Ranking the Top 10 NFL Offenses for the 2026 Season!

Welcome to the Ring or NFL show. I'm your host, Shield Kapadia. Today we are going on the record

and identifying what we believe to be the top 10 offentists in the NFL going into the 2026

season fun exercise. I like to do it every summer to really go on the record with takes.

Alright, how good do I think each of these units is actually going to be. My guess today is

the ringer's Dion Taley will count them down. We'll start with 10. We'll see where we agree.

We'll see where we disagree. I think there are going to be some disagreements in this one and we'll

talk it all out. Alright, let's take a break. We come back with Dion Taley.

This episode of the Ring or NFL show is presented by Orgain. Orgain creatine helps improve muscle

size strength and power when combined with a regular exercise and weight training routine.

Plus it's certified with informed choice, which means it's tested for prohibited substances

in sports. Upgrade your performance with Orgain creatine available at Amazon, Costco, Walmart,

and Whole Foods. These statements have been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration.

This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.

For adults with Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis symptoms, every choice matters.

Tremphaya offers self-injection or intravenous infusion from the start.

Tremphaya is administered as injections under the skin or infusions through a vein every four

weeks followed by injections under the skin every four or eight weeks. If your doctor decides

that you can self-inject Tremphaya, proper training is required. Tremphaya is a prescription

medicine used to treat adults with moderately to severely active Crohn's disease and adults with

moderately to severely active ulcerative colitis. Serious allergic reactions increased risk of

infections or lower ability to fight them and liver problems may occur. Before treatment,

get checked for infections and tuberculosis. Tell your doctor if you have an infection,

flu-like symptoms, or need a vaccine. Explore what's possible. Ask your doctor about

Tremphaya today. Call 1-800-526-7736 to learn more or visit TremphayaRadio.com.

This episode is brought to you by Google Chrome. You think you know a browser, but Gemini

and Chrome? That's new. It can help you with practically anything on the web,

like restoring a vintage motorcycle from a 50-page restoration block, or finally break down that

long article you've had open for weeks. Gemini and Chrome is here for it. Ready to make anything

online make sense? There's no place like Chrome. Check responses set up require compatibility

and availability varies 18 plus.

All right, we are back here on the Ring or NFL show with my friend, Dion Teyly. We've done this

before, Dion Tey, I don't know how many years we've done it or whatever, but we have ranked the

top 10 offense is going into the season. I like to do one through 32 offense, one through 32 defense,

just every summer, basically, to get in my head. How do I feel about these teams? Because I noticed

that I had like 10 teams written down initially that I was like, oh, they're in the 15 to 20 range,

and it's like, she'll, they can't, 10 teams can't be in the 15 to 20 range. I thought this was

actually quite a challenging exercise to narrow it down to 10. I thought that there were maybe

17, 18 teams that you could really make a case for here. Like, I don't, I don't know what you guys

might have been arguing about at your lunch tables back in your middle and high school, but I remember

when we used to debate things like the top five or top 10 rappers of all time, you just aren't

throwing names out. And then eventually you're like, we're talking about 18 people for a 10

for a 10 person list. Like we have to trim some of this. I think that I struggle with that. I also

found myself just being more bullish. I think on more offenses across the league than I thought I would

have been going into this exercise. I think we'll try to do defenses next week, and I feel like

it's the opposite. Offense, I felt like I could have easily gotten to 15, 18 where I'm like, they

have a chance to be in the top 10. And you look at the defenses around the NFL, and there's, you know,

there's like five, you're like, I feel really good about them. And then you're just like, man,

I have no idea, you know, these, all these other deeps. So it is different. Offense is in defense.

It's okay. We're going to do top 10s. We're going to start with 10. I think here's how we do it,

Deontay will start with you. You give me your number 10. You make the case. If I have that team

elsewhere on my list, I'll tell you where I have them. And we just spend time talking about that

team. And then I'll give you my 10 and then we'll kind of work our way up to the top five,

the top three, and eventually who we have as the best offense. So get us started. Number 10 on

Deontay's list of projected best offenses in the NFL in 2026. Who do you got?

I've got Jacksonville at 10 here. And like, this was, this was a cluster for me between like 10 and 14

where this really is like, how do I feel getting out of bed in the morning, making this pick? I think

that for Jacksonville, for me, with Jacksonville, and I think specifically with Liam Cohen, and one of

the things just throughout this exercise I kept coming back to is, what did I see on film last year

that felt the most stable? And we talked a lot about Jacksonville. I think this offseason and ways

in which that they may regress, they might not have. I don't think anybody should expect them to be

as hot to start this upcoming season as they were down the stretch of the last six to eight weeks

last year. But one of the things that we saw them kind of building on a week by week basis

was an ability to find explosive runs and ability to find early down success in the run game.

And then I think after they traded for Jacobi Myers and you started to see more of a breakout from

Parker Washington, you started to see the ball get out of Trevor Lawrence's hands quickly underneath,

allowing guys to go create after the catch and then on third downs having these dependable guys

that can help you move the chains. I think I just come back on the whole just something like,

this is an offense that isn't necessarily complete yet, right? Like I still think we need to see

Ryan Thomas Jr. step into the role that I think Jacksonville ultimately wants for him being that

unguardable extra-seer option. But they've got a solid enough offensive line. You've got a great

play designer, Liam Cohen. You have a quarterback that has all the physical tools and as we saw in the

second half of last season when he's not turning the ball over or taking unnecessary sacks,

he can keep a good offensive float. He can't, it's not just average, he can genuinely be the

driving force in the passing game for an offense that is above average. That is in that top eight,

top 10 area across the league. And I think I have a lot of trust in that as well as the explosive

play potential with some of their best players. Like I would not be surprised at all if we're sitting

here at the beginning of October and Jacksonville has a high-

explosive play rate in the league because they do have so many guys with game breaking speed and you've

got a great offensive play collar to design plays for those players. I love the word you use trust

there because that's really what I think the Jaguars ranking comes down to. I don't have them on my list.

I had them on my list. You know, I have five or six just missed. They were just missed for me.

I want to see it again from Trevor Lawrence and Liam Cohen because I think they really,

you're right by the end of last season. I mean, I was taken back to the playoffs. Like if you were

predicting that the Jaguars could make the Super Bowl, you weren't crazy. Like they were playing really

well towards the end of the season there, going into the postseason. It felt like you said they found

something after that Jacobi Myers trade was sort of, it feels weird to say. It's not like

Pukka, Pukka Niko or JSN, but it's like he really did kind of help them as a complimentary piece with

the other players that they have. And they only had him for what half the season and now they get him

for the full season. So I do like that. I do believe in Liam Cohen. I think he's a fun character

because he seems willing to antagonize other teams, other coaches mix it up, which listen, I grew up

at a time where there were a lot of characters in the NFL. Robert Seller in the same division now.

So we might get some fireworks. I love it. I'm a pretty, I'm probably a little bit slower to embrace

the Trevor Lawrence has found it now. He has all the physical tools he's putting it all together.

I have no questions about it. Then maybe some others. I see the upside. He absolutely played better

last year was nice to see him and kind of an offensive infrastructure like that. I just kind of

need to see it again from both these guys. Because Cohen's personality is a little volatile. You know,

I'm like, huh, if this doesn't go well, like, you know, what's that building going to be like? I don't

necessarily love the move their front office has made. But I don't think you're, you know, like I

said, they just miss on mine. And that was just because I didn't have that full trust that what we

saw in the second half of last year is going to carry over. Because if you look at the whole season,

they were 14th in EPA per drive, 14th in DBOA. Like if you take the bigger sample, it wasn't quite as good

as my head remembered. But again, it got better as the season went on last year.

I mean, your point about Trevor Lawrence is well made, right? And I think that for me,

the question that is just going to hover outside of like Travis Hunter or what his usage is going to be

and Brian Thomas Jr. and whether or not he can take a step forward again, the way that you look

does a rookie if he can kind of recapture some of that. The real question to me is just like,

what do you actually believe about this offense? Do you believe that Trevor Lawrence just got hot

for a little bit? Or do you believe that the last half of that season and really how they played in

a playoff game against Buffalo as well? Because I thought that he played pretty well prior to that

game ending interception too, it's whether or not you believe that Liam Cohen provides him with the

high enough floor that Trevor Lawrence just has not had in his career where the structure is not

going to bottom out around him and force him to be a quarterback. But we just haven't really seen

in the league, right? I think that what we've seen where there's been Urban Meyer on the last two

seasons with Doug Peterson is that when the structure of the offense falters, we just have not seen

often enough Trevor Lawrence be able to go into, you know, that Patrick Mahomes, I can bail you out

of any situation that Josh Allen, you know, that elite tier of quarterbacks where it almost doesn't

matter what the play call is, it can make anything look good because they can extend plays because

they can push the ball downfield because they are a threat as a scramble. He obviously has pieces

of each of those tools that I have named. We just haven't seen it consistently enough to make us

believe that, hey, if it's the second half and this team is trailing 14 points and Liam Cohen

doesn't have his fastball that Trevor Lawrence is the guy that's going to drag you out of it.

I think that maybe I'm just leaning more on the side of Cohen has bought enough good will with me

to make me believe that what we saw on the ground game, what we saw on the play action, the screen

game, some of those quick passes is something that you can replicate from last year to this year

and that might be enough to kind of buttress some of the other volatility that might make me feel a

little bit more uncertain about where this offense is right now. Yeah, I mean Cohen's done it back

to back seasons, different quarterbacks, different personnel, different teams. So, you know, I don't

think anyone's wrong to be bullish on it. I personally just want to see another year there. All right,

so Deontay's got the Jaguars. Number 10, I don't have them in my top 10. This one we might be

spending an hour on. I'm not sure. Deontay. Because I don't know if you're going to tell me I'm crazy

because they're too low or I don't know if you're going to tell me you don't have them in your top 10.

I've got the Kansas City Chiefs. This is who I was hoping we were talking about. At number 10. Okay,

so the case for the Chiefs is pretty obvious. You just say there are maybe two quarterbacks in the NFL,

maybe more than that if you want to add a couple of, but my homes and Josh Allen, we can say if they're

healthy and on the field, the floor is going to only be so low for that offense. We've seen it with

a big sample. We've seen it with different personnel around them. And I was even looking at the

numbers last year, but before my homes got injured, if you just look at how the offense was playing,

it was actually fourth in EPA per play. Like, just this is only statistically. I know our I test,

didn't match it. I understand we watched the games, but just statistically, the performance of that

offense with my homes last year was on the same level as a team like the Cowboys. It was better

than what we saw from the Bears and the 49ers. So I looked at that and I go, all right, you know,

he's I know he's coming off the injury. Maybe I should have him even higher than this. But then I

just looked at the pieces around him. They fixed and they didn't fix the pieces around him. The

pieces that made us so frustrated, not only last year, the year before. I remember us doing that

pod after the Super Bowl against the Eagles being like, they need to like make a splash to add some

firepower to this offense. And here we are a couple seasons later. And they still haven't done that.

And now I'm like, well, he's 31. He's coming off an injury. The old line could be good, but I'm not

sure they're going to be good. I don't think Kenneth Walker, Kenneth Walker could add more explosive

runs. He will add more explosive runs. But, you know, is that going to make a huge impact? And then

I was thinking about Andy Reed and conversations we've had about does he still have his fastball?

And I'm not sure that he does. So I kind of chickened out. You know, I could have gone, they're not in

my top 10 chiefs are in a top 10 offense. Let's put that on his. That's our Instagram post for this

week. And I wasn't willing to go that far. And I also wasn't willing to be the guy that going,

don't sleep on the chiefs. You all count them out. Oh, you love the chargers and the Broncos, but

the chiefs don't fr- I didn't do that either. I'm just kind of like, I think they're going to be

above average top 10, but we're still going to be frustrated with them. Deontay, where do you come

down on the Kansas City Chiefs? This is so funny. I think that we have two different versions of

cop-out answers, right? You putting them at 10 is a very safe thing to do, right? Because if they're

there, you could say, Hey, I didn't bail on my homes coming off of one bad year. You know, and if

they aren't, it's like, Hey, man, they're on the fringes for me anyway. So they I thought they

could have gone either way. I had another cop out here. I just kind of put them in that 15-16 range

where like, that is my genuine- So you got an out of here. I've got them outside of the top 10.

I mean, I don't know that I think that there'll be a bad offense given given my assumption that

Patrick Mahomes will be healthy, right? I think that as long as he's available, what he does for

this offense, even if he's not scrambling as often because he's, you know, maybe nervous about the

knee or maybe just by coaching, they're trying to get the ball out of his hands, whether it's by run

game or quick passes, so that way he doesn't have to extend as much. He still just does so much to

lift the floor for this offense that I can see a world in which he is leading a top 10 offense.

I think for me, it just comes back to supporting Kat. Same thing you were saying, right? Like,

I don't have any reason to trust for she writes right now, right? And some of that is on field.

A lot of it is off field, right? And, you know, I just need to see it from a guy like him first.

I think we also need to see that Kenneth Walker can genuinely be that bell cow. That three down,

you can lean on me for 300 touches in a season and I'll be just fine. I'll be just as good by

week 18 as I was in week eight. I think that we need to see that because we have seen him be

dinged up and nicked up prior to last season, right? Last season was a lot of kind of

provocation area. And he was still sharing that workload with Zach Charbonne, right? So I'm

very curious to see what it looks like with him being a true featured. You've got to lead

this part of our offense type of running back. And outside of rice, you're talking about

Travis Kelsey, who even if he's at his absolute freshest at this age, you still have to be wary

of age cliff production drop off, right? And what he's going to look like for another 17 games,

plus a playoff run if he is healthy enough to be able to push this team into the post season.

So yeah, I don't think that this is going to be like the 22nd best offense or anything.

It's just like as you start pulling the threads around Patrick Mahomes and looking at some of

these component parts, um, and evacuum and then in comparison to some of the other teams that we

will consider being these, you know, top 10 top eight offense is with the bullet. It's really

hard to line this up in a way that doesn't just ask you to put all the weight of this offense back

on number 15 shoulders and just fresh off an ACL. Like I just don't know if I'm comfortable doing

that. At least not started this year. Yeah, I like this grandling point you made because some of

the statistics from last year are just a result of like he was making plates with his legs when

stuff broke down. I mean, it felt like he was running more than he ever had in his career. And so

now if you're 31 coming off an ACL, I don't think that's the way you would really want to play

early in the season. You know, once you get to crunch time December playoffs, sure, but I don't

think that's going to be something you want to lean on to carry the offense early on. So there's

there's definitely some variance there. Like you said, there's not huge variance, you know, I think

if they're like lower than 20, I think that would and Mahomes is actually playing. I think that

was done pretty much everyone. If they're top five, I think that would surprise most people. Maybe,

you know, maybe you just have blind faith in Mahomes, but you know, they haven't been a great offense

for three straight years. They finished between nine and 13. So they've been right in the range.

We're talking about this isn't the early years Mahomes where it's just like put them down for top

five every year. You can rely on it. And I don't think that has been Mahomes. I think a lot of it

has been the way they've built this team and a lot of mistakes that they've made. And again,

like I said, maybe Andy Reed not being able to come up with answers. Maybe he's got something

cooking this year. And that'll be the story of this season. But I don't think either of us are

there right now. All right. Number nine, Dianne. So so far, we differed on our picks. What do you

guys? Who's number nine? Number nine, we're going to go to Denver. I've got the Broncos at night

for me. Oh, okay. And I think you could make the case that they could be higher, just given how

efficient this offense has been. Over the last two seasons, I still am always going to be wary

of Bonaix as a quarterback. But again, like this comes back to looking at the component parts. It's

actually really interesting talking about Denver off the heels of talking about Kansas City, because

you can't imagine two offenses set up differently in terms of the supports for their quarterbacks right

now. Then you would see between the Broncos and Chiefs, but they've had an offensive line that

stayed unusually healthy for the last two years. You very rarely get your five starters throughout

the through a season and back to back years away, the Denver has been. They really have not had to

suffer much attrition from a health perspective up front, which has helped them stay stable in terms

of a run game and spider the fact that they don't have dynamic playmakers in the backfield playing

beside Bonaix. They've always been able to kind of dial up these screens, these quick passes, these

bootlegs. They just get the ball out of Nix's hands quickly and allow people to go try to create

some yards underneath. And they did the perfect thing for that style of offense this off season by

adding a player like Jalen Lotto, right? Like this is a receiver that can turn a hitch, you know,

that should be a six yard gain into a 46 yard gain, right? If not, it touched down outright.

If you can add that type of dynamic ability and if you believe that, that alleviates impression on

a guy like Kourtney Sutton, who's probably best as like a 1A1B or maybe number two option,

sharing the field with another guy that kind of fits that role, that might open up enough of the

offense where again, it might not be pretty every week because they just surround Peyton's offense is

even with maybe Davis, Davis web calling it, which I am curious to see how that turns out.

They always kind of have these weeks where they sputter or they're just kind of sitting on the ball

in person second downs and just barely getting it across the chains on the thirds. But I think that

in those high leverage moments having someone like Waddle with the institutional buildup that they

already have in terms of supports around Bonaix, I would not be shocked at all if this is a top 10

offense. It probably wouldn't be all that surprising if it's a top five offense.

I was so tempted, Deontay. They're not on my list. They were my just missed.

I was really tempted. You made the reasonable case and they really are, they do stick out a little

in terms of which offense could really make a nice leap this season because of that addition,

because Bonaix is in his 30 year. They were probably somewhere between 11th and 15th, depending on

whatever metric you want to look at from last year. You mentioned the online continuity,

unless I'm mistaken, unless I got the stat wrong here. It looked to me like they had 15 players

last year on offense who played at least 300 snaps and all 15 are back on the team this year and

you added Jill and Waddle. There's literally no other team in the NFL. You can actually say that

about it. And you mentioned it. The case for the Broncos being a Super Bowl team is just like,

they're built really, they're loaded with talent. I mean, you look at them, their depth chart

compared to some of these other teams in the AFC or in the NFL and they have an edge against most

of these teams. So the only thing that as I was deciding, all right, so I want to put them up

there. And I thought, all right, Nix is coming off these multiple ankle procedures in the offseason.

I like his athleticism, his mobility is a big deal. The way he really avoids sacks and doesn't

set them back on almost any possession. He's one of the best in the NFL at that. That and then

I mean, the Davis Web thinks just weird. How am I supposed to analyze that? The on-day. How

am I supposed to analyze one of the best play callers and offensive coaches in the last 25 years

with the biggest ego in the NFL being like, I'm giving up play calling duties to this guy who's

never really done it before. I don't know how to analyze that. I mean, and I can't tell you that

it's not going to be a disaster, right? Like, but then Payneville just grabbed that play sheet

if it is. So maybe it's not that big of a deal. I don't know. I was I was joking with our colleagues

Austin Gale and Steve Ruiz a couple of weeks ago that if I were if I were Davis Web, I wouldn't

want to be calling offense at practice from the press box if I could just to put as much distance

as possible between me and Sean Payton. And I think I saw a report this over this weekend that he's

going to be right there on the sideline calling the offense. And I just cannot imagine when we get

to that Sunday night football game or that Monday night football game and you get a disaster third

down and you get that three way arguing match between Davis Web, both Nixon, Sean Payton,

right? And then you're going to hear those reports about how Sean Payton is mulling whether or

not he needs to take back play calling, right? So I think that there is, you know, maybe a powder

keg element happening in Denver because they are, you know, trying to hand over play calling duties

to an improving commodity in Davis Web. Again, though, like, it just comes back to infrastructure.

I think that the only thing I'm really concerned about with this team is health. And it is

entirely possible that they are totally undercut by health because there is a way to read what you

gave me in terms of the data of all the returning starters and returning production they're bringing

back. And sometimes that can be a harbure or something going wrong, right? It is very rare that all

of your top producers come back that have been there a year over year that play a high level of

snaps that are never heard being able to get through another season with that type of good fortune.

And for a strong a supporting cast of this team has they don't really have a lot of explosive

potential, which is why they went out and got jail and waddle in the first place. And if they miss

him for any time, if they miss someone like Portland Sutton, if the interior of this offensive line

suffers from any attrition. We saw this in Philadelphia last year or guys who have hundreds of

snaps of, you know, banging each other in a run game all of a sudden just can't get the same

amount of movement. We can see some ugly warts in this offense really show a little bit more.

So I'm just fascinating to see how that plays out. But on the assumption that what we've seen over

the last two seasons that will get us some kind of facsimile of that in 2026 leaves me to believe

pretty strongly that Denver will be one of the better offenses in the NFL. I like Peyton,

Nick's, Waddle Sutton, and maybe the best offensive line in the NFL. I mean, we could throw it all

other analysis and be like, yeah, that sound, you know, that sounds to me like it should be an

inoffence that ranks in the top 10. I had him again just outside the top 10. But I'm glad that

Deonte, I like this. We're dead. We don't have a single common one. Yeah. Yeah. Let's see if that

changes or not. But I think that just speaks to kind of how challenging and exercise this is

and how many teams you could really make the case for to be in the top 10. All right. Let's take a

break. We'll come back. We'll get to my ninth ranked team. Well, Deonte have them in his list

or we're just going to keep this a great maybe until we get to the top five or the top three.

We'll talk about it all when we come back. This episode is brought to you by EA Sports Madden

NFL 27. If the excitement of the preseason isn't enough, Madden NFL 27 is here to fill the gap.

Run your league the way you want and see just how far you could go with the MVP bundle with access

to college football 27 Madden NFL 27 and Deluxe edition rewards in both games from campus legend

to NFL superstar make your rise with the MVP bundle learn more at EA dot com rated E for

everyone with mild lyrics, uterus interact and in game purchases includes random items,

conditions and restrictions apply, scan QR code for more info.

This episode is brought to you by Google Chrome. You think you know a browser, but Gemini and Chrome

that's new. It can help you with practically anything on the web like restoring a vintage motorcycle

from a 50 page restoration block or finally break down that long article you've had open for weeks.

Gemini and Chrome is here for it. Ready to make anything online make sense?

There's no place like Chrome. Check responses set up require compatibility and availability

very 16 plus. All right, we are back here on the ringer. NFL show Deonte, you know what? I should

have got my cheesehead prop over there, but I'm not going to interrupt the pod and go walk over

and get it. I've got the green bay packers at number nine and this was really a lot of the analytical

part of my brain was like you got to have them in there. She'll like just look I mean the floor's

history here. It's kind of wild. If you look at it seven seasons in green bay, his offense has

been in the top 10 six of those times and never lower than 12 like the floor. I don't think he's

perfect. I think there's game management stuff. I think there's stuff with hiring a staff that I'm

like, well, I wish you would do that different, but just in terms of getting an offense to play at a

certain level, he really deserves to be mentioned with almost any play caller in the entire NFL. So

I saw that I know Jordan love is kind of a nice become a polarizing guy. It feels like, you

know, there's always like one quarter back every summer. I don't know if it's him or not. It might

be a good one of the guys. I feel like he and Justin Herbert are like it's an NFC, AFC version like

pro parlories of each other. Yeah. Yeah. You know, I think the thing with Jordan love and I think

the reason why he has skeptics is because his bad play. I used to think about this early in

Josh Allen's career. His bad plays are really bad where if you're not like watching him every week

or you don't care about the analytics, he's like, I'm sitting down on a Sunday watching Jordan love

and he might make a play like what a boneheaded play. It's the guy every podcasters telling me is

one of the better quarterbacks in the NFL. The thing is he doesn't make a lot of bad plays. Like

if you just like the frequency with which he makes negative plays, he's almost what he's like one

of the best quarterbacks in the entire NFL at avoiding negative plays. But when he does have the

head scratch here, you're just like throwing your remote at the TV. So that's my theory on Jordan

love. But I mean, if you just look at it last three years, he ranked second in the NFL in EPA

for past play. He hunts explosive. So it might not look great down to down, but he's going to hit

on those explosive plays. And I think LaFour Deserves credit for that as well. I'm not totally sure

about the O line here this year. They did lose some, you know, a good amount of players from last

year, but they kind of that's happened before and they have guy step up Matthew Golden. I think it's

one of the really one of the key players, maybe in the NFC. If he can be a really good wide receiver,

the guy they thought they were drafting, then I think Green Bay ceilings little higher. So I don't

have them top five. But I do think they're going to be a top 10 offense this season. Where are you

on the Green Bay Packers? I had them 11 and it all comes back to just some of the questions

that I have that you were kind of laying out here. And this is not just specific to their offense.

I think across this roster, we've seen a lot of their depth just be slowly stripped away over the

last two to three off seasons. And now when you go and look at their depth chart, it's like, man,

this used to be a team where I felt like it didn't even matter who their number ones and number

twos were on either side of the ball because they just had so much to backfill around them to be

able to kind of aggregate that level of production across their roster. I think this team right now

is much more positioned to need Jordan love to perform like a first team all pro MVP caliber quarterback

to really need Tucker craft. I think it was just activated off of pup over this weekend to be there

and available and looking the way that he did to start off the 2025 season. And on top of that,

guys like Jaden Reed, guys like Christian Watson, it's really not even a matter of what you can

produce because I think that we've seen them year over year be strong, you know, production guys

when they're available, they just have to be available, right? Like the conditions that have

derailed the packers seasons over the last couple of years, whether it's been, you know, an

opportune injury with this offensive line. Christian Watson having a miss a month, Jaden Reed being

kind of 80 or 75% of himself over five to six weeks because he's nursing some nagging injury.

Those are the reasons why I have them out of the top 10. And I think that that's also the reason

why there's so much pressure on this team to deliver on all of the young promise that they have.

They don't really have any other pathway to be a contender that I think they can be. They 100%

need this offensive line to be above its level. They definitely need Jaden Reed and Christian Watson to be

number one, number two receiver types. And I think the Jordan love is going to have to be a star

for them to be that in the event that they're able to check off two out of those three boxes.

This could end up being the number one seed in the NFC. Like I think that they have that kind of

ceiling with their offense, right? At least they will be in that conversation. I think with Seattle and

Los Angeles. Short of that though, we could certainly see another season where Madelah Flour is,

you know, feeling a seat getting more and we're having more conversations about, hey,

are there going to be some mutual parting of ways? Is it ever going to happen for Green Bay

in the Jordan love era? I think that all of these things are on the table. It is a high stress

environment for Green Bay. And I wouldn't be surprised if they were great again. I just think I need

to see health and then consistency on a week by week basis by the players out around Jordan love

more than anything. Yeah, La Flour is kind of how I described love earlier. It's kind of similar where

if you just look at the profile reference page or like it's kind of unassailable that he's one of

the better coaches in the NFL. If you just watched him coach playoff games over the last few years,

you'd be like, you think it needed to be fired two years ago? Yeah, you would be used to be fired.

Right. So they're kind of aligned there. I love the point you made about the old line. I think

that might be the biggest one. Love splits last year. Very different. Clean versus pressure. He was

first in EPA for past play when kept clean 13 when pressured where I know me personally, I hadn't

always thought about him as that kind of guy in those stats can be noisy year to year. It doesn't

mean it's going to be like that again this year. But if you feel like their old line might take a

step back this year, which I think would be a reasonable case to be made, then that could really

impact Jordan love in a way that maybe it's more so than other quarterbacks there. So

and then there's just always that like they run the ball so much on early downloads where you're like,

I like Jordan love the stats like Jordan love, but does Matt La Flour like Jordan love because

they run the ball at the third highest rate in the NFL. I think it was Richard Sherman on a

broadcast last year. It was like he doesn't like trust. It might not have been him, but for some

reason he's the one in my head is like does he trust his quarterback and I'm like, I mean that kind

of is true statistically. It's fair to ask that question when you look at the way they play. So yeah,

I think there are questions about him. I leaned on the history here. It is funny to kind of talk

about just like where his stock is because I think if we woke up tomorrow, we found out that since

an adding green Bay had traded their head coaches straight up, I will look at Cincinnati and be like,

there's no reason why this team can't be in the AFC Championship game. It was Matt La Flour calling

their offense. Yeah, I woke up tomorrow and found out that Andy Reed and Matt La Flour traded places

and they're telling me that Matt La Flour gets to work with Patrick Mahomes and how he kind of

uses his spread, the spread iteration of the Shanahehmic Bay System. I would have no reason not to

have Kansas City as a potential top 10 offense. Even with all of the holes that we were talking about

them having earlier, that said, I still 100% recognize all the disappointments that we've seen in

the playoffs. You've seen his offense be out physicaled by Chicago last year. That was not the most

physical defense in the NFL. We have seen them bump into San Francisco and other teams that have

just really been able to control the line of scrimmage and really been able to take away some of

the things I want to do most in terms of pushing the ball down field off the play action game.

I need to see this team have an answer, right? A legitimate, dependable answer in those scenarios.

And this comes back to just the stress that there is on this team to deliver on being. Not really a

top 10 offense or really a top five offense because that's what it's going to take to beat the top

teams in the NFC. So that is that is the team I'm going to have my eye on. I would not be surprised

again if they're right there. But for me, until I see Watson Reed, Matthew Golden performing like they

can be pro bowl players overs, the stretch of a full 17 game season, I am going to withhold optimism.

All right. Number eight, Deonte. Who do you got? Let's see if we can finally agree on the team. Let's

say we're standing in the NFC North here. I'm going to go with the Detroit Lions.

Okay. We both have the Detroit Lions in our top 10. I got them all the way up at number four.

Interesting. You're really buying a Drew Petsing then. Well, you make your case for why you have

them at eight and then let's see where you're at and I can tell you where maybe I disagree or

I'm a little more bullish. I mean, that's where it begins with me is Drew Petsing and I think trying

to port over some of the things that he did well in Arizona to what's already available in Detroit.

Right. Like I think that one of the positives, one of the true positives of his time with the

Cardinals was that he was, I don't want to say inventive, but I think he was willing to kind of ride

the tide with his run game. You have a mobile quarterback and Kyler Murray who needs to be in the

gun and needs to be more spread out. We saw them kind of embrace multiple tight ends out of the

gun and you're running a bunch of gap school to try to manufacture explosive plays and off of

that now you can use your quarterback in the option game to be able to take advantage of

over aggressive defenses who are really trying to crash down to take away those openings between

the tackles. I think that in Detroit, it's not going to be that way because Jared Boff is obviously

not as mobile as the Kyler Murray is, but you have an offensive line that can that they are trying

to rebuild or retool to be able to move people again on the interior. And I think that's part of

the reason why he got hired is that they probably looked at all the different ways in which Drew

Petsing was able to take a bad offensive line in Arizona, a very specific style of play with Kyler

Murray. It still be able to generate some interesting run games. And I think the Dan Campbell ultimately

views the best version of Detroit as one that can do that, that can pound teams in between the

tackles. And I think the Petsing can be that ultimately whether or not this is a eight to ten

offense or a three to five offense really comes back to Jared Boff, right? And I think that

that is one thing that I don't have a good answer for because we just never saw Arizona string

together prolific passing attacks on a week to week basics often enough under Petsing for me to

feel like this really can be uppercrust NFL offensively. But I do think that the run game will be

strong enough. They'll be explosive again. You have Jameer Gibbs. You should have a healthy

Sam LaPorta. I think that between the tackles, it can still be one of the five best teams in the

league. And then the ceiling ultimately is going to be determined on whether or not Jared Gough

can fight away the eight an incoming age cliff eventually and still be able to push the ball

downfield in the play action passing game. Yeah, I just I'm not like Drew Petsing's going to be

bill walled and take him to another level. I just feel like it will be a little more settled

this year. You know, last year was like coming off of Ben Johnson and Campbell hires a guy and then

takes away play calling duties for like it's going to be one person's sort of voice and structure

and foundation year in Drew Petsing. And I just feel like last year was not as bad as maybe our

minds remember. You know, I think they got a little unlucky. I'm not saying it was perfect. There

were some ups and downs for sure. When you look at it, their offense was sixth in EPA per drive in

seventh and DVOA last year. And they finished between between three and eight for four straight

seasons. So I just looked at it like there's kind of a small window here where it's made might not

matter who the offensive coordinator is because they are loaded with talent with maybe the best

version of James and Williams. We've seen I'm on Ross St Brown, LaPorta, Jamira Gibbs. Like when

you have all those guys and you're just a defensive coordinator getting ready to face the lions,

it's hard because you need to have answers for how you're going to cover all those guys,

how you're going to count for all those guys. I thought the run game, you know,

it was kind of hit or missed last year. Like there were times early in the first half of last season,

where all my Jamira Gibbs looks like the best player in football. Like he's just taking over games

and then you look at some of the numbers and it wasn't down to down the consistency of the run game

really wasn't there. So the O line, this is kind of a running theme. They did make some changes there.

They're kind of relying on some young players up front. But I think the O line's still going to be

above average. I think the supporting cast is terrific. And we know who Jared Goffis at this

point in his career. If kind of the infrastructures there, if the conditions are favorable, he can

dice you up and you can be like, how can anyone say this guy is not a phenomenal quarterback.

And if some of those things start to falter and he faces some pressure, then all of a sudden,

he gets kind of like what I mentioned with Jordan Love, probably to a much greater extent where he's

really going to crumble under that pressure. So I just felt good about it. I felt really good about

them being in like the top eight. And then I was like, well, why can't they be a little bit better

than they were last year with some more stability with the play collar. So I have the Lions at four.

Deonte has them at eight. But we finally, Deonte agree on one team in the top 10. There you go.

It's like long enough. I'm here. I know we have, but we're going to have a lot in the top five that

are probably aligned. But I am interested about six and seven as well. All right. Well, let me get

you my eighth number eight team here, Deonte. And am I a sucker for a coach who mentions regression

in a press conference? Possibly. Yeah. Maybe I had him at 12 or 13, but I'm like, all right,

Ben Johnson's just going to pander to the nerds like me that I'm going to go ahead and have the bears

in my top 10. So I got Chicago here at number eight, Deonte. Are the bears in Deonte,

least top 10? Or did they just miss? They just missed there in that 10 to 14 range again with

with the cluster of teams that could be in there. But I'm just not really ready to to totally jump in

with them. But make your case. Well, what are you looking at with Chicago that makes you believe

there'll be a top 10 offense this year? Well, there really is. I mean, the nerd part of my brains,

like there really is a strong case for them to not be in the top 10 because they were ninth last

year. And if you look at it, they were second in turnover repays. So that just means that, you know,

how, how much was each team hurt by turnovers last year? Only one offense was hurt less than the bears

by turnovers last year. And that's not something you can really count on year to year. They stayed

relatively healthy. They were eighth in FTN's adjusted games, loss metric, which means they had the

eighth healthiest offense in the NFL. So I factored those things in. And then I'm just like,

I trust Ben Johnson to figure this thing out the way he just figured out that run game last year

and how good that run game was in his first season, or maybe he didn't even have all the guys he

wanted. I'm like, all right, that's something you can lean on. The run game. I like that Caleb Williams

is going to avoid sacks at one of the, you know, one of the best rates in the NFL. That, all right,

the offensive line isn't perfect. There's going to be some pressure, but you know what? He's

going to be able to escape some of those with his legs. I know he can create those high degree of

difficulty plays. And so I'm not like all in where I'm like, oh, Caleb Williams is going to win MVP

and be a top five quarterback this year. I do think that's in play with his upside. You know,

I like, I don't think you're crazy. If you want to make that prediction, I do want to see that

consistency from him. I have some questions about the old line, but this came down to talented

quarterback. Coach, I really trust what I saw last year that they're going to avoid taking a major

step back. So that's my case. I don't hate it. I think that for me, my hang up is that this run game

was really reliant on Joe Tuney, who's entering his mid 30s. Jonah Jackson, who just could not get healthy

in Los Angeles. And then, you know, kind of finds, you know, finds himself in Chicago and all of a

sudden he's good to go. I don't know if I'm as comfortable with really relying on those guys.

That said, I mean, tackles a question. Yeah, the old line is a question. There's no doubt about it.

You know, so there is a lot to be uncomfortable with upfront. I think that there's a fair

counter argument that all those questions exist last year. And they had absolutely no problem.

Just dominating teams between the tackles, especially in the second half of the season.

And then you look at their skill position group. And despite of not having anybody who really

screams out all pro in 2026, outside of maybe coast and leveling. And whatever you believe

with Caleb Williams and his ceiling to be in his third season, the receiving court is pretty well

built. Right? Like, I think you can make a case that they have all the skill sets they need.

And maybe just not enough of the name recognition outside of their young star quarter rack.

Right? I wouldn't be surprised at all. Of course, in leveling leads all tight ends and passing touch

and receiving touch. You could be in all pro. Yeah, he's 100% pro with tight ends. You know, based on what

we saw over the last five, six weeks of the year, I mean, there was a room like this might be the

most unguarded will tight end short of training with bride and the league, right? Like teams just couldn't

do anything with them in the red zone. They couldn't do anything with them once they were in plus

territory because he is so consistent at being able to get open. And Ben Johnson has done such a great

job of mixing up where he's aligned and really kind of growing out his route tree. I think that the

two players that would need to show up to make this happen outside of some of the guys we talked

about will be Luther Burton and Roma Dune say. Yeah. Right? I think that last year going into last

year, I was really excited for what Roma does they could have been for a Ben Johnson offense. We

just didn't really see it come to fruition. Right? I think that now there's no DJ more so I

was more necessity. So maybe you're going to see more targets just by just being forced to them

because there aren't many other places for the ball to go. And then Luther Burton, I think needs to be

maybe not exactly a Jalen model for this offense. But some kind of some kind of version of that,

right? Like you think about guys like Ladma Conkey, you know, I mentioned Jalen model. These guys who

can take these underneath passes and even if you're not breaking them out for touchdowns, you can go turn

what should be just a six yard gain to keep you on schedule into a chunk gain, right? That changes

the shape of a drive, right? I think that Burton kind of sells that sold that. That was part of the reason

why he was drafted. You know, in the top 100 coming into the league, I think that clearly if you

listen to Ben Johnson's comments at training camp and throughout the mini camp air time of the year,

he clearly believes that that's on the table for Luther Burton. There seems to be a lot of expectations

that he's going to step in and be either the Yamada Ross St. Brown of this offense or something more

close to kind of what I was talking about in terms of those like ultimate yacht threats. And if

those two things happen, this could 100% be a top 10 offense, even if the offensive line and run

game takes a step back. But again, there's just a lot hanging up in the air in terms of what we can

expect from last year carrying over to this year. And the thing that really holds me up is that

their first and second down rushing success rate was third in the league last year. The two teams

air behind the Rams and Bills, two teams that have proven already over a two three year sample size.

That they can just mash teams no matter what you're doing to them defensively. We have not yet seen

that from this bear from the bear's up front. I think that Ben Johnson is capable of that as a play

caller. They just have not necessarily purchased enough goodwill with me just yet for me to think

that that's exactly what's going to happen this year. It's funny. Yeah, I'd say your view of the

bears is like my view of the Jaguar. I mean, it's really it's really very similar. I mean,

those two teams were kind of mirrored last year. Very similar. I'm around the same time.

Absolutely. The metrics kind of line up. Yeah. You know, between the two teams. So yeah, I think that

there is a case to make that if you're bullish on one, you should be bullish on the other. But

I think that just speaks to again, you have to pick one. How about that? Exactly. You can't be bullish on

both. Yeah. Yeah. So you know, and I think that out of those two teams, both could be top 10 and both

could 100% be 17th 18th because their run game takes a step back and maybe the turnover margin

regresses to something that makes them look a little worse, even if they are a more complete team

ultimately in 2026. Yeah. Two guys who look like bright offensive play callers who should be

around for a while. But you know what we've said that about other guys before. And it hasn't always

worked out. Two of the most talented quarterback prospects we've seen in the last decade when you're

just like, you know, is there anything that they can't do from a physical perspective? I would put both

those guys in that category. And now we see, you know, does it take get to another level with one of

these pairings, both of these pairings, neither of these pairings this year. By the way, if you don't know

what I was talking about the regression thing, I do need to remind myself not everyone's in hour,

NFL bubble. Ben Johnson was asked something about, you know, how do you deal with the bearers being

hyped coming off a strong season? And he was like, well, we're the number one regression candidate.

So I don't, you know, it's just last year you said something about EPA for past play this year regression.

It's very easy to, you know, just get me, but in the palm of your hands just like, all right,

she's going to say nice things about us and Ben Johnson's doing a couple of those things. All right,

so Dionys has got him out of just outside the top 10. I've got them at number eight. All right,

we move to number seven. Yeah. Dionys, so far the only team we both have in the top 10 is the

Detroit Lions. I have a feeling we're going to get on the same page a little bit more maybe right

about now. Who do you have? Who's number seven? So I think that very similar to how you refuse to be

on the wrong side of Patrick Mahomes season, we're like, hey, I'm just going to be safe and not

put myself in position where I'm getting clipped up by their social team. We're not believing in

them. I'm the same way with Baltimore. And at seven, I've got the Ravens, right? Okay. I think,

um, for me, the thing that the thing that I'm banking on ultimately is that Derek Henry is

Agilis and that Lamar Jackson can be in a lead quarterback in any system. Right. I think that we've

seen evidence of the two already, right? Lamar's, you know, transitioned to the Todd Munkin offense

was seamless, right? And he played like an MVP, um, with Todd Munkin, you know, when he was healthy.

And last year prior to the hamstring injury, even though he wasn't playing his best ball, you know,

in some of the, we were seeing some interceptions for the most part. His dropbacks, you know, on a

play to play basis, we're still looking relatively strong in the first, uh, first month or so of the

season outside of that chiefs game. I think that I believe, well, what I really believe is that

Declan Doyle, if he was able to bring over the Ben Johnson offense in terms of under center run

to set up easy play action passes, which means now Lamar Jackson does not have to risk his legs

as often on early downs that we can get to something a little more akin to what we've seen in Buffalo.

Right. With Josh Allen where he doesn't have to do a ton of heavy lifting on person second down,

which does free him up in the red zone in these third and obvious passing situations to just be

the ultimate eraser of any issues that that offense has with the bills. I think that ultimately,

that's what Declan Doyle is probably going to seek out to try to build around the Mar Jackson.

And if there are young receivers or unproven receivers, which there are a lot of questions about

that receiving core coming into this season, if one of those young guys can break out or if Zay flowers

can be a week to week threat, the way that we've seen in fits and starts throughout his career,

then I think it's probably a little more comfortable for me making them a top 10 team.

Right now, this is a lot of wish casting and me saying, maybe you'd be level quarterback,

offensive player of the year level, running back. I'm just going to bank on those two Hall of Fame

talents being able to figure it out in any offensive ecosystem. And I do have a lot of belief that

Declan Doyle can give me some version of what we saw in Chicago last year with with the Mar Jackson

in this. Oh, there's for sure a high ceiling there. Just I mean, it took very basic level.

What you said there when you have a quarterback who's won MVP twice and you feel like you're

putting in him in a scheme that's going to work. It could be fireworks where we're saying, man,

why didn't they, you know, they should have done this four years ago or something like that. So

I think that's in play. I have just missing the cut, Deonte. And it's probably not that surprised

because you were laying out some of the question marks here. The two big questions I have about the

Ravens and I want your to the first question is, is this supporting cast good enough? I mean,

I look at this and you mentioned you're like, Zave Flowers and who else is then what? Yeah, it

is catching. I mean, if he's out for a month, who were you throwing the football to in this offense?

Yeah. Now, like you said, there always could be an unexpected player who rises up and you're like,

okay, they, but that's not a sure thing when you compare into a team like the Lions, we just

discussed or some of these other teams. It's like, no, I know. They lose one guy. You have all

those guys, defensive coordinators are sweating. Derek Henry, Lamar Jackson, Zave Flowers, like,

is, you know, I'm not saying that's easy to defend, but just in terms of the passing game,

I don't think they have the type of options that I would like a team to have if Lamar Jackson

my quarterback, that's one. And then the old, are we sure the old line's going to be good this year?

In Baltimore, are you that's a position conversation piece? Okay, I don't know if I'm bullish. I think

I'm willing to believe that they can be league average. And I think that what Jackson and Henry

can do, even with the league average offensive line is enough to get them over the hump and to

be in the top 10 offense. And I think honestly, prior to them signing, Ethan Poshik, and this is

me assuming that it's going to be healthy and available and that is best self. Obviously, I know

he got cleared right before he signed well, Baltimore and it seemed like there are some positive

signs for his health for the 2026 season. And I'm maybe I'm just wanting to spend enough disbelief

to believe in that prior to when it was just Danny Pinter and you know, and rookie and Vega,

Yuanay and John Simpson at this age with the tread on tires like we are we are kind of we're

we're pretty tense about what this might look like. So yeah, at their absolute best, I still think

this is probably maybe only the 12 to 14th best offensive line. And I think the median outcome

probably is something closer to 18th 19th in the league. And then you're just asking your quarterback

to lift that level. We've seen him do that. We've seen Derek Henry do that. But a lot of that

I think is going to be reliant upon Zay flowers being the best version of himself. Honestly,

Rashad Bateman, I don't know if I don't know where you're at was Bateman. I haven't totally bailed

on the ability. I think that the expectation that he was going to fold into a number one receiver

role clearly is passed and by. And I think that maybe a Jacobi Lane has to be one of those

third down DeAndre Hopkins as you can just throw the ball up and he's going to go catch everything

which was on tape coming out of USC. But that is a big ask for a work to receiver, right?

Who didn't have a complete route tree coming into the league anyhow. There's a lot up in the air

with them. Maybe more than any team that I've talked about being in the top 10 so far. But ultimately,

I think again, I'm just going to bank on their superstar talent at quarterback and running back

being enough to figure this out. Okay, so here's my other question. So one was about the supporting

cast and we'll do this a little deep dive on the Ravens here. But I think they are a very interesting

team going into the season. Is Lamar Jackson entering a different phase of his career or was he

just playing through injuries? Last season. Now, we know Lamar Jackson can operate from the pocket.

We don't like he might just he might look like a different person who is also in awesome quarterback.

I'm not saying decline. But there are like some numbers as I was doing my deep dyes for this

Deonte. Last year, he was sat on 11% of his dropbacks. Only Gino Smith was sacked at a higher rate.

That's a bad quarterback indicator typically is having to secrate that high. Right. And then you

know, you have the stat pressure to sac rate, which just looks at how many times were you pressured?

How many of those pressures turned into sacks? He was 30 second in that category. All of his

rushing numbers were career worse numbers. Last year. Now, this could be as simple as Lamar Jackson

was playing injured last year. It's no sign of a entering a different phase of his career. But also

when quarterbacks are really great at using that escape ability and athleticism early in their

career, it doesn't last forever. You know, we have this conversation with quarterbacks all the time.

How long can that aspect last? So he's just such an interesting player to me this year because

again, it could be he's not running a lot. Maybe he's not taking more sacks, but that's because the

scheme's really working for him. And he's just carving people up. I mean, we can go to his

profile reference page and look at some of the passing numbers over the years. Maybe it's that

kind of year that's coming for Lamar Jackson. But that just my radar's up a little bit on that

whether we're going to see kind of a different version of him here going forward or whether that

was just kind of a one year play. I think that's fair. I think that my thing would be is a pocket is a

more pocket centric version of Lamar Jackson in 2026 and beyond something closer to what Dak Prescott

has been at hit, you know, when he's been healthy and available. And I do think that that's on the

table, right? Prescott doesn't come into the league with the strongest dollar remember. Right? He

was a guy who was a little bit more mobile than a pocket passer who just really kind of built up

his game, you know, within structure enough to be able to play at a proble a consistent proble

sometimes all pro level, you know, from the pocket when he's available. And we've seen when Dak gets

hurt, you know, because he has suffered quite a few lower body injuries. All of a sudden,

no sac rates do go up. The interception, you know, the turnover worthy plays do go up because he

can't escape. He can extend is often. And I think maybe that is something that's on the table for

Lamar Jackson. And that does change the context in which we talk about him, right? Because so much of

what makes him unique is the fact that at any point in time, what would have been a sack or what

would have been a cubic hit on a check down is now at 18 yards, scrambled for a first down, right? Like

that is something that you do have to fear. And maybe this does mean that he has to phase into a

difference version of himself going forward. But I think what we saw in 2024 and what definitely

what we saw in 2023 was when he's dialed in in the pocket and in rhythm, this guy can dice

defenses up without ever having to step outside the tackle box. I'm willing to bank on the fact

that this was more of an injury related thing and that when he's back to 100 percent, even if the

rushing number is a scrambled numbers, content to trend downward, continue to trend downward,

that we can still see something stable, even if it's not at peak MVP level, I think we can still get

a 30 to 33 touchdown passing touchdown season. And he can keep those interceptions and sacks low

to justify him not being being a scrambler as often. All right, there you go. There's a case for

there's some variance, I think with that offense, I think the Ravens are a very interesting team.

All right, number seven for me, Deontay, I've got the New England Patriots as my number seven

offense. They're on your list. How high do you have the Patriots? I actually have them fourth.

So I've got I'm okay. Pretty bullish on this team. Okay, so you're pretty bullish on the Patriots.

I felt good about having them in my top 10. You just look at how they performed last year and then

you just look at the big upgrade they made at wide receiver with AJ Brown and Romeo dobs and

you feel like, hey, that could easily make them and even better offense this season. So I,

you know, I think the case for them is pretty straightforward. They're really good last year.

They made it to the Super Bowl. They upgrade at wide receiver. Why wouldn't they be better? Okay,

so let me give you the reason why I have them at seven, maybe rather than four. And I was a little

bit like, all right, I do think there are some potentially some issues here. One of them is,

I still don't know that the offensive line is going to be great here. I know it sound like a broken

record with some of these all offenses. Now they did address it. They addressed it in the draft.

They're hoping to get healthy play out of Elijah Veritucker, but there are some unknowns there

up front. And if you look at it, the pressure to sacrate, I mentioned with Lamar Jackson.

I didn't realize this last year. I don't think at any time, Drake may, if you include the playoffs,

Deonte, 35th out of 38 quarterbacks in pressure to sacrate his pressure to sacrate with the same

as cam ward last year. Now, I know he faced a lot of quick pressures. I know the offensive line

wasn't good, but a lot of those pressures ended up turning into sacs. And so now if you're saying,

you're not sure about the offensive line. And by the way, they got really good injury luck overall,

not in the playoffs with Drake Bay playing good, but in the regular season, they didn't, their

depth wasn't tested as much as other teams. And now if you say, all right, well, what if they get

some injuries up front with a guy like Veritucker who has had trouble staying healthy? Now I'm getting

a little nervous about that. And then I was just thinking overall, what it takes to play 21

games in a season, especially when you're May and you were playing injured and you were taking hits

against really good defensive carrying the entire offense every single down.

Correct. In the entire regular season. So that made me, you know, year one, he had what,

at least one concussion. And I think we weren't sure about the other one. And then last year,

he's got this injury that really makes him a shell of himself in the postseason. Those things made

me a little bit nervous about the Patriots and their ability to just do what they did last year

and do it better because they have two to better wide receivers. I think that the Patriots

learn the right lesson from that playoff run, which is that yes, it is possible that we have

a franchise changing game altering talent at quarterback that could end up being in the MVP race

for the next decade. We also just watch him get absolutely battered by good defenses week over

week. And we just saw that slowly sat all the things that made him such a special talent in the

regular season. And they went out and I think that they as aggressively as possible tried to address

some of the things that were a problem for them, you know, down the stretch of the year. So you go

out, you add an AJ Brown to go be your man beater. That was what I think they were hoping that

Stefan Diggs could have been for them last year before he just kind of settled into being that kind

of chain moving zone beating type of underneath threat as a receiver. You go get a Romeo Doves,

some who can now fill in for, you know, what Stefan Diggs left behind. He can be that chain mover type.

He can be a contestant catch guy. He can go make catches in traffic and help them stay on schedule

as a passing game. So you check those boxes off. I still think it's fair to have some questions

about their offensive line, but given what they tried to do in one off season, you go add a

Elijah Barrett Tucker who does have who has had health problems throughout his career. But when he's

available, plays typically like a top 12 guard in the NFL, right, especially in the run game, which

I think they're going to need to take some things off of Drake Mase plate. And then you go get

Caleb Lomu, I think, ostensibly as an insurance plan against Morgan Moses getting hurt against

needing to move well Campbell. If he proves that he just can't handle, you know, the ask of being

a left tackle in a week to week basis. I think that they gave themselves just enough optionality

up front to be able to say, Hey, at least for a season, we can say that we did what we could to

try to improve the ecosystem around Drake May and not ask him to have to be the most explosive,

the most accurate, you know, the best scrambler, you know, the leader of our run game, really,

you know, in terms of being able to keep us ahead of the chains, I think that they did all that

they can do. And if their wide receiver core is able to force more like boxes, it's able to

dissuade team from blitzing as often. And now you are able to lean more on the run game, you are

able to get the ball out of a Drake May's hands and clean pockets more often. That alone should

do it in terms of keeping this team in top 10. They may regress in terms of, you know, the other

worldly production, but I think there are more complete team now than they were at this time last

year. Or yeah, could be better equipped to take on top of teams. Yeah, you know, I agree with

that just with the firepower that all right, let's take one more break. We come back, we get to

our top six, right? It's kind of like our top five because we already both have our fourth one

there. You had the Patriots fourth, I had the Lions fourth, so we got five more slots to get through.

We'll do that when this episode is brought to you by Google Chrome. You think you know a browser,

but Gemini and Chrome, that's new. It can help you with practically anything on the web,

like restoring a vintage motorcycle from a 50 page restoration block or finally break down that

long article you've had open for weeks. Gemini and Chrome is here for it. Ready to make anything

online make sense? There's no place like Chrome. Check responses set up require compatibility

and availability varies 18 plus. We return. All right, back on the ringer NFL show, D.I.T. number six.

What do you got? I think my number 16 is probably the last one on my list that doesn't have like

bona fide superstar talent across the board, right? I've made one of two teams, depending on how you

feel about Buffalo, who I know we'll get to eventually. This is a Los Angeles Chargers. Like,

I'm buying the good vibes, man. I'm buying the good vibes. We both have them at six,

the on top. Perfect. We both have the joiners at six. What could go wrong?

Been to a couple of their practices throughout this off season. Solman, Mini-Camp,

Solman, I'm at training camp last week. You know, and just listening to some of the quotes that are

leaving the building, you know, you talk to people who are there on a day-to-day basis about how they

are interpreting the vibes coming out of the locker room, coming out of the coach's office.

I think that there's a lot of optimism that Mike McDaniel genuinely is the missing piece

for this offense. And I think that that plus good health actually could be exactly what this

team needs, getting the ball out of Justin Herbert's hands. So he's not the most hit, you know,

most knock down quarterback in the league the way that he was last season, building an infrastructure

for the run game that isn't as predictable, isn't as, you know, dependent upon being able to just

beat guys and man blocking, snap over, snap the way that we saw with Greg Roman last year.

And then I think another year of Trey Harris of adding guys like Kendra Lambert Smith,

you know, having a healthy lad McCunkey adding Charlie Kohler to the tight in-room. Like, you look now

the depth that this team has in terms of his playmaking talent is far and away better than what it was

two years ago, certainly last year and assuming health, even if guys do get banged up too,

I should say they have enough now, I think to be able to carry this offense through a 17-game

schedule and not be asking Justin Herbert to hang in with broken hands or busted ribs. And all the

other things we've seen this guy have to brave it through on a week-to-week basis to be able to keep

this offense afloat. I think that there is legitimate top 10 potential. I would say that their ceiling

is probably capped, I would say, around 5th or 6th because I just struggled to see them having a true

breakout passing game in terms of just receiving talent that's able to carry them into that top 3,

top 4, top of conversation. But I love what I think this team has done to kind of raise the floor

around Justin Herbert and if Herbert's available on a week-to-week basis, there's almost no way to

me I could see this team being worse than the 6 to 8 range in the NFL. Now listen, they've only had

a top 10 offense once in six seasons with Justin Herbert. So for the Herbert haters out there,

we're telling Barney's not calling plays anymore. So I would ask the Herbert haters to

suspend, suspension of disbelief for a second. Listen, they might say, there's been a few OCs,

you know, they keep getting fired, Deontay, every year or two. No, I know you would say,

I think it's fair that they have a good one. If you would give up your office

coordinator for Jellin Vardier Greg Moin, please message me on Twitter or Blue Sky. I would love to hear

this argument. Listen, you know, sometimes you have to know what's coming with this segment of

the audience and you have to address it before and so I think, you know, you can, that is,

it's only happened once again, six seasons with Justin Herbert as the starter, top 10 offense once.

We're both bullish on them this year. I mean, you mentioned the ceilings capped. We talked about

Asia Brown and Jellin Vardel. I did get to the point where I'm like, man, a player like that would

have looked really good on this chargers team. Are we going to say that was a missed opportunity

for the chargers? I think potentially we are. But to your point, I'm just kind of putting the trust

in Mike McDaniel. I'm putting the trust in Justin Herbert and his talent and his production and his

performance. I'm looking at the tackles and saying they got to play board games then they play last

year when Roshan Slater missed the entire season and Joel missed 11 games. I'm looking at the

pass catcher saying, okay, it's not like a top five top 10 group, but McConkey, Quentin Johnson,

Gadsden, Hampton and the run game like there's enough talent there for the chargers to make that

leap and be number six. Now have we both had chargers takes and Herbert takes and whatever over the

course of our careers that we would like scrubbed from the internet? Of course. I had them, I think

winning MVP in the second season. It did not necessarily go that way. And so who knows? I understand.

There's always it feels like chargers hype in this summer and we'll see when we get to our season

predictions, whether we really believe them in them as a super bowl caliber team, depending on what

you think of the defense. But yeah, I felt good about it. I felt good about them being in the top 10.

And you know, as I do it, I come up the initial list and then I start at one and then I get to two

and I'm like, all right, am I sure I like one more than two? Yes. And then I get to two. All right,

am I sure I'm like, all right. Yeah, we're very, we're very similar. And I got to the chargers and I'm

like, I think this is the right spot. I have a mid six. You have a mid six. Like I said, what could go

wrong? Chargers fans are you probably prefer that we just had them at 32. I think that this has

been a little too much optimism over the offseason for chargers fans. The current chargers fan,

knowing the current nature of this franchise, you've got to feel like if people stop looking at

us, they shall lose. I know it's every year for them. All right. So we both have the chargers at

number six. Number five, Deontay, who do you have at number five on your list? Number five for me

of the Dallas Cowboys. Okay. I've got the Cowboys up at number three. So we're in a similar range.

Dallas Cowboys, you got them top five is the case just straightforward. They're good last year.

They're going to be good again this year or is there more to it? It's really just as simple as that.

Like the things that made this offense as good as it was last season is still around. I trust

Brian shot an hammer as a play caller as a game manager. I think that he was cruelly able to

get more out of deck press got last year than what we saw Michael Carthy get out of them. What a

sentence, by the way. And I agree with you. No, seriously. You want to told me two years ago that

we I would be I would be at the time of the press conference. That's right. You have to change

your opinions based on what you see. And I think it's done a pretty good job. I can't believe it,

but it's true. 100%. I think that what we saw from George Pickens, if you would have told me the

George Pickens, fresh off of a trade and not being paid was going to show up and be this unguardable

ex-receiver for this team. I wouldn't have believed that either. So much so that it kind of came at the

expense of CD Lambs production, right? And in some points, because Jack Prescott has such a

strong connection with them, George Pickens throughout the year. But yeah, this is a team that just

checks all the boxes. You want supporting cast. They've got two, you know, bonafide number one

type wide receivers. Jake Ferguson has been a very dependable titan. You have a running game that

you're able to lean on. You have a healthy Javante Williams, which hopefully remains his way,

because he was a very enjoyable watch. Once we got him healthy again in the NFL. And I hope that

we're able to continue to see him affect games as a power runner between the tackles the way

that we did last year. Their offensive line is young. You know, it's reliable, both good in the

run game and the past game. And they kept their staff together, right? Like there really wasn't any

brain drain. There's really nothing to point to that would tell you that you should be concerned that

this team is going to take some unforeseen step back from last year to this year. If anything,

I wouldn't be surprised at all if we're having conversations about how they might be the number one

or number two offense in the league. If guys are healthy and never performing at peak capacity again

this year. Yeah, I was just looking at history. And I know Dak Prescott, not everybody's a fan of

Dak Prescott. If you just look at it historically, when he is on the field for them, the offense is

good. And that's been with different supporting cast, different offensive lines, different play

colors. The last five times Dak Prescott has played at least 12 games. They've had a top eight

offense. Like that, that's a pretty remarkable run of consistency that I think speaks to the

quarterback's play for the Cowboys now. You know, the rest of the Cowboys. Obviously they haven't

had a playoff success. And that's a conversation for another day. But last year they were fourth

in EPA per drive. To your point, they returned their top five pass catchers from last year. They

were turned seven of their top eight offensive linemen from last year. It's the same scheme. It's

the same OC. It's the same staff. It's just a very reliable offense now. Could there be injuries

or something we are fluky happening with turnover? Sure. That can happen with any offense we talk

about today. But when I just felt like, man, unless unless something like that happens where you're

just, you know, you're from hell with the injuries, I feel really good about this offense being

really good in the regular season. The Cowboys were almost up there with any team for me. So yeah,

I had them at number three. You had them at number five. We are on the same page there with the

Dallas Cowboys. All right. So I got to give you my number five team, which I think you might not

have in your top 10. Oh, I see. I got the Cincinnati Bengals at number five. Dehante. Nope. They're

number three for me. Oh, they all three. What a number three. I take more bullish on the Bengals

offense than me. That was band. That was off the board for fans all for that to be the case. I

just feel like I've been the high man on the Bengals on every podcast. I mean, and we want to talk

about the whole 53. Then we can have a different conversation. But if you're just going to be

about one side of the ball, then I'm right there with you on this. All right. So we both like the

Bengals. My case here is it's very similar to what I just said about that when Joe Burrow has been

healthy and played the requisite amount of games. The offense is generally good. They were I think

seventh. I want to say in 2024, they were fifth in 2022. The health concerns are real. The health

concerns are real with a lot of these guys. It's hard. You get hit and there's a lot. You know,

it's a violent sport. And so I don't like to just predict what quarterback's going to get injured.

But when you look at Burrow and those wide receivers, it's just like that's hard to defend

every week for a lot of NFL defense. You're Marjana is very hard to account for. T Higgins

very hard to account for their run game. Actually, this surprised me, Dehante. Because in my head,

I didn't think the run game was very good last year. Statistically, the run game was quite

disgusting. It's been sneakily efficient for the last two seasons. Yeah. They've been able to get

away with not really having difference and making talent in the back. I think the chase around

is probably better than it gets credit for it. Like the fantasy football guys will be quick to correct

me on that and tell me how dependable he is on a week to week basis because he does get light boxes.

But I think that they've built up the kind of running game infrastructure that they didn't have

in 2022 and 2023. When teams just try to say, hey, we'll just play cover two and cover four.

We're just going to make Joe Burrow sit in the pocket and just get beat up by our past rush.

They've built, I think, something that's a lot more dependable now than they used to have.

It's really interesting because the early days of Burrow and those wider severs

were so fun and their bomb in it downfield and it's explosives. Then we know what happened, teams

changed how they wanted to play against them. Now, I still feel like the way for them to get

in the top five, they still need to find a way to manufacture explosives. If you look at the numbers

last year, the explosives are not where you would want them to be for a team that has Joe Burrow,

Jamar Chase and T Higgins. And I know we've discussed this before. It's like, when a defense wants

to force you into doing one thing, you kind of can't just do that thing and be like, all right,

they're taking away explosives. Like you still need to find a way and that's easier for me to say,

when I don't have to, you know, figure out a way schematically or I'm not the players playing,

but I almost felt like looking at it, there were times last year where it just felt a little too

conservative, a little bit too much of take what the defense gives you and check it down and get

the ball out. So I think the way for them to really make that leap into the top three or the top five

is to combine the run game, which is a little bit better. The online, which I think secretly is not

that bad. I mean, if you look at the numbers from last year, pressure rate was the lowest

sac rate of Joe Burrow's career. I think they're more towards the middle of the path than to.

They're in serious a lot better. It's a lot better for. Yeah. So

I'm curious. Maim's could end up being a really good player for them at tackle. So there's

just a lot I like here. And again, it's really similar to the team we just talked about with the

Cal boys, where Joe Burrow, I think the last I forget three, four years, he's been healthy. He's

ranked top 10 in EPA for past play. The supporting cast is very similar. Like the formula works,

whether the ceiling is this high or whether it's more 7, 8, 9, 10, we can talk about that. But yeah,

I felt pretty good about the Bengals and you felt even better about them. 100%. I think the one

thing that the Cal boys are able to access that we just didn't see enough from Cincinnati is they do

have an ability to change gears, play heavier personnel and really be able to mash teams between

the tackles and the run game. Whereas Cincinnati has been a little bit more give us light boxes. We

can count if we've got a numbers advantage here, we're just going to take the four to five yards

or handing away. I would like to see Cincinnati incorporate a little bit more of that. Part of the

issue is that because they have built their offense so hyper specifically to be this 11 personnel

spread out shotgun, let Joe Burrow cook with this 35 to 40 drop backs in game. It does. It doesn't

really lend itself to the current era football, right? Well, we started talking about some of the other

offenses we expect to be in the top 10. We've kind of hit on some of the same points. The ability to

control games on the ground. A lot of that comes from being able to get under center and have multiple

tight insets or be able to add a fullback or a fullback Esk talent, you know, to be able to go add a

gap in the run game when you need it. You're talking about play action game, right? Can you draw a

defense forward to find easy passes in the intermediate area of the field? So that way a team like

Seattle, right? A team like Philadelphia, ones who are really inviting you to just play more spread

out and say, Hey, we're just going to sit on you in between the hatches. We're not going to give you

anything easy. You're going to have to go get your explosive plays the hardest way possible

on these 50-50 balls way deep down field. And we've got all these different carverages to make you

have to pause before you let the ball go. I think the Cincinnati is very similar to Kansas City.

They're interesting teams to kind of look at the meta of the game, right? If you're trying to find

the lens of where is the game been at and where is it going, you used to really be able to count,

you know, kind of sit unseen. The team like Cincinnati and say, this is probably going to be the

first or second best offense in the league because they just have superstar talent all over the case.

And it built very similarly to the old cults in the painting Manning era in that respect. Whereas

now you look at teams like, you know, Los Angeles, you look at what a team like Philadelphia is doing,

kind of divesting from that model to say, Hey, we want to be a little bit more balanced across the board,

you know, you look at the lions, you look at the chargers. A lot of these teams we're trying to

balance out their attacks, even if it comes at the expense of not having star talent. I'm fascinated

to see. I think this year will be kind of a next point for this team, maybe kind of that fork in the

road moment where they have to decide whether or not it's really about leaning into the superstar

talent or is going to be more about, Hey, we've got to diversify some of these things that we do

offensively to get the most out of every single play. I was thinking as I was looking at all these

teams that we mentioned the Ravens changing the way they're playing and the Eagles changing the way

they're playing and the way the bills play now. There is going to be a time in probably the next

three to five years where we're just going, Oh, this team is going back to the spread and playing

11 personnel and oh, this is, oh, this is okay. This is back now. It's no longer getting the tight

ends and the full backs on there and getting under center and using play action because you know what,

the defense has went so far that way with their nickels making sure those nickels can fit the run.

Well, those nickels now can't cover these dynamic slot receivers. It's just so funny. It's like

every three to five years is going to be different. So maybe the Bengals are like, you know what?

We're ahead of the curve. We're not changing. The deep fences will come back to us.

Eventually the game will come back to us. Yes.

Eventually, listen, Sean McVeigh hired Cliff Kingsbury this all season. That caught my attention

a little bit. Why is he hired in Cliff Kingsbury? You know, they need a little trick up their sleeve

in case what they used last year doesn't work and they need to pivot again. I don't know.

Maybe just a thought I had. All right. So we basically flipped the Bengals and the Cowboys. We got

them both this top five. I had Cowboys three Bengals five. You had Bengals three Cowboys five.

I imagine we're going to have the top same top two. But maybe you'll

I kind of think it has to be. It has to be. There's one team I was I really felt like you were

going to have on here that you don't that I want to get to at the end. But yeah, number two, Dianne,

who do you got? Number two, I have the Buffalo Bills. Okay. I got the Bills one. Okay. So there you go.

I think that we're going to end up having a similar conversation then about the Rams and why I

have them one and maybe what your hold up was with them being the narrowing offense in the league.

But for me with Buffalo again, like I feel like for the last 30 teams we're talking about

steady, stable. They've got a proven track record already. Their style of play isn't changing.

The people at the helm of calling the offense and executing the offense have not changed.

Strong offensive lines. They can run the ball to control the clock control game situations when

they need to and they've got a quarterback that can build them out of bad situations. I mean,

that just too a tee has been why Buffalo even in those those moments, right? I feel like we were

podcasting together when they had that cold spell where they got beat up really bad by the Texans.

And I think that was kind of like the alarm bells going off moment. But even like two to three weeks

before that you started seeing defenses picking up on some of their tendencies in terms of what they

liked in the passing game in terms of what they like to do out of certain personnel groupings in

the run game. And ultimately they still turned out to be a really excellent offense because they

can just lean on their favorites because they have talent all over this roster. And now if you add

DJ Moore and you get a DJ Moore who's motivated, who is I think in an understandable role where he

doesn't necessarily have to be some 150 targets guy, he can be a manufactured explosives. He can be

catch on the one in the minute intermediate area type of receiver. He can be a spring game guy,

right? Like you can just fold him into all the same things you've been doing with your tight ends

and with Khalil Shakir this entire way. And I just go into a bigger receiver who has a little bit

more wiggle in the open field. And this offense can just I guess just add another dynamic piece

to what it already does. I don't know that they needed to change anything. I think they just

needed a player like Moore to maybe be able to unlock some things when defenses load up the box to

take away the run game. Reliability, consistency. It's just like I mean, I'm with you DJ, you know,

it's so funny like the ebbs and flows of an NFL offseason because they make that DJ Moore trade.

And I'm sure that I said on this podcast, I wouldn't have made that trade given up what they gave

up and paint. Why are they paying him what they're paying him? But then you get to August and you look

at the depth chart. And now I like to screw up a lot more when DJ Moore kind of bumps everyone down.

Like I liked the other players. The other players weren't good enough to just stand pat and not do

anything. So now it's DJ Moore. Now it's Khalil Shakir. Now it's whoever's your wide receiver three.

Whether it's Josh Palmer or Keon Coleman is both tight ends Dawson Knox and Dalton King Kate.

It's James Cook at Running Back. It's a very good offensive line. And it's like, oh, okay,

like I do like this group. And I would say if you had to pick one quarterback where you said

it doesn't matter who the play caller is, who the offensive line is, who the wide receivers are,

you're going to have a top five offense. I think Josh Allen is that guy for me right now.

I mean, the numbers back it up the last six, six years in a row. They finished between first and

fourth in EPA per drive. Like that is a remarkable level of consistency. I know all the stats are out

there that are like, this is the best team to never even get to a super. It is the best run by any team

to not even get to a super bowl. Which if you're a bills fan, you're like, we're not hanging in

the banner for that. We're not. Especially that franchise. That franchise is experienced a heart

breaks a ball heart breaks. I know. Their history. It's like there. It really is remarkable that they

have not broken through. But the offense has just about been the most reliable unit in the NFL

over the last five, six seasons. So I think they're going to be right up there once again. Will

they definitely beat number one? I don't know. Maybe not. But I'm just like, if Josh Allen's healthy,

I don't care what who else gets injured or has a down year. This isn't a Joe Brady thing to me.

I mean, Joe Brady right place, right time as far as I'm concerned. Ken Dorsey's looking at it going,

hey, someone compared the stats when I was calling the offense compared to when Joe Brady was.

I don't think it's that hard to come up with a great offense when you have Josh Allen. I do like

some of the stuff he's done. You mentioned it earlier, taking some stuff off of his plate,

not asking him to be Superman, the entire game, you know, having a good run game, all those things.

But yeah, I had the bills won just because I felt like they were sort of, I was going to say,

we're session proof, which doesn't make any sense. But you know, I'm saying like, it kind of does.

The conditions don't really matter as long as the quarterback's healthy, they're going to have

a top five offense. So I've got bills won. You have presumably the Los Angeles Rams number one.

What why did you give them the edge here over the bills? And we're of course just picking knits

with it with this right here. Yeah, I think for me, like I took this exercise all the way down to

the end, right, this morning before we hopped on the podcast. And I just kept talking between

Buffalo, BN1, Los Angeles, BN2 and the advice of our, and eventually I just kind of got to a point

where I'm like, this offense is awesome. Knit picking us for losers at this level, right? Like,

let me just like, instead of trying to find all of the trap doors for this team, let's just take

what we've seen on film. And a lot of this really is based on the fact that Sean McVey and the Rams

have built an offensive infrastructure that doesn't really ask Matthew Stafford to have to do what he

did in 2021 for this to be a top five offense in the NFL. In truth, I mean, they very rarely

meet him to play at that level. I would say that last year, the only times I really call it

for it were those three games against the Seahawks. And in the last two of them, he played exactly

like we saw in 2021, Matthew Stafford played. And I think that that's a large reason why I ended up

winning MVP is because those memories stuck out in that Thursday night game. And then in the NFC

championship, he went out was after the voting. I think you just think about those moments, right,

when it's called upon at most when he needed to deliver, you know, in the biggest moments for

the Rams, he was able to do so. And then you look at just some of the more underlying metrics,

right? Like by name recognition, maybe by volume. And some of the other things that we look at,

maybe by box score, we don't always appreciate just how effective the Rams are in the run game.

But you go and you look at success rate, especially on early downs. I mean, they were just

beating the hell out of teams. And then some of this was before they even went to the 13 person

L thing when they're adding all these big bodies on. They're able to play win 11 personnel that

can get to tight ends on the field if they want to. They can play more with more of their

finesse 12 personnel looks if they wanted to between, you know, your Teres Ferguson and Colby

Parkinson's who are, you know, Parkinson's is a pretty balanced tight end. Ferguson is much more

of a receiver than he is a blocker. And still just by formation, by motion, by Sean McVey's ideas

and how to craft a run game, they're able to find six, seven yards, sometimes a pop in a quarter

or in a half, right? I trust so much in what they have built in the run game, in the play action

game, in whom Matthew Stafford has been in the tie light of his career, what they're able to do

in the red zone with Devonte Adams being able to kind of feed touchdowns to him. And I think that

in my assumption is, Pukin the coolest suspension, which I do expect him to get one eventually won't

be so long. I don't think that Alaric Jackson, who might be at suspended for, you know, his off-the-field

conduct, I don't know if that's going to be extensive either. And they're going to have their guys,

right? I'm assuming health and that they're going to have their guys available. And as long as those

players are on the field, it is hard for me to see Sean McVey not turning in the number one offense

in the NFL, no worse than the top three offense in the league this year. Yeah, you mentioned the

Seattle matchups. And I would even throw in when they faced the Eagles the last couple of years.

They have the thing where because of Stafford's experience and talent and savvy and know-how and

Sean McVey's offensive mind, they configure stuff out against the best defenses in the NFL,

which I think that is, you know, I think that's a great case for them to be number one, where it's

just like you're probably not going to shut them down for an entire game. You might get the first

quarter, you might get the first half, you might get the first possession, whatever. But eventually,

their like that combination is so special that they're going to figure it out. And so they were

the best offense in the NFL last year. They've done it against great defenses. I mean, think about

it. The Seahawks, like no one was able to do anything against the Seahawks except for the Rams'

offense last year. Like they kind of put themselves on another level. I mentioned earlier, I think

the Broncos continuity. I believe the Rams have 13 of 14 players who logged 400 snaps last year on

offense, 13 of 14 are back. So they've got that continuity going for them. Yeah, my only real question

about the Rams was what it looks like if they lose, you know, hook and a cool. Like it's all

depth stuff or if they have injuries on the offensive line, but it really is first world problem,

type of things. You know, I'm tired of predicting that Matthew Stafford's age is going to be

an issue for them when the guy just won the MVP last year. So yeah, I think it's perfectly

reasonable to have the Rams as number one. I have Bill's one, Rams two. You have Rams one,

Bill's two. So we agreed on seven teams, Deontay, Bill's, Rams, Cal boys, Lions, Bengals, Chargers,

Patriots. I had the Bears, Packers and Chiefs. You had the Ravens Broncos and Jaguars. Neither of us

had the Niners. That was the one team I was surprised that I thought you were going to have in there.

That was the one that that's the one that had me feeling like, am I a Bozo?

Like I might think it too hard about some of the issues or some of the hang-ups that I might have

about George Kiddell being hurt and Mike Evans being a little advanced in age. Like I'm sorry,

man. It's too much for me. And then I think the other team I was thinking about is just like Philadelphia.

Because it's just because of the arguments that we're making about teams like Denver, teams like Dallas,

the ones that are really built upon offensive line, being able to win between the tackles,

quarterback, who's not turning the ball over. Like is this a team that could be maybe towards

a bottom-end but can make the top 10 because they're not going to be as volatile as a Chicago,

as a Jacksonville, maybe as Baltimore might be. But for me, I think that that's one of those

things where first-year play-caller, big system overhaul, loss of the very talented player,

you're going to have to show it to me first. And I had them 15th, so it's not like I have them being

some bottom half of the league offense. The adiners, you can just make the case,

say Shanann and Purdy, it works. It has worked and they might not be top five, but they're going to be

really good. I just, the injuries already, I mean, the summer they've had so far were like one

week in. I'm just like, I have them a little. I don't think they're going to be bad, but I had them

outside the top 10. Eagles, you mentioned, I think there's a case for them, Seahawks. I think

there's a case for them if you feel good about the new OC coming in and then not losing much.

The Vikings, I thought about getting spicy and being like, maybe I buy this. It's a good

supporting cast. That would have been an inspired pick. I couldn't quite get there. I was like,

but I should do Vikings over chiefs for content. Nope. I'm just going to go with what I actually think

here with the chiefs. So yeah, I think those were some of the teams that just missed out, but that

was a lot of top 10 off fences. I think Deonte come back next week and do top 10 defenses. How does

that sound? Well, zoo defenses. I mean, you're talking about language. I would love nothing more.

We'll do defenses next week. All right. Thanks to Deonte Lee from The Ringer. Thank you to

Christopher Sutton for producing. Step the no Sanchez on video and additional production

supervision by Connor Nevins and our Juno Ram Gopal. I'm Shilka Paddy. We will talk to you next time

on The Ringer NFL show.

21 plus and present in select states for Kansas in affiliation with Kansas,

star casino or 18 plus and present in DC Kentucky or Wyoming gambling problem called 1 800

gambler or 1 800 my reset call 1 888 789 777 777 or visit ccpg.org slash chat in Connecticut or

visit md gambling help.org in Maryland hope is here visit gambling helpline ma.org or call 800

327 50 50 for 24 seven support in Massachusetts or call 1 877 8 hope and y or text hope and y in

New York for Louisiana call 1 877 770 786 7