NFLRT 4/12/2024

The questions and discussion…

1) It could arguably be said that when three-time Defensive Player of the Year Aaron Donald was active in the NFL that he was the game’s best defender…

Now that Donald is retired, in your opinion who is the NFL’s best player on defense? Why?

The best defender in the NFL is the best pass rusher in the NFL as well. He plays for the Steelers. His name? TJ Watt.

He is a menace on defense, who can fall back and defend an opponent’s running back or tight end with ease. He can get to the quarterback at any given moment, leading the league with 19 sacks last season. He also forced four fumbles, recovered three, had an interception and nine passes defended. For his career, he has 401 total tackles, 96.5 sacks, 27 forced fumbles with 10 recoveries and seven interceptions including 46 passes defended. 61 stuffs and two kicks blocked (which matches Myles Garrett’s career total). TJ Watt can do it all on defense, and he’s the next one in line for best overall defensive player, following in the footsteps of his older brother, JJ Watt. 

You know I think Aaron Donald knows a thing or two about playing defense and recently he was on “The Green Light with Chris Long” podcast and asked that question of “who the best player on defense is” and among the players he mentioned were Micah Parsons (Dallas) and Myles Garrett (Cleveland) but said that one other player stood out from among them all and that was T.J. Watt.

Donald said. “You talk about a guy that’s consistent. Been doing it year in, year out, consistently, that’s gonna get you 15 sacks, 13 sacks, 22 sacks, consistent. He’s the guy who’s been doing it consistently, interceptions, touchdowns, His stats are ridiculous every single year. He’s that guy to me…  you’ve got a bunch of good players. But in my opinion, in the time I’ve seen T.J. Watt in this league, from the first time I’ve seen him to last year, he’s consistently been dominating in this league. So a lot of respect for him.”

That gets no argument from me. I go with Watt, also.  

2) The Buffalo Bills traded Stephon Diggs and two Day 3 picks… a 2024 sixth-rounder (No. 189) and 2025 fifth-rounder…to the Houston Texans for a 2025 second-round pick.  

What is your opinion regarding this transaction? Why?

I really love the trade for the Houston Texans and don’t think that the Bills got enough in return for Diggs. But was acquiring Diggs from the Vikings ultimately worth it for the Bills? Yes, because they were able to get Josh Allen a solid number one receiver in his development into the league, and he provided a lot of input on offense, pushing the Bills farther than they would’ve gone if he wasn’t there. The Bills also get to open salary cap space off their roster with this trade, in which the Texans went ahead and removed all of his extra years off of his contract shortly after acquiring him. They also get some future, late-round draft picks which will come in handy when it’s time to draft. They only had to give up a second-round pick in next year’s draft for the potential of a huge weapon to add to the CJ Stroud and the Texan’s arsenal this season. The Texans’ offense is going to be super dangerous this season with the added weapon in a contract year and a potential huge return in free agency on the peripheral. This is an A+ for the Houston Texans. I just don’t know who Josh Allen is going to throw to next season outside of Shakir, Kincaid or Knox. 

The Texans rightfully believe that with CJ Stroud at quarterback in football they have one of the best in the game at the position right now and as such are going to do everything within their power to build the best team around him to make a run at winning it all right now.

And so they pulled the trigger on trading for Stephon Diggs. Then after getting Diggs they reworked his contract so they are only on the hook for the 2024 and Diggs can be a free agent after that.  

Meaning that after trading for Diggs, Houston remains a young team without many long-term salary cap commitments, and they just added a perennial Pro Bowl playmaker for the relatively cheap price of a 2025 second-round draft selection. Added to the fact that in Houston the team has the promising duo of Nico Collins and Tank Dell who will draw plenty of the opposing defense’s attention that Diggs won’t need to be the guy shouldering the load of an entire passing offense by himself as he so often did in Buffalo. This greatly enhances and opens up Stroud’s gam as well as Diggs’ opportunities to make big plays down field.

CJ Stroud is now a real threat to win the MVP this season and the Texans are far and away the favorite to win the AFC South.  

Texans get an easy “A” for this transaction.  

Right in the center of what many consider to be the middle of the Bills best chances to get to the Super Bowl the Bills traded away Allen’s arguably only prove receiver on the team in Diggs.  And it so without getting any compensation for a pick in this year’s draft and having to eat $31 million in dead salary cap money.  

Regardless of why they decided they decide they needed to dump Diggs this deal feels very one sided in favor of the Texans.

Bills get a “D” for this transaction.

3) With Stephon Diggs in the mix are the Texans the top choice in the AFC to upset the Kansas City Chiefs three-peat apple cart?

 Why or why not?

And if the Texans are not then which AFC team is the most likely candidate to stop the Chiefs from three-peating? Why?

While we’re on the subject of the Houston Texans, I definitely am all in on the hype train from this off-season and from last season’s success of rookie quarterback CJ Stroud. He gets a huge weapon in Stephon Diggs to group with Nico Collins. Diggs is entering a contract year now, after the Texans revised his contract and eliminated all of the remaining years, which should bode well for Diggs in his production, as he has something to prove. Diggs also has a new environment, in which there seemed to be some grumblings of disgruntleness in his last couple seasons in Buffalo with how much he’s been getting the ball, or situations in-house. The Texans also had a glaring need at running back, giving some help to CJ Stroud in giving opposing defenses a different expectation when it came to what the offense was going to do. They were able to trade for Joe Mixon, which is going to help tremendously all-around in being able to run down the clock and keep drives extended, give defenses something to stack, let the offense run RPOs and different play-action passes, let CJ Stroud open up the passing game more and space out the field. They had a great defense last year as well, and besides losing Greenard, they still looked very poised for a great season all-around. They’re going to take the number one spot in the AFC this season. 

In large part see the first part of my answer to question 2…

Combine that with what they did during free agency and other trades this off-season to fortify the team and this team is showing it intends to go all in for the Super Bowl as soon as they can in order to capitalize on the CJ Stroud era. 

The Texans are right now not only the favorite to win the AFC South outright but as of right now I got them as the favorite to dethrone the Chiefs as the best in the AFC come the playoffs.  

Not saying they will do it but they are right now the biggest threat to putting the kibosh on the chances of KC three-peating in 2024.

4) In this year’s draft which player on defense is the first man off the board? Why?

Dallas Turner, Edge, Alabama, will be the first defensive players off of the board come draft night.

He’s the best defensive player on many different rankings and had 60 quarterback pressures in 2021-2022. While he was outshined by Will Anderson Jr before Anderson was taken number three overall in last year’s draft, he excelled last season with ten sacks and ranked eighth in the FBS in quarterback pressure percentage at 16.7 percent.

He has a great pass-rush skills, can shed blocks and get to the quarterback or get to the running back in a run situation. He has great ball awareness on defense, strong hands, wraps up consistently when tackling and is going to be a dangerous player for any team who picks him up. 

I’m going with UCLA’s Laiatu Latu.

At 6-5, 259 pounds he has won the Vince Lombardi Award (nation’s top defensive lineman), Ted Hendricks Award (nation’s top defensive end) and finally won the Morris Trophy as the best defensive lineman in the PAC-12 which is an indication on how the opposing conference’s offensive linemen regard his abilities as they are the ones who vote for this award.

Latu might not be the quickest or strongest edge rusher in this year’s draft class, but he has very arguably the most technically refined skills of the players at the position coming into the NFL. Some say he already possesses the technique of a veteran edge player as if he has been playing for years in the NFL. Over the past two seasons at the college level he totaled a staggering 34.5 tackles for loss, including 21.5 sacks and five forced fumbles and led the PAC-12 in all three categories.

In my opinion he is the first defensive player off the board in this year’s draft.

5) Arguably it could be assumed that the New York Giants have questions regarding their QB situation…

In this year’s draft the Giants have the 6^th overall pick…  

Should the Giants, given Jones’ injury history and performance, go for their potential franchise QB of the future or select a WR to give Jones the true number one receiver that they haven’t had since probably OBJ was on the team? Why?

The Giants need to go with an offensive lineman and I think Joe Alt fits their needs perfectly. Last season, they struggled blocking anybody.

They could’ve let a group of high school students through the line and get to the quarterback last season. They need offensive line help. While getting a new quarterback would be nice, it’s not their biggest need. They apparently trust Daniel Jones to be their quarterback of the future. He proved he has the potential to be that quarterback of the future for them which is what brought his massive extension last season. They can get wide outs later in the draft. it’s an extremely deep class for wide outs and you can find a quality one in the second, third and fourth rounds.

But offensive line? In a league that’s short on depth at that position? Grab one right away. And grab the best one available. You need to secure the quarterback and give Daniel Jones time to throw the ball. Get him some offensive line help first and foremost in the draft. Then worry about wide receiver later. And they can even get a quarterback later in the draft as well. Maybe a Spencer Rattler. 

While I believe the Giant need to move on from Daniel Jones I also believe that the best QBs in this year’s draft worth using a first round pick on will be off the board when it is their turn to make a selection. With that in mind and the fact that besides QB this team needs help at wide receiver, offensive tackle defensive backfield, the defensive line, tight end and running back, the Giants should take the best player available at either  wide receiver or from among the offensive linemen.  

So with the Chargers most likely taking Ohio State WR Marvin Harrison Jr. at No. 5, tha leaves either Rome Odunze or Malik Nabers from the available wide outs or Taliese Fuaga or Joe alt from the best offensive linemen on the board.

And considering that in this year’s draft he wide receiver pool is considered one of the deepest in recent memory I think the Giants can forgo selecting either of the two guys listed above regardless of how tempting they would be and go fortifying their porous  o-line and they should select Joe Alt.