Sam Darnold, Kirk Cousins, Bryce Young under most pressure in 2024 | Pro Football Talk | NFL on NBC

pressure cooker time NFC division by division let's begin with the division that sucks most of the oxygen out of the room primarily because of the Dallas Cowboys the NFC East who do you have well let's start there with the the Cowboys right I I'll go with Mike McCarthy because he's going into the last year of his contract you know it doesn't seem like they have many much or any inclination to extend him and look the Cowboys did not do a lot to improve Pro their roster over the course of this off seon you know yeah they they did get the deal done finally with CD lamb but I mean if the Cowboys do not get off to a good start this year then things are going to get very very loud very very quickly for Mike McCarthy and I don't know that Jerry Jones would make a coaching change in season especially because Dan Quinn is not there any longer and you don't have that guy who is the natural successor to a Mike McCarthy on the coaching staff but I mean if things don't go well for Mike McCarthy then it's going to be curtains for him in Dallas and I think that does put a lot of pressure on him Mike they got Mike Zimmer I mean Mike Zimmer with the quotes he gave recently about the Vikings and Rick Spielman let's get let's put him back on the sideline as the head coach I want entertainment and it would be entertaining to have Zimmer as the interim head coach the Dallas Cowboys I thought about McCarthy initially but but let me let me try this on you and I feel like we've had this conversation before because you're not familiar with the Simpsons you weren't allowed to watch The Simpsons which is fine I can understand why it's not exactly not exactly the show that I would have wanted my son to watch in that same time frame but but with McCarthy there's a certain point where the pressure is so obvious that you get used to it it reminds me of when Bart Simpson asked his Sunday school teacher do you eventually get used to hell is it like a hot bathtub so I feel like in this hot bathtub eventually gets used to the pressure and it just becomes part of who he is I think the guy under less obvious and thus maybe more pressure as Nick serion we had the conversation yesterday about Eagles players popping off about going to Brazil it's like hey if this guy's doing his job if they're listening to him if they respect him they're not running out of the meeting room when he says this is our job this is what we do all the cliches that he spewed on Sunday it works you have your guys on the same page and there's a question of does he have his guys on the same page can he keep them on the same page how much of these guys are freelancing has anything changed from last year how responsible was he for the collapse and what really has been done to avoid it this year I think I think s look you could even throw Brian dball in this mix too because Bill bich is hovering over that Division and one of those three teams is possibly going to hire him between the Giants the Eagles and the Cowboys and it could be that John Mera just decides I'm cleaning house cuz if belich is going to land in one of those other two spots I want him here I want him yes yeah you know I so I I thought about serani too and I I almost broke the game in the initial aspect of it by making it a tie but I I think know you you bring up Brian dble that's a dark horse because I mean you're you're kind of one hand tied behind your back when Daniel Jones is your starting quarterback and that's not a great situation and then your best player now plays for the Philadelphia Eagles in Squan Barkley so that uh definitely ratchets up the pressure and you know you talk about the fact that bill bel's looming that also does too so yeah I mean there's a lot of guys under some pressure there in the NFC East I would say by the way you wouldn't have broken the game if you had picked serani I would have picked McCarthy well I know but no what I was saying is that I almost I come to the table with two I come oh okay all right that would have BR yeah you got to pick one you got to pick one okay NF NFC North you got to pick one who you picking in the NFC North give me Matt eflu because I think when especially because he's a defensive minded head coach right and you've got somebody in Kaleb Williams who you know you don't want to call him the savior because like that that's putting too much pressure on the kid but that's really what he is you know they made that trade with the Panthers they gained the number one overall pick and then you pick this guy who's shown some special qualities when he's been out there on the field all right so because of that and because they were not you know a crappy team that inherited that inherited the number one overall pick because of that last year the Bears especially toward the end of the season were playing some really darn good defense you bring in guys that can support Caleb Williams offensively I think they got a really good offensive coordinator in Shane Waldren obviously you bring in Keenan Allen and then you draft romad dun that team needs to be competitive if not flat out good for them to then think all right yeah Matty EO can get this done I think he will be able to do it but I I think that there is a significant amount of pressure on him to make sure that this thing gets off to a smooth start the Caleb Williams era I believe and there's a chance that I'm misremembering that for every division we've done so far I've picked a coach or a GM I'm going to break that Trend my selection is VI quarterback Sam darnold and it's very simple he will never be as set up for narrative changing success as he is now you could say well career got off to a bad start because I was playing for the Jets and the Jets have ruined many a quarterback they possibly would have even ruined Patrick Mahomes if they'd been given the chance to do it and then I went to the Panthers which are currently one of the most dysfunctional teams in all of the National Football League he got thrust into the ma rule mismatch as a head coach and that didn't work that was a lost two seasons for him last year he didn't play at all in San Francisco Kyle Shanahan loved him he might have gotten a shot remember when Brock pie had the concussion from the Monday night game we thought we were going to see Sam darnold on that following Sunday against the Bengals but pery somehow got cleared on a Six-Day turnaround we didn't see him this is his chance now their offensive line is good enough oh Justin Jefferson is on the team oh Jordan Addison is on the team TJ hackinson will be back at some point Aaron Jones went healthy as one of the better running backs in the NFL there's no excuse now and you have a coach who is one of the great game planners and play callers in the NFL if Sam darnold is seeing ghosts now he's done he's done he may be able to hang around as a number two or a number three but this is his and he's still only like 28 this is his last best chance to prove to the NFL that he belongs under Center on a regular basis it's interesting because I I I thought about Sam darnold too but I think that in a lot of ways the pressure is really not on him because he's not supposed to be there so for me it's almost like he's kind of playing with house money and that's where it's like you know is that is that pressure is it not pressure I mean from your say when you're saying from it's his last best shot yeah I guess it is but also that to me I mean to use the Bart Simpson example right I mean I guess it sort of makes him a little bit more free in that way and yeah when you're throwing it to Justin Jefferson man like the things should go well for you and if they don't then that's on you so I see where you're going with that but it's a rare situation where yes from an external perspective there is no pressure because JJ McCarthy's injured so no body expects anything from Sam darnold this year from his own career perspective I mean the fact that nobody expects anything from him underscores that it's been not good for him since he arrived at the third as the third overall pick in 2018 this is his chance to change it and if he doesn't do it now he's going to be perennial backup this is the year to turn it around and and you know even though comeback Player of the Year probably not available to him any longer thanks to Shireen Williams they've implemented the Shireen Williams you can't come back from sucking role but he'll be that kind of guy potentially that all of a sudden we're like whoa what the hell who is this guy kind of like a Ryan tanah Hill type of a of a transformation although tanah Hill was better than than uh darnold early in his career but but that's one of those like who hey you know one of those moments where we're all like well we didn't expect this this is his chance to become that guy which unlocks potential millions in earnings all right let's pivot to the NFC South Miles who do you have there give me Bryce young um in part because you know what we if we know one thing about David terer he's not afraid to pull the plug and you know put that thing in another Outlet or throw the drink yes yeah or that too and you know if you put drinks and plugs that really could end in disaster but I I just feel like you know last year things were not set up well for Bryce young I think we all understand that I mean they had the Frankenstein offense with Frank and and then also Thomas Brown coming from two different philosophies and it clearly did not work um but you know going into this year now with Canalis as his head coach got to see something from Bryce young because like I said even though he was the number one overall pick and they traded up to get that thing you don't know what the hell David teer is going to want to do in order to try to solve the quarterback position if it doesn't appear to be Bryce young after the first two years so I think that does put him under a significant amount of pressure the offense should be better this year I don't know how it could be much worse so that should help him they've got a couple more weapons I think Legette should be really good for them um but like I said it's just because of everything that we know that David terer has done and how unpredictable he can be I think this is a really really really significant year for Bryce young I was tempted to go with someone from the Saints whether it be Derek Carr who's in essentially the year that is uper out for his contract they can move on from him after this season he's been there and done that before he's lived through that Dennis Allen Ian they've been calling for him to get fired for I don't know ever since he got hired I I think that the owner there is very patient believes in continuity so I pivoted to to my good friend Kirk Cousins just because of the circumstance that he's in 36 coming off of the toriles tendon with your successor drafted in the top 10 before you've ever even officially worn the helmet I mean at least Aaron roders had been with the Packers for 15 years before they drafted his replacement you have just shown up they're issuing your employee badge you're filling out the HR forms and in walks the guy who's going to replace you are you kidding me and it puts pressure on cousins to come out and pick up where he left off last year because what's going to happen if Kirk Cousins struggles at all what's going to happen the media the fans the players in the locker room let's see what Michael Pennock can do so there is a ton of pressure on Kirk Cousins to come out and not just be healthy but be who he was last year with a new coaching staff with new weapons yeah I don't know that what last year was the culmination of his time with Kevin oconnell is something that translates to to starting off hot and staying hot when the guy that's going to replace you at some point after this year after next year maybe during this year who knows is sitting there waiting ansy ready to play if there is one positive of that aspect of things it's that he's going from one system to another similar offensive system right Kevin oconnell came from the Rams coached under Shawn McVey Zack Robinson who is the new offensive coordinator there under Raheem Morris in Atlanta also came from the LA Rams under Shawn McVey so you'd think that there would be some sort of offensive continuity there but still you you're playing with different guys different weapons you know Drake London Kyle pittz bejan Robinson those are very talented guys but you still have to be able to get those live snaps and that live chemistry established we we'll see if that happens quickly that's a great point I mean the similarities in offense will be an advantage I remember last year at the scouting combine oconnell being very effusive and enthusiastic about the fact that for the first time ever Kirk Cousins had the same voice in his helmet for two straight years and look at what it did when you go oconnell 20122 into 2023 even though they started off slowly they were having a lot of turnovers a lot of games that fell their way the prior year weren't falling their way last year cousins was still playing really well and he had arguably the best game of his career on that Monday night against the 49ers six days before the Achilles tendon went and that was that all right NFC West who do you have Kyler Murray uh because like what what has he done you know and I know that he's had been dealing with the injury for the last couple Seasons even before that I mean the cliff kingsberry era was not very impressive to me when it comes to the Arizona Cardinals but I think this is one of those years where you got to say all right let let's get the show on the road you know let's show that the the great Manifesto of what the 2022 off season can really pay some dividends at this point when it comes to Kyler Murray I I think this is a guy that is not even thrown for 30 touchdowns at any point in his career I I I want to see more from him and I think that there's not necessarily pressure on it Jonathan Ganon who I think did a pretty all right job you know last year given the circumstances of the roster the fact that your quarterback didn't play until more than halfway through the year and all that um but I think that there is some pressure on Kyler Murray here because we just have not seen him be a great quarterback yet in his career and they've got to be getting close to the point I'm going to try to multitask here and pull this up they've got to be getting close to the point where they can move on from Kyler Murray with manageable cap consequences minimal guaranteed money owed to him because we're getting deeper and deeper into that contract third year of that long-term contract I thought about Murray my fallback and I don't know if it's fallback it's about Co co-equal Gino Smith in Seattle the contract he signed after his first year as a starter three years 100 million well then you well it's 3 years 75 million about 25 million in incentives and oh wait look it's year to year because they can get out of it after any given year they chose to keep him after 2023 they have Sam Howell who John Schneider the GM of the team was gushing about after they traded for him he started 17 games last year one of the not many quarterbacks in the NFL who started every regular season game for his team threw for a lot of yards gave the Seahawks fits when the commanders traveled up there for a regular season game so they've got their guy in house and they've got the opportunity to go anywhere they want after this year new head coach now it's kind of weird because new GM wants his own coach new coach wants own quarterback GM has been there since 2010 but John Schneider fully in charge now hires Mike McDonald it creates a scenario where they may go in a different direction at quarterback if Gino Smith doesn't play well enough and it's it's that simple and there was some talk that maybe he wanted greater security a new contract whatever he's feeling it he understands he's on a year-to-year Arrangement and it may be week to week with Sam Howell there as they break in this new coaching staff if Gino Smith doesn't perform at a high level yeah could be week to week or minute by minute or you know what maybe Mike McDonald wants to take that quarterback search to the streets once they get to the off season we never know well done well done well done uh any more any more you can think of I was really scrambling if I taking it to the stre I before we got that there I know okay you have a chance to win $1 million in the NBC sweep Stakes on Yahoo fantasy just download the redesign Yahoo fantasy app or go to NBC sports. / fantasy million for additional details what are you waiting for hi it's Mike Florio thanks for watching PFT on YouTube hit subscribe for the latest news and Analysis from pro football talk