Raiders & Jets 2025 outlook, Is Joe Flacco set to be QB1 for the Browns? | The Insiders

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Cue your favorite Boy George
song there. Because you see that
right down the bottom. Culture clubs. We’re talking about the
Raiders and the Jets teams with
new regimes on the field as we’re getting set for OTAs,
Minicamps training camps. Yeah,
we’re getting there. Slowly but surely we’re getting there. Rams
safety Quentin Lake, no stranger
to the program, joins us again on the insiders. If there is a
better pound for pound interview
in the NFL right now, I’m not sure who it is. You know this is
going to be a good one. Stay
tuned for that. And our guy Adam Rank is going to be joining us
to talk about your dynasty
leagues in fantasy football. He’s got some advice for some
youngsters that you’re going to
want to add and be a part of your dynasty for years to come.
Welcome inside with the
insiders, two professionals and one guy who’s got one foot out
the door for the holiday
weekend. That’s me, Mike Garafolo, Judy Battista and
Steve Wyche. They came to work.
Jeffrey Chadiha going to come to work as well. I mentioned Adam
Rank. He’ll be here and you’re
going to want to get in for that Quentin Blake interview, because
he is just fantastic but new
right now before we get to that, Josh Connolly yeah. The
Washington Commanders, the
latest team to get their first round pick under contract, a
four year, 15.681094 and $0.10
deal. Tom Pelissero he is a man of precision. And he did it
right there with that tweet
about Connolly. Yeah. Commanders. It’s a little
difficult to draft at the back
of the first round then draft at the top. But that’s a good thing
because that means you had a
great season last year. So here are the remaining unsigned first
round picks. We expect most of
these, if not all, to be done before the start of training
camp. Mason Graham there at
number five. Still yet to get under contract, but that should
happen in relatively short
order. In the meantime, the Browns yeah, they’ve got some
work to do on both sides of the
football, particularly at the quarterback position. We’re
seeing this throw from Sanders
over. And if you dissecting this throw from rookie minicamp like
relax there’s plenty more to
come from Sanders and from all the Browns quarterbacks. Even
the new guy in the ownership
office, Charles Woodson. He knows that he joined our Good
Morning football with some woods
and whiskey behind him. What we are looking at is we’re looking
at competition and we’re looking
for that cream to rise to the top. Are you bringing a veteran
like Joe Flacco, a guy who you
know that he’s going to come in, he’s going to play steady for
you. So if we need a guy that
can go in and play right now, Joe Flacco is going to be the
guy. And then next, you know
coming up of course you got Pickett, cheddar, Dillon Gabriel
and those guys. And so look
those guys are going to get the reps I don’t know how many reps
they’re going to get at this
point in time. But whatever reps you get, then you got to show
what it is that you bring to the
table. So, you know, the way this thing is going to play out
is the best guy is going to
play. I mean, that’s that’s the way I feel about it. And I know
that one guy has really gotten
all the all of the attention. But there’s an opportunity for,
you know, like you said, a lot
of guys to get work during this season, this off season and into
training camp to get that
starting nod. Charles, what’s in the latest minority owner of the
Browns? But he’s got major
opinions when it comes to the quarterbacks and wine and
whiskey. I’m telling you that
Woodson whiskey is good stuff behind him. Charles. I’ll take a
bottle, pal. Judy Battista,
let’s stop talking about whiskey and start talking about
quarterbacks. You know, you
heard Woodson say what the Browns are thinking. You know
you got the veteran in Joe
Flacco who did play well for us two years ago. But we’ve got
these young guys that are
competing. And certainly Kenny Pickett didn’t come there just
to hang around. Wants to be part
of the potential starting equation. How do you assess this
Browns quarterback situation
right now? Well, I think the first question that has to be
answered at some point by the
Browns is what are they trying to accomplish this season and
especially early in the season?
Because if the goal is to win games right out of the gate,
then there’s almost no question,
as Charles Woodson said, that Joe Flacco is the one you would
turn to. He has had success in
Cleveland. He had success with Kevin Stefanski, which means
they are comfortable with each
other. And Stefanski knows what Flacco likes and what he can do
at this stage in his career. And
Flacco will know the offense and be comfortable with the play
calling. So certainly if that’s
your goal, if you think you have to win games, maybe to save your
job, then you turn to Joe Flacco
out of the gate. But at some point the Browns have to get a
look at the young quarterbacks.
Because don’t forget the Browns have two first round picks going
into next year’s draft. So
they’re going to be in position to get a quarterback, possibly a
quarterback very high up in the
first round if they want one. But to know if you want one,
you’ve got to know first. If
you’ve got the guy of your future on the roster right now,
so is Joe Flacco the answer? I
would say initially, Joe Flacco is the answer. My question is at
what point, Steve, do you think
they have to turn to the young guys. Well that’s by midseason.
They’ve got a losing record.
This is a really interesting dynamic. And by the way, Charles
Woodson’s Intercept wines are
just as good as his whiskeys. So plug there for Charles. But look
this is not a roster that
necessarily is built for the long term. Plus Kevin Stefanski.
They’re coming off of a three
and 14 record. He’s not trying to go through that again by
developing a young quarterback.
But they’ve got to have the best quarterback. As Charles Woodson
did say, if Joe Flacco is the
most seasoned yeah he’s well liked in Cleveland. But he
doesn’t look good in training
camp. You got to go with the guy who the other players trust the
most, and that’s going to be
hugely important. Plus, how much of a life of a shelf life do
Kevin Stefanski and Andrew Berry
have? That’s going to be an interesting discussion,
depending to see how the season
plays out. I think you try to win games. Whoever it is, you go
for it. It is not about yeah.
Developing young quarterback at practice. What are we always
saying? Hey, a guy needs to sit
and watch, right? Maybe that’s what they need to do. They’ve
got to win ball games because
the fan base is tired of losing, developing the next quarterback.
And whether that’s Joe Flacco,
Kenny Pickett, whomever, the best quarterback, the one who
the players trust the most and
the coaches trust the most, that’s who they’ve got to rock
with. You talked about the
players. Steve Wyche, remember with Myles Garrett, it wasn’t so
much about the money. It was the
commitment to winning moving forward. They did sell him on
that and they sold him on the
money too. But really they sold him on that other part. And the
fact that they weren’t going to
have another season in 2025 like they had in 24, going to need a
quarterback that can help you
compete, to be able to deliver on that promise. Speaking of
promises, the Raiders showing
some promise now because they’ve turned a little bit of the
roster, they’ve got themselves a
veteran quarterback and they’ve got Pete Carroll, the new head
coach who certainly knows what
it takes to win in the NFL, showed that consistently through
his time with the Seattle
Seahawks and the players now that have been around the last
couple of years, particularly
Max Crosby, believe that he’s showing it once again with the
Raiders. It’s just awesome. You
know, every day is like, you know, we talk about competition
and that’s real. You know
everything we do we’re competing. No matter if it’s in
the meetings, no matter if it’s
in the individual meetings, no matter if it’s in the weight
room. Like it’s truly a
competition. Everything we do, but we’re having fun with it and
it’s about winning. Like if
you’re a competitor, truly to the core, like this is exactly
where you want to be. And I
know, you know, I feel like I’m the best, you know, the top
competitor in the in the world
at what I do. You know what I mean? So I love it. And that
energy keeps me fueled at all
times. And Pete is constantly testing me. He’s testing other
guys on the team, and he just
wants to see guys be the best versions of themselves. And he’s
true to that. It’s not fake
energy, you know? It’s every day he’s the same guy. And it’s not
just him, it’s the assistant
coaches, the whole building. It just feels different. And it’s
definitely been amazing. Yeah.
Jeffrey today again on in here because we’re going to talk
about that energy of Pete
Carroll. It is not I mean anybody who spent time around
Pete Carroll knows that it is
not fake energy. He certainly is rejuvenated by the chance to
once again coach in the NFL. So
how important is that, Jeffrey, for this team to have that
energy and to have it
consistently day in and day out right now? Well, it’s huge
because you’re talking about a
team that hasn’t won a lot of games in a long time, two
playoff appearances in the last
22 years. But Pete Carroll brings the credibility with the
Super Bowl championship in his
back pocket. But he also brings that energy. And he talked. You
heard Max Crosby talk about
that. Pete Carroll is always going to talk about guys
competing every day, getting
guys juiced up. And you think about what he did when he came
to Seattle. That was a big part
of it there. Even when he had a rebirth there back in 2022, he
had 13 players who had rookie
deals, and he got those guys fired up and got them to the
playoffs. So I thoroughly expect
the Raiders to be probably the most improved team in the AFC
West, because this guy here is
going to bring up the enthusiasm. He’s going to make
guys compete. He’s going to make
them better. Judy. Well, look, we have said this since the day
Pete Carroll was hired. If you
need a culture setter, if you need a culture change, that is
Pete Carroll. That is what Pete
Carroll does. And he’s got the extra advantage, as you said,
Jeffrey, of the credibility that
comes with having won consistently over years in
Seattle, including the Super
Bowl, of course. So complete package. I think the question
is, does he have enough players
on that roster? Have they turned over that roster enough to give
Pete Carroll what he needs to
win games? Because last year you know, Antonio Pierce was there
as the head coach. And while he
certainly didn’t have the experience and the wins that
Pete Carroll has, he does have
the energy. And the players were lauding him at that time, but
they didn’t have enough players
on the roster. Nobody could have won with the roster they had
last year at the Raiders. So to
me, there’s no question Pete Carroll is going to be an
improved guy. He is going to
raise the level of competition, certainly raise the energy
level. Does he have the horses
to win at the top level? Well and can he win in this division?
I mean, look at how loaded it
is. I mean the Chiefs aren’t going anywhere, the Chargers
aren’t going anywhere. And
Denver has really had a strong offseason. You know, upgrading a
playoff team roster. So that’s
something he’s battling. But you talk about the culture. Hence
the culture Club reference that
Mike had at the top of the show. Do you really want to hurt me?
Pete Carroll is like no look,
look, look, I’ve been around that building, right? Jon Gruden
had something good going until
he got into the email scandal. Then Rich Bisaccia, the interim
guy had a really good culture
developing, but he was an interim guy and they got rid of
him. Hired Josh McDaniels a lot
of uncertainty a lot of tension there. And then AP again, the
energy was there. Max Crosby was
talking about AP like he just talked about Pete Carroll. But
they didn’t have the horses. And
again it just wasn’t settled in the building. Pete and John
Spytek are going to settle that
building. That’s what this organization needs more than
ever. Now defensively you’ve got
Max Crosby. But when Pete Carroll said this week about
Christian Wilkins, a defensive
tackle who they paid, how he’s still going through a
challenging rehab from that foot
fracture, that didn’t sound great. So defensively they still
got some holes to fill. But
offensively having a quarterback like Geno Smith, that’s going to
help usher in that culture that
Pete Carroll is trying to establish. No doubt about it. I
mean, you can you can chew all
the gum you want and you can provide all the motivation. Do
you have the players to get it
done? And the bottom line is this roster is way better right
now for Pete Carroll than it was
for Antonio Pierce last year. Pierce didn’t get to see the
reset from that standpoint. You
look just look at the quarterback situation from last
year to this year. It’s
completely changed things with the Raiders. Speaking of
quarterbacks, transitions are
working tonight Steve Wyche We are going to the New Orleans
Saints. And Jake Hager who’s
going to miss some time. He’s missed some time in the spring.
Might miss the rest of the
spring right now with an oblique injury that he suffered
recently. I don’t know if we
would handicap Haner as the favorite right now. Tyler Shuck,
the rookie second rounder, has
got as clear a path as you could ever expect for a second round
pick to the starting quarterback
situation and not having Haner around to steal some reps,
perhaps in the spring, should
only help shuck even more in his attempt to win the starting job
for New Orleans right out of the
gate following the retirement of Derek Carr. Coming up, we’re
going to talk about some of the
teams that won the division last year and who’s the most
vulnerable. Judy Battista has
some thoughts on this. She is going to share with us. And
Quinton Lake’s got thoughts on
everything. My man is a fantastic interview. The Rams
safety joining the insiders for
at least the third time. Just off the top of my head. The
first two were fantastic. You
know, this one’s going to be great for an emerging young
player for a team on the up.
That’s next on the insiders. Turn up your summer with Twisted
Tea, Hard Iced Tea. Twisted tea
fans love the smooth, refreshing She went to war. But the bravest
thing she did is when she asked
for help. And. Let’s go, let’s go. Be the hammer, be the
hammer, be the hammer, be the
hammer. Not the nail. Be the hammer, not the nail. Be the
hammer, not the nail. Let’s go.
Oh, I’m here, I’m here, I’m here, I’m here, I’m here. Oh!
Whoa! Careful, careful. What is
that? Hot chocolate. Don’t get. Why are you giving that out?
That’s gonna slow us down. Oh,
oh, come on, boy, that’s his game. That’s his game. Just
look, boy, look, look, man.
Look. Put ram safety Quintin Lake around the microphone and
good things happen. That’s our
policy here at the insiders. He’s back with us. Veteran
safety. I’m gonna call you
veteran safety. Man. You’re heading into year four now. You
were a starter last year. This
time last year we said, look to this guy to be one of the
breakout players in the NFL.
Certainly the case. 17 games, over 100 tackles. Impact player
last season. Quinton, when you
look back at last season, what do you think the biggest stride
was for you personally? I think
the biggest stride that I remind you, you know, Mike, Steve,
great to see you guys. It’s
always good to see you guys as faces. But the biggest stride
that I think I took was really
just being available, being out there. I always told myself, you
know, if I’m your best
availability, your best ability is availability. And you know, I
was one of a couple guys to play
every defensive snap out there. And they kind of call it like an
Ironman. So to be able to, to b,
to be able to consistently be out there, I think that was, you
know, one of the best traits.
And I always told myself, if I’m out there, I’m bound to make a
play. So last season was fun. I
had a lot of plays that I made and definitely took a stride
from, you know, year two to year
three. But you weren’t just out there, you were out there
playing kind of that slot, big
nickel, you’re playing free. You were playing some outside
linebacker tendencies. That
versatility was huge for you. What do you think that allowed
then first time defensive
coordinator Chris Shula to do in terms of scheming it up for the
other ten guys? Yeah, I think it
helped him a lot. It helped our defensive coordinator, Chris
Shula, to put me in the best
position to make a play, but also knowing to have the trust
and confidence to put me in
those spots, to kind of mess with the offense a little bit.
You know, it was more so of a
thing where, you know, where is Quentin Lee going to line up
this week? Is he going to line
up in the slot. Is he going to line up deep? Is he going to
line up off the edge. And to be
able to have that versatility. It allows, you know, our
defensive coordinator to have
fun and do whatever you know. And that’s what makes it fun for
me is there’s so many different
spots that you can put me at. And I have no problem playing
them too. So you know the
versatility that I play with, that’s one of the things I think
that highlights my game. We’re
seeing that Eagles game here, a couple of clips there in the
snow that was other than the
result. That was a fun one. That was a fun one to cover. I’m sure
it was a fun one to play in. And
when you look back at that game, you guys were the closest to
taking out the Eagles in the
postseason. Does that help? Like, did that torture you or
does that give you a springboard
to say, hey, we are right there. Yeah. You can see it both ways.
I always told myself we were 14
yards away from winning that game. You know, obviously the
ball didn’t shake our way. There
were a couple plays that, you know, we might have wished we
wanted back. But at the same
time, I don’t think anybody really, truly believed in us to
even make it that far. Mind you,
to give the World Championships a run for their money. And that
gives us a lot of confidence
going into this year. You know, we got a lot of guys. We have a
young defensive front. We got
guys in the back end that can make plays. And obviously in
this off season we got a ton of
new additions. So was that game you know tough. It was not only
because of the way it ended but
if you think about it, if we won that game we would have been
hosting the NFC Championship.
And then obviously it would have meant so much for the city due
to the fact that we had the
fires going on in LA. So if you think of the, you know, the
culmination of things, you know,
the fires, just us hosting an NFC championship, that’s more
the reason why we wanted that
game so bad. And it’s tough to look back at, you know we would
have really gave the city hope.
A lot of the people that couldn’t have gone to the first
game, our first wild card game,
would have been able to go to that game, and obviously it
would have gave fans, you know,
three hours of entertainment to get their mind away from the
fires and all the things that
were going on in LA and able to come out and see the Rams play,
that would have been awesome.
Yeah. Someone who lives here that that would have been really
special because you know how the
Rams you know, look you had your draft at a fire department. How
much you guys have really
embraced being kind of a protective layer for the
community during that tragedy. I
want to get back to your defense because you talked about how
young you are. You’ve added
pieces, things like that. The rumors are not subsiding that
the Rams could be in play to
bring back Jalen Ramsey. Yeah. Your thoughts on that
possibility? I mean that would
be who we would be. We’d be a tough team especially a tough
defense to beat. You know he
knows the system. He’s familiar with the organization. Jalen is
a God given talent. Not only is
that he’s smart, he’s been in the league a long time playing
at such a high level. And any
time you get to bring a guy like that back, you know he’s only
going to add value. He is a
star, you know, and people anybody that you ask, you know,
he is such an amazing player. I
truly believe he’ll be a Hall of Famer one day too, just because
not only what he’s done on the
field, but, you know, you look at how consistently he’s done it
year and year, year in and year
out. You know, I’ve seen the rumors. I’ve heard the rumors.
You know, I don’t necessarily
know what’s going to happen. But, you know, I hope, you know,
anytime you got a guy like that
that can add value to a team, especially with, you know, the
guys that we have already,
that’s huge. So hopefully, you know, things shake out whatever
may happen. I know, you know,
some guys are trying to pull strings and stuff like that. But
you know we’ll see. We’ll see.
We’ll see in a couple hopefully a couple weeks or you know
whenever it happens. Well done.
Well done by you. It was great. The one big move the team has
already made bringing in Davante
Adams this offseason. I know we’re going to have some
matchups when it comes to OTAs,
minicamp, training camp. Have we had those yet between you guys,
are you looking forward to that?
I am didn’t have them yet, but we did have them when we played
the Jets. You know he’s a
fantastic player. You look same thing with Jalen Ramsey. He’s
been doing it year in and year
out. And you can kind of tell he’s adding value not only what
he does as a player but as a
mentor to the younger guys too which is awesome. You know,
teaching these guys, you know,
how to attack defensive leverages what to do at the top
of the routes. You know, I still
think, you know, he’s one of the best route runners in the NFL.
And there’s a reason why, you
know Sean McVay was very adamant in getting him. You know he just
kind of unlocks things in the
offense. And then obviously we got our Hall of Fame. We got our
Hall of Famer our future Hall of
Famer Matthew Stafford over there. You know I call him Mr.
Long handoff. So it’s going to
be you know I expect big things because these are you know you
got Puka on one end. You got
DeVante on the other. Tutu Atwell does a fantastic job too.
So we have all the weapons that
we need. And then Kyron in the backfield. So you know it’s
going to be kind of reminiscent
of the you know the greatest show on turf. You know I hope we
kind of bring that that name
back this year okay. All right okay. Hey one thing you know
Mike started this off by saying
you’re entering your fourth season. After the season, you’re
going to be eligible for a
contract extension. Just what are your thoughts about entering
this type of scenario? Have
there been any talks or are you eager to get these talks going?
Just kind of what are your
thoughts about that right now? Yeah. You know, as a player you
always you always wish
something’s going to shake out. I think the thing for me is and
this is something that my dad
always told me, your play on the field in between the white lines
will take care of everything
else outside. So that’s all I’m focused on right now. Obviously,
we have a good team. You know,
there’s a lot of things that you know can happen, but I’m just
making sure, you know, hoping
that I make this the best year obviously had a lot of momentum
or had a lot of progression
going from year two to year three. And that’s the same thing
that I want to do from year to
year four, make this my best year. Make sure that I’m
handling the business on the
field so that everything else takes care of itself. Outside of
that, if that I mean
availability plus the ability. Trust me, a lot of zeros coming
my man’s way. And we’ll bring it
to you live here on the insiders. That’s the plan for
how we’re going to make this
thing happen. That is the plan. Listen, I extend an invitation
and say that you’re welcome any
time. But you already know that because you’ve been on multiple
times. And we’re going to have
you on again, we know that that’s the case. Quintin Lake,
excited to see what 2025 brings
for both you and the Rams. Appreciate you being here again
pal. Mike Steve I appreciate you
guys. Thank you guys so much. That’s our guy Q he’ll be back
again soon. As for division
winners, whether they’ll be back at the top of the standings,
Judy Battista has some thoughts
as to which of those 24 division winners are most vulnerable in
25. That’s next on The insiders
with new mixing bowl matchup, All in one place all year long.
Welcome home. The wait is over
and the countdown to kickoff has begun. Single game tickets for
the 2020 NFL season are on sale
now. Visit NFL.com to purchase tickets today. Tickets are
available through the NFL Ticket
Network, including Ticketmaster, SeatGeek and Sports Illustrated
tickets. And you’re going to be
buying tickets to see some of these teams. These are your 2024
division winners, Eagles and
Rams. They did not win the division title in 2023. We are
going to talk now about which of
these division winners we think are vulnerable in the 2025
season, Stephen Jeffrey rejoined
me. Hi guys. We talked about this briefly earlier in the
week. I wrote a column about
this ranking the division winners. I had the Lions as the
most vulnerable division winner.
They have a very difficult schedule this season. It came
all the way down to the final
game of the regular season last season, for them to beat out the
Vikings for the division, and
they did lose both coordinators, so learning curve may give them
some trouble. So the Lions are
number one on the list. Number two on the list. The Baltimore
Ravens. For me this is much more
a reflection not of any problem with the Ravens who really have
no holes on their roster. It’s
much more a reflection of that division. The Cincinnati Bengals
should be improved if they can
get even just modest improvement out of the defense. We saw how
hot that offense was last season
and they were a team coming on very strong at the end of the
season, and the Steelers if big
if Aaron Rodgers is their quarterback, they should get,
believe it or not, even Aaron
Rodgers at this age still get better quarterback play, more
consistent quarterback play than
they got last season. They won ten games. They only lost the
division by two games to the
Ravens last season, so they could be a threat as well. Yeah,
it is a division. Just because
it’s AFC North. It’s always tight right there. But I think
in looking at some of those
other teams, I know you mentioned Cincinnati’s defense
should be better. But really I
mean the Trey Hendrickson thing is ugly. And they were still bad
with him last year. Are they
going to be able to stop a Ravens offense that is as
dynamic as it gets? Every signed
King Henry. But then Baltimore’s defense I mean, look they add
Malachi Starks in the draft
right. As our Darius Washington gets hurt they get Mike green
the edge rusher from Marshall I
just think the Ravens are loaded now. They were they were four
and two in the division last
year. They split with Cleveland and with Pittsburgh swept
Cincinnati by a total of four
points. So again it’s going to be tough. But I think the Ravens
are safer than some of the other
teams on that list. All right. My number three team is the
Philadelphia Eagles. The NFC
East has not had a repeat champion in more than two
decades. So history is certainly
against the Eagles here. And the other NFC team that made it to
the NFC conference championship
game is in their division. The Washington Commanders, who are a
team on a very rapid rise.
Obviously Jayden Daniels going into his second season, they did
a lot of work on their offensive
line. They got Deebo Samuel. This is a team that is clearly
all in. The Cowboys should be
improved. If Dak Prescott is healthy, I think the Eagles
could have a run for their money
in the East. Well Judy I agree with you on this one because
history is on your side. That 21
year drought is a big deal. But here’s two things I like about
the commanders winning this
division this season one, they have a superstar in Jayden
Daniels already. And two, they
don’t fear the Eagles. They beat them last year at the end of the
regular season. Yeah they took a
shellacking in the NFC Championship game. But you look
at what they did in the off
season bringing over Deebo Samuel, bringing in Laremy
Tunsil improving that offense.
They’re not hiding the fact that they want to outscore people.
They want to get after it. And I
think that extra firepower that supporting cast they have around
them will make a huge
difference. Along with the schedule, the Eagles are seeing
the Chargers, the Broncos, the
Vikings, the Chiefs and some of these teams are showing up in
the first eight weeks. So it’s
going to be tough for the Eagles to repeat. All right. My next
team is the Rams. We just had
Quintin Lake on talking about them. But the Rams I actually
don’t think the Rams are all
that vulnerable. Even though it came down to a tiebreaker for
them to beat out the Seattle
Seahawks in the division last season. Why do I feel more
comfortable with the Rams,
though? Well, Seattle did make a change at quarterback. We don’t
really know how Sam Darnold is
going to do in his first year there. And the Rams were coming
on so strong at the end of last
season, a team very much on the rise, a team that is was last
season very much ahead of
schedule. Of course, they added Davante Adams for some
additional offensive firepower.
I actually feel pretty good about the Rams. That’s why they
are right in the middle of the
pack. On vulnerability. I feel really good about the Rams. I
mean, this is a playoff team.
Think about all the young players they had on their
defense who are now a year
better, a year more experienced. Matthew Stafford We don’t know.
Maybe this is it for him. We
said that before, but maybe this is it. So adding Davante Adams,
they added to their offensive
line. They got him a tight end a rookie tight end the first round
of the draft. Now look we can
say San Francisco. You know we just don’t know about them
right. They’ve got some issues
on the offensive line. They got some wide receivers to replace.
You don’t know when Brandon
Aiyuk is coming back but still they are the 40 niners. If they
are healthy they are going to be
a threat. Because again they’ve kind of had the Rams number for
a little bit. But the Rams are a
playoff team. I don’t know if they win the division, but they
will be playing in the
postseason if they’re healthy. Finally let’s talk about the
Houston Texans, who I don’t
really think are that vulnerable at all. Quite frankly, they had
a terrible offensive line last
season. They had a string of wide receiver injuries. C.J.
Stroud had a sophomore slump,
and they still won the division by two games. There is a whole
lot of uncertainty in this
division. You have a rookie quarterback in Tennessee, a
rookie head coach in
Jacksonville and a quarterback competition coming up in
Indianapolis. I feel like the
Houston Texans, they did a lot of work on their offensive line
as well. I feel like the Houston
Texans are in a pretty good spot. I’ll agree with you on
that one, Judy. But like you,
I’m not as comfortable as you are with this one just because
when you start changing the
offensive coordinator, you start changing the offensive line,
mixing and matching, bringing in
new people. That’s a lot of things you’re moving around for
quarterback C.J. Stroud, who
needs to be comfortable. You saw how he looked last year. He’s
under pressure. He was not the
same player and I wish they would get back to running the
football a lot more
consistently. And that’s the big thing. Can can Joe Mixon be what
he was a year ago when he was
healthy. Because they’re going to need that. But the defense to
me is going to be a big staple
for this team. The Texans. They’re going to they’re going
to play great coverage. They’re
gonna get after the quarterback. And as you said Indianapolis,
Tennessee Jacksonville I don’t
see where any of those offenses are going to be able to give
them problems week in and week
out. They may be a nine and eight team that’s still good
enough to win the AFC South. All
right. The rest of the list is Bucs chiefs. And in my opinion,
the least troubled defensive
division winner is the Buffalo Bills. They won the East easily
I don’t see even though I
anticipate improvement by the Patriots in particular. I really
don’t see anybody challenging
the Buffalo Bills and Josh Allen the league MVP. I think the
Buffalo Bills are going to be a
contender for the Super Bowl yet again. Steve, you’ll be back.
Jeffrey, you won’t enjoy the
holiday weekend. And when we return, our guy Adam Rank is
going to be here to talk about
fantasy dynasty keepers. I bet that guy could be on the list.
Cam Ward, Ashton Genti. Who else
we got there? Travis Hunter when we return. Christian Gonzalez is
truly incredible. Gonzalez one
of a kind. The most impressive afterburner. He’s gone.
Unbelievable. Oh watch. Oh baby.
How beautiful is that? Oh, yeah. Time for dynasty rankings with
our friend Adam Rank. We pried
him off the golf course to get him here. Ladies and gentlemen,
to give you the breakdown on
which rookies you’re going to want. You’re going to want to
draft this year for dynasty
purposes. Dynasty. Not that show that was on in the 80s, I think
it was Linda Evans was on
dynasty or was she Falcon Crest, John Forsythe yeah, I think
Heather Locklear, certainly him
as well. Yeah. There’s a lot of things I didn’t know. I think
so, didn’t know who she was. I
think she was double dipping. She was doing TJ hooker and she
was on dynasty back to back. She
was on battle of the Network Stars. But listen. Yeah, nobody
cares about this. Nobody cares
about that. We’re going for the Hardcores. It’s Friday night. On
Memorial Day weekend. I decided
to get a little deep on this one. Kind of like the people are
Star Wars fans who watch Andor
as opposed to like, I don’t know, you know, like this. If
you’re watching now, you’re
really into this. So let’s let’s dive in. When you’re looking at
dynasty, we’re getting crazy.
Listen, what do you want me to do? Mike? Listen, like you said,
they pulled me off my fault. You
led me down this road. Okay, let’s get to Ashton real quick.
Everybody knows you’re drafting
Ashton first. Overall, he’s going to the Seattle Seahawks.
Yeah he’s going to the Las Vegas
Raiders. Excuse me. Coached by former Seahawks coach Pete
Carroll. He’s going to be the
number one guy Bellcow back. Everybody knows this. We don’t
there’s not much not much
discussion or anything. Who’s number two. That’s the big one
for me. And it’s going to be
Mario Hampton. And when you look at this I know that some dude is
going to hit me in the mentions
and be like, they got Najee Harris. And you’re like, yeah,
that’s great, Naji. Fine player.
But you have to understand the Chargers make those moves
because free agency happens
before the draft. They needed some insurance. But now that
Hampton has been drafted he is
going to be the number one running back. He’s got the
explosion. He’s got the speed.
And if you look at what the Chargers did last year with J.K.
Dobbins, Hampton to me comes in
as the number one guy. He is going to feast in this offense.
Not only is he great for
dynasty, but I think in Redrafts too, you’re probably going to
have to draft him a lot sooner
than you’re expecting. And not only do they have Hampton, I
really like Trey Harris for this
team as well. Last season did a great job with Ladd McConkey.
Ladd McConkey goes out there as
one of the best players in fantasy, and he’s still the only
guy who Harris is going to be
competing with in the target category. So I think that’s a
huge option for you. And
speaking of targets, I’m going to go to my number three guy who
is going to be Ted McMillan. Now
I’m listen, Mike, we’ve worked with Steve Smith senior. And we
know during the off season he
was evaluating players. He was evaluating wide receivers. He
didn’t have a lot of nice things
to say about Ted McMillan. I think he had Matthew Golden a
little bit higher. And when I
did my mock drafts I placed Matthew Golden a little bit
higher. But the one thing that I
really like about Ted McMillan is his situation. He goes into
one of the best situations for a
wide receiver, because he’s going to get a ton of targets.
His competition. He’s got Adam
Thielen, Xavier Leggett, Jalen Coker. There is a real
opportunity for him to go out
there and immediately even most targeted guy for this Panthers
offense. So I love Ted McMillan.
That’s why I’m going with him at number three. At number four, I
might differ from a lot of
people, but I’m going to go with RJ Harvey. And I know coming
into the draft process, you
know, maybe the draft Nix didn’t like RJ Harvey that much. But
you know who liked him? Sean
Payton. And you know who I trust in evaluating running backs Sean
Payton I think Sean Payton has a
track record where you’re like, I kind of believe what he says.
It’s not like the rock, like
when the rock is like, hey, I’m taking this movie role where I’m
going to be running around a
skyscraper. You’re like, no rock. Like I’m going to hold you
up there. Conversely, Sean
Payton is somebody that I absolutely trust. So when he
goes out there and targets a
player, we saw this last year with Bo Nix like he he got the
quarterback he wanted. Now he’s
got the running back that he wants. So I have RJ Harvey at
number four and number five I’m
going to go with Quinn Judkins. And again this is another one of
those situations where coming
into the draft process, I wasn’t necessarily enamored with
Judkins. I think he’s a good
player. He played well at Ohio State, doesn’t catch the ball
like at least we didn’t see it
at Ohio State. We didn’t see him catch the ball a lot. I’m glad
that they’re showing him
catching the ball right here, because this is where a lot of
fantasy running backs can make
their make their points. But I think he’s got a real
opportunity for Cleveland.
Obviously Nick Chubb is not going to be back Jerome Ford is
there. But I think that Judkins
could come in immediately and kind of push him down the depth
chart. He can be the early down
back that they go to over and over again. So I love Judkins
for this season. And finally
we’ll keep it right here at Travis Hunter. Honestly like for
me, Brian Thomas Jr is one of
the best wide receivers in the NFL already. And I love Brian
Thomas Jr to take a big leap
similar to what Justin Jefferson did during his second year with
the Minnesota Vikings. But I
look at what Travis Hunter can do, and I know that there’s
somebody there that you’re
competing with. But I find this to be similar to, like the
Kirkland version of what’s going
on in Cincinnati with Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins. And I
think Travis Hunter can go out
there and feast because he will get a lot of opportunity. He’ll
get a lot of single coverage
because Brian Thomas is out there drawing so much attention.
So I think that you can feel
safe with Travis Hunter. Okay, let’s take a look at the board
I’m going to give you, I
believe, my top 12 guys right here, Trey Harris, as I
mentioned, right there was my
number 12 guy I do love. Caleb Johnson is another guy who I’m
really probably higher than a
lot more than a lot of people. Jaydon blue is another guy who
would not. It would not surprise
me if he ends up being a top fantasy running back this
season. And you will notice too.
I have Tyler, Warren, Tyler, Warren ahead of Colston Loveland
because I think right now
there’s a there’s an easier pathway for him to for Tyler
Warren to go out there and get
targets as opposed to Colston Loveland, who’s going to be
fighting not only Cole Kmet,
D.J. Moore and Luther Burden the third. See, that’s how we know
we can trust you. Rank huge
bears fan. You put Tyler Warren ahead of your bears tight end.
No Homer. That’s what we’ll say
on that one. No, Homer. And listen, the other one that I’m
looking at, Emeka Ebuka right
now, might not be the guy for the Buccaneers, but Mike Evans,
Chris Godwin are gone in a
couple of years. You buy low right now. That one could really
pay off. Remember, this is
dynasty, the show that Heather Locklear was on. I was able to
watch an entire episode while
rank was ripping through all of his top guys. They’re in the
dynasty rankings. Adam Rank I
knew you were ranking. What more could you ask for on a holiday
Friday? Nothing. Nothing. Right
on a getaway Friday. Going out there talking some dynasty
football. It’s a it’s a good
Friday. And I feel like we covered a lot of ground here.
And again when we can talk about
Dynasty and Linda Evans and all that stuff, I’m surprised. I’m
surprised that a man your age
would even remember that stuff. Oh, yeah. We spent some Friday
night at Falcon Crest. I’m
telling you, dynasty, Falcon Crest, Knots Landing, all that
stuff. Watch the whole lineup.
Yes. All right, by the way, our producer’s a headbanger. So he
was talking about kiss. I guess
kiss had a record called kiss. Had, like, 30 albums. Of course.
Dynasty. It was an album. I
don’t know, Jeff. Listen, I kiss is fine. Are they still touring?
They’re still touring,
apparently. Yeah. They’re on their 85th farewell tour. Their
their Rock and Rolling All
Night, which we could do with you, Adam Rank. However, I’m
being told in my ear, we got to
go. This segment was awesome. Hotter than your Los Angeles
Angels. Thank you. My friend.
Jets on a Friday night. Adam Rank talking about the
Hardcores. If you’re a Jets fan,
you are a hardcore. So you’re tuning in. We’re talking about
them next on the Insiders. We
just want to have enough money accept help. The Jets are back
on the field in much quieter
fashion than the last couple of years. There was a lot of hoopla
with Aaron Rodgers and hard
knocks and everything. Now it’s a reset under Aaron Glenn, who
promises a no nonsense approach,
and the players already seeing that. Hard nosed football. It’s
one of those things that he he
believes in toughness, he believes in execution. He
believes in being smart when it
comes down to executing the plays and then not penalizing
yourself. So his standard was
set from day one, and it hasn’t been broken ever, ever since he
said it. So it’s one of those
things that’s bleeding off to the captains and bleeding off to
everyone on the staff, everyone
in the organization, everyone on the field. I can’t exactly put a
word to it right now, but it’s
something that’s violent, you know? And for me, it’s a little
different than, you know, as far
as what we’re doing and getting asked upon me as far as blocking
and as far as you know, Garrett,
you got to find the safety on this one. You know, these are
things that that, you know,
maybe I haven’t been asked, but like, it says a lot about the
culture, you know, it’s not
just, hey, you do this job. No, no, no, Garrett, you want to
play, you’re going to do this
to. Steve Wyche back with us. We’re going to talk about, you
know, discipline, physicality,
all these things. This is not to say that Robert Saleh didn’t try
to instill these things with the
Jets. And on the defensive side of the ball certainly did. I
think you start to hear Garrett
Wilson talk about blocking in the offensive side, maybe a
little bit different there in
that regard, but definitely like I talked about a no nonsense
approach when it comes to Aaron
Glenn and a guy that wants to get down to business immediately
with this team. Yeah, I just
happened to talk to Woody and Christopher Johnson, the owners
of the Jets, at the owners
meeting earlier this week, and they both talked about
accountability and discipline.
They talked about all the penalties the Jets had had. They
don’t want that anymore. That is
what they expect Aaron Glenn to bring accountability and
discipline. And one of the first
things you have seen in OTAs is everybody showing up. And that
includes people like Sauce
Gardner and Garrett Wilson, who are eligible for new contracts.
They are there. Another thing I
think you heard Aaron Glenn describe Justin Fields. We
haven’t shown that clip, but
described Justin Fields as not trying to be a celebrity
quarterback. Well, first of all,
that comes straight from the mouth of Bill Parcells, number
one. And number two, that tells
you an awful lot about how things are going to be different
around the New York Jets under
Aaron Glenn, because last year at this time, they certainly had
a celebrity quarterback, and
they were not getting 100% attendance at OTAs. This is
going to be a much more hard
nosed, much more low key New York Jets team. Low key is a big
part of it. Just think about,
you know, the past 5 or 6 years with the Jets, you had the Adam
Gase craziness. You had you know
Zach Wilson being drafted number two who’s he’s going to be our
great quarterback. Well he turns
out to fizzle. Then Aaron Rodgers comes in. All of this
drama is gone. And that’s Aaron
Glenn. And this whole new leadership putting a lid on all
of this and maybe telling the
owner we don’t want hard knocks this year. So don’t be out there
pounding the drum to get that
done. Then you talk about accountability. There’s only so
much a coach can do to have
accountability other than to teach his players
Self-accountability those are
veteran players. You heard talking about accountability and
things like that. They’re going
to expect them to set that standard when everybody is
together in pads. The one thing
I loved, Aaron Glenn, who said earlier this week, nobody’s
making this roster in shorts and
jerseys. He’s letting you know right now, learn what we have to
do. But when the pads come on,
that’s when it gets real. And then we’re going to find out who
wants to be this version of the
Jets. Yeah. If you look at Dan Campbell and Aaron Glenn didn’t
did come from the Dan Campbell
Detroit Lions. That early portion of the program there in
Detroit. They weren’t
competitive early in the season, but late that year was a team
that you didn’t want to play. I
think you’re going to see a little bit of that from the Jets
this year. They’re going to pop
up in some spots and win some games and maybe spoil some, see
some seasons late in the year.
Judy and Steve, thank you very much. Don’t go anywhere. You’re
coming back because we’re going
to talk about something that Saquon Barkley said regarding
this past season’s Eagles team
that may have some people saying what and may have some other
saying, hey, you may have a
point that’s next on the insiders. Lowes knows in
addition to the family means an
addition to your space. He’s that anyone can pursue America’s
favorite sport. USA football.
Football for all. Our team last year, I think we’re a top five
team of all time, and I tell my
boys this all the time like we started off two and two and we
lost to Washington. Jalen got
hurt that game. Yeah. But if you really look at the season
outside of the first four games
like it was built, it was dominant. Judy does the man have
a point? I, I mean first of all,
I would say the bat signal just went up for the 1972 Miami
Dolphins were like, wait a
minute. Just hold on one second. Top five though. Yeah. You know,
that takes in a lot of NFL
history. No, they are not push pushing the 85 bears. You know
the 99 Rams. Best show on on on
turf like that. And think about this 8949 is outscored opponents
126 to 26 in the postseason.
Only that is belt to tush. It is hard to compare teams from
different eras, particularly in
areas where the salary cap didn’t exist, but they certainly
were dominant down the stretch.
They have a case to start making a dynasty. Just talk about
dynasty without a dynasty type
argument. We’ll see how they do in 2025. Judy. Steve, Adam Rank,
Jeffrey Diaz, Quentin Lake.
Thank you, everybody for joining us. And thank you
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