"He's the best RB right now" - Ron Rivera on Christian McCaffrey will win MVP this season !!

as we take you right up to kickoff of Steelers lions from Detroit uh in the NFC North the Chicago Bears have the number one overall pick in Caleb Williams we're going to see a couple other rookie quarterbacks start for their team like Caleb will but who will finish as the 2024 offensive Rookie of the Year coach Rona well you know in hon in all honesty R I lean towards Caleb Williams and the reason is I think he has all the elements he needs to be successful this season if you look at what them an opportunity to score more points and really be very productive as a rookie I like it all right um so do we want to uh give a shout shout out here to the Defensive Rookie of the Year always always yeah no no latu latu I mean the defensive end for the Indianapolis Colts and it's kind of like what coach was saying besides him being an incredibly talented player we saw some of this in preseason where he showed some power moves and his his assemblage of moves is is incredible he plays on a defensive front that is absolutely loaded look going to Grover Stewart quiddy pay DeForest Buckner uh taquon Lewis so he's got guys are going to attract attention it's going to be hard to really block him double him all the time especially with quiddy pay coming from the other side so I I think is another contend one Jared verse too for for the Rams he has looked fantastic in the preseason with his Florida State teammate uh Bren Fisk up there as well all as uh they open the season today in college football let's move to the MVP coach Rivera all right you got one for us well you know you can never pass up Patrick Mahomes you know I know he has the Target on him I know everybody's gunning for them but he was had the Target on himself last year as well and look how he played I expect him to play just as well but the guy that I like also is Christian mcaffrey I really do there's a well very versatile football player you get the ball in his hands many different ways okay and when he has the ball he's Dynamic he has the ability to make the big plays hit the home runs you know and do the things that they need him to do to keep this offense balanced and keep everybody off their backs a lot of folks thought he should have got it last year I me you know but you still see too many running backs getting it I'm with you on pass momes being the guy but I'm going to go with another quarterback in his conference that's CJ stra with the Houston Texans okay okay now this guy they look they've got the offense lot more system successfully than you've seen from Justin Fields but here's what I will say Haley this is not just his team to go ahead and see how it goes if he struggles this is why they made this move to bring in Justin fields and that's why I think it was a great move to bring some depth and bringing a challenger to Russell Wilson if the offensive line struggles the way it has has in the off season I don't think it will then you could see you may want to make the switch to go to a quarterback who's more Mobile in Justin field so and I also think if you go to Russell Wilson and you have to you know break the glass and go to your emergency quarterback in Justin Fields there's no big deal on that if you start Justin fields and he struggles and you break the glass you're going to Russell Wilson but then you're probably done with Justin fields and that experiment is done so I think there's a lot that goes into this decision ultimately I think the week one starter will be Russ I'm just praying for a touchdown at some point right please it's been ugly um let's go ahead and jump over to the Carolina Panthers another team that has been struggling for points just 15 through their first two only one touchdown there in Carolina maybe their starting quarterback back behind Center changes that in Bryce young and look when we talk about Bryce we know the tangibles right we know he's small we know he sometimes struggles to be a little bit more mobile with that big defensive line coming after him but in terms of a second-year jump what does that look like for brace young I think it has to be like I don't expect him to be an MVP candidate right Haley but I do think Bryce young has to make a significant jump where there is no question that he's a franchise quarterback for the next two to three years which I think is up for in up for discussion right now because of the first year he had franchises are more willing to move off of first round picks even number one overall picks like Bryce young faster than ever so you clearly want to see an improvement this is why they made the move and got Dave Canales who is a quarterback guy to be the head coach this is why they spent their best you know top receiver uh top draft pick on a wide receiver from South South Carolina in Legette this is what they're trying to do is is get the Improvement that they need to say okay we don't have to worry that we made a mistake so I think if he's up there around 23 24 touchdown passes and you see seven or eight touchdowns that's okay we can breathe a s relief one good thing is is the big question mark was his durability we didn't see him banged up as lot as the people thought he was going to be but his size still is probably an issue from that overall tier you know arm strength physicality standpoint I can't get over the video they posted first day of training camp with his backpack looking like he was going to seventh grade oh my gosh uh hopefully next offseason he can put on some weight there yeah um heading up to Minnesota we will of course see the Sam darnold era unfold after JJ McCarthy with that season ending knee surgery and when it comes to Sam darnold I think a lot of people forget that this is a firstr quarterback a top three quarter back in that when he was drafted but the numbers don't exactly scream confidence when you're looking at him statistically here so in him getting underway here how does he sort of beat the allegations and remind Vikings fans that he's actually a pretty good quarterback got to win you know you got to win games you got to produce and I I think I'm still a fan of Sam darnold I think we just had these six rookies that were drafted in the first round and we're trying to evaluate how good they're going to play you are only as good as your surroundings and he was a bit of a mess when he was with the Jets it was even worse when he went to Carolina then he gets to catch his breath in in San Francisco I think this is a phenomenal opportunity I thought he was going to start no matter what happened with JJ McCarthy and I was sad to see JJ McCarthy season end with that knee injury but I think this is a great opportunity and most certainly his last opportunity to be given the chance to be a franchise quarterback but I think Kevin oconnell system play action pass I think he'll fit really well with it he's got some weapons especially one of the better receivers outside and Jefferson so I think Sam Darnell will make the most most of a a roster that's probably the best he's had since maybe his rookie season gosh I am I am rooting for him he will not be starting in that final preseason game against the Eagles today it will be jiren Hall behind Center and a lot for him to prove as well we don't have time to get into that but uh we do have some time to talk about deshun Watson of course dealing with that arm soreness this week that kind of had everybody scratching their head um but in reality Danny this is a quarterback that was paid a lot of money to come and take over a franchise I believe he's played Just 12 games in the two years that he's been there uh I know we talk a lot about Daniel Jones and this being a Mak or break year for him how do you see it for Deshaun Watson we did uh on the uh sport Spotlight show the other day with quarterbacks that are in tiers and the tier was last chance you your last opportunity Daniel Jones was in that tier and so was Deshawn Watson I think this is a sort of must prove it year for deshun Watson where he's got to stay healthy he's got to produce he's got a good team around them they have a really strong running game they still have a good defense you should challenge for the division I I know it's tough and it's one of the more competitive divisions in the entire NFL but if he doesn't Haley I think this will go down as one of the worst contracts contracts handed out in NFL history based on what and myself included I thought at one time he could be a consistently top five NFL quarterback from some of the seasons and talent he showed when he was in Houston I know he had his off field issues but there have been other issues as well most importantly staying healthy and playing well so I think this is a massive year for deshun Watson to silence any critics just a reminder about that contract by the way as you take a look at his 2023 oh he's getting it all no matter what uh five years 230 million all guaranteed for Deshaun Watson so uh let's maybe get a guarantee that he'll be on fore foree spee spee for fore for