar to the Dodgers in the sense of like their top-end talent is about as good as anybody else's in the NFL in terms of like uh sacred, right?
• 55:19
  SPEAKER_00: Uh Cooper Dejean and Quinyan Mitchell might be the best two corner, like corner combo.
• 55:25
  SPEAKER_00: Uh Lane Johnson, who, yeah, he full starts and holds every play, but he's probably the best right tackle in the NFL.
• 55:31
  SPEAKER_00: Uh Mylata, uh uh Landon Dickerson, you could make like those are probably two top five guys at their position.
• 55:39
  SPEAKER_00: Uh Jordan Davis and Jalen Carter on the inside.
• 55:42
  SPEAKER_00: So, like, and then like they get a free agent, Zach Bond, who's never played inside linebacker, who becomes an all-pro.
• 55:48
  SPEAKER_00: And so, like at some of the most important positions, they have a lot of the top-end talent.
• 55:54
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, it's just always felt like between Sirianni and slash Jalen Hurts, like those two probably hold them back more than anything else.
• 56:06
  SPEAKER_00: And so, like, those are always going to be the two wild cards when it comes to the Eagles.
• 56:11
  SPEAKER_00: Is Hurts playing well?
• 56:12
  SPEAKER_00: And is Siriani calling the offense?
• 56:14
  SPEAKER_00: Because we know we're getting hitch slant go balls.
• 56:18
  SPEAKER_02: So they did bring in a number of guys as well.
• 56:21
  SPEAKER_02: They brought in Arnold Bukite, shout out to Penn State from Atlanta.
• 56:25
  SPEAKER_02: Um, your boy, AJ Epinesa, um, formerly of the Bills.
• 56:29
  SPEAKER_02: They signed Tyreek Woolen um of the Super Bowl winning Seahawks.
• 56:33
  SPEAKER_02: Dontavian Wicks kind of fills in somewhat of AJ Brown's role, but they also drafted Mikhail Lemon in the first round um and traded for Jonathan Gernard to help further supplement their pass rush and replacing Jalen Phillips as well.
• 56:48
  SPEAKER_02: Um, we mentioned Carter and Davis got extended.
• 56:51
  SPEAKER_02: Any of these, you know, kind of it almost seems like they kind of build around the edges a little like the peripherals of the team.
• 56:58
  SPEAKER_02: Any of those kind of stand out beside, or I would assume you're probably gonna say Lemon, but do any of these moves really move the needle for you?
• 57:06
  SPEAKER_00: They don't move the needle, and like the thing I'm worried about most is gonna be the receiver position.
• 57:11
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I like Makai Lemon, he's a little zesty, uh, but like rookie wide receiver, rookie wide receivers typically aren't like great to bank on, um, unless if they're kind of that like real top, top end.
• 57:24
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm not sure, like, he's a really good prospect, but is he great?
• 57:28
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 57:30
  SPEAKER_00: Uh Wicks is one of those guys that was always like, in theory, better than what he was with the Packers.
• 57:36
  SPEAKER_00: Like, they granted it was a crowded receiver room, but like he's never really shown that he could be a number two option, even.
• 57:44
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so I worry about the receiver room.
• 57:47
  SPEAKER_00: Epinessa is a really nice like run defender, uh, not gonna get like a whole heck of a lot uh out of the pass rush there.
• 57:55
  SPEAKER_00: Hollywood Brown is a name.
• 57:57
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, as someone who has chief season tickets, I probably should have mentioned that at the beginning.
• 58:02
  SPEAKER_00: My wife, she's Kansas City, a diehard Chiefs fan.
• 58:05
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, so naturally we have chief season tickets.
• 58:08
  SPEAKER_00: Uh Hollywood Brown is nothing.
• 58:11
  SPEAKER_00: If you're counting on him, like you might as well put me out there in the slot.
• 58:16
  SPEAKER_00: So, like, I don't know that any of the the signings or like people that they brought in are truly impactful, especially compared to what walked out the door, like with Jalen Phillips, with Nicobe Dean.
• 58:29
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, Reed Blakenship might be addition by subtraction because he was about as bad as it got out at the safety position.
• 58:36
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but again, I I don't know that what they brought in was anywhere near what went out the door.
• 58:44
  SPEAKER_02: Well, we'll obviously touch on this after we go through the Giants in terms of what we think the season plays out for for the Eagles.
• 58:51
  SPEAKER_02: I'm pretty firmly locked into my take on this.
• 58:55
  SPEAKER_02: That I I think that there's a better than 0% chance that Nick Siriani gets fired this year.
• 59:03
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I think that when you look at a team like this that has as many distractions, as many like high variance players, like a Jalen Hurts, like a Saquon, even who's had injuries in his career.
• 59:16
  SPEAKER_02: He's been remarkably healthy with the Eagles compared to when he was with the Giants.
• 59:21
  SPEAKER_02: And you just think about like some of the problematic guys that they have.
• 59:25
  SPEAKER_02: They have half of the 2020 roster from Georgia on their team that all you know, I just I think there's a lot of ticking time bombs in that organization that I don't feel good about.
• 59:37
  SPEAKER_02: If I was a fan, I would of course be excited about the skill level skill level that they have.
• 59:43
  SPEAKER_02: Do you do you think that there's a chance that this team really regresses, or do you think that you don't have to tell me like what their win-loss total is, but it just directionally, like, where do you think this team is going this year?
• 59:57
  SPEAKER_02: Up, down, kind of staying the same?
• 1:00:00
  SPEAKER_00: I think they're probably staying about the same.
• 1:00:02
  SPEAKER_00: I I don't see yeah, like here's the thing with the Eagles, I won't be surprised, whatever the outcome is, because I agree, like, it could go really badly, and maybe the bottom falls out, or it could be like they just have enough of that top end talent that like they're the number one seed, or you know, maybe they just middle around and they're swapping wins and losses, and they're just an average ass football team.
• 1:00:30
  SPEAKER_00: Would I be shocked at all if Siriani gets fired?
• 1:00:32
  SPEAKER_00: No, he's a fucking oh, I don't know if I can cuss.
• 1:00:35
  SPEAKER_00: He's a douche.
• 1:00:36
  SPEAKER_00: And because of that, like he's always going to rub people the wrong way.
• 1:00:41
  SPEAKER_00: It's also Philadelphia, so you know they're gonna like if things go wrong, Philadelphia is going to tell you that they go it's going wrong, they're gonna boo the hell out of him, and like he doesn't do himself any favors with how he carries himself, and so yeah, if they lose five in a row and miss the playoffs and they're booing him, and he's you know taunting the crowd, yeah.
• 1:01:04
  SPEAKER_00: I could see them moving on.
• 1:01:05
  SPEAKER_00: If it's not big snowballs and Santa Claus, yeah, exactly.
• 1:01:09
  SPEAKER_00: They don't care that you won a Super Bowl three years ago.
• 1:01:12
  SPEAKER_00: So, like I nothing would surprise me about the Eagles this year.
• 1:01:17
  SPEAKER_02: You've you already mentioned that one of your positions of concern for this team was wide receiver.
• 1:01:23
  SPEAKER_02: Do you think that Devontae, first from like a fantasy perspective, do you think he'll be like a wide receiver one, like a top 12 fantasy wide receiver this year now that he's the focal point?
• 1:01:36
  SPEAKER_00: So much of that depends on what their offense is going to look like.
• 1:01:40
  SPEAKER_00: They brought in a new OC, and I just don't know.
• 1:01:43
  SPEAKER_00: Like, are they gonna go back to more like pound run it run the ball with Saquon and play action off of that?
• 1:01:50
  SPEAKER_00: Or are they gonna stick to what they've done the last couple of years where it's they run three routes and hopefully someone gets open?
• 1:01:58
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I just I don't see them just completely airing it out just because I don't think that's playing to Hertz's strength.
• 1:02:05
  SPEAKER_00: So I struggle to see Devonta as a true number one, yeah.
• 1:02:10
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and then the last, but certainly not the least, probably the maybe the biggest name value on the Eagles is Saquon Barkley.
• 1:02:18
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, he's getting up there a little bit in age.
• 1:02:21
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and like I already said, he's been remarkably healthy considering even his college career that he has really not sustained any notable injuries since he joined the Eagles two years ago.
• 1:02:33
  SPEAKER_02: Do you think that that continues?
• 1:02:34
  SPEAKER_02: What do you think, Saquon?
• 1:02:36
  SPEAKER_02: If we're having this conversation in five months, what are we saying about Saquon this year?
• 1:02:41
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think for him, it's similar to any running back.
• 1:02:44
  SPEAKER_00: It's gonna depend on the health of their offensive line.
• 1:02:47
  SPEAKER_00: They have one of the better run-blocking offensive lines in the NFL.
• 1:02:50
  SPEAKER_00: If they're healthy, which like Lane has struggled to stay healthy the last couple years at right tackle, but if they're healthy, I I think you'll see a standard Saquon year from the last three years.
• 1:03:02
  SPEAKER_00: But again, what's their offense going to look like?
• 1:03:06
  SPEAKER_00: Because last year there'd be times where like he'd gash a team on the first drive, and then they wouldn't give him the ball again until the fourth drive.
• 1:03:12
  SPEAKER_00: So it's so much of it's going to depend on like from a schematic standpoint, what what do they want to be and what is their identity?
• 1:03:20
  SPEAKER_00: I could see them saying, you know what, Saquon's our best player, let's just get under center and hand the ball to him, and we'll we'll go as far as Saquon takes us, in which case, like his ceiling is running back one.
• 1:03:32
  SPEAKER_00: We've seen it.
• 1:03:32
  SPEAKER_00: He almost had 2k.
• 1:03:34
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, there's just a lot of variants based off how the Eagles see themselves, and you know, they like to think they're the smartest team in the world, and so do they try to outsmart themselves by throwing the ball more than they should, or do they say, you know what, Saquon's our best weapon?
• 1:03:51
  SPEAKER_00: Let's hand them the ball and let him go.
• 1:03:53
  SPEAKER_02: For the sake of my predictions, we're gonna get into after we do the Giants.
• 1:03:57
  SPEAKER_02: I hope they decide to air the ball out all year.
• 1:04:00
  SPEAKER_02: I would I would love that.
• 1:04:02
  SPEAKER_02: That would make my take age like the finest of the fine lines.
• 1:04:07
  SPEAKER_02: Um, let's move on from the Eagles and finish up with the Giants.
• 1:04:11
  SPEAKER_02: Their over-under is set at seven and a half, which I was actually a little surprised that it was that high.
• 1:04:17
  SPEAKER_02: Um, considering of the four teams in this division, they probably underwent the most change this offseason.
• 1:04:24
  SPEAKER_02: Obviously, the biggest one though is new head coach John Harbaugh, and that's where I think we should start.
• 1:04:30
  SPEAKER_02: So, for anybody that doesn't know, John Harbaugh spent 17 seasons with the Baltimore Ravens, was a phenomenal head coach for many years with the Ravens, won Super Bowl 47 with them, has over a 600 career winning percentage.
• 1:04:44
  SPEAKER_02: Before we talk about any of these other moves, before we talk about Jackson Dart or anybody else, do you feel like this is a good fit at a good time in Harbaugh's career?
• 1:04:55
  SPEAKER_00: I think this is one of the most dangerous things in the NFL is when you hire someone that's been consistently good for like an extended period of time at a place that has historically been really good.
• 1:05:08
  SPEAKER_00: Baltimore's always been really good.
• 1:05:10
  SPEAKER_00: It's arguably the best run franchise in the sport since 2000, probably.
• 1:05:18
  SPEAKER_00: And he has a lot to do with that.
• 1:05:20
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I don't want to take credit away from that, but now he's going to an environment where, like, let's be honest, the Giants have been a disaster for a better part of over a decade decades.
• 1:05:33
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 1:05:34
  SPEAKER_02: Since Tom Coughlin left, they've been firing coaches and in Eli Manning as well.
• 1:05:40
  SPEAKER_02: Like they've been replacing quarterbacks, firing coaches, yeah, consistently.
• 1:05:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and so like your shtick works when you're the Baltimore head coach, and you can say, look at my track record, and then ownership to the GM, to the scouts, to the rest of the coordinators, and the other coaches, they're all On the same page because that's what Baltimore is from top to bottom.
• 1:06:03
  SPEAKER_00: It's a consistent message.
• 1:06:05
  SPEAKER_00: They're all bought into what they want to do.
• 1:06:09
  SPEAKER_00: Joe Schoen does not want, like, Joe Schoen doesn't have a clue what's going on.
• 1:06:14
  SPEAKER_00: Jim uh Harbaugh is the one making all of the calls.
• 1:06:17
  SPEAKER_00: So you know they don't have alignment other than Joe Schoen's like, pray to God this works so I can keep my job.
• 1:06:22
  SPEAKER_00: Ownership has been really inconsistent with like what they want to do.
• 1:06:27
  SPEAKER_00: And so now that he doesn't have all of that alignment, what's going to happen?
• 1:06:33
  SPEAKER_00: Because he's not an X's and O's guy.
• 1:06:35
  SPEAKER_00: He was a former special team coach.
• 1:06:36
  SPEAKER_00: He's very much a CEO type.
• 1:06:39
  SPEAKER_00: And it's just such a different environment that this could go disastrously bad.
• 1:06:46
  SPEAKER_00: And I honestly wouldn't be shocked if it does.
• 1:06:49
  SPEAKER_02: I hate to make this comparison.
• 1:06:51
  SPEAKER_02: And the weird thing is, I looking at the Giants roster, I actually like a lot of the guys that they have, like in terms of like their age and where they are in their career.
• 1:07:01
  SPEAKER_02: I and I don't, it's this isn't really apples to apples, but to me, it almost kind of gives like Belichick to North Carolina vibes.
• 1:07:09
  SPEAKER_02: Like he's just kind of doing it because he can still do it.
• 1:07:12
  SPEAKER_02: And I honestly think when he was let go from Baltimore, I don't think he really knew that he was gonna go to another NFL team immediately.
• 1:07:21
  SPEAKER_02: I I would imagine that he probably thought he was gonna go broadcast for a year, maybe even longer than that, and then maybe get back into coaching.
• 1:07:29
  SPEAKER_02: And the fact that the Giants were like, please come be an adult in our building worries the hell out of me.
• 1:07:34
  SPEAKER_02: I think that that is not a good sign.
• 1:07:37
  SPEAKER_02: And I don't like that you just had a coach that and this seems to always never work out, but you just had a coach in Brian Davall who was very committed to the idea of drafting Jackson Dart that there were some mixed opinions on coming out of Old Miss.
• 1:07:54
  SPEAKER_02: And now you have a new head coach that doesn't have that same infatuation with that quarterback, doesn't have the same infatuation with the running back that they drafted high.
• 1:08:02
  SPEAKER_02: And what is that gonna look like?
• 1:08:04
  SPEAKER_02: Like, what does that play out like?
• 1:08:06
  SPEAKER_02: So we can just transition pretty naturally into Jackson Dart.
• 1:08:11
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and can I as we transition, can we also talk about maybe the most pivotal thing in this?
• 1:08:17
  SPEAKER_00: Their offensive coordinator is Matt Nagy.
• 1:08:22
  SPEAKER_00: Is there a worse situation for a young quarterback that is trying to figure out than have Matt Nagy as your offensive coordinator slash play caller?
• 1:08:31
  SPEAKER_02: It's one thing when Matt Matt is not responsible for the play calling like he was recently in Kansas City.
• 1:08:39
  SPEAKER_02: You know, Andy Reed's the one designing the offense, calling the shots, like figuring out how they're gonna attack the defense that they're about to play.
• 1:08:46
  SPEAKER_02: And Matt's basically just the guy with the headset.
• 1:08:48
  SPEAKER_02: You know, that's communicating.
• 1:08:50
  SPEAKER_02: Right, that's a totally different job than what he's about to have now with a second-year quarterback, a second year running back who both of those guys should be the focal points of their entire franchise right now.
• 1:09:02
  SPEAKER_02: And yeah, I I just don't like what I like a lot of the players, like I said, but I don't like the leadership, and I don't like I just don't, I don't, I don't feel like they're set up for sustained success.
• 1:09:15
  SPEAKER_02: And whenever you kind of go into things for the wrong reason, it's like a relationship.
• 1:09:19
  SPEAKER_02: If you start the relationship on a on a gross reason, it kind of ends gross.
• 1:09:24
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah, I just I just feel like there's not good chemistry there, but with Jackson Dart, he did have some pretty exciting highlight moments.
• 1:09:33
  SPEAKER_02: He beat the Eagles on Thursday night football last year.
• 1:09:35
  SPEAKER_02: He only threw five interceptions in 14 games, um, had a decent QBR.
• 1:09:41
  SPEAKER_02: Do you see him being in that 10 to 20 quarterback range, or do you think he kind of stays where he was as like more of an afterthought?
• 1:09:51
  SPEAKER_00: So I think with Jackson Dart, when he's on the field, it's gonna be electric, it's gonna be making plays.
• 1:09:57
  SPEAKER_00: There's gonna be just with his play style, there's gonna be some inconsistency, uh, which is fine.
• 1:10:03
  SPEAKER_00: He's young.
• 1:10:04
  SPEAKER_00: I just don't know how many of the games he's going to be on the field for because he's reckless and not reckless with his decisions on how like where he's throwing the ball, he's reckless with how he runs, how he takes hits, how he holds on to the ball.
• 1:10:19
  SPEAKER_00: And I just he's one of those guys that if I was a Giants fan, you're holding your breath every time he drops back to pass because you're like, please, God, don't get hurt.
• 1:10:30
  SPEAKER_00: And so I don't know that his style of play is ever going to actually work in the NFL for a full 17-game season.
• 1:10:39
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and kind of leading into our next topic on the Giants, I I just think if if you're if you have to imagine how Harbaugh wants this team to look like and play like, you would have to think that it's gonna look and feel similar to how it did in Baltimore, which means that the offense isn't the leading factor on the team, it's the defense, and they certainly have pieces on defense to make them much better than they were last year.
• 1:11:06
  SPEAKER_02: They were the worst defense in the NFL last year in terms of yards per game allowed.
• 1:11:11
  SPEAKER_02: I I think from what they brought in, DJ Reeder, Shelby Harris, Tremaine Edmonds, they drafted Arvell Reese, and they already had Brian Burns, Kayvon Thibodeau, Abdul Carter from two drafts ago.
• 1:11:25
  SPEAKER_02: What do you think that that defense is with Harbaugh now as their head coach?
• 1:11:31
  SPEAKER_02: Do you think that the defense at least will be solid enough to kind of keep them in games, or do you still think that there's enough or there's too many young pieces that they're counting on for them to be a formidable defense?
• 1:11:46
  SPEAKER_00: I I think so with like Arvell Reese, you saw a little bit with Burns last year, and then you throw in Abdul Carter into the mix.
• 1:11:55
  SPEAKER_00: I think what they're going to struggle with is when you have that many versatile pieces, one of the things Dan Quinn, I gave him credit for earlier on was like he puts people in their best position to be successful.
• 1:12:10
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes, like, what was the dude out of Clemson that the Cardinals took a few?
• 1:12:14
  SPEAKER_00: Isaiah Simmons.
• 1:12:15
  SPEAKER_00: He was like decent at a bunch of different things, and so the Cardinals had him play a bunch of different positions.
• 1:12:23
  SPEAKER_00: At some point, I feel like the Giants are just gonna have to make some decisions of like you're a hand in the dirt guy, go get the quarterback, or you're an off-ball linebacker, you know, drop, blitz, whatever.
• 1:12:36
  SPEAKER_00: Abdul Carter, I don't know what you do with.
• 1:12:38
  SPEAKER_00: Uh Avril Reese is pretty much the same exact type of player.
• 1:12:42
  SPEAKER_00: Burns was playing off-ball linebacker at one point last year, so like Thibodeau, there's some inconsistency.
• 1:12:49
  SPEAKER_00: So, like, whatever their plan is, they've got to like stick to it because you can't just like it's cool to have some jokers and like put guys in different positions, but I don't know that that's sustainable over time, and so I'm very curious to see how their front seven plays because I do not trust the back four.
• 1:13:10
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, and so I want to see like they'll have some cool blitz packages, they're probably gonna rack up a ton of sacks, but if they get blocked, uh because it looks like CD Lamb and Pickens will tear up that secondary, and so they're topics.
• 1:13:27
  SPEAKER_02: I'm curious to see what their secondary is.
• 1:13:31
  SPEAKER_02: Their top two corners this year, if they stay healthy, are Paulson Adibo, who they signed from New Orleans, and Greg Newsome, who they just signed from the Jags.
• 1:13:39
  SPEAKER_02: And neither of those guys, at least in this division, inspire a ton of confidence to cover a Devontae Smith, a Terry McLaurin, or a CD Lamb.
• 1:13:48
  SPEAKER_02: So that that definitely is concerning.
• 1:13:51
  SPEAKER_02: Um, the other thing that I think about too is when you think about how there's only so many guys you can have on the field that rush the passer at one time.
• 1:13:59
  SPEAKER_02: And if you think about where this team might get if they get off to a bad start and you have a division in their front office between the head coach and the GM that both have a different set of circumstances that they're working up there, there's a lot of politics that start coming into play.
• 1:14:16
  SPEAKER_02: And I think you could really start seeing them selling some of these guys, like especially Kayvon Thibodeau.
• 1:14:22
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, if the Jaguars want to make a phone call to them in the middle of the season, I would be all for that.
• 1:14:27
  SPEAKER_02: But yeah, especially an Abdul Carter, I could see them really moving off of him too.
• 1:14:33
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I I just be in I'm interested to see what this team.
• 1:14:37
  SPEAKER_02: There's a lot of variance in this division, like as we talk through the quarterbacks, especially outside of I mean, maybe Dax health, but really Jalen Hurts, Jaden Daniels, Jackson Dart all have from the highest extreme to the lowest, and it makes it really interesting to watch as a fan.
• 1:14:57
  SPEAKER_02: Like, what is this really gonna shake out like?
• 1:14:59
  SPEAKER_00: So and the only other thing with the Giants, I'd say, is they have a lot of personality, but it's like unproven personality.
• 1:15:06
  SPEAKER_00: So like we've seen it this offseason with like the Trump stuff with Jackson Dart and uh was it Abdul Carter?
• 1:15:14
  SPEAKER_00: You've got like Scataboo who probably doesn't believe in concussions and like for fun runs into a brick wall.
• 1:15:20
  SPEAKER_00: And so like it's just a lot of personalities that like again haven't really proven themselves in the NFL, and that can wear out a locker room very quickly, especially to your point if they get off to a bad start.
• 1:15:35
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 1:15:36
  SPEAKER_02: Um, well, let's go ahead and put pen to paper then.
• 1:15:39
  SPEAKER_02: Let's let's rank these teams out, put our predictions in line.
• 1:15:44
  SPEAKER_02: So we'll start from the bottom and leave our winners for last.
• 1:15:48
  SPEAKER_02: So I'll let you go first.
• 1:15:49
  SPEAKER_02: Who do you see finishing in last place in this division this year?
• 1:15:53
  SPEAKER_02: The aforementioned New York Giants.
• 1:15:55
  SPEAKER_00: I just I don't know how many games Jackson Dart's gonna play.
• 1:15:59
  SPEAKER_00: Scataboo with his running style.
• 1:16:01
  SPEAKER_00: You don't know how many games you get out of uh neighbors, like it seems like the knee is better than maybe what we thought based off training camp, but like I don't know.
• 1:16:14
  SPEAKER_00: Uh two surgeries this offseason.
• 1:16:16
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 1:16:17
  SPEAKER_00: The personalities, I I don't know what hardball gets you in season, and so like year one, I I don't see this going well.
• 1:16:27
  SPEAKER_00: I see this being like dumpster fire bad for the Giants.
• 1:16:31
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I think this we see the bottom of this the same way.
• 1:16:34
  SPEAKER_02: I think the Giants finish in last place here.
• 1:16:36
  SPEAKER_02: I think they missed the playoffs.
• 1:16:38
  SPEAKER_02: I think they are probably picking, you know, somewhere between six and eleven next year in the draft.
• 1:16:45
  SPEAKER_02: So a higher draft pick, I think they, as I just alluded to, probably start fire sailing a lot of their you know, middle-aged younger players, like a Kayvon Thibodeau.
• 1:16:56
  SPEAKER_02: I I just I don't like the coaching staff in place with this team.
• 1:17:02
  SPEAKER_02: So I just don't like the fit.
• 1:17:04
  SPEAKER_02: And I I think there's a lot of we I'm gonna talk about this with the Eagles, but there's also a lot, like you said, there's a lot of personalities on this New York Giants team, and I don't necessarily know that I like the way that they all fit together, and you touched on it also, is Malik Neighbors, the guy that probably should be their most impactful offensive player.
• 1:17:23
  SPEAKER_02: We don't know that he's ever gonna be the same guy that he has been before, and that really worries me.
• 1:17:30
  SPEAKER_02: Like, I just don't see the offense being able to match.
• 1:17:34
  SPEAKER_02: I do think the defense will be better, like I think their defense will be not near the bottom, um, probably more towards the middle of the pack in terms of total yards, especially from a pass rush standpoint and a pass defense standpoint.
• 1:17:50
  SPEAKER_02: But other than that, I think there's a lot of questionable things about this team that I am not excited about.
• 1:17:57
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so I I have them also finishing in last.
• 1:18:01
  SPEAKER_02: Um, who's your third place team?
• 1:18:03
  SPEAKER_00: So I went commanders for third place, and a lot of that is schedule based.
• 1:18:08
  SPEAKER_00: There's a legitimate chance that the commanders go two and seven to start the season.
• 1:18:15
  SPEAKER_00: Let's just read it off again quickly.
• 1:18:17
  SPEAKER_00: At Philadelphia, at Dallas versus Seattle, you get a little relief where you have back-to-back home games against the Colts and the Giants, but then you're at San Francisco, home against Philadelphia, home against the Rams, at New York, and then home against Cincinnati.
• 1:18:35
  SPEAKER_00: They could realistically start 1-8, 2-7 with that young of a locker room.
• 1:18:42
  SPEAKER_00: If Daniels is taking a beating, like, yes, I the latter half of the schedule is significantly lighter, but if you get off to that type of start, and then you know, Daniels maybe misses a couple games late in the year.
• 1:18:57
  SPEAKER_00: I I do not like what how that lines up for them.
• 1:19:01
  SPEAKER_00: So I have them finishing third.
• 1:19:04
  SPEAKER_02: So this is where we start to see things a little bit differently, and this is probably my hottest take that I'll have on this podcast.
• 1:19:10
  SPEAKER_02: The hottest thing cooking in the tailgate is that I think the Eagles miss the playoffs.
• 1:19:15
  SPEAKER_02: I think they finish in third, and I think they fired Nick Seriani this year.
• 1:19:19
  SPEAKER_02: I just we we've talked about a number of the issues that are facing this this Eagles team this year.
• 1:19:26
  SPEAKER_02: I don't I've never really been a believer in Jalen Hurts.
• 1:19:30
  SPEAKER_02: Um we talked about Saquon's injury history.
• 1:19:33
  SPEAKER_02: I I think it would be remarkable if he goes a third consecutive season with no injuries.
• 1:19:39
  SPEAKER_02: And they're receivers.
• 1:19:40
  SPEAKER_02: Like, I don't think they're receive, I don't think there's any defensive backfield that is gonna look at the Eagles receivers and have to really stay up late game planning for what they can do.
• 1:19:51
  SPEAKER_02: That's not a shot at Devontae Smith, but there's not a lot of receivers that are built like him that can do it without any help.
• 1:19:58
  SPEAKER_02: And I I just don't like where the locker room is.
• 1:20:01
  SPEAKER_02: I don't like that now as a defense, their biggest impact players and their biggest so-called leaders are probably their most questionable characters in their locker room.
• 1:20:12
  SPEAKER_02: I I just think that this is gonna spiral.
• 1:20:14
  SPEAKER_02: I don't I don't know if it goes immediately.
• 1:20:17
  SPEAKER_02: I just think it's it's gonna be one of those things where like you're gonna see a lot of guys give up pretty quick, and then it's just that's all she wrote, and guys might start opting, like you know, semi-quote opting out, being hurt, or whatever the case may be.
• 1:20:31
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I have the Eagles in third.
• 1:20:34
  SPEAKER_02: Call that the loser limp.
• 1:20:36
  SPEAKER_00: You start limping.
• 1:20:37
  SPEAKER_00: That's exactly what it is.
• 1:20:39
  SPEAKER_00: I've hope to God you're right.
• 1:20:41
  SPEAKER_00: I I I'm cheering for you to be right and for me to be wrong.
• 1:20:44
  SPEAKER_00: There's nothing I would like more than for the bottom to fall out of the Eagles and for Sirianni to be fired.
• 1:20:50
  SPEAKER_00: So right.
• 1:20:51
  SPEAKER_02: Go ahead and give us your your second place team and then go ahead and lead into who you have winning the division.
• 1:20:56
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 1:20:57
  SPEAKER_00: So I have the Eagles finishing second, and honestly, it's not logic based.
• 1:21:02
  SPEAKER_00: The Eagles are gonna finish second because they're gonna mess around.
• 1:21:06
  SPEAKER_00: And in the playoffs?
• 1:21:07
  SPEAKER_00: And in the playoffs, because they're gonna win like two or three games that they have no business winning.
• 1:21:12
  SPEAKER_00: For whatever reason, when teams play the Eagles, they just completely have brain camps and do like the dumbest possible things.
• 1:21:20
  SPEAKER_00: We saw this last year, like when they played the Rams at home and the Rams completely controlled the game.
• 1:21:25
  SPEAKER_00: They go to kick a field goal to win, and the Eagles block it and return it for a touchdown to win.
• 1:21:30
  SPEAKER_00: Like stupid shit happens whenever the Eagles are involved, and they always seem to be on the winning end of those type of things.
• 1:21:37
  SPEAKER_00: And so there's some dark magic there that I have been just like scarred permanently against.
• 1:21:44
  SPEAKER_00: So like I just can't see the bottom falling out as much as I hope for it.
• 1:21:47
  SPEAKER_00: So I think the Eagles get second.
• 1:21:49
  SPEAKER_00: I think the Cowboys defense improves enough where it's an average unit.
• 1:21:54
  SPEAKER_00: Dak and the boys really take off, have kind of almost an historic offense like what we've seen the last couple of years, and the Cowboys finally win the division.
• 1:22:02
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so we basically see the top and the bottom of the division the same way.
• 1:22:06
  SPEAKER_02: So I do have the commanders, as I somewhat alluded to earlier, sneaking in.
• 1:22:12
  SPEAKER_02: It's it's really more of my belief in Jaden Daniels, coupled with I think there's a lot of teams that we've seen.
• 1:22:19
  SPEAKER_02: I mentioned this on the NFC West preview that we did with with Nate, but I think there's a lot of teams that have been contending for playoff spots in the NFC the last few years that I think are not only going to take a step back but be in a state of maybe firing their coaches like the Bucs.
• 1:22:36
  SPEAKER_02: I think that Seahawks have a pretty good chance to miss the playoffs this year, and the Eagles.
• 1:22:40
  SPEAKER_02: Like, and if you take got teams that have been in the playoffs out, somebody else has to get in.
• 1:22:45
  SPEAKER_02: And I think the commanders, I get the schedule piece of it.
• 1:22:49
  SPEAKER_02: I just think that Jaden has has enough upside that if as long as he stays healthy, this is obviously barring his his health.
• 1:22:57
  SPEAKER_02: As long as he stays healthy, there's enough, you know, X Factor-ish to him to help them pull an upset here and there to you know overshoot their win total and sneak in as the seventh seed in the NFC.
• 1:23:11
  SPEAKER_02: And honestly, I think the seventh seed in the NFC probably could get in as like an eight-and-nine, nine and eight kind of deal.
• 1:23:18
  SPEAKER_02: So I'm not even saying that they're gonna win 10 games, I just think that they're gonna be better than the bottom.
• 1:23:23
  SPEAKER_02: But ultimately, I I think the Cowboys do somewhat run away with this division.
• 1:23:29
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I think that they're gonna be in contention for the two seed, maybe three seed.
• 1:23:34
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I'll get into who I think the two or three seed with them is when we do the NFC North.
• 1:23:39
  SPEAKER_02: But um I think the Cowboys are very well set up.
• 1:23:43
  SPEAKER_02: We talked about the defense, how they overhauled the defense.
• 1:23:46
  SPEAKER_02: CeeDee Lamb, I think, is gonna have an absolutely monstrous season.
• 1:23:50
  SPEAKER_02: Um, Brian Schottenheimer, for as much grief that the Cowboys were given for making an in-house hire, he's a guy that's been around coaching for a long time.
• 1:24:01
  SPEAKER_02: He is a mature coach.
• 1:24:03
  SPEAKER_02: Whether he's been a head coach or not, he just understands football.
• 1:24:07
  SPEAKER_02: He understands how the moment of the game occurs.
• 1:24:11
  SPEAKER_02: And I just like the way he calls offense, honestly.
• 1:24:13
  SPEAKER_02: Like, I think it is pretty consistent, like he doesn't lean too hard into running or passing one way or the other.
• 1:24:22
  SPEAKER_02: I think there's a lot to work with on offense for them.
• 1:24:24
  SPEAKER_02: We talked about the receivers.
• 1:24:26
  SPEAKER_02: Another guy that we didn't even mention is Jaden Blue, I think could also have a bigger impact for the Cowboys this year.
• 1:24:32
  SPEAKER_02: And if you get you know a consistent performance from Javante Williams, you get something out of Jaden Blue, and all these other guys really deliver the way that we would expect them to on the back of their you know tops cards, I think that the Cowboys run away with the division.
• 1:24:46
  SPEAKER_00: Um and you mix in Brandon Aubrey as you know, uh just an absolute weapon from anywhere at midfield and and in.
• 1:24:56
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so even you just get to midfield, you're getting points.
• 1:25:00
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, agreed.
• 1:25:02
  SPEAKER_02: So just to recap, Brandon has the division shaking out from the bottom to the top, the Giants finishing in last place, followed by the commanders and the Eagles in the All three are excuse me, the bottom two teams missing off, but the Eagles man and I have the digging into the playoffs and the Cowboys winning the division.
• 1:25:41
  SPEAKER_02: So Brandon last question for you did you enjoy your time in the tailgate?
• 1:25:48
  SPEAKER_00: I did, man.
• 1:25:49
  SPEAKER_00: This was a lot of fun.
• 1:25:49
  SPEAKER_00: It's always good chopping it up with you.
• 1:25:51
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, I probably went way too long on this.
• 1:25:54
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, so apologies for those that are used to like the nice short and sweet cam Tailgate podcast.
• 1:26:00
  SPEAKER_00: I like to talk.
• 1:26:01
  SPEAKER_00: So uh had a ton of fun.
• 1:26:04
  SPEAKER_00: Happy to be back anytime you want me.
• 1:26:06
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know if you can top the Ryan Florenoid take, but any other hot takes you want to leave us with before you go.
• 1:26:14
  SPEAKER_00: Nick Siriani gets fired mid-game.
• 1:26:18
  SPEAKER_00: Has to do a walk of shame.
• 1:26:21
  SPEAKER_02: He just Antonio Browns and takes the headset off and the shirts and the vest, and he's actually crying on the way out.
• 1:26:29
  SPEAKER_00: I would eat those tears, I tell you that much.
• 1:26:31
  SPEAKER_02: Well, it'll be interesting to see.
• 1:26:33
  SPEAKER_02: Like we like we said on this pod, there's a lot of storylines in the NFC East.
• 1:26:38
  SPEAKER_02: We both you know see the Cowboys running away with this division, so it'll be interesting to see.
• 1:26:43
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but ultimately appreciate you hopping on the tailgate, and uh, I'll talk to you soon.
• 1:26:49
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you.
• 1:26:51
  SPEAKER_02: That was a great time having Brandon join the tailgate today.
• 1:26:55
  SPEAKER_02: Let's go ahead and wrap up.
• 1:26:57
  SPEAKER_02: What are we looking forward to?
• 1:26:59
  SPEAKER_02: What will be on the TV for us?
• 1:27:02
  SPEAKER_02: Well, on Thursday, August 6th at 8 p.m., we have the Arizona Cardinals facing the Carolina Panthers, and then a week from then, we have football all weekend next week.
• 1:27:17
  SPEAKER_02: So we are looking forward to having football live on our televisions here at the Tailgate.
• 1:27:23
  SPEAKER_02: Thanks so much for listening.
• 1:27:26
  SPEAKER_02: Share the podcast, like the podcast, comment, give us your thoughts.
• 1:27:31
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you for following along and enjoying the Tailgate.
• 1:27:34
  SPEAKER_02: This is your host, Cameron Clark.
• 1:27:36
  SPEAKER_02: See ya.