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Make sure to read the full terms and disclaimer, plus complete the survey for a chance to win. Bluewirepods.com/survey. The link is also in the show notes of this episode. Welcome back, it's the big blue banter in your Chinese football podcast. I'm Dan Schneider, George is always my co-snick Pilato, and we are almost here. We're almost that week one of the NFL season. I know those of you. Some of you have asked, are we going to preview the Vikings game? We will. That will come game day week though. That's Wednesday or Thursday of game day week. Well, I'm looking right now into getting a guest for that show. Those are always fun at the beginning of the year. We're also going to have some shows coming up full predictions, our record predictions. Things looking forward to the season, but today's show is about our reaction to Giant's initial 53-man roster. So, Nick, and there's only one thing I'm going to add in here. I don't know if those have seen it, but Tyler Dunn wrote a deep, deep article reporting on Joe Shane and his general manager tenure. There are some wild quotes in that article, so we'll get to one of those a little bit later. That's a little tease for now. But as we go through this, we're seeing live tweets from Dan Duggan, who is at Giant's practice and can give us updates on if things change within the Giant's initial 53-man roster. Bryce Ford- Wheaton has changed his number to 88. That's the first thing I see, which gives up six. But again, I think Jamie Gillan has number six. I think Malik neighbors want six nicks, but Nick, but I don't know if he's going to get it. I wanted 88 from Malik neighbors, so I'm a little disappointed by that. But I am excited for Bryce Ford- Wheaton, who made the roster. What was your initial reaction to the reveal of the 53-man roster? I didn't have too many crazy takeaways. We weren't spot on, which sucks. There were some players who ended up getting released or going through waivers, however you want to really upset it. No Giants were claimed at all. And the Giants claimed one player. And that was Anthony Johnson Jr., a safety from Green Bay, 2027th round draft pick out of Iowa State. Actually, soon I'll be having a breakdown, hit the channel on him. I've watched a couple of his games. I just got to put it all together now. And he is a hard hitting guy with range and fluidity. Just terrible, missed tackle percentage, like a 28% missed tackle rate. A lot of his missed tackles were coming from depth. So that's, I believe, valuable information. But he's very wild at the attack point, because he's just constantly trying to use the hit stick and doesn't really wrap up and just tries to use his force and his strength instead of proper technique when it comes to tackling. But I still think he is a player with eyes, range, fluidity, can play single high and will be a better fourth option than what the Giants had on this roster behind Dave Velt and Jason Pinnock and Tyler Nubin. I don't exactly know what's going on with Caverius Owens right now. He wasn't seen at practice according to Dan Duggan. And I know the Giants have to make room for Anthony Johnson Jr. So maybe by the time you guys are listening to this, we'll understand who was released or put on IR or what exactly happened. But Caverius Owens was not seen at practice. We know he was dealing with a knee issue from about mid-August. Yeah, that was my initial read on this signing, that it was insurance for Caverius Owens. Look, these injuries, we don't know the extent of them, but he could be placed on IR with the new NFL rules, there's advantages to that. I'm talking about very zones. And somebody like Johnson could just take that roster spot, that back-end safety spot. And we already know in the Shane Bowen defense, they're going to rely on more safeties than not. So more safeties than they have in the past, I should say. So you need death. And that's going to be a back-end roster, death guy, Anthony Johnson. It's somebody obviously liked from the 2023 scouting process, to an extent, of course. Yeah, yeah, to an extent. So 10 offensive linemen, though. Jakob Johnson didn't make the initial 53. He got stashed on the practice squad, which makes a ton of sense. No one was going to go out and sign this guy, who the Giants just plucked off of the streets. Allah, just impue fashion. And now he's on the practice squad and will likely be elevated. Early, if the Giants want to employ his skill set as a full-back. But three quarterbacks, three running backs. You have three tight ends. It was Daniel Jones, Drew Locke, Tommy DeVito, Devin Singletary, Tyrone Tracy, Eric Gray, Daniel Bellinger, Theo Johnson, Chris Manhertz. And you have Jakob Johnson and Turbo Miller, both on the practice squad so far. And they're announcing as we record this other players who are signing to the Giants practice squad. But no surprise there, when it comes to Dante Miller and Jakob Johnson landing on the practice squad, if they did not get claimed, which I didn't think they would, especially with Turbo's injury. Turbo didn't get injured, though. I am wondering if he would have found his way onto this roster and this final 53, ma'am. And Dan Duggan just tweeted the unofficial practice squad. There's two spots left and we'll see exactly what happens. It's running back Dante Miller, wide receiver Isaiah Hodgins, wide receiver Miles Boynken, Jakob Johnson, tight end Lawrence Cager, offensive lineman Joshua Miles, Marcellus Johnson, and Jimmy Morrissey. Defense of lineman Casey Rogers, no surprise there. Outside linebacker Timon Fox, linebacker Ty Summers, who is new, 2019 seventh round draft pick, who was recently with the Detroit Lions. So he was in the building during the joint practices. I guess the Giants might have liked what they saw. Inside linebacker KJ Cloyd, we are aware of that. He definitely deserves a spot after that final preseason game. Defense of back Alex Johnson, safety Raheen Lane, and then the kicker Jude Mikatamni. I believe is how you say it. I probably screwed that up because I have hardly any Irish blood in me. But he also is excused because he is an international player. So that doesn't count towards the total amount. That's an excused addition. And guy has a leg, man. I was watching him in practice and before the game, he was kicking like 60 like it was nothing, dude. Guy has a monster leg. So that is the Giants unofficial practice squad. According to Dan Duggan, he has boots on the deck right now. I practice taking account on who's there. Some surprises, man. Like we thought Miles Boykin was going to make the team because he was on like every first team special team's unit throughout training camp. Doesn't end up making the team. Maybe the Giants just felt comfortable enough. Like no one's going to claim him. We'll just slide him onto the practice squad. I mean, we want to keep Rice Ford Wheaton because there might be a little bit more meat on the bone when it comes to his development as a wide receiver because we know he had tantalizing skillset at West Virginia towards ACL last year. And he ended up making the final roster, which neither of us had. Yeah, we didn't have that. There were some misses. And when Boykin doesn't make the final roster, somebody we thought would be special teams first, it is interesting because they also kind of doubled down and kept three quarterbacks on the roster. Despite not going with that special teams player, which really puts more of an onus on the players who are on their roster to make a special team's impact. Let's start with the quarterback position. I think it's clear by the Giants' decision to keep Tommy DeVito over an extra special teams helper or somebody they can develop at a different position is that they believe this guy is a real developmental prospect for them long-term as a quarterback too. I would assume. I don't think they have any delusions of grander. I think it's a quarterback one, but this does signify to me they believe in him as their quarterback too long-term. And that could be short-term as well. If things don't work out for Daniel Jones this year, the Giants will release him and get back all that salary cap. And Drew Locke was a one-year deal. So that would leave them with just Tommy DeVito on the roster at quarterback. And obviously they would look to get more players. What are your thoughts on the decision to keep DeVito and more so like their long-term vision for him? It's insurance. I mean, we talked about it on the last episode that both of these quarterbacks ahead of him will now with Drew Locke with the hip injury kind of had recent injuries that they were covering from and Tommy DeVito knows the system. Tommy DeVito had success last year in the system winning three games for Brian Dable. And there really aren't a lot of options just chilling on the street at the moment. So from that standpoint with Drew Locke struggling in training camp and dealing with his hip injury, I think it was just a prune move to keep him on the roster. I would agree. I think it's more of a short-term vision than a long-term vision right now. They need insurance for this year given their situation of QB one and two. DeVito's proven he could at least play in football games. I don't know if that would kick a carry over with teams having tape on him, but I guess we'll find out at some point or we may never find out. But you know, he's on the roster. He's taken up one of those spots. Jakob Johnson was a player we thought would make the roster. Carm Bursil in the past has talked about how important a fullback is to his offense. But remember, the Giants have experimented with and used Daniel Bellinger as a fullback in preseason and throughout training camp. So ultimately it may just be a situation where they're like, look, Bellinger can fill this role when we need him to. And Gunnar Olszewski was back at practice too. So from the wide receiver standpoint, he ends up making that six wide receiver spot, but he's on the roster as a kick returner, punt returner Isaiah McKenzie was put on the season ending IR. So that was another player where we were like, dude, there's a lot of conjecture. We don't know how serious some of these injuries are. We know he's dealing with some sort of lower body injury. Now he's back out there fielding punts and looks like he'll be ready for week one. So that's interesting enough. Yeah, and Isaiah Hodgin's all-time fan favorite, at least for us during the 2022 season. Really good take surprisingly in 2022. That's just kind of been brushed under the rug. Now added to the Giants practice squad. I don't think anyone's going to claim him, but I'm not positive on that front. What are your thoughts on the decision to kind of move him from the roster to the practice squad? I thought if there was anybody that would be claimed, it would be Isaiah Hodgin's. Same. Because Lawrence Cage is dealing with the injury that he's dealing with. And Isaiah Hodgin's I think is a smart wide receiver. Like Taylor made for what Brian Dable wants to do. I think he has familiarity with the Buffalo Bills. The Buffalo Bills right now, they don't exactly have a ton of talent at the wide receiver position. So I thought maybe a team like that, maybe even a team like the Dallas Cowboys, right? Like a team like that could be like, "Hey, this player is a smart player, a physical player. Somebody who is very good at blocking can come in and compete for a roster spot with us." But to guarantee him a 50-man roster spot right now, that's a lot. I think an injury has to happen. And he's not the most explosive players. All of those factors are working against him. But I'm happy that him and Turbo Miller and players like that are on our practice squad. I do believe in their skill set in this offense. And I think they each have a specific role that can be leveraged effectively by Brian Dable. Hodgens is a pin-pull blocker on the outside when it intends formations. Nante Miller just has an explosive threat in the screen game or in the run game too. So there are players on this practice squad that I look at. I'm glad they are there. And I think the Giants have had worse practice squads in recent memory than the current players that they had. And I say that while also acknowledging none of these guys were claimed. When was the last time the Giants actually had someone claim though? It's been a while. I can't remember. Honestly, I'm drawing a blank right now when the last time the Giants had somebody claimed. I don't know. I'm drawing a blank too. That's not a good sign though. We can't even remember. Exactly. People in the comments are like, "Use this guy, dumb ass man." Yeah, yeah. And that's how it always goes. Think Hodgens even has more to offer as well. He's really good when he was matched up in those one-on-one situations with the release packages off the line of scrimmage and his footwork. We saw it in the Colts game toward the end of 2022 and in the Vikings games. But look, it's a numbers game and you add them weak neighbors and you add it high to the roster in recent seasons. Those were going to push people off the roster. Those are talented players that have a big role coming for them as early as this year if the passing game can ignite itself. So, you know, I get that. I understand the Giants are protected on it. I understand their perspective on Jakob Johnson as well. Not making the roster with Belanger obviously able to play that role as well. Offensive line-wise, it seems like the Giants did not decide to try to get cute and sneak Jake Cubus through the waiver wire through the practice, what I should say. And that's something that was interesting to me because I knew they liked him but I wasn't positive that they would think that other teams might claim him. But this may be the one area where they're like, you know what? Teams pour through the offensive line tape during the preseason because look, a lot of receivers can play football. Honestly, if you look across the league, there's going to be guys getting cut who can play. Tim Patrick, like there are players who get cut who can play running backs as well. Tear it, but offensive line, everybody's desperate for help on that across the board and there's injuries that are going to come. And so they're probably pouring through offensive line tape and they probably saw Cubus's tape, the Giants and they said, we can't afford to risk losing this guy. I 100% agree and I'm so happy that they didn't try to get cute there because I would have been pissed, Dan. And I know you would have been too. If we looked and Austin Schlotman made the team, which he did, but then Jake Cubus ended up getting claimed by another player. And you know what? I get that there is a little bit of nuance here because Austin Schlotman is a true center and you want a true center to back up JMS. So Greg Mann wrote, we can just focus on the guard spot. But I wouldn't want to possibly lose out on a developmental player with upside in Jake Cubus just to keep a player like Austin Schlotman, who's basically just an insurance policy for JMS on the roster. So I'm glad that they kept Jake Cubus and they kept Austin Schlotman too. I get it, you want that insurance policy there. Now, hopefully Van wrote, we can just focus on the right guard spot and we can have some damn continuity on this offensive line for the first time in like a decade. Yeah, it's a great point. And I think as we move to the other side of the ball, there's always guys in the preseason who stand out. Cubus was one of them. They put on good tape and the Giants don't want to, you know, those are the guys they want to develop. Same thing happened, I know he's on the practice squad, but Timmy Horan, great preseason and obviously he's on the squad now, but that's something they're going to develop too. Once they're on the practice squad, they're still part of the team and they could be called up at any point, by the way, based on the injury situation that could happen at any point. It's moving to defense though. Are you at all surprised by start with two things? One, the bigger thing on people's minds, what happened at cornerback and there was no real claims there, there was no real movement there. And then two, and you can go one by one, we can talk about them each individually. Just the fact that they kept a lot of these injured linebackers on the roster. Yeah, I guess their injuries aren't serious. We'll start with the linebackers. I'm glad they kept Deontae Johnson. I think he's another player similar to Cubus, who has some upside, right? And you want to hit on these UDFAs, especially if you're freaking missing on your first round picks, which is an abomination. So keeping a player like Deontae Johnson doesn't surprise me, it was week to week, like two and a half weeks ago. So hopefully he should be getting healthy soon. And the only other player I can locate in the linebacker position that falls into the category you were referring to is Carter Coughton. But he came back healthy. He just missed basically all of camp. And he's going to be a special team's ace for this team. I think if the Giants like somebody else who is cut by another team, Carter Coughton might be one of the first players that they let go. And he'll probably pass through waivers and then he'll probably get stashed on the Giants practice squad. So I think that can happen realistically. But from a special team's standpoint, I get keeping Carter Coughton and he can play linebacker in a pinch. And you have a couple players at that position group who are ailing or just returning from injury. I also don't know how certain Micah McFadden's starting role is on the defense. I think it is, but I wouldn't like that's one position group. It's like, hey, name a starter from last year's defense that won't be starting by week five. Like Micah McFadden's name is one of the first ones. Because he missed almost, he missed a lot of training camp, right? He was there, but he wasn't playing a lot of the snaps. He missed out on a lot of reps in Shane Bowen's defense. And I just don't know if that's going to hurt his development in this system. It's, I like his skill set. Like he needs to clean up his missed tackles as well. But I think it's a fair question to ponder, especially with the other players the Giants have at this position group. And then corner, are you surprised the Giants didn't make any moves there and didn't try to go after any of these guys who were cut? Well, Caleb Farley, if you wanted to make that claim on him, you would have to eat $2.5 million. Right. Okay. That's a lot to eat right now and all the back issues that he has. I'm not going to say I'm surprised. I don't think they're done though yet. I think they're going to go after a cornerback eventually. We'll have to wait and see exactly what's going to happen. But there's still a week or so until the season starts. So I would say I wouldn't be shocked if something happens in the coming days. Yeah, because they cut Trey Herndon. That was a player we initially predicted on the roster. I think just from a depth standpoint and because he's had experience the NFL, maybe they in their minds, they see that as this thing unfolds, there will be somebody with more experience than Herndon, who they have better higher grade on. And they'll go that direction. I'm not exactly sure. So one cut I saw that was interesting because I remember us studying him in the draft. Lewis signed the safety. He's not a corner, but just shocking to me that he got cut. I haven't followed his story at all. I really thought he had a shot. I didn't know. I'm surprised. Maybe I was helmet scouting. That's what Si said. He's like, everybody's guilty at one time or another. Sometimes helmet scouting, but I don't know. I didn't feel like that watching him play. And I hear a devastating knee injury is rookie season. I guess that's just he never got recovered. He got claimed too. He's on the Jets. Jets. Yeah. Yeah, I'm just surprising that I shouldn't say they didn't get claimed or just that he got cut is what I meant. But yeah, maybe he's just not the same athlete after the injury. That's going to happen sometimes. But I did see that tweet by sign. It stood out to me of all the cuts made. Let's see what else we got here. Benton Whitley, a player is it Whitley or Whitley? Whitley. Whitley. Benton Whitley, a player who, again, had a really good camp, especially a really good preseason, especially a really good training camp. The Giants just felt like they couldn't let him go. And I thought that was really interesting. Maybe some people have speculated that means they'll consider moving Azizo Jalari for a corner. If a deal that makes sense for those two types can be swapped. I'm not so sure it's that. I think the Giants just feel like this is somebody they can develop at the edge position. Yeah. You want depth at the edge position and who the hell did the Giants have behind the top three right now? And I'm not opposed to sending Azizo Jalari somewhere else. And you guys know listeners of this podcast. I've been a big fan of Azizo Jalari dating back to his time at Georgia. This is his final year on his deal. I don't know if he's going to get resigned by Joe Shane. And if you can get a quarterback who can help you this season and possibly push quartile fly Nick McLeod for starting role. I think you pulled the trigger around that. What would you say about that? If it makes sense, you pulled the trigger. I'm very skeptical of corners that are being traded in the NFL. I think corner again. I've told this before. I stand by this very difficult position. The bar is very high. If you don't jump over that bar, Nick, I think you're just like any other. Essentially, like I don't find too much like that. The guys who can't make it can't cut it like cannot win on an island. There's too many of them. And I don't want to just trade for another one of them. And be like, oh, well, there we go. But if you find someone who you believe can play like a Fabian Moreau like once for the Giants a few years ago. And it doesn't even have to be the same age range as Ojilari. That's different. Like you have that next level works in your system. It has to be that type of situation, obviously. But I'd rather keep Ojilari because I still think there's a little bit of juice left in him. But people are skeptical about that. No, I think there's juice. I think there's definitely juice. I just don't. I think this defense actually can fit him from passing. Passing perspective. The run game is something that I've been skeptical about for a while. And you know what, back at Georgia, he actually was a pretty damn physical one defender. But it was exposed early. Remember against Denver in his rookie season? Yeah. They just ran the football right at him. And I was just like, oh, God, Aziz, what's going on here? And yeah, it was rough. And you know, Hackett, I think, right? Wasn't he the coach? He was. I think he was. Yeah, back with Teddy Bridgewater. And Jerry Judy ended up breaking his shin or whatever in that game. Oh, yeah. That was crazy. I forgot about that game. I think the Giants were up and then lost in the fourth quarter at home. The Giants didn't lose. Yes. Brutal. Can't afford to lose this first game to Minnesota. They got to find a way to win this game. And that just reminds me of that kind of game. But I did think one other thing was interesting. The fact that they did move. Kendrick Miller, the practice squad, tells me that, you know, we've had some good reports early, but I think we're going to get a pretty much fully healthy, ready to go. Tyrone Tracy for week one, which is exciting because I think it's possible. He's just immediately the RB2 for this team. You call him Pendremiller? Oh, not Kendrick Miller, Dante Miller. Have you heard? Have you heard of Dennis Allen? So it's Kendrick Miller running back on the Saints. He was drafted out of TCU, I think in like the third or fourth round two years ago. And head coach Dennis Allen, I was listening to him talk about it. Dude, that guy is a prick. Yes, he is a prick. And he's like, said it twice about Kendrick. He's like, really? I mean, the guy's been injured. Like, that's not his fault. You think he wants to be injured? Like, come on, dude. Like, and you want to just, this is a hate when coaches talk about it. Because like, oh, do you want to just rush back on the field? Re-injure himself and then be in the same spot? Or do you want to just listen to the doctors? And when he can play, he can play. Like, he was injured at TCU as well. He was injured a lot at TCU. It's part of why his draft stock fell. Because he had great tape when he was healthy. Obviously it's been disappointing so far in two years for him. But yeah, I think that's a good reason why they might have moved Dante Miller to the practice squad. And I'm excited to see Tracy week one. That's like, one of the players I'm most excited to see for the Giants. I agree, man. Tyrone Tracy Jr., he could factor in early on third down. And this guy makes so many people. Early downs too. Yeah, I know. Even I know it was preseason. I think he made like four or five players missing that first preseason game. Yeah. And I just, that was all throughout his tape in college. And again, I think he could be an asset as a pass catcher. We could see immediate rules for three players in the offense. Neighbors, Tracy, and even Theo Johnson. Like, which is pretty amazing in year one. I mean, we don't want to count our chickens before they hatch. But let's hope that it goes in that direction. So I think all are talented players. Yeah. Neighbors, the offense is going to be just all around. He's the fulcrum. We have the New York Giants offense. He has to be. He has to. What else would you be able to build this offense around? You know, like the obvious choice for the focal point of the offense. Any thoughts, any other thoughts on the 53 men roster or things that set out to you? No, again, I don't think it's, I don't think it's done quite yet. But there was nothing too surprising. Little things like Jakob Johnson, Miles. But like when you really think about it, it makes sense. They're going to make the practice squad and then you can elevate them. You can elevate two players every game if you elevate them. I think two games in a row, then you have to activate them to your roster. But the Giants are going to pick and choose when they elevate certain players here, depending on what's happening with their injuries, who they're playing, all of that. And I think you'll see Jakob Johnson this season. And maybe you'll see Isaiah Hodgin's, if something happens to one of the wide receivers, but at least you have that option there. If somebody doesn't claim him before the Giants decide to activate them. If the Giants suffer injuries, knock them on what hopefully they do not. I was a little surprised by how many offensive linemen they kept, Nick. But personally, I'm for it. After what happened last year with the offensive line, I'll just put it over everything. Now I'll put the development at a player like Kubas, who they believe could actually be a long-term starter. I actually honestly believe they do see that. And that doesn't mean like a high-end guy or somebody they're going to like find the greatest guy ever. But somebody who they believe could potentially start for them down the line, I'll put that over a special team's guy or even over some of these other developmental players to be completely honest. Because I believe that right now this team should be half in, half out on. Are we playing for now or are we playing for the future to be completely honest? They have been the fourth least winning team since Daniel Jones got here. They have the fourth worst record in the NFL since Jones got here. It is not all about what they have now. A lot of this has to be the development about the future. And offensive line is first and foremost right now, at least in my opinion, given what's on the current roster. You know, off season, we can talk about other things. What should be the first priority? Right now, to me, it's development of the offensive line. Yeah. And you have 10 guys there now. And you look at a lot of them. Like Austin Schlotman and possibly Aaron Staney are the only ones where you're like, how long are they going to be here? True. Like Josh, I guess you could throw Josh Zudu in that too. But he's a draft pick, a third round pick by this game. Well, if he can develop a little bit maybe, but like that's kind of been a disaster, unfortunately. It's just crazy that they view him as a tackle to me. But I will see what happens. I think maybe they think there's like a click moment and a jump. And it may start to look really different if he can start to get more reps. That's going to be tough though, because he's not going to get any reps from this point on. I think it's his feet, man, that they really like a tackle. But like, he doesn't have a great anchor when he is taking on guys from these wide angles. It's similar to Evan Neal. Like Evan Neal doesn't have the confidence to really know where he needs to be. So he's not necessarily anchored down on the dirt. And people can just get under him so easily because he's so damn tall and so damn big. And his anchor just freaking concedes that it compresses the pocket. And it's a big struggle when you are going up against wide rushers for both Neal and Azud. Whereas Germano Luminor and Andrew Thomas, they can take that, re-sync their hips and just kind of put their feet in the ground, walk back a little bit. And then next thing you know, the edge rushers center of gravity is risen up, because those guys have that type of strength to anchor themselves down. But with both Neal and Azudu, it just doesn't seem to be there specifically when you have somebody coming from that wide angle. That's why the Evan Neal at guard thing at least piques my interest. Because people are like, well, how is he going to have an anchor from the guard? It's like, you're face up with somebody when you're playing guard. You're not really dealing with many people from an angle, unless they're twisting or something like that, right? It's different than when you are out on an island as an offensive tackle. So I don't really see Evan Neal then. And you can correct me if I'm wrong when he is facing a five technique, when he's facing a four technique, get bullied and have his anchor exposed when there is a bull rush against him, even when they win the pad level battle, which they do often because of Evan Neal's size and his high hat. But it's always when it's coming from an angle and that edge rushers is threatening with speed around the edge and then says, okay, I'm not going to go with speed. I'm going to run right through your chest. And that's where every Neal struggles. That's going to be significantly mitigated on the inside. That's a great point. I wonder if the giants see it. I know you see it, Nick. And I just wonder if they see it or where their minds are at with regards to those two players. It's very interesting, Neal and Azud, who both selected in the same class, both selected with really high draft picks. I mean, the giants use two top 64 picks on these dudes. It's unbelievable to think about that they're going into the year as bench players after being top 64 picks one was seventh overall. And who knows if they're even part of the future at this point, which is just, it sucks because you don't get those picks backs. You don't get doovers. You don't get to try again. And nothing after it is worth it for agency is only a supplemental place. Like things have to turn around fast. They have to start hitting on these picks immediately starting this year. When you need meal time inspiration, it's worth shopping Kroger for thousands of appetizing ingredients that inspire countless mouthwatering meals. 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If depending on if it's interesting, Joe Shane is set to speak at 525 today. We're recording before that. If it's interesting, we'll work that in. Sometimes he just gives these nothing burgers, but we'll see what he has to say. And I'm sure that we'll get something out of it, so we'll add that in. We want to get some fun, forward-looking stuff too, as well, like bold predictions, record predictions, as well. So it's going to start to be a page turner. And obviously, we'll react any news. There's any claims or anything that happens for the roster between now and then time recording. But I do want to end on this because he transitioned a little bit into Joe Shane and these draft picks that haven't worked out. And he had this recent article come out with Tyler Dunn, who seems to get a lot of good scoops on the Giants yet. Daniel Jones earlier this offseason, which is rare. And Joe Shane kind of discussed his vision for the franchise. And he feels like, you know, it's a three-year process. And it's been a... And according to him, the team is really starting to take the personality he wants. Shane said, "Our first draft class is going into their third year and they can carry the torch and show the young players, 'Hey, this is how we're going to do things. This is what we want to be about. This doesn't happen overnight. It takes time.'" Those words all sound good and well to me, Nick. But I heard that exact thing from Dave Galliman. It doesn't happen overnight. Rome wasn't built in the day. It takes time. And he mentions Joe Shane, you know, "Our first draft class is going into their third year. They're really going to have to carry the torch." Well, we just went over how Josh Azuto and Evan Neal might not even play this season, legitimately might not play a snap. Dan, we have Cordell Flott, though. And Cordell Flott also might not be able to play. So what I don't really understand... I think he'll be... Flott will be healthy. I'm just saying... Yeah. He'll be healthy, but will he be able to be an impact player? Exactly. And this is when I start to hear this quite frankly BS. And over the years, I've been able, just like every other fan, I've fallen for the fluff. Because as a fan, it's really difficult not to fall for the fluff. It sounds really good. What he just said there sounds great. "Yeah, our third year guys, they're going to... our personality, what we want to be, this and that. But personality and what we want to be is not worth enough. It's just not. It's been what Dave Gettleman said. It's what every regime has said. And at some point, the personality can't be everything. It can't be about that. It has to be about the talent and what they're producing on the field. And so I just didn't like that. And it is what it is. He says what he says. It's not going to give away more information to this Tyler Dungeye. But like I read that code and I just went right over my head. Because I'm tired of taking that at anything more than face value. Because that's what I've been falling for. And we've had 10 years of incompetence. And the last five years with Jones, we've had the fourth worst record in the NFL. That's not Jones's fault. It's not Barclays fault. It's not Shane's fault. It's not Gettleman's fault. It's a combination of all sorts of things. But enough of the we of the personality, we want shit. It's got to be production on the field. That's how you win games. The personality and the locker room shit and the leadership is good. And it's part of all winning teams. But it's a baseline and it's not worth enough. Every team has leaders. Every team has a personality. You built for that team, that GM built for that team. I need to start seeing production. We need to start seeing production. And we'll see how it happens because he's talking about the 22 class, Nick. And I'm searching for ways right now how that class is going to impact this year outside of Wandael and outside of Kayvon. Yeah. That's, that's what it is, man. And Dane. I hope Dane doesn't like it. And Micah, there are guys, there are late guys that can help this team. But there are also guys that were taken early, Flot, Azudu, and Neil. And those are massive question marks right now. Yeah. And the seventh overall, like missing on a seventh overall pick is just absolutely devastating. And hitting on a third, like a day three pick, it feels great. Right? Like, that's like a champ, but it's a contributor. It's nothing really. Yeah. When the real stuff for the guys who win football games for you, not the, you do okay in your role, guys. We were expecting to get another Andrew Thomas. Right. Right. Hey, dude, we have to have Thomas and a stud like him for the next 10 to 15 years. After having Bobby Hart and Eric Flowers starting for the Giants, like four years prior previous, we thought we were in a fricking football head in then. That's what we thought. And we were fooled. But you know what? Maybe a Luminor can just be the dude for the next five years. They resign him. And no, it's not, not bad. Cause then it's fine. They'll move on and it is what it is. But I'm just tired of hearing that type of talk. It's just, it's goes in one, it should start going in one year out the other for, for me, it will for me and for you, you guys can make your decision if you want to buy into the fluff. But the fluff is, I'm done with the fluff at this point, Nick. One more thing. I know we might have a couple more things from Tyler Duns article we want to talk about, but we never acknowledge the Giants captains. So I'm just going to do that real quick. Only five captains this year. And it is quarterback Daniel Jones, offensive lineman Andrew Thomas, defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence, middle linebacker Bobby O'Kareke and long snapper Casey Crider for the special team. So those are our captains for the 2020 for season. I think it's a great, those are great picks personally. Again, this is what Daniel Jones is best trade is. This is what he offers. He's the first one in the building. The last one out, he works hardest. He puts his body on the line for the team. And he is everyone's favorite player on the team. That's what he offers. He also can throw a good dig route. That's his best, you know, that's his best throw. And he can run like this is what he's offered on a consistent basis thus far in his career. So he deserves to be the captain and we're hoping that you can get better at all the other things about playing quarterback. But it's good. He deserves captain. I'm happy. If you're a team that has a quarterback that's not the captain, I kind of think that's weird. And some teams have that. I always find that weird when the quarterback's not the captain. It's like, I don't know how you win with that situation or how you expect to win. So I'm happy with those decisions. What about you? Yeah, it's fine. I'm trying to think of anybody who was passed over. Oh, and there's really no one that like no one's out, right? A lot of the players who were relying on are new to the Giants, right? They're very young and develop developing type of players and captains from last season, like say, go on an X-man. They're not here anymore. Dory's not here anymore, right? Joanne Love obviously isn't. How is he going on with the Dory Jackson? I don't know, man. He's probably just gonna sign somewhere after week one. You know, he's gonna just feel it out. Like why go to training? He's young. I just don't understand why you would go through free. I understand why you wouldn't go through training camp. Like that seems like if I'm a vet at this stage of my career, I'd be like, yeah, I'm not gonna go through training camp. But like now's the time to sign. I'm surprised he hasn't signed yet. That's all I'm confused about. Yeah, I have no idea. I mean, hopefully he's still in football shape though, too. There's that. Right, right, right. That's the thing. Like Dalvin Cook obviously waited out training camp and then signed with the Cowboys. Like so, how tilted would you be if Dalvin Cook is Dalvin Cook from like 2020? Yeah. And he's just like hitting holes behind that really good offensive line. He looks good again. It's just like, yo, where's the Jets, Dalvin Cook? Like what the hell? I know. It's crazy. I doubt that'll happen if the guy would be really tilting if it did. I think Rico Dattle is that running back. He's the best guy there, but I don't know what kind of role he's gonna have as far as like that goes for fantasy. We're gonna end with this wild quote from this Tyler Dunn article and you can check it out on, I believe, go long. Let me find it because I want to properly credit him. Golongtv.com. That's golongtv.com. I can't read the entire article. I've read some of it. You need to subscribe to read it. But there is one quote in it that was unbelievable that I read in it, Nick, and it's just shocking to believe it. So they were talking about, so he got quotes from the giant scout, Nick. I'm talking about life as a giant scout under Joe Shane, a general manager. He's touting it. He loves it. This giant scout is an obviously an anonymous scout. He loves it. He's touting it. You know, talking about the differences, how great it is. He says, this isn't the norm. This is the scout speaking. And most certainly, or no, this is Tyler speaking, sorry. This isn't the norm. Most certainly wasn't life for a scout under the previous general manager. One of the giants, long time scouts, still fumes over his former boss, Dave Gettleman, had how he ran the show. And this is from the scout, Nick. This is a wild quote. I don't know Dave's heart, the scout said. I don't know why he did what he did. I just wished I'd have punched him right in the mouth. That's what I wish I'd done. A giant scout said this to Tyler Donne. Like, how dysfunctional of a fricking regime were you under as Gettleman to have scouts who want to punch you in the face and wish they had. That's insanity to me. I hope John Marry sees that. And I hope John Marry realized I can't make this mistake again. This guy for four years, when everyone knew he was horrible. And there we go. I lost my mind on Dave Gettleman. Dan, with the profanity links, comments about Dave Gettleman. You know what's funny? There are some new scouts there. You could probably look through the giant scouts and be able to deduce who had this type of vitriol for Dave Gettleman. I'm sure if Gettleman is paying attention somewhere on his desk with his Jurgens to the side, he can probably understand or know exactly how this type of animosity towards him. I have anima, I have that kind of animosity towards him. That's for sure. And so does this long term scout. I have animosity towards the fans who are like, no, you need to give him more time when he was doing so many horrific process things. But I apologize to you and I apologize to the fans and everybody who just had to listen to that profanity list, Tyrant. I blame it on. It's been a rough week at work and it's been a lot of shit going on. And I've been stressed. So I was stressed all day. I read that article and then I got pissed off because I don't understand why a scout can have that kind of vitriol to a former GM. And that guy gets four years to take down a roster and leaves us with Cadarius Tony at the end who just got caught by the Chiefs. Nobody wants him. And everyone's like, I'll help someone who claim him for his talent. Nobody's going to put that guy back in their locker room right now, like for the talent, for this guy who can't stay on the field and isn't really a talent. Like, this dude drafted him at 21 overall, like, idiotically, after one interview at the combine didn't even bring him in for a pre draft visit. This is ridiculous shit that we have to deal with. That's hurting the roster now. You can say it doesn't matter. Of course it matters that 2021 draft pick. He should be a core player of the roster right now. And that's the bottom line. And I'm back to being angry. I got to calm down. Someone said my first rant would come after week one. Well, it came in the preseason because anytime I think about Dave Gettleman, I can't stand the shit. Every time you think about Dave Kettleman, you come. That's what I just heard. And I wish that it were as easy as he's not here anymore. He doesn't affect the roster. But of course he does. A 2021 first round pick should be a core player for this team right now. And I'm getting mad just thinking about that comment of don't talk about him. He's gone. He doesn't affect the team anymore. Jesus Christ. Well, Dan, don't worry. We got a first round pick for that trade down. What what? Darren Walker? No. Oh, come on, man. How did you not get that? Evan Neal was the seventh overall pick we got? We got Evan Neal out of it. That was what we got from that. That was the consolation prize. And that's not working out. No, we got out of that. We got the final deal we got out of this. Caderis Tony turned to Darren Waller and Evan Neal. It's okay. It's not like there were any good players drafted after where the guys trade down from. No one. No, no, no, no, no. Or after Caderis Tony, like Christian Daresaw. You imagine him on the roster right now picking one pick after Caderis Tony. The Tony pick was one of the stupidest picks of all time. I'm going to straight up say that. They didn't vet him. He was a terrible off field personality and injury history at Florida. And he wasn't even viewed by scouts as a value pick at the time. Everyone thought that was a reach. It's so idiotic and it's so unbelievable. Except for Urban Meyer. Except for Urban Meyer. He's the one who's like, Oh, I would have taken him if the Giants didn't take him. Urban Meyer, the single worst head coach hire in the last decade. Great. Great company to be with Dave Gettleman. Oh, yeah. I call him some and he's probably a good person. Maybe. I know he probably is. I take that back. He's probably a nice guy. But terrible, terrible, terrible general manager who's still hurting the team today because a 2021 first run pick should be a core captain of this team right now. And we just get nothing out of that. I've repeated that four times. That's how you know I'm tilted. That's how you know the rant is on. I apologize again. It's been stressful. And I had to take it out somewhere. Unfortunately, I took it out on the podcast today. Beautiful. I can't wait to see the comments on this one. I just hope the Giants can can get past this Gettleman era. And we don't even talk about it. I think about it anymore. You know the easiest way to start winning consistently. Okay. That's as easy as that. No one will mention Gettleman anymore at that point. But yeah. All right. All right. For those who made it through this rant, have a great rest of your week or day because we'll talk to you tomorrow. Keep it locked and loaded. Good content coming. We're going to preview the season, which is more fun in my mind. So I can't wait to do that. Talk poll predictions, make our record predictions. Nick, we did great with our record prediction 2022. Horrible with our record prediction last year. So I'm calling that one for one. Let's see if we can go to all of those horrible and we have three game three games off. Okay, I guess. Wait, we said nine or I thought we said 10. I said nine. You said 10. I said 10. Okay. I'm giving us a look. And this might be this might be a big headed of me might be conceded of me. I'm giving us more credit for 2022 than for our miscalculation with 2023 because we were one of the only podcasts and one of the only people who covered the giants professionally that deviated everybody was saying like four wins, five wins, we said nine wins, eight wins. I think in 2022, you're talking 2022. They would win 10 or nine last year last year. Everybody was saying nine or 10. And we were like eight, nine, 10. Yes, that's what we thought. But we acknowledged how tough the schedule was. Everything felt like it's the one six, which is really kind of crazy to be honest, because we're in no position to win six. They should have won like two or three games. Somehow they won frickin six played themselves out of the Drake mace. Sweet steaks. It's only going to work against that right now. Why did you mention that right now? I was just I was just calm down, Nick. I was just taking a deep breath. I was just happier. And now I'm stressed to get numb. You never watching Drake may tape, remember how fun that was? No, I don't want to go back to that. I don't want to go back to that. Neighbors is awesome. Okay, we wouldn't have had neighbors then at least we have that. I'm so excited about having 10 years of neighbors or maybe more. Hopefully it doesn't turn the OBJ route where you get sick of how bad the situation is around him. So just get him the football, just force the ball to this guy and he'll do the rest himself. All right, keep it locked and loaded. Please like, rate, subscribe, do all those things we've asked in the past. Have a great rest of your day and we'll talk to you soon. What's next at Moss Adams? That question inspires us to help people and their businesses strategically define and claim their future. 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