Last week of the NFL preseason, so what about the teams aside from the Carolina Panthers?

And absent of Panthers football, there are other teams that have critical, nobody has a critical game, final preseason game because then we get underway basically in two weeks. Ryan Wilson, CBSSports.com, Picsics Podcast, Super Friend, a friend of this program. How are you my friend? Hey Adam, how you doing? Victoria said you guys are just getting back into it, so I'm glad you're joining the ranks of the working. Well, I wouldn't call this working, Ryan. This is really just playing.

So let's see, where do I want to start? I'm going to start with Sean Payton. A couple of weeks ago, Sean Payton said that Nathaniel Hackett, didn't say Nathaniel Hackett, but he was talking about Nathaniel Hackett, did the worst coaching job in NFL history or the history of the NFL, which he might be right.

I'm not even debating whether or not he's right or not. But are the Broncos a playoff team? And is Sean Payton about to have to take the shoe out of his mouth?

I'm getting a call here. Urban Meyer says he in fact did the worst coaching job in the history of the NFL. Urban would never admit to that.

No, he wouldn't. Nathaniel Hackett didn't do a great job, granted. And you know what's funny, Adam, when I heard Sean Payton say those things, you know, there was the outrage on social media. But as people, media members, we want coaches and players to be honest.

So I appreciated the honesty, number one. And then as I thought about it, number two, I wonder if he did that consciously or not, for the benefit of Russ Wilson, to say, listen, Russ, last year wasn't your fault. New sheriff's in town. We got to change things up. So listen, I watched all Russ's snaps the first two pre-seasons. He looked a little closer to the old Russ, didn't look like the Russ we saw last year. So that's good news for Sean Payton. But I do wonder if he if he's thinking to himself, Sean Payton, OK, this is not the Russ Wilson we saw in Seattle during his heyday. We're going to have to do some things to help him out. Unfortunately, that team is suffering a ton of injuries. Jerry Judy just went down with the hamstring. So they got to sort that out.

They did draft Marvin Mims Jr. out of Oklahoma State, Oklahoma, excuse me, to be sort of that dynamic wide receiver down the field. So maybe he can help. But I mean, you don't. And Sean said this. You don't go to the toughest division in the universe and without the understanding that you have a lot of work to do. And that's going to be the case. I don't know if this team makes the playoffs because I don't know which Russ is going to show up. And we'll find out how good a coach Sean Payton is. And he may have to try to turn things around quickly because again, you're tied to Russ whether you like it or not because of that contract. So I think you've seen progress in those first two preseason games. And now it's just a matter of putting it all together and understand that Russ is part of the bigger picture. And it's not just Russ and everyone else on that roster.

Ryan Wilson, CBSSports.com is joining us here on the Adam Gold show. When I went through, and I'm not going to make my picks public or whatever, but when I went through the teams in the AFC that I expect to make the playoffs, it occurred to me even though seven of what, 16 teams will make the playoffs, almost half of the conference will make the playoffs, I think there are a fair number of teams that might be considered good that won't make the playoffs. Even if Denver is good, I don't have them making the playoffs. I don't have the Jets making the playoffs with Aaron Rodgers and that defense and a pretty great stable of running backs now that they have added Dalvin Cook. Where do you see the Jets in the grand scheme of things? It's funny you say that because heading into right when Aaron Rodgers arrived in New York, I thought, okay, this could be a lot like Aaron Rodgers towards the end of his career in Green Bay, where it felt like it was Aaron Rodgers than everyone else. And we saw glimpses of Aaron Rodgers when the Packers weren't necessarily playing well and they're getting blown out. And at halftime he came out and was like, you know what, I'm good. I'll see you guys next week.

I'm not really going to try sort of going through the motions. That said, he's one of the greatest players of all time. And I was like you, I was a little skeptical. Is this Jets team making the right decision with Aaron Rodgers? I think they had to move on from Zach Wilson, but I didn't know if Aaron Rodgers was going to be the right fit. And then you hear the players talk about Aaron Rodgers. You see glimpses of Aaron Rodgers on hard knocks, which obviously is produced, but a lot of that feels real. And it feels like Aaron Rodgers wanted a fresh start.

He said all along that it was the Jets are no one. And you have guys like Garrett Wilson who had a big year last year without really a quarterback talking about how much he enjoys being around Aaron Rodgers and how important he is to this organization. And then you touch on it, the defense. I think you can win a lot of football games with a lights out defense and not very good quarterback play. They have Aaron Rodgers, who appears to be motivated.

If anyone plays with a chip on their shoulder with more vindictiveness than Aaron Rodgers, I don't know who it is. So I'm not selling this team short. I think this team has a chance to win the division only because I'm a little concerned about the Bills. You can't put too much into the preseason, but the Bills have looked horrendous. Josh Allen has been good.

I'll give him that. But the defense has struggled. The offense has had a bunch of pre-snap penalties that's driven Sean McDermott crazy. And I think this Jets team, with the way the defense is playing, means that they can rely less on Aaron, more on a balanced offense, and think of winning every game 17 to 13 if they wanted to, it feels like.

We just talked to one of our guys here in the studio who's covering the Panthers. Panthers might need a running back. The Jets have tons of running backs. Not only do you have Breece Hall, who is back. You have Dalvin Cook, who I still think is one of the elite backs in the league. He just can't go 17 games as the guy who's going to carry it all the time.

But I think he is an elite player. Also catch the ball out of the backfield. Israel Ibanakanda, who played at Pitt. I think you're based in Pittsburgh, right?

Ibanakanda, or somewhere around there. Ibanakanda is a very good running back and I think has opened eyes for the Jets. They have Michael Carter, who played at Carolina.

Bam Knight, who played at NC State. They had a lot of good running backs, so they can't keep them all. I don't think they're keeping five running backs, so who knows. Maybe one of those guys, or two of those guys, are going to be on other teams. But I do think the Jets will lean on a running game as well as Aaron Rodgers. It will be sort of similar to the last couple of years with the Packers. When they were running the ball well with Jones and Dillon, they were a much better team. Yeah, and the difference is that the Jets have some first round picks at wide receiver on the team.

The Packers refuse to trap wide receivers. And Allen Lazard. And Allen Lazard. And Randall Cobb. They have everybody. Is that the best division in football, the AFC East? I would vote for a different one, but what is the best division in football if it's not the AFC East?

I think it's the West, though. You have Mahomes. You have Justin Herbert who just got paid. We'll see.

The Raiders have looked sort of interesting in preseason, but I don't want to sell too high on Josh McDaniel's just yet. And then I think we're going to see revitalized Russ and Sean Payton in Denver. But it's close. If you're making an All-Star team and the division's played, the East would be favored a lot if we were making odds on that.

So I get it. I think it's close, but I can't sleep on Russ, excuse me, on Mahomes and Justin Herbert in the West. Well, yes. And I actually do think that this is the year that San Diego, the Los Angeles Chargers, where they just might kind of get over that hump.

Do you see that for them? I hope so. Like, I like Brandon Staley and I like what he did in year one where he went for every fourth down, whether it was fourth and 40 from his own, you know, eight yard line or wherever it was. And then last year he seemed to go the Mike McCarthy route. Like everything was a punt. I hope he finds some middle ground. I hope he continues to build on what he did in year one.

And look, here's the thing. If you lose another playoff game, like you lost to the Jaguars, you will be getting fired before you get on the team bus back to the airport. So you have to build on that. This team on paper is a really good football team. They drafted Quentin Johnson who's a huge stud out of TCU. He's going to be another target for Justin Herbert. They had Keenan Allen, one of the best route runners. They have Mike Williams, another huge target.

So you're out of excuses. And I think defensively, they're going to be a lot better as well. Justin Herbert, I say this all the time. When he was coming out, I did not love his final year at Oregon. And I thought maybe he would struggle. I was dead wrong. And I own that.

He is afraid of nothing. And I think he understands what it takes to beat the Chiefs. And he almost did it as a rookie. We needed to start that emergency game when Tyrod Taylor got the accidental lung puncture. So I think they're in perfect position. This is all about Brandon Staley trusting himself and getting the most out of these guys.

All right. Last last thing before we let Ryan Wilson go. And there are a number of teams that could come out of nowhere. And I know everybody thinks the Lions are going to win the NFC North. But what are the chances of the Bears? Hey, Carolina Panthers fans, Chris Lee and Dennis Cox here. We're excited to offer you all the inside information on your team with the newest member of the Capital Broadcasting Podcast Network Panthers playbook twice a week. We'll keep you updated on your Carolina Panthers. We're talking about locker room insight, exclusive interviews, and of course, in depth looks at all of the Panthers wins touchdown Carolina Panthers playbook.

Download and subscribe today at WRL sports fan.com or wherever you discover your favorite podcasts. Yeah, I thought you were going to say the Packers because I was I was all set. That's support Jordan love. He's looked pretty good in the preseason too. But the Bears are interesting because look, it feels like Luke gets to the offensive coordinator finally figured out how to use Justin Fields right because they were running them into the ground over the first half of the season. And then finally they said, You know what, we can mix this up because we're going to get Justin Fields killed. They went out and got him some players DJ Moore, they traded for Chase Claypool. They drafted Tyler Scott, who's a speedster out of Cincinnati. And then they they bolstered the offensive line. 10th overall, they took Darnell right, they had an opportunity to get Jalen Carter, I believe in the said they went with Darnell right and then circle back and got Jervon Dexter in round two to play the defensive line. And I think they've done a lot of things that are going to make this football team better. They drafted I don't want I don't like call him a backup, but he was Bijan Robinson backup at Texas, Roshan Johnson, he is going to be a special player. And all told, you feel like now there's a chance for every team in this division to compete because Aaron Rodgers isn't there.

And I don't know what the over under is on the lens for the Bears, but it feels like the the over it, you feel pretty good about it because I'm guessing it's pretty low. They're in year two, Justin Fields is coming into year three. And he looks like he's about to turn the corner. He wasn't as good a passer coming out as CJ Stroud was of Ohio State. But obviously, he's one of the best runners already. I think he's going to improve it as a passer, because all those targets they got.

Yeah. And I think the more he runs, the more it will open up the pass for them. And if you're the Bears, I think you roll the dice that way. And maybe he develops into a better passer where you can just become a regular quarterback. Sort of like the early part of Cam Newton, although Newton, I thought was a better passer early on than Justin Fields is. And finally, describe what you think will be the rookie season of Anthony Richardson. Man, it's gonna be fun. Yeah, fingers crossed he stays healthy because you see glimpses of it when he's on the field.

You saw it last night as well. No better coach it feels like than Shane Siken, who obviously was the offensive coordinator in Philadelphia with Jalen Hurts. And some of the way they're going to scheme to get him on the perimeter, and then he's going to start trucking guys. And then his arm strength. We were at his pro day last spring. And it sounds silly, but it takes your breath away. His arm strength does.

And decision making is going to be a thing. And you're gonna have to go with those growing pains. You only had 13 starts at Florida, but we saw some touch throws in that first preseason game in Buffalo, and we saw glimpses of the arm strength last night.

The numbers weren't great, but that's okay. It's all about getting him comfortable. I think perhaps the most important thing that needs to happen, Adam, is that Mr. Ersay needs to apologize to Jonathan Taylor and make sure he's on the field helping out Anthony Richardson because that will be Anthony Richardson's best friend. It's just what a mess. Ersay first criticized running backs for basically having each other's backs, which is fine.

And now he is in a verbal spat with maybe his best player. Ryan Wilson, CBSSports.com, pick six podcast, super friend. My friend, I appreciate your time. Talk to you again. Have a good weekend, Adam. You got it. Ryan Wilson here on the Adam Gold show. What's up, everybody? Okay.

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