Latest / Bleacher Report / Micah Parsons RANKS Every NFL Team, Predicts Division Winners

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Micah Parsons RANKS Every NFL Team, Predicts Division Winners · Bleacher Report

0:00
Speaker 1: I'm going to predict the final standings of every division
0:02
Speaker 1: of football. Obviously, NFC North will be last. Now, for
0:06
Speaker 1: the Royal Rumble, the NFC, and we're going to start
0:09
Speaker 1: with the NFC South. For the NFC South, I am
0:12
Speaker 1: taking the Carolina Panthers to win the division. Boom. Start
0:17
Speaker 1: off right there. Even though they lost Nick Sorensen and
0:21
Speaker 1: I truly believe They have one of the best corner
0:25
Speaker 1: combos in the league between Mike Jack and JC Horn.
0:28
Speaker 1: Bryce Young going into year four. I think he's ready
0:31
Speaker 1: to spread his wings and fly. I think this is
0:33
Speaker 1: going to be one of the harder teams to beat
0:35
Speaker 1: in football. I think they're more healthy this year. They
0:38
Speaker 1: have a great O-line. If they can stay healthy, this
0:41
Speaker 1: is going to be a tough team to beat. At
0:43
Speaker 1: number two, I will take the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. I
0:47
Speaker 1: think Baker Mayfield... can do it. And it will depend
0:51
Speaker 1: if they do handle things with Vitave. This is with
0:54
Speaker 1: Vitave still in the lineup, did not get traded yet.
0:57
Speaker 1: I just truly believe they have enough talent to win
1:00
Speaker 1: some football games, even with the loss of Mike Evans.
1:03
Speaker 1: I think they were kind of preparing it because Mike
1:04
Speaker 1: Evans was dealing with injuries last year. So it's not like, oh,
1:07
Speaker 1: we lost Mike and we don't know how to play
1:09
Speaker 1: without him. And I just think they have the best
1:11
Speaker 1: quarterback to combat with the Carolina Panthers and what they have.
1:16
Speaker 1: Obviously a great offensive line. So this is a very
1:19
Speaker 1: much team that can be second in the division I
1:22
Speaker 1: just don't know if they're Carolina Panthers good number three.
1:26
Speaker 1: I'm gonna go with the New Orleans Saints This one's
1:29
Speaker 1: a hard one but I just think with the skill
1:32
Speaker 1: set of etn and Camara is just too vicious and
1:37
Speaker 1: if they get a healthy Chris Olave and and they
1:40
Speaker 1: added a guy, the rookie Tyson. Their offense is loaded,
1:43
Speaker 1: and I don't know what they're going to get out
1:45
Speaker 1: of their quarterback, but you can say the same thing
1:46
Speaker 1: with Atlanta. We don't know the history level when Penix
1:50
Speaker 1: will be back, and Tua's dealing with a back issue,
1:52
Speaker 1: so we don't know what the Falcons is going to
1:54
Speaker 1: be like. And yes, we could ride the train with Bijan,
1:57
Speaker 1: but at the same time, would you be comfortable with
2:02
Speaker 1: Alvin and Etienne or just Bijan? I just think the
2:05
Speaker 1: New Orleans Saints has a little bit more. And with
2:08
Speaker 1: Kellen Moore and how dynamic we know he is, a
2:11
Speaker 1: Super Bowl winning play caller, I'm just going to lean
2:14
Speaker 1: more towards the New Orleans Saints in this category just
2:17
Speaker 1: because of who they have not only on the field
2:20
Speaker 1: but coaching as well. Now, Atlanta Falcons is very much
2:23
Speaker 1: loaded with obviously B. John Robinson, Kyle Pitts, Drake London.
2:28
Speaker 1: But we've seen that already. They need a quarterback that
2:33
Speaker 1: can get them the ball fast. and they can't just
2:35
Speaker 1: hand it to Bijon 35 times a game. I think
2:37
Speaker 1: people know he's the best player, and we're going to
2:39
Speaker 1: own in on Bijon a lot more. So it's like,
2:42
Speaker 1: can your quarterback make the throws? And we have to
2:45
Speaker 1: see them. That happened for us to put them higher
2:47
Speaker 1: in this list. I think Atlanta Falcons offensively and defensively
2:51
Speaker 1: have the talent to win the division. I think the
2:55
Speaker 1: biggest question is the quarterback, and I just don't feel
2:57
Speaker 1: comfortable putting them higher because of the quarterback situation as
3:01
Speaker 1: we speak. But I think they're very capable of being defensive.
3:04
Speaker 1: beating the Carolina Panthers and the Bucs of being one
3:07
Speaker 1: of those top one and two teams. So I don't
3:10
Speaker 1: want people to feel like I'm putting the Atlanta Falcons
3:13
Speaker 1: low because they don't have the talent. No, I'm putting
3:15
Speaker 1: them low because I think the quarterback is the most
3:17
Speaker 1: important position on the field and they have big question marks. Welcome,
3:22
Speaker 1: NFC West, where they now have Myles Garrett and potentially
3:26
Speaker 1: Aaron Donald again. My oh my. If that happens, we
3:30
Speaker 1: just have to put Los Angeles Rams as number one.
3:33
Speaker 1: No ifs, ands, or buts about it. They have to
3:35
Speaker 1: be number one. They were about one drop point away
3:39
Speaker 1: from being in the Super Bowl again and probably winning
3:42
Speaker 1: the Super Bowl. I think we all knew it was
3:45
Speaker 1: either going to be Rams or Seahawks. No offense, Patriot fans.
3:47
Speaker 1: They were just a better team at that time. But
3:50
Speaker 1: I just think with the additions they had, not only
3:52
Speaker 1: Did they fix the cornerback solution? They added McDuffie, who's
3:57
Speaker 1: a top five corner in the NFL. They added his
4:00
Speaker 1: counterpart from Kansas City, Jalen Watson, and improved their defensive
4:05
Speaker 1: line with Myles Garrett, their sack leader, the new sack
4:09
Speaker 1: holder of most sacks in the season. That just can't
4:12
Speaker 1: be misunderstood. It can't be replicated. This is a legit
4:16
Speaker 1: defense now, and I think they wanted to prove that
4:19
Speaker 1: again and again and again. So I'm going to have
4:22
Speaker 1: Los Angeles Rams as number one. They have one of
4:24
Speaker 1: the most explosive teams offensively and defensively in the NFL now.
4:29
Speaker 1: At number two, I'm going with the Seattle Seahawks. And
4:33
Speaker 1: I know, I know, I know this is like, how
4:35
Speaker 1: do you have the Seahawks? They just won the Super Bowl.
4:37
Speaker 1: How don't you have them won? It's because what I
4:39
Speaker 1: just told you, they just added the best defense, one
4:41
Speaker 1: of the best defensive players in the NFL. I'm sorry.
4:45
Speaker 1: And they fixed the cornerback solution. They went and got McDuffie.
4:50
Speaker 1: for jsn now do i know if mcduffie can handle
4:53
Speaker 1: jsn i don't know and i'm not here to say
4:55
Speaker 1: that let the football in the past talk but that's
4:58
Speaker 1: why they went and got an elite corner because they
5:00
Speaker 1: know who seattle has they have elite player makers like
5:03
Speaker 1: jsn they have rashid shaheed okay he is one of
5:07
Speaker 1: the most explosive players in the nfl not only on
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Speaker 1: special teams but as well i receive as well explosive
5:12
Speaker 1: talent so They went in and proved their team for
5:16
Speaker 1: the Seattle Seahawks. The Seattle Seahawks are still the defending champions.
5:20
Speaker 1: And I want to give all respect to them. But
5:22
Speaker 1: I think the Rams are ready to make this jump.
5:26
Speaker 1: They are ready. And they have, I might say, one
5:28
Speaker 1: of the best coaches in football of Sean McVay. And
5:32
Speaker 1: they are pissed about how things went down last year.
5:35
Speaker 1: It's going to be a battle. You can put Seattle
5:36
Speaker 1: at one and you can put Rams at two. It
5:38
Speaker 1: doesn't matter. This is going to be a clash of
5:40
Speaker 1: the titans three times this year. They're probably going to
5:42
Speaker 1: see each other in the playoffs maybe. And you know
5:44
Speaker 1: they're going to see twice in the regular season. So
5:46
Speaker 1: good luck to the Rams and Seattle because that's going
5:49
Speaker 1: to be a game to watch. And then at three,
5:51
Speaker 1: I'm going to go with San Fran. I know, I know,
5:54
Speaker 1: I know. How in the world can San Fran be
5:56
Speaker 1: at number three in a division when they've been Super
5:59
Speaker 1: Bowl appearances, playoff appearances, when everyone injured last year, they
6:02
Speaker 1: still made playoffs? I know, I know. But the only
6:07
Speaker 1: thing that's been going on and the biggest question with
6:09
Speaker 1: San Fran is injuries. Can they stay healthy? On paper,
6:14
Speaker 1: San Fran has an elite team, an elite team. But
6:17
Speaker 1: the injuries have been affecting them already, even in the offseason.
6:21
Speaker 1: They just lost the receiver, Ricky Parasol, this year for
6:26
Speaker 1: the full season. That hurts the team. Yes, I get
6:28
Speaker 1: they did bring Debo. But can they get a healthy
6:31
Speaker 1: Mike Evans for 18 games? Can they get a healthy
6:33
Speaker 1: Kittle for 18 games? And I know injuries suck. We
6:36
Speaker 1: don't wish injuries on no one. But these are real things.
6:39
Speaker 1: These are battles they faced the last two years. And
6:42
Speaker 1: it's been a big question mark. They are loaded with talent.
6:45
Speaker 1: They have the OG legend, Trent Williams, often. So they
6:48
Speaker 1: got Fred Warner. They have Nick Bosa coming back from injury.
6:52
Speaker 1: Fred Warner coming back from injury. But we know who
6:55
Speaker 1: they are when they're healthy. They can be an amazing unit.
6:58
Speaker 1: There's still questions of lives. And that's the question mark
7:00
Speaker 1: of injuries. This is a loaded division. This is a
7:02
Speaker 1: loaded division. You kind of feel bad for Arizona because
7:05
Speaker 1: you say these three teams make playoffs almost every year.
7:08
Speaker 1: And Arizona's just stuck there like, hey, we're trying to
7:11
Speaker 1: get there. I get it. But these teams are too loaded.
7:14
Speaker 1: You got some years, Arizona. I'm sorry. Let's go to
7:16
Speaker 1: the NFC East. Obviously, NFC North will be last. Sheesh, sheesh, sheesh, sheesh, sheesh.
7:21
Speaker 1: This is probably the hardest division to kind of scale
7:24
Speaker 1: because you don't know what you're getting now. OK, we
7:29
Speaker 1: just got two years ago. Washington went to the NFC
7:32
Speaker 1: title game and Jaden Daniels once again last year. He
7:35
Speaker 1: wasn't healthy. He missed a lot of time, so they
7:37
Speaker 1: couldn't replicate that. They couldn't go back. But Washington added
7:41
Speaker 1: Jason Elway, Clayvon Chasen. They added some guys on the
7:45
Speaker 1: rush to go pair what they have inside, who they
7:48
Speaker 1: paid already. And they drafted well Sonny Stiles, who they
7:52
Speaker 1: think is going to have a great impact on our defense.
7:55
Speaker 1: Can Washington do it? Obviously, we know they got scared, Terry.
7:58
Speaker 1: They added Stephon Diggs. This can be a very much
8:02
Speaker 1: explosive offense. But can they do it? We don't know.
8:06
Speaker 1: Time will tell because we know who they're dealing with.
8:09
Speaker 1: And they also had the New York Giants. Who are
8:11
Speaker 1: the New York Giants? Can Jackson Dark stay healthy? Can
8:14
Speaker 1: he stay from the extra hits? We know, I think
8:18
Speaker 1: we call him the scary dude between Cam and Jackson.
8:20
Speaker 1: They're very dangerous when they're on the field together. Very dangerous.
8:23
Speaker 1: But they're not dangerous when they're off the field. That's
8:26
Speaker 1: the biggest question mark. They got Malik Nabors coming back
8:28
Speaker 1: from injury who looks very good during camp. They also
8:31
Speaker 1: added OBJ, can we get a prime OBJ back in
8:35
Speaker 1: New York? What does that look like with that tandem?
8:37
Speaker 1: We don't know. Those are our biggest question marks. And
8:40
Speaker 1: then obviously, we got the Dallas Cowboys who added Quentin
8:44
Speaker 1: Williams last year. They added Kenny Clark, and they added
8:47
Speaker 1: some great guys already. My guy Don Overshawn is going
8:50
Speaker 1: to come back fully healthy from injury. They got D
8:52
Speaker 1: winners from San Fran. They added Kobe Durant. They added
8:56
Speaker 1: so many guys. What does this look like? Caleb Downs.
8:59
Speaker 1: Does this defense go from Worst to best. We have
9:03
Speaker 1: to see. They got a new D.C. of Coach Parker.
9:08
Speaker 1: What does this look like? Because we know what their
9:10
Speaker 1: offense is capable of. We know what it is. That
9:12
Speaker 1: is one of the best offenses in the league last year.
9:15
Speaker 1: Do we get primetime Dak Prescott again? Does George Pickens
9:18
Speaker 1: and C.D. Lamb become the best duo in the league
9:21
Speaker 1: over Jamar Chase? And T. Higgins, what does that look like?
9:25
Speaker 1: The biggest question mark. And then here we go in Philadelphia,
9:28
Speaker 1: who probably added a little bit with Malachi Lemon, but
9:32
Speaker 1: they got rid of A.J. Brown. A.J. Brown, who's been
9:35
Speaker 1: a top 10 receiver over the past couple years and
9:37
Speaker 1: arguably a top five for three of the last four years.
9:40
Speaker 1: This is going to be serious. Does Devontae Smith finally
9:43
Speaker 1: get the light and shine that he deserves? You know,
9:46
Speaker 1: their offensive line is back. Lane's back. Jordan Meyer is back.
9:49
Speaker 1: The best offensive line in football is back. And their defense,
9:52
Speaker 1: they paid Jordan Davis and Jalen Carter. Even though they
9:57
Speaker 1: let Jalen Phillips walk, they added Jonathan Grenard from Minnesota.
10:00
Speaker 1: who adds tremendous help to that team. And they'll get
10:03
Speaker 1: to Nolan Smith, and we already know, Dejean and Coob.
10:07
Speaker 1: What does this look like? This division is packed. It
10:09
Speaker 1: has a lot of action. And this is how we're
10:11
Speaker 1: going to rate it. I'm going to take the Philadelphia
10:14
Speaker 1: Eagles as number one. I know, I know, I know.
10:16
Speaker 1: How can someone say, how can he put Philadelphia Eagles
10:19
Speaker 1: at number one? I just think that they have the
10:22
Speaker 1: best team. They added a new OC, but that team
10:25
Speaker 1: is scary. It's very scary to play. Besides Tennessee, who
10:30
Speaker 1: has a better interior duo than Jordan Davis and Jalen Carter?
10:33
Speaker 1: And we see those win games. And then the corner
10:35
Speaker 1: duo between Mitchell and Dejean. This is a real duo.
10:39
Speaker 1: This is a real duo. They are vetted. They are
10:42
Speaker 1: all pros last year. This team, if they can stay healthy,
10:44
Speaker 1: they can do it. And can they get that Saquon?
10:47
Speaker 1: Can they establish a run game with the new OC?
10:50
Speaker 1: Can 2K say be back? If that happens, I will
10:53
Speaker 1: put Philadelphia as number one. Obviously, like we said, Philadelphia
10:57
Speaker 1: has one of the best O-lines in football. That's why
10:59
Speaker 1: you can't really add the D-line factors of most of
11:02
Speaker 1: these teams that are great in the NFC East, right?
11:06
Speaker 1: You say they got Don, they got Rashawn Gary, Quentin Williams,
11:10
Speaker 1: they got Kenny Clark. But Philly has the best offensive line,
11:13
Speaker 1: one of the best lines in football. They combat a
11:15
Speaker 1: lot of teams of where they like, hey, we put
11:18
Speaker 1: a lot of money and we can be dominant. That's
11:20
Speaker 1: why I'm putting them at number one. And obviously, at
11:22
Speaker 1: number two, we will go to Dallas Cowboys. I think
11:25
Speaker 1: Dallas Cowboys, they showed us something when they beat the
11:28
Speaker 1: Philadelphia Eagles in that second matchup last year. They said, hey,
11:32
Speaker 1: we're going to attack Quinn Young Mitchell. We're going to
11:34
Speaker 1: attack Cooper Dejean. We have the best two-man guys, and
11:38
Speaker 1: they showed that George Pickens and CeeDee Lamb had big games.
11:42
Speaker 1: Can they limit them? Can those two corners limit the
11:44
Speaker 1: Dallas Cowboys? I don't know. We'll see. But just off
11:47
Speaker 1: of that, we're going to go to Dallas Cowboys number two.
11:49
Speaker 1: And number three, I think this is going to be
11:51
Speaker 1: the hard one, but the Washington Commanders, they proved it.
11:54
Speaker 1: They went to the NFC Championship. They added talent. I
11:57
Speaker 1: think this team can be the real deal. I don't
12:00
Speaker 1: know if they can handle the haymakers like the Dallas
12:02
Speaker 1: Cowboys and the Philadelphia Eagles, but time will tell. They
12:06
Speaker 1: are my number three team. And number four, I get hardball.
12:09
Speaker 1: I get New York. They got Brian Burns. They got
12:11
Speaker 1: Abdul Carter. They have Javon Holland. They have all these guys.
12:16
Speaker 1: Andrew Thomas, Cam, Jackson Dart, OBJ, Malik Neighbors. I get it.
12:20
Speaker 1: But these teams are serious in the NFC East. This
12:23
Speaker 1: is not a team to play around with. I get it.
12:26
Speaker 1: I hate that New York's might going to be last.
12:28
Speaker 1: But these teams, they got to prove it. They got
12:30
Speaker 1: to do it. We haven't seen New York prove it.
12:32
Speaker 1: They haven't made playoffs. They haven't did it. These teams
12:35
Speaker 1: have done it. That's where I'm going off of, what
12:37
Speaker 1: they've done before and who they are now. So next year,
12:41
Speaker 1: can the New York Giants raise up? 100%. But for
12:43
Speaker 1: right now, these are the four. AFC North, I'm going
12:47
Speaker 1: to go... Ooh, this one's tough. My first grade is
12:52
Speaker 1: to take Baltimore. I think Baltimore had a down year.
12:56
Speaker 1: New coaching staff kind of gets you excited about new things,
13:00
Speaker 1: how they're going to use Lamar. How the defense is
13:03
Speaker 1: going to look. They added Trey Hendrickson. So, it's going
13:07
Speaker 1: to be very interesting to see how this plays out. So,
13:09
Speaker 1: I'm going to go Baltimore 1 just because I think,
13:11
Speaker 1: you know, Lamar is just a cheat code. And they
13:14
Speaker 1: got a better all-around team. I'm going to go Cincinnati 2.
13:19
Speaker 1: I think they added a bunch for them. They did
13:22
Speaker 1: very good this offseason. Added Dexter Lawrence. You know what? Nah,
13:28
Speaker 1: we're not going to put Cincinnati 2. We're going to
13:30
Speaker 1: put Pittsburgh 2. Pittsburgh Steelers. Aaron Rodgers last year. I
13:36
Speaker 1: think he makes a legendary run. Their defense is who
13:39
Speaker 1: it is. They still got Cam Hayward, TJ Watt, Joey Porter.
13:42
Speaker 1: I just think they play hard. Pittsburgh is who they
13:45
Speaker 1: are for a reason. And they added some things on
13:48
Speaker 1: offense too. Not only DK, added Michael Pittman. So I'm
13:52
Speaker 1: excited to see what they do. They still got Pat
13:54
Speaker 1: Fryer moved. So they still got a lot going on
13:57
Speaker 1: for the offense. So I'm very excited to see how
13:59
Speaker 1: that team turns out. And we'll do Cincinnati three. I
14:02
Speaker 1: wanted to put them two because I think this is
14:04
Speaker 1: the year Joe Burrow shows why he's a top five quarterback.
14:07
Speaker 1: I just have to believe in our defense a little
14:09
Speaker 1: bit more. I don't know if they still do it
14:11
Speaker 1: even with adding Dexter Lawrence. So it's very shaky to me.
14:16
Speaker 1: But if they can turn their defense around. I would
14:20
Speaker 1: argue they would be the second best team. But I
14:22
Speaker 1: know for sure Pittsburgh always has a solid defense. So
14:25
Speaker 1: they were just more comfortable for me putting them at two.
14:28
Speaker 1: And then last, I'm going to say Cleveland. Their defense
14:30
Speaker 1: is always great. They just don't have a proven offense.
14:32
Speaker 1: We don't know if we're going to get a healthy
14:33
Speaker 1: Deshaun Watson. We don't know if he'll start. Maybe it's Shador.
14:38
Speaker 1: There's just too many different variables for me to put
14:40
Speaker 1: Cleveland anywhere but four. But we know they always had
14:44
Speaker 1: the best defense in the AFC North for sure. Yeah,
14:47
Speaker 1: even without Miles Garrett. Denzel Ward, Delpit, they got Burse,
14:52
Speaker 1: they got Mason Graham, Malik Collins, Alex Wright. They just
14:57
Speaker 1: had Defensive Rookie of the Year, Carson, and there's, I think, Emerson.
15:03
Speaker 1: They got so many guys on that defense, it's not
15:05
Speaker 1: even funny. The AFC East, I'm going to stick with
15:08
Speaker 1: New England at number one, simply because I think during May,
15:12
Speaker 1: how he played last year, and he's added A.J. Brown,
15:16
Speaker 1: and he has All these healthy pieces between Stevenson and
15:21
Speaker 1: they have just a great combo offensive line. I think
15:23
Speaker 1: Campbell steps up this year. I think he has a
15:25
Speaker 1: bigger year this year. We actually face New England this year,
15:28
Speaker 1: so I'm going to see it firsthand. I think this
15:30
Speaker 1: team is very good. At number two, I'm going to
15:33
Speaker 1: say Buffalo. Even though they added DJ Moore, I just
15:36
Speaker 1: don't know if they have the defense and the powerhouse,
15:41
Speaker 1: same powerhouse as New England. We played all these teams
15:45
Speaker 1: this year, so I'm very well getting ready to face
15:48
Speaker 1: all these guys. And I get Josh Allen is, you know,
15:51
Speaker 1: obviously a top quarterback in this league. You know, they're
15:53
Speaker 1: always a competitive team. I really wanted to put them
15:56
Speaker 1: at one, but I guess we'll see what happens in
15:58
Speaker 1: their matchups this year. Because I think they'll probably split again.
16:01
Speaker 1: So that's my one and two. And number three, I
16:03
Speaker 1: would say the Jets had an amazing offseason. They added
16:07
Speaker 1: a bunch of rookies. They added a bunch of guys
16:09
Speaker 1: in free agency. Minka, Joseph Osai. My guy from the Packers, J.J.,
16:16
Speaker 1: they just added so many different pieces. I think if
16:18
Speaker 1: Geno could play anywhere close to his dinner right back season,
16:23
Speaker 1: I think this will be the number three team. And
16:26
Speaker 1: they can challenge any team in the AFC East. But
16:28
Speaker 1: it's always going to depend on how good the quarterbacks play.
16:32
Speaker 1: At number four, I think Miami kind of faced it.
16:35
Speaker 1: We're tanking. Obviously, they kept it at Kane, and they
16:38
Speaker 1: brought Malik Willison, who was there last year, and obviously
16:41
Speaker 1: amazing pieces. But they got rid of Waddle. Tyreek Hill's
16:44
Speaker 1: not there. So it's like, who's going to be the guy?
16:47
Speaker 1: A lot of questions, a lot of voice. Let go
16:50
Speaker 1: of Minka too. So it's kind of like they admitted
16:52
Speaker 1: to the tank. They're paying two of $ 50 million. I
16:55
Speaker 1: just think for the next couple of years, Miami starts
16:58
Speaker 1: trying to get draft capital. That's the reason why they
17:00
Speaker 1: traded Waddle and kind of rebuild their team with the
17:03
Speaker 1: young guys and get their salary cap back. AFC South.
17:09
Speaker 1: This is going to be difficult, to be honest with you,
17:12
Speaker 1: because I always say this is probably the hardest division
17:16
Speaker 1: to put out there because you don't know who you're getting, right?
17:21
Speaker 1: Last year, we kind of saw the real Trevor Lawrence.
17:23
Speaker 1: They had a great team, great defense, and they had
17:26
Speaker 1: 13 wins. But do we get that same team again? Obviously,
17:30
Speaker 1: they had a co-win come as the head coach, but
17:34
Speaker 1: it's like, Do we have film on them to make
17:36
Speaker 1: the adjustments to knock Jacksonville off? That's going to be
17:39
Speaker 1: the biggest question. That kind of worries me a little
17:42
Speaker 1: bit because it's always like, what can I do the
17:44
Speaker 1: second year? You know, usually first year head coaches usually
17:48
Speaker 1: do really good. And then once they got the scheme,
17:51
Speaker 1: the players, things like that. So this is going to
17:53
Speaker 1: be very interesting. And then you got Colt, who had
17:56
Speaker 1: a great record until Dane Jones got hurt. So that's
17:59
Speaker 1: very interesting. So you don't really know what you're going
18:02
Speaker 1: to get out of them. But, you know, you got
18:04
Speaker 1: Jonathan Taylor. And Houston's the same way because their defense
18:08
Speaker 1: is the best defense in the league. But you don't
18:10
Speaker 1: know what they're going to look like with a healthy
18:13
Speaker 1: Tank Dell, maybe a more focused C.J. Stroud, and a
18:17
Speaker 1: healthy Nico Collins. So this is very hard. And then
18:21
Speaker 1: you got the Tennessee Titans where you're like, okay, this
18:23
Speaker 1: is really good. Cam Ward. I'm a Cam Ward believer.
18:26
Speaker 1: I'm a Cam Ward believer. And based off everything I've seen,
18:30
Speaker 1: Tate is the guy. He looked great in OTAs, and
18:33
Speaker 1: he's having a great camp. which I thought in the draft,
18:36
Speaker 1: I thought he was the best receiver. But do they
18:37
Speaker 1: have enough? They added Jonathan Franklin Myers on defense to
18:41
Speaker 1: go with the highest paid D-tackle in the league. This
18:43
Speaker 1: is very tough. Hardest division. So I'm going to bank
18:47
Speaker 1: on C.J. Stroud doing enough. He has to do enough.
18:50
Speaker 1: He don't have to play elite football. He just has
18:52
Speaker 1: to play good football. And people hate to say it.
18:54
Speaker 1: He needs to play the Sam Donald. They need a
18:57
Speaker 1: good run game. Do not turn the ball over. So
18:59
Speaker 1: I'm going to go Houston as number one. Sam Donald football,
19:02
Speaker 1: for people who don't know his name, Play great defense.
19:05
Speaker 1: Have a great run game. And do not turn the
19:08
Speaker 1: ball over. Turnovers kill games. Do not turn the ball over.
19:12
Speaker 1: Did a great job of that last year. Something Minnesota
19:15
Speaker 1: desperately missed. Number two, I'm going to stick with Jacksonville.
19:18
Speaker 1: I think Trevor Lawrence has the confidence and he's figuring
19:21
Speaker 1: it out. He played big in some big games. I
19:25
Speaker 1: think he has it. And then in three, I'm going
19:28
Speaker 1: to stick with the Indianapolis Colts. I hate to do
19:31
Speaker 1: this to the Titans because I do believe in them.
19:33
Speaker 1: But I just think those other two teams are too
19:36
Speaker 1: loaded defensively and offensively to kind of combat. Even the
19:40
Speaker 1: additions they add with Robinson and Tate, I just don't
19:44
Speaker 1: know if they have enough defensively. I'm always going to
19:48
Speaker 1: lean towards defense. I'm a defensive guy. You know what?
19:51
Speaker 1: Just to shake it up, I feel like there's no
19:55
Speaker 1: wrong answer here, but we'll do Tennessee three and then
19:59
Speaker 1: have us four. And if I'm wrong, I still said
20:01
Speaker 1: my first initial was Indianapolis third, but I just really
20:04
Speaker 1: want to believe in the Titans. AFC West, I'm going
20:08
Speaker 1: to stick with the Broncos as number one. And I
20:11
Speaker 1: think this is going to shock a lot of people
20:13
Speaker 1: how I go with this. I want to keep Broncos
20:15
Speaker 1: at number one. They did lose a couple people, but
20:19
Speaker 1: I still think they're power loaded and they added Jalen
20:22
Speaker 1: Waddle to the offense. I'm going to keep Denver number one.
20:25
Speaker 1: I was going to surprise some people and they're going
20:28
Speaker 1: to say, Mikey don't know football. I am going to
20:30
Speaker 1: take the Los Angeles Chargers at number two over Kansas City.
20:35
Speaker 1: I do not think Kansas City put enough around Patrick
20:37
Speaker 1: Mahomes to win the AFC West and go pick another
20:41
Speaker 1: title run. They let go of every bit of their talent,
20:45
Speaker 1: pretty much. Trent McDuffie left. You just don't let those
20:48
Speaker 1: type of players left. It's just hard for me to
20:50
Speaker 1: say that they're ready to win. When I look at
20:53
Speaker 1: the receivers, I don't see them really threatening to win.
20:56
Speaker 1: You got an older Kelsey who's a Hall of Famer,
20:59
Speaker 1: but you can't bank on him to win. We don't
21:02
Speaker 1: know what Mahomes is going to look like after an
21:04
Speaker 1: injury like anyone. Does he miss a couple games? We
21:07
Speaker 1: don't know. It's very hard to decide off of right now.
21:11
Speaker 1: This is all guess what. We just don't know what
21:14
Speaker 1: the future is and who's going to be the number
21:16
Speaker 1: one receiver for Kansas City. Can they stay healthy? That's
21:19
Speaker 1: been another challenge. Can they protect Patrick even when he
21:22
Speaker 1: gets back? These are all questions that demand answers. We
21:24
Speaker 1: don't know, but I don't think They added enough or
21:28
Speaker 1: kept enough to say, we're trying to win this year.
21:31
Speaker 1: And I think that's why they paid Paddy's money this offseason.
21:33
Speaker 1: Because they're like, hey, we're not paying anyone else or
21:36
Speaker 1: we're going to pay our quarterback and try to rebuild elsewhere.
21:39
Speaker 1: And then four, the Raiders just got to show us.
21:41
Speaker 1: They got to get over the hump. It's hard to
21:42
Speaker 1: say because over the past year or so, they just
21:45
Speaker 1: haven't been that team. A lot of talent. They added
21:49
Speaker 1: a lot of talent. We want to believe. But these
21:51
Speaker 1: teams are just so loaded. Just so loaded. And the Chargers,
21:54
Speaker 1: I put them at two because I just think last
21:57
Speaker 1: year they won so many games with so many guys hurt.
22:00
Speaker 1: They're just built differently. They're just built differently. Both tackles
22:03
Speaker 1: were hurt. Herbert still did his thing. And their defense
22:06
Speaker 1: is really good. So I'm going to keep the Chargers
22:08
Speaker 1: at two. So that's the NFC. And the NFC North. Offer,
22:12
Speaker 1: we're going to go Green Bay Packers. No, number one.
22:15
Speaker 1: There's nothing to be understood or misunderstood here. We were
22:18
Speaker 1: the number one team. for 12 straight weeks. Do we
22:21
Speaker 1: have to finish? Yes, we do. We have to get
22:23
Speaker 1: everyone healthy, and we're going to be back on the field.
22:25
Speaker 1: We got young guys that's going to step up, and
22:28
Speaker 1: we added Zaire Franklin. He's legit. He's a dog. Big
22:32
Speaker 1: Cowboy Cooper's going to step up this year. And to
22:34
Speaker 1: be honest, we got the best safety duo in the
22:37
Speaker 1: National Football League with Edmund Williams and Xavier McKinney. No-fly
22:40
Speaker 1: zone has been established, and we got guys that's ready
22:43
Speaker 1: to step up. Young guy, Cisse, he's going to be
22:45
Speaker 1: a legit player for us. We got Keon Nixon and
22:48
Speaker 1: we got Valentine back and we got Bull. We have
22:51
Speaker 1: young guys all over the field and that's ready to
22:53
Speaker 1: play good football. And yes, I will be back and
22:56
Speaker 1: we will be ready to dominate whoever's in front of us.
22:58
Speaker 1: And number two, I am going to go with the
23:01
Speaker 1: Chicago Bears. I think Chicago has established himself as a
23:05
Speaker 1: legit team in this league. Can Caleb Williams do it again?
23:08
Speaker 1: The great ones can do it over again and over
23:11
Speaker 1: again and over again. Can he be a great one?
23:13
Speaker 1: We don't know. Father time will tell. Do we know
23:15
Speaker 1: what they have? We know they have one of the
23:17
Speaker 1: highest paid old tacklers in football, and they have a
23:20
Speaker 1: great team around them. They're looking for Luther Bird and Romeo.
23:23
Speaker 1: Those guys will really step up. Colton Loveland, I think
23:26
Speaker 1: he's going to be a top five tight end when
23:28
Speaker 1: it's all said and done by the end of the season.
23:30
Speaker 1: He proved that. He's shown that. He's made big catches,
23:33
Speaker 1: big strides in the pass and the run game. We
23:35
Speaker 1: understand what he can do. And their offensive line is
23:37
Speaker 1: very compatible with anyone in the league. So, Can they
23:40
Speaker 1: do it? We don't know. But can they show it?
23:43
Speaker 1: And I'm going to give them the grace to do it, yes.
23:45
Speaker 1: Number three, our biggest question mark with Detroit was the injuries.
23:49
Speaker 1: They're very hurt. Kirby Joseph is hurt. We don't know
23:52
Speaker 1: what that timeline is going to look like. Brian Branch
23:54
Speaker 1: is coming back from Achilles. We don't know what that's
23:56
Speaker 1: going to look like. I think one of their corners
23:58
Speaker 1: walked in, left in free agency, and went to Washington.
24:01
Speaker 1: So we don't know what that looks like. They lost
24:04
Speaker 1: so much on defense. We don't know what that looks like.
24:06
Speaker 1: But what we do know is they have Aiden Hutchinson.
24:08
Speaker 1: He combats a lot of that. The ball has to
24:10
Speaker 1: come out quick. He helps the team. If he's on,
24:12
Speaker 1: that team's on. And obviously, they got Jameer Gibbs, who's
24:15
Speaker 1: ready to take over the workholders. But what are we getting? Obviously,
24:19
Speaker 1: they got Jamison Williams, Amon St. Brown, Jared Goff. They
24:22
Speaker 1: have one of the most explosive teams in football. But
24:25
Speaker 1: what is their O-line line? Ragnos retired. Taylor Decker is
24:29
Speaker 1: not back with the team. They only have Pene Suau.
24:31
Speaker 1: That is a big question mark on the left side.
24:33
Speaker 1: And the National Football League and what this NFC has
24:37
Speaker 1: is dominant defensive lines. They've got to be ready to
24:40
Speaker 1: play good football and just know we're always coming. And then, obviously,
24:44
Speaker 1: Minnesota Vikings. They have all the talent in the world.
24:46
Speaker 1: But last year, they said J.J. McCarthy couldn't do it.
24:49
Speaker 1: But the question is, can he do it? Or can
24:52
Speaker 1: the great K-1 redeem himself in Minnesota? But something has
24:56
Speaker 1: to happen at that QB room. Their last quarterback just
24:58
Speaker 1: won the Super Bowl. So they have their biggest question
25:00
Speaker 1: mark at that QB slot. Justin Jefferson voiced his frustrations.
25:05
Speaker 1: The team in Wayne got K-1. Will it happen? We
25:08
Speaker 1: don't know. Can it happen? We know what they're capable
25:10
Speaker 1: of when they're on. It's about can they be on. So,
25:13
Speaker 1: based off that knowledge, I'm going Green Bay Packers number one,
25:16
Speaker 1: Chicago Bears number two, Detroit Lions number three, and Minnesota
25:20
Speaker 1: number four. We're going to lock it in? Yep, lock
25:22
Speaker 1: it in.