I mean, I like Ted Hurst coming out, but like what?

He had two, you know, it's funny because when you know how it is when it rains, it pours like Baker's not playing well.

But then when Baker makes the two best throws of the game that he makes and they're tough catches, but Ted Hurst can't catch either of them.

And they would have been like huge plays in the game.

One would have been a game winning touchdown a couple of plays before Baker missed a buka in the end zone on the fourth down play.

So I, So there's kind of like – it's not like Hurst has been bad.

He's getting open.

He's pretty, there's pressure is maybe the best way to put it.

So how have you conceptualized what this offense is right now.

It's hard.

I think too, because there's a lot of negative things I have to say about the structure of the offense and those who will get exposed against better groups.

And maybe Minnesota, Minnesota is a unique group, obviously a better group than the last two teams they played, I think, but a unique group still in that, like some things that get exposed by other teams, maybe wouldn't be exposed against them.

Some things will like they're just, it's just kind of a weird matchup, but yeah, They have played two defenses I think that are pretty imperfect and have real vulnerabilities, and they've had enough there to beat those teams if they just make the plays.

So everything is not a disaster.

The biggest disaster has been the play of Baker Mayfield by far.

So like just macro, not so much game specific, like how do you think about the bucks and where they are and like what the future could be for this franchise that don't, I mean, again, they do have a lot of talent.

and that kind of has evolved into like last year like you mentioned so so well there is like he was making a bunch of crazy scrambling plays that were really working out and then he gets hit popped crunched a couple times and then it's all of a sudden the shoulders in a bad spot or something's going on but but correct me if i'm wrong there from from your evolution of watching him in tampa i wouldn't expect you to go too crazy at watching him before but like he seems to be more adept at trying to take off and, and here and there and extend plays than where I think he was just trying to throw his way through things in Cleveland at times.

He's still a very ego driven player.

I think even with all the maturing that's happened, he's matured in the way that he articulates who he is as a person.

And some of those sorts of things, I think his personal life, there's been a lot of maturity that's happened, but I still think he's a very ego driven player.

So when he gets a lot of hype and recognition for some of these scramble plays and he does tend to go into that mode.

That's who I am.

That's I'm that quarterback.

So back hat, we'll just do secondary real quick and just names that matter there.

What is that matchup going to be like with a Bucs offensive line that obviously has Tristan Wirth, has some talent, can protect Baker Mayfield, or at least has in the past? What are you looking to see in the trenches there, Bengals D-line, Bucs offensive line?

Yeah, Bucs offensive line, another group that really wasn't healthy together for hardly any of last season.

On the interior is where you maybe can find ways to take advantage of the Bucs, I would say.

Ben Bredesen typically deals with power pretty well, but guys can get on his edge, and that's where I think Jonathan Allen will try to attack.

lawrence and graham barton have had some interesting battles even in the past and barton's actually played him pretty well even though barton has had his struggles against different types of defensive tackles i think he's played lawrence fairly well most of barton's issues tend to be technical and i think that if he does clean that up this season which the bucks are obviously hoping for a big jump from him um he could maybe hold his own in that matchup but it also might be worth noting that this may be a more reinvigorated dexter lawrence than we've seen some of the last couple times graham barton played him when he was in the throes of whatever the giants were going through at that at that point in time so i think those will be interesting matchups to watch for sure on the interior on the edge i i am excited to see i just want to see cassius howell more because we see 17 snaps in preseason and it was a fascinating 17 snaps that i'm trying not to draw too much from where he looked like a really good run defender and he was very physical and stout and standing up guys and slipping gaps and making tackles for loss and standing up polars and it was stuff we didn't see him do in college at all but then some of the pass rush stuff looked more robotic he looked heavier and i wondered if he's if he's packed on some weight to play in run defense and maybe doesn't have the same movement that i thought in college was his kind of his calling card really so I just fascinated I want to see more of the player that looked in those 17 snaps not at all like the one in college uh in good and bad ways I think so I think there's there's a lot to be learned about him and obviously you know you mentioned Stewart this is a huge year for Miles Murphy and trying to deliver on expectations kind of late in that rookie contract and see what kind of player he can be and obviously a great test one of the best tackle duos in the league to do it against

Has he delivered so far for the Bucs? And do you think he's going to make a week one impact?

He played six preseason staffs, which usually means, and it wasn't necessarily because of injury, although he is dealing with a little bit of an injury, but usually means you feel pretty comfortable with the guy.

You don't really need to see much more.

as

intrigued as you are by that.

Yeah, it's a huge problem.

He's not had a lot of talent in the places that he's been.

and he's gotten some things to league average my biggest question is that he has not by the numbers been a great pressure creator as a defensive coordinator he's also not had great players to do that with so i'm curious about that part yes he does now he has a totally different type of group he's been pretty good in terms of limiting explosives big plays things like that over the years that excites me especially with a better pressure group so Patrick Graham has this – he's kind of like Avero in Carolina, although Avero after this season we'll see, in that they have these sterling reputations and people around the league really like them.

But when you look at the numbers and how their defense has finished, it hasn't really been there very often.

And so you're wondering who's right.

Cook helps, but I do really feel worried that at some point they're going to regret not upgrading at linebacker.

So do you feel this line can kinda hold serve compared to what we saw last year, and do you think that they continue running the football the way they did?

Big, big questions for sure.

Let's talk about the offensive line in terms of pass protection.

It basically goes from about as easy of a system as you can play in the league, even though I think there's real talent here too.

That isn't to say they can't do it, it's just a matter of they went from one of the lowest number of true pass sets in the league to now an offense that presumably, if you look at Dallas in the, the years that McCarthy was there, what'll be one of the highest, uh, of true pass sets in the league.

Now, maybe there's some change there to account for who's running the offense, Aaron Rodgers and all that stuff.

So I'm not saying it won't be anything, but we saw right away in the first preseason game, oh, the set points are different.

I, Cook helps, but I do really feel, worry that at some point they're gonna regret not upgrading at linebacker.

I didn't like that

... it's, for the Steelers, right, f- you know, honestly, I think there's a guy in Antonio Williams who complements the skillsets of the guys currently there.

Now, Mike Tomlin never would've drafted Antonio Williams, not in a million years.

Uh, he'd be taking D'Zan Stribling or something like, somebody like that.

But I think Antonio Williams makes some sense here for them.

Think about what they need, guys.

They have these big guys-

Any thoughts there, John, on, like, any of those guys to potentially play nose for him?

Mm, okay

... drastically different, even more different for him from the combine than other guys were.

So just a really strange right away, like, you have these huge physical discrepancies.

Like, okay, who is this guy? Then he does 17 reps on the bench, which I, I don't necessarily care about, but it speaks to what I'm talking about, where I don't think he's even at, like, his fully filled out physical form yet as a player.

Um, that's just less than we normally see at this position.

Uh, then he does, you know, the testing you talked about.

40's good.

Wow

Where would you play him? What is the path of him hitting some upside of being a top 20 pick?

Man, this is a hard player to explain, I think.

And looking at just the pro day numbers in general is something I was curious about.

Like what position is he? You said it.

Where does he line up? We sort of have just forgot, like just dropped that part of his discussion, I think.

But it was really interesting at his pro day.

I tend to think his body's underdeveloped, which is weird because he's 6'5", over 6'5", almost 6'6", 274 pounds at his pro day.

got to tee off as a pure edge rusher

Like, what have you heard about him? Are you optimistic about his ability to repeat what Cohen did? Because what Cohen did was so special last year, in my opinion.

Yeah, I mean, uh, I was- b- I mean, I don't know if you heard me on any show.

I was basically just like, this is the kind of guy.

I mean, and behind the scenes, b- believe me, there's questions like, "What kinda- how- how mature is Cohen if he's the head guy?" Like those kind of questions.

Like, "What's he gonna be from a communication perspective?" Like, all the administrative stuff, like, you just take the chance, because there's only a few of these guys now in the league that move the needle so much as a head coach that you could have Jimmy Garoppolo or, you know, Phil- or Jared Goff early in his career, now he's a lot better, but like- and you can still threaten to win championships because they're that good, and I- that's why I think he'll be really hard to replace.

Now, they're really excited about Grizard.

I think the players were very excited.

Ridiculous.

... obviously is better talent-wise than where he got taken in the draft, but you've also seen the, the downside of what people were worried about coming into the league.

Yeah, I mean, eh, one of the key aspects of this is the fit in today's modern NFL with who George Pickens is as a player.

Eh, there are no question, he catches the ball at an extremely high level and he can make plays in the vertical portion of the field.

But you and I know, Greg, that NFL offense asks wide receivers to do much more than this, in today's league especially more than ever before.

If you don't know where all the pieces are moving, with how condensed the league is and how much they're bringing receivers in and reducing their split and saying, "You need to play close to the core of the formation, and if we're in a run you need to contribute, and if we're in a pass, you need to know how the routes distribute, how do the routes distribute and break up from that point on the field?" Eh, that's what teams need, need from their wide receiver position, especially Arthur Smith.

Like, he needs this from his wide receiver position.

If you remember, back to before the Russell Wilson, before Russell Wilson began to start in Pittsburgh, Van Jefferson out-snapped, out-snapped DK Met- or, uh, uh, out-snapped George Pickens in a couple games.

I think it makes sense for them.

but how do you think f- with what you know about Callahan and the Titans, like, how, how that fits together?

It's (laughs) really interesting because Callahan, you know, was with Burrow and then got to Tennessee and not, not that surprisingly I guess but tried to run totally different stuff than what he ran with Burrow, like it w- didn't look anything like the offense that the Bengals run, not that, not that really anybody looks like the offense the Bengals run.

So, he...

I, I really have no idea, like he was with Will Levis and that didn't work and so it was kind of like, okay, it was more traditional stuff.

I think...

My guess is that would be the...

I think the thing with Callahan is he'll build the offense around the player and Ward obviously, you know, didn't work under center so is a lot of like gonna be a lot of gun stuff, I think.

So how do you, when you're making the evaluation, work that into how you see him projecting forward?