00:00right nfl.com is talking about the bandwagons that you need to hop on in 2026 and these aren't
00:06just bandwagons for teams these are bandwagons for players these are bandwagons for coaches just
00:11the people who stock they're going up they're rising and the very first name on this list
00:17and this list is from uh genaro felice over at nfl.com one of their editors and he says
00:24nfl bandwagons to hop on in 2026 cowboys and chargers will deliver beware of reuben bain jr
00:31by the way the number one podcast i want in sports right now is not caleb downs pops and russini
00:38oh yeah all right the number two podcast and caleb downs pops was very good which you played at 620
00:44um mike mcdaniel and john harbaugh oh i'm fascinated i'm all in uh mcdaniel told someone recently john
00:54harbaugh jim i'm sorry jim harbaugh most secure person he's ever been around do you have to stop
01:00like i do i mean you just had it but every time i stop when i'm about to say harbaugh
01:03name i'm like
01:04mentally processing jim john jim john which one is the face that goes with that name yes because it
01:08always throws me off now uh he says uh genaro felice says this is hype season this is the time
01:13where we're
01:14all starting to to generate some interest in the bandwagons and we want to hop on and we want to
01:19find our wagons to hitch ourselves to for the upcoming season coaching carousels done free agency
01:25done draft is done and now that the dust has settled who looks really intriguing and he leads
01:30off the very number one bandwagon to hop on is none other than the dallas cowboys he says performing
01:37this same exercise one year ago i opened the file by imploring everyone to hop on the patriots bandwagon
01:43as i admitted at the time that request felt wildly uncouth seeing how the pats dominated the first
01:49two decades of the millennium so thoroughly that they they engendered enmity dang he likes to use
01:55big words and enmity across the football world but consecutive four and 13 seasons in 23 and 24
02:00dropped new england to the bottom of the afc east stripping the franchise of its evil empire might
02:05consequently i pitched the patriots as a buy low candidate in 2025 and they provided enormous
02:10returns making it all the way to the super bowl so he has to lead with that to go
02:13all right now that i have some credibility in that front let me tell you why the cowboys are
02:18different this year so he says so here i am grabbing another lightning rod with both hands
02:22the cowboys bandwagon is always crowded but it rarely delivers a fully satisfying ride coming off
02:28back-to-back losing campaigns dallas hasn't made it to pass the divisional round in 30 years but i'm
02:33ready to make the potentially grievous miscalculation that this year will be different and who wrote this
02:41genaro felice one of the editors at nfl.com and he says why well it starts with oddly enough the
02:47cowboys themselves offensively they just wrote a resurgent javante williams to a top 10 ground game
02:52leading to a nice extension for the 1200 yard rusher this offseason by the way we have not talked enough
02:57about and maybe we will as the season goes on and i know we mentioned at the time they got
03:01such a deal
03:01on that javante williams extension that was a deal that they ended up actually winning with all the times
03:07that they've had trouble getting extensions done it says with all five starters returning along the
03:11offensive line dallas has the continuity to continue effectively pounding the rock and that's not even
03:16what this offense majors in having just signed the franchise tag george pickens will once again
03:20comprise one of the league's best receiving duos with cd lamb allowing dak prescott to bedevil defenses
03:27through the air once again see this dude loves these and these are some chat gpt words man this could
03:32be
03:32the best offense in football dallas's defense of course remains a work in progress he says but i do
03:38like many of the fresh faces brought in this offseason starting with hot new defensive coordinator
03:42christian parker given that the former defensive backs coach just made cooper de jean and quinion
03:46mitchell first team all pros in philly i'm fascinated to see what he could do with caleb downs a first
03:51round pick with the versatility and football iq to bring everything together in dallas's defensive
03:55overhaul and again this is nfl.com's bandwagon report and talking about the cowboys and above all brian
04:00schottenheimer feels like he has the right temperament to be the ringleader of the most valuable circus
04:04in sports he says this isn't just about the boys though my bullishness on dallas is propelled by
04:09simultaneous bearishness on the rest of the division the eagles just became the first team
04:14in more than two decades to win consecutive nfc east titles but i'm pessimistic about a three-peat
04:18a.j brown's apparently on his way out saquon barkley is at risk of being worn out heading into his
04:23last season in his 20s barkley has racked up a whopping 828 touches over the past two years
04:28nearly a hundred more than any other player meanwhile i question whether the commanders have
04:33done enough to support jayden daniels and i doubt the giants are poised to seriously compete in year
04:37one of the john harbaugh era i like the cowboys chances to win the nfc east and finally do some
04:44real
04:45damage in the playoffs and that's the write-up from genaro felice over at nfl.com and this comes on
04:50the heels of something i saw this morning adam shine had said yesterday i guess i think there's a
04:57real shot we see the cowboys playing on championship sunday for the first time in 30 years yeah this is
05:03there he just interviewed steven they i feel pete prisco has started this as well cbs cowboys super
05:10bowl i feel like there's every year there's a claim from the national media that oh same old this is
05:18our
05:18year talking but it's like okay this is just you're misrepresenting it cowboys fans never say this is our
05:22year anymore they're usually some of the most pessimistic that exist of just like nope it's never
05:26going to be good until jerry leaves we're never winning anything nothing will happen and nationally
05:30everybody's always doubting them it's very rarely that people and with good reason especially when
05:35we look at the last few years but everybody's always like no no no there's flaws there there's
05:39still questions this is the first offseason in a while i can remember where people are looking at
05:45them like oh that's a trendy one to hitch to yeah they've kind of reached this state of being a
05:50middle
05:50contender that could jump up and enough people have hated on them for a long time again rightfully so in
05:56some instances that oh it's it's a little bit more chic to be able to say let's go counter here
06:00and say i think they're going to be good and that's what you're starting to see a lot of people
06:04project
06:04is that they're going to be good i have four bandwagons that i wrote down you tell me what
06:10qualifies and applies in your mind as bandwagon maybe these teams are some of them one of them is
06:16already too successful that the bandwagon has already been established unfortunately they're all in
06:21the nfc okay i do have the cowboys as a bandwagon there we go now how long deck time whatever
06:30right
06:31now it just feels super fun i have the cowboys as a bandwagon thanks guys i have the new york
06:37giants
06:38as a fun bandwagon how could it not be yeah you got the frat bros you got your brand new
06:44head coach
06:44the funnest two yards at a time and you got you got you got sunny styles i have this is
06:52the one that
06:52you may not count the chicago bears washington i'm sorry arvel reese's arvel reese yeah uh the bears
06:59dub bears are the bears already too established from last year's playoffs to have a bandwagon
07:08for most people yes for me no because i think we talked about last year how much they were
07:14the cardiac kids and one game's late that it's like should you have won that game like we're
07:20there was a question about them potentially being a little bit of smoke and mirrors for a lot of the
07:23years so not for me for the rest of the nfl i think people just go they made the playoffs
07:27last year they
07:27were competitive that that shouldn't be a bandwagon but i think it qualifies and then the fourth one will
07:32make bobby belt happy uh and i think it's an obvious one the new orleans saints i think it i'm
07:39and this is all fun factor for me right uh you think you got your quarterback you go and get
07:46your
07:46receiver to go ahead and pair up kellen moore young whiz kid so i got the saints i got the
07:54cowboys the
07:55giants and the bears as the current bandwagons to hop on and i could not find one in the afc
08:02i'm not i'm not including the chargers oh okay so i think right off the bat i think there's a
08:07chance
08:07it really depends i feel like this is a team i throw out every year as being one that that
08:12could
08:12be a fun team and if it clicks into place right it's been three years but like atlanta does have
08:17really intriguing skill players and it's no just a question of do they get quarterback play that
08:23matches it and usually it's been no they haven't and they're not going to who starts
08:29who starts if it's tua you can't even bring their bring them up as a fun bandwagon team
08:36i'm gonna guess it's i'll guess it's tua probably is pennix gonna be healthy is he good health wise
08:42i don't know that pennix will ever be healthy i don't know that he's ever been healthy i think
08:46pennix starts pennix pennix is is such a great like i'll say this we've seen to a lead now obviously
08:52he's
08:53he's had his struggles but i mean we've seen to a lead one of the most fun teams in the
08:56nfl in the
08:56last couple years but i'm crediting a lot of that to mcdaniel yeah 100 and so i mean that's
09:02you don't have the same designer and could be wrong in stefanski but you've got a a guy who is
09:09who boosted the browns a couple years ago to be a surprise fun team i think minnesota could be fun
09:14depending on what kevin o'connell does with kyler murray i agree but i don't think it's a
09:18bam wagon unless you're telling me kyler is a three-year answer now he could get re-signed
09:24uh but i don't know if i have three years confidence in kyler i i do think that's choppy's
09:28best offseason take and call and prediction so far that the minnesota vikings uh make a lot of noise
09:35would you qualify this one but i don't think kyler i i don't i don't think of them as sustained
09:40enough
09:41for bandwagon but kyler's younger than dak i am very bullish on the prospects i will probably end up
09:48whenever we start talking about divisions and stuff i very well may pick them to win their division
09:53that's cincinnati i you're i'm guessing your reservation is completely about just burrow being
09:58healthy yeah i mean it's 50 if he's healthy but even when he's healthy i mean he was healthy a
10:01couple years ago and they were seven and ten football team and he was playing the best football
10:05he possibly could yeah and it wasn't good enough if you pick the bangles to win something big i'm not
10:10gonna argue it and you pick the bangles to miss the playoffs i'm not gonna argue it you can't argue
10:15either way with them that's what's annoying about talking about is there any intrigue at all for you
10:20and more just like well that could be a disaster maybe it's okay i assume they're not going to be
10:24very good but is there any intrigue at all for you to see what's going to happen with malik willis
10:27in
10:27miami like a little bit a tiny bit because if malik will because and i know a lot of people
10:33but
10:34people are asking whether they have the worst wide receiving core in nfl history i got jalen
10:38tolbert bro just pay pay name me the dolphins receivers mr fantasy football player uh you got jalen
10:44waddle no nope you know he traded uh tyreek nope he's gone um do they still have uh what kind
10:50of
10:50tight end do they have uh gasek gaseki gaseki is he still there i don't think so no wow can
10:57you name
10:58wide receivers or tight ends for them besides jalen tolbert nope jalen tolbert i don't remember who
11:02they drafted malik washington chris bell theo weiss aj henning taj washington tutu atwell the tight ends
11:10are greg dulcich yep will kak kak marik and this is the craziest name tight end room in the league
11:18i
11:18know that sadhu traor ben sims don't lose it wait is ben sims the last one he's the fourth they
11:26just
11:26had to cut the pa guy a break yeah tight end room a little bit yeah so that's the miami
11:30uh wide receiver
11:31and tight end room yeah and they've got a defensive-minded head coach now and so it's probably not going
11:35to be
11:35like super explosive or exciting or anything but malik willis was at the end of his run in green
11:40bay like when he got asked to play some spot dude there were some exciting moments and so it's just
11:45a question of like it's a it's a mystery box i'm interested to see what the mystery box is i
11:50know
11:50there's people around the league who are interested in what the titans are going to do yeah cam ward is
11:54a second year and getting carnell tate in there and that maybe that ends up being a team that's a
11:58little bit fun to follow are you jumping on a cowboy bandwagon uh no not yet okay
12:05i'm more on it than you i i i'm really intrigued by what their ceiling is but i just i
12:13don't know
12:14if it's all going to click into place that quickly what's your point i think by 27 they're going to
12:17really be contending
12:18you
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