00:00All right, welcome back. Donnie Wrightside is with us. The NFL preseason starts on Thursday night.
00:06Donnie, it's a rite of passage here. When folks see the NFL back, they want to start betting on it, and they can't wait until September.
00:16Look, I've heard so many different pieces of advice and narratives over the NFL preseason.
00:22I don't know that I necessarily believe one. I mean, I guess the one that does seem real is the Ravens winning all those games.
00:28But beyond that, is there even any approach?
00:32I've heard selling tickets for the bad teams sometimes works.
00:36Maybe I guess that goes for the Saints and Browns.
00:39But to me, it's just like wait until the beginning of the season, although NFL jerseys and footballs being thrown around gets people excited.
00:47It does get people excited. I'm the same way every single year, Craig, because I look forward to the first preseason game.
00:53And it comes months in advance. You know it's coming. It's going to be this week. It's Thursday.
00:56It's going to be in July. We're all excited.
00:58I turn that football game on, Craig, and within the first five plays, I go, uh-huh, this is what I waited for, and turn it off.
01:04When does September start to begin?
01:06It's just fun to see the uniforms out there again, but the product is so bad.
01:09And the angles that you play typically are what?
01:12Which coach really cares in the preseason? Which coach doesn't at this point?
01:15You try to read the tea leaves through X and Twitter and social media of who's going to be playing their starters longer.
01:20But good luck to you in the first preseason game of the year, which is an extra one of who's going to be out there, how long, and if anybody even cares that they're in Canton, Ohio.
01:29It's always tough, Craig.
01:32Lions-Chargers is the game, and the total is 32 and a half.
01:3732 and a half.
01:38And believe it or not, you're going to get some totals that resemble this, too, in the preseason.
01:41Very low totals as well.
01:44The Lions are going to be the better team during the regular season.
01:47Their total for the regular season, Donnie, is 10 and a half.
01:51And they're one of the NFC favorites, clearly, to get to the Super Bowl.
01:56You know, I still feel that they're on the ascent.
01:59I know they lost their offensive coordinator this offseason.
02:02But I just don't think that'll make much of an impact on it.
02:04I still think it'll be a really good team.
02:06But, Donnie, you know, the defense really doesn't matter in the NFL until the end of the year.
02:10And that's where Detroit really struggled last year.
02:12I wonder if they'll fix that this time around.
02:15I truly believe, like, throughout the season last year, Craig, because I'm a big Philadelphia Eagles fan.
02:19But I was being honest.
02:20Like, most of my wagers midseason, while the teams were healthy, both the Eagles and the Lions,
02:24was on the Lions to win the NFC Championship and get to the Super Bowl.
02:27I thought they were the deepest team talent-wise.
02:29And then I started to figure Detroit's going to get a home field advantage.
02:32That's going to matter.
02:33Now, they did have home field advantage, but they were so banged up in the playoffs that when Washington came in,
02:37they couldn't defend anything at that point.
02:39The Eagles, of course, won the NFC Championship game over Washington and did win the Super Bowl.
02:43I am a little bit worried about Detroit because the things that they did last year had a lot to do with Ben Johnson as the offensive coordinator.
02:50Super aggressive plays.
02:51You can have the same playbook, as you know, Craig.
02:54It's just a matter of when to call those plays and the confidence in calling those plays that you do that during the game.
02:59Dan Campbell certainly sets the tone.
03:00There's no doubt about it.
03:01They're going to be aggressive.
03:02I just wonder if those creative play calls are still going to be there, as we saw for the past couple years.
03:07Pound for pound, the best play caller in the NFL to me, it is Ben Johnson, and he's gone.
03:11I think that does make a difference.
03:12But, boy, Craig, you're right.
03:13The talent on that offense, offensive line, running back, wide receiver, tight end, and quarterback,
03:18it's top one, two in the league with the Philadelphia Eagles, maybe?
03:22Yeah, it's got to be.
03:23Their offensive line is great.
03:24And I guess the question is, what did the other coordinators learn from Ben Johnson while he was there?
03:29And can they emulate that, or are they just going to try to do that to put themselves up where Ben Johnson was?
03:36Interesting questions for Detroit going in.
03:38Okay, so this one I really don't get.
03:41So, Donnie, you'll have to walk me through this one.
03:44The Washington Commanders, their window is open.
03:48They're going to be, to me, one of the best teams in the NFL.
03:51They have the best young quarterback going right now in the NFL, and his number one target is Terry McLaurin.
03:57I mean, I don't get it.
03:59Am I short-sighted here?
04:00What am I missing?
04:02I just think Washington's got to pay this guy.
04:04Like, Washington, you have probably two or three years, maybe four, to potentially win an NFC in a Super Bowl.
04:12I am not always for paying everybody.
04:14I do think, like, sometimes you've got to wait.
04:16But this is it.
04:17Like, Washington's been waiting 20 years to have this moment.
04:20I don't think you can hold out on this player, Donnie.
04:22What am I missing?
04:23You're not missing anything.
04:24I like to equate it here to, Craig, credit card time, right?
04:27You get a little bit down.
04:28I don't have the dollars in my pocket.
04:29But I think I can make this work over the next year or two and keep my bills paid.
04:32That's exactly what Washington should be doing.
04:34Worry about four or five years down the line, four or five years down the line.
04:38You just had a rookie quarterback last year absolutely light the league up and get to the NFC Championship game.
04:43And we're not talking about a malcontent who's coming off a major knee surgery.
04:47You're talking about Terry McLaurin, a two-time pro bowler that's easily a 1,000-yard wide receiver the minute you drop him back into that game.
04:52And if he's your key receiver, why would you mess up the apple cart and say all those good vibes last year?
04:58We're going to make the one guy who never has any problems or issues and always shows up on time to be that guy you're going to pick that.
05:04You know, again, you're right, $35 million, $40 million, certainly you're not going to do that.
05:07But there has to be some common middle ground that they can make happen.
05:10I'm surprised it went this long because when you do have the rookie quarterback on the rookie contract,
05:15this is the time where you spend money on everybody else but the quarterback.
05:19That's why you do it.
05:21Yeah, it's really odd to me also because, Donnie, as you mentioned, kicking the cage down the road is the way to go in the NFL.
05:27Why? Because the salary cap goes up significantly every year.
05:31By the time you get to the end of this, he may not even be paying.
05:34So Daniel's in year two.
05:36See, now this is obviously where you could predict some pullback here on this.
05:39But his numbers are just out of control on FanDuel, 3,400 yards, 24 touchdowns, 675 yards, five and a half rushing touchdowns.
05:48I expect Daniel's to be a star in the NFL, but these are star numbers that they've thrown him on FanDuel this year, Donnie, aren't they?
05:55Yeah, you sometimes get a little bit nervous, too, because he was so good last year, almost like, you know, C.J. Stroud.
05:59Oh, we'll take the Ascension next year.
06:01They'll knock off the Chiefs and be a better quarterback than Patrick Mahomes.
06:04Defensive coordinators are very smart creatures here in the offseason.
06:07They're going to understand what he did well last year, what he didn't do last year, and sort of attack that.
06:12But for me, sometimes you get nervous where not the true pocket passer.
06:15And it doesn't mean you're going to get injured.
06:16Lamar Jackson's played a lot of great football and been healthy for the majority of his career.
06:20But we've seen injuries with Lamar Jackson.
06:22I just always get nervous.
06:23Like, same thing with RG3 in Washington.
06:25Boy, he was like a cannon, like a cannonball shot out of a cannon.
06:28It was like, he's only going to get better.
06:29Then he gets injured in his knees, never the same.
06:32I'm not saying injury.
06:33But those numbers are built, Craig, for a 17-game schedule for that quarterback.
06:37He misses one or two games, concussion, hamstring injury, ankle injury.
06:41You're not going to get those numbers.
06:43I usually look for the downshift in year number two because of how excited for people for those players.
06:47I'm not saying he's not going to be a great player.
06:49But I'm not excited about the numbers they're presenting as if he's already coronated as a top five quarterback in the NFL for the next five years.
06:56That's all.
06:56Got it.
06:58Makes sense.
06:58NFC East, Donnie, real quick.
07:00What I love betting on the NFC East is always never getting any looks at the Cowboys.
07:06How are the Cowboys even plus 550?
07:08What a joke.
07:08I think you're getting so much value from the other teams there just because they stick that bad Cowboys number in there every year.
07:15Everybody bets them like the Yankee tackle right there.
