1st & Goal: Leger Douzable, Former Jets Defensive Lineman

The NFL season is inching closer and closer.

Who are the contenders and who are the pretenders? We have four downs to figure out your team's future. It's time now for First and Goal on the Zach Geld Show.

And we welcome in a man that played for the Jets, did spend 10 years in the NFL, and now he is a media star with CBS Sports HQ, also Sirius XM, and that is our pal, Lige Duesibault. Lige, how you been? I'm good, Zach.

How are you doing? Well, I'm doing fantastic, and I'll tell you, I've been so impressed so far by Aaron Rodgers. Usually, I don't give a rat's ass about preseason or training camps or OTAs, but this guy could do no wrong right now, and he's saying and doing all the right things.

You can say that, Zach. You talk about a guy that... There was a lot of question marks going into this offseason after the Jets traded for him, right? Because for the last three or so years, he hadn't really showed up to the offseason programs.

There was questions about continuity with the young receivers. Then he comes to the Jets, right, Zach? And he's there the entire offseason, building that rapport with Garrett Wilson, right? He already had the rapport with Alexander Randolph-Cobb, but making sure he got that rapport with Tyler Conklin and also Garrett Wilson. And then on top of that, Zach, he did something that I don't think anybody could fathom. He gave back essentially $35 million so the Jets could have cap rule to potentially sign other players, whether it's now before the season or right at the trade deadline. So Aaron Rodgers has done an amazing job. He's also been a really good mentor for Zach Wilson.

I'm actually excited to see Zach Wilson play tonight. And Jet fans right now, as they should be, they're like fat kids in candy stores. They're jumping up and down. They're delirious. They're going nuts. But then you have some Jet fans saying, all right, this organization always tortures you. You see Rodgers, he's saying all the right things now. He took $35 million less, but naturally Jet fans are like, when does the other shoe just drop here? What do you say to that Jet fan that is still skeptical that something will go wrong here? Yes, stop with all that negativity.

We don't have time for all that. Let's just put this into perspective. In that 2010 season, right, Aaron Rodgers had a top five defense, Zach. You know what happened at the end of that year? Green Bay won the Superbowl. Aaron Rodgers has been coming to a situation where he has an elite championship type defense. So if the Jets don't need MVP Aaron Rodgers now, would you love that?

Of course, right? That's icing on the cake. But if they could just get adequate quarterback play, and last year for Rodgers to his standards was a down year. For a lot of quarterbacks in the league, it's still almost a career year. I mean, the guy threw for nearly 3,700 yards and 26 touchdowns. If you look at the history of the Jets entirety, only two quarterbacks have ever done that in Jets history. One was my guy, Fitz Magic, Ryan Fitzpatrick, and the other guy was smoking Joe Namath, who won a Superbowl. So if the Jets just get that Aaron Rodgers last year, girls, they lost six games within one score.

So they could have won 10, 11, 12 games and potentially won the division. So when you talk about a championship defense, you're talking about Aaron Rodgers, the four-time MVP who is highly motivated, who's pissed off a little bit. And then Sean Payne even just kind of threw some fuel on the fire for him recently, talking about his dear friend and offensive coordinator that Daniel had. Could you get a pissed off Aaron Rodgers?

The last time we saw that was before the 2020 season. And what did Rodgers go out there and do? 48 touchdowns, only five interceptions, and won the MVP. So how are we talking about Aaron Rodgers at the end of the year? I believe we're talking about a guy, hopefully that's holding up the Lombardi, but if not a deep playoff run. And I believe we're talking about a guy that's going to play one more year for sure. If not two more years, there's been talk that he could potentially play three years.

Now, I think he also said if it's a magical year, who knows what happens, right? Say the Jets do go on and do what they're supposed to do and then win the big one. I could see him going off into the sunset and I don't think any Jets fan would be mad about that. But I believe at the end of this year, we'll be saying Aaron Rodgers is getting ready for the next season, 2024 in the Jets uniform. So you talked about Zach Wilson earlier and how you're excited to see him play tonight. Do you think he still has a future in this league one day as a starting quarterback?

Time will tell Zach, to be honest, because some of the film that we saw the last few years was got awful if I'm being frank. And it's just the little things, the things that are boring to most people he struggled with, right? Fundamental in the pocket, footwork, making your top half match your bottom half and going through your reads, right? When there's a little bit of pressure and the pocket crumbles just a little bit, him automatically using his athleticism to get outside the pocket and throw off platforms. Those are the things that he struggled with, the simple things, right? Check down passes, getting your feet in the ground, making a check down pass.

When that back foot hits in this West Coast offense, throwing it to the receiver and hitting them in stride, right? Those are the things he struggled with. So those are the things I want to see him grow with. And the thing is Zach, this is like the first year he's actually had a veteran quarterback be like a mentor, a guy that he actually looks up to that he grew up watching, right? And Aaron Rogers, I've loved what I've seen on film and practice as far as he's been a guy even through individual periods, right? If Zach Wilson takes a snap and his foot works off a little bit, or he doesn't like what he did mechanic wise, he goes to him and talks to him right after that play. It's not like he waits a couple of plays later. So I believe Zach Wilson has never really had that mentor figure in the locker room before that he really looked up to and listens to.

And I believe that will benefit the kid a lot. Let's get to the next down. Liget Duzibol here with us. So I'm going to bring up Justin Jefferson for a second. In year one, he had 1400 yards that in year two had a little over 1600 yards. And then last year I had a little over 1800 yards. Last year with no quarterback, Garrett Wilson had 1,103 yards. So we've seen Justin Jefferson somehow get better. How much better does Garrett Wilson get now have an Aaron Rodgers?

I mean, you just stated it, right? I mean, Garrett Wilson, to put this into perspective, Zach had four different quarterbacks throw him the ball and he went over 1100 yards. So you're talking about not having any continuity with your quarterbacks and still going over 1100 yards or rookie year.

Imagine being blessed to have a four time MVP. I would say before Patrick Mahomes, people would say was the most talented quarterback as far as the skill from a skill set. One of the most talented quarterbacks we've ever seen. Grace, a grid iron field and Aaron Rodgers, right? And then Aaron Rodgers comes out and says, you see the little bit of Davante Adams and Garrett Wilson, right? So how much better can he be?

Go ahead and mark this down. Clip is that Garrett Wilson will eclipse 1500 yards this year and he may eclipse 1600. I'm telling you that right now with Aaron Rodgers, that quarterback Garrett Wilson will eclipse 1300 yards. Now the big question is just going to be in the playoff game, does Rogers get too dependent on Garrett Wilson? Like he was with Davante Adams a few years ago, and then just doesn't hit the layup throw. Cause that was a concern in green.

Remember that game? I think, I think the difference is he has a lot of faith and trust in Allen Lazar, especially in the red zone. If you look at Allen Lazar red zone numbers, they're astronomical. Like I believe the last two years, if I'm not mistaken, he's had at least 12 touchdowns or maybe even more in the red zone.

So he really trusts Allen Lazar in the red zone. So I don't think that that'll be as big of an issue as it was when he was in green Bay. Um, also with Dalvin cook, do you think he'll be on the, in this back field? Do you think he'll be with the jets?

Ultimately, I do believe he will. Right. I just about what the jets are offering them. And I was talking about this earlier this week on CBS, when you're Dalvin cooking, you're a veteran in this game. There's a number that you want to play for now. Nobody's probably going to read your number just because that's where the running back market is right now. So if you're going to have to settle for a lesser deal, Zach, why sign now and put your body through training camp.

You know what I'm saying? So like a lot of these veteran running backs, I'm sure if winter for net or Ezekiel, they want one of the five for league minimum, they would be on teams already. But they're like a team is going to call me right before the season.

I'll find a deal. And that way I don't have to have the wear and tear training camp on my body. I think that's what Dalvin cook is doing. I also think he's playing the weight in the game in case somebody goes down and then a team is potentially willing to meet him at his number. I still don't think anybody will meet him at his number of if I'm him.

Right. I was supposed to make $10 million. I'm coming off with four straight years where I rest for over 1100 yards, four straight Pro Bowls. I want to at least make eight mil, but that's what the market is right now. I don't think teams are willing to pay that this late in camp for a running back.

It's always about back by committee. So you should probably looking at a deal between four to $6 million with incentives to maybe push it up to seven is what he's probably looking at. And if that's the case, he's probably in no rush to sign that when he knows he can sign it right before the season starts. And I'm not saying that he wouldn't sign with the jets, but it feels like he's using the jets to go to Miami and say, guys, I'm about to sign with an AFC East rival team. That's been the talk of it. I want to go home.

You guys got up your offer. That's the way that I looked at that tour that he went on at the Jets training camp last week. Yeah, it's all about a buffer, right? He's trying to get each team and it seems like he's really honed in on the AFC East, right? Cause there was rumors that the Patriots were in on them supposedly Buffalo bills ran on them.

Yeah, exactly. We know the Miami dolphins and jets are definitely in on them, right? So it's all about trying to raise your stock, right? How high can you get it to make a team come up a little bit more to where you're at? To me, the Miami dolphins just never made sense.

Yes. It makes sense if he wants to sign there for $3 million, but is he going to be willing to do that? I mean, if you look at their running back situation, Jeff Wilson and Raheem Oster combined from 1500 yards last year, like why would you pay one running back? Seven, $8 million. We can get both of those guys for about three and a half, $4 million a piece and have that same combination.

Get 1500 yards for you. And plus they took Devon HN high in the draft who was a home run, uh, Fred as well in the backfield. So the Miami dolphins thing just never made sense to me. I don't think Miami and Chris Greer are going to really change their offer. If there is one out there.

Uh, again, if he wanted to sign for like 3 million, I guarantee that they would have signed them up already, but I don't believe that one could want to pay a play for that. Let's get to the next down. Liget Dusaball here with us. So as I brought up Justin Jefferson, I'll now bring up the Washington commanders. A few years ago, they had a dominant defense and then last year their defense came back down to earth. So people look at the jets, they go, Oh, they have a great defense.

Maybe they'll come back down to earth, but there's a difference here. The jets ended up getting a quarterback. The commanders didn't. Is there any concern with this jets defense on the year? Cause I look across the board, they're loaded head into this season.

Yeah, I think Joe Douglas has done a really good job and I would just say this about the commander situation. I mean, when you lose, you know, chase young early in the season, Jonathan Allen was hurt too on that team. I think people tend to forget that they were in flux at the quarterback position because William Jackson didn't really work out for them. A fuller on the other side has been really good, but that's why they went and got Emmanuel Forbes this year in the draft. So I believe that commander's defense will bounce back, but going back to the jets, right. They literally retained almost everybody. Now they did lose some depth in the interior defensive line group, but I thought they did a really good job of kind of replacing some of those pieces. I think Clinton Jefferson is going to be a really good defensive tackle who has the ability to get after the quarterback from the inside as well.

And I did lose Nathan Shepard. And then my gosh, Sheldon rankings went to the Houston Texans, but other than that, the jets literally bought everybody back except for Quan Alexander, which Jamie and Sherwood and Quan is a hell of a player, but I think Jamie and Sherwood is ready in his third year to take that step, to prove that he can be a guy that can be out there with, you know, CJ Mosley and also Quincy Williams, because he's a guy for the last three years, he's always had to been the third guy before linebacker that had to learn all the positions. Right. But now he's kind of settled in on that Sam position, but he's still backing up CJ Mosley just in case he goes down.

Talking to CJ Mosley, Jamie and Sherwood was one of the brightest dudes on that defense. Right. So I think it's coming together from him. The issue that he's had is he hasn't been able to stay healthy.

Right. So I believe last year he would actually had an opportunity to play, but he got nicked up like he did his rookie year. So this would be a big year three for him. And the coaching staff has a lot of faith and trust in him, but I think they've actually elevated at the safety position. I mean, Tony Adams is a guy that people are starting to bring buzz about, but he was playing really well for them at the back end of last year, even though he's an undrafted free agent.

I think another year in the system for Jordan Whitehead, we'll see him return to who he was with the Tampa Bay bucks. And I love the late signing of Adrian Amos. He's just been a consistently good safety in this league. We know what they got at the cornerback position, probably the best trio of corners. When you look at Michael Carter, the second in that slot position, he just does not get enough respect for what he does play in and play out. So Garner, you know, for all intents and purposes was voted the number one corner in football by the players this year. And it was an all pro last year. And he, they replayed at a pro bowl level last year. He doesn't get the respect and accolades he deserves, but this defense, man, you're talking about the deepest, one of the deepest, deepest lines in all of football.

They're going to come at you in waves. And now that they got their star defensive tackle, Quentin Williams under contract, that's nothing they have to worry about going through the season. I think this defense is going to be locked in and with Aaron Rogers on the other side, they can be even better. Cause now you're thinking about this, Zach, right? They're going to be fresher towards the end of the game because the offense is going to have sustained drives.

Like, so in the fourth quarter, if it's tight or they're up, they're going to be able to send that D line at you in waves. Do you trust the head football coach in Robert Sala? I do. I think first and foremost, Zach, you have to be a leader of men. And Robert Sala is a great leader of men. Like people and players quickly can tell if you're authentic or not. And the guy that you guys see on camera, the guy that's running up and down those stadiums, the guy with the energy on the top, that's truly who he is day in and day out.

Right. He holds his players accountable, but he also has to have, he always has their back to Zach. And that's the thing that really separates him from a lot of guys in this league. Like he wants all his players to get paid. Like he loves when his players get paid. And that's why you see so many players speaking highly of them and they're running through a brick wall for him because they love the guy he is and how authentic he is. Let's get to the final down on the way out with Liget Doosaball. So I'd like this Jets team headed into the year.

How can you not like Rogers? You take a look at the wide receivers. They clearly have enough defensively.

We just all talked about it. The one concern I have is the offensive line. What's your evaluation of this O-line headed into this season?

Yeah, that's the elephant in the room, right Zach? Can this offensive line stay healthy? I know a lot of Jets fans were mad at Douglas last year, but it's like, what can he do? He literally, his top four offensive tackles all got hurt last year. It's starting with Makai victim last year, then George Fent gets hurt. And then also the Wayne Brown gets hurt before the season starts. The Max Mitchell guy that wasn't even supposed to play, played really well.

And then he had a medical issue and he had to be out. So, I mean, he did what he could do as far as throwing bodies at that offensive tackle position. I like where we're at in the interior offensive line. Now there is a battle at center right now. I know the Tippmann kid that they drafted supposedly is not even in that race, right?

It's Connor McGovern and then the Western kid that they brought in via for agencies. Supposedly those two are in a nice battle for the center position. I believe Connor McGovern will ultimately win that battle, but I think Lincoln Tomlinson bounces back and has a good year. And ABT to me was the focal point of that offensive line until he got hurt. I mean, you're talking about a guy in year two, Zach, that could start at both guard positions. And then when they needed them, when all that type of tackle injuries happened, they sent him out to the left tackle versus Denver Broncos.

He didn't give up a pressure that game and dominated until he got hurt. So him coming back, I believe he's an all pro type guard, him coming back and playing right guard. Now it's just a tackle positions. Who will it be?

Right? Will it be my contact or the Wayne Brown at left tackle? Cause it seems like Matt Mitchell kind of has a stronghold on that right tackle position. Again, he played really well last year going into his second year, you would think he elevates his game. And from what I heard from camp, he's been the one tackle that hasn't been getting beat really when everybody else has last thing I'll ask you. And I will agree on this.

I'm sure of it. My Patriots are fourth in this division, one, two, and three though. How do you rank the bills dolphins and the jets?

It's tough, man. I think they're all coming neck and neck. Um, I know you'll call me a Homer. I just think with the addition to Aaron Rogers, if you look at the defenses on those other two teams, the bills, and also the Miami dolphins, you would have to say the jets have a better defense, right? And they retain most of their players from last year. I would say jets one, because one, they're not scattered to Buffalo bills. I know people were like, how are you going to pick them over the bills? The bills have won a division so many years in a row. Let's not forget the jets beat the bills and met life with Zach Wilson last year.

They wouldn't beat them up there in Buffalo like white thing, get killed. And even though he was getting killed, they were still about to win the game until Michael Carter fumbled that ball late in the fourth quarter. So they still had the opportunity to beat them, even though Mike white was getting beat to a pulp because of that offensive line. If you look at the Miami dolphins, they're to me, the scariest team in the AFC East, if I'm being honest with you that based on if Tua can stay healthy, right? They are the most explosive offense in football.

Anytime you have a four by 100 meter relay team on your offense, it's scary for divas. According to trying to track Tyree kill, trying to check Dylan Waddle, Raheem Mostred can run extremely fast. Devon HN can run extremely fast.

Let's not forget chosen chosen. Anderson is there now. Robbie Anderson.

That guy can fly as well, too. So like you talking about the straight speed that puts fear and defensive coordinators. That's what the dolphins have.

And then on defense, they brought in the guru to fix that defense. Big Benjamin, they did take a big loss with Jalen Ramsey, probably being out till December. But I've heard that second round pick camps meant to a lot of people had a first round great on has played really well. And he's been given the first opportunity to potentially start opposite of Xavier and Howard. They said Xavier and Howard is back to his old self. Believe he's already got three picks already through training camp.

He's looked really, will really good bouncing back from them hamstring injuries he had last year. So you're going jets, one dolphins, two bills, three. That's what it sounds like. I think that's where I'm going. I know people will kind of look at me crazy.

I just and gals, you can speak to this because you've been in the industry for a while. Usually a team has a window of three, maybe four years ago. Stretch it unless you got Patrick Holmes. And maybe you could throw Joe Burrow in that category at quarterback, right? I just feel the bills have missed their opportunity. We saw once one Miller went down last year, they weren't able to affect the quarterback. Now they did bring in Leonard Floyd, which I thought was a major signing, but it looks like Vaughn could maybe not be ready for the season. It'd be interesting to see if he stays on pup or do they bring him off pup before the season, just in case he's ready by like weeks free. That'd be something interesting because Vaughn's my guy. He's not a human being, but father time is undefeated and coming off of ACL in your mid thirties.

That's a tough feat, no matter who you are. Yeah. The way I look at the AFCs, if you tell me the bills with the division clearly wouldn't be shocked dolphins jets, none of those teams would shock me. But usually when everyone says one thing, the opposite happens and everyone's already assuming that to a tongue of ILO is going to get hurt at some point. So I ended up saying, I'm like, how y'all do already assuming he goes here? I think the dolphins are going to win the division that that was my pick. I would not be, I'm not arguing with you on that.

I would not be surprised. Yeah. And it's almost impossible to differentiate those three teams anyway. We say dudes, the ball is the kick ass job. CBS sports HQ, Sirius XM. You see him everywhere talking football. We appreciate it. My friend. Appreciated that.