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So, multitask right now. Get your quote now at Progressive.com. Progressive Cash Relief Insurance Company and affiliates' national average 12-month savings of $744 by new customers surveyed, who saved with Progressive between June 2022 and May 2023. Potential savings will vary. Discounts not available in all states and situations. Wednesday edition of Pro Football Talk Live. It's gonna be a full weekend of football with one more game broken out from the pack. I have complained from time to time about how we wait all year long for football season to return. And then one o'clock Eastern on that first Sunday is the equivalent of Christmas morning with all of your presents spontaneously unwrapping themselves. And they're springing around the room, and you can't keep up. It's been 20 years or so now that they've broken out of Thursday night game to start the season. And now, we've got a Friday night game. For the first time since 1950, a week one Friday night game, we've got the Eagles and the Packers in Brazil. And I haven't seen anything about the X band since Friday. For all I know it's been resolved. But, you know, I texted the group about this yesterday. Twitter, X, whatever, whatever. You can call it either one, I guess. I texted the group yesterday to see if there was any. 'Cause, like, people are asking me, are they still gonna play the game? Like, why wouldn't they play the game in Brazil? Just because a social media platform is banned, that they're gonna uproot the game and just drop it into the game. And just drop it in Philadelphia? It doesn't make any sense. But people think... Because of that? Which, of course, people think plenty of things that don't make any sense. But there are people who think that they still might move the game, which is ridiculous at this point. Oh, I didn't realize that it would be for that. I thought it would be because of some other security. I mean, like, yeah, I don't really understand why you would move. I mean, like, having experienced when they moved a game from an international location to a home location, when the Rams were scheduled to play the Kansas City Chiefs, you know, in Mexico City. Oh, the field was a disaster. It was a disaster. The field was a disaster, right? Like, that's the reason that you would move it, right? That not because of something else. Unless, like, there was something else really, really serious going on. I'm sure the NFL has contingency plans, but that doesn't seem like that's anything that we need to worry about right now. Yeah. We're two days away from that game. That game is happening exclusively on Peacock, by the way, but on over-the-air channels in the markets involved Green Bay and Philadelphia. We've heard some chatter from some Eagles who aren't all that thrilled about going to Brazil. Haven't heard any of that from Packers players recently. Josh Jacobs said some things about it months ago. Here's Jordan Love talking about the difference he feels going into his second year as the full-time starter in Green Bay. Yeah, week one last year. You know, there's a lot going on. It's my first year starting. You know, there's so many question marks surrounding me, surrounding the team. So, you know, I definitely want to go out there and have a great performance, and I think we did that. But it was a stressful situation, but I was very trusted myself and was confident in my ability. And like I said, just treated like another game for me and went back, had to really go back to my college days. And my mindset for getting ready for game day and things like that because it's been a long time where you're not really processing. I'm starting this game off and taking the first nap and, you know, on the sideline, being able to kind of see what the defense is doing while the starter's out there. So, it's different, but yeah, I guess, you know, having that year under my belt makes it easier this year. On a lot more confidence than last year, it was rocky at first for the Green Bay Packers and for Jordan Love. About halfway through the season, it all changed and it culminated in the team getting to the division around, almost beating the San Francisco 49ers. And Jordan Love matching Jill Burrow and Trevor Lawrence as the highest paid player in NFL history at 55 million per year on new money average. So I think there's every reason for Love to feel a higher degree of confidence, comfort, and everything that goes along with going into that second season. You know, you mentioned CJ Stroud earlier, and this is a good compare and contrast because there are some that think, oh, wow, the defenses have had months to figure out what CJ Stroud does. And it's going to catch up with him, but nobody says that about Jordan Love. In theory, that could apply to Love, but I think part of it is because Love got so much better as the season went on. That's usually when you'd see a guy dip because they see the film and they figure out what he does well, what he doesn't do well, et cetera. The fact that he had that acceleration and that improvement late in the year, I think it makes it more likely is just going to pick up where he left off. And I think Stroud is still going to be fine too, but it's just weird to hear that about Stroud. Oh, they're going to figure him out. They've had months to figure him out. And nobody's saying that about Jordan Love, unless the take is he was so good, they just give it up trying to figure him out. I don't know if you can give him up trying to figure him out or all that, but I do agree that Jordan Love, you know, was really, really good toward the back half of the season. Last eight games, and this is something that I looked at once, and now I really can't forget, and so I did write it down too, so it's not that it's just off the cuff. But, you know, his last eight games, 18 touchdown, one interception, 70% completion rate. Like, that's really, truly elite stuff. So, that spam, he had a 1.12.7 passer rating, what pass rate was that mean, 18 over 100 is pretty good. And Lamar Jackson led the league last year at 102.7, so we're talking about somebody who's literally 10 points higher, all right, at that. And that's what he was doing over the last day game, so like I said, he was elite at the quarterback position in the last day games last year, that's part of why they were able to beat the brakes off the Cowboys, because he played so well. And then he gets to that next round against the 49ers, that doesn't go as well, but it's still a first year starter, you know, so I'm really high on the Packers this year. And it's in part because of what love was able to do in that second half of last year, where he and LaFloor were just on the same page pretty much every single week. And they continue to get things done. It's amazing how it unfolded too. I remember when Brian Gutikunz, the GM of the Packers was available to the media at their buy week and he made the comment, you know, these next eight games are very important for Jordan Love. They had him under contract for one more year. The money wasn't so significant, they couldn't have just eaten it and found somebody else. It's not like they had somebody they could have put in to test out, but still, he was basically playing for his future, his status as a starter. The contract that came with it and he went out and and season. Hey, if you're going to choose, do I want a guy who starts slow or finishes slow, I want the guy that starts slow and finds the gas pedal and takes off because he's getting it done in the higher pressure games of the season, carried it into the postseason, embarrassed the Cowboys and almost almost knocked off the 49ers would have set up a Packers Lions NFC Championship and that could be what happens this year. Okay, here's more from Jordan Love on what to expect from the Philadelphia defense when they get together in Brazil on Friday night. Yeah, it's definitely a challenge. You know, week one is always is and then you add on top of that new defense coordinator. So, you know, we're watching a lot of film from where they came from the dolphins and a lot of different stuff where, you know, you got to remember, you know, we're not playing some of the DB's that we might be watching on film, some of the guys in the dolphins, things like that. So, it's definitely tough. And then you add that part where you just don't know what they're going to do this year if they might be, you know, doing some new things defensively that we haven't seen in the past. So a lot of unknown. So, you know, you kind of just got to trust the rules of the game plan and, you know, kind of go out there and take that open drive to get a feel like we don't even know who might be out there DB wise, you know, front seven. So just taking that open and drive to get a feel for what their, you know, blitz flavor days might be and kind of how they're trying to play us. I think dolphins film from last year, far more relevant than Eagles film. I can't imagine the Eagles wanting to replicate anything they did on defense last year last year was a disaster. Fangio Vic Fangio comes up from Miami. I would be looking at every team Fangio his coach that Fangio defense the Fangio tree and try to plan for it that way. Now, you know, look, at a certain point, you just go out and run your plays and yeah, you're going to anticipate or at least try to what a defense is going to do. But if you've got a town with players, they've got to deal with you. They've got to figure out what you're going to do. They just can't show up with their formula and expect it to work. But I think it makes sense. Let's see what Fangio has done in the past. And that's the, that's the basis for figuring out what to expect when we see the Eagles defense new look equals defense in 2024. Yeah, no doubt. I think that you would go back to Mount Lefler's time with, you know, potentially the Titans if they play the Broncos then, right? Or if they played Broncos Packers since he's been there like that to me would be much more relevant in terms of the type of defensive scheme that you're going up against and that it's just a tough task. You know, if you're Matt Lefler to try and put together a good script for what you're going, you're going against an Eagles defense. Yeah, you know, some of the dudes that are there in probably what they do well and all that. But it's going to be a totally different scheme than what the Eagles were playing last year. And, you know, you'd like to think it's going to be one that's less ineffective, you know, and like that's about the nicest thing you could say about the Eagles defense down the stretch last year is that they were ineffective. Like that unit was ineffective. Yes, the ineffective. That's the kindest word you could come up with or anyone could come up with to explain the Eagles on both sides of the ball down the stretch last year. I mean, that's one of the great mysteries heading into 2024. What the hell happened last year and it's not like we're going to forget about it, especially if the Eagles struggle out of the gates in 2024. On that note, we're going to take a break when we return. We did this yesterday with the AFC. We're going to look at each division of the NFC and we're each going to pick one person from that division under the most pressure as the 2024 season prepares to get started. That's next here on the FT live. Draft King Sportsbook is the number one place to bet touchdowns and new customers can bet $5 and get $250 in bonus bets instantly plus get one month of NFL plus premium. Download the app and use promo code PFT live when you sign up. Pressure cooker time NFC division by division. Let's begin with the division that sucks most of the oxygen out of the room primarily because of the Dallas Cowboys, the NFC East, who do you have? Well, let's start there with the Cowboys. I'll go with Mike McCarthy because he's going into the last year of his contract. It doesn't seem like they have much or inclination to extend him. And look, the Cowboys did not do a lot to improve their roster over the course of this off season. Yeah, they did get the deal done finally with CD lamb. But I mean, if the Cowboys do not get off to a good start this year, then things are going to get very, very loud, very, very quickly for Mike McCarthy. And I don't know that Jerry Jones would make a coaching change in season, especially because Dan Quinn is not there any longer and you don't have that guy who is the natural successor to a Mike McCarthy and I'm on the coaching staff. But I mean, if things don't go well for Mike McCarthy, then it's going to be curtains for him in Dallas. And I think that does put a lot of pressure on a mic. Mike Zimmer, I mean, Mike Zimmer, with the quotes he gave recently about the Vikings and Rick Spielman, let's get, let's put him back on the sideline as the head coach. I want entertainment and it would be entertaining to have Zimmer as the interim head coach that Dallas Cowboys. I thought about McCarthy initially, but let me try this on you and I feel like we've had this conversation before because you're not familiar with the Simpsons. You weren't allowed to watch the Simpsons, which is fine. I can understand why it's not exactly the show that I would have wanted my son to watch in that same time frame. But with McCarthy, there's a certain point where the pressure is so obvious that you get used to it. It reminds me of when Bart Simpson asked his Sunday school teacher, "Do you eventually get used to hell? Is it like a hot bathtub?" So I feel like McCarthy in this hot bathtub eventually gets used to the pressure and it just becomes part of who he is. I think the guy under less obvious and thus maybe more pressure is Nick Seriani. We had the conversation yesterday about Eagles players popping off about going to Brazil. It's like, "Hey, if this guy's doing his job, if they're listening to him, if they respect him, they're not running out of the meeting room when he says, "This is our job. This is what we do. All the clichés that he spewed on Sunday, it works. You have your guys on the same page." And there's a question of, "Does he have his guys on the same page? Can he keep them on the same page? How much of these guys are freelancing? Has anything changed from last year? How responsible was he for the collapse and what really has been done to avoid it this year?" Look, you could even throw Brian Dayball in this mix too because Bill Belichick is hovering over that division. And one of those three teams is possibly going to hire him between the Giants and Eagles and the Cowboys, and it could be that John Merritt just decides, "I'm clean in house because if Belichick's going to land in one of those other two spots, I want him here. I want him." Yes. Yeah. So I thought about Seriani too and I almost broke the game in the initial aspect of it by making it a tie, but I think, "No, you bring up Brian Dayball. That's a dark horse." Because, I mean, you're kind of one hand tied behind your back when Daniel Jones is your starting quarterback, and that's not a great situation. And then your best player now plays for the Philadelphia Eagles in Saquon Barkley. So that definitely ratchets up the pressure, and you know, you talk about the fact that Bill Belichick's looming, that also does too. So, yeah. I mean, there's a lot of guys under some pressure there in the NFC East, I would say. By the way, you wouldn't have broken the game. If you had picked Seriani, I would have picked McCarthy. Oh, I know, but no, what I was saying is that I almost said that tie. I come to the table with two... I come... Oh, okay. All right. That would have broken. That would have broken. Yeah, you got to pick one. Exactly. Exactly. Okay. NFC North, you got to pick one. Who are you picking in the NFC North? Give me Matt Iberflus, because I think, especially because he's a defensive-minded head coach, right? And you've got somebody in Caleb Williams who, you know, you don't want to call him the savior because like that, that's putting too much pressure on the kid. But that's really what he is. You know, they made that trade with the Panthers. They gained the number one overall pick, and then you pick this guy who's shown some special qualities when he's been out there on the field. All right, so because of that, and because they were not, you know, a crappy team that inherited the number one overall pick because of that, last year the Bears, especially toward the end of the season, were playing some really darn good defense. You bring in guys that can support Caleb Williams offensively. I think they are really good offensive coordinator in Shane Waldron. Obviously, you bring in Keenan Allen, and then you draft Roma Dunes A. That team needs to be competitive. If not flat out good for them to then think, "All right, yeah, Matty, but Flus can get this done." I think he will be able to do it, but I think that there is a significant amount of pressure on him to make sure that this thing gets off to a smooth start to Caleb Williams era. I believe, and there's a chance that I'm misremembering that for every division we've done so far, I've picked a coach or a GM. I'm going to break that trend. My selection is Vikings quarterback Sam Darnold, and it's very simple. He will never be as set up for narrative changing success as he is now. You could say, "Well, career got off to a bad start because I was playing for the Jets, and the Jets have ruined many a quarterback. They possibly would have even ruined Patrick Mahomes if they'd been given the chance to do it." Then I went to the Panthers, which are currently one of the most dysfunctional teams in all of the national football league. He got thrust into the rule mismatch as a head coach, and that didn't work. That was a loss two seasons for him. Last year, he didn't play at all in San Francisco, Kyle Shanahan loved him. He might have gotten a shot. Remember when Brock Purdy had the concussion from the Monday night game? We thought we were going to see Sam Darnold on that following Sunday against the Bengals, but Purdy somehow got cleared on a six-day turnaround. We didn't see him. This is his chance now. Their offensive line is good enough. Oh, Justin Jefferson is on the team. Oh, Jordan Addison is on the team. TJ Hockinson will be back at some point. Aaron Jones went healthy as one of the better running backs in the NFL. There's no excuse now. And you have a coach who is one of the great game planners and play callers in the NFL. If Sam Darnold is seeing ghosts now, he's done. He may be able to hang around as a number two or a number three, but this is his, and he's still only like 28. This is his last best chance to prove to the NFL that he belongs under center on a regular basis. It's interesting because I thought about Sam Darnold too, but I think that in a lot of ways, the pressure is really not on him because he's not supposed to be there. So for me, it's almost like he's kind of playing with house money. And that's where it's like, you know, is that pressure? Is it not pressure? I mean, from your say, when you're saying it's his last best shot, I guess it is. But also that to me, I mean, to use the Bart Simpson example, right? I mean, I guess it sort of makes him a little bit more free in that way. And yeah, when you're throwing it to Justin Jefferson, man, like, things should go well for you. And if they don't, then that's on you. So I see we're going with that. But it's a rare situation where, yes, from an external perspective, there is no pressure because JJ McCarthy's injured, so nobody expects anything from Sam Darnold this year from his own career perspective. I mean, the fact that nobody expects anything from him underscores that it's been not good for him since he arrived at the third overall pick in 2018. This is his chance to change it. And if he doesn't do it now, he's going to be perennial backup. This is the year to turn it around. And, you know, even though come back player of the year, probably not available to him any longer. Thanks to Shireen Williams. They've implemented the Shireen Williams. You can't come back from sucking role, but he'll be that kind of guy potentially that all of a sudden we're like, whoa, what the hell? Who is this guy? Kind of like a Ryan Tannehill type of a transformation, although Tannehill was better than Darnold early in his career. But that's one of those like, whoa, hey, you know, one of those moments where we're all like, whoa, we didn't expect this. This is his chance to become that guy which unlocks potential millions in earnings. All right, let's pivot to the NFC South. Miles, who do you have there? Give me Bryce Young in part because, you know what, if we know one thing about David Tepper, he's not afraid to pull the plug and, you know, put that thing in another outlet or throw the drink. Yes. Yeah, I heard that too. And, you know, if you put drinks and plugs, that really could end in disaster. But I just feel like, you know, last year, things were not set up well for Bryce Young. I think we all understand that. I mean, they had the Frankenstein offense with Frank Reich and then also Thomas Brown coming from two different philosophies, and it clearly did not work. But, you know, going into this year now, if now says his head coach got to see something from Bryce Young, because like I said, even though he was the number one overall pick and they traded up to get that thing, you don't know what the hell David Tepper is going to want to do in order to try to solve the quarterback position if it doesn't appear to be Bryce Young after the first two years. So I think that does put him under a significant amount of pressure. The offense should be better this year. I don't know how it could be much worse. So that should help him. They've got a couple more weapons. I think Laguette should be really good for them. But like I said, it's just because of everything that we know that David Tepper has done and how unpredictable he can be. I think this is a really, really significant year for Bryce Young. I was tempted to go with someone from the Saints, whether it be Derek Carr, who's in essentially the year that is up or out for his contract. They can move on from him after this season. He's been there and done that before he's lived through that. Dennis Allen, they've been calling for him to get fired for, I don't know, ever since he got hired. I think that the owner there is very patient and believes in continuity. So I pivoted to my good friend Kirk Cousins, just because of the circumstance that he's in. 36, coming off of the Tourniquilles tendon, with your successor drafted in the top 10 before you've ever even officially worn the helmet. I mean, at least Aaron Rodgers had been with the Packers for 15 years before they drafted his replacement. You have just shown up. They're issuing your employee badge. You're filling out the HR forms and in walks the guy who's going to replace you. Are you kidding me? And it puts pressure on Cousins to come out and pick up where he left off last year. Because what's going to happen if Kirk Cousins struggles at all? What's going to happen? The media, the fans, the players in the locker room. Let's see what Michael Pennics can do. So there is a ton of pressure on Kirk Cousins to come out and not just be healthy, but be who he was last year. With a new coaching staff, with new weapons. I don't know that what last year was the culmination of his time with Kevin O'Connell is something that translates to starting off hot and staying hot when the guy that's going to replace you at some point. After this year, after next year, maybe during this year, who knows is sitting there waiting and see ready to play. If there is one positive of that aspect of things, it's that he's going from one system to another similar offensive system, right? Kevin O'Connell came from the Rams coach under Sean McVay. Zach Robinson, who is the new offensive coordinator there under Raheem Morris in Atlanta, also came from the LA Rams under Sean McVay. So you'd think that there would be some sort of offensive continuity there, but still you. You're playing with different guys, different weapons, Drake, London, Kyle Pitts, Bijon Robinson. Those are very talented guys, but you still have to be able to get those live snaps in that live chemistry established. We'll see if that happens quickly. That's a great point. I mean, the similarities and offense will be an advantage. I remember last year at the scouting combine Kevin O'Connell being very effusive and enthusiastic about the fact that for the first time ever Kirk Cousins had the same voice in his helmet for two straight years. And look at what it did. When you go O'Connell 2022 into 2023, even though they started off slowly, they were having a lot of turnovers, a lot of games that fell their way. The prior year weren't falling their way last year. Cousins was still playing really well and he had arguably the best game of his career on that Monday night against the 49ers six days before the Achilles tendon went and that was that. All right, NFC West, who do you have? Tyler Murray, because what has he done? You know, and I know that he's been dealing with the injury for the last couple seasons, even before that. I mean, the Cliff Kingsbury era was not very impressive to me when it comes to the Arizona Cardinals. But I think this is one of those years where you got to say, all right, let's get this show on the road. You know, let's show that the great manifesto of what the 2022 offseason can really pay some dividends at this point when it comes to Kyle or Murray. I think this is a guy that is not even throwing for 30 touchdowns at any point in his career. I want to see more from him. And I think there's not necessarily pressure on it, Jonathan Ganon, who I think did a pretty all right job. You know, last year, given the circumstances of the roster, the fact that your quarterback didn't play until more than halfway through the year and all that. But I think that there is some pressure on Tyler Murray here because we just have not seen him be a great quarterback yet in his career. And they've got to be getting close to the point. I'm going to try to multitask here and pull this up. They've got to be getting close to the point where they can move on from Kyle or Murray with manageable cap consequences, minimal guaranteed money owed to him because we're getting a little deeper and deeper into that contract, third year of that long term contract. I thought about Murray, my fall back, and I don't know if it's fall back. It's about co, co equal, Gino Smith in Seattle. The contract he signed after his first year as a starter, three years, 100 million. Well, then he is. Well, it's three years, 75 million, about 25 million in incentives. And oh wait, look, it's year to year because they can get out of it after any given year. And they chose to keep him after 2023. They have Sam Howell, who, John Schneider, the GM of the team, was gushing about after they traded for him. He started 17 games last year, one of the not many quarterbacks in the NFL who started every regular season game for his team through for a lot of yards, gave the Seahawks fits when the commanders traveled up there for a regular season game. So they've got their guy in house and they've got the opportunity to go anywhere they want after this year. They're new head coach. Now, it's kind of weird because new GM wants his own coach, new coach wants his own quarterback. GM has been there since 2010, but John Schneider fully in charge now hires Mike McDonald. It creates a scenario where they may go in a different direction, a quarterback if Gino Smith doesn't play well enough. And it's, it's that simple. And there was some talk that maybe he wanted greater security, a new contract, whatever. He's feeling it. He understands he's on a year to year arrangement and it may be week to week with Sam Howell there as they break in this new coaching staff if Gino Smith doesn't perform at a high level. Yeah, it could be week to week or minute by minute or you know what, maybe Mike McDonald wants to take that quarterback search to the streets once they get to the off season. We never know. Well done. Well done. Any more, any more you can think of? I was really scrambling if I'd taken it to the. I keep forgetting. I know. All right. Let's take a break. Let's take a break. Dan Campbell and the Lions opened up the checkbook for Jared Goff this off season and with more money comes greater responsibility. We'll discuss that next year on PFT Live. With the $5 meal deal at McDonald's, you pick a McDouble or a McChicken, then get a small fry, a small drink, and a four-piece McNuggets. That's a lot of McDonald's for not a lot of money. Price and participation may vary for a limited time only. Hey Applebee's, congrats on becoming the official grill and bar sponsor of the NFL. How does it feel? I'm glad we'll be able to bring some eggs to heat. Any plans to celebrate? Yeah, we got to serve up America's favorite boneless wings for just 50 cents each to get off the season. Limited time, price participation in selection may vary, tax and gratuity excluded. The NFL on CBS streams live on Paramount Plus all season long. Why Paramount Plus? Stream the NFL on CBS and you can watch your local game live every week and catch featured national games. That includes pivotal afternoon matchups, the Thanksgiving game, and the postseason all streaming live on Paramount Plus. Visit paramountplus.com/nfl to sign up today. Another great season of the NFL on CBS awaits, streaming live on Paramount Plus. Man, we're excited. I'm excited. The staff is excited. The players, everybody's. And I know our fans are ready to roll, so this is going to be great. I haven't had a haircut in a while, but thank you. It's good. It's good. I can't figure out what that T-shirt said. Did it say anti-fragile? Is that what it said? I saw a fragile there. Anti-fragile. Looked Italian. Looked Italian to me. Anti-fragile. The Detroit Lions. Anti-fragile and I can't taste something underneath something work. I don't know. Need to get one of those T-shirts just so I can read the damn thing. Look, the expectations are higher for the Lions. They are the hunted for the first time that I can remember. I mean, they had some good seasons with Barry Sanders, but they never really had a great season. The farthest they went was the NFC Championship in 1991. Now, they're the team that a lot of people think is the Super Bowl favorite coming out of the NFC. They were up 17 points in the championship game in San Francisco, blew that. Look, I'm probably going to pick them to go very deep into the postseason field again, but we'll see. Can they finish this climb? Do they have the personnel to get it done? We're going to talk more about their quarterback, but the question is, is Jared Goff the guy who's going to make big throw in a big spot? We saw him not do that with the Rams in Super Bowl 53 when Brandon Cooks was wide open in the end zone. Will he make the throw when the opportunity comes, either in NFC Championship or Super Bowl, that gets them to their first Super Bowl whenever? Look, he's been everything that we hoped he would be and then some. I mean, really, he's, I think what he brought was, you know, at the least he brought just a stable piece for us, a steady, reliable guy who, you know, behind center is going to do what we asked him to do, man. We take care of him, he'll take care of the football, he's going to move it and he'll be efficient and he'll be our captain, you know. And that's at the least and what we got was so much more. So we got that and through the years, these last three years, he's just continued to grow and gotten better and gotten better. And honestly, I think he just wants more and he continues to challenge himself and the more he does that, the more we load him up. The more we ask him to do, the more we put on his plate because he can handle it and he wants it. That's on me, Miles, by the way. What happens is we know the sound is coming and the idiot, me, dances around it just enough to make somebody in the back room think I was calling for the sound. I didn't mean to, but it's on me for creating the impression that I was. So now that we've heard Dan Campbell talk about Jared Goff, I just wonder, he's got the money and I'm surprised they paid him. I thought he fell into that category of guys, you know, because we saw the Rams learn this the hard way in 2019. I thought he fell into the category of guys where the team's potentially going to say, "Nah, we're not doing it, we'll go find somebody else." They had Hendon Hooker on the roster still do, they gave him the big money and I don't know that I'm going to give the guy a market level contract and just say, "Now I hope you perform better." I'm going to pay him based upon what I've already seen and whether or not I can project with or without the money to believe that he is going to take it to the next level. Well, the thing that I think is the biggest deal of the entire Lions 2024 season is that they have been Johnson back as their offensive coordinator. And that continuity is really, really, really huge. I mean, you know, for whatever reason, he wasn't interested in Job in Washington, decided that he wanted to have that unfinished business, right, with the Detroit Lions. And I think just the fact that that's the guy that Jared Goff has performed as well as he has with him calling the plays, that's a really significant thing. So with Goff, you know, like you brought up, I mean, last time he got the big contract, did not necessarily perform as well as the Rams needed him to perform, they move on, they go get Matthew Stafford and they win a Super Bowl. So, look, Goff has done some really good things over the course of his career, I know that. But now it is a matter of saying, "Okay, let's take this thing to the next level." And, you know, yeah, you say, "Oh, he can handle more, he wants the animal." Well, he better be, right? Like, he's the number one overall pick, and he's in year eight now. This is where the rubber ends to meet the proverbial road, especially if we're going to talk about the Detroit Lions. So, I just feel like he can't be a passenger. He's got to really be driving this thing. And I think he has the ability to do that. But there are places where he's got to improve so that you don't see the limitations as much. Because I think that was part of the issue in the second half against the 49ers. We saw the limitations with Goff, right? He's got to be able to sort of negate those in a way that, you know, where the above the neck allows you to make the plays that you need to make. That sometimes you may or may not have the physical traits or attributes that some other quarterbacks have. Like, that's where your mindset, your mentality, your knowledge of defenses and different things like that has got to be able to take you over the top. And especially going into year eight, like I said, that's where Goff has to have the separation there. You know, now you've got me running everything you say through the filter in my brain as to whether or not it's a Doobie Brothers reference. And, you know, you're talking about cars. I'm thinking, is this a rockin' down the highway? Is he going with those lyrics? Not really. Like, where is this leading? But with Jared Goff, the question is where does it ultimately lead? And it's been a great story to see the Rams basically attach a first round pick to Jared Goff to get him out of their building. It was overlooked when the trade happened, Matthew Stafford, Jared Goff, plus the Rams give up two first round picks and a third round pick. It was a one and a three for Stafford and a one to please take Jared Goff away. That's how badly he was rejected by the Rams. And they did it in a respectful way. It worked out perfectly. Brad Holmes had just become the GM of the Lions. He had been with the Rams. They worked it out. I remember Washington former GM Martin Mayhew was upset. They didn't get a chance to get Matthew Stafford. Guess what? Nobody was getting a chance to get Matthew Stafford. This is the way it was going to happen because it was the perfect way for the Rams to unload Jared Goff in the least offensive way possible. But he knows what they did. They know what they did. And he's been fueled by that. Oh, and he gets a shot at him right out of the gates this year. But this will be great to see if he can become a guy that we all kind of assumed he wasn't going to be. In 2019 was advocating publicly for the Rams to not sign him. But at some point we've got to end this notion that, hey, you know, it's pass/fail. We drafted you. And you're on the pass side. So you become the highest paid player in league history. At some point that has to short circuit. And I thought it was going to with Goff then. And then I thought it was going to do it now. But maybe they do see something. Maybe they do believe another year with Ben Johnson. They can have him do more that won't overwhelm him. That won't cause him to hit a ceiling or just otherwise implode. But that's one of the great questions. Look, when you get to the best of the best teams. When you know Patrick Mahomes is lurking. Or Josh Allen. Or Lamar Jackson. Or Joe Burrow. Or Aaron Rodgers. You better have somebody who can step up and go toe to toe with one of the best quarterbacks in football. Because most of them are residing currently in the AFC. Most of them are. But I mean, look, we were talking about Jordan Love earlier. Who's to say that Jordan Love's not one of those guys. And that's in their own division. You know? Good point. That's where I'm like, you know. They got to play the Packers twice this year. And, you know, look, yeah, the Lions now are the ones that are hunted. But it's not like there are teams in their own division that aren't hunters. And, you know, you can say, "K.O. Williams, he's a rookie." Yeah. But that's another guy that you would think is going to be coming after you. So they're not that many great, great quarterbacks. Let's say in the NFC. But you got potentially two in your own division. Matthew Stafford, another one of those guys. It's really, really darn good. And also, and they got them week one. So yeah, well, we'll see what happens. But like I said, if you're Jared Goff, you got to want more. And you should be able to handle more. And you got to continue to raise that level of play. By the way, the T-shirt is anti-fragile. It takes more. I like it. I'm just -- yeah, I'll just say let's hope that the season goes better than the T-shirt slogan selection process. I've seen many T-shirts slogan over the years. Anti-fragile, it takes more. What does that even mean? Is there a tougher way to put anti-fragile? Well, you know what? Don't be soft about the criticism of your crappy T-shirt slogan then. Anti-fragile stinks. And if you're not fragile, you'll accept it and come up with a better T-shirt slogan. All right, let's take a break. Stefan Diggs has a message for those who would say he's possibly lost a step or two. That's next on this Wednesday edition of PFT Live. Stefan Diggs, the missing piece for the Texans offense. I won't speak on being a missing piece, but I will say what I bring to the table can help this team win amongst the other guys that they brought in like Danil Hunter. Joe Mixon, with hopes of getting exactly where we want to come. Stefan Diggs is the top I receive in an F-R right now. So, opinion based. Of course, you'll have Quora opinions, Yahoo opinions, Twitter opinions, Facebook opinions, Instagram opinions about XYZ and I respect everybody's opinion. Stefan Diggs, I love Stefan Diggs. He is fiery. He is determined. And if things don't go his way, he's not afraid to say or do things about it. It has led to him being traded by the Vikings, traded by the Bills. Neither was all that much of a surprise, especially not the Bills trade. I think the timing was just because they could have done it before last season with the same cap consequences if they'd done it after June 1. And maybe things would have been better last year if that dynamic wasn't hovering over them. But fresh start. Smart for the Texans to give him a little bit of a raise. One year deal. So he's got an incentive to play well. He's got an incentive to get along. And then he'll find out, as we all will, what the next step for him is after this season. It sets up for potential success for Diggs. It all comes back to what he still has left in the tank. This is year 11 for him. It is 10 or 11. I'll look it up. Because he was drafted in 2015 and it's 2024. So it must be 10, right? Am I crazy? Unless he was drafted in 2014. That's my question. It was the 14 or 15. I'll have an answer. I want to say it was so it is 10. Yeah. So you're 10. And look, I mean, Cifondigs I think is a great player. I really do. But, you know, there were production issues last year from him. You know, when you come to the back half of the season, didn't have a 100 yard game. So like, that's where, you know, if Cifondigs is willing to be the kind of role player, maybe, and like that, sometimes I know it's a pejorative term. But it's true, you know, he's not, in my opinion, one of the top two guys on the Houston Texans roster at receiver right now. So that's where, yeah, he can be a really good weapon, but is he going to feel good about the role that he plays on the Texans? I hope the answer is yes. I really do. He had some comments to GQ and this is the time of year where it seems about like every year, an article emerges with some fairly controversial comments from a player who might say on the back end, I was taken out of contact, started, you know, recorded. We've had some of those dust ups in the past. Dig said, and I'm just going to focus on one part of it. You can't roll out of bed and get 800 yards in the first eight games. Your best receiver is doing that. You tell me about the last 10, what change, where the change is going on. I just pay attention to what really happened and not what people try to act like happened. For the last 10 games, I forgot how to effing play football. And he's referring to the fact that he was averaging 100 yards a game out of the gates last year. I think it was six or seven games. It turned after Joe Brady replaced Ken Dorsey as offensive coordinator and Diggs basically became the forgotten man. On the incompletion to Khalil Shakir in the end zone that preceded the missed field goal against the chiefs in the division around, Diggs was wide open underneath. So he got phased out of the offense. That's why I don't think it hurts the Bills as much as some would say to lose Diggs because they weren't using Diggs the way that another team might. So yeah, it's nothing inherent to him. You don't suddenly fall off during a season. He still had it during the season, but he no longer fit what the Bills were trying to do. Yeah, and that's one of the issues, right? You know, Stefan Diggs is a guy that wants to win. So, and this is the thing that we say about really all great receivers. If they're not getting the ball and the team is still winning, then they still feel okay. But if they're not getting the ball and the team's not winning, then that's when they're going to create the issues because it's like, Hey, I am one of the best guys here. And if you get me the ball, I'm going to help the team win. So now there's a tension there. But I mean, if you look at the Bills offense, like under Brady versus what they were doing under Dorsey, I mean, it was more effective. So that's kind of where that tension was. And now Stefan Diggs is no longer a Buffalo Bill. All right, let's do a quick draft here of the best new quarterback to receiver combinations for 2024. Who do you have? So I do think that Stefan Diggs and CJ Stroud are going to be good, but I'm going to go to the NFC East. I'm going to start with Jane Daniels and Terry McLaurin. And it's mostly because Terry McLaurin is one of the kind of underrated guys. You know, I think people understand that he's a really good player, but he's been one of the most consistent receivers in football. He's had at least a thousand yards each of the last four seasons. And he hasn't missed a game since 2020. That's kind of difficult to do as a receiver. You just get banged up over that position. He's been doing this with really bad quarterback play. I mean, it just has not been good. So if you can get him a guy, they can actually deliver him the football with consistency. I think the sky's the limit for Terry McLaurin. So I'm excited to see that combo line. I will go with Sam Darnold and Justin Jefferson just because I would go with any quarterback and Justin Jefferson because it's Justin Jefferson. Just throw it in the vicinity and he'll go make something happen. And I do believe Sam Darnold is going to play well. I think he has had a bad hand dealt to him to start his career with the Jets and then with the Panthers. I think that he can get it done. There already seems to be reason for optimism. And again, with Justin Jefferson, you can put Nathan Peterman out there. That's just the first mid-level to middle-level quarterback I caught up. Wow. You can put Nathan Peterman out there. You can put one of us out there and I feel good about it. How about that? You can put one of us out there and I feel good about it. All right, who else do you have? Give me Patrick Mahomes and save you're worthy. And I could probably put Hollywood Brown in this category too, but he's not going to be healthy. He's not going to play this week. But you know what, when you have a guy that's got that kind of top-end speed and then you've got Patrick Mahomes arm and then the guys that all those guys are playing around, I think that this is going to be one of the more lethal combinations in the national football league, especially when it comes to the deep ball. So I'm really looking forward to seeing how worthy stretches the field with Mahomes. Yes, and I'm sure that Mahomes is very excited to be able to throw to the fastest guy ever based upon the 40-yard dash at the scouting combine. Although, what was it that I saw? They did one of those documentaries. There was a documentary about the draft on the clock, I think it was on Roku. I sensed a little skepticism from the scouts in attendance about the official time. Like, you know, somebody shaved off a hundredth of a second just to make sure worthy had the record. I will go with, man, we can go Caleb Williams and Keenan Allen. We can go Caleb Williams and DJ Moore. I'm going to go off of the predetermined board and say Caleb Williams and Roma Dunesay because they're coming in, joined at the hip, same draft class, flew into Chicago for the visit together. They've always had that connection and that's the one that's going to last longer. One of the things Patrick Holmes learned when he got to the NFL. I'm not going to be with all these receivers my whole career. There's going to be two, three, four cycles of guys. Dunesay is the guy who's going to last the longest with Caleb Williams because he's getting there the year Williams arrived of the guys on the team. There'll be younger guys that may be there longer, but of the guys currently available to Caleb Williams, Dunesay is the guy that Williams is going to form that bond with that's going to last deeper into their respective careers. I love that pick and, you know, when we saw that really impressive throw that Williams had, you know, moving to his left in that preseason game, that's the guy he threw to was Roma Dunesay. So, to me, it looks like they already have that established chemistry. So, I really like that pick. I'm also going to maybe cheat here, but I'm going to go with Aaron Rodgers and Garrett Wilson for my last pick. That is cheating. That is cheating. But, you know what? Well, we saw it for four snaps last year. So, you know what? By all intents and purposes, it's basically new. And if Garrett Wilson can do what he's done with bad quarterback play, then what can he do within a healthy Aaron Rodgers who also can do things, you know, that we've rarely seen on an NFL field before. So, I know it's cheating, but to me, it's basically new. So, that's why I'm going to say, you know, it's like a certified pre-owned used car. It's basically new. It's barely a year old. Give me that one. No, it's not. No, it's not. No, it's not. No, it's not. No, once it's off the lot, it's a used car. Even if you go four blocks down the street, it's a used car. I'll go to Daniel Jones and the league neighbors just because I'm so excited to see what Malik neighbors can do. And I think he's going to be great, even with Daniel Jones, not clearly the preferred quarterback choice for the New York Giants. Neighbors might change their minds. Neighbors might be so good with Jones that they decide to keep it rolling. All right, we'll keep it rolling with more PFT Live right after this. I'm not going to lie. I made it a little bit more difficult than it needed to at the end. I mean, it was like that for me from, I'm not going to say the whole time, but for about the past month, I think we were pretty good. Brandon Ayuk, look, he spent months trying to get paid. They could have gotten it for 27 before Ammon Ross St. Brown. They could have got it for 28 after that. They ended up paying him 30 million per year and new money on a four-year contract. He got what he wanted. Trent Williams got what he wanted as well. One thing I'm going to be working on after we're done today, trying to figure out whether or not his fines were waivable. We've just been led to believe that anyone not operating under a rookie contract can't have holdout fines waived. It's possible. It's possible. Williams are waivable. And when you look at everything, all told, it's about five million bucks miles that he would be fined and possibly can't be waived for his absence from training camp and the preseason. Oh, my God. I've given up five million dollars just to make a point. Oh, my gosh. Wow. What a country. I'm going to go on Trent Williams for sticking by his principles and getting that done, man. But, man, goodness, five million dollars. Oh, boy, that's a lot of money to give up. And he got more money. But if the fines aren't waivable, obviously, that new money is going to have to cover the five million or so that he will have in non-waivable fines. But that's something we're looking into because there's some interesting questions there that I won't bore you with now. Here's Trent Williams talking about the fact that the next guy up for a new contract in San Francisco is the guy who isn't eligible for one until after this regular season, Brock Purdy. I wanted to get every resident that they deserve, every resident that they can. So, Brock is obviously outplayed, a mystery relevant contract. So, I mean, I would be thrilled, absolutely thrilled to not only see that to watch his life change, you know, after something like that because he deserved it. There's any great American story that you can look for in that field. It's just one right here. You know, nobody ever thought that he could do what he did. Still doesn't look the part when you bring in your last first round quarterback. He's probably going to look at it and be like, he doesn't fit, but he's better than all of them. And I think his place speaks for himself. So, super, super proud of him. I love the kid of death. He deserves every dollar coming his way. And yeah, I want to be a part to help him get to what exactly he deserves. Can't get a new contract until after this season, Miles. And I almost felt like he was going to insult him there. He doesn't look the part. He doesn't look like he's as good, but he's better than all of the others. I don't know that he's better than all of them. We'll find that out this year. Put a pin in any thought you might have on that, Miles. We have to take a break. We'll wrap things up right after this. Boy, Gary picked some tough trivia questions. Good Lord. Name the three current head coaches who are undefeated in week one. I know Nick Cionni is one of them. Nick Cionni, I believe, is one of them. And I could not tell you the other two. I mean, DeMico Ryan's would be one. Did they win last year, week one or lose? I can't remember. No, they played Baltimore, so they lost. No, they lost to the Ravens, so the hell with that. Antonio appears to be here. Technically undefeated. Well, yeah, but he's never been in week one. Jim Harbaugh's 493. Oh, I thought I was going to be impressed for a second. I realized they put the answers in the sheet. Thanks for some of your time. See you tomorrow. 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