NFL Futures: Rookie QBs Shine in NFL Preseason Week 1 Debuts
Transcript
00:00Preseason week one around the National Football League, most
00:06notable perhaps for some debuts and some rookie quarterbacks on
00:11Saturday, bright and early noon Eastern time at MetLife, the
00:15commanders and the Jets, Jaden Daniels, second overall pick in
00:19the 2024 NFL draft makes his first start for Washington
00:24about an hour later, not in New Jersey, but actually in New York
00:28Western New York, Kayla Williams, his NFL debut on the
00:32road in Buffalo against the Bills. Let's start their DRS
00:36with these rookie quarterbacks on display. Anytime you have six
00:41QBs taken in the first 12 selections of an NFL draft,
00:44they are going to get your attention. Kayla Williams, two
00:47drives, four of 795 yards leading to scoring drives, both
00:52resulting in a field goal. Chicago beats Buffalo 33 to six
00:58and you saw some flashes of the athleticism of Williams throwing
01:03dimes on the run. Have to like what you see out of Kayla
01:08Williams in Chicago to start.
01:10Oh, the expectations certainly are high like to see him get a
01:13little bit of run this early in the preseason as well. But
01:15granted, you know, they're not they're in their official game
01:18number two when most people in their game number ones. So it
01:20does make some sense. But he does look the part and that's
01:22all you want to see. Give me a glimpse of what the future is.
01:25Let these guys get those dress rehearsals out of the way and
01:27get prepared for the regular season. I liked everything I saw
01:30from a lot of these rookie quarterbacks over the weekend
01:33that are expected possibly to be franchised guy, Kayla Williams
01:36included.
01:37Absolutely. So Jaden Daniels only one drive, but led in 11
01:42play 70 yard touchdown drive against New York. He was two for
01:46three to an absolute dime down the right sideline to Deami
01:50Brown. That looks the port 45 passing yards and then capped
01:54off his only scoring possession bringing it into the end zone
01:57himself for his first rushing score as a member of the
02:00commanders.
02:02Yeah, he's gonna be hell on wheels to try to deal with when
02:05he starts going with RPO type action because he's so fast out
02:08of the pocket. But what did you want to see a great deep throws
02:10you pointed out great diving catch made capital for the
02:13touchdown. Get the kid out of there. Keep the vibes going and
02:15keep that maturation process moving into preseason week
02:18number two. Love to wrestle out of the kid. I expected it. He's
02:21going to be phenomenal. I believe this year for
02:23Washington.
02:25A little bit of movement as well in the odds to win NFL
02:27Offensive Rookie of the Year Kayla Williams remains the short
02:30favorite at plus 140. Daniels and Marvin Harrison Jr. had tied
02:35for the second best number at seven to one. Now it's Daniels
02:38by himself six to one and MHJ moves back by about a dollar and
02:42a half to plus 850 Jaden Daniels looking in the port they have
02:46instilled the confidence in him in Washington Dan Quinn quick
02:50to name him the starting quarterback for the commanders
02:53not the case in New England. Drake may only one possession
02:57two or three for 19 yards on Thursday night for the Pats on
03:01Friday night. Michael Pennix Jr. played a ton for Atlanta nine of
03:0516 for 104 yards.
03:08Yeah, Pennix looked really good and also let him spin 16 times
03:11there certainly looks the part as we expected. That's a great
03:13secondary option now for Atlanta for some reason Kirk
03:16Cousins doesn't play well or gets injured this season. Pennix
03:19is going to be able to step in there and handle his business.
03:21The interesting part is going to be Drake may game number two
03:24coming up Thursday night football this week Ben against
03:26the Philadelphia Eagles at home. He's going to be getting a lot
03:29more looks here to see if he can be that guy right out of the
03:32gate. We still expected to be preset but he didn't really get
03:35all that much of a chance to prove himself like Pennix with
03:37the nine of 16. So I'm looking forward to see him against the
03:40Philadelphia Eagles again. That's game number two. That's
03:42dress rehearsal. We're going to see guys play for a full half.
03:44No, but you're going to probably see the starters play for one
03:47quarter and I'd like to see may get the start there to see how
03:49he handles that first quarter.
03:52First five games of week number one Thursday, the doubleheader
03:56including the game in Foxboro the Patriots victorious 17 to
04:00three and all three games on Friday, a limited amount of
04:03scoring all three staying under including the Falcons and the
04:06Dolphins that had a high total. We expect to be to the highest
04:10scoring offenses come the regular season. Just 20 to 13
04:14Miami gets the win. Now we'll move further down the board. JJ
04:18McCarthy in his debut in Minnesota got six drives at the
04:23helm of the offense under center through an INT on his first
04:27offensive possession, but then very good from there finishing
04:3011 of 17 for 188 yards and two touchdown tosses as well as that
04:37interception but a pretty solid debut in the Twin Cities. The
04:41Vikings a win over the Raiders 2423 high scoring game highest
04:46total of the weekend. It was 40 and a half. It goes over.
04:50Yeah, by the way, JJ McCarthy throwing those long touchdown
04:52passes. They had Justin Jefferson mic'd up on the
04:54sideline and he was enjoying those passes even though he
04:57wasn't catching one preseason game. So that was we start to
05:00take a look at the depth chart in Minnesota. Come on now. JJ
05:04McCarthy was drafted high. He's supposed to be that guy's
05:06supposed to be the leader of men. Just let him go here. Keep
05:09him in game number two. See if he can progress there. He
05:12should be the week one starter. I don't hear anything about Sam
05:14Darnold's had a great camp nonsense. You drafted this guy
05:17to be your starting quarterback. Let him be your starter from
05:20day one.
05:21Sam Darnold four of eight for 59 yards. Kevin O'Connell has been
05:26pretty adamant so far following the offseason program for the
05:30Vikings early in training camp. Sam Darnold is listed as that
05:35number one starter. As we look at the rookie quarterbacks
05:38again, Bo Nicks, 15 of 21, 125 yards and a touchdown against
05:43the Indianapolis Colts yesterday. Bo Nicks was one of
05:47the three quarterbacks DRS before the depth chart came out
05:50in Denver early last week that had a season-long passing yards
05:54prop for his rookie regular season. It's not up on the board
05:58anymore. Just Caleb Williams and Jaden Daniels, 3,500 and a hook
06:02for Williams, 3,025 and a half for Daniels. You have to think
06:08that if Bo Nicks looks good, week number two, he is supposed
06:12to get the start for Denver in that preseason game. He is going
06:16to start week number one for the Broncos.
06:19Exactly. And sometimes you have to read the tea leaves, right?
06:22If it's he's going to start game number two is your dress
06:24rehearsal. Are you actually hoping he performs so poorly
06:28that you have to go to one of your backup quarterbacks? No,
06:30you're going to put him in a decent game plan here. Get him
06:33some looks here. He'll probably play at least one quarter. And
06:35if he just looks like he can take snaps and be effective, he
06:38should be your starting quarterback week number one.
06:40Otherwise, will you still go down that path? Well, he started
06:43on the depth chart. He'll get it at the half. The second half
06:45is his with the backups. No, let him play with the starters from
06:48the jump. See if he can be average. And if he is, that's
06:51your starting quarterback week number one.
06:54We mentioned on the New Jersey side of our lovely FanDuel
06:57Sportsbook, they are listing odds for quarterback
07:00competitions. Bo Nix even after he was named QB number three on
07:05that initial depth chart was still a minus 200 favorite to be
07:08the week one starter. Aiden O'Connell was the odds on
07:11favorite to be the starter in Las Vegas. Gardner Minshew and
07:15O'Connell both looking good on Saturday in Minnesota. More NFL
07:20news and notes from the opening weekend of preseason next.
07:23It's not just the results in the scores and the stats from a
07:27weekend of preseason action around the National Football
07:31League. It's still the storylines and the narratives.
07:33The Cowboys a five and a half point favorite yesterday in Los
07:37Angeles against the Rams and Dallas loses its first
07:41preseason game. We didn't see Dak Prescott. We haven't seen
07:45CeeDee Lamb at all throughout camp for the Cowboys and Jerry
07:49Jones last week DRS got himself into a little bit of hot water
07:53that was brought on only by himself because he often finds a
07:57way of doing that saying there wasn't much urgency and trying
08:01to negotiate a contract extension with CeeDee Lamb. He
08:06kind of clarified that yesterday, quote, I understand
08:09completely the angst that's happening, whether you're missed
08:13or not. Well, CeeDee, you're missed. And quote, that was said
08:18by Jerry on the Cowboys preseason broadcast before
08:22their preseason opener against the LA Rams. What do we make of
08:26the situation in Dallas at this moment entering week two of the
08:29preseason?
08:30I still don't understand because usually you say to
08:33yourself, Ben, the organization holds the hammer. And typically
08:36in Cincinnati, Cincinnati is the one franchise that goes, you
08:38know what, we actually would like our superstars to sit out
08:41because then we have to pay. We're gonna make the same amount
08:42of money on the field and probably bank more money if I
08:45don't have to pay these guys. If they're upset and they can't
08:47perform, who cares? We're gonna make money. The Dallas Cowboys
08:50are in a different boat here. Like Jerry Jones is getting up
08:52there in age, wants to see a Super Bowl more than anything,
08:54but play this offseason completely wrong on how you're
08:57going about how to be all in. And when I take a look at who
09:00actually holds the hammer in the situation, it's CeeDee Lamb.
09:03What's gonna happen here? CeeDee Lamb doesn't show up to camp,
09:05doesn't play the first couple weeks, Dallas is in the toilet.
09:08And then also like, oh, well, just not gonna like he's going
09:10to get his contract. He's going to probably reset the bar for
09:13wide receivers. Why didn't we do this three weeks ago? Why don't
09:15we do this a month ago? At this point? I don't understand the
09:18holdout, not from CeeDee Lamb's perspective, but from the
09:20Cowboys. And even more innocuous was the Jerry Jones
09:23comments like, well, you know, I'm not worried about this. If
09:27you're not worried about CeeDee, let's just say he's not worried
09:28about it. And CeeDee Lamb doesn't play this year. The
09:30Cowboys probably win nine games at maximum, maximum on a great
09:35season. So what is he talking about at this point? CeeDee
09:38Lamb is the guy, look, I understand it's the quarterback,
09:41but outside him, Michael Parsons is great on defense. If CeeDee
09:44Lamb doesn't show up for that offense, he's straight up
09:46pedestrian this year. So CeeDee Lamb holds all the cards in
09:50Dallas for me.
09:52And everybody else is gone. Ezekiel Elliott, no, or actually
09:55back in Dallas, somehow some way, but not the guy that he
09:58used to be. Tony Pollard is gone. Rico Dowdle is your hope
10:03for this offense. CeeDee Lamb is the most important piece outside
10:06of Dak Prescott, who, oh, by the way, also has not been paid by
10:11Jerry Jones and is playing in the final year of his contract.
10:15So where is leverage exactly? Where is the power in this
10:19situation? Jerry, I guess, is trying to make a point that it
10:24resides in the front office at the star. Hey, Jerry, it
10:28doesn't. If CeeDee Lamb doesn't play, or even if he does, and
10:32he's unhappy, he's walking next year. You don't have a head
10:36coach lined up for next year at this point, nor a quarterback,
10:40and you still haven't won a Super Bowl since 1995, or even
10:45reached the NFC Championship in that span as well. Don't
10:50understand what is happening in Dallas would never bet the
10:53Cowboys postseason prices to win an NFC Championship or a Super
10:58Bowl until I see them play in an NFC title game. And I'm starting
11:02to worry DRS about their win total of 10 and a half where the
11:06over has the juice because the Cowboys are good in the regular
11:10season. They've won at least 12 games each of the past three
11:13years in two divisional crowns in that span. Not really
11:17feeling that overwhelming confidence that Dallas will be
11:20back in that spot this year.
11:23And how about this? Like if the Dallas Cowboys let's just say a
11:25different trajectory in the offseason. They blow up Mike
11:27McCarthy, they bring in Bill Parcells, they restructure
11:30Dak Prescott's contract, they sign CeeDee Lamb to a long term
11:32deal and Micah Parsons and still have 30 to $40 million under the
11:36cap to play with the sign even more players, you'd have much
11:39more vibes coming out of Dallas like this could be the season
11:42here. Bill Belichick reinvigorated, he's got a
11:44ready-made roster that he can't mess up at this point. And we
11:47know he's a solid game day coach. But instead, you're left
11:49with so many question marks. And even this like the Dallas
11:51Cowboys, America's team, right? They're always put on
11:54Thanksgiving. They're always put in prime time because they're
11:56going to get the ratings. I've been watching out in Oxnard,
11:59California, with the examples of nobody's even showing up to
12:02these practices like there is no hype whatsoever. Every Dallas
12:05Cowboys fan that is either on Twitter that I followed here all
12:08of a sudden saying the same things here. Forget about this
12:10season. Can we just remove Jerry Jones from being the
12:13president or general manager and have him sell the team because
12:16this is the disaster from coming in to be promised. This is an
12:19all in season that one of the worst off seasons you could
12:22possibly have. Yeah, I'd be upset if I was a Cowboys fan
12:24also.
12:26No doubt about it. Just a quick update out of Kansas City in the
12:30preseason opener, the starters played for the Chiefs. Hollywood
12:33Brown suffered a dislocation of his sternoclavicular shoulder
12:37joint Saturday night, but was discharged from the hospital.
12:41More on the early line up next.