With a quality run-game developing, Rodgers won’t have to throw for 30-35 pass attempts every game. Instead his strengths will work as an asset in a balanced offensive attack.
Offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett will likely preserve Rodgers, using his accuracy as an advantage in the quick pass game. Not that this is some newly found plan, Rodgers was simply injured last season.
If the Jets can keep themselves in short-yardage situations on offense, they could potentially lead the NFL in both total first downs and time of possession this upcoming season.
One of the best film gurus in the business is a huge fan of the Bucs landing Jalen McMillan in the third round
Greg Cosell is one of the best in the business when it comes to breaking down film, which should have Tampa Bay Buccaneers fans excited about his recent comments on rookie wide receiver Jalen McMillan.
The Bucs landed McMillan in the third round of the 2024 NFL draft with the No. 92 overall selection, giving them another dynamic pass-catcher to team up with one of the NFL’s best veteran tandems in Mike Evans and Chris Godwin.
During a recent appearance on “The Ross Tucker Podcast,” Cosell was raving about the Bucs landing McMillan, who would have come off the board much earlier if not for a nagging injury at Washington last season:
“I love Jalen McMillan the kid they got out of Washington…”@GregCosell thinks there is a good chance a rookie 3rd round pick emerges as the #3 WR in Tampa: pic.twitter.com/7rj0354b5E
— Ross Tucker Podcast (@RossTuckerPod) June 30, 2024
Trey Palmer flashed potential as a rookie, but if he wants to keep the No. 3 receiver job in Tampa Bay this season, it looks like he’ll have his work cut out for him fighting off McMillan.
Some excellent insight here as Cosell goes in-depth on Daniels.
No one watches more NFL tape than Greg Cosell. The longtime NFL Films producer created the “NFL Matchup” show over 30 years ago, which has remained football’s premier Xs & Os show. The only complaint is it’s not long enough.
Cosell is a popular guest on the podcast and radio circuit and co-hosts a podcast with Touchdown Wire’s Doug Farrar.
Cosell recently joined the “John Keim Report” podcast, where he talked exclusively about the Washington Commanders. He also extensively covered rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels.
What does Cosell think of Daniels? First of all, he really likes him.
“He’s not just a runner; obviously, he’s incredibly dynamic, but I think as he’s played more, he’s a pocket quarterback,” Cosell said. “He leaves the pocket when, for the most part, it’s a last resort.”
The NFL has changed over the years with quarterback style, but being able to throw consistently from the pocket remains one of the most important traits for any successful NFL passer.
Remember, one criticism of Daniels ahead of the 2024 NFL draft was that he didn’t throw to the middle of the field enough. Analysts praised his deep ball but believed others, like Drake Maye, did a better job throwing between the numbers.
Cosell sees no issues here.
“For the most part, he lets the system work,” Cosell continued. “I thought one of the things that really stood out this year from his LSU tape was his willingness to work through the progressions and make progression-read throws. And particularly make throws in the middle of the field between the numbers. Which for a lot of quarterbacks coming from college to the NFL, John, and you know this, is an issue because the hash marks are closer. And sometimes it seems to young quarterbacks like there are 15 defenders on the field when they have to make throws in the middle of the field because it’s tighter. In college, you don’t necessarily have that issue because the hash marks are wider, and the defense has to stretch horizontally to deal with that, and therefore the middle is often wide open.”
What about his arm strength?
“He doesn’t have a power arm, but he can certainly make all the throws,” he said. “I just thought there was a calmness and a poise, composure to his game. He played effectively and efficiently from the pocket. And he made the kinds of throws you see in NFL games. He wasn’t one of those guys that built up his numbers throwing tunnel screens.”
Cosell doesn’t buy that Daniels became a top prospect because of his 2023 season. He started looking at him as a potentially elite prospect last summer based on his 2022 tape. Cosell also noted how good Daniels was as a true freshman at Arizona State, and he has continued to improve.
Another criticism of Daniels was that he threw to elite receivers at LSU. As we’ve stated before with Joe Burrow, that was a foolish criticism. Cosell used the same comparison.
There was a lot more in this conversation that we’d encourage you to check out, with more on Daniels and some good stuff on offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury.
You can watch the entire segment below.
Cosell’s opinion carries a lot of weight. He’s seen it all over the years and he studies every player — every throw. He views Daniels as a complete quarterback who can run.
Why are defensive tackles more important in today’s NFL than they’ve ever been before? Greg Cosell and Doug Farrar are here with the answers.
In today’s NFL, with as much quick game as teams are using, it’s more important than ever to get to the quarterback as quickly as possible. Often, the shortest distance between the line of scrimmage and the quarterback is a straight line, and when your edge-rushers don’t have time to get home, it’s up to your interior defensive linemen to make those sacks and pressures happen.
It’s why the NFL has placed an increasing importance on those inside guys, and the money has gone up accordingly.
In 2019, there were 15 interior defensive linemen with in-season cap hits of more than $10 million, led by Aaron Donald at $17,108,000. In 2024, there are 22 such players. Now, a lot of those contracts are ones in which the cap hit happens to explode in this league year, but the point still stands – the NFL is placing an increased financial priority on interior defensive linemen.
It’s also why NFL is paying more centers and guards more money and selecting more higher in the draft, as well.
In this week’s “Xs and Os with Greg Cosell and Doug Farrar,” the guys get into all the reasons why interior defensive linemen are of such crucial importance, the techniques they use to pester enemy quarterbacks, and the best players at creating pressure in the shortest possible time.
You can watch this week’s “Xs and Os” right here:
You can also listen to and subscribe to the “Xs and Os” podcast on Spotify…
In this week’s “Xs and Os with Greg Cosell and Doug Farrar,” the guys get deep into a new press coverage revolution in today’s NFL.
Over the last few seasons in the NFL, a lot of coaches and executives have tailored their defensive schemes in one specific fashion — an increase in press coverage from their cornerbacks. Not only the old-school aggressive press-man coverage we all know, but also mirror-match press man coverage, where a cornerback trails the receiver through his route as the route is declared.
Why? Because NFL offenses have found all kinds of ways to beat the old Seattle Cover-3 stuff from a decade ago with 3×1 and 2×2 receiver sets, and the route concepts inherent in those deployments. Now, if you’re rolling out that “Country Cover-3,” your defense is going to be in trouble.
There’s also the element of quick game in the league, which has increased in recent years. When the quarterback is throwing out of zero- to three-step drops, there are times when edge defenders simply don’t have time to get to the quarterback before the ball comes out. So, logic dictates that if you can’t disrupt the quarterback in the timing of the down, you need to disrupt the timing of the receivers’ routes, forcing the quarterback to delay his reads and throws, and giving those pass-rushers that extra split millisecond to get home.
In this week’s edition of “The Xs and Os,” Greg Cosell of NFL Films and ESPN’s NFL Matchup, and Doug Farrar of Touchdown Wire and the USA Today Sports Media Group, investigate the NFL’s changes in press coverage, and the players who do it the best, including...
L’Jarius Sneed of the Titans;
A.J. Terrell of the Falcons;
Martin Emerson Jr. of the Browns;
Patrick Surtain Jr. of the Broncos;
Ahmad “Sauce” Gardner of the Jets; and
Joey Porter Jr. of the Steelers.
You can watch this week’s “Xs and Os with Greg Cosell” right here:
You can also listen and subscribe to the “Xs and Os” podcast on Spotify…
From the Cardinals’ new secondary to cornerback talent for the Eagles and Lions, Greg Cosell and Doug Farrar get into the best scheme fits from the 2024 NFL draft.
When teams select players in the draft, they’re not just basing those picks on the prospects’ athletic attributes — they’re also looking at how those prospects fit in the structures of their schemes.
In this week’s “Xs and Os with Greg Cosell and Doug Farrar,” Greg (of NFL Films and ESPN’s NFL Matchup) and Doug (of Touchdown Wire and the USA Today Sports Media Group) discuss their favorite defensive scheme firs from the 2024 NFL draft. Greg and Doug already discussed their favorite offensive scheme fits in this draft, and you can find that right here.
The Arizona Cardinals’ secondary with cornerbacks Elijah Jones and Max Melton, and safety Dadrian Taylor-Demerson;
The Detroit Lions’ cornerback group with Terrion Arnold and Ennis Rakestraw Jr.;
The Philadelphia Eagles’ secondary with cornerback Quinyon Mitchell and defensive back Cooper DeJean;
The Dallas Cowboys’ defensive line with DL Marshawn Kneeland;
The Buffalo Bills’ secondary with safety Cole Bishop;
The Green Bay Packers’ safeties with Javon Bullard and Kitan Oladapo;
The San Francisco 49ers’ secondary with Renardo Green and Malik Mustapha.
You can watch this week’s “Xs and Os” right here:
You can also listen and subscribe to the “Xs and Os” podcast on Spotify…
From Jayden Daniels to Xavier Worthy, Greg Cosell and Doug Farrar get into the best offensive scheme fits from the 2024 NFL draft.
There are at least two stages of evaluation when dealing with draft prospects. There’s the work you do watching tape of a player in a vacuum pre-draft, when you’re looking at a player’s attributes and liabilities overall. Then, when the player is drafted, you’re trying to figure out why the team selected the player, and how that player best fits in his new home from a schematic and performance perspective.
With the 2024 NFL draft in the rearview, it’s time for Greg Cosell of NFL Films and ESPN’s NFL Matchup, and Doug Farrar of Touchdown Wire and the USA Today Sports Media Group, to determine the best scheme fits from this class.
Greg and Doug begin on the offensive side of the ball, with these players:
Jayden Daniels, QB, Washington Commanders
Bo Nix, QB, Denver Broncos
Troy Franklin, WR, Denver Broncos
Blake Corum, RB, Los Angeles Rams
Jonathon Brooks, RB, Carolina Panthers
Brian Thomas Jr., WR, Jacksonville Jaguars
Xavier Worthy, WR, Kansas City Chiefs
Ladd McConkey, WR, Los Angeles Chargers
Kimani Vidal, RB, Los Angeles Chargers
You can watch this week’s Xs and Os right here:
You can also listen and subscrive to the Xs and Os podcast on Spotify…
How does the changing nature of the NFL in a schematic sense change how NFL teams evaluate draft prospects? Greg Cosell and Doug Farrar investigate.
The NFL is an ever-changing business, and that applies just as much (if not more) to the prospects coming into the NFL as it does to the players who are already there. Schemes and trends and concepts are so different now than they were 10 years ago, or even five years ago, and you’d better be ahead of the game on that in how you evaluate college players for your NFL team.
In this week’s “Xs and Os with Greg Cosell and Doug Farrar,” the guys get into the differences in evaluation for these positions:
Quarterback — There are about as many snaps with quarterbacks moving around and throwing outside the pocket as there were a decade ago, but how have things changed in how these mobile quarterbacks are evaluated? And can you even succeed in the league anymore without those movement skills?
Receiver — The massive increase in pre-snap motion over the last decade has teams thinking differently about receivers, especially smaller receivers who might not have even made an NFL team in 2014. How has this changed the receiver prototypes teams really want?
Offensive Guard — With the increase in quick game passes in the NFL, edge-rushers don’t always have time to get to the quarterback before the ball is out, which means that interior protection is more important than ever. The NFL is paying guards on an entirely different wage scale than it did a decade ago, so why are guards so much more crucial to offensive success than they used to be?
Interior Defensive Lineman — Correspondingly, the league now has a group of massive defensive tackles who can get to the quarterback in some really freaky ways for their various sizes. Where did this group of agile Godzillas come from, and how has their presence shaped what defenses do?
You can watch this week’s “Xs and Os” right here:
You can also listen and subscribe to the “Xs and Os” podcast on Spotify…
In this week’s Xs and Os, Greg Cosell and Doug Farrar discuss Ricky Pearsall, Malik Washington, Renardo Green, Max Melton, Dadrion Taylor-Demerson, and Javon Bullard.
In this week’s episode of “The Xs and Os with Greg Cosell and Doug Farrar,” the guys get into six of Doug’s favorite underrated prospects in the 2024 NFL draft — players who most likely won’t hear their names called in the first round next Thursday night, but who all can provide serious value to their soon-to-be NFL teams. Two weeks ago, we focused on “Greg’s Guys” in that same regard. Now, here are Doug’s favorites.
Florida receiver Ricky Pearsall — Will Pearsall be able to maintain his gliding speed, route awareness and amazing catches into contact at the NFL level? We’re betting on “yes.”
Virginia receiver Malik Washington — Washington is a shorter (but not thin) player who can create explosive plays all over the field; a team like the Chiefs (for example) should be watching as much of his tape as possible right now.
Florida State cornerback Renardo Green — Green projects well as an outside cornerback despite a lack of desired size, but how will his NFL team deploy him?
Rutgers cornerback Max Melton — In Melton’s case, his NFL team will love his ability to match receivers all over the field, and they’ll likely see the necessary technique fixes as a worthy time investment.
Texas Tech safety Dadrion Taylor-Demerson — More than any other safety in this class, Taylor-Demerson has field-scalding speed when in coverage. If he can tamp down the more rogue elements of his athleticism, he could be an easy Pro Bowler.
Georgia safety Javon Bullard — Over the last two seasons, Georgia asked Bullard to completely change his positional profile in ways most college defenders are not asked to do, and he did it all very well. That should make him an easy prospect for most NFL teams.
You can watch this week’s “X and Os” right here:
You can also listen and subscribe to the “Xs and Os” podcast on Spotify…
2024 NFL free agency is just about in the books, so it’s time for Greg Cosell and Doug Farrar to analyze the biggest transactions in the second wave.
Now that most of NFL free agency for the 2024 league year is in the bag — though there are a few helpful players still on the open market — it’s time for Greg Cosell of NFL Films and ESPN’s NFL Matchup, and Doug Farrar of Touchdown Wire, to recap the biggest and most important moves in the second wave of this free agency phase. Greg and Doug covered the first day of free agency last week in the Xs and Os; here’s the conclusion.
Among the discussion points:
What does Brian Burns bring to a Giants defensive line that already has Kayvon Thibodeaux and Dexter Lawrence?
Can Justin Fields become the best version of himself in the Steelers’ offense?
Conversely, can Kenny Pickett turn his career around with the Eagles?
How can Calvin Ridley use his true X-Iso skill set to ramp up the Titans’ offense?
Can the Texans’ addition of Danielle Hunter, along with Will Anderson Jr. and Denico Autry, make Houston’s defensive line a Super Bowl-level group?
What can Hollywood Brown do for the Chiefs?
Tyron Smith is a future Hall of Famer, but what will he be able to do for the Jets’ offensive line in the short term?
Chase Young has been an inconsistent pass-rusher throughout his NFL career; can he turn it around with the Saints?
The Lions made important additions to their defensive line and their secondary; can all that put them over the top?
The Falcons already have a ton of weapons for new quarterback Kirk Cousins. How will the addition of receiver Rondale Moore affect what looks like one of like the NFL’s most explosive offenses (in theory, at least)?
