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2026 NFL Season PREDICTIONS | Biggest Surprises, Disappointments & MVP Picks (Ep. 2174)

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2026 NFL Season PREDICTIONS | Biggest Surprises, Disappointments & MVP Picks (Ep. 2174)

The podcast features a detailed discussion on 2026 NFL predictions, with a central focus on the Las Vegas Raiders and their quarterback situation. Analysts debate whether Fernando Mendoza will start early, with the consensus that his debut depends on the team’s offensive line improvement and overall performance—especially if Kirk Cousins continues to struggle. The Raiders’ difficult schedule, including early matchups against strong teams like the Dolphins and Chargers, makes the case for Mendoza's emergence in Week 2 or later. Other topics include the Chicago Bears, where Ben Johnson’s rigid coaching style and high expectations may clash with quarterback Caleb Williams’ playful demeanor, potentially creating internal tension. The Bears’ offense is viewed as promising but fragile, with potential for growth after the bye week. The discussion also extends to fantasy football trends, with Trevor Lawrence, Caleb Williams, and Cam Ward as top contenders for MVP and breakout performances. Additionally, the podcast highlights the Tennessee Titans and Tampa Bay Buccaneers as surprise teams, with the Titans seen as a potential underdog due to Cam Ward’s fresh start and healthy roster, while the Buccaneers face a high-risk scenario due to injuries and a punishing schedule. The most disappointing team is projected to be the Washington Commanders, citing a weak offensive line, lack of depth, and a brutal early-season schedule that could lead to early collapse. The hosts collectively stress that while some teams show promise, others face structural issues that make long-term success uncertain. The analysis blends fantasy football insights with real-world team challenges, emphasizing the importance of roster health, coaching chemistry, and schedule resilience.

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This is an iHeart Podcast. Guaranteed human. Viewers only. Void where prohibited by law. 18 plus terms and conditions apply. Crown Court Casino. Welcome into the tailgate. Fantasy Bros NFL show. I'm Alfredo Brown joined by Derek Brown and Andrew Erickson. And guys, we got a lot of updates to give people. But I think the biggest ones today are going to be our predictions that we are giving for the 2026 NFL season right around the corner. Y'all, we had some interesting news this past week. I know we already. We're past the. We're past the Josh Jacobs stuff. We are past the Aaron Donald stuff. But just some funny headlines I wanted to run through really quick here and see are they important or are they more of a nothing burger? First one here. D-Bro, I saw you talking about this online. Raiders named Kirk Cousins the starter. And you're like, yeah, duh. So how long does Kirk Cousins remain the starter in Las Vegas? I was projecting this for the entire time because I'm like a lot of people. I've listened to Tom Brady in the offseason before they even drafted him. I've listened to Fernando Mendoza. And this didn't surprise me. But what backed this up was Fernando's play in the preseason. He looked kind of. The trigger was off. He looks like he's still adjusting to the speed of the NFL, which is fine. Like, we all should understand that. Now, as far as the question of Kirk Cousins, how long does he start? I think this is totally dependent not upon Kirk Cousins' play, but everything else around Kirk Cousins. Does the offensive line look like it's improved? Or is it still. God awful. Do they have enough skill players to confidently, like, run at least a competent offense? If all these things look like an absolute dumpster fire, we might not see Fernando Mendoza until the end of the year getting a cup of coffee as the starter. All because I fully believe the Raiders do not want to put him in a situation where he's going to fall on his face because everything, despite all the money they went out and spent this offseason, everything is still a dumpster fire around him. So. I look at it as a moving target. Like, I'm not going to just point to the schedule and say, oh, it's going to be week seven. It's going to be week eight. It's going to be the bye week. I think this is absolutely dependent upon what does this situation around Kirk Cousins evolve into? What does it look like? Erickson, what about you? You think it's going to be all the way into the season that we finally see some Fernando Mendoza? No, I think it's going to be much, much sooner. And, spoiler, I'm going to give you guys week two's headline heading into week two before week one even kicks off. Oh, boy. Should the Raiders turn to Fernando Mendoza in week two after Kirk Cousins lays an egg against the Miami Dolphins? Because. Stop, dude. Stop. No. Even I'm not on that train. No. Dolphins are going to get waxed. Why do you guys think that Kirk Cousins is going to be good at all? He was horrible last year. I never said he was going to be good. So why is he going to keep playing games? What's the point? Oh, I'm just saying that they're not beating. Did you just miss everything I said? They're not listening to the Dolphins week one. I mean, you guys have a lot of confidence in this Raiders team that, I mean. Oh, who's their number one liners here, Trey Tucker? I just have less confidence in the Dolphins. I have no confidence in the Raiders. That's the point of why they insulated Mendoza. How is this defense going to prepare for Malik Willis? Do they know what that offense is going to look like? You know who looked really good last year in week one? Justin Fields. Because nobody knew what they were going to throw at them. And I think that's what's going to happen in this matchup against the Raiders. I don't think their defense is going to be ready. I don't know, man. for what Miami's offense is going to be bringing to the table. And I think Kirk Cousins is going to get put in a position where he's going to have to make some throws that he can't cash. He's going to write the checks that he can't cash because he has no more velocity in his throwing anymore because of all the injuries and the age. So I am all aboard buying all the dips on the Mendoza, on the offensive rookie of the year Mendoza. And the more games Kirk Cousins starts, the longer those odds will get. And I'll just keep sprinkling on, sprinkling on, sprinkling on. It has seemed like every team that's played the Dolphins in joint practices has had no problem answering the questions of what's the Miami Dolphins offense going to do? But also, like, I think we see a Raiders. offense that should be improved and a Dolphins defense that is atrocious. And we're focusing too much on the first single game here because after that, they've got the Chargers, the Saints, the Chiefs, the Patriots, the Bills, the Rams. That's probably a team that goes one and five to start the year. And I think that. Are you talking about Miami? No, no, no. I'm talking about the Raiders. The Raiders can definitely start one and five. And then I think we can see Fernando Mendoza coming in week eight against the Jets. I'm cool with that. But it's still, like, there's still just a. A murderer's row of. Like, this sucks. The schedule for the Raiders is so bad. Then they get Seattle and Denver after that. Yeah, and Kirk Cousins is going to play terribly in all those games. And they're going to be like, what's the point of this? Like, why it's the point to keep trotting him out there when we can get our quarterback experience and reps? Because the point of it is, is do you want to put your quarterback in that same no-win situation? They're not trying to win games right now. Yeah. They don't care about winning games. So do you think. So this is not. So aside from the teams, so do you think that Mendoza should not play at all this year? Yes or no? No, I didn't say that. I think he should play. But. No, that's what I'm. But I'm asking you, what would you do? If you were Clint Kubiak, what would you do? Half season? Cut it off? Get Kirk out of there? I think it depends on how bad the situation looks. If this team. I'm throwing him out there week one. Yeah. If this team still looks hopeless, I'm not. No. No. No. Do you think it's going to be. I mean, they. I don't think it's going to be hopeful. I mean, look, he's got to do something. It's never going to be a perfect situation. Again, you're picking number one for a reason. Because your team is not good. So. Okay. Fine. I'll give you the Mendoza start date. What's the Mendoza line? What's that? Week 16. They get the Tennessee. Week 16? Dude, come on. He's going to play way before that. What? All right. Let's see. Dude, also. Also, is Kirk Cousins going to last the whole season? Behind this, like, terrible environment? That was actually my biggest thing. I don't think Kirk Cousins lost it three weeks. He was worse than Michael Penix was last year. He lasted with the Falcons? Michael Penix is going to win the Falcons. QB won. Oh, that's debatable. No, no, that's debatable. Yards were. No. Everything. He was better. Michael Penix was better. That's what we do here. We debate. Michael Penix was god-awful. They literally ran pistol because he could not function in anything outside of shotgun. He could throw the ball downfield. Okay, great. He's got one skill, but he still sucks at everything else. No. Penix was worse. He's losing the Falcons QB job this year because Tua gave it to him. You know, Jack Strand, say hi. He's going to be starting games this year. I mean, I. I'll go ahead and say that right now. I mean, if I'm the Falcons, that's the smart thing to do. Yeah. Yeah. Jack Strand, best quarterback they have on the roster right now. Calling it. I think we might see, at the very latest, I think we see Fernando Mendoza show up week 14 after the bye. That's at the very latest. I can't imagine this team, looking at that schedule, there is a very real. I mean, it's very real. This team could be two and eight going into week 10. It could be even worse. Like, at what point? You have to eventually. You have to eventually get this guy in the field. You can't just keep protecting him and say, oh, we're doing pretty bad, but we also want to protect Fernando Mendoza. Sorry, fans. Keep buying tickets. Like, I think we forget that it's a business. As much as we want to see them, like, protect Mendoza, they need to get people in the seats there. If the team is playing bad, like, they do have to start him at some point. And then if Mendoza goes out there and he gets obliterated in the first week or two that he's. That's the NFL! He has to do it at some point. I mean, is it so much better for just Kirk Cousins to get obliterated? Where you don't even get any. Yes! He's the main shield! That's what he's here for! Yes! I think that you get better by playing football, personally. So, he should play. I don't disagree with that. How could you be so brave to say that, Erickson? I know. It's crazy, right? It's crazy. Let's talk about another quarterback here who is going into his second year with his head coach. Ben Johnson says Caleb Williams had a goofy side to him about a year ago, and now he's more serious. There's more intent behind everything he's doing. He's. Quote. Taking a lot of pride in his approach. Yeah. So, what in this offseason has shown us that there's more pride in the approach? And is it a bad thing for him to have a goofy side? Like, why is this. This is such a weird clashing of personalities between Caleb Williams and Ben Johnson. And I'm wondering at what point does this start to blow up? Because there are so many quarterbacks that have these fun sides to them, and it works for them. And Ben Johnson seems to be, like, the fun police. Like, the Fiesta Stops. There is no fun with Ben Johnson. Dude, Ben Johnson just feels like one of these head coaches that the mentality and all of this, like, wannabe Bill Belichick, grindstone, I'm a hard-nosed coach, and all this kind of crap, that wears on players, man. And if they don't win, like, if things go. Now, it worked last year because of all the Chicago Bears magic and stuff like that. Their schedule is tougher. Their defense is still absolute dog water. If they start out the year and they start. Losing games, this could snowball into where it's like, dude, okay, like, we get it. Like, rah, rah, rah, rah, rah, take your shirt off. You're the toughest coach in the freaking NFL. You're so freaking awesome. Like, eventually, that wears. Winning is the wonderful cologne that covers everything. But once you start losing, and you keep that type of mentality, and it clashes with players in the locker room, and it clashes with your quarterback, and all that kind of stuff, things could start to come apart at the seams this year. Yeah, I mean, the expectations could not be higher from Ben Johnson either, saying that he not only wants to be the. best offense in the league but he wants to break records this year you have now set the the expectations are ridiculous from the terms of players to caleb williams to the offense just the team as a whole like caleb williams is now the madden cover guy when has that ever worked out well for anyone and the expectations could not be higher erickson are you are you buying that the bears are good this year now that caleb williams is quote less goofy i haven't made too many bets for teams to miss the playoffs one of those bets was on the chicago bears so i didn't put them as we get into some of the predictions yes show i didn't put them as my team most likely disappoint because i think it'll be by narrow margins that they miss the playoffs because i am confident that this offense is going to be good and score points but to the points that you made afraid about dude like just someone is going to disappoint here because they can't all be historic performances between all the receivers and the titan i mean caleb williams was dead last and completion rate over expectation last year so yes he's going to improve in the second year ben johnson system but his defense sucks like i just i look up and down it and i think man how are they going to stop anybody so i understand that yes a lot of shootouts that's really good for fantasy football purposes we're going to see a lot of points see high scoring games i think ben johnson is acknowledging yeah if we're going to win games this year we have to score 30 points per game so that just puts you scenario of last year's bengals last year's cowboys and then we're going to see a lot of points and then we're going to where they're fun but do they actually end up accomplishing what nfl teams are setting out to do no and you also have the impending regression in one of the toughest divisions in football the nfc north nobody would be surprised if any of those teams win that division between the lions and the bears and the vikings and the packers so oh my oh my exactly so it's just they're facing an uphill battle and it seems like just good process to find whoever the all hype team is and you just got to kind of fade them a little bit because they're just not going to be able to deliver on these very very lofty expectations can i throw out a wild question and i but but i think it's a real possibility if caleb doesn't play well stop do we see tyson start games this year you asked a wild question i'm gonna give you a wild answer gonna play well um it just may not translate to wins that's like i mean we just we just outlined caleb doesn't run the offense caleb is not an accurate quarterback ben johnson inherited him he didn't draft him i mean has caleb williams shown that he's not good enough to run this team but they'd be like you know what we should do is let's get tyson bajan in there that's like that's the most chicago bears fan coded preseason thing i know bajan is the preseason hero but i mean now i think we might be going we might be jumping the shark a little bit i think though there's a difference between not hitting your expectations versus just a complete fall apart like this team is lost it now because caleb has fallen from the vibes were good around caleb and ben last year during the season like ben johnson literally came out but caleb williams was still fine like even if the vibes were bad he still played well like it wasn't always great played well at the fourth quarter when he had to make ridiculous plays to get them to come back in the game but he put him in a hole in the first three quarters that's not playing well they were playing winning football like i'm looking like right now 27 touchdowns seven interceptions like this wasn't a bad player statistically this wasn't a bad team statistically the the games yeah he has his inconsistencies but to say like all right let's just start it over and get tyson bajan out there they also didn't play all their best players out of the gates they had a lot of i mean dj moore was not himself last year they were running alameda zakias as a staple of the offense they didn't really unleash luther bird and colston love them until the second half of the season and that's when i think you start to see more growth from caleb williams so i just think the jump going in year one to year two i think it's going to be a good game i think it's going to be a good game i think it's going to be a good game i think it's going to be a good game i think it's going to be a good game matters significantly for caleb because even the run game for the bears last year you guys remember the first month of the season they couldn't get out of their own way like deandre swift looked like a total bust yeah and then they really turned things on i think after their week five by week the run game got going so yeah i think there are question marks too about how the offensive line losing dolman is obviously a significant loss trapillo we'll see what they can get from him coming off of his injury i know that i mean right now it seems like you can just come back from any season long achilles injury guys are coming back faster and faster which is for the game overall but we'll see when he is back to 100 what type of value that they can get from him this year because obviously he's a big part of what they do up front just you know teaser we may be talking about more bears here on the show as we go along but before we do that guys if you want your chance to win a todd girley signed rams jersey we've got a giveaway going on and all you have to do subscribe to the tailgate youtube channel right now drop a comment below on any video and that's it we're going to be announcing the winner here on the channel so make sure you hit the bell and then you'll know when new videos come out and we'll be announcing the winner you can claim your prize all right now this episode guys has been is going to be all about predictions for this season some of them are simple easy normal modest predictions others are going to be bold and spicy and ridiculous so i think let's start out here right at the top for our predictions let's start with mvp who wins mvp this year in the nfl spoiler alert all three of us have a quarterback because yeah erickson it's a quarterback i love who you put here and i almost put him as my mvp pick go for it yeah trevor lawrence he has been my long shot mvp pick all off season i did tease a little bit earlier in the off season about caleb williams going in this direction but ultimately i like the price more on trevor lawrence because it's longer and the jaguars just feel like the less hyped up version of the bears where you have a quarterback entering his second year with an advanced offensive play caller and a guy like liam cohen and we saw it play out last year when he was getting more familiar with the system from week five on where trevor lawrence outscored every other player in fantasy football 23 points per game and i want to highlight how excellent he was when he had all of his weapons healthy when he had brenton strange when he had jacoby myers when he had brian thomas jr out there and when he had parker washington out there he averaged 28 fantasy points per game qb1 overall type numbers he is a weapon in the red zone he scored 38 total touchdowns last year which trails only josh allen and matthew stafford the year before when liam cohen was the offensive coordinator for the tampa buccaneers baker mayfield threw for 40 plus touchdowns so there's so much touchdown equity with this jaguars offense going through trevor lawrence if this backfield is a wash between chris rodriguez between bay shell 2 and none of those guys are really moving the needle dude they're just gonna call trevor lawrence's number in the red zone he's gonna score more rushing touchdowns so i don't think that's going away from his game and i think he's the reason why this offense will continue to play at an extremely high level i know that the schedule is tough to start the season after they play the cleveland browns going to denver is always a tough place to play but dude trevor lawrence went there last year and diced up that secondary so i'm confident that trevor lawrence in his second year with liam cohen with all of his weapons at his disposal and a defense that i think is kind of hit or miss i think that they could play in some shootouts they were more of a pass funnel type unit last year i mean i think it is telling that they are so in invested in travis hunter playing more of their in their secondary because that's where they need more of the help than on the offensive side of the football so if they are playing more shootouts i expect trevor lawrence to be throwing for a lot of yards scoring a lot of touchdowns and ultimately being a player that a lot of people are talking about in the mvp especially if they start the season out hot against a really tough schedule i mean dude was fifth in mvp voting last year and he really only played well for half the season like imagine we get a full season of that that's why he was a guy that i was going to put here and i was like ah i got a more obvious way to play and he was a guy that i was going to put here and i was like ah i got a more obvious one here that's not as spicy that i'm just going to go with but uh yeah i love i love the trevor lawrence pick here d bro who's your pick for mvp this year it's joe burrow i think the bengals are going to be in the super bowl i i just think like burrow yeah oh daddy okay yeah i i think okay bro i think all of the additions to the defensive side of the ball without the bengals having a defense over the last few years if burrow is healthy i think he wins the mvp and so i i did some research and no player has ever won mvp and comeback player of the year joe burrow maybe this year interesante okay can you can you win comeback player of the year because he came back already last year i thought you had to be coming off he's in the odds award that's the only reason i ask it's more it's more guidelines than it is out there so allowed to because he can't he's yes he can he's he's in the better yeah he's he's at the top he won't win because he's not coming off an injury so you will lose the bet guaranteed he could have 20 sacks is that is that the rule they did it because someone let us know in the comments they did it because they had to amend it from the joe flacco thing we're like no this is not how you don't come back from sucking and then when the comeback player of the year award you have to come back from an injury but this is different this is different aaron donald's not coming back from sucking there wait there's a difference though joe flacco was benched he wasn't out of the league aaron donald straight up retired and has now come back to the league like that to me feels like it falls under comeback player not like i was bad and got benched and then be sad but it doesn't hit i don't know man i tend to i i tend to this is gonna sound really stupid i tend to trust vegas i don't know over over andrew erickson right now for my quick search it says yes you can win ap nfl comeback player of the year award without physical injury and i you must have missed playing time due to an illness multi-year absence or other significant i mean that's not i mean that doesn't seem like adversity that's it that's a multi-year absence multi-year absence yeah because of injury or adversity no it's both for him guys it does not say don't complain to me when he doesn't win the award i'll be like okay i will wasn't eligible to win i will okay okay love erickson playing the field here don't cry to me when someone else any of the other players win it this crazy and dumb award when tyler murray gets the comeback player for big getting i'd rather i'd rather joe burrow and they didn't want to play him i'm with d bro then aaron donald yeah i mean i'm fine with that because it's i've been on burrow too all right oh could daniel jones win it yes because he was injured yes he could win it he's just like what if you just like you play well enough and then you get injured and miss enough time where you just kind of keep winning comeback player of the year do you feel good about that as a player every other year when he comes back like every other year right i feel like it's joe burrow dac prescott daniel jones unfortunately christian mccaffrey missed opportunities baby uh you just you just put some bad juju out in the air don't do that uh all right i didn't the substitution did yeah that's fair all right i'm gonna get my mvp and this one as much as i wanted to like go with a guy like trevor lawrence lamar jackson like it's just a low-hanging fruit it is there it's kind of like how we're talking about everything that's going on right now it's kind of like how we're talking about everything that's going on right now it's kind of like how we're talking about everything that's going on right now other year one of these quarterbacks wins comeback player of the year pretty much every other year lamar jackson is either winning or in the running for mvp or should have one mvp and it's just there for him man like he gets multiple pro bowls and mvp under greg roman he gets multiple pro bowls rip pro bowl by the way uh and an mvp under todd monken another mvp that he should have had under todd monken and then really last year is when things just kind of started to fall apart due to injury and everything else that happened with lamar this year with declan doyle i'm pretty excited to see like lamar's talking about stuff that he's doing nfl concepts that should not be so foreign to him but they are as a quarterback just talking about play action and dropping back and uh motion pre-snap motion like things that he has not had the opportunity to use all that often and now with declan doyle he's like this is revolutionary and you hear the players in baltimore talk about it i'm just like basic concepts that every other good offense is doing and they're like wait a second we're allowed to move players before we snap the ball that's nuts it's just like it's kind of crazy to think that this offense was already good with lamar and what they've been doing and that it could be even better they add a few other wide receivers in the draft and the offensive line should be a lot better that was the big struggle last year was the offensive line was terrible um and adding the penn state guard in the first round uh vengai awane like that's a big upgrade over that's how you pronounce it like this is it's a much better team uh lamar jackson my pick for mvp here let's go to uh let's go to the next category we got here the player that's going to take the biggest jump this year in the nfl d bro i'm going to let you start this one off i'm going to go with bo nix because looking at bo nix's play he's had high moments he's had very very low moments he very much had a caleb williams run of last year where it was he was got off over two to three quarters of every nfl game and he had to play hero in the fourth quarter with bo nix and then he came this offense this year with the addition of jaylen wattle i think it's going to pay immediate dividends by pushing everybody else down the target hierarchy to where they should be the other thing that's been talked about in the offseason i think it's going to pay massive dividends is the relationship between him and davis webb and a different offense but they're talking about just like the communication in and out of the huddle on the play designs in in the just as the with the play calling and davis webb is talking about running a fast-paced offense so all of this means like i think we're going to get more continuity out of the denver broncos offense i think we're going to see an improved version of bo nix and he has quietly been on a per drop back basis got awful for most of his nfl career so if he could be league average and all these things kind of coalesce this year and jaylen wattle makes a huge impact for the passing attack bo nix honestly could win mvp this year i'm if this team if they win 12 to 14 games and he looks like that guy this year it's possible i dig it i dig it this is i mean it's really a bet on bo nix is a bet on sean payton right it's davis webb sure yeah and and and by extension davis webb as well because like i mean even if davis webb is bad like there's no way sean payton is just like you know what let's let things keep going poorly right like i'm not going to be a bad guy i'm going to be a bad guy i'm going to be a like it's kind of davis webb has been indoctrinated into the sean payton way there so i can dig this one uh erickson who's your your player that's going to take the biggest jump this year this is where we're going to have our bears debate between some of these wide receivers oh boy and the reason i put roma dunze on here as the biggest leap jump for a player is because you put alfredo lutherburton that's who you put on here as your player picking i know you hate him and as you have brought up on some of the fantasy pro shows that i'm fantasy football's bad boy right i'm trying to play you really are it's dangerous and i understand the hype for luther burton all the efficiency marks last year is going to be so you only pick the dunesay to be the bad boy and go against me just to play contrarian contrarian or do you actually believe this just not completely forget about what roma dunes i could do if this bears offense does smash and if he's actually the bears wide receiver that you wanted because i'm using a process here with odunze versus just chasing the coach of ben johnson being like yeah i want to buy stock in this player super efficient the next i'm on raw saint brown hype hype hype hype call me crazy the coach liking a player seems good i don't know when ben johnson was asked about roma dunesay earlier this week this is per the coach speak index called a mr consistency something that i definitely like to hear because roma dunesay doesn't get nearly as enough of pub and love like luther burton does because he wasn't compared to i'm on raw saint brown but when you look at roma dunesay he was the best player in the wide receiver one of this offense before he got his foot injury last year and by all accounts the foot is not a problem entering his third season year three is the most popular year and most likely season when wide receivers achieve top 12 fantasy wide receiver one status for the very first time it's not year one it's not year two it's not year four it's year three which roma dunesay is entering and if you look at cheap number three receivers on their team based on adp so roma dunesay is being drafted as the third pass catcher on the bears behind colston loveland and behind luther burton historically speaking the last two times that has happened debo samuel 2021 cooper cup 2019 both guys had mid-year injuries in their second seasons despite the fact that it looked like they were breaking out the following years in year three they both finished as top five fantasy wide receivers so i'm chasing the trend with a cheap third pass catcher on a high-powered offense entering his third season the fact that roma dunesay all he has done throughout his nfl career is demand high value targets in terms of air yards in terms of red zone targets in terms of end zone targets so this is per sharp football roma dunesay has 27 end zone targets the first two years in the nfl that is seventh among all wide receivers he ranks 57th in games played if the regression hits for roma dunesay we're looking at a guy who could catch 12 13 14 sounds bad touchdowns here and that could like totally push him up in terms of his fantasy football standing and being a total breakout player for the chicago bears offense that yeah we're excited about and i'm buying the dip on the least hyped about bears wide receiver 57th in games played debro that sounds bad it sounds like a bad ranking that sounds low i mean it's not i mean it doesn't sound like mr consistency oh yeah i'm a little bit more worried about the foot than you are erickson but maybe i'm wrong but i'm no doctor he hasn't been missing practice luther burns missed more practice than he has yeah during camp can do that but also another soft tissue injury for luther burden i i didn't pick either one of these guys you ain't gonna sit here and talk kind of burden for me like i'm fine with it dude this is the least bad boy thing you've ever done erickson taking mr consistency the guy that's gonna go to bed bath and beyond with you on a saturday i was a little basic i'm just i'm just saying like i love how alfredo got offended about that and erickson didn't come on come on man the luther so the thing here is like you're saying that i'm not buying the coach calling him uh saying that he's good the stock is up i'm buying stock at lucid burden comparing him to amandra st brown why is that a bad thing that's a that's a phenomenal thing i love that the coach who engineered those offenses is comparing this player to one of the best wide receivers in the nfl and i love that this wide receiver had 2.68 yards per route run third amongst all qualifying receivers and his yards per route run landed in the 98th percentile like these are good things that happened he was just in a timeshare last year in a part-time role because i don't know for some godforsaken reason ben johnson was like you know this offense needs is more alameda zachias so much so that he's not even on the team this year and now we have lucid burden who once he did get into this full-time role led the bears in target share from week 13 on if we're seeing that player who wants to feature over and over and over who is a great yards after catch player who is a guy that can make things happen that no other wide receiver on this team can do like let's just be real i understand that Roma Dunze can catch touchdowns. 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Because I love Colston Loveland, and you're both wrong. Colston Loveland's the real wide receiver. Everyone, everyone is allowed to eat in the offense. What is this? What is this? Caleb Williams keeps acting goofy, and somebody's going to take away his spoon at the table. God forbid an offense have two or three players that can be productive. I didn't pick any bears. It's on y'all. Hmm. Hmm. Let's improve the vibes. Let's improve the vibes and talk about our biggest surprise. Team here. Uh, D-Bro, I'm going to let you kick us off your biggest surprise team. Saints. I think they're winning the NFC South. I've said it before, and I'll say it again. Man, the defense down the back half of last year was playing at the top five level. Chase Young looked amazing, and he could be a transformative player this year. And adding more talent on both sides of the ball. If Tyler Shuck takes a step in his second year, they have an easy schedule. Yes, does the Jordan Tyson injury ding them? Knock them down a little bit? Sure, but if he comes back at the back half of his rookie season, and it's basically like the Saints trade for a player midseason, but they don't have to do that. I have faith in Kellen Moore. I think this defense is going to be actually really good. And Tyler Shuck taking a step. Chris Alave being healthy. Actually having a run game to support your young quarterback because they did not have that last year. And an improved offensive line play. I think the Saints could take the South, and I think they could actually make some noise in the playoffs this year. I don't know. I dig this one a lot. Kellen Moore running that offense. Tyler Shuck looks so good as the year went on. I mean, the offensive line should be well improved. Eric, how do you feel about the Saints this year? I like them a lot, too. I think that would have been my take if Debro had put it in first. Yeah, he got it in first. My only hesitation with the Saints is just the first two weeks of the season going on the road against the Lions and the Ravens. So for me, it's wait till week three, fire on all Saints, overs, futures, as they enter a stretch. NFC South odds on week three, baby. I'm here for it. So I'm just biding my time, waiting to make my approach on the New Orleans Saints, just looking at that tough early season schedule. But especially if they can get Jordan Tyson back, too, down the stretch. Yeah, this could be really fun for Tyler Shuck. But we are betting the over on the total for week one. For week one? Yeah. Yeah, baby. I've never seen a total played at Ford Field that I didn't like the over. Absolutely. Absolutely. Missing two starting safeties. And week one versus the Saints. Yes, please. Hot dog. Yeah. We're going to see a good one there. Erickson, who is your biggest surprise team for this year? I guess I didn't look at this as biggest surprise in terms of a team being bad because we have. Spoiler, our next segment is the most disappointing team. So that's going to probably be more skewed towards the negative. So I'm going to go with the Tennessee Titans. Very low expectations for them. You look at their win total. I think it's at like four and a half wins. I like the over. When it comes to that, and I like a lot of the teams in the AFC South for the most part. I like, obviously, the Jaguars. Talked about Trevor Lawrence. He doesn't win MVP unless they win a lot of games. I did like the Texans a decent amount just because of how suffocating their defense can be. But now we have more issues with the offensive line. One of their tackles is already on injured reserve. They lost Jaden Higgins. So is it just the same disappointment from that offense again? So I'm starting to cool a little bit on the Houston Texans. And that leaves the Tennessee Titans as that wildcard. Our team where, look, Cam Ward, second season with a more competent offensive play caller. I understand that the preseason stuff has not been great, but it's still present season at the end of the day. And like I talked about with the Bears, Bears offense didn't start firing until after their bye week because it was new between Ben Johnson and Caleb Williams. People think that the Patriots offense was just elite out of the gates. They lost to the Raiders in week one and Drake may looked really bad. So it takes some time with these second year quarterbacks. When they're actually working with an officer coach that knows what they're doing, which I am confident that Brian D'Abel can be that guy. Cardinal Tate is still a rookie, a top five pick. I think he has a ton of upside. So give it time. And the fact that the Cam Ward and the Titans, they get to play the Jets in week one. Robert Sala revenge game. I think this is where they can use this type of matchup, get a win at home, kind of get themselves a little bit of a launch for the rest of the season. So I can't guarantee that they'll win their division because again, the AFC South is a lot tougher than it's been in years. But I got no issue fading the Colts just based on Daniel Jones coming off the Achilles injury. I'm not afraid of that team. Houston, like I said, cooling on the Jaguars are obviously the big team that the Titans would have to overcome. But every year we see teams go from worst to first in the division. And if it's not the Saints, it's not the Lions. I think it'd be the Tennessee Titans. I almost put Cam Ward as my player to take the biggest jump because I think that this Titans team could actually be. I hope so. He just does things, man. I know it's been ugly at times here in the preseason. He looked so bad in the preseason. It scared me a little bit. I'm not going to lie. He looked bad at times like and then other times, like we still saw the same things that make him special. Like he could just do stuff that other quarterbacks can't. I think a lot of it is just getting the kinks out here in preseason. So like I get this Titans thing being them being the biggest surprise teams. I think everyone's got them counted out. Everyone saw the same preseason highlights going around. I got Cam Ward not doing it. Cardale Tate, but 50,000 targets, no catches. Wanda. Robinson going to lead the team in yards like it's just, yeah. A lot of people are hating on the Titans. I can see I could see them being a surprise. The thing about Cam Ward is I just want to see them just give him the Daniel Jones diet of first read heavy stuff and let him use his athleticism. And then I think we see a functional offense and stuff like don't ask him to read the full field and stuff right now. I think that's what they're planning on doing. I just I just think that in the preseason, you're not trying to give away everything. You're just you're trying work on some of your hardest stuff that you have in the playbook some of the things that you're like we kind of suck at this in practice see how it works in a game let's keep getting these reps and get better at these things so um yeah we could all be right we could all be wrong on this one i don't know we'll find out about the titans we'll feel good after week one i mean you guys take the titans over the jets in week one right yeah yeah sure yeah yeah yeah sure yeah yeah sure yeah i think there's like some awkward silence i'm not as confident i'm not as confident as i thought i'd be saying that but yeah yeah i'll take the titans over the jays robert saws camp he's not gonna lose against the jets that's fair that's fair i'm all about that narrative all right uh my biggest surprise team here is going to be the tampa may bucks and i think it's because they are either going to surprise the nfl being phenomenal or terrible like this is one of these where they are such a wild card team where last year injuries derailed them so much whether it was injuries to bucky irving the offensive line baker mayfield mike evans uh chris godwin to now it's we see a team that seems to be healthy baker seems to be healthy the offensive line seems to be improved bucky seems to be good and then now you got abuka dealing with the toe issue but he's back practicing so if everyone's healthy i think this team could take a huge leap forward in the right direction they were able to hang on to vita vea for the rest of this year and i think the defense could be a lot better than it was last year but man i really think all it takes is for a few of the jenga pieces to come out of the tower for the whole thing to come crashing down and this could be one of those teams where i'm just i'm just saying it it's the biggest wild card in that division where they are either going to be first or last like they are going to go full ricky bobby this year yeah i could definitely see that i mean i think there's a great narrative behind pissed off contract year baker mayfield is going to be the flip side of that coin where baker has played through so many different injuries Loses a lot of games. He gets really dinged up and he's looking at like, look, I don't want to give me a contract. Fine. I'm not going to play through injuries. I'm not going to sit here and crush myself when I'm going to be heading to free agency. And we see Jalen Daniels starting games. Yeah, it could either be amazing or go off the rails. Totally with you on this. I forgot that Jalen Daniels was the backup quarterback there in Tampa. Kid out of Kansas. Yep. That if he has to start games, we're screwed. Everybody. It's a good 100% back in on the Saints because I mean, looking at this division here, right? I think it's a two man race between the Saints and the Buccaneers. And I think all the points you made, Alfredo, make a ton of sense in terms of the boom or bust of the Buccaneers where Carolina, I think that last year it was their fun ride. We made it to the playoffs. We gave the Rams a scare. So I don't expect that to repeat, especially with their brutal schedule and the Falcons, man, like they're up there with the. Arizona Cardinals, I'm like, which Redbird team is going to lose the most games this season? Like that's the situation that the Falcons vibes are giving off right now. So I'm no confidence that they're going to win a lot of games, especially when week one on the road at the Pittsburgh Steelers with me. They don't even know who they're starting. They play games next week and they don't know who their quarterback is. I mean, I think they do know who they're starting. They just haven't revealed it. And I think they just feel crap. And they don't like it either. Okay. They feel bad about it. Too. That's why they're not going to go out there and tell everyone. The fact that Juwan Taylor, the guy who got two false starts in the preseason game, is they're starting right tackle to protect the blind side of whatever Southpaw quarterback they have on their center against the Pittsburgh Steelers on the road. Dude, it's not good. It's not good. At least like one thing that we can look at here is the Falcon strength. The schedule is not all that bad, but it's but it's always like that. I know. Yeah. But when you're not. When you're not a good team, every every other team looks a lot better. And then what a stoppable force meets a movable object. Exactly. Yeah. It's not good. All right. Let's go to our last category here. Most disappointing team, which is, you know, just slightly adjacent from most surprising team. Erickson, kick us off with this one because you have this one written in the show sheet. So I feel confident going to you first. This is the first one that I actually did put in the show sheet. So I did tease the Bears, but they won't be my most disappointing because I do think their offense will be fun. For fantasy and betting purposes. So I put the Washington Commanders and they're also coming off a disappointing season where Jane Daniels wasn't healthy. They had issues. Terry McLaurin wasn't healthy as well. But I just look at the potential outcome for the Commanders. And I think that Dan Quinn is alive to be the first head coach fired in the NFL. When you look at the absolute murderer's row of opponents that they have to face to start the season. And everything I've been reading. When it comes to the Commanders is that Adam Peters is safe as like the general manager. I know Debro has some strong things against what Adam Peters has been doing and building this roster, which I don't totally disagree with. A lot of it has been band-aid type of fixes, adding in older veteran wide receivers, not necessarily drafting super well and not putting Jane Daniels in a position to succeed. And it kind of reminds me a little bit of the CJ Stroud situation where comes out his rookie year looks elite offensive rookie. And then offensive line issues just continue to derail the growth of their young quarterback. Laramie Tunsell is not going to play this season. Most likely their stud left tackle their starting center. Nick Allegretti has missed the majority of summer with a calf injury per the athletic describing this offensive line tissue thin interior of the offensive line that absolutely terrifies me. And when you look at the schedule, like I mentioned opening game on the road at the Philadelphia Eagles. Yeah, not great. And then they have to go on the road to play the Dallas Cowboys improve defense and they host the Seattle Seahawks. Then they have to go to London to face the Colts and they come back division game at home against the Giants. Then they go Monday night football to the 49ers and then playing the Eagles and Rams back to back after they have bye weeks. I mean, look, I get that Aaron Glenn is the favorite to be the first head coach fired because of how bad last year was, but Dan Quinn's seat is going to be very, very hot if they open. Oh, and three heading to London. I mean, if they lose it, that London game too. We've seen coaches not come back after the international travels. So I am very concerned about just leave them in London. Like a man, like a trip to Amsterdam. So I mean, tell me, you ain't got to go home. You just got to find your own way home out of here. So I mean, tell me if I'm wrong, guys, but I'm just not getting a ton of confidence with the way the commander's roster is. And if things crumble up front, I think Jay Nails, he's got to be Superman. I know he can do it, especially when he did his rookie year. I mean, his rookie year, he didn't have Laramie Tunsell. So I know like that's something that can paint the picture of optimism for him. But if things just crumble up front and the offensive infrastructure is not there, we know the defense like is probably not going to be good. Like Sonny Styles is like their answer. He can fix everything. Potentially, they paid a lot for that edge rusher and free agency. But every time teams do that, when they overpay because they don't have any talent, and they bring in outside guys, those guys usually are disappointments relative to the amount of money that they shell out in free agency. So I just got concerned about the commanders overall. Do you guys like this take? Am I crazy? Or is it just trusting Jay Nails? He'll make it all happen, because ultimately, that's how this team survives is he's Superman. He can do it. I know that he's capable, but I just feel like the support system really isn't super great around him. Speaking of Superman, I just want to point out Alfredo has a very Superman as it just happens, man. Like I don't I don't do it. I actually try to make sure maybe like you're rocking the Superman curl right now, but to the point with the commanders, I also want to I want to bring this up very quick, guys. Is it concerning that Jane Daniels focus is not totally on this NFL season and he's worried about his number at LSU and respect being paid on his name and how much of that is him versus his mom and all that kind of stuff. But again, it's a distraction. It's not a good thing. I mean, I'm with you on this. Take it. I'm like, this team could fall apart. I think the only thing that keeps me like somewhat in is who the offensive coordinator has been for the commanders early in Jane Daniels career and Cliff Kingsbury. Like he's so good at doing the I'm going to establish a really easy college style offense for you to look good in your rookie year. But that's it. I don't have anything else I can add to this recipe. So like by year two, wide receivers can do motion. Yeah, play action. Can't do anything else. Like he's he's a good college coach. I'm phenomenal high school coach. But like you ask him to run an offense in the NFL for multiple years and there's just no new wrinkles. We like we saw it with Kyler. Not that he's like a phenomenal quarterback, but nothing changed. So the only thing that gives me a little bit of hope is David Blau coming in and being like, all right, we're going to do things that play to your strengths. We're going to get the ball to the best players and get them moving around the offense. Like that's the only thing there. But the offensive line concerns me. The running game concerns me. The defense concerns me. Like it might not be enough for for the offensive coordinator to, you know, get the ball to the field and, you know, pull a rabbit out of his hat this year. Like it's just the walls might crumble it. What do you think the vibes are after week one for the commanders? Week two. Just on to week two. Yeah. That's what every team does, right? Like that's what every team does, right? They win. They lose. Like they don't care because I still feel like so many NFL teams look at week one is like, OK, well, we survived that without getting hurt. We still haven't pulled out our full playbook. Week two. Like I really feel like you don't even get a vibe around a team. It's like week three because you're like. Oh, we might. We might be ass. Like we might not be good if we're 0 and 3 at that point. I mean, dude, they're they're opening the schedule. They literally like to get rid of Dan Quinn by week. It's not. How many games is it going to take for Dan Quinn to potentially lose his job? They could walk into week seven by week with one win, like starting against the Eagles, the Cowboys, the Seahawks, the Colts, the Giants, the 49ers. They could be 0 and 6. It's really it's really Aaron. Gwen's only. I hope I'm not being the first head coach, someone else. Not that he won't get fired, just that he won't be the first one to get fired. And I'm also not condoning. And like, obviously, I don't want anyone to lose their job, but I'm just being realistic looking at the numbers for long. Like, yeah, could the Jets actually be the only team that fires two head coaches this year? Like if they do fire Aaron Glenn, then make Frank Reich the head coach. And the team does work. And they fire him and just keep going down the line. Oh, like, all right, Gino, here's a headset. Do both. Woody Johnson. Always. He says, hold my beer. We'll see. We'll see. D bro. Who's your most disappointing team this year? I just want to start this off with I want a win and loss projection for y'all for a team. I'm not going to get the team name out right now. OK, when you just say right now, the first five weeks of the season, this team plays the Texans, the Lions, the Chargers, the Patriots and the Rams. Tell me what you're projecting. What's your projection when we're heading into week six against the Raiders? What is your projection for wins and losses for the Buffalo Bills? Alfredo? I think that team is probably I think that team is probably three and two heading into week six. OK, Erickson. Yeah, I would probably co-sign on that. OK, the flip side of that. What if they're one and four? What if they're two and three? That is a horrible, horrible schedule. And we still have questions like, yes, the addition. a DJ more is good, but what else is around DJ Moore can Dalton Decade stay healthy do they have the firepower Keon Coleman come on give me a break there's so bad I'm sorry I was charting Josh Allen and I was just like Keon Coleman cannot get open ever he's been awful and they're transitioning to a new defensive system and do they have the right players to run said system are they going to have an actual pass rush this year like these are all legitimate questions yeah and yet all this like pressure is put on Joe Brady of like we see what Sean McDermott did in previous years we're expecting you to do as we're expecting to do better like that's the bar that has been set and yet that is their schedule to start out the first five weeks of the season do the bills start out slow and everybody's like okay maybe this whole Sean McDermott to Joe Brady thing isn't a good thing this is what happens right like we have these teams that you go into the year and the expectations are like hey Super Bowl or bust win the division win the conference our quarterback's going to be MVP it's so hard to actually hit those expectations it becomes incredibly easy to be disappointing especially if you start off slow and I think that's the biggest thing like that each of us keep talking about is looking at those initial games right like we're not looking at week 12 and 13 of what the schedule is we're looking early because when a team starts off bad it is so hard to climb out of that hole right like for these NFL teams no matter how good the players are so I I could see it they wouldn't I find this to be a little more bold than like than like an easy going but I can actually see this happening where the bills end up being one of the more disappointing teams yeah I mean like when the expectation is you are the new head coach to get us to a Super Bowl and to win a Super Bowl and you start out with this kind of schedule and oh after that week six they get the Raiders so fine that's a win then they get the Ravens if the Vikings can be a bounce back team with Kyler Murray it is a horrible schedule until you get to week 10 and then they get the Jets the Dolphins and they get the Chiefs the Patriots again the Packers then it kind of lightens up towards the back end of the of the season but this is tough when the expectations and the bar is set that damn high for a new head coach to be like look you have to you in your first year you don't have to meet the bar you have to exceed it or we have a problem it's tough man it's tough yeah I I have a similar team here that's gonna be my most disappointing and it's the same thing where they got to win the division they got to be really good the offense has to crush the quarterback has to be an MVP candidate it's the Chargers man like is there not a team that disappoints more often than the Chargers like every year and it's not necessarily because they have bad players they just can't stay healthy or Justin Herbert shrinks in big moments and it just it does happen like charting him I saw it like he becomes a different guy and now this year we're really depending on Mike McDaniel to be this brilliant offensive mind and that in many ways he does show that at times but we're asking him to now coalesce with Jim Harbaugh Jim Harbaugh John Harbaugh I mix them up all the time this is this is Jim Jim Jim we're asking them to work together and I'm not gonna lie the Mike McDaniel quips always seem fun the the the ankles showing underneath the joggers seem like oh this guy's different and hip and cool and then by week seven when you're not playing so well and your team is two and four you're like actually these things are kind of effed up like I just really want you to take this seriously maybe have Ben Johnson talk to him be a little less goofy because I'm looking at the opening schedule for the Chargers right now I think they win their first two games Arizona and Vegas those are easy but then they get the Buffalo Bills the Seattle Seahawks Denver Broncos Kansas City Chiefs a bye week Los Angeles Rams Houston Texans Baltimore Ravens like there's a shot that they go into week 10 with two wins yeah so what you're saying Alfredo is we take all of our winnings from the Chargers to the first two weeks put them on the Saints for the rest exactly yes yes you heard it here first folks maybe first I don't know it might be second the other quiet question that I have about this team is everybody is talking about this offensive line like it's going to be like immaculate and it's going to go right back to being amazing already hurt I know and the fact is not practicing fully and yet everybody's talking about it like it'll be fine no worries it's all good baby in the chamber it quietly isn't and they lost their center for the entire freaking season and they're moving slaughter there right the rookie yes yeah that's what he naturally plays though right it's still rough man still rough for a rookie to have to place it in the NFL on a team that we're expecting Amari and Hampton and Keaton Mitchell just to feel this elite run game but the offensive line's not a concern guys don't look at this it's okay it's okay except it's not that was very Wizard of Oz of you pay no attention to the man behind the curtain Mike McDaniel's ankles will not be shown at this time that's what he's running around here like a woman in in like the 1700s showing his ankles and people are just losing it they're so distracted by that you can give love to his shoe game though it is it's amazing what's that what's that accent where where's that from where's that originating from I have no clue I'm working with like cold like Isaac Hayes kind of voice right now so anything that comes out of my head with with Dayquil hopped up on it just just take him the grain of salt okay just uh let's do this we gave all of our our predictions for the year some bold some mild uh but what I did was I went to the beautiful folks that watch and listen to this show out on the tweeter machine and I asked them to give us their bold predictions so we got some fun ones here guys what I want you to do is we're going to go rapid fire through these so we can make our time uh you're going to rate these one to five one being the least spicy and very very mild five being whatever that thing is on hot ones that everyone cries when they eat all right so let's start off here Sienna Jod over from CBS Sportsline actually says Bucky Irving will lead the league in rushing touchdowns oh four that's a four for me yeah it's possible but it's hot I agree it's hot I agree it's definitely hot it's hot it's hot shout out to Sienna see yeah it was it was hotter before Sean Tucker he was gonna get cut though that was it was hot before then uh Jamie Calandro says Trey McBride finishes below Colston Loveland and Tyler Warren in tight end scoring this year two this doesn't feel super spicy especially if it's like standard league feels like it's it's it's the tight end two is going to finish behind the tight end three and four right now in ADP like yeah feels very possible like remarkably possible it doesn't feel super if Carson Beck is playing games this season or Gardner Minshew we'll stop stop oh the Rob Parker one um let's do it Rob Parker D-Bros like yes Rob my man my man Rob let's go the problem here is that Rob spelled the name wrong he said Tyler Bajent fills in for Caleb you almost stuck the landing baby the Madden creative player runs the Madden cover boy on the Bears offense Tyler Bajent fills in for Caleb Williams and runs the offense more efficiently they eventually keep him as a starter Rob I'm just trolling because he messed up his eyes it's phenomenal this is phenomenal this is yeah this is the fact that he said 12 out of 5 is sleep oh Rob poor Rob he almost landed the plane I'll give up since I think it's better kind of co-signed but since I co-signed this I'll give it a four who was the pilot that had to land the plane upside down like in the water oh good there was like a famous thing I don't know that's what he did here what's name I remember Tom Hanks played him in a movie Tom Hanks movie that's the Tom Hanks movie probably I get mixed up with all my pilot movies all right next one on here uh at Boo Boo Jojo there was one with Denzel wasn't there where like the guy was he was like rumored to be like on pills or drunk or something and then he had a Sullenberger by the way that's that man's name and the other Denzel movie where the guy was hopped up on like coke and all kinds of stuff yeah that was a wild ride man all right next one here is from Boo Boo Jojo uh I just really wanted to say that people thinking that Mark Andrews is done is absolutely wild he was banged up for most of 2025 as he likely is gone I don't know man when you start to say that everyone thinks he's done including the opposing defenses except for you it seems uh it seems like a bit much do we do we have a location for Boo Boo Jojo is is he uh in Baltimore though we just have a Ravens uh Homer take here well he spelled defense the way people do across the pond so I've got a feeling this is a foreigner I mean you know Mark I'm just glad that Mark Andrews or well we're assuming Mark Andrews because he didn't give the first name but I give this Matt Andrews just with Tyler Bajan I give this I mean I would be very surprised if Mark Andrews has a really productive season so I think that this is bold because I look when you have less yards out to the catch in Zacherts I just don't go back to those tight ends unfortunately so I'm happy to be wrong I like Mike Andrews Mark Andrews as a player Mike is fine Mike Andrews Mike Andrews catching touchdowns for Tyler Bajan it's gonna be sick yeah insider reporting from eric anderson here you gotta love it head coach eric glenn got all frailed all right we gotta land the plane boys come on last one here let's do it uh steelers with a losing record near the end of the season turn to drew aller who puts up crazy stats during the fantasy playoffs i mean that's yeah do the steelers go to drew aller no i could see him going to drew aller i don't know what's their schedule like in the fantasy play i mean if they play a bunch of like crappy teams like i i could see that i think i don't hate that one this is i'll give it three too much pre-season hopium uh i'm at a five on that that's that's spice i watched drew aller struggle against my fiu golden panthers who are a horrendous 14 but he hadn't unlearned the position yet and now he's oh oh good good i love that for my exact way that mike mccarthy wants his rookie quarterbacks oh good yeah that's always aaron rogers is gonna gonna give him some tutelage too because both those things rogers is gonna go uh in the the darkness during aaron rogers well known for being a friend to younger players yeah all the time for christmas he'll get him one of those little headlamps so he can read in the cave you know so he can actually read the playbook with him so all right guys that is gonna do it for us here at the tailgate i want to thank everybody for watching or listening all the way through uh don't forget to leave a like on this video hype this video leave your comments down below uh for myself for d bro for erickson we'll see you next time adios you you you you I won 40k and finally renovated my home visit crown coins.com sign up in seconds enter code crown and get a free lucky wheel bonus you may win up to 10 000 sweeps coins crown coins.com that's c-r-o-w-n coins.com no purchase needed code valid for new users only void were prohibited by law 18 plus terms and conditions apply hey y'all what's up this is lauren la rosa from the latest with lauren la rosa the podcast remember varnell hill from the 90s sitcom martin he's back and now on paramount plus more than 30 years later tommy davidson is stepping back into the spotlight in an all-new martin spinoff 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Podcast Summary

Key Points:

  1. The podcast discusses predictions for the 2026 NFL season, focusing on quarterback performances and team dynamics, especially with the Raiders’ potential early use of Fernando Mendoza as a starter.
  2. There is significant debate over whether Mendoza will start in Week 2 or later, with analysts suggesting he may enter the season as a backup due to the Raiders’ offensive line struggles and poor quarterback performance under Kirk Cousins.
  3. The Chicago Bears’ offense is under scrutiny due to Ben Johnson’s intense coaching style and high expectations, raising concerns about player morale and performance, with some suggesting a potential shift to Tyreese Bajan as a backup quarterback if Caleb Williams underperforms.

Summary:

The podcast features a detailed discussion on 2026 NFL predictions, with a central focus on the Las Vegas Raiders and their quarterback situation. Analysts debate whether Fernando Mendoza will start early, with the consensus that his debut depends on the team’s offensive line improvement and overall performance—especially if Kirk Cousins continues to struggle. The Raiders’ difficult schedule, including early matchups against strong teams like the Dolphins and Chargers, makes the case for Mendoza's emergence in Week 2 or later.

Other topics include the Chicago Bears, where Ben Johnson’s rigid coaching style and high expectations may clash with quarterback Caleb Williams’ playful demeanor, potentially creating internal tension. The Bears’ offense is viewed as promising but fragile, with potential for growth after the bye week. The discussion also extends to fantasy football trends, with Trevor Lawrence, Caleb Williams, and Cam Ward as top contenders for MVP and breakout performances.

Additionally, the podcast highlights the Tennessee Titans and Tampa Bay Buccaneers as surprise teams, with the Titans seen as a potential underdog due to Cam Ward’s fresh start and healthy roster, while the Buccaneers face a high-risk scenario due to injuries and a punishing schedule. The most disappointing team is projected to be the Washington Commanders, citing a weak offensive line, lack of depth, and a brutal early-season schedule that could lead to early collapse. The hosts collectively stress that while some teams show promise, others face structural issues that make long-term success uncertain.

The analysis blends fantasy football insights with real-world team challenges, emphasizing the importance of roster health, coaching chemistry, and schedule resilience.

FAQs

Mendoza is likely to start no later than week 8, possibly as early as week 2 if Kirk Cousins performs poorly. The decision depends on the team's offensive line strength, quarterback performance, and how the schedule unfolds.

Unlikely. Given the team's offensive struggles and poor performance in preseason, Cousins is expected to be replaced before the season ends, with Mendoza taking over as the starter.

The primary reason is to improve the team's offensive performance and generate better results, especially after a disappointing start. The Raiders' offensive line and overall scheme are seen as inadequate for Cousins to succeed.

Yes, there is potential for improvement, especially as Caleb Williams gains experience and the offense becomes more refined. However, high expectations could lead to underperformance due to defensive weaknesses and inconsistent play.

Trevor Lawrence is projected as the MVP due to his strong performance with a new offensive coordinator and a well-balanced, efficient offense in his second year with the Jaguars.

Cam Ward of the Tennessee Titans is predicted to have the biggest jump, as he transitions from a struggling preseason to a more effective, game-ready quarterback with a better offensive system.

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