- 2 days ago
Mike Jones joins the show to discuss the latest around the NFL including Laremy Tunsil's injury, weird vibes in Kansas City, and a fight at Raiders camp.
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00:00But Eric Biennemi, after a tragic situation with his family, back at Chiefs practice,
00:06I'm going to assume that means his wife's doing okay.
00:08What do we know about EB making it back to practice?
00:13We don't know a whole lot because as I last checked, I don't think that he has spoken
00:21or anything like that because I've been checking out with my guy Jesse Newell, who is our Chiefs
00:26beat writer at The Athletic, and he reported that he's there.
00:30And that that was a positive sign.
00:32I don't think that he would be there if his wife wasn't doing well.
00:36Obviously a very sad and scary situation going on there.
00:43But him being back is a good sign, at least for right now, that, again, he wouldn't be
00:52there if she was in bad shape.
00:53And so he felt comfortable enough to be there.
00:57You know, practice is going on.
00:59It doesn't look like they've wrapped yet.
01:01And if they have, they haven't issued an update.
01:04But just crazy, crazy situation there.
01:08And hopefully we get some updates.
01:10But from the videos that Jesse has put out there, it looks like he's right in the thick
01:13of things, directing the offense, and, you know, kind of, you know, back in the saddle.
01:17So that's good to hear, man.
01:19And I kind of had that same thought, like, all right, if he's back at camp means things
01:23must be stable enough.
01:25To be able to go back, yep.
01:26What do you make of the Chiefs this year, Mike?
01:29Obviously, you know, you got Mahomes and he's back.
01:32Like, but last year was ugly out there, man.
01:36Yeah, but I think that they really addressed some key areas this offseason.
01:44They got younger on defense.
01:46They got some, you know, impactful guys.
01:48They added Super Bowl MVP and Kenneth Walker III, who's going to be a big piece of that offense.
01:56Because, look, they have been kind of using a running back by committee the last several years.
02:00They haven't really had a strong, you know, consistent go-to workhorse back.
02:05And I think that having that will help ease pressure on Mahomes.
02:10That'll put them in more manageable second and third downs.
02:14And hopefully, for his sake, not having to be Houdini all the time.
02:18Now, I have questions about their offensive line.
02:20I mean, I'm sorry, their offensive line they've invested in.
02:23And I've got questions about their offense from a pass-catching standpoint.
02:27Because they've got a lot of guys, but they're just guys.
02:32And some of them, you know, dealt with injuries.
02:34Some are dealing with age.
02:35Some of them have, you know, off-field stuff that they've dealt with.
02:38And so I thought that if Stephon Diggs did not wind up in Washington, that he would wind up there.
02:44Obviously, he's here in Washington now, which is a good thing for the commanders.
02:48We'll see if the Chiefs have enough offensively firepower-wise.
02:53Because, obviously, they need that.
02:56And so that's my one question.
02:57They will be better running the ball.
02:59They will be better defensively, I believe.
03:01But as far as explosiveness and the pass-catching, and look, Andy Reid's so creative.
03:07He knows ways to mask and has done it and gotten a lot out of those guys.
03:11But I don't know, compared to some of these teams that we're looking at as far as elite teams, if
03:17they have the offensive firepower at wide receiver.
03:21What do you expect Kelsey to do to be able to bounce back?
03:24Because he wasn't good last year.
03:27Yeah, I mean, he's not going to be a whole lot different, I don't think.
03:32He's not getting younger.
03:35And he's married.
03:37Right.
03:38He's married.
03:39Look, I think that he is going to, this is probably the farewell tour.
03:44And obviously, he wants to go out on a strong note.
03:45He looked like he'd been packing on some nice off-season treats.
03:50You know, when we saw some videos of him early in camp, obviously, he's going to get down in better
03:55shape.
03:56But he's not going to be faster.
03:57You know, he's not going to get to separation.
04:00I think that, again, they're going to have to be really creative and use everything that they got to try
04:08to scheme guys open.
04:10And Kelsey might have, you know, more of a blocking type of, you know, role and then pop off here
04:16and there.
04:16You know, obviously, he wouldn't be back if he didn't think he could contribute.
04:21And, you know, and so we'll see.
04:22But I don't expect much different than what we saw last year.
04:26Talking with Mike Jones, you can read his work in The Athletic.
04:29You can follow him at by Mike Jones.
04:32Jonesy, I'm going to stay in the AFC West, but a weird, kind of crazy story.
04:37Kirk Cousins and Max Crosby get suspended for practice because Kirk was yelling at Crosby about being too physical.
04:45And then they almost got into a fight.
04:47What do we know going on in Vegas?
04:50Yeah, pretty wild.
04:52But also, I think that Clint Kubiak was really trying to send a message here.
04:58Okay, I'm going to hold out our two most, like our most important offensive player right now.
05:04And our best defensive player because they were fighting and we're not going to have that.
05:09Now, it's wild.
05:10You know, but I think that, you know, you've got a Kirk.
05:13Kirk Cousins fight in Max Crosby.
05:14I mean, Crosby would destroy him.
05:17He would.
05:18He would.
05:19And, I mean, obviously, Cousins wasn't cussing at him because we know Cousins is, you know, very, you know, squeaky
05:25clean.
05:26You know, very religious.
05:27And so, I kept on looking for some video of this fight because I just wanted to see, gosh darn
05:33it, like, swinging or what.
05:35You know, but it doesn't look like there's anything.
05:38Everything keeps popping up, some of these AI stuff, and it's really annoying.
05:42But I have asked around, and, you know, it's interesting.
05:49But, again, I think Kubiak probably got everybody's attention by doing that.
05:52Let me tell you one thing, Mike.
05:54Holding guys out of training camp practice, you think that hurt anybody?
05:58Yeah, too bad.
05:59I mean, they happy as hell that they got out of camp.
06:02I mean, I think knowing Kirk, Kirk probably wants to continue to get reps and doesn't want to open the
06:07door for Mendoza.
06:09Was Crosby upset?
06:10Probably not.
06:11You know, but, again, also, Kubiak did it because it was training camp.
06:16If they got into a fight in week one, he would not have held them out of a practice.
06:20I think it was a teaching moment and trying to get everybody's attention, and, you know, he probably got that.
06:25Yeah, I mean, that's kind of crazy, man.
06:31I just – I'm picturing those two actually in a fist fight, and I just – I don't think it
06:36would go great for Kirk.
06:41Let's localize this thing, Mike.
06:43Obviously, the Laramie Tunsil injury happens.
06:45I know you were here the last couple days.
06:47You had the excitement of Steph Diggs and then just kind of the dismay of losing Tunsil.
06:53Where do you think this team is, you know, 48 hours after they add a Pro Bowl player and lose
07:00a Pro Bowl player?
07:02Well, I mean, I think that it's definitely a good thing that you have another pass-catching option,
07:07another guy that is very savvy and a crisp route runner, and he will take some pressure off for Terry
07:13McLaurin
07:14because defenses won't be able to bracket him quite as much.
07:17And also, it's going to mean there's another guy to get open to help Jaden Daniels get the ball out
07:22of his hands more quickly
07:23because he doesn't have the Pro Bowl guy protecting his blind side.
07:26So you obviously would love to have Tunsil there, but at least you have another weapon to go to.
07:31And, look, Coleman didn't do awful when he was their left tackle a couple years ago.
07:36You know, it's going to be interesting to see.
07:38Look, I'm really intrigued by David Blau.
07:43I think he might take his lumps just because it is a big jump to go from assistant quarterback's coach
07:50to the primary play caller.
07:52I do like his concepts.
07:53I do like the motions that we saw, and it seemed like he was doing more to get guys open.
07:58I mean, he can scheme guys open.
08:00We saw Diggs and McLaurin and, you know, Burks and McCaffrey all finding openings in the defense.
08:07We'll see what happens once those defenses start game planning for him.
08:10But it's going to be intriguing.
08:13It's not going to be perfect right away, but definitely intriguing.
08:17Mike, I believe that if this team is going to go anywhere,
08:20the defense has to be drastically better than they were last year.
08:24Are you seeing the makings of something like that?
08:27Yeah, I think so.
08:28I mean, they definitely got younger, more explosive.
08:31Sonny Stiles has got great range and athleticism.
08:34I think they've gotten better in their secondary.
08:39I'm not saying that they're perfect, but I do think that the potential is there for their defense to be
08:44better.
08:45Their pass rush is going to be better.
08:46And so hopefully that defense can help ease some of the pressure on the offense because you're definitely right.
08:51They've got to get stops.
08:52They've got to get takeaways to try to help set up the offense in favorable situations.
08:59Mike, you know, injuries kind of, as unfortunate as they are, it's a normal part of life in the NFL.
09:08The situation in San Francisco, and a coach I know you know well, in Kyle Shanahan, just seems weird.
09:14And it seems to be, like, lingering weirdly, if that makes sense.
09:19Yeah, it's like every time you get something new, you feel like it's something else out there that's going to
09:25drop.
09:26I don't know if you've been out to Santa Clara yet or if you're going, but I'm sure you're talking
09:32with folks around the league.
09:33What is going on out there?
09:34Like, what is the vibe?
09:36Yeah, I'm not going out there this offseason, this training camp.
09:40It is odd.
09:41I mean, the whole thing was very, just the whole report.
09:47And then, you know, I mean, I guess hats off to Kyle for setting the record straight and, you know,
09:54explaining what happened.
09:55But it's still odd.
09:56And also, it's a little bit surprising, too, that, I mean, he just was at the podium yesterday and was
10:01asked about it again.
10:02One, they continue to continue to ask, so I guess that they're trying to connect dots still.
10:10You know, obviously, they want to focus on football.
10:13They always have some type of injuries and things like that.
10:16This is one that they never could have imagined with their head coach.
10:21I think, though, that, like, once the games get going, all this stuff is going to go away.
10:27It looks like Kyle is planning on coaching, you know, in the preseason game there.
10:32Again, odd.
10:34We don't see this stuff happen with head coaches.
10:37You know, I mean, you don't even see it a lot with players just every now and then.
10:42But just weird.
10:44And I don't know, you know, that we'll get a whole lot of insight left to it.
10:49But, yeah.
10:50Yeah, dude, it's a strange one.
10:52And then you add in that week one's in Australia.
10:56And I read that the Niners are planning to go out a week early to acclimate to the Australian time
11:03zone
11:04and whatever else you've got to acclimate to.
11:05Crocodiles, kangaroos, I don't know.
11:07But that the Rams, their opponent, on the flip side, are trying to only be there for 24 hours.
11:14They're crazy.
11:15Yeah.
11:16Yeah.
11:17I mean, it's nuts.
11:19Yeah, I think that, like, you've got two opposite ends of the extreme spectrum.
11:25Do you need to be out there for a whole week?
11:27I mean, I guess it's a long flight.
11:29You want to give these bodies enough time to recover.
11:31Going out there as short notice as the Rams are doing with such a quick turnaround,
11:36I don't know that that's great either.
11:39Because, look, like, that's a long flight.
11:41You're going to be tight.
11:42You're going to, you know, have to get your body right.
11:45And then just, boom, you're playing right away.
11:47It seems like I would probably err on the other extreme of giving you plenty of time to be out
11:53there.
11:54But, I mean, I guess we'll see.
11:57If it's lopsided one way or the other, the team will definitely learn the next time around to go with
12:03the opposite approach.
12:04People don't like flying from the west to the east and east to the west in one day.
12:08Like, they like to go two days earlier.
12:10And you're going to fly all the way to Australia and just play.
12:14I hope that works for them.
12:16It's wild.
12:17Pretty wild.
12:18I mean, definitely wild.
12:22Mike, I just, that to me just really kind of blows my mind.
12:27Is there a team, you were just in Houston, right?
12:30And I think I read, like, how does C.J. Stroud look?
12:34Because the playoff performance is awful, awful.
12:38Right, it was bad.
12:39He looks better.
12:41I spent some time with Nick Cayley, their offensive coordinator, and he says he's much further along this camp than
12:47what he was last year.
12:48Teammates said he was making decisions faster, getting the ball out.
12:51They also overhauled their offensive line to give him better protection.
12:55It felt like he was seeing ghosts during the playoffs sometimes last year, where it's just like, what were you
13:02rushing the ball out for that?
13:04So, we'll see what happens.
13:06Their defense was already nasty.
13:08It's going to be even better than what it was.
13:10That's a great thing for them.
13:11He doesn't have to be Superman.
13:13He just needs to take care of the football.
13:14If he could have just eliminated two of those turnovers against the Patriots, they are playing in the Super Bowl
13:19because they were going to beat Jared Stidham and the Broncos the next week.
13:23So, their run game is going to be better, having Dave and Montgomery.
13:26They added Wyatt Teller.
13:27They added, you know, they drafted a center.
13:30So, they should be better beefed up up front, which is just a matter of, you know, they've got the
13:34table set.
13:35It's all on C.J. Stroud now.
13:37Uh-oh.
13:38We'll see if he can handle it, man.
13:41He's going to pull a Sam Donald.
13:42He goes one year and he comes back to be great.
13:45Who's – I don't know the right way to phrase this.
13:48Trevor Lawrence has shown some real highs in Jacksonville, but he's shown some lows.
13:52C.J. Stroud has shown incredible highs and now incredible lows.
13:56Who are those two QBs do you trust more?
14:02Oh, man, that's tough.
14:05I think Liam Cohen tilts it a little bit.
14:09I think Cohen is a really good coach.
14:10Yeah, I mean, Nick Caley is a really smart guy.
14:14I mean, he worked under Belichick and then he worked under Sean McVay.
14:18He's had, you know, two really strong mentors.
14:23I liked his energy.
14:25We'll see.
14:26Like, the problem with Houston was Bobby Sloan knew how to run the Shanahan offense,
14:30but then when he got his first, you know, when he had to come up with a counterpunch, he couldn't
14:35do it.
14:35I feel like Nick Caley is better and smarter and more creative, so we'll see.
14:40I have never been in love with Trevor Lawrence.
14:45If he can take care of the football, then okay.
14:48I think that the ceiling for C.J. Stroud, I mean, he can be really good.
14:55We saw him take care of the football and make plays and help spearhead them as a rookie.
15:01You know, I think that he's the guy that I would bet on if I'd say who's going to have
15:08the higher ceiling this year.
15:10I think Trevor Lawrence kind of is who he's going to be, you know, and that's not what we thought
15:17he was going to be.
15:17Everybody thought he was going to be like an Andrew Luck generational talent.
15:20He's just good, you know.
15:22And I don't know what to expect of the Jaguars because they had a weird offseason.
15:26It didn't seem like they really addressed a lot of needs.
15:29It's like they were, you know, kind of trying to, like, outsmart everybody with some of their draft picks and
15:34free agent signings.
15:35So we'll see how it all goes for them.
15:39Last thing, I don't know if you – I don't even know if you planned out your schedule.
15:43I know, you know, some Sundays you spend at home, some you're in press boxes.
15:48Are you going up to Buffalo?
15:50Have you talked to anybody that walked around that new stadium?
15:52Because some of the photos are pretty wacky of obstructed views and all that.
15:59Yeah, I'm not going up there for week one.
16:01It's definitely interesting.
16:03And it's crazy.
16:04I mean, we know about obstructed view seats.
16:08But at least with those, those were seats that were added later.
16:12They kept trying to wedge them in.
16:13This is a brand-new stadium.
16:15And I just don't know who your architects that you guys didn't plan this thing out and, you know, design
16:22it and make sure that this wasn't the case.
16:24It's pretty remarkable.
16:27I feel awful for those people who are so excited to get seats in the brand-new stadium.
16:31And then they go sit down and see that they can't see the end zone.
16:35Yeah, right?
16:36I mean, they also had to shell out whatever it is, $5,000, $10,000 or whatever, which is just
16:39crazy.
16:40Yeah, for that, yeah, I'd be demanding something.
16:42Mike, I'm coming to Delaware next weekend, dude.
16:45Maybe we'll connect.
16:46Oh, where are you coming?
16:48Bethany.
16:49And I may sneak up to Dewey for an afternoon.
16:51We'll see.
16:52Yeah, yeah, we'll have to do that.
16:54Well, I'll tell you why.
16:55Because DQ, did you notice this when you were here?
16:58They've been running a tough camp.
17:01Yeah, yeah.
17:02No, they have.
17:03Yeah, I would say about time.
17:04So, JP needs a little break.
17:06He needs a little breather.
17:08DQ's giving the guys three days off.
17:09What am I supposed to do, Mike?
17:11Hey, you've got to get some Eastern Shore hospitality for sure.
17:15Exactly.
17:15Thank you for the time, bro.
17:16All right, Mike.
17:17Be cool, brother.
17:17All right.
17:18I'll see you guys.
17:19That's our friend Mike Jones.
17:20Read his work in The Athletic.
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