Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00Adam Kaplan is our NFL insider.
00:02Everybody knows that by now everywhere.
00:04And he's all over SportsGrid.
00:05And he's all over coast to coast every week.
00:08Thank God for that.
00:09You can follow him on X at Kaplan NFL.
00:11He's been covering the NFL for close to 30 years,
00:15unequaled by his peers.
00:16None of them like him because he's so much better
00:19at his job than them.
00:20Secretly, they talk all kinds of shack behind his back
00:23that how does this guy Kaplan have everything?
00:26TV shows, popularity, fame, fortune,
00:29and tons of fans that follow him on social media.
00:33And he's on coast to coast.
00:35And they call me a bunch of names, too.
00:36He's out there saying they're on with that asshat Pharrell,
00:39this guy Kaplan.
00:40It's unbelievable.
00:42What we're going to do is we're going to talk to Adam
00:45before he starts his travels.
00:47He's going to every single training camp that
00:49matters in the NFL like he does every summer.
00:52And his wife isn't having any of it.
00:54Last year, he forgot his sunblock and he had a hell itch.
00:59That's when you have sunburn so bad that you have hell itch
01:02and you're freezing cold with the sunburn.
01:05Today, we're going to start doing one division per segment
01:09leading up to training camps, opening up next month.
01:11We start with the AFC West,
01:14and he's going to start with the scary Denver Broncos.
01:18Scary in that we don't know what we're going to see
01:20other than Sean Payton's big predictions.
01:23Well, Scott, they were in Payton's first year.
01:26They were 8-9 last year, a game under 500.
01:29He had not had a 500 record since 2016.
01:32But look, when you look at it, the odds makers,
01:34they clearly don't think much of him.
01:36They've got a 5.5 win total, and I totally get that.
01:39They're going to have a rookie quarterback,
01:40Bo Nix, starting at some point, whether it's week one,
01:42three, or five.
01:44He's going to start early in the season, if not week one.
01:47So he's going to be the guy.
01:48That's why they drafted Bo Nix.
01:50This was Sean Payton's handpicked quarterback.
01:52Noah was at McCarthy.
01:53He wanted Bo Nix.
01:55I tell you, if I'm talking to people,
01:56know about the situation.
01:58This is Sean Payton's guy, but around him,
02:00there's a decent young receiver core
02:01mixing with some veterans.
02:02You know, the problem with defense is lack of playmakers,
02:05lack of a pass rush.
02:06My personal win total would be six, so I would agree.
02:09It's either going to be five or six.
02:10I would agree with that with Denver.
02:12So how do you think Bo Nix will do
02:15with that kind of pressure in that football town,
02:18which I know people think that the Nuggets,
02:21because they want a title that it's a basketball town.
02:24They're sadly mistaken.
02:25It's always been a Bronco town and always will be,
02:28including the Avalanche.
02:29They don't matter either compared to the Bronx.
02:32Yeah, it's all about the Broncos.
02:33If they can get it right at quarterback,
02:34they're going to move up very, very quickly.
02:36But Bo Nix was a guy that a lot of teams
02:37had a second-round grade on,
02:39but the Broncos like him specifically, Sean Payton.
02:42But overall, Javante Williams,
02:43their fourth-year running back,
02:45final year was rookie deal.
02:47He needs to take his game to the next level.
02:48Denver, again, around five and up for six.
02:51I would agree with that too.
02:54Don't they just lack star players?
02:57They just don't have, the talent isn't there.
03:01It isn't there.
03:02And when you look at Denver,
03:03Courtland Sutton's a guy that I like.
03:04He's got tears left on his deal.
03:06They haven't extended him yet.
03:08Troy Franklin, who was Nix's teammate at Oregon,
03:10he's there, who's a rookie as well.
03:14When you really look at this team,
03:15you've got Patrick Sartain Jr.,
03:17who's an absolute stud corner like his dad,
03:20but that's really it on defense.
03:22Just a lack of studs.
03:23And that's how you win in the National Football League.
03:25It's star power and star players.
03:27They just don't have enough of them,
03:28I would agree with you.
03:29So let's move to the Chargers and Jim Harbaugh,
03:33and they are just giving him lofty expectations.
03:36And you and I both know he basically cleaned house
03:39and is starting from scratch.
03:42I don't know how they win nine games.
03:45The number's eight and a half.
03:47Are you buying Jim Harbaugh's first season?
03:50I don't think it's gonna be that successful.
03:52It never has been before.
03:54I'm not.
03:55Yeah, I'm not.
03:55He's a great coach.
03:56First of all, whether it's University of San Diego,
03:59Stanford, Michigan, the 49ers he went to Super Bowl with.
04:03You're right, he's completely changed everything.
04:05Jesse Minner, who was his defensive coordinator
04:07at Michigan, is his D coordinator here.
04:09Greg Roman comes out of not being with a football team.
04:13He used to be with the Ravens,
04:15who was in that Super Bowl in 2012 with Colin Kaepernick.
04:18He's back with Harbaugh.
04:19He's back with him now.
04:20It's gonna be a run-based offensive scheme.
04:23Roman's a phenomenal play caller
04:24when it comes to the run game.
04:26Not much at the receiver position.
04:29Defensively, their front seven will be okay.
04:32The problem is on the back end.
04:33As I understand it, it's really the cornerback position
04:36that clubs have evaluated that football team tell me.
04:39You struggle looking at that cornerback group.
04:41It's not gonna be good enough.
04:42Eight and a half win total.
04:43By the way, the over is minus 150.
04:47That's where the money is.
04:48I don't agree with that.
04:49I look at this differently.
04:50I look at them under eight and a half.
04:51Absolutely.
04:53I'm with you.
04:53And let me ask you this.
04:55That's the funniest thing I've ever heard.
04:56They have no receivers, yet they have a great quarterback.
04:59And they're gonna be a run team.
05:01Now, if I were Herbert, I'd grab my surfboard
05:03and say, I'm going surfing.
05:05If you're not gonna let me throw the ball with my arm,
05:07something's wrong with you.
05:09Yeah, and they did draft Ladd McConkie,
05:11who I'm a big fan of.
05:12But Quentin Johnson, you and I have talked about them
05:15from TCU last year.
05:16He was overdrafted.
05:17He barely played.
05:19The hope is that he'll start this season.
05:20But this is mostly a 12 personnel team,
05:24two receivers, two tight ends, and one running back.
05:26And you're gonna see Gus Edwards
05:28come over from the Ravens, of course,
05:29with Greg Roman and J.K. Dobbins.
05:31But again, this is a very average team to me.
05:33They're not gonna be over eight and a half.
05:36I'm gonna give Johnston one more crack with his talent.
05:40I'm gonna give him one more season crack
05:42at believing in him.
05:43I think that, you know, sometimes, you know,
05:47it's very overwhelming playing in the NFL.
05:50It's not playing at TCU.
05:52It's not playing college.
05:53It's not playing high school.
05:55This is the NFL where guys are paying for, you know,
05:58big paychecks and feeding their families.
06:00It's a different scene altogether.
06:03I think it takes time sometimes with talent to come around.
06:07I think he might be one of those guys
06:09that will get better as another year
06:12and more experience and different coaches
06:15that can bring something out of him.
06:17That guy has talent.
06:18I don't care what anybody says.
06:19There's no way I believe he's gonna suck
06:21as bad as he did last year.
06:22All right, the Chiefs, they win the Super Bowl every year.
06:26Go for a three-peat, by the way.
06:28I love their overtotal.
06:30Their over is minus 120, 11 and a half.
06:33Their schedule, yeah, they have a first-place schedule.
06:36Obviously, they won the Super Bowl.
06:37But it's not that daunting.
06:39And by the way, 17 of the 22 starters
06:42from last year are back.
06:43This is a, and by the way,
06:45the one issue they badly needed,
06:47we've talked about now for four years,
06:48where's the speed of receiver?
06:50Now they've got it.
06:50Hollywood Brown and Xavier Worthy,
06:53they made that trade with the Bills to go get them.
06:55Defensively, there is one issue,
06:57and it's a big one at cornerback.
06:59Remember, they traded LeJarrius Sneed, their best corner.
07:01That is my one issue with that football team.
07:03But other than that, they're phenomenal.
07:04They're gonna be right there with the Niners again.
07:06So bottom line is, when you have 17 of 22
07:10that have won two straight Super Bowls on offense,
07:13the key to this season is obvious.
07:16It's their health.
07:17If they're healthy, they're almost impossible to beat.
07:23Yeah, I mean, it's 17 of the 22 starters
07:24we're talking about on both sides of the football, yes.
07:27And look, Andy Reid's back, Mahomes back.
07:30They've had a tumultuous offseason
07:31with off-the-field issues.
07:32They'll get Raishi Rice.
07:34He's gonna play this season.
07:35The question is, how long is the suspension's gonna be?
07:37But they're loaded receiver now.
07:39It's not all on Rice.
07:41It's on a lot of guys collectively.
07:43And of course, Kelsey's back once again,
07:45who's 35 years old.
07:46But they're gonna be phenomenal.
07:48And again, they're gonna be so explosive at offense.
07:50Finally gonna have a downfield passing year.
07:53I think they will rue the day they let Sneed
07:57leave to go to Tennessee.
07:59I think it's a huge loss.
08:01I don't think they'll live that down.
08:02They will have problems on the back end.
08:04He was a shutdown guy.
08:05Finally, the Raiders.
08:08Yeah, the Raiders at second half projected win total.
08:10The over is minus 125.
08:12The under is plus 105.
08:15Look, they're starting over at quarterback.
08:17Gardner Minshew and Aiden O'Connor could be for it.
08:19My money's on Minshew.
08:21He's making 12 and a half million.
08:22They're gonna be a run-based offensive scheme.
08:24Defensively, Patrick Graham is back.
08:26He's a phenomenal D coordinator.
08:27They've got problems at corner.
08:30They've got a good pass rush.
08:32It's gonna be right around six or seven wins.
08:34They're gonna be right around that total.
08:35By the way, very, very veteran coaching staff.
08:39Yeah.
08:39Put together a staff with a lot of veterans,
08:41two former head coaches, Bill Philbin and Marvin Lewis.
08:44But again, they're gonna be right at half.
08:45They're gonna be right around six and a half or seven.
08:48I agree with that.
08:48I like their pass rush in particular.
08:51And I hear O'Connor has the edge right now on Minshew.
08:55You think that'll hold water at the end?
08:59Minshew all the way.
09:00It's early.
09:01I'd relax on that.
09:01It's early.
09:02We haven't got to training camp yet.