Dark Horse NFL MVP Candidates for 2026 + Which NFL Legends Deserved a Super Bowl Ring? (Ep. 2066)
STACKED extracted the fantasy-relevant player signal from this podcast and kept the full transcript here for context.
59 min
Duration
Estimated from transcript
Jun 25, 2026
Published
Thu, June 25, 2026
16
Player insights
16
Players mentioned
Topics
Alec PierceBaker MayfieldBijan RobinsonBo NixBrock PurdyC.J. StroudCarnell TateChristian McCaffreyGeno SmithGreg DulcichJonathan TaylorJosh DownsTony PollardTravis Hunter
Player analysis
Player insights
Alec Pierce
NegativeProjection14:34
Sports Illustrated's Andrew Moore projects Alec Pierce to receive close to double the targets he got last year (84), suggesting 160+ targets. Tony Ayo is heavily selling this as unrealistic; only four players (Jamar Chase, Amon Ross St. Brown, Trey McBride, Puka Nacua) exceeded 160 targets last year. Concerns include Pierce's health status, potential PUP designation, and unproven ability to be a true WR1. Tyler Warren and Josh Downs will also compete for targets. Per Tony Ayo: "Hell no... how are you going to get targets if you're not fully healthy? And if he doesn't start the season, like out there, if he starts it on the pup and stuff."
Insight pageBaker Mayfield
PositiveProjection30:54
Tony Ayo identifies Baker Mayfield as a dark horse MVP candidate at plus-5,500 odds—the darkest of dark horses. He argues Mayfield is statistically capable (threw for 4,541 yards two years ago, which is an MVP-caliber line), is playing for a contract at a critical fork-in-the-road moment, and could easily win his division and make the playoffs if the Buccaneers put together a good season. Mayfield has talent around him (Godwin, McMillan, and depth in the receiving corps), though it's harder without Mike Evans. Mayfield is also a visible, established media figure (All-State commercial guy, household name), which is crucial for an MVP award that is fundamentally a media award.
Insight pageBijan Robinson
PositiveValue40:45
Debra identifies Bijan Robinson as a potential MVP dark horse if the Falcons improve significantly under new coaching. She frames him as a 'worst to first' narrative candidate who could accumulate 1,000 rushing yards and 1,000 receiving yards (dual-threat Marshall Faulk-type season). However, his +8,000 odds are worse than Jameer Gibbs despite similar upside, making him undervalued relative to market.
Insight pageBo Nix
PositiveProjection32:00
Tony Ayo identifies Bo Nix as a dark horse MVP candidate at plus-3,500 odds. He argues the Broncos roster is one of the best in the entire NFL and just added an elite wide receiver (similar to what the Patriots did). Ayo highlights the media narrative: Broncos Super Bowl charge last year, Bo Nix's injury as the reason they didn't reach the Super Bowl, Sean Payton cementing his legacy, and Nix silencing doubters about his prospect status. Nix will have the passing volume for counting stats needed for MVP conversation, plays in a major media market, and is at the perfect age to win the award. Ayo is surprised Nix isn't priced higher (in the Brock Purdy/Sam Darnold/Jalen Hurts tier) given the Broncos' projected 12-13 win total.
Insight pageBrock Purdy
PositiveProjection38:35
Tony Ayo prefers Brock Purdy over Jared Goff for 2026 MVP betting, citing Purdy's underdog narrative and marketability. In 2024, Purdy threw for 4,600 yards and 37 touchdowns, earning him fourth in MVP voting in 2023 and fifth in 2024 despite elite production. Ayo argues his odds undervalue his story and upside relative to Goff's lack of narrative appeal, suggesting Purdy's underdog status and media-friendly profile make him a superior MVP bet.
Insight pageC.J. Stroud
PositiveProjection34:48
Andrew Erickson presents CJ Stroud as a dark horse MVP candidate at 50-to-1 odds, arguing the market has overreacted to his poor playoff performances (five fumbles vs. Steelers, bad game vs. Patriots). Erickson notes Stroud is still a good quarterback and shouldn't be completely rewritten based on two bad games. He highlights Stroud's track record: won at least nine games every year of his career with the Texans, 23-14 record over his last 38 games (61% win rate, good for 10.5 wins over 17 games). The Texans started 0-3 last year but dug out and made the postseason. Erickson points to potential improvements: Nico Collins healthy, Jalen Noel and Jaden Higgins no longer on training wheels, and a potential run game. If the Texans win enough games and Stroud plays well in early matchups (Bills, Bengals), he could be in MVP conversation. Stroud showed elite pocket-passing ability in his rookie year.
Insight pageCarnell Tate
PositiveRole13:32
Cornell Tate is identified by Tony Ayo as the clear alpha wide receiver for the Titans, positioned to lead the team in targets ahead of other options like Wendell Robinson. Per Tony Ayo: "I think like your favorites here are Cornell Tate being the clear alpha wide receiver one."
Insight pageChristian McCaffrey
NegativeProjection40:28
Tony Ayo dismisses Christian McCaffrey's MVP chances, noting that despite never winning an MVP award, he lacks sufficient 'juice' remaining in his career to mount a credible 2026 MVP run. Age and declining upside make him an unlikely candidate despite the narrative appeal of completing his Hall of Fame resume.
Insight pageGeno Smith
NegativeRole2:28
Geno Smith signed a one-year contract with the Jets and is facing assault allegations investigation. Tony Ayo notes this creates off-field distraction and negative headlines at a critical time for his return to New York, where the fan base and he had a poor parting of ways previously. The investigation may lead to eventual suspension, and home-life drama could bleed into professional performance. Per Tony Ayo: "This is not the buzz you want, especially returning to New York City, the media hub of all media hubs."
Insight pageGreg Dulcich
PositiveUsage9:14
ESPN reported that Greg Dulcich was one of the primary targets for Malik Willis in spring practices. Tony Ayo is buying this projection, expecting Dulcich to lead the team in targets this season with potential to secure a decent free agent contract in the offseason. Per Tony Ayo: "I think he's going to lead the team in targets this year. And I don't think that's a hot take, dude."
Insight pageJonathan Taylor
NegativeProjection44:03
Tony Ayo notes that Jonathan Taylor received serious MVP consideration last year due to high touchdown volume, but the Colts' late-season collapse prevented him from winning; used as a cautionary example that even elite touchdown production does not guarantee MVP votes if team performance falters.
Insight pageJosh Downs
PositiveUsage16:24
Josh Downs is identified by Tony Ayo as a really talented underrated player who will compete for targets in the Colts passing game alongside Alec Pierce and Tyler Warren. Per Tony Ayo: "Josh Downs is a really talented underrated player."
Insight pageTony Pollard
PositiveRole13:32
Despite the Titans using a more balanced committee approach in the backfield, Tony Ayo expects Tony Pollard to lead the team in scrimmage yards and dominate the backfield. This aligns with Brian Dayball's historical offensive pattern of establishing a clear lead back (Peyton Hillis, Saquon Barkley, Devin Singletary, Tyron Tracy). Per Tony Ayo: "I think Tony Pollard is going to lead them in scrimmage yards and it's not going to be close... It's going to be Tony Pollard's backfield."
Insight pageTravis Hunter
PositiveProjection45:45
Andrew identifies Travis Hunter at +1,705 odds as a 'whimsy' MVP bet based on his unique two-way player status; argues that if Hunter plays both receiver and defensive back, accumulates 1,000 receiving yards and 5 interceptions, he would be the only NFL player capable of such a dual-position performance, creating an unprecedented MVP narrative—though acknowledges this outcome is highly unlikely.
Insight pageTrevor Lawrence
PositiveProjection24:07
Tony Ayo highlights Trevor Lawrence as a dark horse MVP candidate at 16-to-1 odds. He argues the Jaguars were one of the most complete teams last year and if they carry over second-half success, Lawrence will thrive in Liam Cohen's offense. Baker Mayfield threw for over 40 touchdowns in this offense in 2024 (tied for second most in NFL), and Lawrence combined for 38 total touchdowns last year, trailing only Josh Allen and Matthew Stafford—the top MVP contenders. At 27 years old, Lawrence is at the traditional peak age for first-time MVP-winning quarterbacks (average age 27 since 2000). If the Jaguars offense cooks and finishes top-five, Lawrence will get all the credit.
Insight pageTyler Warren
PositiveUsage16:24
Tyler Warren is expected by Tony Ayo to lead the Colts in targets this season, competing with Alec Pierce and Josh Downs for receiving volume. He is positioned as a strong contributor to the Colts passing game. Per Tony Ayo: "I still think that Tyler Warren will probably end up leading this team in targets and think he's no slouch."
Insight pageFull transcript
Episode Transcript
0:00This is Tony Ayo from The Real Report with Tony Ayo and Uncle Murda.
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0:33Park it right here, everybody. It's time for the tailgate.
0:36It's me, Joey P. Joe P is here with me, of course.
0:39It's D-Bro, Derek Brown, the King of Bros, and Mr.
0:42Big Pot Energy, Andrew Erickson. And today on the tailgate, we're going to have some fun.
0:47We're going to talk about some Dark Horse MVP candidates with the boys here.
0:51And we're also going to talk a little bit about the Hall of Fame and the Super Bowl guys, guys maybe that
0:57should have gotten some rings at one point. Maybe guys that had great careers that we could give a ring to.
1:04Maybe if we could, we would. Who are those guys?
1:06We'll have to wait till the end of the show to figure it out.
1:11But of course, make sure you subscribe to the channel.
1:13Make sure you drop your comments below. That's what we want you to do.
1:17It's very easy to do all those things, to like this video.
1:21And of course, if you like this video, if you subscribe, you could win our latest giveaway, the Bijan Robinson jersey.
1:27That's right. B. John Robinson jersey can be yours from pristineauction.com.
1:30All you have to do is the two things I told you to do.
1:34So do those things. And then you can win and check out Pristine Auction for all your autographed items, helmets, balls, jerseys, whatever.
1:41All kinds of autographed things. D-Bro Erickson. Let's get into headlines before we get into the meat and potatoes of the show here.
1:48Gino Smith was being investigated for allegations of assault.
1:50Andrew Erickson, does this make you still feel good about Gino Smith?
1:54I'm just curious. No, these are not the headlines.
1:56I want my dark horse, not my dark horse MVP candidate.
2:00Maybe my dark horse second quarterback in a super flex format type of target.
2:04Not what I want to see from the Jets quarterback.
2:06No, no, certainly not good. Now, again, a lot of the details are muddy as they go.
2:11They always seem to be, D-Bro, for all these situations.
2:14I mean, if we had a week go by where we had an NFL player not in some sort of abuse or,
2:21I don't know, DV scandal, it would be great.
2:23I'd love that. I'd love to see that. Smith did sign a one-year contract with the Jets.
2:28So, again, this is not the buzz you want, especially returning to New York City, the media hub of all media hubs.
2:35So, D-Bro, this seems like not a great time for this kind of issue.
2:39It's never a good time for this issue, but especially for Geno Smith trying to get back in to a groove here
2:45with a franchise where, let's just say, the fan base and he had a bad parting of ways.
2:50This is not the best foot to start on.
2:53No, it's definitely not. And then you want to talk about just even after this, like, fades from the headlines and stuff,
2:59it's not like the investigation is going to stop.
3:02So, do we see an eventual suspension coming? And it's not like, the other part of piece of, like, kind of goes
3:08out of the consciousness of people as they hear about stuff like this.
3:12And it's like, this gives you some type of glance or at least look through the, a small bit through the looking
3:18glass of, like, Geno Smith's home life. It's like, the drama might stop with the headlines, but does the drama stop in his own household and stuff?
3:26It's a good point. And, like, what's that? Good point.
3:29What carries over? It carries over because it's like your home life bleeds over into your professional life and your work life and stuff like that.
3:37So, it's like... I mean, look at Andrew, all the chaos of the new dog.
3:41Look at what's happened to him. Exactly. He's all over the place.
3:45I mean, he's bleeding out before shows. It's a tough scene, man.
3:48He's running off in the middle. He's trying to type with gloves on and stuff.
3:52It's rough, man. It's a rough existence. Take gloves on.
3:55Also, Brennan Sorsby, not going to be playing in the NFL this year.
3:59RIP that article that you wrote, D-Row, so great.
4:02I know, man. It's going to work fine for 2027 content, baby.
4:05I spent all that time reading it for nothing, actually.
4:08You could have read one of my articles. The SEO and that prospect profile, baby.
4:12It's going to age well. That's all I can say.
4:15I'm going to be honest with you. I just said I did read it as a bit to make Andrew upset.
4:21I didn't read it. You saved yourself some time, yo.
4:24It's fine. I did. And now I'm grateful that I did.
4:28It's fine. You can make Andrew feel better. I know you actually read a joke.
4:32Joke's on the NFL, though, because Sorsby went to one of the prediction markets and put $1,000 that he wouldn't be playing
4:38in the NFL this year, so it's okay. Oh, dear.
4:41Oh, dear. Chestnut checkers. Can we talk about that was the biggest NFL coming from the top rope moment?
4:47They just flipped him the bird. I mean, and the savage move out of all of it was them like every news
4:53outlet releasing the letter that he got from NFL general counsel.
4:56Like I was like, dude, this is some savage stuff.
4:59Like they were basically like you looked at this as a formality.
5:03You presented no evidence. I almost kind of felt like there was this air of like, and you were cocky, kind of like flippant about doing it.
5:10Oh, yeah. And you tried to run from your problems.
5:13No, young sir. You have to eventually turn around and take accountability for your crappy actions over multiple years.
5:19And they even threw in the part of, did you actually have criminal actions?
5:23Could you be prosecuted about state regulations about all of this?
5:26It was savage, dude. Dude, Erickson, it's kind of interesting too, that the NFL just decides willy nilly if they're going to have a supplemental draft or not.
5:34I didn't realize that they had that power. I thought there just was one.
5:38That was my bad. You know, you know, UDFAs.
5:41It's not something I usually pay attention to, but I'm like, so the NFL could just wave their hand like, no, you know what?
5:48We're not even going to have a supplemental draft this year.
5:51Screw you. And Andrew, it's all about the integrity of the game.
5:55Let's not forget. It's not about the integrity of the players.
5:58It's about the integrity of the game. I don't even want to talk about the slippery slope of NFL morality when they choose to care about humans.
6:06But again, they care about the integrity of the game, not the integrity of the people They also care about the integrity of their wallet and pocketbook too.
6:14That's what they're also safeguarding all of this. Andrew, what are your thoughts on the Soresby thing?
6:19I don't even know what to call it at this point.
6:22A lot of wasted airtime on Brandon Soresby this last week.
6:25A lot of headlines. I mean, it was the number one thing on ESPN.
6:29I'm at the gym looking up Brandon Soresby. Does he have the same ceiling as Ty Simpson or Fernando Mendoza?
6:35And all for not because he's not going to be playing.
6:38What did Stephen A. Smith say about him? What did he say?
6:42Oh dear. I don't know. He was. Brandon Soresby.
6:44Soresby. He's got the look of a quarterback. But I'll tell you this.
6:48This is a young man who's got all sorts of issues.
6:51He's got to set out for himself. He's got to figure out what is wrong.
6:55He's got to do the time before he can play in the NFL.
6:59I like serious Stephen A. voice when he gets really low.
7:02When he gets slow about it. Canadian football. Can he play Canadian football?
7:06I don't know. I assume yes. The UFL is done, but all the other outlier leagues, I don't know.
7:12I bet you he does. And I bet you he spends the whole year like.
7:16The most comical point about all this is, did y'all see the rebuttal from his lawyer, his counsel?
7:21Oh, they're going to sue, right? He was like, we're going to sue.
7:25And this is a violation of the CBA. The CBA that you do not belong to because you're not an NFL player.
7:31He's not in the Players Association. What are you talking about?
7:35Because he's not in the NFL. You're not under that.
7:38You're not an NFL player. I'm not a lawyer.
7:40Saskatchewan Rough Riders. That's where he's going to end up.
7:43Great cup. Saskatchewan. Come on. Go get that great cup.
7:46Yeah. All right. Jersey sales to the roof, baby.
7:49A little lightning round. All right. And then we'll get to the Dark Horse MVP stuff.
7:53Lightning round about some camp buzz. I want you to tell me if you're buying or selling it.
7:58You can give me like a 10 second spiel.
8:01No more. All right. Less is more here on the program today.
8:05That's not lightning round. Yes or no. Just buy.
8:07Buy or sell. Well, I mean, I want you to have like one feeling about it.
8:12You could share a feeling. I just don't want to like, I want you to be in your feelings.
8:17I think that's fair. No. All right. Sure. I like feelings.
8:20Let's start with the first one here. This is from ESPN's Daniel Oyafusi, which is a fun name.
8:26I thought PZP was fun, but Oyafusi. You actually, you actually landed that plane.
8:30Congrats. I did. You know what? I'm very impressed by that.
8:33Thank you very much. All right. He says, uh, no Cleveland whiteout has, was been targeted more than Isaiah Bond this spring.
8:39Erickson, are you buying or selling this camp buzz out of Cleveland?
8:43Selling. Easy. Easy. I assume from your laughter, you're selling this.
8:46D bro. Yeah. Yeah. I'm selling this hard. Like this is hard to believe.
8:50Isaiah Bond was a big college wide receiver. Dude.
8:53Casey Concepcion and Denzel Boston. This is just clickbait crap fodder.
8:56All right. Whatever. I already know the answer to this one, but I can ask it anyway.
9:01ESPN's Marcel Louise Jacques. Why does everybody ESPN have his crazy name?
9:04Everybody's got a festive name, bro. This is some fun stuff.
9:07Yeah. Marcel Louise Jacques is reporting that Greg Dulcich was one of the primary targets for Malik Willis in spring practices.
9:14D bro. I'm going to ask you first because I already know Andrew's answer.
9:18Are you buying or selling this buzz? You should know my answer too, Bubba.
9:22Greg D. Yeah, baby. I'm buying this. Definitely. I think he's going to lead the team in targets this year.
9:27And I don't think that's a hot take, dude.
9:30I'm with Andrew the entire, like with all of this, man.
9:33Like he's going to be their leading receiver. He's going, I think he's going to smash this year and get himself a decent free agent contract too.
9:41Erickson. Did your Dulcich Jersey come in yet? Or is it still on back order from Phonetics?
9:46Still on back order. I've not received it yet, but if I keep growing my hair out, it's going to look pretty good.
9:53Oh, yes. You can be Dulcich for Halloween by October.
9:56Are you going to keep growing your hair out, by the way?
9:59Are we going to get like Erickson with like a little emo cut or like a part?
10:04Does it ever like start to like grow down?
10:07No, I can't grow down. I mean, I style it so that it goes up this way or that way.
10:12But see, I always wanted to grow my hair down when I had hair, but my hair always grew up like kid and play.
10:19It was always much more like a big Italian, like wavy poofy thing.
10:23It was not like I always wanted just my hair to grow down.
10:27It would not because that was the style of the day.
10:30I had curly hair. I don't know if anybody would actually believe that, but my mom was maybe.
10:35Yeah. Yeah. I'd love to see an AI of Debra with curly hair.
10:39Might have to do that. Oh dear. Don't throw that out there.
10:43Now somebody's going to make Twitter. Great. Twitter. Lovely.
10:45I've seen some of your work already with the tailgate.
10:48Internet, do your thing. We love everybody who's listening to the show.
10:52Internet, do your thing. All right, let's get to another one here.
10:55Internet, do your thing. Trevor Lawrence said that he and Brian Thomas have, quote, taken a huge step, end quote, in their on-field chemistry with one another.
11:03Andrew Erickson, are you buying or selling this? I will buy it with the caveat that it can't be worse than it was last year.
11:10So theoretically, it has to be somewhat. But again, just huge step is maybe a bit of a reach.
11:16Maybe sell the huge part, but a step I will buy.
11:19I think you could still take a huge step because there was no steps last year and still be short.
11:25Yeah. Debra. At least no steps that weren't painful for Brian Thomas Jr.
11:28for his reports. So I will co-sign on Erickson's approval of this.
11:32Yes. All right. I got two stories here from Sports Illustrated.
11:35Nick Arvin, both of them. So Nick Arvin's hard at work.
11:38That's a boring name. What are we? Well, he's not ESPN.
11:42Oh, that's fair. S.I. is hiring people with boring names.
11:44Boring names over at S.I. Next, there's going to be a Jon Snow or something.
11:49Who knows? Said he expects Wondell Robinson to lead the Titans in scrimmage yards this season.
11:53Debra, you buying or selling that? No, I'm buying.
11:56I'm absolutely selling that. Sorry. Okay. I misstepped there.
11:59No, I'm selling that. It's Cornell Tate, dude. I don't.
12:02Or Tony Pollard. I don't believe that he's going to lead them in scrimmage yards.
12:06Nope. Yeah. It seems like a weird take there, Andrew.
12:09What did you think about this one? I would also sell this.
12:12I just don't think Wondell is also going to get like enough of the manufactured, like rushing usage to push him over the top here.
12:20I think like your favorites here are Cornell Tate being the clear alpha wide receiver one.
12:24Honestly, the favorite here is Tony Pollard. I think Tony Pollard is going to lead them in scrimmage yards and it's not going to be close.
12:32I'll tell you what. I just Googled Nick Arvin, by the way.
12:35Spectacular mustache. Young kid with the mustache and the big kind of, you know, the, the, the, the hairs all all must up there.
12:42Now I got Andrew. This is a look you should consider for the fall.
12:46I'm thinking like, I'm just saying, I think the Nick Arvin look another Nick Tennessee native.
12:51So he's got, he's got the ear of the organization here.
12:54He knows what's going on here. Nick Arvin also says that the Titans are using a more balanced committee approach in the backfield this season.
13:01Andrew, you buying that? Yeah, I'll buy that. I'm not really high on Tony Pollard.
13:06I think that we're going to start to see him.
13:09I am decline. I mean, he's 29 years old.
13:11He's seen a ton of volume over the last three years and really hasn't done that much with it.
13:17So consider me unimpressed by Tony Pollard the last couple of seasons.
13:20And I think that the decline continues. So I know where you were going with that.
13:25He's seen a lot of, a lot of dark things.
13:28He's been, I mean, the Titans offense has been pretty grim for the last couple of seasons.
13:33We've seen a lot of destruction. Nick Arvin's got some impressive lettuce, man.
13:36Shout out to him. That's swag. Nick Arvin. Shout out to him.
13:40Get him on the tailgate. Let's get him on the show.
13:43Let's get him on the tailgate. He seems like a guy that would hang out with us in the tailgate.
13:49We start doing this. I do disagree with his more balanced committee approach.
13:53I think if you're looking at it that way, you are bucking the trend of every single Brian Dayball offense.
13:58Brian Dayball offense going back years and years and years and years to Peyton Hillis, to Saquon Barkley, Devin Singletary and Buffalo
14:05to Devin Singletary with the Giants, Tyron Tracy, when he took it over to Cam Scadaboo, even last year before he got hurt.
14:12And then Tyron Tracy taking the backfield back over.
14:14I just think like you are head in the sand, not looking at what Brian Dayball has done as an OC and
14:21a head coach his entire freaking career. It's going to be Tony Pollard's backfield.
14:25All right. We got one more here for you.
14:27So let's talk about this one here. Last one.
14:30Colts wide receiver. This is from Andrew Moore, also with a normal name in Sports Illustrated.
14:34Alec Pierce is expected to receive close to double the number of targets a year ago when he received a career high of 84.
14:41So we're going to see 160 plus target, 168 targets for Alec Pierce.
14:45Is that happening, D bro? Hell no. And now shout out to Andrew Moore.
14:49He's part of the Ball Brethren. Um, looks like a very, uh, very, uh, well put together man himself.
14:55Um, so shout out to him. Um, should be doing Tennessee Titans content, honestly, like him and Nick Arvin should probably switch.
15:01Uh, so he gets into all the, you know, high classrooms for the Tennessee Titans.
15:05That's true. At least can blend into the coaching staff.
15:08He could be like an assistant to the assistant for sure.
15:12This is, this is kind of crazy. Like one, how are you going to get targets if you're not fully healthy?
15:18And if he doesn't start the season, like out there, if he starts it on the pup and stuff.
15:23So he's not, first of all, he's not drawing 168 targets.
15:26He's not doing that at all. Like that's not going to happen.
15:30Second of all, I don't think his health is going to comply with that.
15:34And then third, like we also have to see Alec Pierce prove to us that he can be a true wide receiver one for an NFL offense.
15:42Too many ifs. I, I agree with Derek begrudgingly.
15:44Andrew, what do you think? How many guys had 160 targets last year?
15:48I don't know. I got to look that up.
15:51Yep. I was going to look that up. That was, it also sounded absurd to me for that notion.
15:56So I'm glad you brought that up as well.
15:59That's, that's kind of where I'm just getting. Yeah.
16:01Jamar chase at 185. I'm on Ross St. Brown.
16:04I think was over. All right. Here's your list.
16:07Here's your list of players over 160 last year.
16:09Jason Puka, Trey McBride, Amon Ross St. Brown, Jamar chase end of list.
16:13So Alec Pierce is going to be in that rarefied air.
16:16Yeah. That seems, that seems pretty aggressive. Look, he's going to have more targets than 84.
16:21Yeah. They paid him to be the number one guy.
16:24If he's healthy, he's out there. Again, I still think that Tyler Warren will probably end up leading this team in targets and think he's no slouch.
16:32Josh down is a really talented underrated player. So I get that he should see a bigger portion of the Colts passing game, but so won't Tyler Warren.
16:40So won't Josh downs. So over a hundred. Yeah.
16:42I'll buy that. But 160, I would sell that.
16:45All right. We're going to get ahead to our dark horse MVP conversation.
16:49But before we do shout out to the sponsor of our show, hard rock bed.
16:53That's right. Everybody, Florida sports book and the home of all the action going on right now with the world cup of Viva La Copa.
17:00That's right. I watched a really exciting nil nil game between Ghana and England yesterday.
17:05We're, you know, I was hoping for some kind of scoring, but we didn't get any, but that's all right.
17:11But again, you can get on all the action.
17:13There's lots of actually really enjoyed the world cup.
17:16The world cup has been spectacular. So I'm not jokes aside.
17:19I've really enjoyed it this year. And not just because America is playing well.
17:23I've actually watched a lot of the other games, but they've got profit boost.
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18:33I love the sounds, the buzzing from the stadium, the chanting from the fans, the announcers calling the place soccer, football, it's home.
18:40Why do I watch the World Cup? That's like asking me, why do I breed?
18:44I inherited that fandom from my mom. I like watching it with my dad.
18:48It's a connecting force. From Futuro Studios, I'm Fernanda Echavarri, and this is American Football, a show about soccer culture in the U.S.
18:55and its underdog roots. We go beyond the game to the people and the stories that make it great.
19:00A soccer game is a festival. It's not just a game.
19:03It's your culture. I took an elbow to my head, which cracked my skull.
19:07It is an American game. The Brazilians don't like hearing that, though.
19:11Are they the only ones that don't like that?
19:14Nobody likes that. As we get ready for the Men's World Cup this summer, listen to American Football as part of the
19:20My Cultura Podcast Network, available on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
19:25Hey, I'm Hoda Kotb, host of the podcast Joy 101 with Hoda Kotb.
19:29Okay, if you know me, you know this. I'm always searching for inspiration, for support, and useful tools to help maximize joy.
19:35So this podcast lets us uncover all of that together.
19:38We're going to have these meaningful conversations with the world's most fascinating people, like when actress Olivia Munn shared how she overcame
19:44fierce health challenges that she never saw coming. I've gone through breast cancer and then helped my mother through breast cancer, and that was more difficult.
19:52There's a lot of people who understand postpartum depression.
19:54I was not prepared for postpartum anxiety. Olympic champ Shawn Johnson revealed why she had no choice but to be a gymnast.
20:01There was something about gymnastics that was intoxicating to me.
20:04It's given me a belief that we all have one of those treasures inside of us.
20:08We just have to find it. Listen to Joy 101 with Hoda Kotb on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
20:16I'm Munga Shatigular, and I'm back with a new season of the podcast Skyline Drive.
20:20This time I'm diving into a rabbit hole of peptides, organoids, blood boys, blue zones, and brain replacement to try to understand
20:26what this longevity obsession is all about, and what it really means to live forever for all of us.
20:32I learned about some rad science. I can make a brain for you, and then we can test what draw is the
20:38best for your brain, as opposed to his brain.
20:41Here's some hard truths. I would expect Indians to age faster, but I did not expect it to be almost a four to five year acceleration.
20:48And get myself into a world of trouble. I'd say probably start bone smashing.
20:52That doesn't work. Make it look more defined. They say it works.
20:56I don't know. Listen to Skyline Drive, How to Live Forever on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
21:03I heard the best description, by the way, gentlemen, of the whole World Cup thing.
21:07It's like, all the cousins came over for a sleepover, and all the parents told you for years that you didn't like
21:13this side of the family, or all those other cousins, like you didn't get along.
21:18And they all came over for a sleepover, and you had the best time ever.
21:22That's what's going on right now in the States, I feel like, because all these videos of the Vikings rowing at random
21:28places in Manhattan, and all the Scottish taking over Boston.
21:31Like, it seems like literally the best time. And I can't get enough of the videos of everybody trying American barbecue or
21:38American food for the first time, and just losing their minds.
21:41It's making me so happy. It's kind of like the serotonin I needed right now.
21:45Andrew, you're in that Massachusetts area. Have you run into any kilts?
21:49Or no? I am not that close to Boston anymore, but I did see all the social media posts.
21:54I saw Edelman and Gronk kind of leading the charge with the Scottish kilts.
21:58That is so on brand for them. I guess they couldn't get Tom Brady to stop doing commercials for him to come out.
22:05But yeah, Gronk and Edelman strong to the Boston Patriots brand.
22:08And I forgive Gronkowski for going to the Buccaneers, winning Super Bowl, but Brady, you know, still a little bit on my...
22:15Oh, no. No. Good Lord. Tom Brady deserved to go and do whatever he wanted.
22:19They didn't want him anymore. I'm the biggest Tom Brady's fan ever.
22:22In true asshole fashion, it eventually comes out. I can't believe you're still bitter about that.
22:27I was rooting for him. It's like, good for you, Tom.
22:30And for everybody that's been betting the line of one Tom Brady or Patriots reference on every single show, this hit again.
22:37So you're welcome. Yeah. All right. I can't argue against that.
22:40Debro, you seem like a kilt kind of guy.
22:42Do you own a kilt? I do not own a kilt, but I'm not against owning a kilt.
22:48I would definitely rock a kilt. I think all three of us could.
22:51Free air conditioning, why not? I mean... I think during the season, we all wear kilts.
22:56Now, I know you can't see them, but I think you'll feel that essence in the show.
23:01I think I'm going to miss that episode. Sorry.
23:04I think you're wrong. I think you're contractually obligated to do that.
23:07Maybe we should wear kilts when we're all together at the expo.
23:11Oh, expo. Kilts at the expo. Now we're cooking.
23:13There we go. Sadly, nobody wants to see that, though.
23:16I disagree. I just hope mine is long enough.
23:19Oh, I left my kilt at home. Sorry, guys.
23:21It's been 1995 since Joey P's legs have seen that much sun.
23:25No, my legs are my best feature, and they only go out like three months out of the year.
23:30I got great calves. It's literally the best feature I have.
23:34Skies out, thighs out, baby. Skies out, thighs out.
23:36Well, you know, we're a calf guy. All right, let's talk about the Dark Horse MVP candidates here.
23:41These are all guys outside of the top range of MVP.
23:45Some guys will have won MVP before. I don't know if you've got specific favorites.
23:49If you want me to go one by one here and make an argument for them.
23:54Let's do this. Andrew, out of all the Dark Horse guys, who is the guy for you that's your absolute favorite?
24:00And then maybe we'll banter about some other guys after Debro gives his.
24:03So I talked about this player on our prediction show last week, Trevor Lawrence.
24:07He's one of my favorite bets here listed here at 16 to one.
24:11I outlined it. So go listen to that episode of the tailgate.
24:15But kind of the long story short is I believe that the Jaguars were one of the most complete teams last year.
24:21If they can somehow carry over what they did in the second half, Trevor Lawrence really takes off in this Liam Cohen offense.
24:28Look, we've seen a quarterback in this offense throw for over 40 touchdowns.
24:32Baker Mayfield did that in 2024. That tied for second most in the NFL.
24:36And last year, Trevor Lawrence combined for 38 total touchdowns, trailing only Josh Allen and Matthew Stafford.
24:41Two guys that were at the top of the MVP race.
24:44Drake May second the MVP. He had 35 touchdowns last year.
24:47So if there really is no one particular standout in this offense, again, there's a lot of mouths to feed in Jacksonville.
24:53We don't know how the back that's going to necessarily shake out.
24:57But if this offense cooks, it's top five. It's Trevor Lawrence is going to get all the credit and Liam Cohen like
25:03this unit if they really take off. So I do think that at the odds, I think that Trevor Lawrence also look
25:10at his age, 27 years old, still super young.
25:12And this is traditionally this is traditionally when quarterbacks hit their peak.
25:16So this is something I pulled when I was talking about the MVP odds on the betting pro show last week.
25:22The average age of a first time winning MVP quarterback, 27 years old since year 2000.
25:26Can you guys name the other five quarterbacks who will be 27 this season?
25:30Oh, geez. Or four quarterbacks. Excuse me. You'll be shocked by some of these names.
25:35Is Jordan Love in there? No, he is not.
25:37Oh, man. Um, I need to look at four other ones.
25:41Four other ones, including. So Trevor Lawrence is the fifth.
25:43It's Brock Purdy in there. Yes. Brock Purdy is one.
25:46All right. That's one of my favorites. We'll get to him.
25:50Um, I was going to say it can't be.
25:52It's Justin Herbert. Nope. He's 28 older. Oh, okay.
25:55But in that same conversation, though, not 27. Who are the other guys?
25:59Because I feel like we're going to flail at this.
26:01Uh, Tyler Murray. Nope. So they're probably going to shock you.
26:05It's Bo Nix, Tyler Shuck, and Malik Willis. Oh.
26:07Bo Nix is on. We're going to talk about it.
26:10Bo Nix is on the list, bro. You got to remember that these guys were in college for.
26:15Forever. Forever. And that's why they're older. They're coming out.
26:18So, yeah. They all have their doctorates. That's how long they were in college for.
26:23PhDs for Bo Nix and Tyler Shuck. Oh, man.
26:25That's a good stat. That was fun right there.
26:28D-Bro has. Obviously, it's more of a quarterback award.
26:30So we'll get to some non-quarterbacks because it's just a fun discussion, even though they have no chance.
26:36So give me another. Well, they don't, Andrew. Well, then we're not talking about it.
26:40I wanted to start that out with my framing of this because I wanted to toss that.
26:45So since 2013, a quarterback has won the MVP award in every single year.
26:49And I don't think that stops. This is a quarterback award.
26:52That's where I wanted to start out my framing of this.
26:55The last time was 2012. It was Adrian Peterson.
26:58It was Adrian Peterson. 14 years ago. If you go back further than that, LaDamian Tomlinson was there.
27:03Barry Sanders. A bunch. Sean Alexander. LaDamian and Sean Alexander back-to-back years.
27:07And then it was Brady, Manning, Manning, Brady, Rogers, then Peterson, then back to Manning, Rogers.
27:11And then things got weird with Cam Newton and Matt Ryan for a couple years there.
27:16I think you've seen outlier seasons from running backs over the last like five to 10 years, whatever.
27:21If you want to even go back to that sample size that I've talked about since 2013, where running backs have done
27:28incredibly special things to get in the conversation, this award, or they should have won the award or whatever.
27:33However you want to frame that. Yeah, McCaffrey, Derrick Henry, but a couple guys.
27:37And it still has not happened. And I don't think it will happen.
27:41It won't. Exactly. Saquon's big year. And it has not happened.
27:44So I do not. If you bet anything but a quarterback for this, you are burning your money.
27:49So I want to frame it that way. But I want to start the conversation off.
27:54I'm not going to burn your money. I feel like nothing.
27:57No, I'm not going to name any. But if I was going to burn my money, we'll do that next.
28:03If you were going to burn your money, if you were going to burn, we could play that game.
28:09But I want to start off the conversation with one of the guys near the top of the board here with Dak
28:15Prescott, because also in this entire sample of going back to since 2013, 12 of those 13 individual QB seasons, their teams
28:21won at least 12 or more games. The only outlier of that was Matt Ryan in 2016 with the Falcons that won 11 games.
28:28That was the only team to fail to win 12 games.
28:31So to me, it's not only being a quarterback, playing extremely good, putting up the numbers.
28:36The team success also has to correlate with this and all the improvements that the Dallas Cowboys made this offseason.
28:42I think they're a really good bet here with Dak Prescott at plus 1400 that he could be one of these dark
28:48horse guys looking at schedule, looking at just the popularity of the Dallas Cowboys.
28:52If he has a really good season, then you could see a lot of voters in the mass media get behind this.
28:59And you talked about Stephen A. Smith, who's going to be the loudest freaking guy at the top of the mountain being
29:05like them Dallas Cowboys and Dak Prescott, blah, blah, blah.
29:08Ah, that's why I think he's a good bet to start off this conversation of guys that I like here.
29:14I agree. I actually, I think both guys are good dark horses, both quarterbacks, 1400 plus 1600.
29:19Both of these guys like I love these would be the two Erickson's case for T law.
29:24I like, I like your case for Prescott, to be honest, like looking around to it is a very tough sell for the other guys outside of here.
29:32Um, and by the way, on the quarterback show, you know, we're in the comments of the YouTube.
29:37I see how much you, you, you took a lot of offense.
29:41Those of you who enjoy the show to the Sam Darnold, Brock Purdy conversation.
29:45We see you as they should have, because you were really nasty about it.
29:49You were, you were besmirching good names. It was equally everybody crapping on the two of you for elevating Sam Darnold to franchise quarterback status.
29:56So we all took some Seahawks fans get in the comments of that episode.
30:00Let them know, let them know, stand for your quarterback outside of those guys.
30:04Like, I mean, the Patrick Mahomes is, I mean, it's hard to call him a dark horse candidate, but I mean, if for some reason, right.
30:12But if for some reason he came back healthy and they won that division when they weren't supposed to that year, that would garner a lot of publicity.
30:20I don't think it's going to happen. So I'm not going to go that route.
30:24Caleb Williams is in a place right now where he's getting a lot of media attention.
30:29Remember this is a media award at the end of the day.
30:32If the bears had a stunning, you know, ran the table in the division kind of thing, I could see that happening
30:39for him, but I don't see them running the table.
30:41This division is too competitive. So I can't go there.
30:44So this is like one of those process of elimination things.
30:48The one guy that I could see who statistically put up a very good season, who is playing for a contract, who
30:54is kind of at a big fork in the road moment here.
30:57And if they put together a good season, could easily win their division and be in the playoffs.
31:03I think Baker Mayfield is that guy plus 5,500 that dark horse.
31:06I mean, that is the darkest of dark horses here.
31:09He's got the talent around him to do it.
31:12He certainly got the, Hey, it's, it's now or never kind of feeling.
31:15I do anticipate them signing him before this season starts.
31:18I would be shocked if they did not, but if they don't, and they end up going out there to this like
31:25season where it's not that far removed from being close to 5,000 yards.
31:28We know we can throw for 40 touchdowns. So statistically it's not out of their own possibility.
31:33It's harder without Mike Evans, but you do have a book in there.
31:37You do have Godwin there. You do have McMillan there.
31:40You've got some talent around him. I think it would be an interesting one.
31:44I don't think he can win it, but I also don't think the golfs and Bo Nix is or CJ Strouds of the world can either.
31:52Now, if we had to pick a non quarter.
31:54All right. And Bo Narmone. Hold up. But who do you want?
31:58I want to stick to quarterback. I want to stick to talking about people that actually win the award here.
32:04I've got three other names. I want to toss.
32:06It's a dark horse candidate, not dark horses. Where's there are dark horses.
32:10I'm sorry if you don't like that, but that's a fact.
32:13All right. Andrew, since it's really your turn, you know, you go.
32:17No, no. D-Brock can go. Oh, are you done with your dark horse?
32:20I have another dark horse. I like Bo Nix.
32:23All right. Well, talk about Bo Nix then. Well, well, first of all, I'll agree with you about Baker Mayfield not being
32:29on the list because as a fan base, the Buccaneers can't cheer for Tess Johnson to be MVP and Baker Mayfield at
32:36the same time doesn't work that way. But no, but Baker Mayfield is a very, very visible guy in the media.
32:42He's on commercials. He's a household name. That's something you really need working in your favor.
32:47Caleb Williams is just getting there. Baker Mayfield's already established there.
32:50He's the all-state commercial guy. He's in the stadium by himself getting everybody hot dogs, whatever.
32:54People know who he is, right? Like that it's a media award.
32:58I'll say it over and over again because that's what it is.
33:01And it needs a good story. And Baker Mayfield would be a good story.
33:05And I could see Bo Nix being a good story if Denver is dominant this year.
33:10That's exactly right. Like you look at the build of this roster.
33:13They're one of the best rosters in the entire NFL.
33:16They just did what the Patriots did, what other teams have done in adding a truly elite wide receiver to the equation here.
33:23Can that help elevate Bo Nix's game? You want to talk about, again, the media narrative around it.
33:28We'll have the wins. We'll have the playoff team.
33:31All of the Super Bowl stuff from last year.
33:34The Super Bowl charge for Bo Nix when he got hurt last year.
33:37And he's the only reason that injury was why they didn't go to the Super Bowl this year.
33:43Sean Payton cementing his legacy. Bo Nix silencing all the doubters of the fact that he wasn't a good prospect.
33:48I, I'll only L with that. He's going to have the passing volume to put up the really like the counting stats
33:55that he'll need to be in that conversation. He's in a mass media market.
33:59And again, we want to talk, talk about age narratives.
34:02He's the perfect age to win this ward. Like a lot of things line up for Bo Nix at plus 3,500 that
34:08I'm actually kind of surprised that he's not in that kind of Brock Purdy, Sam Darnold, Jalen Hurts tier, like at the
34:14back end of like in the 2000s, because he's also on a team that you look at projected win totals, like the
34:21Broncos are going to be up there and they're going to win and probably sniff that 12 or 13 wins this year.
34:27Bo Nix is a fantastic bet. Erickson thoughts on Bo Nix or anybody else here in this mix?
34:32I like the Baker Mayfield call that you made.
34:35I like the Bo Nix call that you made the direction I'm going or D bro made the direction I'm going is
34:41actually with CJ Stroud at 50 to one because he let's say he doesn't completely crap all over himself in these playoff games.
34:48There's no way these odds will set 50 to one.
34:51Just how bad he played. That's fair. The five fumbles.
34:54He earned that. Steelers. Yes, he earned those odds.
34:56I totally get that. But I don't want to like just completely forget about CJ Stroud is, I think, still a good
35:03quarterback and not completely just rewrite his entire projection of, OK, he sucks now because he crapped all the bed against the
35:09Patriots and fumbled five times against the Pittsburgh Steelers in a game that they actually won.
35:14Now, the last eight games he played, the Texans went seven and one before they ended up losing against the Patriots.
35:20You look at what he's won every single year.
35:23He's won at least nine games every single year of his career with the Texans.
35:2723 and 14 over his last 38 games, 61% win rate.
35:30That's good for 10 and a half wins over a 17 game season.
35:34So we're talking about, OK, are the Texans going to win enough games?
35:38Potentially, yeah, you look at their win total. You look at their defense.
35:41OK, this team's going to be in contention. The Texans started 0-3 last year.
35:46People forget that. 0-3 and they dug themselves out an 0-3 hole, ended up winning and out and getting into the postseason.
35:52Now, a lot of that have to do with the defense.
35:55But what if Nico Collins is healthy? You have guys taking steps forward with Jalen Noel and Jaden Higgins.
36:01Those aren't rookies anymore. And they were not on.
36:03They were on training wheels all last year. Offensive line.
36:06If it can be healthy. If he has a run game for the first time, CJ Stroud showed his rookie year like,
36:13hey, this guy can be an assassin as a pocket passer.
36:16And he was running more to start the year last season.
36:19So if the Texans win enough games, CJ Stroud again.
36:22People are burying CJ Stroud. And I was one of those people really skeptical going into the season because the last thing
36:28you remember is him just being so horrible against the Patriots.
36:31First two games the Texans play. Bills, Bengals. If they start out 2-0, beat Josh Allen and Joe Burrow, and CJ Stroud plays well in both those games.
36:39Okay. There's going to be some pump. And he definitely heard the ghost last year.
36:44That offensive line was bad. He definitely heard the ghost.
36:47It got very loud. It got very frightening for him.
36:50And Stroud was the one that I flirted with for this, but I came down to the idea that I can't get
36:56there because I don't think the stats would be there.
36:59And I landed on Mayfield because two years ago, 4,541.
37:02Like that's a MVP line right there. So I know Mayfield is capable of that.
37:06Again, harder without Mike Evans, but it's not like he's bereft of talent around and do it again.
37:11It's about staying healthy for him. And again, winning that division will be huge.
37:15It does feel like, look, I always bet Josh Allen every year because it's easy and it always makes money.
37:21And then I can always cash out of it if I don't want to see it to fruition.
37:26But if I am going to bet the bills to win this year, I can't also bet Josh Allen to win MVP
37:33and feel good about it because the MVP never wins the Super Bowl anymore.
37:37It just never happened. They get there, but they don't win it.
37:40The last one to do it, 1999, Kurt Warner, everybody.
37:43It's a long time before we've seen somebody do that.
37:46Now maybe Josh Allen will break all the curses.
37:49Maybe that's the, maybe that's the way out. Win MVP, win all that stuff.
37:53By the way, did you see, I caught on social media, the new Buffalo Bills facility.
37:58Have you guys seen? Oh no, I've not seen this.
38:00I have not seen this. Is it the new stadium or just everything?
38:04I saw a little, it was like a little tour of the locker room and inside the locker room, right?
38:10All the walls and things like that are all white.
38:13He's like, yeah, we can change the colors depending on what uniforms they wear that day.
38:18So if they wear like the old whites, it's all white.
38:21If they wear the blue and something else, they'd be able to change the whole tone of the interior and the locker room.
38:27And I'm thinking to myself, that's like mood lighting.
38:30Like mood lighting. What a complete and utter waste of money and time, but it's cool.
38:35Yeah, that's, it's cool. And I like it. They just have wallpaper on like a big conveyor belt.
38:40So it's like, we're the blue jerseys guys. Okay.
38:42Hopefully, hopefully they wear all white again when they host the Patriots again.
38:46Yeah. And so they lose. This is new. All right, Debra, I know you got more feelings.
38:51So let's get them all out here on the table.
38:54I got two other guys that I want to toss into this conversation.
38:58Two. Yes. All right. I think they fit the bill of good teams that could win 12 or more games as well as, I like their odds.
39:06Like if the 49ers do stay healthy and their offense can be everything that we think that they can be if health
39:12complies and Brock Purdy has been in the MVP on the outskirts of it, but in the MVP conversation before at plus
39:182200 and Jared golf at plus 3500 because the lions have a really easy schedule.
39:23A lot of indoor games. If their defense can put up their side of the ball and do the damn thing and
39:29stay healthy, this could be the best defense that he has played with backing him and positive game scripts to where you
39:36could see that type of Stafford run where they're just like, let's get golf the MVP, baby.
39:41Like Jameer Gibbs is the flavor du jour, but golf, when we get near the goal line, we're just going to feed
39:47LaPorta, feed Amonara, Sam Brown, Isaac Tesla. He might only have 14 catches this year, but all of them are freaking touchdowns, baby.
39:54Like both of those guys make a lot of sense.
39:56I will go on record and I don't like to do this a lot because I feel like it's very performative.
40:03I feel like it's very Stephen A. Smith, but I'll maybe I'll do it in Stephen A.
40:08Smith voice. Oh dear. There's no way that Jared Goff is ever going to win an MVP.
40:12That's how I feel too, Joe. There's no universe where Jared Goff ever wins an MVP in the National Football League.
40:19It's never happened. I don't disagree with Joe. You know what?
40:22I get it now. I don't do that voice very often, but you know, the more I talk in it, the more it's fun.
40:29And now I get why he does it all the time.
40:32It's fun. It's a good choice. It's fun. You're a good choice.
40:35You're a good choice. I get closer to the camera.
40:38Jared Goff doesn't move the national psyche meter at all.
40:41He has no flair. He's got no pizzazz. He is boring AF.
40:45He's good at his job, but he is literally like mayonnaise on white bread.
40:49And like, I don't think you could sell that to the rest of the league.
40:53He would have to throw for 50 touchdowns to even be in that conversation.
40:57It has to be that kind of a season, which is not impossible in that offense.
41:02Like I just want to say, I'm with you.
41:04I think Goff could have a good year, but there's no way you could sell the personality of Jared Goff to all these voters over again.
41:12What's the narrative? What's the story? Like Jared Goff is really good one year.
41:16Like that's not enough. Well, the thing is too, if you look at, I mean, Jared Goff has been good when Detroit
41:22the top five offense every single year and he never sniffs any type of MVP votes.
41:27Like that's the thing with me. I, so I just don't think that he would be in the voters mind.
41:33I think that they would try to get, and I'm not saying this is right.
41:37I feel like they would give, Oh, well he has Gibbs.
41:40He's got Amon Ra. He's got Jameson. Like, I think I agree with Joe where I don't think that Jared Goff would
41:47just be at the top of voters unless he just has a 50 plus passing touchdown where kind of forcing, forcing the
41:53voters hands of no, we have to vote for Jared Goff because he is throwing for so many touchdowns.
41:59I think that he is in a, an uphill battle because I think he's had good statistical seasons.
42:04He has gotten MVP votes by the way. This place is the highest he's ever finished in 2024.
42:09So he was top five in the voting. I think there are, I think there are better ways to play the line.
42:15I'd rather just bet Lions futures. I love how neither one of you, like, I thought Joe was going to start this off with besmirching Brock Purdy.
42:23Like he loves to do. I think Purdy would get more.
42:26He did. He did. Purdy MVP. Purdy MVP is a story you could sell me.
42:31Okay. That's a book. That's a book that sells.
42:33Brock Purdy will be there. Joe would read that book.
42:36I would buy that book. He would. I would actually read that book.
42:40I'd go to Barnes and Noble for the signing and say, Brock, will you sign my copy for me?
42:46Please. Brock Purdy. By the way. Sign this. And then I go on pristine auction that I put it up there immediately after.
42:52But here's the point. Brock Purdy is a story.
42:55It's the underdog story. It's the narrative of the guy who's, you know, up against it all the time.
43:00And then like last year, you know, had some injuries, missed some time.
43:04And, you know, the 49ers fell apart at the end.
43:07But Brock Purdy was the good soldier. And if George Kale stays healthy and all these things happen, right?
43:13And CMC plays 17 games. Yeah. I think that's what I would.
43:16If you had a hundred dollars for me to spend and you said you could put it on Brock Purdy or Jared
43:22Goff, I'd put all 100 over on Brock Purdy over Goff.
43:26Brock Purdy, by the way. That year in 2024, he threw for 4,600 yards, 37 touchdowns.
43:30And the best he'd get was fifth. Brock Purdy, fourth in the MVP voting in 2023, by the way.
43:36He's already had. I already had a Goff. So I agree.
43:39Give me my hundred on Brock Purdy, zero on Jared Goff.
43:42All right. Did you have any more guys? I mean, how much money are you spending here?
43:47No, no. I mean, we can get to who we want to burn our money on.
43:52I think we're at that point of the show.
43:54If you were to burn your money on anybody, not.
43:57I mean, look, last year, there was a serious push for Jonathan Taylor at one point because of all the touchdowns.
44:03And he didn't win. And he still did. Well, he also, they also fell apart.
44:08Fairness. It's Gibbs. It's B. John Robinson. I know this is never going to happen, but I found it really interesting that
44:14Miles Garrett is even on the board. You know, like what?
44:17It'll never be a defensive player. Don't care. I can't even get behind that.
44:21I agree. We've seen Derrick Henry do too many special things.
44:25Like I already, and he's never sniffed it. I can't bet him.
44:28I guess the one guy that because McCaffrey's never won it.
44:31And that's the last piece of his, you know, Hall of Fame career resume.
44:35I just don't think he has enough juice left to do it.
44:39What are you going to say, Debra? Who are you going to?
44:42I have a name in mind. You need a running back.
44:45Doesn't he? You need a running back. I think.
44:48Okay. So if you're going to create the narrative for a running back and they have to have, they have to have
44:54past game usage or they have to run for over 2000 yards.
44:58I think you have to have the receiving utility to sniff the conversation like a CMC now.
45:03Yeah. I think if you want to make the worst to first, like the, the, the crazy guy, and I'm looking for his fricking odds here.
45:10If you wanted to make the national narrative of this team is way better than people give it credit for new head
45:17coach, a quarterback is on the reclamation here. This running back goes 1000, 1000 gets a thousand receiving yards.
45:22And he's the brand new Marshall Falk would be Bijan Robinson.
45:25Because if like the Falcons were to take the NFC setting up for this so far down the trough, like Bijan's in
45:32that middle group, but he's plus 8,000. He's got worse odds than fricking Gibbs, but he's not going to win because he doesn't play quarterback.
45:39So it's a mute. I know if we're burning money about guys and you're saying everything, if we're burning money, Andrew, where's your whimsy?
45:46I got my whimsy. If I want to burn money, I would bet on Travis Hunter at plus 1,705.
45:52He's a unicorn, right? How many guys? A cornerback?
45:54A cornerback winning the award? No way. So let's say he plays both receiver and defensive back, goes for a thousand yards, gets five interceptions.
46:01He's the only guy that can be NFL that can do that.
46:05He won't get enough wide receiver snaps to do that.
46:08You don't know that. Straight up. You don't know that.
46:11I do know that. He won't. I like, I like Travis Hunter is the only guy that can do that.
46:17Cause he's the only guy that plays two positions.
46:19I like it. Andrew's right. That is a good argument.
46:22It's not going to happen. No, never happened. He's more of a unicorn in the sense.
46:27Like we didn't see him at all last year.
46:29Like barely. Like that's, that's kind of like, they don't exist.
46:33Like three legs and bias to play defense. But Andrew is right.
46:36Two way player in the NFL. That's like a show.
46:39Hey, Ohtani kind of story. He's the only guy that can do it.
46:43That's right. If show a Ohtani hit two 50 and only had 18 homers.
46:47Sure. Show a Ohtani only hit two 50 and 18 home runs and still struck out 200 guys.
46:52A picture that he's still winning MVP. I hate to bring it to you.
46:56Like that's just, it's absurd that he is one of the best pitchers in baseball.
47:00And one of the best hitters in baseball at the same time, not just able to do both.
47:06But Travis Hunter is not, he's not getting there.
47:08If Travis Hunter played quarterback in defense, it'd be really interesting.
47:11But again, that's. Oh man. Have you seen him?
47:14By the way, he did put on some weight.
47:17He did put on a little muscle the year over year, which I thought was good.
47:21He did look a little slight last year. In my opinion.
47:24I mean, he's always been. He does so much cardio.
47:27Cause he's. I can't believe you guys didn't bring up Daniel Jones, by the way.
47:32Well, we thought we were waiting for YouTube. I mean, we were just waiting for it.
47:36Talking about bets on the show. Joe mentioning Daniel Jones at minus three 50.
47:40He's still hit people. God, I hope he wins every show.
47:44Just to run. Every show. All right. Those are the dark horse candidates for MVP, but it's not the only hardware we're giving out today.
47:51I saw a fun thing. A little thread on the internet.
47:54I thought it'd be a fun thing to do here.
47:57Where people are saying, if you could give a Superbowl ring to somebody, maybe a great player, a hall of famer, somebody,
48:03a player that you loved in your youth, who did not win a Superbowl, or maybe even never got to play in one.
48:10Who would that somebody be? And for me, it was a very easy answer.
48:14The first Jersey I ever owned was a running back named Barry Sanders.
48:18I hate you for taking this, by the way, that was going to be my answer.
48:22Incredible. And not just because of what he did on the field, but kind of just the dude.
48:28He was all the time, you know, in a era in the nineties where everybody was performative and doing all these things,
48:34Barry Sanders would run in there, score three touchdowns of the game and just flip the ball.
48:39The referee, like it was just part of his job.
48:42And it wasn't joyless. He loved his job. And unfortunately he had to spend his entire career with the Detroit lions.
48:48And we never got to see what he could do on a good team who had a real offensive line.
48:54There were some sporadic moments where the lions were okay.
48:57You know, a lot of Scott Mitchell years and some other jabroni quarterbacks of way worse.
49:01Dave Craig. Dave Craig. This is a lot of, a lot of, a lot of ghosts of bad quarterbacks past that he had to play with.
49:09And I showed my daughter recently, a couple of months ago, a highlight reel Barry Sanders.
49:14Cause she didn't know who he was. And she plays football.
49:17Now she's been playing football for five years. She's 14 years old.
49:20And she was, she couldn't believe she's like, how, she's like, how does he keep moving through everybody?
49:25And I was like, because he was just a special human to watch play football.
49:30So the guy that captured my, you know, psyche as a child that I was like, I need a Jersey.
49:36And I probably was about like 11 years old or so.
49:39I was like, I need a Jersey. That's the one I want.
49:42I want Barry Sanders. And it's, it's a shame that he never played in more meaningful football because he is such a competitor.
49:49He was such a spectacular talent. But to me, like the fact that he never got to really show it on that
49:55grand stage and the big NFC championship games or in, in the super bowl, like that to me is the one that really, it sucks.
50:03I want to give him a super bowl ring.
50:05He deserves it. He's a super bowl kind of player.
50:08Unfortunately, this is not real, but in theory, Barry Sanders, I got your back.
50:12D bro. Since you couldn't take Barry Sanders, who did you do to get you so much for putting that name on
50:19the show sheet before I could get, well, I make the show sheet.
50:22So I'm, I was like, dude, he was my favorite player growing up before Drew Brees hit the league.
50:28And he's now my favorite player. But Barry Sanders was the guy that like, it was just astonishing what he did.
50:34Like even if you go back to like, also the, the collegiate highlight reel is just sick.
50:39Oh yeah. The guy that I'll toss into, and this is the low hanging fruit.
50:43He was Patrick Mahomes before Patrick Mahomes ever was even a twinkle in his parents' eyes.
50:48Dan Marino. I mean, when you retire with 25 NFL regular season records, like you're legit.
50:52Like the first guy to go over in NFL history to pass for more than 5,000 yards.
50:57You want to talk about guys, by the way, where they were literally murdering quarterbacks in the backfield and murdering wide receivers going over the middle.
51:05Like people don't understand. 80s football was different, bro.
51:08Yep. It was different. And, and dude, he went to, I think what, what the Dolphins went to a Superbowl when his
51:14second season, and then just never sniffed it again.
51:17Like it was, it's sad to see a guy with so many, so much talent, so many accolades, and he was just so freaking good.
51:24And what could Dan Marino have done in this era of the NFL?
51:28Holy crap, man. Like it's sad to see that he never got a ring while also being a guy.
51:33It's not like his career was cut short by injuries.
51:36It's just, he was failed by a horrible freaking franchise.
51:39It's sad. And I know he's probably one, he's on the short list of names that people, when, you know, we intro
51:45this conversation that people automatic would think about, but he has to be in the conversation has to be 5,084 yards, 48
51:52touchdowns in the second year in 84. And they lost to the 49ers in the Superbowl.
51:56Insane. Insane. Insane. He also led the league in passing yards, one, two, three, four, five times in his career.
52:02And the other thing about Dan Marino too, is like, he never played on a team that had a good defense run
52:08games were suspect at best for the most part.
52:11And it's such a tragedy too. Cause he had Don Shula for a good chunk of his career.
52:16And like, where it's like, it's Don Shula. Like it's one of the great coaches ever.
52:21They couldn't put something better around him to get him over the hump there.
52:25It's just crazy. And the thought process was, well, this is just the first of many Superbowls for Dan Marino.
52:31He'll be back a million times. Nope. Never happened again.
52:34Nope. Never happened again. I actually saw it recently.
52:36It was an interview. Chris Carter was on some, it was like on a reel or something.
52:41And they asked him who's the greatest quarterback you ever saw, like on the field, like, you know, playing either with or against any, without hesitation.
52:49He said, Dan Marino, he said the arm town of Dan Marino.
52:52I've never seen anyone before, after, during the same arm town of Dan Marino.
52:56And I can only imagine if you drop Dan Marino into modern day NFL with the rules and the talent around him.
53:03Like if you, if you dropped him into like the lions offense or something absurd and like controlled environment, he would throw for 5,000 yards every year.
53:11Like it would be his, his standard. He would be the number one in super flex.
53:15He would be the number one. He would be a first round pick.
53:19I think in fantasy, just because of what he would do from a fantasy perspective, just to give people context about that 5,000 yard passing season.
53:27And this totally different era of the NFL in that year, he was only that he threw for 5,000 freaking yards.
53:33He was only one of three quarterbacks to more throw for more than 4,000 yards, only three.
53:38He threw for 48 passing touchdowns. He was the only quarterback to throw for more than 40 passing touchdowns.
53:43And only two guys threw for more than 30 passing touchdowns.
53:46And he threw for freaking 48. That is like a guy in this era of the NFL, just to give equivalency here,
53:53throwing for 6,000 passing yards and like 55 or 60 touchdowns.
53:56That that's what we're discussing here. It's insane. I had to look at who the other guys were.
54:01Neil Lomax, 4,600 and Phil Sims, 4,000. Dave Craig says hi again.
54:05Craig was number five. Yeah. Dave Craig. All right, Andrew floor is yours.
54:08Give somebody a Superbowl ring who you want to hand it out to.
54:12Randy Moss, the second best wide receiver in NFL history.
54:15In my opinion, behind only Jerry Rice. Moss had multiple opportunities for Superbowls.
54:192007 with the Patriots had a veteran signing with the 49ers was on that team that fell short against the Baltimore Ravens,
54:25but he played on two of the greatest offenses in NFL history.
54:29The 2007 Patriots, like I mentioned, and the 1998 Minnesota Vikings.
54:32Yeah. Two teams that look like they were on their way to be Superbowl champions and came up just short.
54:38So to see a player that I think is viewed collectively as a top five wide receiver of all time for not
54:44him to have a ring, I would want to change history to give Randy Moss ring.
54:49And then as an honorable mention, because of course I got to mention at least two former Patriots, Logan Mangans.
54:54He was one of these players that fell in the 10 year drought of no Patriots Superbowls between 2004 and 2014.
55:01He was the first round pick in the 2005 NFL draft for the Patriots.
55:05And they never got back to the Superbowl until 2014.
55:07They lost to the Giants twice. Mangans wasn't on that roster.
55:11So a guy that is viewed by Patriots. Again, if you ask a casual fan, Oh yeah, Logan Mangans, really good offensive lineman.
55:17He's got a ring, right? It's like, no, like he got screwed basically during that period where the Patriots came up short
55:24and a bunch of Superbowls against the Giants, Eagles, et cetera.
55:27So yeah, Logan Mangans, I would like to give him a ring because he's a really good player.
55:32A really awkward, like, uh, like reunions where everybody gets together.
55:35Everyone's got their rings. It's like the one guy.
55:38Oh no, my hands are naked. Yeah. Defensive player.
55:41Junior say I would be the one for me on the defensive side.
55:44Oh man. Junior was, that was a, that was another guy.
55:48The way you had to watch him play kind of thing.
55:51Junior say I was amazing, dude. The way he led a defense, the way he would set up on the line, the
55:57way he would know exactly what play you were running because he put all the way, all the work in all this stuff.
56:04And then he would just knock the crap out of you.
56:07Like he was just an incredible talent. Well, I think too, the fact that when you are physically gifted enough and you
56:13were talented enough, like not just to hang around in the fricking NFL, but to play in the NFL, like he, he
56:20was still in the NFL at age 40, dude.
56:22Like, yeah, he was that special of a player.
56:25Also with the Patriots. Yeah. Also with the Patriots.
56:28Cause that's how, that's how I remember him as the Patriots.
56:31And I'm like, who is this really old guy?
56:33That's just making up all these plays. And I'd ask my dad about, Oh yeah.
56:38When he was on the chargers, like this dude was an absolute machine.
56:41He was like when he was USC, absolute machine there too.
56:45Drop your comments below. Who is your player that you would like to give a Superbowl ring to?
56:50That's what we want in the comments of the tailgate.
56:53Remember when you drop your comments and subscribe, you could win cool things like the B.
56:57John Robbins and Jersey giving away this month on the tailgate.
57:01Not too much left here in terms of days for that Jersey.
57:04So get in on it. And of course, tell all your friends about the tailgate, share this video, like this video and
57:11support the new channel here of the tailgate. And of course, there's the audio version as well.
57:15You can go check that out as well. That'll do it for us.
57:19They're getting kicked out of the parking lot. We'll see you next time, everybody.
57:23This has been the tailgate. Welcome to the tailgate.
57:26The failsafe from stale takes. Erickson D, bro, Joe, stay late.
57:29Tail of the game tape and trade grades. Dual action play fakes and JJ spades.
57:33Hit the day slate like hopscotch on play dates.
57:36I'm Mungish Hatikular and I'm back with a new season of my podcast, Skyline Drive.
57:40This time I talk to scientists, biopunks, curmudgeons, blues owners, super seniors, and Goa's top cryotherapy lab to try to understand this
57:47obsession with living forever and what it means for all of us.
57:50And I get into a bit of trouble along the way.
57:53I'd say probably start bone smashing. That doesn't work.
57:56Make it look more defined. They say it works.
57:59I don't know. Listen to Skyline Drive, How to Live Forever on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
58:05June is Black Music Month, and on the Drink Champs podcast, we're speaking with the hottest names in the culture, like Sway Lee.
58:12Do you realize how legendary you are? I appreciate that.
58:15I'd be seeing it, but I'm like, man, I still got like so much more to do.
58:20Like Prince, he dropped like 30 albums. We dropped like five right now.
58:24That's the rate we gotta be going. Yep. That's a good attitude.
58:27No matter the era, Drink Champs brings you the biggest names and the most unfiltered conversations.
58:32Listen to Drink Champs from the Black Effect Podcast Network on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
58:38Every family has its secrets. But what happens when you discover that your dad has been living a double life?
58:44That is not the look of an innocent man.
58:47Is everyone lying to me about who they are?
58:49I felt such desperation. I felt it was what I had to do.
58:53Listen to Deep Cover, The Family Man on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
58:58For years, The Unhoused has been presented as a monolith in mainstream media.
59:02We The Unhoused is a podcast that's changing the narrative.
59:05I'm Theo Henderson, and I created this show while I was unhoused on the streets of Los Angeles.
59:10We've grown into a two-time Webby Award winning podcast.
59:13The only podcast that shares Unhoused stories and news from the Unhoused perspective.
59:17Listen to We The Unhoused on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
59:22This is an iHeart Podcast. Guaranteed human. The Unhoused...
59:24The Unhoused... The Unhoused... Thank you.
