EP. 291 NFL 2023 Preseason Week 1 Takeaways

In this episode Taylor talks about his takeaways from 10 of the week one of the NFL 2023 preseason games including:
Houston Texans vs New England Patriots
Minnesota Vikings vs Seattle Seahawks
Green Bay Packers vs Cincinnati Bengals 
Atlanta Falcons vs Miami Dolphins 
 Pittsburg Steelers vs Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Washington Commanders vs Cleveland Browns 
Denver broncos vs Arizona Cardinals 
Indianapolis Colts vs Buffalo Bills 
Tennessee Titans vs Chicago Bears 
New York Jets vs Carolina Panthers 

Listen To what he found interesting about each of these games, and what can be gleaned from the action #NFL #nflpreseason2023 #podcast 

Transcript

Taylor: What's up, everybody? It's the Roundtable sports podcast. My name is Taylor McLean, and coming to you after another short break in the podcast. Been getting everything ready for the video format. Still not quite ready yet, but the jersey wall is coming together. We just have some minor checks and things to go through with that, so that should be awesome. And I'm looking forward to having this in a video format coming up. We're also talking to a sponsor so that we have a little bit more of a budget for the content and whatnot. So hopefully that'll all be coming up. But what is and what has come up is the NFL preseason. And I couldn't help myself. The hall of Fame game was one thing, but this preseason stuff was a whole nother because teams had varying level of interest in playing their players. And while it's not good to try and glean too much off of preseason stuff, there are some things that you can kind of get from this, I think. But you have to take it with a grain of salt, because last year I would have told you that hall of Fame game, having Josh Jacobs play as much as he did in that game typically not good, but it led to a big season, although he kind of let down in the fantasy championships. But that's mean that is just kind of the stuff that happens to you in fantasy football. You just kind of have to get yourself to the dance and hope that you get lucky. As Phil Heldmuth said, I would win every time if luck wasn't involved. I believe maybe that's the quote, maybe it isn't, but it was something to that gist. So anyway, I thought I'd dump out my preseason notebook because I took some notes on what I saw. And the first game, of course, was Thursday with the Houston Texans and the big overall takeaway from the Texans. Sure, CJ. Stroud was a little sluggish and threw a bad pick, that it wasn't the worst thing I've ever seen, but it wasn't good. And then just generally not seeming like he had a good feel for how to handle the rush, because every play is two plays in the NFL. There's the intended play, and then when the intended play inevitably breaks down, you need to have a second play in mind. You have to be able to improvise, and you have to be able to make things happen with your legs. Now, CJ. Wasn't the overarching thing. It was actually the big thing was that the Texans came out in a full shanahan looking scheme. And that's exciting, or should be exciting for Texans fans, because I think that's a big deal for them going forward, to have a shanahan scheme to kind of work around. It'll probably depend on how creative Swoek is able to get with the scheme. The main thing is that you're running it, and that, I think, that's a scheme that CJ. Stroud can be successful with when they're running all of their starters out there. We only got a little taste of Nico Collins. We didn't get to see Damian Pierce. There were plenty of linemen that didn't play. So I think we're going to see more from this offense when we have our most bossy weapons out there. But outside of Nico Collins and maybe Tank Dell, who tank Dell definitely looked like a solid contributor. I don't think that they have a ton of talent there. Robert woods looked pretty banged up last year and looked like he might have lost it, but that's how most people look in the Tennessee offense, so that could have been a mirage. We'll see. And then outside of know Dalton Schultz, that's fine. He's okay and good, but not great. And then I think Damien Pierce is really going to be great. We'll get into that. But I think when CJ has the full complement of weapons, he's going to look a little behind, but in a shanahan scheme, I think that he can get by and deliver the ball on time. It's going to be a little bit like Jared Goff, which is a scary sentence to say for Texans fans, but I mean, that in that I think he's going to really be able to deliver the ball on time when the play goes as intended. I just don't think he's going to have a lot of improvisational skill. I think that's going to take a little time because he just hasn't had to improv as much in his career, and I don't think that's his strong suit, but he has plenty of speed. That was one thing that came up in the game for me, and that's one thing I want to see from every quarterback when I first see them is how do you look in a scramble? Are you above the Jared Goff line where you could get away from defensive tackles? So Jared Goff doesn't even get away from defensive tackles. Okay, that's the line CJ. Stroud could absolutely get away from defensive tackles. It may take him a little more runway to get going than your smaller quarterbacks with smaller strides, but CJ. Has big, long strides, and he can cover a lot of ground, and he's fast enough where he can get away from slower defensive ends. Maybe not the elite class. I think the elite class is going to chase him down, especially in the linebacker class. Like, he doesn't have the type of speed, not even on a Patrick Mahomes level, where he can kind of outshift and out move some of those guys. He's not incredibly shifty, although he's not a dud there either. So there's going to be some running opportunities there, and there's going to be some bootleg with the zone scheme. That's inevitably a big part of it, and I think CJ. Can execute that. I think he's going to have a number one receiver in Nico Collins, who, while he might not be a high end number one, I think he's probably better suited as a really good number two. I think that he has the physical profile to be able to at least do a nice Facsimile for what they need from the Shanahan offense, because you need one receiver to kind of funnel it through, and then you just have some peripheral weapons after that, a tight end that can both block and catch. And then you need a really nice one cut running back that has plenty of speed and power. And I think they have those things. So I think CJ can be successful. It's just he's going to look behind. Always remember that up until Jameis Winston reset the interception record, peyton Manning held the interception record in his first year. So it's going to look rough at times, like the interception, like the sacks he took, for sure. And let me say the Patriots, especially in their second team, had a really strong defense. And if that is any indication of what the first team defense is going to look like, that's a good sign for them as well. So I think that that can be a big thing for both teams. And that was my biggest takeaway from the Patriots, is that they looked pretty good on offense and that Bailey Zappi definitely looked like the backup. I don't think there's going to be any question there. He looks like a very capable backup, like he'll come in and win you a game or two maybe, but overexposure and having to rely on his arm to move the ball down the field, I think would be a problem. Overall on the Texans, on the defensive side, they looked coordinated, and overall, I thought it was promising for both sides how well coordinated they were. That was the other big takeaway for the Patriots, was that I felt like Bill O'Brien had a more professional scheme going, even though we didn't get to see it with really anybody of note, even though I did like Pierre Strong and Taekwond Thornton did make a couple of plays. Hopefully Taekwond can find his way into the third receiver spot for the Patriots, but we'll see if that happens, if he's able to overtake Kendrick Bourne, who doesn't have nothing himself. Also of note, it does look like it's going to be Devontae Parker as long as he lasts and Juju Smith Schuster out there. So definitely that looks like the situation. Wide receiver. We'll see if Kendrick Bourne ends up being the third one or if we end up seeing more Mike Gasicki in that role as well. I think that's also on the table. But once again, they didn't play as many people as the Texans did in their first team, so not as much to Glean. Same thing with Seattle, and the know quarterbacks were not on the field for this one at all. The couple of things I did see was Ty Chandler definitely looked like he was good to go as a second running back and first running back. In a pinch, it was second teamer. So the speed may not play quite as much, but he looked shifty, he looked fast, and if they're talking him up like he can catch the ball as well, then I think that part's good to go. And then we got to see both Jordan Addison and Jackson Smith in Jigba, and I liked what I saw from both of those guys. The Vikings had a huge hole at wide receiver two last year. So to get that hole filled with a guy that has pop in his legs that can make big plays and get separation for Kirk Cousins when Adam Thielen wasn't really doing that, especially by the end of the year, then I think that would be a big win for the Vikings, who I think, want to throw the ball a hell of a lot. And with Hawkinson fully mixed in with Double J Justin Jefferson, obviously, and then a capable other receiver with KJ Osborne, then I think that makes for a dangerous passing attack for a team that wants to pass and for a team that can protect pretty decently, especially with Dillashaw out there and Ezra Cleveland on the left side. I like both those guys, Dillashaw more, but I like Ezra Cleveland a lot, too. And if they've kind of sured up the rest of it, then this could be a dangerous offense overall. Even though Kirk cousins isn't a great reader of the field, necessarily with these type of weapons, and if they were getting the type of separation that I believe that Jordan Addison is capable of cultivating at the wide receiver two position, then I think they should be in good shape here. Even though Madison is a downgrade and Ty Chandler would be two from Madison is the number two, but I still think they're capable. And that was my big takeaway from that part of it. On the I mean, Drew Locke as the quarterback, not super great. Good thing is that JSN the speed from him absolutely played on the field, and I think a lot of rookies out there without their quarterback. And I don't think this says that JSN. Is going to be any less the third wide receiver in this offense. I don't know 100% that he's going to be just the bone breaker that everybody thought he was going to be when they were drafting him ahead of Tyler Lockett and ahead of some of the other guys, but we'll see it's on the table for him, so that should be interesting. And then I also like the way that Zach Charbonet looks. And while I do think that Ken Walker is probably going to get the bulk of the carries between the think that Charbonet should factor into the passing game, I think he should factor into the goal line. Kenny is a big time home run hitter, but there were some things and some yards that he left on the table because of just the way he runs and his style and physicality. It's just a different kind of thing. He's a burner. The speed plays 100% and pops, but I don't think that the power plays as much as it needs to for him to be just this Domineering guy. And that can change, too. That's a big thing that can change with guys, is they up their power quotient, and then that's something you can't see as easy. And then you're wondering, like, okay, why is Jamar Chase even better this year? Well, he got a little stronger, and they can't push him off his route even more now, so things like that can happen. Speaking of which, didn't really get a good look at the Bengals, but we did get a look at the packers first team offense in their game. And while I'm very excited about the Bengals and there was really only one takeaway from them in that, I think that Chris Evans is going to be the second running back. He kind of looks like the guy that would take over the Samaj P. Ryan role to me, if you just based it on this game, even though I like the way that Chase Brown looked, I don't know that he would be the guy I would think would take that role. I think he would factor in more if Joe Mixon went down, so that's where I think he would factor in more, whereas I think Chris Evans is going to come out and have the role outright. No real other takeaways other than I'm excited with Orlando Brown. Looks like Joe Burrow is already practicing again, so he should have maintained his ADP, but everybody is afraid of failing instead of afraid of trying not to succeed. So we'll see what happens with that. On the packer side. I thought Jordan love looked good. He has a big arm, and he has a decent amount of mobility, too, but I still think that he isn't 100% sure where the ball is going when he throws it. I was trying to come up with a comp for what I felt it looked like to me, and it's like more cautious James Winston, which could be good, honestly. Plenty of arm plus plus arm. Maybe not like Justin Herbert level, but good. Right. Above average. And then with the ability to move and the like, that can be dangerous, for sure. Absolutely. And I think that Matt LaFleur is an absolutely quality offensive coordinator, and I think he takes what the defense gives him, and I think he's absolutely capable of managing Jordan Love. Now, for your one quarterback leagues, your redraft leagues, probably not an option anyway for what we're talking about here, right? But really what I'm talking about is him being like a franchise guy. Do I think jordan Love is a franchise guy, and I'm not so sure because the part about Jamis, the part that reminds me about him the most is when he throws the ball with some zip or when he's under pressure, he's really not sure where it's going. He's willing to chuck it. That's good. But when you're not sure where it's going, that leads to really bad interceptions. And coaches hate that. And I think that's what they've been seeing up until this point. Now, the best thing is for him is that he is in a perfect position he's had time to take in this offense. He knows it backwards and forwards at this point, and he should know where to go with the ball. It's just I think that there's going to be a downside to him as well when he's not completely in sync with where the ball should go. And I think there's going to be a lot of those times, too. There's going to be some times where it looks great. There's going to be some times where it looks bad. And I think that I have underweighted them. I think that he's going to have some big games and I think I should have gotten more of him in the draft season, but I think my paranoia that he is not going to have everything. I look for a guy to be complete because they're going to get six games worth of film on a lot of these guys, and they're going to know they being the defensive coordinators that he's going to run up against in the games seven through 17, right. They're going to know what he likes to do and they're going to take that away from him. And not every team is going to be able to do that because of their personnel and whatever they decide to do, but some teams are. And what's his counterpunch going to be? It's not going to be accuracy from within the pocket. I don't think that's the thing. And I wonder how he's going to handle pressure from within the pocket. We didn't see a lot of that in this game. When I saw him in third and seven in the first drive. He air mailed a pass that most guys that's a pitch and catch pass, right? You should make that throw 99 out of 100. But he didn't make it on that one. So I do have some skepticism there, and I'm not 100% on what I think he's going to be at this point. And his offense is insanely young around him. Could be good, could be bad. I like Christian Watson. I think he's got a lot of pop, and Romeo Dobbs made a nice catch. I think he was criminally underused last year, and I think he's going to be the number two for them. So those are my packers takeaways giants and Lions. Didn't see Daniel Jones, so there's that. Wasn't incredibly impressed by anything else with the Giants Lions. Jameson Williams dropped a pass. That wasn't cool. Didn't like that. I do like the way Jamir Gibbs looks out there moving around. So that's big. And his price tag, third, 4th round seems like it's in the third now pretty steadily because number one, there's more people that are just coming into it. So there's more running back drafters. And number two, he just looks like he's explosive and could be something big for them. Falcons and Dolphins once again, no starters in this one, really, to speak of. No Tyreek, none of that. I did think the Falcons looked pretty well coordinated and looked interesting from that standpoint. I'm interested to see what they do this year with Know, Can Drake, London, Kyle Pitts, they've got interesting pieces. Bijean, Tyler Algier, I feel like he's going to be a big part of the offense even with Bijean in there. I feel like they have a limited amount of playmakers because the only other playmaker I can think of outside of everybody that I've named so far is Mac Hollins who looks like he's huge. So it looks like he's gained a good amount of weight. Guessing he's taken a steroid test or two to this. Know, they all these NFL guys now. If somebody's big in the NFL now, you know they're doing it naturally because they're doing so much testing and the like. So that's cool to see somebody like Matt Collins come out with a chance to really season a wide receiver, to role like that and really do something with it. The one cool thing that I saw with the Dolphins, actually, there was one uncool thing and one cool thing. The one uncool thing was that I saw Miles Gaskin out there a lot and having drafted a bunch of Raheem Mostert and Jeff Wilson and Devon a chain for that matter, I didn't like seeing that at all. What I did like seeing was Devin a chain being used so much in the passing game. He didn't look great between the tackles even though he looked like he had a little bit of pop there, but he looked great in the passing game and looked like they were going to rely on him in that way. And if they do, he's got a lot of speed. You get him on the outside and he's trouble for people to keep up with. Maybe if you get a hand on him, fine, but it's going to be a tough to get a hand on him in space. And Mike McDaniels is one of the guys that I count on to get fast people into space. He's one of the best at it. So to put a chain into that offense has me excited. He may not have the role up front exactly that we want, but he does have something there. Like I said, it may not be right up front, but if you're playing for the playoffs, that might be something to look into going forward, like maybe let somebody else draft him. Maybe he doesn't play good up front, and then you make a trade for him or you pick him up off the wire and then he ends up playing well down the stretch. I could see that as a totally bit real thing or with this type of performance, with this type of weaponry, when they know they're going to put their running back out into a route, he might be the one that's out there because of his speed and because of the way he was getting open out there. So that was definitely my big takeaway there. Steelers Buccaneers was insanely interesting to me. First of all, Kenny came out there, Kenny Pickett, and had an amazing first drive, hit Deontay Johnson three times, hit Friarmouth on a nice pass, and then George Pickens house one after getting a nice pass from Kenny for the touchdown. It was super encouraging. The offense looked insanely sharp, and it's something that I've kind of been drafting towards that Kenny Pickett is going to be better and that George Pickens is going to be better and the offensive line is going to be better. So that that should raise the ship of everybody on this offense. And Kenny Pickett, who in turn, I think will have made strides after getting so many starts in his rookie year, I think everything will have slown down. He'll have known what to prepare for, and then he's going to come out and really be something. I don't know that I think he's absolutely going to be one of the Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen God tier guys, but I think he's going to be well above that tier of guys that is so incomplete that I don't think that they can do it. Mitchell Trubisky has always been a part of that tier for me, and he came out and did some Mitchell Trubisky things. But Kenny, I think, is the truth. And he looked spry out there. Like, he looked like he was really fast running around and moving around out there. And he was having to do a lot of running for his life last year. And hopefully the offensive line additions they made will help stem that because their left tackle, their left guard was a sieve last year, and they seem to have upgraded both those positions. So we'll hope that's real. And for me anyway, because I have so much. George Pickens. I have a good amount. Deontay Johnson fryer. Ruth and Kenny. I also have a good amount of Najee Harris. And the one thing that was disconcerting from a fantasy standpoint for any of the Steelers was for Najay. There was a ton of Jalen Warren rotating, and it didn't seem to have a whole ton of rhyme or reason. It seemed to be, hey, let's keep everybody fresh. And that could lead to more of a 50 50 split than I think where Najay is being drafted would indicate and where Jalen Warren is being indicated, and I think that would put me underweight and at jeopardy with the Jalen Warren part of it. I haven't been getting as much know as I was up front when I was drafting more running backs. Speaking of which, on the running back scale, we're probably not going to get to the Ravens game, which I did watch, but it says here that JK. Dobbins is going to be activated from the physically unable to perform list. They typically don't do that unless they're going to actually play that guy, and that guy's about to start practicing. So the JK. Dobbins discount is probably over for now, but we'll see if he actually gets into camp before we count all those chickens. You don't count your chips at the table according to the gambler, and I think that was good advice. Speaking of counting chips at the table, I think anybody that thought that Baker Mayfield is not going to beat the starter of the Buccaneers may have counted some chips too early. I thought that Baker looked sharper than I expected to him to look while out there, and this was without his top weapons in Richard White, Mike Evans, and Chris Godwin. Not in that order. I actually listed them in the opposite order for how Baker would use them, I would think. But I think that if Baker can play a competent level of quarterback for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, that I think we might have been getting all been getting a nice discount on said Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Because I think the thought process for me was that Baker was kind of done and that Tampa was going to be a cesspool. But it wasn't like that, really. I thought Baker came out there through some sharp passes, and if you have wide receivers that can create separation in the way that a healthy Chris Godwin and Mike Evans can, then I think Baker can be successful. I worry a little bit more about Mike Evans because Mike Evans is a little bit more dependent on the deep ball, and Baker still isn't a great deep ball thrower. But the good thing is some of Baker's velocity has returned because he uses all of his body to throw the ball. Having the left shoulder must have thrown him all out of whack. Threw him all out of whack, clearly. And he is a ninja in that first 15 yards of throwing the ball. So if the Buccaneers are capable of coordinating that kind of thing, they have the personnel to get that done. I think that between what they've got here with the weapons, if they're able to stay healthy, that if Baker is able to kind of put what he put out on the field today, that it's not going to be a complete waste of time. Like they've been drafted up into this point. Because, I mean, Rashard White's, like one of the last starting running backs to be taken and for their names, chris Godwin and Mike Evans have been pretty much at a discount as well by a round or two. So was super interesting to see Kenny and Baker Mayfield come out. I thought Kyle Trask looked really big out there, but he's too slow, like, he's not able to move really much at all. Baker thinks he can move, but he definitely moves better than Kyle Trask, both of them. Baker thinks he's Kenny Pickett, but he's not. I think Kyle Trask knows that he's not, but I think that even with that knowledge that he's still in trouble as far as being just too immobile and not good enough to overtake Baker or be successful in the NFL, I don't know. I just don't see it. So there's a lot to take away from one game. I'll look at the next one as well and see what I think. I'm going to be watching tampa Bay preseason games for sure, to kind of get a feel for how I feel about them. But yeah, definitely felt like a Baker first round knockdown, for sure. On the Commanders Brown side, it was an interesting game because we got to see a good amount of well, I mean, to see a ton of Deshaun Watson, we got to see him come out there and look sharp. I thought he looked maybe not sharp is the word, but good, better. He wasn't throwing low passes and the like. So I felt good about that, and I feel good about Deshaun Watson having a big bounce back to try and put himself back into the elite part of quarterbacks. Not a ton to take away from the Browns. Other than that Elijah Moore did hurt his ribs, and that's not good. But at the same time, it's not something I'm worrying about when they call it day to day at this time in the season, because you could just rest him a little bit more and he'll be fine. Hopefully for that. So I have a heavy amount of Elijah. I just like the way he looked. And the thing was his carries and touches, the good ones came after he got hurt anyway, so I thought he looked explosive after the ribs. So should be fine. And as far as the rest of the Browns go, we didn't really get to see a lot of the rest of it, so reserve judgment on that. But I think that between Elijah, Amari, Donovan, Peoples Jones, and Joku and of course, Nick Chubb, that's a pretty elite skill position to have around Deshaun Watson. And then you've also got pretty good linemen as well. Hopefully the linemen are able to stay healthy this year and they're able to have some continuity there because that could make this offense really explosive on the Commander side. Like I said, lots of interesting stuff here because we got to see so much of Sam Howe. And Jacoby Brissette. I thought they both looked good in their own way. I think that Sam Howe has a big arm once again, kind of in that same Kenny Pickett, but maybe below Jordan Love or at the Jordan Love level where it's got some pop, but it's not the big, big arms hitting all the parts of the field. Not worried about that at all. And then I like him running. He can run. He has above. Him and Kenny are kind of about the same speed where it's a plus thing when they're out in open field. He's not as shifty as Kenny though, so he might be a little bit more prone to taking hits. But I do like the way he runs for a fantasy perspective as well. The only thing is for him, he seems a little jumpy inside the pocket. Like, I worry if he got the Kyler Murray and someone was able to defensive and contain him and make him play from within the pocket all the time. I feel like there'd be some mistakes there and I think that he's making some of those mistakes in practice as well because if he wasn't, I think that the Commanders would have already come out and named him the starter. I think they'll probably start with him at the very least, but I think there's a pretty good chance that we could see Jacoby Brissette at some point, too. So I definitely think that's something to look out for going forward is will Brissette be the starter or will Sam Howe be the starter? Ron Rivera's job is definitely on the line, so he needs to play this right with ownership, whatever they decide on that. And so that part should be interesting as far as who gets starts. But my thought process is he's not going to have a long leash for a whole bunch of BS. He needs to show out strong here and I think Jacoby Brissette gives him the best chance for that because Jacobi was a little bit more in the pocket. He has a better seems like a better understanding the offense and can still move and can play a more consistent form of quarterback for you. And I think overall that's going to get the Commanders farther than what they're going to get from Howell. If he's not rock solid in the decision making part of it, that'll be the question. I'm interested either way. I'll be watching the preseason pretty heavily because I got to think with this battle going on that we're going to get a lot more taste of them and that's exciting. Speaking of tastes, I got a taste of Russell Wilson and the Cardinals quarterback situation as well, and I had some thoughts. Russell Wilson played like the whole first half, so we got a big taste of them and it was not pretty up front. The Cardinals were getting after them. And I don't think it pretends well for how the line is going to come together for the Broncos, but it was the first game, so we're going to give them a mulligan on. That part of it because they do have some people that can play the positions they are asking them to play, for sure. But it all has to come together as a unit and with the quarterback and with all that stuff, and it looks like we're still a work in progress on that. And it speaks well to the Cardinals getting after it on defense and a bunch of people trying to earn some jobs on the Cardinal side. But it did come together eventually and I had some takeaways from how the receivers are going to be used. First of all, I think Jerry Judy is going to be targeted often by Russell Wilson and we're going to see a hell of a lot of targets to Jerry Judy that I think he'll convert a good amount of. He's a good route runner, he's explosive, he's got good hands even though he has some dropsies or had a bad drop in this game but right after that he ended up scoring the touchdown. I think there's going to be a lot of slants. I think there's going to be a lot of Michael Thomas to the game, to the role and I think that it's something that Judy and Russell are capable of taking advantage of and will have to take advantage of to be successful in the current state of Russell Wilson because I don't think he's still at his peak. I think he's at like 95%, which is still great but when you lose that first half a step that is something and we saw that last year, he doesn't have quite that same ability to run away from people or the willingness to do so. But the good news is that Sean Payton is absolutely capable know, taking that away and making it easier for Russell and easier for the offense and I think that's something we're going to see here for Judy and for Russell. We just didn't get to see it. It's just not going to be overwhelming. Like I don't think this is going to be Drew Brees and his prime stuff here, okay? But I think it can be a factsimile of that that is still absolutely valuable for where the pieces are being taken courtland sutton also looks like he would have been a value because it does look like he's going to be the number two and then the number three. Even though he was the second tight end like Adam Troutman was out there in all the base sets and the like, I think we're going to see a lot of Greg Dulcic still because I think he's the de facto third wide receiver and second tight end. I think even though he wasn't targeted we're still going to see a good amount of him. I think buying him at a dip from where he had been like in the 14th round kind of thing in your best ball drafts. I think that still could be valuable because I think he's going to get a lot of the routes that are going to be out there now. Judy and Sutton are going to get most of the targets, but I still think he can be the third, even though he might not be out there as much as he would be if Adam Troutman didn't exist. And we were just talking Greg Dolce as the base tight end, but I also don't think that he's going to have to do as much blocking, and I think there is going to be a decent amount of tight end blocking that has to be done because of the state of the line and the like. So I think there is still some positive for Dolce, even though Troutman definitely looked like he was going to be way involved here on the Cardinal side. The big takeaway for me was that I liked Clayton Toon a lot more than I liked Colt McCoy. Just from an entertainment standpoint, I'm sure that Colt is more safe and would deliver the type of offense that would be terrible to watch, but wouldn't turn the ball over quite as much as Toon would, or would be a little bit more on time and all that stuff. But I think Toon has something as far as maybe being a high end backup or something along those lines because I think he can move and I think he has more pop in his arm. He's just a rookie still, and I think that would be entirely more entertaining than watching Colt McCoy go out there, because the sense I got, the biggest thing about the quarterback since was that Kyler Murray didn't seem like he was engaged at all. And that's kind of what it looks like when you're not close to playing. It seems like that's kind of my takeaway. I don't know, maybe I'm fooling myself and maybe I'm talking myself into that, but yeah, didn't seem like a great sign to me when Colt and Toon are talking about all the quarterback stuff and I don't see Kyler anywhere now. It could be just because he's short and I didn't see him, and that was the way the camera angle was, but that's what I saw there. All right, I'm going to keep going. I'm not going to do the Ravens, Eagles, Cowboys, Jaguars, Rams, Chargers, and then the Sunday games, I'm going to do the other three real quick. All right, so Colts Bills Anthony definitely threw a bad interception, but my biggest takeaway was he looked really fast out there for a guy that looks huge, like, he looks absolutely massive in a Josh Allen way, but he's got more pop in his legs and he has a really good amount of pop in his arm, too. And this could be like a Josh Allen type situation. He sounded articulate when I heard him talk. He threw a bad picture, but he was dropping it off and throwing some good balls. And I think that it's going to be a roller coaster ride, but I think Anthony is going to be a lot of fun. A lot of fun. And getting Pittman out there with him. I like Pierce as the number two. I think he's going to make some plays and Josh Downs and all that. And then they don't even have Jonathan Taylor, who the coach, said he's hopeful to get him practicing here pretty shortly, which was the most exciting news we've had come out of the Colts in some time. So I think there is something here to this Anthony thing, and hopefully there's not quite as much further. You see the interception and you don't see the size, you don't see the drop from a beautiful touchdown pass that should have been mean or could have been caught. There's all this stuff on the table for Anthony, and I was not encouraged by any of that. The interception was one thing. That just means he's willing to go for it, too. He's willing to throw it up. That might make him set the interception record. But hey, I don't know. I think there's definitely something here. Of course, we didn't see Josh Allen on the bill side, so not much to glean on that part, aside from we did see James Cook handle a goal line carry, or actually two within the ten or at least within the red zone, and him convert one. So all the James Cook truth ers were out on Twitter. Still haven't seen Damien Harris, though. I think that's a role we'll see Damien Harris in a lot, too. So I don't know, though. I like the way that James Cook looked, too, so that's interesting. And we'll see what kind of ADP spike or dip that has from there. Speaking of ADP spikes, there's definitely been one from the DJ Moore and Justin Field touchdown and then of course, the Khalil Herbert touchdown from Justin Fields, where he threw it like a total of like zero air yards and definitely got two massive touchdowns. It was cool to see, though, and it does underline the DJ Moore, Justin Fields. Justin might be a better passer, like, everybody's feeling that and there's a bunch of haters out there that aren't. But I think Justin's going to be better this year. I think there's going to be better offensive line play in front of him, and I think that there's going to be better play from the wide receiver position. Having DJ Moore puts everybody in their appropriate position. Darnell Mooney, number two with Clay kind of co number two wide receiver that both offers different things in the short and long games. Clay with the size, Darnell Mooney with the speed. And then we've seen that Cole Comet is absolutely capable of working the seam. Now you're not relying on no name guys now. You have actually quality guys around Justin, who looks like he's been working on his footwork and could be a well improved passer this year on top of being a dynamic runner. And that's a devastating combination for fantasy football. So I'm way in on that. Now. The secrets out in the fantasy drafts, I saw some like Lamar Jackson goes in the third round of a lot of these drafts. Justin Fields went right after him a bunch of times after this play happened. So overreaction for sure. We're all dying for information and hopefully that's why you're listening to this is because I'm kind of dumping my purse out on what I gleaned from all this. But anyway, I just thought that was interesting. I also liked the way that Taj Sharp looked. I thought that was interesting. So he has some pop as a running back too, for the Titans. Obviously, Derek Henry is a beast, and I wouldn't want to bet against him, but it doesn't seem like betting with Taj Sharp would be a crazy mistake either. Not a lot to glean on the skill position from the Titans, but it was interesting to see Malik Willis and Will Levis go out there. They both had some strong points and they both had some weak points. Malik Willis looks like he's improved as a passer, but I don't know that. He's devastating. And I saw Will Levis make some plays, but he didn't look like he was ready to neither one of them looked like they were ready to take over either. It kind of looked like a pretty even battle to me. I did see some things I liked from Will Levis, though. He had plenty of pop in his arm, he had plenty of speed in his wasn't all the decisions weren't there for sure. He's got a long way to go on that part of it, but I saw some NFL skill there and then with Malik improving as a know, the running ability then becomes not everything. It becomes a big thing. And there's a big difference in that for that quarterback. So that was good for him and should be good for the team going forward. If they do have to rely on the second quarterback, they should be at least interesting, unlike some teams where they would be a disaster. One of those teams might not be the Panthers. They have Andy Dalton as a backup, but their pure starter came out there in you know, the offense didn't look crazy good, but they also didn't have everybody out there either. The good thing is Bryce didn't look overwhelmed to me. It looked like he was going to be able to translate his skills out there to the pro field. Getting the ball out, getting the ball out in places where his receivers can run with it, being on time, being able to improvise. I mean, he has all the complete things there. It's just a question of his size and is he going to be able to do everything. It was a good kind of like showing in that way for him, I think. I don't think that it was overwhelming and I don't think that I'm going to be going out there to draft Bryce Young as my number two quarterback in best ball, but my number three, sure. I think there'll be some spike weeks for him there where the offense puts things together and there's an offense that's not capable of pinning him in and making him irrelevant in the passing game. I think he's going to be all right there. So that was encouraging for the Panthers, not as much to read from the mean, you know, Zach Wilson out there. He looks better than he did before, but he still know Aaron Rodgers. So boom. I do on the jets side, like the way that Michael Carter was running. And I like that he is a quality backup, at least. And I think that's part of the reason they haven't signed Dalvin Cook is that those two have looked fine as backups, and they must be seeing something from Breece that we're not seeing, too, because he's not out there yet. And it may take some time for him to ramp up, but I don't think I'm completely scared off by him like I was earlier in the season when he was, like, an early third down pick. I'm more into it as a fourth round pick now, but we'll see where it goes. I haven't watched the rest of the games yet, so we'll end it there. I've kind of been talking for a long time anyway, so we'll just go with that. Appreciate your patience with me. I've been doing a lot of things to get ready for this season, so we'll hope that I'm ready and can make it all the way through it. I'm so excited, though, so hopefully my best ball teams are looking good and I think that'll give me some extra juice. Should have some more draft related content as we get closer to fantasy drafts, but this is kind of what I'm looking through is what did everybody look like? What should be the actual takeaways know you can't take away everything when people are running against second team defenses, like Russell against the second team defense. I don't know. Just a lot of things to try and really get a hold of when it comes to running away with narratives versus knowing what actually makes sense and what actually has merit as far as these things go. So hopefully that's been helpful and today's been helpful with the podcast. Looking forward to bringing video podcasts as well. I know the audio form isn't everything to everybody, especially on YouTube, so I appreciate some patience there and I hope you have a great rest of your.