Gregg Rosenthal is joined by Patrick Claybon and Jourdan Rodrigue of The Athletic for the debut episode of NFL Daily!
0:00 – Thoughts about end of Around the NFL
13:45 – Changing fourth down decisions
22:30 – New kickoff rules
29:50 – Year 2 of C.J. Stroud
50:45 – Steelers
Note: time codes approximate
welcome to NFL daily I’m Greg Rosenthal and I am beyond lucky today to be joined by Patrick Claybon and Jordan rodrig of the athletic on our maiden voyage for this show here NFL daily in the Chris wesling podcast studio so uh this offseason’s been a lot I’m going to talk a little bit first guys before bringing you in it’s got me thinking um what what brings joy in life and in football and we’re going to talk about that with our segment coming up uh in the show but before before I do get to you guys I do want to start by addressing the obvious that this is not the around the NFL podcast that we taped our last episode of around the NFL on May 23rd and it was a total shock uh to all of us and it’s very difficult that that that was the last show that we’re not going to to do another and I know that’s going to inspire a lot of emotions from our listeners from you guys um from anyone that that’s worked on it from myself of course I get it like I’ve been going through them too for really six six weeks now since since we did that last show I I still am um we’ll go through him together uh I love Dan and Mark and what we built together with Chris was was beyond special uh Kesha uh Chris’s Chris’s wife uh said it perfectly on IG yesterday that we will always be family and nothing can take away what we we accomplish together um I do just want to thank everyone especially like the listeners but also everyone in in this room you two and that’s ever been in this room uh you know who you are and who’s in the control room back there and and who’s been in the control room over the years whether it’s in Culver City or here and the listeners too because y’all helped uh you changed all of our Lives you know you you made something so special with us and you felt like it was always us together uh and you stuck with us after Chris died and we tried not to ask for too much uh along the way but I do I do want to ask for something now and and that’s the support the hell out of Mark and Dan what they’re going to do next and I love them I always will and I want you to support this show too uh give it a chance like give give both shows some Grace and and be cool um NFL da it’s not going to be the same show it’s not I it can’t be I wouldn’t want it to be it’s going to be different and we’ll get into how you know that’s that’s going to be different um but it’s going to be a great show too like I’m I’m really excited it’s it’s as you would say Jordan like two two things can be true uh you know we can miss that and I this is going to be something we’re going to be really proud of and uh I hope y all that are listening are too I’m looking forward to working with so many people Colleen’s going to be back on the show next week when she gets back in town and we got Steve we and Nick Shook on the show uh tomorrow and uh of course you Jordan like welcoming you here uh it’s really exciting to me and Patrick there’s no one I I love uh working more with than y’all and uh that’s it I’ll I’ll I’ll let you guys talk a little bit too well no and I guess thank you um from the standpoint of obviously personally and and you know I’ve said this to you but from the standpoint of a of a listener right because like you get you get guests on a podcast and the relationship is kind of fundamentally different and so I felt right and feel all the things that a lot of people are feeling mhm and then like to have this tangental attachment uh to what you guys built by just being in your vicinity like over on West Washington Boulevard all the way to over here MH has just it’s been something to experience and like when I when I think about how much the show means to so many people I have to remind myself that there’s four people in four families who the show means so much more to right and of course when you’re experiencing those emotions you like I’m sitting here in the Chris wesling podcast studio right um what you guys built it provides people with a level of openness and vulnerability and understand understanding that a lot of people don’t get in real life much less surrounding the discussion of football right um and so doing that it grew the game and there’s all these initiatives all of these discussions about how to make the game International right how to accomplish these things I can’t think of a better way to protect the shield than to have more people carrying it and that’s and that’s what you guys did and and you don’t you don’t get that in an Excel spreadsheet or an earnings report um there’s there’s equality to that that the reason that people feel the emotions that they’re feeling is because they felt that mhm and so I love you guys right um and as you said I hope that people are able to get two properties that they can listen to and be a part of an extended family um but I just sorry what you guys did is incredible and should be celebrated and in in any way that we can um you know cuz I haven’t known how to react right like I haven’t really known what to say or or where to be and people ask questions and it’s just like this was incredible and I’m glad to have experienced it and been a small part of it yeah we’ve had at least like a little time since since Taping that show I appreciate all that Patrick to to process it a little but obviously letting everyone know letting the listeners know this week it’s it’s just different and and um we’re going to get to the football of it all but yeah I do want to hear from you too Jordan yeah I mean it’s that openness that you guys created that um it’s going to make it really hard for me to get through this next couple seconds here but it’s also that space that you guys created that allows me to be able to try right um like the listeners of this show know I am one of them um I’ve been one of them I’ve been you know lurking in all the same placees they’ve been lurking for years and years I’ve been listening um this podcast to me that that you and Mark and Dan and Chris the heroes that that you guys created that so many other people um created um it got me through some really hard stuff and I don’t think for a long time you guys knew that the space you created and the safety you created for people to come in and just sit with people who they they thought were good a good hang and they liked listening to but then that space became really an Open Door into this thing that so many of us are passionate about and for all the the words that we can’t use sometimes to describe it because we don’t know how we would turn to you guys and I would turn I would turn to Wes and football was a closed door for me in a lot of ways for a long time and the way that he talked about football and the way that he wrote because that’s what I found first um that opened the door for me and I never got to tell him that but I was here a couple months ago Greg and I know you saw me staring at the door of the studio and having a moment and at the after we recorded that show I had to tell all of you guys what that meant for me that was why I was so nervous the fan base was so nice I was so nervous I’m so freaking nervous still like I’m terrified because this is really hard cuz it matters this mattered so much to me and it mattered so much to so many people and it mattered to you four and your families and and I want to preserve that I did not have I did not build the house that we’re sitting in right now I I didn’t I watched and I enjoyed and I supported from afar and I think now I’m getting tapped on the shoulder and in a small in a very small capacity to support up close everybody to support you to support Mark to support Dan and I’m going to do that because finding this show open a door to football for me in a way that I didn’t know was possible football to me is my purpose on this Earth and all I can do is pay this forward to you to Mark to Dan to everybody as as best I can as as much as you’ll have me as much as they’ll have me I just wanna I just want to help keep that door open for people who were like me who still are like me who doesn’t matter what you look like where you come from your knowledge level like I want to help keep that door open and that’s why I’m sitting here that’s why I continue to support you that’s why I continue to support those two guys and and will until I’m done on this planet because that’s that changed my life so um like beautiful and Bittersweet and just life man and this happens so much when I think about the impact Chris has had on all of this that you’re saying those words and and sitting in that seat and everything in in his Studio because like how you approach football it reminds me of Wes like that’s it’s one of the reasons I was really I I’ve told you this before but it’s one of the reasons why I wanted you to come on the show initially it’s why I’m so excited that you’re part of this show when when you say football is your your purpose on this earth like it it can mean everything to us and we also kind of can put it to the side that it means nothing and it’s just this thing we’re incredibly passionate about but way the way you see the game that you want to understand it because I do think it’s the one thing I this going to be my 21st season doing football since I started at rot world and and I still love it so much and we’re going to get to what we’re really looking forward to um in this season shortly but like the Gap and this is was when I started what I realized after three or four months because I liveed doar Sports was like the gap between what we know and what we don’t is so much greater than any other Sport and trying to like fill that Gap is what gets me um really excited and excited about NFL daily that it’s it’s going to be different but like we’re going to this journey and um it’s been a lot this offseason thank you everyone that that’s listening for for your patience too because I know it’s been silent and the uncertainty uh was tough and you like I want to be like really open in this show when we do this these shows and just honest and like look full full transparen like my family was going through you know some serious health issues that very uncertain um during all this and when this happened you know that that was part that was part of everything part of the decisions and and what I’m going to do and I’m uh I’m so happy like there’s like great news on that front recently and man like this week like the sun’s been shining better and and food is tasting better and it all puts it in perspective of you know what what matters in life and that football can matter as Stu as stupid as it is like I find joy in this football thing you you guys do I couldn’t uh quit it uh if I tried and so we’re going to we’re going to celebrate it and try to figure it out and and talk about uh what we are looking forward to and the joy that that we’re going to get out of this season as training camps uh start to uh get going next week and we we’ll do that in our first segment uh after the break okay we are back on NFL daily and apologize for that hard transition from whatever ad just played to uh what we said ahead of the break and uh what we’re going to say now too which I’m really excited about uh it’s been a minute it’s been a minute since we podcasted uh Patrick and and Jordan obviously you too and uh like we’re close the the Texans are showing up next week and uh I was debating like whether we get back in the studio you know this week next week I I want to get ready to go and I wanted to like set this first segment up of just like what are we looking forward to like what is the thing it during this offse for me that’s how I thought about it during this offseason which been a little challenging obviously but I still been staying on top of the the football of it all like what am I looking forward to the most what I what do I think is going to give me the most joy as we are looking ahead to the 2024 season and I want to start this with Patrick clayon it’s over the common them with all the things that I’m looking forward to is most of it is uncertainty right um because pushing back towards this idea of how much we don’t know right what part of the things that you were talking about earlier okay so last season only 19 teams converted more than 50% of their fourth down attempts and I say only because in the two previous years it was 23 and 24 um we raved about how good the Eagles were at fourth down last season they finished at 73% the year before the Rams had the lead at 78 % when the thing they had the lead it yeah the one thing that the 2022 Rams were good at I think right we go back to 2018 Anthony Lyn’s Chargers converted 87% of their fourth down attempts they only went for it eight times they got seven of them the the idea of how going forward on fourth down is always better is slowly starting to not become better uh because I think teams are getting better at defending all of these fourth down attempts and so it’s pushing towards this un certainty of what’s going to happen at fourth down it’s all a cycle and I’m just I’m excited to see that cycle start to come to its fruition and maybe we’re getting to a point where maybe less than half of the league is converting 50% I don’t know but it’s going to be fun so I’m am shocked actually I’m being serious that that Claybon started with like sort of an analytic bent to it to make me cry a second time right what he’s looking forward to um because I hear those numbers and I still think okay we got a little ways to go like okay I mean you’re saying only 19 teams are over 50% it’s like okay that’s still pretty good some of those percentages are pretty high but you do speak to what’s the Natural Evolution of anything analytic or you know the Moneyball effect when baseball started that way it’s like yeah once every team starts doing the same thing then it is increasingly less effective and you have to Pivot I think we’re seeing that now in team building when you think about the off ball linebacker position like the analytical model of building your team and kind of not worrying about off ball linebackers was so copied until you got to the playoffs last year and maybe the last couple years and it’s like you can point to so many teams like the Cowboys uh would be one certainly the Eagles and you could point to all these teams that keep losing in the playoffs and you’re like literally the entire game plan that the other team was making is because your off ball linebackers are bad and then you kind of look at like who’s got the best off ball linebackers they’re the best teams in football they’re the best defenses in football so I hear you on the fourth down teams will have to adjust on their short yardage strategy and come up with new stuff I feel like we still have some I don’t want to be I don’t want to stop calling for fourth downs I guess is my issue yeah like going for I will still be calling for certain coaches who typically don’t go for it on fourth down to go for it on fourth down what team do you cover on a regular basis speaking the offb linebacker thing we we actually call that the shanana plan you know Circle the other team’s middle linebacker and then just Spam that player mercilessly over and over and then like laugh behind the play card that you’re doing it but I think it’s interesting because when you see changes like that when you see teams get really good at going forward on fourth down and and also more teams who are um understanding analytics meets um sorry Patrick but momentum feel and flow of the game um when you’re seeing the analytics meet meet some of these like very stereotypical coaching principles that’s the that’s the shift that you’re starting to see a little bit you’re seeing more and more of that I mean you know again we joke about it but but Sean MC sha McVey hired stretch out of Tennessee and he’s like one of the game management guys in the league and even so he even he is who is like one of the most conservative full name he’s a one name guy John strier Rihanna stretch is easier because I always say is it stretcher is it Striker and he’s tall so stretch well that’s cuz did they try to hire you first or well I because Jordan’s too too humble about this but like her getting on them about their fourth down decisions and like writing an article about it every week every week but there was one I remember in particular last year where you really did it like there was a pretty clear before that article and after that article of like how often sea McVey was going for I’m just saying that’s to get back to the point but that’s true that’s not the first time I’m going to interrupt your your point pra deflection is Jordan’s uh number one skill spinning praise like love your love your shirt Patrick by the way spinning praise is like a ninja move yeah so but I think the more teams get used to the fact that this is going to be the wave now in the NFL like what what I don’t think a lot of people on the outside see is that you literally are starting to structure practices different you’re literally starting to build more time in not just for a a more full play sheet um more full play design out of a fourth down bucket so to speak to use sort of like that lingo you know you don’t often have time to build out a full um malleable and adjustable evolvable Fourth Down plan in in traditional and typical punt on fourth down kind of situations for practice there is no time in the week it’s not criticizing the coaches who don’t do it and for a long time most of the league wasn’t or hasn’t it’s just that there’s no time during the week you got to get to Red Zone for God’s sake you got to walk to the bus and install things as you go you got to troubleshoot during walkthroughs like all of these different things with with the the week of preparation is so it’s so tight to fit all of those things in well now what you’re starting to see and and I I heard about this this offseason is more teams building out that scheduled time it’s kind of similar we’re going to talk about at the kickoff the new kickoff building more time during the week not just for what you’re going to do on fourth down and all the situational that you’re going to build into the natural part of the weekly plan instead of those guys are in another department on the other side of the building no they’re in the coaching rooms now and that’s growing across the league and then also you’re seeing by proxy teams are getting better at defending it because there’s more tape there’s more tape on what you’re going to potentially do there’s more data there’s more situations so if you are seeing that and everything Springs back around so basically everyone’s just becoming more like Bill Bell’s been for like 40 years it it took what 20 minutes for you to bring up Bill bich I’m just saying like I thought I thought we might I mean I’m I’m exaggerating a little bit all I’m saying is that I think they prepped management situations on a more consistent and specific level than other teams were like when I’m even talking about the Giants back in the 80s and 90s and the Patriots and that’s all not that he was perfect about it or that it’s all like it’s not about the analytics of it all but I think they the they literally just spent more time doing that stuff than other teams I know this because every player that’s left there is like we spent way more time on this stuff the the culture of communication I I think in the league has changed a lot yeah age and so you’re not necessarily going to have some like a bill bich maybe taking criticism from the outside and applying it right um to whereas now there’s more there’s more communication about the way that you know people operate I think I think people share more uh now more information available and so like while you could bemoon like people you know quote unquote like analytics is this all-consuming monster that does everything everybody does it differently and everybody applies it differently and you can have you know the Shanahan tree coaching half the league but it can still be different right because of the this like everything is this meta analysis and then we get the analysis of the analysis and it just creates more uncertainty which is football to that point though like we have so much cool information and so much cool math and like it is so such an awesome tool but nothing actually changes and shifts like what you’re noticing until the actual Tang functionality of how the week is planned shifts and I’m talking scheme I’m talking um position value I’m talking anything it it doesn’t actually start to shift that way until they build and structure tangible things that create those changes that can you can you have to rep it you have to rep it and rep it and rep it and rep it and then you start seeing like these things trickle out of buildings during training camps joint practices I think across the league are going to be huge this year because um that’s what’s going to bring me a lot of Joy cuz we’re we going to watch the kickoff is this one of your things this is one of my things all right let’s get to it yes it’s the new kickoff I did get to watch like practices of the new kickoff this spring it rules really it’s chaos nobody knows what they’re doing yet but it rules but the the thing that I wanted to point out is you see I you know I don’t have the specific numbers like I’m failing Patrick already I don’t have the specific numbers in front of me but the you’re seeing an increase in schedule joint practices a huge reason for that in in my theory is people need um a clean like a clean sheet a clean practice a safe practice with some contact to practice the new kickoff in and they don’t want to show that tape across the league a couple special teams coordinators were were around talking like the first team that figures this out is going to have such an advantage on different teams and it brought me a lot of Joy watching it because it’s it just looks so you you get something so weird it’s just but it was this is it this is what we always talk about on this show this is like if you went back and listen to and I’ll do this a few times this is our first show this is what we used to talk about around the NFL like first season like Wes and I would always like talk about like why doesn’t the NFL innovate more why doesn’t the NFL change more like like and they do compared to other sports like their ability to change I think I don’t know it I’m I’m very excited about this too yeah it’s it’s chaos because the kickers they compare it to like so um if you’re thinking about um I guess golf clubs which I don’t golf but it it is interesting to think about they’re switching different cleats out and trying to see okay this like moldable to my foot soccer cleat on my right foot and then a regular football cleat on my left foot and like that’s the plant foot and then it’s like you know using different clubs that are in your bag to to have placement to have Precision um to do different things for your return unit essentially and then on the other side I mean I just think you’re going to see people try some wild stuff you’re hearing buzziness about like outside linebackers returning puns little worried there’s going to be there’s so much talk of like how crazy it is and are they going to get there and chicken out but I’m with you don’t chicken out this is my message to special teams coordinators Across the Nation or team not chicken out on this I’m shaking my finger at you Patrick but don’t like I’m I’m so I’m so hyped about this because watching them practice and like what what it could possibly be what it could turn into and Bones fossil who used to coach for the Rams and I was in Dallas he was like the point one of the point people on this and hearing him in the little back hallways of League meetings and before the votes and explaining it to coaches explaining it to to owners not just the safety element of it um but also leading to more scoring I mean you’ve got an offensive trending league if you just say to you know the the coach half the more than half the coaches in the league like you could score more points this way then automatically you know they start to they start to Pivot toward that but but the way that teams can do it you’re you’re running it’s almost like um you’re running Run game plays like you’re running a lot like you’re seeing counter you’re seeing Duo like but but in the kick return stuff like it’s it’s really really interesting I’m telling you and and I think it also to your point earlier I do think it helps with the international presence too because you’re going to see people try stuff you’re going to see oh can this rugby player come do this for us and that’s that’s his role and and he’s like a call up on the roster I can’t wait for it I it will create a higher scoring average now I’m thinking I wonder if that was part of the pitch and why it did get through not because it’s necessarily going to be that effective that’s really hard to predict exactly but because the field position is just going to be better because so many people this is what I worry about is just going to take the kickoff to the 30 that they’re that they’re going to accept um you know the the Touchback and everything and that field position is just going to be increased but then you’re going to deal with that you have to cut off a 10th of your play sheet if you’re an offensive minded coach and you’re saying okay we’ll accept we’ll acques to the third like you’re going to cut you’re cutting off like a tenth or a 12th of your playsheet at that point so why you know if you want you want everything wide open for you right and and and all of that but I but I do think like the reason why you’re seeing to Circle back you’re seeing these joint practices get scheduled and against a wide variety of of people um because you can’t show that tape to anyone else you can get as close to live live action football as possible in a practice setting So within the safety guidelines and all of that but still some contact and you won’t really know what any of this like it is why I compare it to the Run game so much like you don’t actually know what any of this is going to look like until you until you hit somebody until you have pads on and do it but they also don’t want to do this they don’t want to show what they’ve got like offensive coaches defensive coaches they they want to be super vanilla in the preseason because if they happen to find you know that one thing they don’t want 31 other teams to see it it’s like okay if it’s two non-conference opponents who see it fine and and it’s kind of like it’s it’s like a lot of things with the NFL we won’t really really know until the season starts but that makes me that’s what I love really excited about it I do want to have uh Sam uh schwartzstein on this show he’s been on it before actually he works on the tnf Prime video uh and he did a recap with me last year but he he helped write this rule for the XFL um because I don’t want to say too much about it because I I did spend like I don’t know if you’ll find this sad or lonely I’ll probably find it sad I definitely like watched like 30 minutes of this one night at like 1 in the morning when I couldn’t sleep and it didn’t help me it didn’t help me kind of figure out how this is all going to work it’s very confusing to me so I feel like I need to see more well I think we’re going to see even when we do finally see it it’s going there’s going to be metat trends that that happen over the course of several weeks and they’re going to be tight lipped about it and I’m sure like reporters are going to get scolded for video of a kickoff and when it’s like you know it’s like AP partment building trying to go me into sending of a video I’m just kid I don’t I don’t I want including the special team because you’re talking about chickening out I I know a lot of times special teams coaches get to be the sacrificial lamb right and you’re going to have somebody give up a a couple of touchdowns and and maybe and so like it’s going to be super safe and um you know I I we don’t know how it’s going to turn and that’s the best part the Wild Card the uncertainty the theme but that’s one of the cool things about this though is like I’ve never met a special teams coach who isn’t like kind of nuts in the best way so this is this this is their moment like giving them life you’re right they’ve been kind of marginalized and that play was marginalized and anything that gets uh the excitement of what what used to be one of the most exciting plays I’m all into I’m look I’m I’m for the uh you know the rule where you where you could choose to to go for it on fourth and fifth I’m I’m all for crazy rules I think the NF we need more of this uh moving forward we we’ve done two two things now um I love it we’re waiting on yours I’m I’m going to go simple cuz my the reason I mentioned that is because I like okay we’re only going to get through so many or this show is going to be three hours and it maybe this seems boring but it’s just simple and it’s just true for me it’s CJ it’s CJ strad and that’s just just like I’m like it’s not just cuz my son walker uh was the only um attendee of the Super Bowl last year in at least that I saw that was wearing a CJ Stroud Jersey that’s like a little part of it uh the joy that it brings my son because yeah like CJ St made my son I think a Texans fan for life I think it’s sticking and I think he’s just going to be with this guy in this team and I don’t know why that is but for for me cuz we’re separate I’m here he’s there and for me it’s like he’s got he’s just got everything he wants he’s had a great off season um I’ve loved the mark the Micah Parson talking about CJ now CJ yes CJ never know I love the Mah Parsons and CJ strad like Road Show I love basically every appearance CJ Str said so I like love him as a dude but I wouldn’t really care about that if I didn’t love watching him as a player and like I start with the quarterbacks that I tend to like with guys that first like can just make beautiful throws and usually like at least a starting point like beautiful throws with anticipation from the pocket and he reminds me of Philip Rivers in that way like Herbert a little bit too um what I liked about Herbert when he first came out how he gets through the reads so quick reminds me a little bit of Gino in that way uh and so that’s like the starting point and then there’s like what he can do Off Script which I I think is underrated and what he can do intangibly as a leader that to me like he’s just I I hate the announ like I know you hate this analysis Patrick when it’s like he’s got it um but I think that is part of it for for me and it all like it all comes together in this package that I actually don’t think people appreciated quite how incredible he played last year cuz I did go back and watch him this offseason and I think when you watch him you can make a strong case that he was like a top seven or eight quarterback in the NFL a a very easy case like as a as a rookie simple and since I’ve started doing this I don’t think there’s maybe anyone else I I that you could say that about like luck was sniffing there but not there um RG3 was sniffing there D but not there Dak Dak was was there actually I think dak’s a good good comparison I think CJ Str showed even more about how per that like and I just think he’ll be just KN everything that we know about him and knowing what’s around him steps and all that stuff like I just think the year the growth from year one to year two is just like I can’t freaking wait for this to watch this dude play and I’m not even like tinging at the the he’s got it and because the it in this in this instance right is his natural ability as a football player and also the honesty that he approaches the game with And discussing the game where you hear CJ St say something and of course you know those of us who agree with him were like yeah he’s a ball no where we but like legitimately it provides a a window into oh well yeah if you go into the huddle with this guy of course you’re going to believe uh what he says and and like the way that he discusses a play break now like um we of course people remember that Viral interview with Cooper cup and and Bridget Condon right and and so like you get that level of discussion and it’s like yeah that that’s what it is this guy is a person who I can who’s one of the most talented people on the planet but I can actually relate to him as a human being and oh yeah he’s he’s a very good quarterback and and I think that’s that’s what it is and of course like that’s exciting and I’m glad the Texans are good now yeah it’s it’s fun it’s such a fun team also for so many reasons but he is at the Forefront of that and like he speaks how he plays he’s he I have in my notes CJ St Dash baller Supreme baller like he but he speaks how he plays in that he has this assuredness this conviction so much about what a rookie quarterback has to learn how to do in his first year has nothing to do with anything that happens after the snap a lot does but it’s all how you control the Huddle how you manage your teammates how you learn with your receivers how you get people to do what you need them to do and how you absorb what other things people need from you but doing so with such um such conviction and such an assuredness I mean the dude oozes leadership first of all for someone so young it is really fun again we talked about being you know as fans of the sport it is so fun to watch somebody be so um he is like basically an on his sleeve player like you’re going to know where he’s at because he will show you and he’ll play like that and and he’ll be that dude and I I think what’s cool is they’re not going to have to start in a typical year two with him like they’re not going to have to go through a teaching progression that I would think would be typical for a quarterback going in tier two um I’m really excited to see no you saw you saw it during the season last year the difference between him in week three to week 14 or whatever was massive yeah he he’s Advanced I mean he has gone past what uh the normal steps would be when you think about okay how do we give this guy what he needs but not too much cuz he’s still growing and he’s a kid and we’ve got to get you know the an NFL full NFL offseason and all of those things but he showed that very early on um you know it it was super interesting to watch sort of the collective conscious wake up to the qualities and the traits that he had already showed um he already was that guy and so to see like the collective sport really appreciate but then I think whatever you know he’s kind of given that appreciation right back to the sport I mean I I’ve loved hearing him talk on on the podcast and and all those things because um it’s just it’s just fun you just think this this guy is going to be around for a long time and he didn’t show what his ceiling would be and instead showed an extremely high floor and that’s super important when you think about team building when you think about when this team is going to be ready to really push to really go all in you think about everything centers around how fast you can get through these years and then he’s going to go through them in a truncated time and the and the throws are pretty like oh yeah like that’s sort of like where it starts for me like they’re just oh dude they’re just sort of majestic and the the anticipation of it all and I I do want to be careful of expectations I’m that I I thought now when I think more deeply about it since we started since you know we we did around the NFL Justin Herbert like was the guy I was most confident going into year two with like you know be an MVP candidate that sort of thing and you know his growth since then has been Rocky at times I think there’s reasons for that and I think reasons that CJ strad will avoid in terms of the continuity with the coaching staff and certainly the the talent uh around Stroud but you I do want to be careful of just like expectations like some things could be could be bumpy like it doesn’t mean that he’s going to climb to the very top of the quarterback like ladder this year but I’m not ruling it out either like defenses would will adjust but like I’ve just I’ve seen enough we know and it’s it’s going to be fun to be along the ride for him we are going to take take uh a quick break and then we’re going to come back with uh some more things that we’re looking forward to in 2024 all right continuing on uh with the things related to the National Football League Patrick uh they get you up in the morning you know they get you going we’ve had a little break and we’re back at it and I want to get back at seeing teams go from worst to first okay that we just talked about DJ Stout and the Texans were were very close um you know and and looking at the Bears the Chargers the Cardinals the Panthers the commanders the Patriots unfortunately uh the Titans like we don’t believe it right now but there’s a chance like of course you know we did this uh exercise on game debut and the obvious answer is the Cincinnati Bengals right but I think one of those other teams despite all of the things that they’re facing has a chance to do it and I I it’s it’s one of those situations you have a specific one or you just saying any he wants you to say Patriots so bad no I don’t I don’t do do you want me to say the Patriot no I’ve been emotionally disconnecting um I got a lot of heat for that but it’s just been uh the facts Drake may be back in Drake May in the mix though I’m going to enjoy but but no they’re not going to win their division because we just saw the Houston Texans have this incredible turnaround and the bears were making like I think you can make a case thats are in that position uh the Chargers but I think the Cardinals you can that they’ll be a fun team yeah probably not win the division but a fun team yeah their division kills them but yeah they’re for all of these teams maybe you could make a case for the Titans um but all of them are better than they were a seasoning well I think the Patriots are going to be better than people think I was shocked when I saw the uh like you know spoiler unless Everything Changes on the uh desert front like we every year we’ve done a uh like a before the season we’ve had Bill Barnwell on he’s coming on later this week by the way be excited about that uh and you know drafted over unders the fact that the Patriots I think were four and a half or five and a half yeah like forget that yeah I’m so excited to see what the Bears do their defense was already solid uh kind of came along a little bit better um eberflus is kind of baby coaching for some some tenure here um you know just give or take how the how the year starts and I am so excited to see Caleb Williams I mean you guys get you guys know living out here in La uh being awake watching the games you know well after the sun has set you know he’s he’s so special and and obviously this is doesn’t even need to be said because he was the number one overall pick and highly touted Prospect and legendary thrower already but like still putting it all together is can be so hard for teams we’ve seen that we’ve seen that with teams with number one overall picks and that can be really difficult but I think he has um I don’t want to I don’t want to put too much optimism in the Chicago Bears before we actually see proof of concept but I do think life gets a lot easier when you find the quarterback I personally think they found the quarterback and now building around him will be important I do want to give you guys my hot Cardinals take because I don’t feel like the Cardinal they’re they’re crushed by their division and so I think they get overlooked a lot right like not overlooked in the sense that um it’s unfair because they’ve been bad and um gone through a lot of different things um but the stuff that they were doing last year Drew ping Nick ralis under the johnthan Ganon sort of umbrella um it was weird and it was cool and you would hear quarterbacks talk about it like I don’t know what they were doing I I hadn’t seen that what they were doing on defense they would sometimes do these things where they’d like do like a walk around pre- snap look where they’d sort of just like they were just trying all a sudden rush to the snap they were they were trying and and I thought it was cool I was like they were doing a really good job for that and then you look at the end of the year and it’s like dead last in like EPA for play loud so defensively I did want to balance it with that I thought like it felt like it was cool and it was good and they were overachieving and then I looked and it was like actually their defense was a SI offense totally different they improved a ton but I do I mean they statistically they were not a good team like let’s be clear on that like let’s be very clear but sometimes when you see process stuff like that when you see troubleshooting when you see what works what doesn’t work it’s almost like I would kind of with those two coordinators I would almost compare it to when you give a quarterback when a quarterback has a year to sit and instead of coming right in I mean obviously they didn’t have a year to sit and like cut their teeth on being coordinators and and being a real team and all of that like the results were the results and the stats were the stats but it was similar Vibes where you know Kyler was hurt you weren’t going into it you were kind of like H what is this going to be okay let’s just see everything we’re not first like let’s try let’s try things let’s do these different things I’m not saying that they’re going to be uh a contender here I think they could be really fun honestly I do think that especially you know with you know healthy quarterback and and all those different things and and the draft classes that they’ve put together like they could be really fun think good draft class last year yeah but I think that they they did some stuff that was interesting and fun and a lot of times teams do not get an opportunity or even a chance to do that with without super high stakes and that could potentially lead to something cool so it’s not like a super I guess it’s not a super hot Cardinal take it’s a very lukewarm Cardinal Kylie or year 2 is on my long list which we’re not getting to like almost any of them at this point but they were the number two rushing attack last year in EPA per play after Kyler return full stop like they were just by the Numbers about a top 10 offense after Kyler returned I thought him in that offense and what you could see he wasn’t fully back from the injury physically and was getting up to the speed of the offense but I thought he did things just as a quarterback that I didn’t always see with Cliff Kingsbury I saw growth like I process-wise and man I that makes me very excited about them and I I think the the ceiling side you me we mentioned the Bears by the way and all that uh we’re going to hit on tomorrow’s show with Steve we and Nick shook everything we’ve missed uh every thing that has happened uh in the NFL essentially as much as we can like uh as much news rundown that we think matters one of them is that yeah the Bears are the Hard Knocks team which is cool so that we can get into uh getting into this team I like I’m I’m into like eight week straight of Hard Knocks the first episode I know people had their doubts on on the Giants uh Hard Knocks but it was I found it compelling I thought it was a good Edition uh I’m going to give a quick one that you guys don’t need to comment on and then I’ll throw it to you Jordan just a very quick one is just like if you look at week 18 last year here are some quarterbacks that did not play Aaron Rodgers and that will be playing week one hopefully Aaron Rogers Kirk Cousins Anthony Richardson Joe burrow Caleb Williams Jaden Daniels Drake may like that’s a quarter of the league right there and like those are all dudes and they’re going to be playing you know Health willing uh week one so that’s just a quick one that I’m excited about it’s so nice that your point actually sets up my my point so thank you for that um I’m looking at like year two quarterbacks in general and I’m I think maybe more excited about these guys than possibly guys that are just coming in and being rookies because I try not to grade rookies to difficult like with too much difficulty there’s a learning curve there’s you know that the whole ship has to get built around them at some point and like we touched on with CJ Stout it’s you know he’s a very pleasant outlier in the sense that so much worked and he really worked and everything really clicked um but the year two guys I mean obviously we talked about CJ I am so excited to see I hope Anthony Richardson gets a full season I think he is so special some of the throws he was making last year before he got hurt there’s some there’s some Controlled Chaos but in the best way in that way that makes Defenders hesitate what the heck is this guy going to do and and he can just it he can he can hurt you every which way and pairing him you know with Shane Sten like a lot of these year two guys I mean um Bryce young that’s to me a really compelling story after what he went through last year and what it must have done in terms of like how do you manage that mentally that’s going to be really significant um and and unproven really relatively on proven um playall caller in Dave Canales and you’re going to kind of see can you can you write the ship with this young man like can can he figured out can they maximize some of the qualities that did make him a really strong Prospect you know coming out of the draft that weren’t necessarily available to him does he actually have more skills and more Tools around him um and I kind of he doesn’t qualify structurally so nobody ding me on this please don’t yell at me for this but Jordan love in year two of like being the dude like no that’s not acceptable you’re well I’ll just I’m going to go yeah I’m just kidna that’s actually the end of NFL daily killed the show it’s been a good first episode like it f yeah yeah it was all right it yeah but year two of being the dude like like fully having the Reigns fully being you know with working fully with Matt laflor fuling fully having sort of the um you know the shadow not in a negative way but the shadow of like the legendary quarterback who came before him fully away from that building um and I you know obviously structurally he does not qualify as a year two quarterback but a year two as franchise guy um I I loved how he put together that season last last year I loved seeing the collaboration um between him and Matt laflor I I think it’s like so magical when the coach you know and the quarterback can suddenly you you can see the planning together you can see them truly collaborating and troubleshooting together um that’s what I think a lot of these year 2 guys do have in common we have yet to see with ryce young obviously but they do have that really um heady way of of being able to vocalize and verbalize what they want of of being able to really struct an offense um all of these young quarterbacks do and and that’s really exciting to me I mean that’s that’s really fun for for the sport in general but it’s also really fun when it’s like get out of their way a little bit let them cook and I think a lot of these guys have that in them and so much of the like should a quarterback start should a quarterback sit discussion to me is based on our perception of who they are and so we if if it goes bad right we perceive them as bad and think that oh well you our bias has been confirmed this guy started early and now he’s bad right um but Bryce was in a horrible situation oh yeah and I think we can go back to look at Camp reports and conversations surrounding Jordan love early in his career where it’s like this this is not working um and I think or Aaron Rogers I can’t remember what was it Craig null or something like he was the fourth quarterback he was struggling his rookie year in in Camp and and I remember it was two Super Bowls before two Super Bowls ago uh we were talking to Aaron Jones on Super Bowl live and Michael Robinson asked him before the segment like hey how’s how’s Jordan love doing and Aaron said oh Jordan Love’s ready like this is this is it Jordan love is a quarterback he’s real he’s legit and Mike Rob was like Hey we’re we’re not taping right now you can be honest and and there was like there was that level of skepticism and then early on in the season the skepticism was still there and all of a sudden he he goes nuclear and it’s like this is it and Jordan love would never be question now and I’m I’m with Jordan like yes I think we can get that from some of these year 2 Guys and completely shift our perception because it’s that’s football well Jordan love specifically is like a bit of a mystery box I think the floor is higher than we ever would have expected the ceiling is through the roof uh as as Michael Jordan say re uh like he’s just Preposterous he he REM like he reminds me of Kaepernick and Josh Allen at least just in the way that he makes me feel when he sort of first came out just like oh like anything is possible here I don’t know what’s going to happen and some of it’s going to be bad and and those are the two guys and I think it’s just cuz also just their physicality and just their just talent that just is undeniable that that he reminds me of not that he plays exactly like them but just in the way that he makes me feel like he he is an incredible uh value ad as a quarterback and that’s that is kind of what it’s about at least for me like it’s like I’m you when you’re when you’re picking which games to watch ultimately the games that you don’t want to watch as much are the ones and the quarterbacks uh you’re not going to be excited about I’m going to do one more and then we’re going to take uh one last break and it’s just the Steelers being steery I was I I actually am I genuinely am into this like the we have so much we you know none of us have done a podcast we haven’t talked about football and a while like we have a lot to get to and we’re going to get to it it’s it’s called NFL daily so we’re we’re going to have plenty of time as we build up to this season but but I mean it like the defensive front reminds me so much of the Steelers teams in the as in the early 2010s that just like well that’s what the Steelers are they’re two preposterously good outside linebackers and then a third that probably is better than your second and then there and that’s you know DJ Watt and Alex heith and really like Nate Herbert coming in and then oh yeah by the way there’s also like a couple massive difference makers in the front with Cameron Hayward and County Benton who I I think is a making the leap type of candidate if we do a making the leap show like really good uh last year for them on the inside and so that’s their defense and it’s Tomlin and they Rec you know they got Larry Ogen Joby I think Jerry Porter Jr he’s a dog like they’re just I I think they’re quietly going to be one of those Tomlin defenses and then OB by the way it’s the artsmith Revival uh it’s like the Run scheme like you can fault artsmith for a lot of things but it’s a pleasing run scheme to watch when it works and what I think of is just you know the pulling tackles and stuff and when brck Jones came in last year as a pulling tackle they improved like day one and he is just like a monster of highlight blocks uh on the edge and now he’s moving to left left tackle and who do they take in in the first round Troy fanu who is the most massive the most intimidating like pulling blocker and I don’t I don’t know if this is all going to work I have a feeling we’re going to be talking with Nate Ty you’re going to be on this show Jordan next week about uh stuff schematically that we’re we’re excited about that’s going to be Monday’s show uh I would maybe I I’ll stop talking because I have a feeling Nate’s GNA hit this but like those two dudes in artsmith running scheme and two really good running backs I just think that’s very steery to me and I I think they’re just going to be very steery so he’s he’s also rebranded to Art is what you know we go from Arthur but he’s going to did I say that but he’s going to be painting he’s going to be painting oh there it is this is where you’re I mean you’re breaking some news here if he’s if he’s rebranded because I like art I think art art is better for uh you know it’s like kind of more of a it’s a punch you in the mouth kind of name which art was like the holding the microphone stand a little too tight I mean Arthur was holding the microphone stand a little too tight as a head coach art is the one cooking up uh a 1980 Style with some twist running scheme in the lab art Art’s gonna run triple option Art Smith Art Smith says give me the biggest beefiest offensive lineman you’ve got and we’re going to pull your ass to the sideline like Art Smith art Smith’s got some lettuce right like arts arts at the Whiteboard with an easel you know he’s he’s draw he’s drawing up plays Ste they walk it they they walk in and all the all the whiteboards in the building have been changed out and I I think there is some some truth like he he was in that stressful position uh as the head coach of a football team with a million different things to do and to worry about and and now he he can be Art Smith right he he can uh just focus on play calling and facilitating an offense um he’s free to be art yeah he can he can be art um be the art that you want to see I want to see them run pistol we’re going to get to it don’t let Nate steal pist from me okay and I do want to uh you know make the first NFL daily apology just to all the great people and story lines and trends that I didn’t get to but you I’m going to save them we’re going to do them at some point that’s podcasting 101 there learned a lot you’ll use everything I’ve learned a lot to eventually uh let’s take one last Quick break and we’re going to wrap things up after [Music] that johy back on NFL daily uh wrapping up our first show together um a lot lot of emotions a lot of football um really glad you guys were here for it and um just to let everyone know like what what is NFL daily going to be like what what is coming up I I think the first first week and plus is is a good you know example of what’s what’s coming our our show tomorrow we’re going to talk about as I mentioned a lot of everything that’s happened uh since there’s been a podcast here on this feed so Nick shook Steve Weiss is going to join me for that we’re also going to have uh one of our insiders in Rapaport I believe believe us just for a little news as part of that show I’m going to be breaking down kind of previewing camps with uh Mina KES and Bill Barnwell later in the week uh on Monday we we mentioned uh the the scheme show we’re going to do with with Nate Tyson and Jordan and then uh it’ll be great to have Colleen wolf back in the studio uh Patrick uh hopefully you’re available for that one I’m really hoping you are anytime pressure um and so that’s the next week and and and going from there um it’s daily well we’re going to be uh posting 5 days a week o overnights for now well that that might get adjusted on once we move on into training camp and more news is coming out and uh yeah even Monday mornings you guys will have something in your feed and so before we go I do want to do something um that we you know we might do every day we might do some days and it’s it’s like a little after dinner mint like when I would go to my grandfather’s house Hines Rosenthal uh in Connecticut every Sunday we’d go there and we get back to his house and uh he would have this little little jar of mint after eights they were called very old school and you would have like a little after dinner mint it was we were home from the restaurant we would always go out go out to eat and uh it’s just like a nice little uh aftertaste a nice little thing to to leave you on and so uh our after dinner mint our after eight uh today is going to be a picture that I was so excited to see uh while we were on our break uh if you’re watching on YouTube check us out there too um this is Austin James Roberts born May 25th um so just just a few days since we talked to you last and uh Eric uh as uh the ATN listeners will know uh great producer for us and he’s doing some work from from home for now but he’s he’s spending time with with Austin and he will be back with us in the studio doing a lot of work uh for us I believe in August and uh in the meantime uh Randy Chavez is holding it down behind the scenes so we love you too Randy but uh we really love Austin James so congratulations to to Eric and uh to lean and uh and especially to Austin you got some badass parents and uh it’s really exciting yeah existence is awesome um you’re you’re going to enjoy it and um I I I look in you don’t know any alternative frankly I mean existence or not but yes compared to the alternative you’re going to enjoy it and when people cuz it’s always interesting when you have kids and and it’s like you know you tell them how old your kids are it’s like oh that’s a good age and I was thinking like was oh a month like oh that’s a good age like they’re all they’re all great ages and uh you know Eric grinding out and and doing everything and being a new dad it’s uh it’s awesome great dude and you’ll you’ll get to know him too Jordan uh when he’s back and you’re right I I push back hard now because now that Ellis my daughter is 12 it’s now to the point where people think it’s not a good age and I’m kind of like you you know like like that’s my daughter you’re talking like oh teen great you know teenage daughters it’s like all right you know how you’re so happy like that you’re like one-year-old or 2-year-old like walked without themselves or whatever or they did one little thing like can you imagine how proud I am of what my badass 12-year-old is doing on a daily basis like it’s exponential exactly the pride that’s all um let’s hit the music Randy uh yeah for this first episode of NFL daily again thank you to everyone uh for their patience and their their support and uh their love it means a lot to us and uh for checking out the show and hopefully uh you will tomorrow too until then for Patrick and Jordan I’m Greg Rosenthal see you next time [Music]
