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The Athletic's Mike Sando joins to break down the top NFL storylines, Jayden Daniels bouncing back, and the Commanders overall.
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00:00Go to the Rude Guest Hotline. Welcome onto the program, our buddy Mike Sando does an awesome job covering the
00:04National Football League.
00:05He's been on with us for years, flies his trade at the Athletic.
00:09Mike, it's Grant and Danny in Washington, D.C. How are you?
00:12Good. What's everyone talking about there?
00:14Well, it's a good question. We're ready for the Eagles. We're getting ready for coordinators to make debuts.
00:18And I think a lot of people are taking victory laps on Jaden Daniels' buddy, Drake May, struggling last night
00:25in primetime, which is where I want to start.
00:27The Patriots are supposed to be really good, and I certainly understand why.
00:31One game does not make a season. They lost to the Raiders last year. They ended up losing like two
00:35more games all year.
00:36But I think you had them fourth in your AFC polling of executives. What did you make of that game
00:41last night?
00:43Well, I think it shows that it's funny when I did the poll in the AFC, having all these executives
00:49rank the teams 1-16.
00:51In the end, Buffalo was number one, but it wasn't like the whole offseason everyone's, oh my gosh, Buffalo's so
00:55much better.
00:56It was a little bit of a default conference, I think.
00:58You know, there's teams you could see different paths for.
01:00I think Cincinnati got a vote at number two and another vote at number 10, and I kind of nod
01:05and go, yeah, I could see it going either way.
01:07I think New England obviously had the easy schedule, and then things fell right for them, not only over the
01:12course of the season in the AFC,
01:13but in the AFC championship game, they got to play a backup quarterback.
01:17So the biggest surprise to me last night was just maybe the repeated egregious decision-making.
01:24You know, you're going to have turnovers. Seattle's defense is really good. It's hard to go into Seattle.
01:28But the Seahawks were, you know, telling us all through their actions that they had issues at corner.
01:34They were, you know, signing Terry and Arnold.
01:36They were, you know, going after a traded, you know, traded for another corner that was not a big name,
01:44but their safeties were out, and they had two safeties out for this game.
01:47And so you would have thought that New England would take advantage, especially after getting a chance to,
01:52this is the last team they played.
01:54Wouldn't they have a good scheme and be ready to go?
01:56Looked terrible.
01:57So I think it's concerning, and the decision-making is a reminder not to anoint, you know,
02:02really too fast with some of these guys.
02:06And, Mike, just one more on last night, just maybe as it pertains to this year.
02:10But last year, New England, famously, lost to the Raiders in Week 1 in Foxborough.
02:14And obviously went on to have a pretty good year, albeit, I guess, as you said, the easiest schedule ever.
02:18And Week 1 abnormalities are now the new normal, right?
02:21So what kind of data do we take out, other than we know the injuries to a couple of guys,
02:26and we'll see how that plays out, of course.
02:27But not only for this one, but really for all of Week 1 in general.
02:30Just kind of your thoughts there.
02:31Yeah, I agree.
02:33I think we've all seen, you know, the way these off-seasons have evolved.
02:37People are doing less in the off-season, and the pre-season is less.
02:40And, you know, for some of these teams, they probably could use a little more work,
02:44and you get maybe a little bit more variance.
02:46I don't know if the point spread bears that out.
02:49It might.
02:49It's probably an interesting thing to look at.
02:51So, look, there's all kinds of stories about teams playing a really bad game early
02:58and then going to the Super Bowl.
02:59I mean, the most famous one was when, wasn't it, Drew Bledsoe's Bills beat the heck out of the Patriots,
03:04you know, 20-some years ago, and then the Patriots won the Super Bowl.
03:07So I wouldn't panic on it, but I think you tap the brakes.
03:12I was doing radio in Boston last week, and they were talking about Drake May, like, MVP is the expectation.
03:17And I kind of said, ah, I don't know about that.
03:20You know, let's just settle for a good year.
03:22Yeah, let's stack some chips here.
03:25I mean, it's hard to put two together.
03:27Writing the first best-seller is a lot easier than the second one.
03:30Mike Sandoz with us from The Athletic.
03:32Last night, we saw the No. 4 team in the AFC take on the No. 2 team in the NFC
03:37based on the grids that you put together talking to executives.
03:41And that's what people should check out.
03:43This piece was really good.
03:44NFL execs predicting the NFC, the AFC.
03:46Well, tonight, we've got the Rams and the 49ers.
03:49Executives have LA 1, and they've got San Francisco 6.
03:52And if you look at the historical oddity of just how far the Rams are ahead of everyone else
03:59from a Super Bowl-odd standpoint, I'm actually zigging when everyone's zagging here
04:04just because I feel like I've been here and watched this movie.
04:08When everyone thinks something before the season, it doesn't happen.
04:11And I know that's a bad reason to say the Rams aren't going to do it,
04:13but there's just too much heat.
04:15There's too much smoke here.
04:17There's too much heat.
04:18There's too much smoke.
04:18And really, okay, so they're whatever, you know, plus 500 in the odds.
04:23The field is still more likely to win the Super Bowl.
04:25It's not like, you know what I mean?
04:27It's not like they're so prohibitive of a favorite that I'd give you the Rams all day
04:31and take all the other teams.
04:32I mean, that's still a safe bet, so it's hard to do.
04:37Things happen.
04:37Like, you shoot last night, five plays in, Sam Darnold's out.
04:40You know, could it be for the year?
04:41Could it be for half the year?
04:42Things are going to change over the course of the year.
04:44The other thing is the 49ers in this case, they've had good matchups with the Rams.
04:48They've played them pretty well.
04:49They obviously know them.
04:51You know, typically early in the year, you're going to be healthier.
04:54I know George Kittle's coming off of a surgery, so we'll see.
04:56But it wouldn't be shocking at all over the course of any season
05:00for the 49ers to beat the Rams.
05:01That could happen tonight.
05:03Mike Sando with us here on GND.
05:05So my co-host, Grant, is a little bit lower on the Eagles than I am,
05:09but they're right there 3-4 in this survey, kind of in these rankings.
05:13I just, on paper, I love what Dallas did this offseason,
05:15even though I hope they lose every game in perpetuity.
05:17But still, just objectively calling balls and strikes,
05:20I like that they've improved.
05:21Philadelphia, to me, it's just kind of based on track record.
05:24Their down years, they won 11.
05:25Their good years, they've won 14 over the last four seasons.
05:28I just have too much respect for Howie Roseman.
05:29And so they're right there, neck and neck, in the pecking order of the NFC.
05:33How do you see them?
05:35I think they get taken for granted a little bit.
05:37And it feels like, because their standard's been so high,
05:40like you said, even last year, they won a ton of games,
05:42double-digit wins, and it felt like they had an off year, right?
05:45So I do think some of their offensive core is obviously declining.
05:49I think the offensive line is not probably what it's been.
05:53Now you take away A.J. Brown, I know it was a headache,
05:55but he was still a good receiver to have on their team.
05:58And there's still questions about Jalen Hurts,
06:00even though he's been a Super Bowl MVP.
06:03Week in, week out over the course of the whole season,
06:04if more of it's on his back, I think the defenses they face will be fine with that.
06:08So they're going to be good.
06:10They're going to be in the mix.
06:11They're probably a little overlooked right now.
06:14It feels like they're waning a little bit,
06:17but they could easily still win that division.
06:21So to that point, Mike, I'm going to dip into your quarterback story
06:25that you normally do where you do the tears,
06:26and I want to ask you about Hurts.
06:28I mean, I find him to be a fascinating guy to try to analyze,
06:33and he's probably tougher for me than anybody.
06:36He's got a great supporting cast.
06:38They win a lot.
06:38But I also think he's the reason they win plenty with some big plays and crunch time.
06:42He's a winning football player.
06:44I don't find him to be a particularly good quarterback when it comes to arm talent,
06:49throwing the football, middle of the field, layering throws, being on time,
06:53that kind of stuff.
06:54So he's just an oddity to me.
06:56What did the tearing piece that you put together learn about Hurts when you talk to people?
07:02Same thing.
07:03I feel like for three, four years in this thing,
07:05the comments and the talking to people has been generally negative.
07:09And I think that's because he is a winning quarterback in that context.
07:15But I think if he was on Arizona right now, would they win a bunch more games?
07:21Right?
07:22I don't know that they would.
07:25I think that's what we're really getting at is he doesn't maybe move the needle as an individual player on
07:31a team
07:31the way some of the top, top quarterbacks would.
07:35If Lamar Jackson, he hasn't been to a Super Bowl, but if he went to the Cardinals,
07:38I bet you their win total would go up higher than if Jalen Hurts did.
07:43They paid him like an elite player, $55 million.
07:46And we're getting close to a decision time on that again.
07:48And I find the idea of going out and running the offense that seems like it's the single worst offense
07:53to run
07:54for his skill set, in my opinion, like an odd decision.
07:57Mannion's coming in here to run some LaFleur O'Connell stuff where it's timing throws in the middle of the
08:02field,
08:04overzoning linebackers.
08:05How's this going to work?
08:06I agree with you.
08:07And so just think about how strategic Howie Roseman is long-term.
08:10And they already got Hurts when they had Wentz.
08:13So what did they do this offseason?
08:15They picked up a 2028 first-round pick for A.J. Brown.
08:19And so gathering those assets, giving yourself options, to me, is a part of what any smart franchise does.
08:25I think they're a smart franchise.
08:27I think every team knows what it has in its quarterback for real.
08:30Regardless of what they say publicly, they know what it's at.
08:33And I just have a hard time, you know, in the absence of another Super Bowl run or something,
08:38I just, are they going to really redo his deal near the top of the market?
08:44I don't know.
08:45Mike, you've got, or this list has Detroit 8th in the NFC.
08:49I love them this year.
08:51One, it's the easiest schedule since New England last year that I can remember.
08:54Two, they had a better point differential last year than when they went 12-5 a couple seasons ago.
08:59And that there's a little bit of revamping, a little bit of retooling, a first-round right tackle
09:04to kind of help boost to that offensive line that was so dominant a couple seasons ago.
09:07I love their chances at a really crowded and tough NFC North.
09:11Yeah.
09:11They also kind of feel like, I think San Francisco is this way in people's minds, too,
09:16where they feel like, hey, their team has kind of peaked a little from,
09:19and maybe the Eagles, too, has peaked from, they're not as good as they used to be,
09:23so they get downgraded a little bit.
09:25But I'm with you.
09:26I think Detroit's a tough team and could win that division.
09:29Defensively, I'm not sure, you know, how far they can go.
09:32When you really look at the teams that get over the top, you know,
09:35Seattle had a great pass rush rotation.
09:38You know, I think the Eagles did the year before.
09:41And there's a great pass rusher for sure on Detroit.
09:43Do they have the waves of players?
09:45Do they have the whole defense to do it?
09:46Do they have the defensive scheme advantage there?
09:49I think those are the question marks at a higher level,
09:52but I think you're right that they'll be a good team.
09:55The piece you've got to check out in The Athletic is the Mike Sando polling of execs
09:59that put together the power rankings in both conferences coming into the year.
10:03What surprised you the most?
10:04Where are you maybe feeling most different than executives?
10:10I think, yeah, I think that that's a low number for Detroit,
10:15even though I can see why.
10:16I think it's a low number for them.
10:18I think they're a good team.
10:19I think there was a lot of agreement throughout this thing.
10:23The bottom five teams are all the same, I think, for everybody.
10:25New Orleans is maybe one that I thought people who had played that quarterback,
10:30Tyler Shook, thought more highly of him than the people who didn't play him.
10:37So they're kind of a team in the back of my mind.
10:38I don't know that I would move them up a ton,
10:40but it wouldn't surprise me if they, you know, finished higher,
10:43just based on that feedback from people that played him, that he's pretty good.
10:47All right, we're here in D.C., Washington doesn't reflect particularly well
10:53league-wide view here in this survey.
10:55This kind of goes with the national narrative right now.
10:57I can tell you this, Grant and I had an event with Adam Peters last week
11:01where he was candid in front of a, you know, kind of closed audience,
11:05and they're confident.
11:06They like their group.
11:07Now, I know a lot of execs might feel that way, but they really do.
11:10I don't think it's some artificial rah-rah thing that you're just doing for public.
11:13Like, they really believe in what they've assembled and passed up opportunities
11:16that we would see from the outside to maybe get a little bit better,
11:19but they like who they are.
11:20They think they're going to be good, but no one else seems to.
11:23Where are you at there?
11:24Yeah, I think that they could be slept on a bit.
11:27For sure, number one, if your quarterback plays at a high level, you know,
11:30for the whole season, which Jaden Daniels did two years ago,
11:33and obviously not last year, you're going to be a pretty good team.
11:36Even if you don't, you know, go to the Super Bowl,
11:38you can probably have a winning record.
11:40Be right around there.
11:41So, to me, that could totally happen.
11:43I think, you know, when you have from the outside an unproven offensive play color,
11:51even if it's a great fit and he's going to take the guy to the next level,
11:54from afar, you don't see that as well as if you're up close
11:59when you kind of hear the team's narrative every day
12:02and you kind of have an easier time believing it, right?
12:06And it may or may not be an accurate read.
12:10I think from afar, people look and go, geez, Dan Quinn had to fire his friend
12:13who was his D coordinator, and they fired their offensive coordinator.
12:16The Heat's getting turned up there, and they've had a roster that they tried
12:20to put over the top last year.
12:22Obviously, there's been a lot of short-term contracts, but the state of that roster
12:25and some of the age that they've had, are they really still an ascending team?
12:30I think that's the outside question.
12:31When you polled executives for your quarterback tiers story,
12:36how did they feel about 2025 Daniels' season in terms of how predicated
12:42the struggles were on the injuries?
12:44And I don't just mean the games he missed, but also never being on the practice field.
12:48How much of it was people just thought he struggled or regressed overall on the field?
12:52I think the only thing that came up in people's minds was,
12:54hey, we had some concerns about him coming into the NFL because of his frame
12:58and just the could-be-injury-prone style of play, all of that.
13:01The first year, he answered that resoundingly, and it wasn't a problem.
13:04So I think everybody moved and said, okay, the concerns we had on him are gone.
13:08Everybody liked how he could play.
13:10And so now I think what happened is with last year,
13:13didn't play maybe that great when he was out there, was banged up,
13:18and then missed a bunch of the games.
13:19So some of those question marks that got answered the year before
13:22are still there even louder than they were to begin with.
13:26And that may be unfair, you know,
13:28and maybe he's going to play almost all the games over the next five years,
13:32and if that happens, then obviously that narrative's going to go out the window.
13:35But I think that that's what made people kind of move off more than him as a player,
13:39just availability and being able to stay out there.
13:43Mike, what's their floor and what's their ceiling this year?
13:46I'm talking about Washington.
13:49Well, I mean, let's just say the floor is last season if the quarterbacks hurt,
13:54which I think you could say about every team.
13:56But since he's had this injury and he hasn't shown over the course of a long career
14:01that he can stay healthy, that's probably a floor.
14:03And then I would say the ceiling is probably, you know, winning a playoff game.
14:08I think that would be potentially realistic.
14:11I don't see them having the team and the roster to challenge with, you know,
14:18the Rams or Seattle if Seattle has its quarterback.
14:23Mike Sando in The Athletic is where you can check out his work.
14:26Thank you so much.
14:27We appreciate the time.
14:28Happy football to you.
14:30Same to you.
14:31Thanks.
14:31Enjoy the game tonight.
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