Speaker 1Grainger knows if you're a procurement manager at an industrial manufacturing facility, you're balancing inventory and budget while sourcing critical supplies across the operation. Too much inventory? Cost climb. Too little? Production slows. Grainger's $2 billion in on-hand inventory helps you get what you need when you need it, so you can help keep budgets balanced and lines moving. Call 1-800-GRAINGER, clickgrainger.com, or just stop by. Grainger, for the ones who get it done. Welcome into the Arrowhead Addict Podcast.
Speaker 2It is Thursday, August 20th. It's time for the OG Hour. Patrick Allen here with you with a couple of OGs, the blog father, Adam Best, and our old pal from Sports Illustrated, Matt Vertoram. Fellas, how's your summer going? Kids going back to school there, Vertoram?
Speaker 3Next week. So third grade from AZ, preschool for the elderly. Another one. But yeah, it's going to be a lot quieter in the house in about six days.
Speaker 2Yeah. Mike, Rory's in daycare. He's in school year-round. And so there's no going back to school for me. But it just started to occur to me now that he's two years old that at a certain point here, he's going to be home for the summer. And I'm going to have to figure out what to do. And that's an interesting proposition.
Speaker 3Yeah, good luck.
Speaker 2And we're live, everybody. Yeah. We're live, which we've been pre-recording the episodes for a while now, but we're live today. So if anybody's out there, shout out to our old live crew. We appreciate you. If you're watching on YouTube, hit that like button. And let's dive into some Chiefs talk here, fellas, because the Chiefs, football is back. They played a game, if you want to call it that, against the Rams. I mean, anytime you got Oladokun running around out there, it's borderline a game. I'll do respect to him. So we got a few questions for you, on what you saw out there. But I wanted to just go with the overarching one that I think a lot of Chiefs fans are rolling around in their minds right now, which is with the info that you have so far, how are you feeling about the Chiefs' chances this season?
Speaker 3I think the conference is wide open. And every time I think about the Chiefs and I think about two or three things that really bother me, I then look at another team in the AFC and see two or three things that really bother me. The case of a team like the Browns, like 38 things that really bother me. Look, I think the Chiefs' chances to get to the Super Bowl are as good as any team in the AFC, largely because every team's flawed, including the Chiefs. Look, I think my feeling all offseason with the Chiefs has been very consistent. Number one is Mahomes' last locality. He's checked that box. He looks fine. But the second thing was, this rookie class, for them to win a Super Bowl, it's going to have to be really good. This is going to have to be shades of 20. Maybe not exactly 22, but it's going to be something like that. So far, it's been very impressive. Peter Woods has looked very good throughout camp. I've talked to some people in that building who flat out will tell you he's had one of the best camps of any, but they're a rookie or veteran. Mansoor Delane, now out of the non-contact jersey, looked very good. He is where he needs to be as they get out of St. Joe. Cyrus Allen's been a godsend. I don't know that even they could have tripped up. This kid would look like this right now. They're extremely high on him internally. And I think, look, let's be real. If you had them in an honest moment, they'd tell you it's a surprise that he's where he is at this point. Or Mason Thomas looked good in the first preseason game. I mean, Johnson looked good in the first preseason game. Very good. If the rookies turn out to be very productive as rookies, they have a shot. They're really talented. If that happens, it's. It's like adding four big-time guys in free agency. But that remains in it. We're not going to know that until the lights come on against Denver. We can think it. It can look good. The signs can be there, and that's all there to this point. But we're not going to know-know until
Speaker 4September 14th. So, Matt, the NFL 100 dropped, and Mahomes was 18th. What do you think of that, and do you think he'll use that as fuel heading into this? Not just that, but kind of like the general meaning. The media attitude about Mahomes and questions. I saw Colin Cowherd say yesterday, has he already played his best football at 30 or whatever? Do you think this is going to motivate him? Yeah, I
Speaker 3mean, Colin Cowherd, not basically. Compare him to a trust fund kid when he was going through that whole thing. If you actually listen to the whole segment, he was like, well, you know, Mahomes is kind of like, if he's a trust fund kid, you walk into a great situation, then things go downhill. He's gone to three of the last four Super Bowls and won a couple of them. Like, but that's okay. Justin Herbert might win a playoff game this year. Josh Allen might get to a Super Bowl this year, which call me when that happens. The last time we saw Josh Allen, he was turning the ball over 37 times and crying. Like, I mean, that, that, but that's the level that he's judged on. Like, if Mahomes has won bad years, it's just a cataclysmic disaster. I'm sure he's going to use his motivation. The top 100 list, I mean, that thing had Bryce Young on it, which they could have done the top 1000 list and Bryce Young shouldn't have made it. So, that's all you need to know about that list. I think that list might give him a little bit, but I think it's more going to be the Dan Orlovsky. Hey, he's not a, you know, a top 10 traits guy in some of these categories. And in some other ones, he's barely in there and call, you know, Colin Coward calling him what he called him. And I think that stuff sticks with him. I mean, I think the idea that this team is just kind of forgotten about. And again, in a conference where show me the team, I've been to training camp. I went to Buffalo. I went to New England. I've seen the Buccaneers. I'm going to see the Ravens and Commanders next week. I've seen the Eagles. All these teams have flaws, all of them. So, I mean, I think Mahomes, I think truly though, out of more than eight, Mahomes is going to be motivated, but in fact, they sucked last year. I mean, that ought to be enough motivation for that team to light up a city. I mean, that should be enough, but look, a lot of this is going to come down to like, what is Rishi Rice? What is he? What are these rookies? Some of these other guys, like Noel Williams was really good. Jaden Hicks, boss. What are they? I mean, that, that is going to largely determine whether his team is just okay or really good.
Speaker 2Yeah. Putting Pat, some of the discourse around Mahomes, he doesn't need the extra motivation, but that dude is, he's pissed off. I just, we know he's, we know petty Pat. We've seen him before and he's, he's nodded to these things after this off season. They better hope he stinks. They better hope he does. Cause if he returns to form, he might rake some of these people over the coals. Uh, speaking of people who get raked over the coals a lot, uh, sorry about Rishi Rice. Seeing if you clips him in camp, uh, doesn't look great. Doesn't look great. Kind of looks a little bit like me running around out there. Um, how big of a problem is this? Is this just, he's getting his legs back under, I'm coming off the knee surgery or is it something more terrifying?
Speaker 3It's hard to say. I mean, it really is. It's really, really, really hard to say because you're just, you're talking about a guy who is coming off the knee surgery. We'll also spend some time in the clink. Like is he up to snuff? Like, is he like, and I think it's a fair question to ask, like how committed is he? I don't know. I mean, his off field actions would tell you not very, but to be fair to him, like he's always showed up and showed up and been in good football shapes. I don't know. Like, you know, he came off of his knee surgery and came out and played really well. So maybe that's an unfair thing. Maybe he'd say, look, his off field stuff is his off field stuff, but on the field, he's been there and he's done his job. I'll say this. I see the same clips everybody else does. There are definitely clips you watch and you're like, woof, man, he can't separate at all. At the same point, it's just so hard to say from watching a training camp clip. I don't know. I mean, I, you know, I I'd love to see him in a preseason game and see him run some routes. I'm like, see what it looks like. I mean, look, he's never been a burner. It's not like this is a guy who's, you know, he's not Xavier Worthy. He's not running a fourth rate. He's going to largely win because he's boxing guys out and he can, and he can get himself open on routes, you know, with, with, uh, you know, that, that long stride, that's how he's going to win. I'm not panicked about it, but yeah, I mean, look, I'm not blind either. I mean, he hasn't exactly been, you know,
Speaker 4running like a gazelle in practice. I mean, he's not running like a gazelle in practice. I think he's going to be a great camp. You mentioned him earlier, Cyrus Allen. Do you think that's actually translating in the past? We've seen Justin Ross and Dries Fountain. Some of these guys have great camps, but they don't really make an impact in the regular season. Why is Cyrus Allen potentially different?
Speaker 3Oh, I think Cyrus Allen is different for one very big reason. And that's because when you watch him, this isn't, he's not going against twos and threes and winning. He's not doing it because he's just running away and on a screen pass, or he's running a nine route, you know, he is cooking the daylights out of everybody there. And I know no Williams can play. And I know man's worth the lane. I know the tape I saw last year, that kid, that kid can play. I don't worry about that. I also, his game's not predicated on speed. It's his footwork. It's getting open. It's understanding concepts. It's understanding where to sit down in the zone. Like his releases off the line of scrimmage, go watch any tape of him where he's on the line of scrimmage. I mean, he is God. He is just God instantly. out of a break. That stuff, that stuff translates. I'm always the guy who's very, very, very much like, okay, yeah, it's camp, whatever. That kid's footwork and his hands are going to be a separator for him. Like, I think as much as Andy hates playing rookies, he's going to be playing this kid. He has to. I think Mahomes would almost have a mutiny. Like, they're going to play this kid. He's the only guy that can beat Mann, right? Really on the roster. Well, he's the only man. I'm curious to see with BNME if that continues. Their route combinations have been pop Warner-ish the last few years. I mean, I could cut up a million clips of them, like probably without exaggerating, 150 last year, where they ran route combinations that I'm sure an NFL defense coordinator would watch and just start laughing. It was ridiculous. Like, there was no spacing. They were running speed routes with guys who have no speed. It was a joke. I wonder if – I think the biggest underrated thing with this team is BNME being the offensive player. Chad O'Shea should help too, right? Sure. Absolutely. Absolutely. But I think, you know, people underestimate – well, he doesn't call the plays, right, but he prepares the offense all week. I think there's going to be a marked difference in how this offense plays based just on that and the running game, obviously.
Speaker 2I am – yeah. I'm looking forward to just knowing the way that Andy operates. That first game against Denver, it's a good defense. Chiefs are probably going to have trouble moving the football. They're going to come out. Cyrus Allen's going to be out there for 16% of the snaps. And just to watch Chiefs fans lose their collective minds when those numbers come out on Tuesday morning, it's going to be something to watch. But hopefully he gets more run as it goes on. Matt, we've got to let you get out of here. We know you've got a meeting coming up. We appreciate you. Anything really quickly? Anybody – anything coming on SI that people need to check out?
Speaker 3Go buy the magazine. Subscribe to it. I've got a bunch of stuff in the NFL preview. I've got stuff. I've got a bunch of stuff. I've got a bunch of stuff coming down the pipeline of the magazine. Also, I'll have a big feature piece, not in the magazine, online, featured right during week one at some point. It might even be during – it might even be the day of the Chiefs game with Trey Smith. I'm going out there to spend some time with him. So keep an eye on that.
Speaker 2Nice. And subscribe
Speaker 3to our subtext on the MMQB. Go to my Twitter feed now. Look at it. Subscribe to it. It's free. We have 161 subscribers. We better have it. We better have it. We better have 200 by the end of the day. I expect people to – it is free. You can message me. You can talk to me about – you can talk to me about nonsense. I was giving parenting advice earlier. Like, just subscribe to it so I can keep my job.
Speaker 2Thank you. It's very important. Very important. That's Matt Verteran from Sports Illustrated. Thank you, buddy.
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Speaker 7This episode is sponsored by Homebase. Homebase is built for small businesses trying to do it all. The neighborhood coffee shop, the local gym, the family-run restaurant. With Homebase, you can schedule your team, track time, run payroll, and manage hiring from one easy app, so you can spend less time chasing timesheets and more time running the business your customers love. More than 150,000 small businesses already use Homebase to keep their teams on track. Start free at joinhomebase.com. Homebase, built for small businesses that do it all. Always a pleasure having Matt back on the show.
Speaker 4Man, I got to jump in on this Colin Coward thing. Yeah, let's do it. The whole TrustVent thing. I just can't believe it. You know, I think this is one of the big problems with someone like Colin Coward, who's trying to cover all sports. He just doesn't really have the depth of knowledge about each team, right? You and I, we've watched this team. We know that Patrick Mahomes, he lost Eric Fisher and Mitchell Schwartz and Tyree Kill. They under-invested in the running game, right? So he's making three Super Bowls in a row with a revolving door receiver, with a revolving door at offensive tackle. You know, that's a big advantage Josh Allen has, for instance, is his tackles. And the most under-invested running attack in the league, I know Jerick McKinnon was good, but he was off the scrap heap. Isaiah Pacheco was a seventh round rookie. You know, they had Carson Steele, for Christ's sakes, and the corpse of Kareem Hunt. Credit to Kareem Hunt for being a good short yardage running back, but the guy was absolutely shot when it came to anything else. And he won a Super Bowl on a high ankle sprain behind Andrew Wiley and Orlando Brown Jr., throwing to MVS, McColl, Justin Watson, Sky Moore, Kadarius Toney, and Juju Smith-Schuster. Guys, literally nobody else in the league wanted, nobody else in the league would be playing them. And you know, if MVS was a wide receiver two in Kansas City, he would not have been that anywhere else. Juju wouldn't have been a wide receiver one, and so forth. It's just unbelievable. And also, I think that Andy Reid, Matt Nagy, and the coaching staff have clearly been slipping. So I don't know, man. I almost have to say there's like cultural bias in here or something. When did we ask if Peyton Manning or Aaron Rodgers or Tom Brady were shot at age 30 or 31 or whatever? They wouldn't have done it. So I know what he's trying to do, but it did actually make me mad. It did make me mad.
Speaker 2It should. It's just surface level analysis. And if you think about it, I can see where you can close your eyes and be like, "Well, maybe this is. " But if you think about it for longer than 30 seconds, you realize how preposterous it is. If you Google the Chiefs rosters, as you pointed out, this idea that Patrick Mahomes walked into some sort of the greatest situation that any quarterback's ever walked into. And the history of the NFL is so bunk. Did he walk into a good situation? Yeah. He had two Hall of Famers in really three Hall of Famers, right? He had Chris Jones on the defense side of the ball, but that defense stunk. It stunk. When he won his first Super Bowl, the defense was not good, even though they had Chris Jones. Yes. He had Travis Kelsey. Yes. He had Tyreek Hill. That's a great thing for a young quarterback to walk into. And they won one Super Bowl. And they traded Tyreek Hill. And Travis Kelsey started getting old. Like the defense, they did have that one year where they were really good. This dude, when you think back on the Super Bowls that they won, particularly the second two, he made the plays to win them the Super Bowls. He did it. It was him. It was him. It was his rushing. It was his clutch throws. It was his drive in overtime against the San Francisco 49ers that he was in charge for. It was him. He was running for the first down on fourth and one against the 49ers like it was Patrick Mahomes. He's different. We know here in the kingdom that he's different because we sat there and watched guys like Alex Smith and Matt Castle, when the pressure was on, reach their limitations and crumble. I mean, how many times is I love Alex and he was a good running quarterback, but how many times when it was, it was crunch time and they got pressure on him, did he just sort of crumble and get sacked or throw the ball away? I mean, I think it's a good thing. I think it's a good thing. team than i've ever wanted a super bowl before because i want it i want to see the look on the faces of the haters that have doubted andy reed that i want travis kelsey to go out on top i want chris jones to get one more because you know he's going to go up there and talk trash up on the podium like i think this super bowl outside of the first one that they got would be the most satisfying super bowl in of all the super bowls i agree
Speaker 4you know people are doubting the chiefs i don't think these are the guys you want to doubt particularly mahomes i think the thing that maddens me the most is when someone like colin coward or uh daniel oski is throwing out these regular season numbers i do not care about regular season numbers when you're talking about the can city chiefs a team that has played over the past seven or eight years and they've been doing great and they've been doing great and they've been doing an additional season more than any other team if there's one team that has learned that we don't care about regular season stats we want to be healthy we want to be peaking at the right time it is the can city chiefs and if you look at someone like josh allen or lamar jackson and patrick mahomes and you compare their regular season numbers to their postseason numbers who's elevating their play in the postseason and who is falling apart in the postseason i'm sorry it's josh allen i would even say that joe burrow has delivered more in the postseason than either of those guys so i i don't care about these inflated regular season stats especially when andy reed is someone who doesn't run up the score like some of these other coaches do so it just maddens me that we we don't just isolate the postseason and what he has done during these three consecutive super bowl runs and how his his big time throws go up his turnover worthy plays go down his epa goes up like everything goes up and he's going to be a great player and he's going to be a great player up and he's basically always performing at an mvp level in the playoffs that's all that matters is getting to i know they didn't last year but my god they had one down season after making what seven consecutive afc championships and five out of six super bowls or something insane like that that nobody's ever done literally nobody's ever come into the league and taken it by a storm so i think it's fair to ask if this iteration of the chiefs are done like if if chris jones and andy reed and travis kelsey and steve spagnolo have had their moment in the sun and mahomes and clark hunt and brett veach are going to have to reinvent this franchise for his 30s totally fair but to say mahomes is done and mahomes is never going to make another super bowl or like you you are just blindly flying against all the the empirical evidence we have
Speaker 2yeah yeah uh the season can't start soon enough man it really it really can't uh before we get to the chiefs rams thing i just we didn't get to get to this one for a very long time i'm curious your thoughts this khalil benson guy man i mean do you think he's kind of the surprise of camp i know everyone's talking about cyrus allen it's not sexy to talk about lineman but pretty much from day one khalil benson has been like running getting run with the starters whether it be a right tackle or with with some guys banged up a little bit traceman's a some people suggest maybe guard is his position but i mean how how excited are you about this guy
Speaker 4i'm really excited for one reason they've spent a lot of money and invested a lot of draft capital in the in the offensive line and uh trey and creed are among the highest paid players at their position jaylen moore is making a lot of money but he comes off the books and uh he's not he's not like someone who's in the long-term plans so i think when you're looking at simmons kingsley creed and trey you see potential long-term continuity and if someone like khalil benson or essa pole could work out at right tackle theoretically you could have a unit that would be together three or four years and the chiefs have not had that really during the mahomes era especially post uh post fisher and schwartz it's like i've said especially at tackle revolving door so i think finding stability there but but also it's i think it's about potential cap savings you know because the the line is pretty highly paid and the one guy that you know the the two guys that aren't highly paid right now are a first and second round pick so finding somebody that they didn't have to spend anything on would be a revelation yeah he had
Speaker 2a um hit a pretty good rath score too if you're not familiar with the the relative athletic score um he he had an 8.84 out of a possible 10 and that ranked 191st out of 1642 offensive tackles from 1987 to 2026 so this guy like he's he's got the goods athletically um he he had a really you know but he ran up like a 5.08 40 yard dash had a good 20 yard split good vertebrae goal broad so this is this guy's an athlete and it's really interesting to think about him whether it be tackle or guard especially with a team that wants to run the ball i mean who knows what they could use him for if he doesn't start a tackle this year for the chiefs he could rotate in he could they could put him if they want to you know do some jumbo packages they could put him in there uses athleticism so it's just really interesting it's a really good get for them and i'm really hoping that you know the the chiefs are spending a lot of money uh at at the right tackle position and if he's able to fill that void for them uh boy i'll
Speaker 4also say that you can explain sort of why he wasn't highly thought of by the draft community he had a transfer to colorado that went horribly uh under deon sanders he had injuries he got suspended at indiana because of discipline so i think this is someone who clearly has had the tools he's in a position right now where his head is on straight and andy reed and andy heck are the right coaching staff to reach him and eric b enemy and finally put together all those pieces that he obviously has in terms of raw traits uh maybe they're going to get somebody who had things gone right in college would have certainly been drafted maybe not on day one but but potentially like day two yeah i
Speaker 2mean look they want to they want to chip with them so um it's uh it's exciting all right let's talk about that rams game obviously we don't care about the the outcome here uh but some interesting things from this game and one that i was really excited about was emmett johnson i i just didn't understand it's so funny the nfl can be so good at identifying talent but then they can just completely whiff on some guys sometime and i i'm watching emmett johnson run around out there and i'm like holy crap his um his feet are so quick like he might not be the fastest guy but when he's moving around in a phone booth in there and you saw it on multiple occasions there was one play i was watching a film review from our pal tyler book and uh best available and he did a whole i tweeted out check my twitter he did a whole breakdown of emmett johnson's preseason performance and there was one play where they just whiffed on the block and there was a guy in the backfield pretty much the second emmett johnson got the ball and dude just put a move on him and was gone and we saw the other play where he got around the edge when things closed up on him i mean what did you see out there with this guy
Speaker 4i saw 10 missed tackles on 15 touches i think that was tops in the league last week i'm really excited i liked emmett johnson i think price carter obviously a big nebraska guy deserves a lot of credit for kind of like putting all of us on to emmett johnson but i think his best point has been about the running back position uh and i'm a believer in this now as well is that you mentioned relative athletic score you'd think at a position like running back it would make the most sense but it really does not matter that much because isaiah if ras mattered isaiah pacheco would be an all-pro running back right but i think that's a good point i think that's a good point i think that's a good point but things like tempo and vision and contact balance and just so many other little things footwork like you mentioned matter and if you look at recent history kyron williams bucky irvin cam scadabo these are not top tier athletes they did not tear up the underwear olympics all very good running backs because they just have a feel for the position and i saw some aaron jones in emmett johnson just because he he sees things and feels things and and like finds open space with burst very quickly to the point where the way he processes and the feel he has for the game i just don't think him having top end speed matter that much because he he plays fast on the field you watch him and you're like man he's finding daylight quicker than any running chiefs running back i've seen in a long time you know maybe damian williams is the last guy where you're like wow this guy had you know can make some things some things happen it was just not a night and day versus last year those plays you were talking about if they were cream hunters isaiah pacheco they would have been stopped in the backfield and you take play like that and you turn it into a plus 13 you know 13 yard run that is going to be such a seismic difference for for Patrick Mahomes and what's so exciting about a guy that can find daylight is he's going to get light boxes I don't care if Patrick Mahomes didn't make the playoff the Chiefs didn't make the playoffs last year if he's coming off an ACL I can tell you this defensive coordinators are not going to stack the boxes against the Kansas City Chiefs as long as 15 is under center and shotgun they're just not they're not going to do it I mean I don't know maybe late in games if Kenneth Walker is just bringing it to him they might temporarily make that adjustment but I think he's another player that's going to see light boxes and finally he's going to be a guy along with Walker who can take advantage of those light boxes so it was I know the Rams didn't really play anybody but just kind of like our Mason Thomas would be the other guy and a little bit of Cyrus Allen just the eye test we've watched we all of us guys have watched and ladies have watched football for a long time and you can just tell when somebody kind of like pops off the screen and that that's what I saw in Emmett Johnson
Speaker 2yeah man it's it's exciting I got actually a old old Chiefs pal of mine from from way back in the early vlogging days at his dirkness on Twitter he shared this uh listen to this man of every explosive running thing yeah of every NFL offense since 2002 the 2025 Chiefs ranked 755th of 768 teams in explosive run percentage in 2024 the Chiefs ranked 758th they did not have they were one they had one side of the ball they just did one that they may as well not even have run it was a net negative every time they ran the football except for when they were in the playoffs and they were in the playoffs except for when cream hunt got a yard for a first down that was it no fear no fear one of the worst running games in recent memory so when you have a guy like Kenneth Walker coming in with his athletic skills and now you see somebody like Emmett Johnson vision is just so so important it's so important and we know that because is Emmett Johnson as fast as Isaiah Pacheco no not according to their 40 times it's just so important and we know that because is Emmett Johnson vision is just so so important it's so important and we know that because is Emmett Johnson vision is just so so important it's so so important but if Emmett Johnson isn't running running up Creed Humphries but that alone might make a huge difference and you you said it man like if he's gonna get hit in the backfield because somebody in the offensive line whiffs or somebody on the defensive line makes a good play and he's able to turn that into three yards instead of a three-yard loss like the three-yard loss it's like a sack it's a drive killer it makes things so much harder and just getting any kind of positive I'm I'm so excited about him I hope Andy plays him I know they got DeMarcato but and I know he's a rookie and all that stuff but get this get this kid on the field to spell uh Kenneth Walker um all right let me ask you about the flip side of this which is Brashad Smith who I know was somebody we were both pretty excited about and who who who showed some juice last year although to be fair you know what I mean like somebody on their deathbed might look super lively and spry if they're if they're laying there with a bunch of corpses and Brashad Smith he had some speed and showed a little bit of juice last year he looked bad in this game he got quite a number of carries I think he averaged just over two yards per carry easy to take down what do you think happens with him here especially given the emergence of Johnson
Speaker 4well he's going to be a man without a role probably and unfortunately I had hoped that a year after I was really high on Tyrone Tracy that the Chiefs had found another another Tyrone Tracy type player a wide receiver who was never quite at home at wide receiver who's a better fit at running back but he can't break tackles he's just too small he doesn't have good vision he just doesn't you when you compare him to someone like Emmett Johnson who has excellent vision and an excellent feel for tempo and the position and contact balance and all those that that we underrate when it comes to running backs he just doesn't have any of those and I think his best like he's a I don't know he's a D'Anthony Thomas right he is a gadget player and I just don't know if the Chiefs have the luxury with where their roster's at of keeping a gadget player now maybe they think they can draw three or four plays up for him again because no doubt about it you get him out in space he's dangerous right but it's hard to get him out in space he's the problem uh and if you're gonna throw screens you'd probably rather throw them to Rashid or Xavier or someone else so I I don't think it's looking good and like you said we were kind of high I don't want to say like high but but optimistic there was a chance Rashard Smith could turn himself into a running back because last season there just wasn't a lot of competition but even when they were out of the playoffs Andy Reid and the that offensive coaching staff did not seem super comfortable giving him a lot of carries and I I think the other thing and this is probably the one thing for Amari Demarcato that is might be his saving grace in making a roster and if Emmitt Johnson wants to play he better be putting in the the pass protection work but I just don't see Rashard Smith as someone who's going to be a good pass protector and I think Amari Demarcato has shown uh some capability in that regard through his time in the league uh and last last season against the Cowboys while in Arizona he had a great game in pass protection uh that I went back and looked at probably like six or seven clips where I was like okay this guy can do it so they're probably only going to carry three running backs on game day right and one of those guys has to be a pass protector and if you like Emmitt Johnson better than Rashard Smith and if you have eyes how couldn't you I just don't think there's a roster spot for him
Speaker 2we'll see how it plays out a lot of guys gonna get cut here in a couple of weeks and I was I was excited about Smith's receiving ability but it's just they they have to upgrade the roster and he's got a shot he had a shot all last year and it's it's up to him to to make the team and you know we we want him to but it's it's got to work for for the whole roster so hey listen um before we go any further I gotta let you know with the start of football season just around the corner here um you know what about what about a bet that feels like you can't miss and our friends at my bookie uh have got this really cool thing it's the my bookie lock of the season it's back and it's it's the first one that that they're rolling out as a kind of an absolute no-brainer uh with the Patriots in Seattle for NFL kickoff my bookie is asking one simple question will the Seahawks raise their championship banner that night of course that's what happens and when you win the Super Bowl you raise the banner and uh they're the defending champs it's their home opener they're gonna raise the banner before kickoff as part of that celebration uh and and you know you're gonna get plus odds on it over at my bookie so um the Seahawks do the thing that the whole night is built around and you win uh and that's the first my bookie lock of the season and there'll be more coming all season long it's super fun great platform so before kickoff sign up at my bookie with the promo code arrowhead and start your season off with a win bet on anything anytime anywhere you got to be 21 and older 18 and older in select jurisdictions terms and conditions apply if you have a gambling problem call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit 1-800-GAMBLER.NET for free confidential support available 24 7 all right let's get into a little bit more chief stock and let's let's spend a little bit more time gushing about cyrus allen it's one thing to hear all the stuff in camp and to see some highlights of them running around in shorts and t-shirts and then some highlights of them running around on pads and then it's another thing to see a guy perform in a scrimmage situation and he had a couple of just like you said earlier if you've watched any amount of football some guys just jump off the screen at you when you see them and he made a couple of different plays where he showed us his his quickness in short areas and then of course the the highlight catch where he climbed the ladder throw what did you see out there from alan oh i wish they
Speaker 4would have thrown him more and and in fact there was a moment late in the first half where he probably would have had a touchdown he had his man beat in the end zone and it was just an overthrow it was just a bad pass and a lack of recognition there but i saw him beating coverage consistently doing all the things like matt spoke about as a technical receiver that the team was going to be able to do in the end zone and i saw him doing all the things that the team was going to be able to do in the end zone and i saw him doing all the things that the chiefs were really lacking last year the nuances the release packages the footwork the knowledge of of spatial awareness if you will i think he just has all those intangibles and he's a good a good technical receiver who excels against man coverage and really it's looking like can run the entire route tree i'm not sure they have another guy like that on the roster and that's why i think he's he's really standing out and i think the way he's different than darice fountain or justin ross is i think and and some of those guys that archetype. Chiefs fans have really been kind of lusting after this big Dwayne Bowe, kind of Terrell Owens, outside ball winner, just old school, traditional Julio Jones, like big wide receiver one, prototypical X receiver. And the Chiefs just don't really put a lot of stock in that kind of player. That's not what Cyrus Allen is. Cyrus Allen has garnered all this hype because of the way he runs routes, the way he understands defenses, the way he gets in and out of breaks. That's the difference. And I think that's why I know you and I both play dynasty fantasy football, which I think they are typically ahead of the curve. And if you play dynasty and you listen to years past, they weren't talking about Justin Ross. They didn't believe in him. They didn't believe in these other guys. They believe in Cyrus Allen, man. I think there's something he's kind of penetrated the Chiefs hype bubble. And now it's like an entire league wide thing. Everybody's talking about Cyrus Allen. And maybe some of that is, yeah, playing with Patrick Mahomes is pretty nice. As we talked about with like Juju Smith, Shustrone was having a thousand yards when he was basically running around out there on my knees. But I think a lot of it is because Cyrus Allen has just been that good so far. And, you know, we all saw that. We all saw that. We all saw that. And I think that's against Noel Williams. I'm a huge Noel Williams fan. I think Noel Williams has the upside to be a top 20 or so top 25 corner in this league at his ceiling, much like LeJarrius Sneed was. And he made him look utterly foolish. So, and it, you know, it happens when you're out there doing drills one-on-one, it does favor the wide receiver, but I just can't say enough about him. I came in, you guys know this, that have listened to the show. I think Patrick and I were both skeptical just because of what we've seen with this pattern of Chiefs, Chiefs, Chiefs, Chiefs, wide receivers getting, you know, unheralded ones getting hyped up in camp, but he has defied the odds. I think in a way the others haven't before him. And I think this next preseason game is going to be a big moment for him. If he can continue to build on not just like what he's done in practice, but if we keep seeing it in games, that's going to bode well for him actually breaking into Andy Reid's rotation.
Speaker 2Yeah. It's that's the big key is how much are they going to play him? Is he going to get, because they've got so much invested in Rishi Rice and they know what he can do for them. And so I think, are we going to see a rotation of Taequann Thornton and, and Cyrus? And I think that's probably the best case scenario. And I think if he, if he gets his rookie season here and he, if he has more receiving yards than Juju had last year, like if he ends up at four or 500, okay, great. If he can get to six or seven, for some reason, that could be fantastic news for this team. And it, we could see it very spread out. Like this could be another one of those seasons where if Cyrus Allen gets the run that we're hoping that, you know, you've got, maybe you've gotten eight or 900 from Rishi and six or seven from Travis and six or seven from worthy at six or seven from Allen. You know what I mean? Like that, I know it doesn't sound impressive not to have at the housing yard receiver, but I know. Yeah. They could spread the wealth here with a running game and an effective off. They might have to. Yeah. Yeah. They absolutely might have to. And it may be about matchups. We know Andy likes to rotate his wide receiver packages. So there could be some looks where you've got worthy out there. Some looks where he wants to get Allen out there and it just could be like that this year.
Speaker 4One thing we didn't mention is Taequann Thornton just went down with a hamstring injury. I don't know how long that's going to linger, but if that continues, continues to be a problem, that might be the opportunity that Cyrus Allen needed to get on the field. You could see a situation where, well, without Taequann, we got to move worthy to more of a field stretcher. And then Cyrus Allen kind of comes in and does some of the things worthy was having to do. And of course, where she kind of does what he does is the sort of power slot type zone buster, but that could be the opening he needs. I hope Taequann Thornton is, is okay because obviously the team's best field stretcher, right? He had that report. He's the chiefs have sort of been missing that downfield chemistry with my homes ever since Tyreek left. And I think that Justin Watson had a little bit strangely, but I would say that Thornton is the guy that has the most chemistry deep with my homes since Tyreek Hill left. So let's hope he's actually caught
Speaker 2the ball when he threw it to him on like MBS. So yeah, it looks like unless something new has happened, it looks like he was back at practice yesterday. Okay. He got, he, he, he left in the front of the cart on the 18th was back at practice yesterday. You know, I hope they're not rushing them back because hamstring stuff is for receivers is bad news.
Speaker 4So, and they, we've got to have some rules about player X got carted off because they're carting guys off as a precaution. And it always happens. So, you know, it's, it's a little bit of a, it's a little bit of a, it's a little bit of a Yeah. Yeah. They really are.
Speaker 2Hey, listen guys, um, you were giving away a chiefs Jersey. I believe we're going to do it next week. And the way that you can get in on this giveaway is super, super simple. All you need to do is be part of the arrowhead addict podcast text group. It's free. And you're going to be entered to, for this giveaway and for all of our foreseeable, you know, our future giveaways. So, you know, we're going to do it next week. So, you know, we're going to do giveaways for the foreseeable future, not in perpetuity, but we're going to pick the winners from the text group. And we do giveaways all the time throughout the season and off season. So just text chiefs to 8 1 6 4 7 7 5 4 2 1 to opt in that's chiefs, no quotes, no emojis, just chiefs to 8 1 6 4 7 7 5 4 2 1. Not only are you going to be entered to win this Jersey, you're going to get analysis, comments, updates, breaking news, and things like that directly to your phone from us, me, Adam Buran. Matt Conner, Sterling price. So it's a really cool thing to be a part of. Don't worry. We're not going to blow up your phones. We'll get you the important stuff, but when you respond to these text messages, we can respond back directly to you on a one-on-one conversation. So it's pretty cool. So check it out again. That's the arrowhead addict subtext group. You'll be entered to win the chiefs Jersey next week. Just text chiefs to 8 1 6 4 7 7 5 4 2 1. And we appreciate your support really quickly before we get to Patty's power rankings. I just wanted to highlight the, the special teams here in this game, because it matters. Special teams has not been a highlight in recent years. But Kerr was trying his new kicking approach and Sterling performance from, from, from Bucker and Matt Arisa in this preseason game, Bucker was four, four, including hitting a 59 yarder. And Matt Arisa was, uh, had five punts and three of those five were inside the 20. So you feel a little bit better about Bucker heading into the end of the season.
Speaker 4I do. I feel better about both of them. The only, the only negative about that is, uh, well, Andy Reed kind of revert back to the guy that didn't let my homes go for it on fourth and two and fourth and one and fourth and three enough, which I think is one of his more conservative tendencies. And he kind of broke away from that last year, maybe out of necessity because he felt like they were outgunned. I'd like to see that continue. You want to have faith in your kicker and punter, just not to the point where you, uh, are picking them over your, you know, arguably the most talented quarterback who ever lived in these situations where you can really affect when probability, if you convert on like a fourth and two on your own 50.
Speaker 2So, yeah, I think the big thing was, and Bucker's talked a little bit about it. He, you know, if you remember, he used to do that thing where when he kicked, he dropped down to his knee, they sort of coached him out of that. And it, you know, it's like a golfer in their swing, right? They start making adjustments and you get up here. You don't want to be thinking about it. It's just something that you do. And, um, it sounds like he said, he's not thinking about it anymore. So it's possible that we could see the, who Bucker was already a really good kicker. And if they thought some of the mechanic stuff with dropping down his knee was, was causing enough issues to have him change it. And he's not thinking about that anymore. We could actually see the best version ever of Harrison Bucker this year, which it would be good news for the, for the chiefs. Uh, we know they need to
Speaker 4score points and hopefully he won't hurt himself. I think that was probably part of it too. Like, right. That this is maybe not the healthiest kicking technique.
Speaker 2Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Um, all right. Uh, that concludes our chiefs talk for the day or the podcast isn't over there. We're going to do Patty's power rankings where we talk a little bit of movies because Adam and I are both big film guys. Uh, so if you like movies, you can stick around for a few more minutes. We got some recommendations for you, but of course the chiefs will be back in action weekend. Hold on. Sorry. I went to ESPN to look something up and they're at six 30 on Saturday. ESPN has autoplay ads with sound. when you go to some of these NFL team pages, it's absolutely brutal. for goodness sake i was like what the hell is that uh so let's get into patty's power rankings uh we did double features last week and i thought hey we haven't done have we done sports movies we haven't done a sports movies category yet so uh let's let's dive into it um i think you kicked us off last time so i'll start us this time number three i'm gonna go jerry mcguire uh there's there are some movies on this list where you could you could make the argument like is it a sports movie like what define a sports movie does it you know like is money ball is money ball a sports movie like it doesn't have to take place on the field i i think it is obviously and i think jerry mcguire is too about the you know the great agent uh you know this movie's just highly watchable it's fun tom cruise is really winning in it you got renee zellweger in there it's definitely one of those movies that is of its time i don't think if you were i don't think this movie gets made today it's there's an earnestness to it and uh do you know what i mean like when you go back and watch some of those movies from the 90s like they're really watchable and they have good actors in them and stuff there's like a little bit of cheese in some of these 90s movies that like like as good as it gets and you know jerry mcguire and there's just i don't know i don't think i don't think the audiences would would eat these movies up today the way they did in the 90s but they're still really good films in their classics and you know you got this great the great scene some so many great quotable lines from this movie and the scene with kubi jr you know the show me the money thing which is like a pop culture phenomenon and the internet wasn't really a huge like wasn't a big thing imagine the memes now if if that had come out so this is just a super fun watch hitting the whole agent vibe with a with a love story woven in there and uh yeah just just one of those like when you think sports movies jerry mcguire just shoots up the top of my list so good watch if you've
Speaker 4never seen it definitely so i especially like the first 20 minutes or whatever it is maybe not 20 15 minutes at the draft or whatever incredible yeah uh i have done a lot of sports movie recommendations i was looking back i've done white men can't jump challengers color of money last boy scout something bull durham so i've done like at least five i'm gonna do some under the radar ones today i'm gonna do some under the radar ones today i'm gonna do some under the radar ones today i'm gonna do some under the radar ones today that i'm i'm thinking if you guys like movies and you're obviously sports fans you've seen a lot of the low-hanging fruit so number three something you may have missed 1995 sudden death bat shit crazy movie somehow and i think it's because the pittsburgh penguins owner's wife was a screenwriter on this they convinced the pittsburgh penguins to to be in this movie and it's a jean-claude van van damme movie about a terrorist attack the stadium during game seven of the stanley cup finals where they capture the vice president in a box and uh jean-claude van damme's name is darren mccord like the most american name ever but he's this fire marshal who has to save his kids and save this stadium and it is it is nuts man there's a fight at the end on the top of the roof that's retractable there's also a probably 10 minute fight with a mascot the the penguin mascot iceberg in a kitchen with like deep fryers and there's like a the greatest dish uh industrial dishwasher kill in cinema history so i can't do it justice explaining it i'm not gonna say this is a a masterpiece but if you want like three out of five stars just because of how original and entertaining it is uh like the craziest version of die hard you could possibly watch great just sunday afternoon i want something that goes down easy movie i gotta
Speaker 2yeah i gotta check this one out right up my alley i love ridiculous cinema um number two for me is remember the titans there's so many great choices out there you know field of dreams and this is what i just this movie it's a disney film uh and it's just incredibly effective i think of this movie it deals with racism and two two teams being integrated coming together and it's based on a true story and there's arguments about how true all of it is and all that stuff but if you take this movie like super seriously it's trying to how i want to explain this it's it's a little saccharine like it's you know it's um it takes a very serious talk which is you know civil rights and integration and racism and it it it almost makes it like it makes it so fairy tale like that it's sort of like it just things aren't that pretty in real life but this is very disney right yeah very disney this is this was an ugly period it was it was not good and in some ways i think people could look at a film like this and criticize it in a way that they say it it it sort of like glosses over the ugliness of racism and it certainly doesn't go as hard in the paint that could in that regard but but but but but but the movie is incredibly entertaining the performances and the actors are all really like the actors are really winning the performances are great um you know uh you get denzel in this movie he's his best as the as the hard-nosed football coach and i don't think every movie about a serious topic has to be gritty and depressing and the spirit of this movie i think is what makes it great and while things might not have been that easy the the spirit of this movie and what it what it wants the world to be and how it wants it to be is the spirit of this movie and what it wants to see us come together as people is very intoxicating and so i just think the movie really works on a scene-by-scene basis it's incredibly watchable and you care about you come to care about these characters and really root for them as people and it does it does it just and it does things in such a way that actually like it it sort of makes racism and the idea of racism seems so silly and i think it's a really good movie and i think it's a really good movie and i think it's a really good movie and i think it's a really good movie does that make sense like you're you're watching they're like they're just such interesting and fun people and they're working together as a team and you're like why would like what you know people are like that in real life people are wonderful and complicated and interesting and i just think this movie kind of taps into something in a really special way and it's just a great sports movie and it's it's actually kind of nice to sit down and watch a movie about a serious topic and be like jesus like why are we why are people really interested in this movie and i think it's a really good movie racist like what you know what i mean like um and yeah i just i love this film i always have and i know it gets some criticism but i think it's i think it's terrific
Speaker 4just don't ask ryan gosling to cover anybody right sunshine uh my number two great double header with jerry mcguire it is high flying bird a lot of people despite it having a famous director in steven soderbergh probably missed this one came out in 2019 right before the pandemic small movie was on netflix kind of doesn't exist if you don't go looking for it the log line very simply is when an nba lockout sidelines his hot shot rookie client a struggling sports agent pitches a bold plan to the young basketball player that will hopefully save their careers uh it's got andre holland from moonlight who's terrific as a sports agent and the claim to fame for this one is soderbergh shot it on an iphone 8 so he could he put the camera in all kinds of interesting places that you normally wouldn't be able to see in a movie and soderbergh shot it on an iphone 8 so he could he put the camera in all kinds of interesting places that you normally couldn't and really just wanted to challenge himself as a filmmaker it's 90 minutes and i just think like if you want two good sports agent movies uh this one's sitting at 91 on rotten tomato so in terms of underrated sports movies that you probably haven't heard about this is as good as it gets i love it um
Speaker 2we're gonna we're gonna speed run these last two because uh producer jordan has daycare pickup uh and sorry for the audio issues it's live it happens like the internet uh but appreciate you shaz uh last one for me this is easy it's rocky it's rocky the ultimate underdog movie uh spawned a great a great franchise but that the first one is just so dang good uh uh i don't know what else to say about it it's just incredibly well written and and sylvester stallone made this piece of art for himself which is just and they're making a movie about the making of rocky that's coming out that looks really interesting so uh yeah just all-time great sports movie rocky can't go wrong
Speaker 4with rocky really well i wasn't saying any of the rockies but you can my number one this is more of a downer but i think it's an incredible movie and an incredible story it is the iron claw uh the 2023 a24 pro wrestling movie about the cursed the famously cursed von eric family of professional wrestlers you just have to see this one to believe what this family went through it is just like when they say truth is stranger than fiction this is exactly what they mean and again i have to warn you this is not this is the furthest thing from remember the titans this is a downer of a movie but it is an amazingly made movie with really great performances and i think kind of an important story that uh again i can't recommend this one highly enough just make sure you're in the mood
Speaker 2for it yeah it's great i really enjoy this one i'm a big wrestling fan and it's not happy neither is uh is is the wrestler um that came out a few years back also depressing um but this is if you like you know somebody needs to make a happier wrestling movie
Speaker 4don't double header that one that's too much yeah it's a
Speaker 2it's a good it's a good uh it's a good double feature but not a not a happy one um yeah all right everybody thank you so much for your support you guys are absolutely incredible if you want to become a member of the arrowhead addict podcast family check out the link in the description and join up we're about to get the fantasy football league going it is that time a year uh a special thank you to sports illustrated matt verdram for joining us today and to producer joanne who we're going to go let her pick up the kid and uh to of course the blog father adam best the reason we're all here we'll see you uh over the over the weekend here for our uh chiefs post game show after the preseason game but until then as always go chiefs this episode sponsored by home base home base is built for small
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