00:00You're really hard up about this wide receiver room.
00:03Hard up?
00:03Yeah, that's right.
00:04That's right.
00:05I said the word that I said.
00:06I said the word that I said, Danny.
00:08You're making me rant right now.
00:09That's right.
00:10No, but you really feel like this wide receiver room is abysmal.
00:15And I know Nick Casario.
00:17Well, abysmal might be a little strong.
00:19That's right.
00:19That's right.
00:20Let me say it.
00:22Well, they have nine wide receivers on the roster when you consider the practice squad.
00:25Okay, yeah.
00:26That's part of the problem.
00:29Well, that's part of the problem.
00:30Well, actually, 10 if you also consider the injured reserve because Tank Dell is there.
00:33I'll put it this way.
00:34When we had the boxes we needed to check, good here, good here, good here, before camp began.
00:41And now that they're done, we've checked almost all those boxes.
00:46We really have.
00:47Offensive line, I think we can put a check there.
00:49There might be some questions here, but outside of maybe some depth questions or whatever.
00:54Hell, quarterback.
00:55That was the biggest one.
00:56And don't we, for now, I mean, obviously reserving the right to maybe change our opinion at the quarterback position.
01:03Isn't there a checkmark by the quarterback box right now?
01:05Yeah, I think CJ has delivered in a way that I think that you could give him a checkmark for
01:10a way to handle training camp.
01:12Let's just go through it.
01:12Running back.
01:13Tight end.
01:13Obviously, defensive line, defensive tackle.
01:16I mean, corner, everything.
01:18There's checks, checks, checks, checks of all the questions we had.
01:21There is not a check unless you're talking about potential and upside.
01:25As you've been, you know, that's one of the things you're kind of hanging your hat on with this whole
01:29argument.
01:31Every single, there's 31 other teams that feel good about upside right now.
01:34How would you rank this wide receiver, this current wide receiver group compared to the last couple years around this
01:41time?
01:42Ooh.
01:43I don't.
01:44Because I know we got injury to look at.
01:47Yeah.
01:47So, you know, you got Higgins on, out for the year, tank, and all that type of stuff.
01:52And Higgins is a factor as well.
01:54Yeah, I just feel like this one, I did look at the roster, I'm like, ooh.
01:57All right.
01:58It's not the greatest, but I'm not overreacting.
02:01That's all I'm saying is I cannot put a checkmark by the wide receiver room.
02:06Yeah.
02:07When we were talking about this just a moment ago, off air, one of the things that you said was
02:11they didn't make an effort at offensive line.
02:14Is that a fair way of categorizing it?
02:15At receiver, you mean?
02:16Sorry, receiver.
02:17Apologies.
02:18Well, no, they made the effort, clearly with booty.
02:20Three, what my big point is, I don't think these guys, like I said, you can talk about upside all
02:24you want.
02:25I think there's 31 other teams that feel good about the upside in their wide receiver room, or else they
02:28wouldn't have kept them.
02:29You know, the guys they have.
02:31Hell, the Dolphins.
02:32You know, probably feel some kind of way about potential, you know, with their team.
02:38All I'm saying is like, all right, you can put, like, you can look at the Patriots wide receiver, and
02:42I know that's kind of the other end.
02:44I'm just using that as an example.
02:46And like, okay, that's a room.
02:48You know, you can look at teams.
02:50You can look around the league with what they have accomplished with the pelts on the wall and say, that's
02:56a pretty good room.
02:57Can't do that other than Nico Collins here.
02:59I mean, booty is the closest thing, and 33 catches, whether it's 14 games or whatever, that's a wide receiver
03:06three.
03:07On 46 targets, mind you.
03:09And that's, again, the way that they decided to play football up in New England.
03:13It's going to be a different system here.
03:14But that was always, coming into this year, the way that they were going to handle wide receiver was a
03:18development.
03:18It was always going to be an internal development.
03:21Shout out to the Rockets, like, proposition.
03:22And that was because they used two early draft picks on wide receivers the year prior.
03:27And so the idea was that those guys are going to come into their own and be that level of
03:32guy.
03:32Jalen Knoll still looks very much like that.
03:34In fact, so much so that when he came back, he kind of immediately hit the ground running, you know,
03:40catching touchdown patches admittedly in red zone.
03:42And I don't disagree with that.
03:44Just keep in mind, I don't disagree with the upside one iota.
03:47All I'm saying is, like, let's put him in.
03:50I don't know if you can check that box.
03:52I mean, do you give it a pass, though, because of the injury stuff?
03:55That's a factor, yeah.
03:56Because, like I said, if you had Higgins and maybe Tankdale, then I would feel a little different.
04:02Maybe, Reggie, that's landing on the biggest.
04:04Like, those two dudes, if Tankdale had come back, obviously if Jaden Higgins hadn't, you know, been injured because he
04:11was really, you know, moving along last year and was on an upswing in training camp, then maybe I would
04:19have a checkmark there.
04:21I just can't do it at the wide receiver position right now.
04:23To me, it's just the injuries and then some of the unknowns.
04:26Sure.
04:26Like, I'm not sure if Noel actually going to get on the field like he was or like we thought.
04:32It's just a whole bunch of unknowns.
04:34And I think some of these unknowns we are treating as larger unknowns than, yes, we have not seen them
04:39yet, but literally we have not had the opportunity.
04:41To this point, we've seen Noel utilized and, you know, targeted and made with completions with CJ Stroud in camp.
04:48Kayshawn Booty, obviously you don't have that in camp because you made that move later, but that's a guy that
04:53has done these things at the NFL level.
04:55And I think all it takes is throwing him the football, which clearly there's incentive to.
04:59Like, I don't think it's a logical leap to get there.
05:01I think I will join you, though.
05:03The Tank Dell of this all has shifted.
05:05Well, maybe not shifted it, but again.
05:06It's affected it.
05:07It's affected some of it because at least you had the hope.
05:09I understand that there is a reasonable take to say you probably should not have put too many eggs in
05:13that basket anyways, if any at all.
05:16But now we're in a circumstance and we heard from Nick Cacario earlier today, the general manager of this team.
05:21And he was talking about how, you know, when it comes to Tank Dell, they said that they'll need to
05:28get a good evaluation.
05:30He said that he thinks that they'll have a better idea after the four weeks or four games that he
05:35has to serve on the injured reserve.
05:37Then pointing to, you know, once he serves those four weeks, then he has the 21-day window to practice
05:44and everything.
05:44Which, again, all of the conversations, I think the best thing or the biggest thing that he could say in
05:50defensive Tank or his potential readiness was going back and saying he seems he's closer now than he was in
05:57camp.
05:57Which, yeah, I sure hope so.
05:59But, again, that feels like it's damning with faint praise on this Tank that if we were kind of hoping
06:07that we would start seeing and being able to make that evaluation in training camp.
06:10And now the evaluation is being pushed to the middle of the season and maybe not immediately week four, maybe
06:15week six or so on in there once you can actually get him back in.
06:18And that's just practice without getting him in game-type situations.
06:22No, look, I think the combination of all that, like Tank Dell, even Tank Dell with the questions about, you
06:28know, is he going to come back healthy?
06:30Will he start, you know, week one, which now we know he won't.
06:33But while that was going on, and as much as that was a question, he had been proven on the
06:39field in the end.
06:40He was a proven player.
06:41Jaden Higgins was starting to prove himself, really did last year.
06:44And then the upside.
06:46So it's just a combination of those two guys.
06:49And truly, you know, you can go through the two deep right now.
06:53You know, Xavier Hutchinson.
06:55Is he going to improve or after, what is this, year four?
07:00Wait, are you saying is he going to improve?
07:01Like, we didn't see him look significantly better on the training camp field this year.
07:05And I'm not saying that he's a wide receiver too, but he clearly looked like he took a step up
07:10this year.
07:10Well, I mean, is he going to be more than he's been on the field in the regular season?
07:16Because he's going, you know, he's been around a while, and we don't know if he can take that next
07:21step.
07:21Yes, we saw some good things this camp.
07:24You know, we absolutely did.
07:25I think the disparity between us right now is it feels like you're just completely disregarding all the stuff that
07:30we've seen out there at camp.
07:31No, I'm not at all.
07:32Like I said, I literally said, not one iota am I disagreeing with you on the potential upside.
07:39I literally just said that.
07:41What I'm saying is, proven wide receivers in this room, there's one and a half.
07:47There's one and a half.
07:48Proven to be what the role is that they're going to be in this year.
07:52That's what I'm saying.
07:53And that is why I can't quite put that checkmark.
07:56Because Jaden Higgins would have changed that.
07:57Tank Dell Healthy would have changed that.
07:59But then we'd have checkmarks across the board.
08:01That's my point.
08:03All right.
08:04I mean, I can't change your mind on that.
08:07But ultimately, it's still going to require them to get those guys to get out there and, you know, operate.
08:12Right?
08:13Get the routes.
08:14Get the targets.
08:14I think that those things are clearly going to be there.
08:16And I look at this and I see guys that are capable of making those plays that have demonstrated, at
08:22least to some degree, their capability of making those plays.
08:24Plus, obviously, the tight ends and stuff.
08:26We could talk about that.
08:27But that's not quite what we're mentioning in this moment.
08:29And a C.J. Stroud that looks like he's capable of getting the ball to where it needs to be.
08:33Those things all add up to an improved wide receiver core, in my mind.
08:36But I guess maybe not as much in yours as a certainty.
08:39But it remains to be seen.
08:40Ultimately, it doesn't matter how we feel about it right now.
08:42And ultimately, how much are they going to even throw the ball?
08:45You know, I know they're going to throw the ball, but they're not going to be an air it out
08:48kind of team anyway.
08:49Yeah, and camp is a little different, too, man.
08:51Because I felt like Chris and Kurt had a good camp last year, right?
08:55And it was kind of different in the season.
08:58Like, I don't know what it was.
08:59I don't know if it's just a connection.
09:00Those are different goods, though.
09:01Like, the entire offense, what we considered good last year at camp would not have been considered good this year.
09:06But see, my thing is, like, it's hard to just say, oh, he had a good camp, so it's going
09:10to be a good season.
09:11Like, that's not for sure.
09:14No, I understand.
09:15Like, it could change in the season.
09:16We're using this as comparative to the years prior, and, you know, they're taking a step up there.
09:20That's the way that I'm doing this.
09:21I hear what you're talking about as well.
09:23Yeah, I still think it's just question marks, though.
09:25Like, it's not like, oh, he had a good camp, so he's going to have a good season.
09:30It's still a little bit of question marks, even with the good camp.
09:32We'll see how the question marks are answered once we get it.
09:34I mean, now we're in the month of September today.
09:37How about that?
09:38Make sure you pay your rent and your mortgage.
09:40But, yes, we are, what, 12 days away from getting a chance to see our first looks at how those
09:45questions have been answered, at least on the wide receiver court.
