Takes we need to get off our chest, Nate's 2025 preseason big board | Football 301

Intro [Music] hello welcome to football 301 I am Nate Ty and I'm in LA with Charles McDonald I got Mr vers right next to me we don't have any delay on our on our stream on our Zoom stream our streamable stream I don't think I even used the right company yet but here we are in person to do this episode of football 31 very very special episode I mean we're getting some takes off our chest and then we're going to give some other preseason takes look at my big board a little bit longer at the end of the Pod and again tell do that sitting right next to me is Charles McDonald how you doing Chuck I'm doing great I get to sit next to you and see you in person instead of you know virtually twice a week like we've been doing recently so uh this is good this is good this is actually my first time ever in La my first time here at the Yahoo offices in LA and uh it's beautiful it's beautiful I feel like every time I come out to the West Coast I'm like should I be living here should I be living here Best Coast Best Coast best sports times because there's no 8:30 kickoff Monday Night Football which is when I was in the league that was the worst it's like you actually hated Monday night games when you're in the league because it's like you have to wait an extra day you have to be in the whole room all day and then it's just 8:30 kickoff it was the worst I didn't have to play but just even me as a lowly coach but like I said earlier we're going to do some preseason stuff I just have a couple takes I want to get off that I forgot on Tuesday's pod just a couple guys I want to talk about we have some other takes we want to get off our chest varying degrees of these takes you know some maybe a little spicier than others but things we just want to get out there before we start really ramping up it's called Football week zero like we're here week one college football's next week NFL is a week after that like we're here and then like I said we're going to do some further Big Board thoughts of the 2025 NFL draft we also have big news if you like money not as good of a Segway as the last time but Yahoo sports still like money though yeah we still like money though we always like that Yahoo sports and NBC sports are teaming up for $1 million sweep Stakes all you got to do sign up for a Yahoo fantasy league before week one you get instant entry if you do that someone's got to win a million bucks someone's got to do it by week one details at yahoo.com fantasy million all right we're going to start off with a couple preseason items he a season one character of football 301 is Bo Knicks so and he was just named starter for the Denver Broncos which kind of felt inevitable I mean it felt like after the draft they were kind of like saying yeah this guy's going to be our guy right away so but bonick is More of Nate's preseason standouts the starting quarterback for the Denver Broncos where you at with this Chuck well I think when you said uh the Broncos have been saying that he's going to be their guy is really under selling it right because sea Peyton has been talking about this guy like he's just the greatest quarterback he's ever seen this is going to be uh you know we're going to reignite the late Drew Brees era stuff that the saints were doing so and and let's be real there's no competition here at all it's Jared sdam and Zack Wilson who they traded a late round pick for uh Jared sdam hasn't really done much of anything with the chances he had in his career right so it it was going to be the bonick show all the way and then you have a good enough preseason performance where no one was going to like bat and eye at you just handing him the job so look we'll see we'll see what happens but we've we've we've been on the Bon knck Island I feel like a little bit by saying H we've seen this before we'll see it again this is not anything special it's not the Bon yeah I know it's not even like we're saying terrible or anything it's just that you know we've seen the story We we've seen this and like you said we'll see how it all plays out Shawn pyton is a good coach we kind of saw those first couple series last preseason game where he's diing up some really good stuff for bonick and that offense the Run game will be good I don't know how the defense will be they have some like the defense you keep coming back too you're like oh Zack Allen okay yeah yeah yeah yeah okay oh oh but pater tan yeah okay but then we'll see more we'll see how Browning is all these other players but yeah bonx is a starter in Denver kind of felt expected and the cosmic ballet moves on and I also want to just quick bullet point on a couple other preseason standouts because I didn't get to mention them the other day I don't know why I didn't because this this whole that whole segment was to mention this one guy and I never even mentioned him that's Carson steel running back for the Kansas City Chiefs rookie undrafted free agent wearing number 42 and I'm gonna call spade a spade I think he got typ casted a little bit because his name is Carson steel he wears 42 and he's a white guy with long hair so in the Chiefs roster they put him at fullback he's they're using him as a tailback though oh yeah as the number two tailback behind Isaiah Peko who has not you know has been the beacon of health and has a hard running style so have you checked out Carson steel or is this just a my my one one flag I'm waving I've I've only seen I've seen like some clips of him on Twitter running he looks okay looks okay he looks okay it's shocking me too right it's shocking but you know it does kind of feel like this is the point that they've wreaked in the Patrick Mahomes experiment where hey what if we put you know a rockar back running back he's a pet crocodile apparently I'm trying pet crocodile is it Carson steel yeah he's he should start yes I know I it was one of those I was like okay and all it started for me was I was going through the time on on Twitter scrolling scrolling and all a sudden I just see like rep counts for inside drill for the Chiefs and it just kind of peeed my I just like scrolling by like oh early practice okay looking and then you see uh Pacho four and then I saw and I was expecting it was G to be Pierce who was their other running back and I saw steel like four I was like huh you mean they got four reps at the first team so I look at the roster I'm like isn't that the fullback so he's blocking for him they're like no he got handoffs and I I watched the first preseason game dude was like mowing the entire Jags defense down he took down like three guys on his first rep yeah and so I get it so they give him more reps so I had to give him a shout out because you know might be a deep Dynasty stash if you're into that kind of thing rb2 would be a big that'd be a big jump for him he'll I know but they like him because he does protection and everything so yeah Chip Kelly loved him at UCLA because he was a he was a one-year transfer there from too or some some small School uh Ball State it does matter to me now now my now my OCD kicks in carate the pr Joy David Letterman uh yeah but yeah Carson steel the other one was Jordan Whittington from uh the Rams always the Rams seem to always have some undrafted late round receiver some turn into pukaa some turn in well round two two two Atwell you know some were kind of all over the place but another one standing out he kind of came to mine cuz I was watching Texas for my big board and then he had some nice plays so want to throw him out there any other guys coming to M after we did that um no I I did laugh just a bunch of the Carson steel fullback stuff because like there's there's not a single rep that you can see on Twitter that's been posted where he's got his hand there playing football so or playing fullback so no that's a that's a real deal running back and G give him the respect he deserves because he's if if things are are lining up for him like how his teams he's about to be a former first round pick and Clyde Edwards her her for that second uh RB rooll and like you said Peko hasn't been the of Health last year the Chiefs running game was not actually all that efficient even though Pacho ended up having a nice season from a volume perspective who knows Carson steel RB one that's are we here and they're saying they trust him and that was all I needed to hear Matt n well you know Matt n quotes you know take with a grain of salt but he did say he trusts them that's why they want to give him more reps it's a big offense you got mention the rb2 I'm talking about like I've seen so many discussions about the edge two for the Bears it's like okay how about the running back two for the defend Super Bowl champs that have like one of the best offenses in the league like this is a discussion that actually matters for this stuff so uh yeah I want to give those kind of undrafted free agent guys a shout those are ones that came to mind we had a quick little segment here and I'm using this as a segue so I'm stealing this but Tom Brady gave his top four QBs want to just do a quick one hitter agree or disagree with this he went Pat Mahomes Josh Allen Tom Brady's top four QBs: agree or disagree? Lamar Jackson Joe burrow I mean the top three I feel like if if those are not in your top three momes who's in his own class obviously you Josh and Lamar uh to me who are in that next tier four burrow that's S I don't know that's the one where I I feel like this is like we feel this way but I feel no we're we're probably on an island as far as how we feel about Jo burrow because uh obviously he's a good quarterback he's a quarterback that can go to a Super Bowl and almost win a Super Bowl but I just feel like in terms of what he can do on the field and maybe what he can't do on the field he's just not quite in the class of Josh and Lamar and we've seen um especially last year when we know that that burrow was hurt and dinged up last year we saw last year there are some limitations to the way that he likes to run the offense um and when he eventually did go out for the rest of the season and they had uh the backup who's Browning yeah Jake Browning who was in the for great they they they got to run like a real offense and it looked okay so um and the thing is like Joe is capable of running that same offense you know it's just more about um maybe some of the buyin sometimes because that is a St contrast of how he bursts onto the scene as a quarterback at LSU um and how that Heisman Trophy number one pick season all came together for him but it's just hard for me to put him like I would still put Herbert over him which I know is a scorching hot tape for a lot of people now it's but it's not a spicy cake it's really when you get hurt people it goes by the wayside well actually no Burl got hurt too that's that's the thing yeah I I well I'm with you because I shoot I'm even on record with this but I have her pretty high esteem and I would have him above burrow and I have burrow and Dak more closely related as far as in hierarchy tiers like maybe that next tier lower tier two higher tier three um to me because of just some he I get it he's a baller all that stuff like he's got Moxy and all those things but what we're talking about actually grading these guys as like an evaluator it's that his arm is average it's accurate but it's not very strong um like you said it's a specific type of offense he likes he doesn't do he doesn't like being under Center which actually was been pretty funny because then Browning goes under Center a bunch I know this isn't the end all be all but just talking about gring all these guys and limitations uh but with him with seeing Browning do it and the offense working he had Browning finished with a higher qbr than burrow last year and about the same you know not the same exact reps but decent amount of rep reps uh you know Browning had 243 attempts and burrow had 365 attempts so you know decent amount and I think all a su he's like oh we can do that oh okay like kind of the excuse got taken away so I kind of want to see where is the next step I also don't want to give away too many of my bur thoughts because he's going to be been a minute even think about what he said you know a little earlier where you're talking about like burrow and Dak Prescott kind of be on the same page and I would agree with that but I think for people outside of this sphere that might very this couch right this couch you get up off this couch that might be a very inflammatory take but it's it's not it's not really though because obviously you can you can go to the heights of an NFL team like the Heights in NFL has to offer with the Super Bowl championship with Juro as your quarterback because he got so close to winning one uh just a couple years ago but just in terms of like playmaking and what we can do on offense I think it's fair to put a couple guys ahead of him yeah I think it's very fair I know I know I I I want to get more Bona sex I don't want SP but I me use this as a segue to get into our T get off our chest because it actually leads nicely into both of our first ones so these are GNA be different ones that was Tom Brady's list of top quarterbacks yeah okay what was your first this actually leads us nicely I don't want to spoil it but what is your first take you want to get off your chest it involves Tom Brady oh God I just sound like the big the biggest hater here it's great and I I I uh let me let me let me get this let me let Broadcasters don't matter as much as networks think they do me frame this first I'm not a pocket Watcher okay I'm not hating on anyone trying to get a check all right but at the same time I've never quite understood why these companies will go out and pay some of these broadcasters what they pay them Tom Brady he's he's starting his his career uh his broadcasting career this year and basically my point was not my point but what I said was why the hell would anyone want to pay Tom Brady all that money to come here because I know for me it could be two chimpanzees banging symbols out there in the Monday Night Football booth and I'm still watching right you could put my two dogs out there and they leave and just walk out the booth you know halfway through the first quarter and don't come back for the next three quarters like they're liable to do and I'm still watching that game because it's football it's like the announcers it's just it's just White Noise for me so wallpaper right it's wallpaper so I've always been like confused that Tom Brady getting paid $30 million a year really he's that much value What needle is that moving like right what needle is that moving because I look I've I've got a ton of broadcasters that I don't particularly enjoy listening to but that has never been a barrier between me turning on or turning off a football game right it it just becomes something you talked about I've sat through a lot of Jonathan Ville and Falcons games before okay and I'll do it again this year you want to know why because they don't actually matter that oh I was going to be nice to not name names that's a good one though because he's not nailing a lot of the stuff outside linebacker play uh Hey if you got you got to know the names of the players I think that's a fair I think that is a fair ask and and takes out past 2009 uh but it's one when I I that's how I been with commentators but I've always I understand my background kind of maybe Jades me to how I view games like I always most commentators for me are just like you said white noise like and good or bad I'm just going whatever he's wrong there that's how I usually kind of think of him it's fun when you do see a a good like you know early Tony Romo I still enjoy Tony Romo actually more people as Greg Olsen is doing good stuff I get a little the take I want to get off my chest I guess and I wasn't even playing on saying this was I do think everyone gets overblown when they hear something new even though it's the same thing that someone else has maybe said before and they Al They Go Greg olon just pointing out stuff we've never ever heard in a football game before that would say one thing I get a little annoyed with but I'm kind of with you but again I'm not the general consumer of the game so I don't it doesn't move the needle for me as much where I agree with you that maybe the paychecks don't yeah match it as well see I love I love Tony for just all probably all the wrong reasons just entertainment right he's just because he'll just I don't knowy he just he will take any moment that just sitting there and just trample it and that's I I think it's so funny because it's so unpolished that that makes it good I know cuz yeah you don't want to be cookie cutter with this I know I have a whole take on that with the wrestling you don't want to be clean you want some imperfections with it oh no Romo H man I my favorite Romo thing I sorry I didn't go on a Romo talk but is when he's trying to do something with a quarterback when he's trying to talk about you know Jim sets him up and goes like hey what are you looking at here he's like oh you know you gota you gota look right there and then the snap of ball happens the you see the quarterback scrambling or something he go oh can't do that like when he ever he says something like right away that that's what kills me he's got great comedic timing even if some of uh his May extended talks is a little ill timed my okay so my segue for my take I want to get off my chest and it has to do with Joe burrow and I've seen some clips of preseason practices and I know you can't take away from everything for that and just kind Is Joe Burrow cooked? of piecing some things together Joe burrow kind of cooked this year and are the Bengals kind of in a weird spot until he like cooked meaning is he really not fully healthy which I don't think he is I know nothing on the inside about this but shouldn't that make a worried about the Bengals offense even with Browning playing well last year you PID burrow to be burrow and other pieces around that offense are kind of question marks or going to be question marks receivers the tackles all this stuff like is where you at with burrow am I maybe just maybe or doing the kind of alarm Bells a little bit too loud right now maybe just off a couple things I've seen piecing together but it just seems kind of like they're not all the way there with him like he's not all the way 100% and maybe that's got me a little worried well with the Bengals I think you've seen over the past couple years especially on defense maybe some of the pieces have shipped away not been retained and you're you're losing like you're losing some of your margin for ER because you remember you go back to uh the year that they made the Super Bowl against the Rams the Bengals offense was not actually all that good in the postseason but they got a just damn near heroic performance from the defense especially uh when you back to like the game they get had against um the Titans they had like nine sacks they nine sacks against the Titans they uh bottled up the Chiefs game they played well against the Raiders too start that's that half against the Chiefs was the worst Patrick M was ever looked like they always will have that right but that's that's not what they're dealing with anymore um I mean even just Jesse Bates has gone from some those defenses uh you have uh DJ reer who's left and now we we we were just talking last week about Graham Barton looking like a damn Avenger against the Bengals defensive line and I think that when you start piecing all of it together it's like man you need jro burrow to be 100% healthy because if he's not then you've walked into this place where you found yourself as place as a team in a franchise where your margins for error are Raaz or thin especially when you play Baltimore twice a year when you're playing still competing against Josh Allen you're competing against Patrick Mahomes you're competing against you know who who knows what the Browns can be within their own division this year uh they they they kind of need Joe burough to be healthy and if he's not that's where you start feeling bad about I think the whole team um because he really is that important of a figure for them and he's going to hold all of this together if they have real Super Bowl aspirations that's why you get pay 50 mil is is that 50 mil a year I should say that's so kind of tying together the original point maybe we had what the burough ranking and everything is that some of why I guess a little concerned maybe long term even with him not saying like Pear's G like retire in two months guys but just saying that is some of his athleticism some of his arm strength maybe because it's not exceptional when you start with an average arm it naturally deteriorates that's just how age Works unless you're Tom Brady Moving to Tampa Bay and as your arm gets worse okay everything else has to be better because just how it works he's already so smart and so accurate that I'm like how much more can he tap into that world like as a guy like we've talked about the Drew Brees B Nick that's the thing that I think the misconceptions with Drew Brees Drew Brees has an exceptional arm was a good athlete it's just that he grew into the nickel and dier is hyper efficient because his arm went away after the surgery kind of wore him over the years pton Manning fell off a cliff all these guys the arm and athletism Falls injuries kind of speed that up and so that's where I'm just saying is like okay is this going to be like happen quick where it's like oh wow this is just the new burrow and I don't want to like maybe he just looks just how he did in those couple games when he came back before he got hurt again but yeah it just it's more of a CA for alarm that I think maybe even I've kind of get a credit for because you you brought up all the other stuff deteriorating around maybe the defense dropping off and all that so yeah just want CU us about the Bengals I still have him as a top 10 offense though because I can't help myself yeah sorry Ravens fans but last one before we go to a break we're gonna have Cowboys this is this is us kind of and and now we saw a piece of news before we came we'll talk about it a sec but Cowboys have an equal chance of going to the Super Bowl as they do of missing the Playoffs and I think that's once kind of marinated on it sounds good it sounds about right it sounds about Cowboys could make the Super Bowl or miss the playoffs right right because the thing with the Cowboys is that offseason the offseason has been incomplete right where they haven't signed Dak Prescott to a long-term deal they haven't signed c l to a long-term deal yet they haven't sign Michael pars to a long-term deal yet so you're kind of sitting there like oh my God where what's next for this franchise but you actually if you could just focus on 2024 and the pieces that they have in place this is not Doom and Gloom here this is not even a bad roster in fact I'm still inclined to say it's a good roster All Things Considered and we talked about uh Tyler gon the other day who did get injured today in practice and we'll see what uh ends up happening there you talked about we talked about Cooper bee who's in line to potentially start at Center for them if those guys work out dude this is still an offense with Dak Prescott got CD lamb you got michah Parsons trayon digs donon Bland on the other side of the field if mty Smith ends up being anything that's another boost Demarcus Lawrence is still here Mike Zimmer is your defensive coordinator now this is a this is a good setup and quite honestly the more I think about it I don't see why this team like can't win the NFC East right but at the same time if they end up going like nine and eight because maybe your depth is a little bit uh thinner than it was in the past that wouldn't be all too surprising either you know it's it's the cop out team is a the Jets because it's kind of been a uh i' I think now my brain's gone like oh same old Cowboys I keep doing this every year oh they have these question marks death but they have the Dak and the defense and well same old Cowboy's been a double digit win team like competing for the MC East you know like it's not even if there's a minor drop off like you said it's the nine and eight thing um which yeah it's somewhere that's where I'm at with them maybe it's that like they're 10 and seven to me that's still 10 and seven and actually they have some really good players including a quarterback uh I think maybe the gon and and BB thing has helped a lot we'll see how what G's injury is that's been a thing for him in college but then getting a center who I think can play right away and actually be okay with a quarterback that's already done all that because Dak so mentally sharp the center doesn't have to like handle everything that's gonna be nice I I think to to help the transition it's been thinking a lot about these Cowboys the running back Situation's a little dicey we we'll see uh I know they like uh Rico d uh Zeke's there I love Zeke but Z okay the this is this is this is what I always come back to I got negatives with it I know this is a little bit of a tangent but the other day uh for for yagos sports.com we simmed a season of the new Madden game oh yeah that's right yes and Ezekiel Elliott it was like burning into my brain he rushed for 1500 yards 15 touchdowns and averaged like five yards a carry and I was like dude like what year is this the simulating 2016 yeah I thought I thought it took me back like in a time machine in 2016 when when Zeke was actually capable of doing something like that hey but if the Cowboys get that Zeke they're wi Super Bowl baby yeah exactly no that Zeke as a rookie got 1600 yards 1631 for 15 touchdowns 5.1 yards yeah that's the only time you average over five in his career so yeah that way Madden what other things came up from the simulation uh the other thing I remember from the simulation was there were and I I was so stunned I looked this up there were uh 23 1,000 yard rushers and the last time was 2006 and there hasn't even been over 20 since 2006 and most of the time it's like in between like 8 and like 12 what do they know H I don't know but one one thing they did know on the on the Madden Sim was uh you guys will get kick out of this the Falcons went three and 14 Kur cousins threw for 3100 yards 20 touchdowns 20 picks and be Robinson averaged like 3.5 yards a Gary I don't wish no I got a on stock and don't wish that existence I was reading that my heart dropped like it was real life yeah like you're like oh no yeah you saw that timeline happen yeah the timeline with the mustache impossible all right we're going to take a quick break and we'll be right back with some more takes off our chest and then some big board stuff we are back with football 301 live from La I feel like I have to do that just dot dot dot live from La next up going Coast to Coast here going with the Jets feel like I had to get a Jets take in here and I actually do feel because we were doing our top 10 offensive one Jets offense could be top five and this is kind of where I had them in my honorable mentions in my on my notes and I kind of been in my head for a while my take I off my chest is the Jets offense has a real chance to be top five I know that's spicy not spicy at all people have said this but but it is at the same time it is at the same time it's all predicated and I feel like this is annoying and a cop out when we're talking about that it's all predicated on health it really is though but when you look at an offense Smith when he played last year he played most of the games was good he was still Tyron Smith he wasn't maybe the all World St but he still was good Silo second team pro yes exactly yeah yeah right yeah that's pretty good that's a little name recognition that's most lying let us sit there that's a yeah it's most a line yeah Chris lindström uh the but then also you know John Simpson is Boom bust as a guard but again better than what they had they played all the games I keep almost forgetting this ol fanu they drafted and looked solid in the preseason so they have depth there and high-end depth with pedigree and like a real potential good player even if they have to go to that depth um we'll see with Elijah ver Tucker again a good player if healthy but the running game should be good because they're going to commit to it that's what they do that's what this Rogers offense I'm not even say hacket offense they'll this they're gonna run throw a bunch of smokes to Garrett Wilson this is what we know what this offense looks like like we joke about slant flat and all that with Mike McCarthy that's Aaron Rogers Aaron Rogers is slant flat and that's what they're going to do but why I'm saying that is that that's going to help out the line Rogers knows how to operate it they have enough weapons if Mike Williams again is healthy but at least they have Garrett Wilson and they at least have workable tight ends even if they're not Stars they're workable I think that's where I've come back to it is that it's not as stars and scrubby as maybe as I thought and maybe they have more workable pieces with a defense that's going to like keep them in games as well so s still still out there every day man still out there what's a fine at right I don't know it's impossible to know at this point we we might not even have a number for number Hanan R's F to mount it up so yeah it hit a million dollars at what day was it hit a million dollars a while ago that was August 12th it hit a million dollars this is August 21st nine days later right so he's because every every time he doesn't show up before even a preseason game it's it's a bigger F than not show him into practice soan show up go to work just hang out just hang out shorts like just go to meetings you have to do anything hold in just stop bleeding money all the cool kids are doing it um Jet top five offense I just I to get it out there it just it just feels like like the Cowboys kind of but even worse in terms of like just a copout team because it's like a MTH equation it's like if x then y you know if Aaron Rogers can stay healthy if the medical health if Mike Williams can stay healthy Mike Williams said he feels fine the other day so we'll see um if ol fashanu can stay healthy and also play well as that's also another thing with him I know so it's it's fragile but in the you know the Madden world where I can turn injuries off and turn pre-existing injuries off this is one of the more talented offenses in the league still I think um you know it just it's like building like a house of a deck of cards right like you lose one little thing and the whole thing could come falling apart it's it's real fragile but um I am excited for Garrett Wilson to have the opportunity to catch passes from Aaron Rogers because I remember last year when Aaron Torres Achilles he spoke to Garrett Wilson told him sorry and it's understandable because what happened we know that Garrett is good enough to have you know one of these Seasons where he's a Fantasy darling and taking over the world but he hasn't had the quarterback play to do it and I think even a diminish Rogers is still probably good enough for him to get that season that he's really looking for that that's I I know just being realistic with it is like a 40-year-old coming off in a killes is not something you bet on it's just that I still like you said even if it's for me it's like 70% of what I think of Ro like that last year with Rogers where he didn't care with with Green Bay that's kind of where I'm picturing his level at so so it's like he like like it's kind of like okay he's diminished but he's actually trying but that's Q be 13 that's better than worst QB play in the league like by far and like some of those games oh man I I've watched some of them pretty recently and just yeah not a lot of fun to watch back um all right going on to another AFC team an AFC playoff team last year the Browns jamus Winston this I like this take but yeah jamus Winston ends the year meaning the regular season or playoffs know jamus Winston Winston ends Jameis Winston will be the Browns starter by the end of the season the year as the Browns starting quarterback well it's not hot take I because he a better film than deshun Watson has well Des Watson's been hiding from us he's only played I remember I pointed this out to you a couple a couple days ago the number I looked up he played 12 games as the Browns quarterback I looked it up it was like $150,000 per snap yeah he's played 12 games so the the history suggests he's not even gonna play most of the games this season for the Browns I and you know that that seems like a crazy thing to say right now but it felt crazy to say last year if I told you that he was end up playing six games for them last and Joe Flaco outplay them six games yeah and him six games the year before because he had the suspension what what what are we paying this money for this is crazy the Browns it's funny because they have kind of position themselves to have a decent stable backup quarterbacks you know because if you're going to walk into season with the Sean Watson who again has played 12 games for the Browns 12 since the three first round picks plus the fully guaranteed $255 million contract 12 games you've got James Winston and Tyler Huntley that's sounds to me like you are prepared for something to not go right this season the what it's sometimes the teams are telling you what they think Pur quarterback Tyler Huntley right Wen you there for that I was there I actually I actually asked him about that I asked him was like he supposed to be great right kind yeah it was great because I asked him I was like Tyler were you were you prepared to to see this he was like no actually he was like I was just hanging by the pool on offseason mode and then you know about to get you Brady for offseason mode and I get a call say I'm going to the Pro Bowl you say he did a back flip and started running around well I would too free to Vegas the whole week God backham quarterback God it's the best life I'm telling you no that that's a great point with the the James going after James thing it seemed like last year they were trying to do this is kind of one of the the fake smart things here was backup quarterbacks are the Money Ball you draft them because then you get them cheaper you know that that's the thing you know I I see AI not in his head over there because the Patriots try to do that for years you know jobi Bret still in the league one of them but I think this year they went let's just get the sure thing that we know can play quarterback for us rather than Trot out DTR and see that dice roll and see what what happens there and getting guys that can run the offense jamus is very smart he's good in the play action offense if that you know they're going to run a bunch of that so I I kind of I don't I almost want to see it with him I want to see it with DeShaun Watson uh next one is yeah this was both of us I think kind Vikings can/will make the playoffs this season of we Maring on NC North is really tough so take we want to get off our chest is the co-op take Vikings will make the playoffs I'm just gonna leave it at that it's just the let you go the will the will part is just tough Ken Ken Ken I'm with you we're getting off your chest okay you're okay okay Ken I'm with you all the way we're compromising to Ken make the playoffs okay can it's just I know that if you were prognosticating and looking forward yeah you're probably going to have them fourth place in the NFC North but when you just start looking at where they are it's a topheavy roster but you're still looking at like Justin Jefferson Jordan Addison Aaron Jones TJ hackinson just as a skill group on offense the offensive line solid uh Christian darol just got uh paid the offseason I know that he's got a lot of fans amongst people who like to to watch offensive line play and then you go to the other side on defense I have no reason to really believe that the defense will get a whole lot worse I know that you know losing Den Neil Hunter is tough but Dall Turner so far looks like he's a great fit in Brian flores's defense it's been a say it's been a been been a bit interesting week for Brian Flores but he should be looking forward to having at least a good team to to kind the kind of a take it out on yeah take it out on yeah and Coach this season yeah yeah players Stu for him I don't know I I if you want my take on that whole thing it's just that I I feel like some things stay private and that's how that's all I'll say about it yeah but yeah but I think we just look at when you look at the Vikings in general this team it's hard to imagine to me especially when you look at Kevin McConnell the coaching staff plus the top end Talent they have a scenario where they just totally bottom out and just suck that's hard for me to see even with you know L JJ McCarthy and you're going to go with Sam darn for 17 games Sammy um that you you can you can maybe hit enough High variance upswings where maybe you you could win 10 games I really don't think that that's possible when you usually see a team bottom out it's a bad offensive line a really bad defense or bad quarterback or bad coaching they I feel like Flores at the very least even if you're not a fan of it is is at the very least average you know as a as a play caller I think he's good and he's also unique where that's always the thing too is when you have a unique defense or offense you kind of get like a little booster like just a little bit more of a an effect on the other opposing team because you're hard to play against and and prepare for uh I I you mentioned they lost to Neil Hunter they have some guys like grenard like that GNA kind of like makeshift it they're also such a blitz happy team that they kind of like manufacture those sacks so it's like one of those that if it were a four down only rushing team i' would be like a little bit more concerned but they're so funky that they kind of make up for it if you're it's for for for the The Gamers here it's the min max defense yes it is the m Max defense you either you're dropping eight or you're sending six there's not a whole lot of in between no it's fine the stat I've talked about this before but they're I'll fine this chart but uh you could look at just who brought four pass Treasures only just only four so not five not three y y and the Vikings were so low on it because bringing three or five or more blitzing or dropping everybody so it's like oh yeah everybody's kind of a funny spot and then they're just like all the way off in their own little corner but that's what their defense does and it it makes it makes it hard you brought okono okon's a great I would say a good play caller above average at the very least and they also have an offensive line it's workable so that's why I just kind of keep coming back to it like this team was decent last year and I know it's Sam darnold I know we're saying that he can be at least average and but like you said the variance of it they get out and NFC is wide open and I even though they're in a tough Division I think it's just I don't know I keep coming back to the Vikes keep coming back to a few of these teams all right now we will be back in a minute with my 2025 preseason Big Board a couple few thoughts on that all right we are back we're going to gaze at some Naval here we're going to look at my big board it's coming out by the time yeah by the time this I just sat here marinated on that thought about it Nate's preseason 2025 big board well yeah as we as you guys should be listening to this my big board should be up on Yahoo so make sure to check that out it would be the I did Top 40 couple honorable mentions after that some people do 30 some do 50 I did 40 I don't know that sounded nice yeah 2025 Big Board a couple thoughts I mentioned this a little bit the other day we went over the top 10 it's a really good Edge class it's a good tackle class it's a good Corner class that always gets the clicks but it is a very it's just a unique class because there's so Talent at Edge and and running back as well um but the quarterback and receiver positions are a little I wouldn't say dire but just you're picking at it uh I'll say that my first quarterback is not ranked until 23rd and that is Riley Leonard uh from duke transfer I can't I can't quit him go dogs Carson Carson back Carson back so because this is how I copped out so Leonard's 23rd Beck is 24th okay they're right next to each other so yeah Beck is clean I really like him he just looks like a pro he's tall he's got good size better athlete than I thought he would be and he's just yeah nice mechanics and everything he's consistent um just kind of want to see it just a little bit quicker which comes with time so I even set him I write up I go if Beck ends up qb1 I wouldn't be shocked like it's just because of his profile and everything but Leonard uh he's accurate he can run he's tough he's gonna be in a better system better offense this year I I don't know man he's got some real traits and like he can throw Guys open and like he can move and he's big 64 like 220 or so I think he's just going to really come on this year like just like as the year goes along and have a bigger Spotlight on I'm not saying like he's not even a first round grade for me it's just that he's qb1 by default that's kind of how it goes um qb3 with shadur uh shadur Sanders Colorado I have a longer write up on him yeah he's 31 overall My Big Board same thing don't see him as a first-rounder yet uh got a good arm takes too many stacks and I know a lot of people want to blame the offensive line I think he works backwards in the too much um which is a big no no he's an okay athlete I would even say good he's okay uh but he's got he does have a good arm like when he wants to spin it he feels clean he can throw some dicks he can throw some Benders it's just that go to see it more and got to see it more in the Realms of the offense so you're going to have some lint in your Naval after Colorado fans get a hold of that one it already happened I already wrote him off if you want deeper thoughts check that out on Yahoo as well uh I also had Conor Wagman from Texas A&M he's fun uh yeah he got hurt last year right yeah he only played like a game and a half two and a half games uh Miami game is kind of the one you have to watch he he's moves in the pocket well he can really spin it uh that's kind of just a heat check one all these guys are heat check guys I felt like I was going crazy after this season when you know I I started seeing people like uh like Conor Rogers and other people who do draft work in the offseason looking ahead talking about Conor Wagman I was like did I I like did I miss something some gu& FCC school like as George feel like I'm locked into this bro and I look back like okay he got hurt so I'm not going crazy and you're I'm extrapolating I mean a lot of these guys it's it's a weird class because it's like game manager types just like back a little bit Leonard has some creativity to him and I mean Sho even shadur is kind of game Andro type but then you got all these other guys that are just total Dar throws like Wagman had he has 250 pass attempts in his career uh like he he's barely played and he's played games total he played Four last year I but like when you see he does the real things like you know hang in the pocket pocket movement all that stuff and man it's it's all about throwing their teammate open and like when you see that it kind of like go oh okay because it's you it's like you do it or you don't if you don't do it I'm not even like spend any time on you he can do it the other one and this is this is kind of one of my little babies of this draft so far might be way too early on this Byron Brown quarterback from South Florida that's all you nothing about it I am a 36 and this is a total tilt in the shoulder up swinger for def fenses here I might be a year early he he's only a retro sophomore um he he operates in that kind of Tennessee super spread offense the brials Looney tun stuff yeah so it gives me some heartburn watching it and and I know college football fans go well they scored points so who cares but it's evaluator it stinks but watching him when you see him out of structure when you see him actually get to play football and he's not mechanical that's where it's like oh oh okay you see again throwing Guys open he's got a real live arm throws kind of a dead or the long ball is not great i' say it's okay but he can throw through a wall in front of him but he's a good athlete he can throw like throw while getting the hit he can change arm angles it's kind of like most offenses that really helps quarterbacks out because it makes it easy on them him I want to see in any other offense because it's like I want to see him get like go and do some fun things rather than be so mechanical so that was a that's kind of a him and R so that that's the pitch to watch USF football this year yeah yeah yeah check him out check out some USF football like they're going to score points but I will H because before he's fun like he's legit fun they play Alabama September 7th might be ugly but they play him so yeah bethon cookman before that so but I'm telling you he he's got something to him and they might be again like I say it might be a year away when he becomes a real Prospect but I kind of want to throw him on his list see what kind of thoughts were on people um I'll just get real quick couple defense guys I have Travis Hunter as just a corner we talked about this a little bit the other day um corner is loaded overall like there's a guy from East Carolina that's pretty good there there's a lot of good Corners in this class uh we talked about Mike or will Johnson the other day there's uh Benjamin Morrison from NRE Dame um I mentioned Denzel Burke Ohio State Siobhan reel East Carolina just mentioned him he's got some good size I had him in my top 40 as well but then last one oh top two guys Michael Williams I didn't even talk to you about Michael Williams the other day what are your thoughts on Williams because he's Georgia he was my number one prospect on my big board and I it's again you're extrapolating from a little bit right that's that's what I would say you're extrapolating a little bit I think this year is huge for him because you to me to me last year was the year where it's like oh my God like you're so close you're like right here to being the mo like one of the most dominant players in the entire country and now to me it's just like how can you speed every process just a little bit so you can get actually home and finish some of these players that you're starting but you're not going to find too many guys like that size that can move like that um and I I really do think maybe with some some of what we're seeing from Trevon Walker in Jacksonville where you he's not you know a a dynamite number one Edge rusher but we've seen more pass rush out of him in Jacksonville than what we saw at Georgia yes so way more way more way more and I I think that you know it's just it's really just like the this I don't I don't know how much of this is made like National conversation but like Reckoning with the style of defenses that colleges are playing now and how it translates for NFL pass rushers because Michael is someone who I think when I watch him play his style of play is much better suited for the NFL game than you know playing like these mint and tight fronts where you're going to be stuck at 4 I even though you're like 265 pounds and it's not really all that conducive for you like to Iowa State a couple years ago they had Will McDonald who weighs 240 basically playing defensive tackle and that's the weird part where college football finds the defenses in but you also have to play to what's in front of you and it does help to play that way against all the spread stuff right does and we might see more of it in the NFL that's I came back to it it's frustrating because you like you like see like two good plays you're like yes yes and then you don't see them on the field again for like a quarter because they rotate their guys so you're okay I got 20 plays to work with here got the playing time deal breakers yes yeah playing deal breakers for me yeah yeah so you got like six plays a game that I get it's almost like JJ McCarthy for quarterbacks where it was just like all right I got five plays to work with here okay cool and then it took the whole season but that's why he has 26 solo tackles in 28 games he only have four and a half sacks last year and I even say I like so why is he so high on my board dude is long he can bend and he's really strong and it's like can't find those guys and like you said the he's lined up so much inside he's still good at it it's just that on in the NFL he's going to line up way wide and just get to go and that's what you want to get to see and that's why I think he's going to show more this year number two was uh Penn State ABD a pem state Edge Abdul Carter uh same kind of thing where he wears number 11 so everyone's gonna say Michael Parsons He played his off ball linebacker this past year even though he played some on the edge and then now they're transitioning to Edge so everyone's saying oh he's like Michael Parson's so people were saying that about last year about chop Robinson these comparisons though actually kind of sort of work for Carter like he is twitching he is freaky he does the things he can't teach he plays hard um he's strong so he plays he's that's what he always want to see when the guys are Twitchy can they uh you know is it twitch to strength kind of thing is that are they able wiy strength I should say are they able to outplay if they're 248 can they still push back a tackle that's 310 pounds he can do that he's moving to the edge full time this year I think he's going to be a terror I was pretty excited having at number two and that was Dan buger from the athletic who does amazing work came out with his big board today and he had him at number two and we were texting last night he goes where do you have Carter I go I go too and he goes God dang it so did I we're both we both thought we were going to be the one that had my high so we both end up at two but he's if he ends up at one I wouldn't be shocked like he's he's pretty sick and so I just want to people get eyeballs on Dual Carter this year yeah that was a live show not really a live show it's a person show yeah we got audience here yeah of three it's great they're all clapping Brett's looking at his phone so never mind but yeah we're closing it out today we'll be back on Tuesday it's going to be fun as always I'm Nate Ty you can find me at Nate Corti this is Charles McDonald work can they find you Chuck find me on Twitter at forvert it's been great being here in LA and uh looking back to getting you know sitting in my own office and playing Dynasty being far away from you playing Dynasty let's go back over the headset this is this is enough iners talking but please subscribe to us rate US follow us do all those good things watch us on YouTube you know Sports YouTube channel you can all also follow Yahoo Sports on Snapchat if you're into that kind of thing we're also going to be doing a mailbag in the future just like we did last week so send those questions the email is football 301 mailbag yahoosports.com emails are great you can do the little voice thing I'm telling you guys please it's a lot of fun to hear you guys we like I said to the producers maybe get once the games get going I think we'll get those in but uh thanks to the guys here Brett Stone Addie whole whole production crew back there apparently just say see me and Chuck talk ball yeah give off our Joe burrow takes from a couch together that surely no one would be upset about but thank you guys so much for all your help thanks Chuck see you guys next time