The Fumblerooski Podcast
Honor System -Ep 286 The Fumblerooski Podcast
NFL honors pre-season predictions for the 2024 NFL season. I'm Adam Wright. You're listening to the Fumblerooski podcast. It may not have always showed it in the stat sheet, but you can see him making throws when he needs to make the throws back to back games where he has three touchdowns. Someone's got to get that six or seven spot. He's an elite wide receiver as a rookie. Truly a loose scenario for both sides. Welcome to the Fumblerooski podcast by Power88 and Seeker Weapon Consulting. I'm Adam Wright with CJ Madeiro, skies. We are this close to the season starting on September 4th. So as we are sitting here, we are less than a month away. It is currently August 6th. And even with the regular season being a month away, we still have pre-season. It's already started with the Hall of Fame game just this past week. And in two days, we have the Patriots Panthers, Panthers Patriots will be hosting Lions Giants, Texans Steelers, an entire weekend of pre-season football. And it takes us all the way into the regular season. Guys, we made it through the summer. We made it through the off season. Here we are. We did it. Yeah, it was a long summer. It's a good... I will say the summer is probably the best time to not have football because the weather is nice. You can go out. You can have a nice time. You can go to the beach. There's no school for all you high schoolers and college kids and middle schoolers who may listen to the show as well. It's still a good time to not have football, but still we need our football. And with that, we also have our annual pre-season predictions of the NFL honors. So this is an episode where we predict before the season starts, before even pre-season starts, well, barely starts, all of our predictions for who will win each award. So what we do is offensive rookie of the year, defensive rookie of the year, offensive player of the year, defensive player of the year, comeback player of the year, coach of the year, and the coveted league MVP. And usually what we, so what we have done every year is we always revisit these predictions right after the award ceremony and see how right or how wrong we were. It was one year where I got both rookie of the year predictions right. So that was something I was able to hang my hat on. This year I got, this year I got those predictions, it couldn't have been more wrong. I got Bijon Robinson for offensive rookie of the year, turns out CJ Stroud had a historic rookie year and the Texans stole both awards with Willie Anderson Jr. taking it. So it just shows how crazy these predictions can get because literally anything could happen. And as for rookies of the year, there could be some middle of the round, late round guy who ends up being unbelievable and comes out of nowhere, something who nobody could have predicted. So this is a really fun episode to do. We have enjoyed doing these for the past few years. And I'm excited to get started on this. So we're going to start off with the rookie of the years, which we will go with offense. CJ, give me your offensive rookie of the year prediction. So I wrestled with this one. I really did because let's face it. The offensive rookie of the year award is horrifically quarterback bias. It's like the smaller version of the MVP but for rookies. And I'm sorry, if we're going on base of the year, I think they're going to have. I'm leading towards Marvin Harrison Jr. And I'll tell you why. Because and for every one at home who wants to put their fists through their screen, let me just say that I am aware of the weird quarterback fetish that the award choosers have. Like I get that, I do. However, Harrison is the clear wide receiver one on the Cardinals. And even though he's a rookie, there's no one else in that receiver room. Even with tight ends like Trey McBride, that's even in the same stratosphere as he is. He's on a whole nother level. And you know, Kyler Murray is going to be force feeding him at every option. Look, Murray, he's going to be able to run wild. But for me, it's not about what he's going to do. It's about the other quarterbacks, what they aren't going to do for starters, Caleb Williams. He was my second choice and I was debating him, and I know he's armed to the teeth. But there is one snag for me and it's a pretty big snag. It's called coaching. I do not trust Matt Eber Flus as far as I can throw him. Next, Jaden Daniels. He's another one that I think is sneaky good, but his division is insane. You know, he got Philly and Dallas, so I'm not sure how that's going to work out. Drake May is a project guy for New England and I think he's going to sit his rookie year and all sides are pointing to that it's going to be like a Jordan lover of Patrick Mahomes. And I say he's going to be either one, but I'm saying like where they sit and like groom and pause for a year. J.J. McCarthy, maybe I'm not sure and Bo Nix, really, that's just me. I just think that I don't know if these core backs are going to come out and be the elite gun slingers that we do in college, he's going to be a learning curve. But I think Harrison carries that success over, not especially because Kyler Murray is a pretty good quarterback in his own right and he actually has someone competent Harrison has someone competent throwing to him, unlike Malik neighbors who has Danny Derps, Adam. What about you? Okay. So the reason that I actually have Caleb Williams for the award is for many of the reasons in a different way that you stated about who won't win the award. I don't think Jaden Daniels is exactly big league ready yet. And I think their coaching staff isn't a terrible, isn't in a terrible position. Dan Quinn has been, had proven to be able to coexist on an offensive staff with an offensive minded quarterback, namely being Matt Ryan above, above most. And on top of that, they also have Cliff Kingsbury, who has also been able to coexist with many offensive with many quarterbacks who have bet, who've done well on offense, Kyler Murray. The reason I have Caleb Williams is because I think it's either going to be Caleb Williams or one of the wide receivers and you can automatically, if Caleb Williams plays well in any sort of capacity, it would mainly mean that Roma Dunes A even if he has a good year. So let's say Roma Dunes A has a really good year. We already know DJ more and Keenan Allen are going to have good years too. So if Roma Dunes A is good, that means all three of their wide receiver ones, because let's face it, there's no twos on this team. There's all ones, both comment we know is going to be fine. That means Caleb Williams had a really good year. And between again, between the quarterback and the wide receiver, the quarterback wins. The number one overall pick who has gotten plenty of media attention already for better or worse. Marvin Harrison Jr, that's a decent argument. The only problem is I don't think that he's going to play well enough to outdo the quarterback who I believe will play a little better. On top of that, Malik neighbors, he's going to be playing for the seller dwelling New York Giants, not going to work out. So the best argument you can put forth is Marvin Harrison Jr. And Marvin Harrison, he's going to have a good year. But again, you put up the quarterback having a good rookie year versus the wide receiver. The quarterback always wins. Just look at last year, CJ Stroud versus Puka Nakua, who won? Who won the award? CJ Stroud. Nakua may have had a better statistical year, but you see it more often that wide receivers as rookies have good years. You see it all the time. Justin Jefferson had a great rookie year, a historic rookie year. Justin Herbert won the award. So what does that tell you about who is going to win this between Caleb Williams and Marvin Harrison Jr.? Not doubting that both of them are going to ball out, but I just believe that if Caleb Williams can play in any sort of capacity, if he's even okay, he's winning it just because it's a quarterback driven award, and rightfully so, because rookie quarterbacks being good is much more rare than vice versa, the wide receiver. You see it more often with receivers. They develop quicker. With quarterbacks, it takes a couple of years. So it's rare. So therefore, when you see the CJ Strouds, the Dak press gots, the Justin Herbert's of the world's having unbelievable rookie years, they're a slam dunk to win it. So that's why I believe Caleb Williams takes it. All right, moving on, defensive rookie of the year. Give us your pick. So even though that a defensive player didn't go until like, I think pick like 14, 15 or 16 thereabouts, I do like a lot of rookies in this class, but for me, I would have to go to the Detroit Lions Terri on Arnold, and I know Edge Russia is the sexiest, and they usually all win it, but Arnold is in a unique situation because the Lions for all intents and purposes are on the up and up, and there's no denying this. And when you look at the fact that the Detroit's going to get a lot more press, they're considered contenders for the Super Bowl for the first time since, well, since before I was born, and you look at the fact that he's surrounded by actual decent people like Carlton Davis and Emmanuel Mosley, and safe, he's like Brian Branch. So I'm not going to lie to you, he's in just a good situation, and the Lions defense has been improving, and in short, I don't know if they're even going to make him corner one outside of Davis. So he's going to have a surefire guy opposite him, and he's not going to have to come in and take control, which will inflate his numbers. Not to mention Detroit getting more media attention will greatly inflate his stock as well. And when I look at his competition like some of the Edge Russia's, I just, I don't know if they're in a position to make much noise except for maybe Jared verse who's, you know, on the Rams, who's going to have to fill in for Aaron Donald, good luck with that, I say. Ayo Dao's turners on the Colts, they're, I mean, unless he like comes out and starts breaking records, I don't know how much attention he's going to get. But for these guys, it's all about attention, and it's all about who you have surrounding you. Not only does he have attention, but he has a good support system around him, so that's why I'm walking interior on our own for my defense rookie of year pick, Adam. Yeah, that's a good pick, and if a corner does win it, I think it'll be Arnold because not only because of the potential that he has on the field, but because of the media attention, his team will be getting because the Lions are going to most likely be contenders this year. And it underscores their improvement from the previous season where they brought in Carlton Davis. Terry and Terry and Arnold in a secondary that was one of the worst in football, that secondary was horrible, and it was what dragged them down ultimately in the playoffs. Now they improve there. And if Terry and Arnold is the leader in that secondary and a team that's probably going to be one of the top seeds, if not the top seed in the NFC, then Terry and Arnold might have it. The reason I have Dallas Turner winning the award is because you rarely see defensive backs winning it as it is. And it's been happening more often in recent years, but it doesn't change the fact that just because it's more often, it's all relative. Just because it happens more often than it used to doesn't mean it still happens often. It means that it just happens more. But if there's a good, if there's a good defensive end such as Dallas Turner, who is now replacing Daniel Hunter in a crucial spot on a Vikings team that needs every ounce of help of defensive, of defense it can get, a defense that is getting younger, it's getting better. Andrew Booth is there as well. They are still going to need him. And because of that, I think Dallas Turner becomes the leader of this defense very quickly. And for that reason, I have Dallas Turner winning this award. And if he's even just a good player, if he's just okay, let's say he has eight and a half sacks, I see him taking the award over any corner. So there's my argument for defensive rookie of the year. Again, you can make a strong argument for both. You can also make an argument for Jared verse as well. I just think the defensive end who's being placed in a role, he's putting, he's being put in the deep end with his floaties, rather without his floaties pretty quickly. So because of that, if he makes any sort of impact, I think he's going to win it for the Vikings, especially since the defense is going to be needed. If Sam Darnell is going to be their quarterback, that defense is going to anchor the team. I really do believe that, even if Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison are everything that we believe they can be, because that's not going to matter if your quarterback sucks. Okay, we're going to move on and we're going to give you the offensive and defensive players of the year. So who is going to be the best players on offense and on defense? This is a fun award to do, very underrated. That's next, you're listening to the Fumbleruski podcast. It may not have always showed it in the stat sheet, but you can see him making throws when he needs to make the throws back to back games where he has three touchdowns. Someone's got to get that six or seven spot. He's an elite wide receiver as a rookie, truly a loose, loose scenario for both sides. Welcome back to the Fumbleruski podcast by Power88 and Secret Weapon Consulting, Adam Wright with CJ Madeeros. So we move on and we have the players of the year on both sides of the ball. So it's almost MVP, except smaller, because where did you specialize, how well did you specialize on this side of the ball? So who is the offensive player of the year for you? A lot of good candidates, what do you think? offensive player of the year is just such a crap shoe. I mean, injury is not withstanding, it's like in today's fast pace, offensive driven, just game, I guess, in today's like fast driven offensive place game, it's just it's anyone's guess why I'm not going to lie. Stevie Lamb intrigues me for this award, and I'm going with him because for one, Justin Jefferson still great will be coming off an injury, which I don't know, that does kind of concern me a bit, but I think that's kind of like the whole issue there, not to mention other people like Jamar Chase, he's good, but what do they have in common with Chase and Jefferson? They have a hand cuff as some call it, the names of these handcuffs are Jordan Addison and T Higgins, and I know T Higgins probably being a Bengals uniform on that much longer, just give me a break, at least for another year, but who does CDLAM have to play alongside? It's Brandon Cooks, the 30 year old Brandon Cooks, not to mention CDLAM is in a contract year, and every catch he makes, he knows that he's working towards getting the bag, be it without us or be it with someone else, and these guys in contract years statistically tend to show up and show out, not to mention the fact that he's going to have an equally motivated Dak Prescott throwing him the ball, and you have two guys that are locked in for their bag, it's going to be on that whole iron sharpening iron thing where both of these guys, they're going to want to help each other, and that's why I got lamb taking home this award. Once again, this is no respect to Justin Jefferson, and this is no respect to Jamar Chase, it's just they, these teams have more mouths to feed on offense than Dallas, and on a quick note about running backs, the reason I didn't choose any running backs is just because a running bag that can get you like a thousand yards and a handful of touchdowns, those are a dime a dozen, that's expected, so these running backs are going to have to break into that echelon of 1,700 yards and like 15 touchdowns in order to even get a glance, but Adam? So if it's going to be a wide receiver, I definitely think CDLAM is at the top of the list, the league has also shown that there's plenty for everybody to eat and more, so Justin Jefferson and Jamar Chase have both had incredible seasons in the past with these kinds of supporting casts around them, so that's not what I'm more worried about. What I think is that when you were running back and your new head coach, a rookie head coach, whose your predecessor was famously known for not giving Bijon Robinson the ball, I'm referring to Rahim Morris, he straight up said that his plan on improving the offense is giving the ball to Bijon Robinson more, and with that in mind, you look at their offensive line, which is one of the better ones in football, you look at their pass catching core, which will keep defenses honest and respecting the pass along with the run, you have a quarterback who is the best one that they have had since Matt Ryan, which is important because it keeps, again, keeps defenses honest. You put all of those factors together and you have Bijon Robinson having an incredible year, and when that running back has that type of year, especially a big name like Rahim like Bijon Robinson, it usually means that you win Rookie of the Year, and this has been historically a running back driven award. I think those days are going to come again with Bijon Robinson taking it by storm. I see Bijon Robinson taking offensive player of the year. So looking at defensive player of the year, what are your thoughts? I think it's going to be unless a corner gets like a historic year, I don't see any defensive back really getting it. This is in the same way that the MVP and offensive player of the year are quarterback driven awards, defensive player of the year, and then offensive player of the year is an Ed Kruscher driven award. So I am going with Ed Mushers, and you can talk to me about voter fatigue, and I get that. It's a real thing, but I think it's going to be TJ Watt. Man had the most sacks in the league last year and didn't get it. Not to mention, for those of us who play Madden, he was snubbed. I mean, he was put below Michael Parsons and Miles Garrett, and yes, I'm fully aware that he doesn't get double team nearly as much and doesn't get nearly as much work as the others, but come on. You know that he hears all this, and you know that he's going to be coming out with his hair on fire, not to mention the fact that the only reason the Steelers still are above under, and you could argue, was solely because of TJ Watt. And when you combine all these factors, it's just, and the fact that he wasn't voted in last year, so the voter fatigue might have ebbed a little bit, I certainly think that it's definitely going to be him. Yeah, I just look at TJ Watt's double team rate, and the fact that he does not get double team very much, and has a lower win rate than a lot of the other, then a lot of the other top-defe edge-rushers in the league, it's clear to me the fact that TJ Watt has not won this award every year, in spite of being the lead sack leader every year, almost every year rather, that tells me that these NFL experts are not overlooking that. I'm not saying that the award is not-- Well, you probably are, and, too, it's voter fatigue, you know what I mean? Same thing happens in every sport, but continue. Sure. But the way I look at it is, I think when you look at a player like Nick Bosa, who also has a reputation of being one of the league's best edge-rushers in the league, a guy who had a very down year, do you think he's really going to stay that bad? Especially with the age he is, he's still in his mid-twenties. So you look at Nick Bosa, he's not going to stay just getting 11 and a half sacks. It's not going to work out that way. So I see, and I also see this defense possibly on the offense, without Brandon Ayuk, maybe the offense takes a few steps back after a tough season of losing the super ball. I think the defense takes on a slightly larger role in helping bring this team back towards contention, and I think Nick Bosa is going to be who does that. And I hear a lot of-- Here's my argument against the whole, "Well, this edge-rusher is more versatile." I care about-- listen, call me old-fashioned, but I care more about versatility with linebackers or safeties. But when it comes to edge-rushers and corners, I can give a rat's-ass about being versatile. It's a nice plus to have. I'm not saying it's a bad thing. It's definitely good, but when you are judging how good an edge-rusher is, I care about how he is as an edge-rusher in the same way at cornerback. How are you at making wide receivers disappear? Same way I look at quarterback. I'm not looking at your rushing ability. You're not a running-back. I'm looking at your ability to pass the ball and do it accurately and pick apart defenses, which is why when I look at TJ Watt, when I look at Miles Garrett, when I look at Nick Bosa, three of those four are better than you at actually rushing the passer. They're just better. Just because you rack up more sacks, you have a lower win rate because defenses, opposing offenses, are not double-teaming you. Yes, you're still one of the best in the league, but when we get up to this upper echelon, when we're comparing you to Miles Garrett, to Nick Bosa, to Micah Parsons, then we're splitting hairs. He's still a great edge-rusher. Don't get me wrong, and his versatility cannot be ignored, but I still care if other people are better edge-rushers than you. I don't care if you drop into coverage better than the others. I don't care. You're an edge-rusher. Be better at edge-rushing. Well, I mean, I get that. I do, and I get that you don't care, but when it comes to caring about dropping into coverage, isn't there someone you've forgotten to ask? Those people are the voters. I get that you don't care. That's all well and good. Frankly, I'm kind of like myself, but just because you don't look at it as I mean that these people do, it doesn't mean that these people don't look at it. Because let me tell you something, they clearly do. By the way, it's called best defensive player of the year award, not who can rush the pass or the most efficiently award, which is why I understand that you do with these people. That doesn't, your feelings on this don't really mean that the voters don't feel that way because they clearly feel a different way because he's already won this award before. And he was even runner-up last year, so I mean, I don't know. I'm just saying they do in fact look at it, but that's just me. Sure, they look at it, but I think they look at it for his ability to rush the passer. Yes, it's defensive. I mean, it's literally just versatility. That's all. I mean, personally, some would say that it helps that you're not just a one-trick pony, but that's my two cents. But isn't that kind of what a lot of, isn't that kind of what a lot of football is about is how you play your role? Like, you're not, if you, why would you- Maybe you would tell that to all the edge-rushers that stuck at run defense. Well, do you ever, do you ever judge a corner on how we can rush the passer? Because I don't. Okay. No, no, no, you have a point. You have a point, but like, really, I mean, sometimes edge-rushers drop, it's a coverage. I mean, they do that. However, corners aren't, I mean, you're, you're kind of just creating a bit of a straw man, if I do say so myself, but I'm just saying like no one's asking a corner to rush the passer. In fact, edge-rushers can are often linebackers. Like for example, TJ Watt, by name is a linebacker and they tend to drop him into coverage. More so than a corner is asked to rush the quarterback, except not like especially design corner blitzes, but, you know, we're splitting hairs. So in TJ Watts rookie year, he, he dropped into coverage 34% of the time. Ever since that time, it's been between five and 10% every, every year since. So the ability to, his ability to rush to drop into coverage, I'm not saying it's not valuable. It's definitely something that is, it's an added plus, but you're more, there's a reason why the position is, is so highly paid. He was more impactful as an edge rusher. I'm just saying when you look at his specialty, being an edge rusher, there are other guys who can do that specific part better than you. And I look at what you are best at. So if you're a corner and you are better at covering, then I look at, if you're the best at covering in not being a safety, then I care more about that. If you're a safety and you're the best at being a safety, I care about that and I'm going to compare you to other safeties. Versatility, it's in the, in football, versatility matters, but it, I think it, how much it matters depends, depends on the position. That's, that's all I'll say. Like safeties, linebackers, that versatility matters more amongst those two, amongst those two positions than it does to corners and edge rushers. Cause edge rushers, like, if you're saying, if you're trying to tell me that T.J. Watt is the best S rusher, edge rusher in the game, because he's good at playing the cornerback position, what the fuck is that? Like that's not, you're not, you're, you know, an added bonus, you know? I agree that it's an added bonus. I'm just saying, if you're not as good at your specialty, at your position, then I don't care what you're doing anywhere else. That's all I'm saying. I think we're agreeing on a lot more than we think here. All right. We got to move on. We are going to come back player of the year and coach of the year. So a lot of dark horse candidates for comeback player of the year, these are always interesting awards. Cause you're kind of looking at who was hurt or who just had a bad year, or for some reason, just missed out on the year. This is always a fun one. And coach of the year, a lot of dark horse candidates, that's next. This is the Fumariski podcast. It may not have always showed it in the stat sheet, but you can see him making throws when he needs to make the throws back to back games, where he has three touchdowns. Someone's got to get that six or seven spot. He's an elite wide receiver as a rookie. Truly a loose, loose scenario for both sides. Welcome back to the Fumariski podcast by power 88 and seeker weapon consulting. I'm Adam Wright with CJ Madeeros. We are on to comeback player of the year, along with coach of the year. We're going to start with comeback. CJ, what's say you? So you come back player of the year is probably the most difficult to predict of all these awards, just because you have so many players be relegated to the role of Ben Shrider. You so many players get hurt. Literally any one of them could just pop up out of nowhere. And you think it's relegated to big names, but no, no, no, no. I mean, Joe Flacko won last year. Who had that on your bingo card? And if you say you did, you're lying, but that's we're not going to get into that. However, for me, it's got to be Joe Burrow. I mean, he got hurt. You know, he didn't even play that much. And frankly, we saw what happened last preseason, where he got hurt, and he was playing week one. And from the get go, he did not look the same. So I think now that he's fully healthy and fully rested, he's going to be back to his old self, which is probably going to be around throwing 4,400 to 4,500 yards and somewhere between 28 to 35 touchdowns, which should easily get him come back player of the year. That's pretty much it. Yeah. So my pick is actually going to be Aaron Rodgers. And I think when you look at how, look at these two factors, number one, torn Achilles in athletics in general, and through all sports, if you tear your Achilles, you're almost never the same. In fact, at the running back position, it's career ending. I don't, I'm still yet to see a running back, whose torn is Achilles, who has actually come back, like for, for a legitimate amount of time. Like seriously, how often have you seen it? On top of that, he's, he was 39 years old when he tore his Achilles. Any quarterback has any sort of leg injury at that age, and it's over. And somehow through reports in camp, he looks like exactly the same Rogers that we have all grown to know and be okay with. So you look at the team that he has around him, the offensive line, they have beefed up a lot. They brought in, they brought in another wide receiver to pair up with Garrett Wilson. And the defense looks still pretty good. Robert Saul looks fine. I mean, I don't think he's a bad head coach. I think he's fine. He's a good defensive mind. And he's shown to be competent with working with Zach Wilson. I think he's done whatever he can. Give him Aaron Rodgers now. And then look at how it does. And also you've already had you, your offensive coordinator, Nathaniel Hackett, we already know he works with Aaron Rodgers. I know he doesn't work as a head coach. We already know that. All of us know that. But as an offensive coordinator, he was not too bad, especially with Aaron Rodgers for three straight years, had a pretty damn good time with Rogers. So all the stars are aligning for him to bounce back and have a pretty good year. And doing it with the torn, after coming back from a torn Achilles, I think that's very important. I think that's, that's pretty damn good. So give me Rogers for a comeback player of the year. Yeah, I can see it. All right. Coach of the year, I think. So do you, do you have the same pick as me or not? We're all thinking I do. I do. This is probably folks at home, the one where Adam and I agree. Adam, you can take it if you want. Okay. So Raheem Morris, I've already talked to you guys about my offensive player of the year, and I brought up Raheem Morris. The reason I like Raheem Morris is because he is the predecessor to one of the worst Arthur Smith or successor. But yeah, I said predecessor. I was looking, I'm looking at his predecessor. Oh, okay. You said, you said he was the, okay, whatever, we get it now. Thank you. I'm looking at the predecessor. He's, he's the successor of Raheem of Arthur Smith, who is known for being very bad with his, with the weapons that he has as a head coach. He, I mean, he didn't give the ball to be in games where he should have. He also, I mean, Kyle Pitts has been collecting dust since he was drafted in the first round, all the way back in 2021. And now that, that goes back beyond Arthur Smith. But I still think Raheem Morris looks like he wants to, to get some of his star passcatchers in the game as well. Drink London, Kyle Pitts, Bezion Robinson. On top of that, you now have Kurt Cousins, who is a competent passer. You combine all of these factors. And I think you have a good year for Atlanta. And Atlanta probably wins this division. It's not a good division. I know the Buccaneers are kind of in there. But if you're even, if you win 10, 11 games, you're beating the Buccaneers. I don't think it's a high bar to beat Tampa Bay. It's not. No disrespect to Baker Mayfield, Todd Bowles and that group over there in Tampa. They may still win nine games, but they're going to have to sneak into the playoffs through the wild card this year, because I don't think they're winning the South. And so all those factors alone, I think Raheem Morris takes this. Let's see, Jay, do you have anything to add to that since it's going to? Yeah, I just think, so I want to mention something about Coach of the Year real quick. Coach of the Year isn't really about who's the best coach. If it did, there would only just be a handful of people that would just share the award every few years. But it's mostly about who's the best new coach. And that's basically what it comes down to. If you say otherwise, you're probably kidding yourself. But what I will tell you is that the Falcons, there's nowhere to go up. Let's be real. When you have Arthur Smith, the man who was medically incapable of using anybody with a shred of talent on offense, and literally anyone, borderline anyone probably would have been a better choice. So just by default, I think the Falcons are going to improve with Raheem Morris, barring some weird, unexpected like collapse. So literally just by having a few more brain cells and Arthur Smith, Raheem Morris can really put himself in a position to succeed. And just due to the nature of the award, where come on, Andy Reed is never in the conversation. You know, like the top dogs, like the Andy Reed's and the Sean McVay's, they're usually not among others. I'm those are the person who came to mind. They're never in the conversation just because it's not the way the award works. God knows why. But knowing how it is, it's got to be Raheem Morris, right? Yeah, I think it's Raheem Morris. I think that I think he plays a big part in this Atlanta turnaround. It doesn't get worse than Arthur Smith. That's, that's, I mean, that's basically what we're trying, what we're saying in the long answer, right? It doesn't get worse than Arthur Smith. Raheem Morris already stated he wants to get the ball to his star playmakers on offense. They have a decent defense on paper that I think, again, in a bad system, just didn't work out. I think they have a good offensive line that helps with getting Bijon Robinson, the ball and getting good yards per carry. I, I think, I think Raheem Morris is going to be a big part of this turnaround here. I think just getting the balls, the getting the ball to your playmakers, that's going to, that's going to be half the battle, especially for this Atlanta team. Yeah, not much more to it. We're going to move on to our final pick, which is the league MVP. This is one that seems like every year is the obvious pick, but it always, almost always ends up being something different than what you believe it to be. And which is, which, which makes it that much more fun to pick. That's next. This is the Fumbleruski podcast. It may not have always showed it in the stat sheet, but you can see him making throws when he needs to make the throws back-to-back games where he has three touchdowns. Someone's got to get that six or seven spot. He's an elite wide receiver as a rookie. Truly a loose, loose scenario for both sides. Welcome back to the Fumbleruski podcast, Adam Wright, C.J. Medeiros. We've reached our final pick for our preseason NFL honors predictions, again, revisiting these right after the ceremony in, I believe it's February when it happens. Like late January. It used to be January. Now it's with the extra game. It's, I believe it's February. It's right before the Super Bowl. League MVP. What say you? So my pick for the most valuable quarterback. Yeah, that's right. I said it because that's what it is. You're never going to see another player win again. I mean, heck, a wide receiver and another player that's not a quarterback. I mean, you're never going to see a wide receiver win. I mean, they never have defensive players not anymore. Maybe running backs, but in this day and age, absolutely not. It is the most valuable quarterback, debate a wall. So my pick for once again, most valuable quarterback, and I get why, I get why because, of course, most valuable guy on each team, just shut up. For me, it's got to be Joe Burrow. And I know that was your pick last year, Adam. But, you know, coming off an injury, I already have this comeback player of the year. So why not double dip, huh? It's doable because when I look at all the other quarterbacks in the AFC, because I don't know if the NFC is any real threats outside of, I mean, Jared Goff is okay. I don't see him as a real threat. Maybe guys like Dak Prescott and Brock Purdy, but I don't know. Jaylen Hurts, maybe. Jordan Love, maybe. But I think all the top guns are in the AFC. Lamar Jackson, now he won it last year. It's very rare to repeat. Patrick Mahomes, if he had a real wide receiver, one, I'd say, is more of a threat. I mean, he is Hollywood Brown, but he's okay. Rishi Rice is okay. Travis Kelsey, his 1,000 yard streak, which is his big claim to fame, just got snapped. And he's obviously starting to taper off a little, still very good, but still. Josh Allen, just by the bills, got gutted in free agency to a literally leather league and passing yards, I think, last year, and didn't even get a nod because, come on, no one takes him seriously because his weapons are dragging him to any form of relevance, which leaves two people, I would say CJ Stroud and Joe Burrow, both were deserving, but Burrow just has more experience. And I would definitely say it's got to be Burrow, because now as he's coming off injury, it's like, he knows the clock's ticking. You know what I mean? And that's what it means. I mean, this might be the last year for since he fans, where you have both Chase and Higgins. Am I right? Yeah. And when you add that added urgency, Burrow is eyeballing the Super Bowl. And I just think the MVP is going to be a nice little icing on the cake. I'm not saying the bangles are going to win, but Burrow knows it's an hour never. And with that fire under him, especially now that he sees my homes racking up wins, he's probably he and maybe Stroud are like the only thing standing in the way of my homes. And just because Burrow's been there before, I got to give it to him. I'm going CJ Stroud. And the reason is because, listen, I think Joe Burrow is a is a very good quarterback. In fact, he's he's an elite quarterback. He's a quarterback who if he stays healthy the rest of his career, he will be a Hall of Famer too, just like Patrick Mahomes will be. Obviously one's better than the other, but that's another quite that's another argument to be had for another day. The reason I have CJ Stroud is because, listen, Stroud has youth. He is young. I get it. But did that stop Patrick Mahomes in his second year in the league? Being the league MVP? Did that start when stop Lamar Jackson? It did not. So for that reason, I just don't think that that's what holds them back. And you have an offensive line that, again, is good and young. And you have a very good pass catching core headline by Tankdale, Nico Collins and Stefan Diggs. You also have Dalton Schultz. You have a solid running game with Joe Mixin. And you also have the other kid whose name is escaping me. You overall have a very good defense. You have good coaching. Excuse me. This is just a very good situation for CJ Stroud in year two. And the reason we have not seen many great rookie seasons follow up with even better sophomore years is because every single one of them have had a worse situation. I mean, Dak Prescott did not have anything his second year. He lost Ezekiel Elliott to suspension, and Des Bryant got hurt. They didn't have anything else. Justin Herbert had horrible coaching. He had a worse year. So look at CJ Stroud. Everything is good for him. And it got better in year two. So why should we believe things are going to get worse? It can only get better from here. And with things getting better, this Texans team becomes one of the best teams in the AFC. If not the best, if they're number one, if they're the number one seed, then CJ Stroud book it as him for being League MVP. So give me Stroud. Give me Stroud for League MVP. I think he's going to take it. And he's going to take it by storm. Yeah, I can totally see that too. It's just I, you know, these sophomore guys, they tend to taper off, but the Texans actually built around them. So I think that could throw a lot out of the window. Yeah. All right. There's all our predictions. Again, you guys make sure you tune in in a few months in February for the right after the NFL honors ceremony and see how right or wrong we are. Can't wait for the stage far away. Yeah, it's always fun to revisit these and see how how wrong we were or how right we were. It's always fun when we get it right too. We've all, I think we've all gotten a few picks right. It's, you would think that these picks would be obvious. But once you revisit and look at how bad they were, it just tells you how unpredictable the league is and how so many things change that you thought would go one way and it goes a complete, the complete opposite. So I think, so that's all of the scheduled content we have for today. I would usually ask if we have anything else, but we do have something else that I'll just touch on real, really briefly. A developing story, framework in place for Brandon Iyuk formally requested a trade offer already a few, a couple of weeks ago, framework in place for a trade, Patriots and the Browns. And the Steelers have been, there's no, there's no reports that say there was a, there's a deal in place, but it says they're interested. They're not as close as the Patriots or the Browns. It is come down to where Iyuk wants to go now. And we'll see what ends up happening. Something could change, but according to Mike Reese, the Patriots have made an offer and are willing to make him a top five highest paid wide receiver in the NFL. So take that information, how you choose. But this is getting very interesting. The New England Patriots offered a contract or they offered the number 34 overall pick to the 49ers. They were ready to send him there, Brandon Iyuk until Iyuk said he would not resign with them. The Patriots were scared away. Now suddenly the Patriots are revisiting it with a trade offer in place. What does that tell you about what changed? Now that they're willing to pay him through the teeth that Iyuk might be willing to come here if he's overpaid. So you can have whatever opinions you would like on that. But developing story, we won't turn it into a segment because it's all, I mean, all of this could be yes. All of this could be bullshit. Could be very different. So just something to look out for. If something ends up changing, if he goes somewhere else, if he goes to a team that nobody even is thinking of. If he stays with the 49ers and he leaves in free agency, so many different things can happen. But this was an interesting story that that's been developing since this morning. Actually last night, I believe. But all right, if that's all we have for today. So yeah, that'll do it for us tonight. Thank you for listening to us. We have new episodes out on Tuesdays at 730 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel. We also have all our episodes available on Spotify, Spreaker, Apple Podcasts, iArt Radio, Google Podcasts, and so much more. Also be sure to follow our Instagram @FumbleRuski underscore podcast to keep up with our podcasts and the latest coverage on the NFL. Otherwise, guys, we'll see you next week over and out. [ Silence ]