Dak Prescott poised for a BIG SEASON⁉️👀 + Predictions for Aaron Rodgers & the Steelers | Get Up

Dak Prescott poised for a BIG SEASON⁉️👀 + Predictions for Aaron Rodgers & the Steelers | Get Up

Rookies report. I have asked our esteemed panelist for some burning questions. Bill Barnwell, what’s yours? My burning question is whether the Steelers are actually going to trade TJ Watt, who is up for a new deal after this season, reportedly wants to be paid appropriately as one of the highest paid edge rushers in all of football. A Steelers team that has basically made moves, suggesting they’re all in this off seasonason with a 41-year-old quarterback. Can they really justify trading away their best player when they’re in a position to win now with that current roster? I don’t think so. Dominique, what do you think? Yeah, I think it’s unlikely. I can’t imagine that they would trade him for draft picks because as Bill said, they’re looking to go all in this season. Maybe they could figure out someone that’s willing to do a trade like the Fitzpatrick and Jaylen Ramsay trade where you trade two talented kind of players who are still can contribute right now, but I see it as unlikely. Like I think TJ Watt plays for them this year and they make as good a run as they possibly can. Still looking for that contract extension. We will see. Kevin Clark, what’s your burning question? Is Aaron Rogers washed? So last year in New York, he had one of his shallowest depth of target in his entire career. He got rid of the ball really quickly and he wasn’t particularly good. In fact, he hasn’t been good since he won the MVP four years ago. So now he goes to a Pittsburgh Steelers team with a good supporting cast, DK Metaf, who is going to give him some easy answers and a defense that will presumably win him a bunch of games. He doesn’t have to be great, but is he washed, Bill? Is he? I believe he is washed. And unfortunately, I know this better than anybody. Aaron Rogers is 41 years old. I am also just turned 41 years old. You don’t get better. You don’t get better. We’ve noticed unfortunately. Sure you do. But fortunately, it doesn’t get better. 26th in QBR in 22. Miss all of 23. 25th in QBR last year with the Jets. With a roster built to his specifications, why is it going to be any better without that in place in Pittsburgh? Yeah, 41’s the new uh 39, I’m told. Dominique, what’s what’s your burning question? [Music] being among the best quarterbacks in the NFC. I think Caleb is an outstanding um talent obviously and they’ve added the offensive line support that they needed along with Ben Johnson and um some talented and some talented in a talented tight end. I think Caleb Williams has a great season. But we’ll see what happens if he can compete with Jaden Daniels who right now I think is the most attractive young talented quarterback in football. Maybe Caleb can give him a run for his money with the talent that he has. Like Bill, I have firsthand knowledge of the situation because I’m also one of the most talented guys in my field, let down by my supporting cast. But no, for me, last year, the Bears had one of the dumbest plans I’ve ever seen. A guy who holds on to the ball too long in college put him in front of a offensive line that was going to get him the most unblocked pressures and sacks since NextG Stats started tracking almost a decade ago. Surprise, it didn’t work out. All of a sudden, they get credibility in the coaching staff. The Bears might have solved a problem in that regard. They were able to get credibility in the offensive line. This is going to work. He’s going to be great this year. All right. Bears have a tough assignment with that division. Uh three teams ahead of them that made the playoffs last year. We’ll see what Caleb can do in year two. Let’s head to Dallas now where the Cowboys are less than two weeks away from heading to Oxnard for training camp where all eyes will be on Dak Prescott who will be given the full go for camp after missing nine games with a hamstring injury last season. With health now on his side, Dak’s been able to look ahead to growing the connection with his new wide receiver duo. Listen to what he had to say. to be the guy that gets to get them the ball. It’s exciting as hell because you can turn on the OTAA tapes and one of one of the guys the ball’s in the air and the other one’s got his hands up celebrating already. Uh we just got to continue to grow that and continue to make sure that that’s trending the right way. Still has CD Lamb and they got George Pickkins from the All-In uh Steelers. Are you more optimistic or skeptical about how this is going to work? First of all, Dak can pull off a bucket hat. Very very few people can. Very few people can. Uh, I am pessimistic for a couple reasons. On the field, this can work. George Pickkins, you look at his numbers as far as stretching the field, vertical routes, he’s one of the three best in the league since he entered into this league with the Pittsburgh Steelers, which by the way had quarterback issues. Off the field, that’s where I have concerns. Number one, if Mike Tomlin offers you a skilled guy in a trade, hang up the phone, lock his number, never talk to him again because he’s usually going to win that trade. But then you think about the Cowboys and how they manage their contracts, how they play games, how they they they play out the string and seem to be, as Dominique has said many times, programming a reality show with how they deal with contracts. George Pickkins is entering the last year of his deal. He’s going to want to get paid. He’s going to want to have the ball in his hands. This has the potential for offseason fireworks a lot. A lot of offseason fireworks. You said quarterback issues, and that was a very subtle move by you, Kevin. He has had terrible quarterback play in Pittsburgh over the course of his career. He has the second lowest expected catch rate per the NFL’s NextGen stats, which has been around for almost a decade, uh, of any quarterback or any receiver over the last three years. And he has the sixth highest catch rate over expectation. He has been doing more than other wide receivers would do in those same situations. And it is a bad contract spot. But for me, this is not about ressigning with the Cowboys. This is about signing elsewhere for George Pickkins. This is an audition. If there’s ever a reason for him to be on his best behavior in a pass happy offense, would it not be this year with him? He’ll get right on that. What do you think, Nick? Yeah, I mean, I think Dak’s been awesome when he’s coming off of injuries. And I think we underappreciate how good a quarterback he’s capable of being, particularly when you give him talent on on the outside, which he’s going to have this year. And I think Kevin’s probably right. It does spell trouble for potential offseason issues, but we ain’t at the offseason yet. We’re talking about the regular season. And I think the offseason gets a lot easier if the regular season goes well. It’s an uphill battle because that division is tough and getting tougher with um the emergence of the Washington Commanders. But I think Dak and that talent on the edge with him having the freedom of uh some health and a new offense or excuse me, a new head coach, I think it becomes more Dak’s team and he puts up big numbers in the receivers. Both of them are happy. You mentioned Dak does win big when he’s coming off injury. uh after missing the final 11 games in 2020, he went 11 and five the following year and then uh after missing the uh the final five games in 2022, he won 12 games and threw 36 touchdowns the next year. So, if the pattern holds, Kevin, uh Dak should have a monster year, don’t you think? Yeah, if he’s healthy, that that’s true of a lot of guys. If he’s healthy, are are they good enough on offense for him to have to add to this kind of chart? Yeah, this kind of chart. I just don’t see a ceiling as a team that’s significantly higher than it has been the last couple years. the third best team in this division. I don’t see any way they close the gap, not only with the Eagles, but with the Commanders. That’s just more talented roster in Washington right now. So, I think Dak’s going to have a vintage Dak year, and it might not matter. That’s the unfortunate thing for the the Cowboys, right? Maybe stretched a little bit as a head coach in Chicago, but a very good DC in Chicago and Indianapolis. My concern, of course, is Dak staying healthy. That offensive line was inconsistent last year. I know they added another first round pick to that mix. That offensive line is going to decide how the Cowboys offense goes, how that team goes. Most often when they’re good, their offensive line is good. Yeah, the offensive line made up almost exclusively of dudes named Tyler. Uh maybe what do you think about the Cowboys this year with Dak back healthy? Yeah, I mean I think the m one of the major issues last year you alluded to was like how bad the defense was and frankly it can’t be that that much worse. Like it’s impossible to be worse than they were last year particularly at stopping the run. I think an improvement on the defense is inevitable and that gives them a lot more room to work. And of course, Michael Parsons, I assume he’s going to get his contract extension on day one of the season because that’s the Cowboys way and he’ll ball out this year and put up big numbers. Or maybe they don’t extend him at all, in which case he might break the single season sack record. Yeah, it was they got the Thursday opener, right? So maybe it’s a few days earlier than Dak little Wednesday afternoon got his last year. We’ll see. We’ll certainly be following that storyline. Tell us why this is a make orb breakak season for Justin Fields. It’s his last chance to have a clear path to an NFL starting job. Of course, he struggled in Chicago. We saw some highlights, some low lightss for him in Pittsburgh last year. Plays pretty well, but then they hand the job to Russell Wilson. You don’t normally get starting jobs in four different places without having to compete all that much. So my concern here is if he doesn’t make it with Garrett Wilson at that offensive line, he’s not going to get a chance to be the number one guy elsewhere. Dominique, what do you think about Justin Fields in New York this year? Yeah, I mean, I think a lot of us have seen the talent for a long time, and he shows it in flashes, but to be able to be a consistent starter and get rid of the ball on time regularly is something that he hasn’t been able to do consistently. And I think Bill’s right, this might be his last chance. I don’t see too many other teams giving him a chance as a starter after this unless he has a big and impressive year and and shows some growth particularly in that area of getting rid of the ball one time. Can he have a big year with the Jets? Not this year. But here’s the thing. Aaron Glenn comes from the Dan Campbell coaching tree and I was there when Dan Campbell took over and they swore up and down that Jared G was not a bridge quarterback and everybody was laughing at them and they had a genuine belief in Jared Goff. Nobody remembers this now. Everybody was laughing at the idea that Jared Goff wasn’t a bridge quarterback and philosophically they just bought in. And so if the entire Aaron Glenn the the the the staff, the building, everybody says Justin Fields is our guy, a lot of things can happen. I don’t think it’s going to be this year that they lack talent. I think they’re going to do a slower rebuild, very similar to Dan Campbell, everything on time, no skip steps, build the talent base every year, kind of spend year one stripping down things to the studs, figuring out who wants to be a part of a rebuild. But I think Justin Fields, if he sticks it out, if there’s belief there, he can have a good run in New York. So, not necessarily a make orb breakak year. You think he can hang around long enough till they build up that infrastructure around him a little bit like I hope he can like Detroit. It’d be fun to see. That’s for sure. Uh, like Bill said, he has shown flashes. Kevin, why is this a make orb break season for Kyler Murray? Well, uh, I’m a huge Kyler Murray guy. This comes from a place of love. The Cardinals are getting better. I think their roster is leveled up this season. I think they are going to be pretty good. I think Jonathan Ganon schemes with a guy like Buddha Baker, some of the most interesting things we’ve seen in football. But when you start to get a good roster, the spotlight gets on the quarterback. Kyler Lamar statistically has not gotten any better since his rookie season. He needs to reassert himself as a franchise quarterback. The price is steep. If they ever wanted to move on him from him next year, it’d be over $50 million in dead cap. It probably be a trade instead of a cut. But unless Kyler Murray establishes himself as the guy in the next two years, the Cardinals are going to start looking at him and saying maybe you’re the problem. I don’t think that’s the case. I think he’s going to have a big year, but the spotlight is going to be on him. He has to prove himself this year. Nick, what’s at stake for Kyler? Uh, I mean, I’m glad that that Kevin’s coming from a place of love. You think that I I too come from a place of love. I think Kyler is incredibly talented and I I think that’s why it’s not really make or break for him. They are committed to him financially. I know it’s not like a eight-year deal, but that’s the case. And he’s also someone who I think the talent level is high enough that we’ve already talked about how Justin feels has been a bunch of different places. If the worst case scenario happens for Kyler Murray, he’s shown enough talent that he’ll get another shot. like it doesn’t feel like make or break in the same way that it does for some other quarterbacks who haven’t had as many good runs as Kyler or or many good stretches of of quality play as Kyler Murray. Bill, yeah, the difference between Kyler Murray and some other quarterbacks in this tier is that he’s had health his entire career, right? I mean, he had DeAndre Hopkins in his prime earlier in his career. Now Trey McBride, Marvin Harrison Jr. wasn’t great last year, but still a really preeminent prospect. James Connor a very good running game. They’ve had pieces to work with in Arizona this entire time. So, at some point, if you change the coordinator, if you change the receivers, if you change the running back, eventually it does fall on Kyler. So, I kind of see Kevin’s side of things here. Quick, smart man. Smart man. Place of love. That’s what we’re all about here on Get Up. Kyler just doesn’t even turn 28, by the way, till next month. Nick, tell us why this is a make orb break season for Tua Tonga. Yeah, I think it’s honestly a make or break season for a lot of people down in Miami right now, particularly the head coach and the quarterback. And so if things go wrong, especially considering Tua’s injury history and they’re looking for a new head coach and they’re looking for a new regime, I don’t imagine that Tua is going to get another chance. And to the point that we were making earlier about it being really make or break if you’re not going to get other chances elsewhere, again, the injury concerns for two are serious. And I can’t imagine that there are any other teams outside of Miami that’d be interested in in investing in him as a long-term solution. So, I think if he puts up big numbers and has a great season, that changes the way that we talk about him and it keeps the people who believe in him, it keeps them in uh their jobs there and it keeps him in Miami. Yeah, I to second in yards per attempt and first in completion percentage in the NFL over the last three years. And you want to say the scheme is part of that. Okay, I’m willing to take that. They have not been a great team when Tua Tonga Violoa has been injured or on the bench. So, I do think he’d have a market elsewhere. I do think this Dolphins team has to consider what their sort of broader roster constructure is, right? I mean, they’ve lost pieces over the past two years. Javon Holland left this off season. Christian Wilkins left last offseason. They’ve lost some very young talented players. I think they have to figure out, are we really going to be able to compete with Tuatanga? I think he’d have opportunities elsewhere, but I wonder if Miami is going to move on from him if he doesn’t play well this year. Bill, I appreciate you backing me up on Kyler Murray, but I’m going with Nick here. Uh, Tua has a make orb breakak year ahead of him. Part of this just the timing element of it that at some point the Dolphins are going to have to reset their entire franchise. They have an aging expensive roster that was built to win two years ago in 2023. They had genuine pass rush death. They should have won a playoff game if they hadn’t gotten bit by the injury bug in November and December. It was heartbreaking from a football standpoint. Again, not to overstate things. Heartbreaking place to live. I’m not sure why I’m so empathetic today, but I I don’t think that this is lining up from a timing standpoint. I just think at some point that Chris Greer is going to be out of that GM job. Mike McDaniel, we’ll see. I would try to keep him around because he’s such an amazing play caller. But I just think they’re going to have to hit a hard reset button. Tyreek Hill is not going to be there forever. They built this team around speed, around the players that Mike McDaniel wanted, but they really really have to have to clear some some cap in the next few years until might be a part of that team’s top five contributors. And here are the top five teams on Bill’s list of skill position rankings. You see the Super Bowl champion Eagles there at number one, Lions, Bengals, 49ers, uh, Rams. So, interesting list. And I guess just to, you know, just to clarify, not quarterback, no, not offensive line, running backs, wide receivers, tight ends. So, the Bengals sitting there at number three, offense was unbelievable last year. They still missed the playoffs. Does this matter if the defense doesn’t improve? It means absolutely nothing if the defense does not improve because we saw Joe Burrow was an MVP caliber quarterback last year. Jamar Chase was the number one wide receiver in football. Tags was hurt, but when he was healthy, he was phenomenal. Chase Brown was excellent. They got great work out of their playmakers and it meant nothing cuz the defense was atrocious. No team has won a Super Bowl with a below average scoring defense since the 2011 Giants. You need to have that to survive in the modern NFL. And without Trey Hendrickson, they might even be worse on defense than they were last season. Nick, it wasn’t that long ago the Bengals were in the Super Bowl the following year in the AFC Championship game. It starts to feel like maybe it’s moving backwards a little bit. Is Burrow’s Super Bowl window closing? I mean, I think Joe Burrow’s the one that said the window is his career. So, I don’t think his if his career is not ending soon, I think he’s right that his window is not closing soon. But the key point, as much as we focus on Joe Burrow in this offense and how great they are, the key point is the one that that Bill already made is the defense. They’re going to have to get to the middle of the pack at least. You’re not going to be able to be competitive consistently and win two or three or four playoff games in a row if you can’t rely on your defense to make some stops every now and then. And you may not even make the playoffs as they saw last year. no matter how incredible your quarterback is, if your defense can’t find a way to get some stops. New defensive coordinator in Cincinnati, but they got to get some edge rushers uh signed uh if they’re going to do what they want to do on defense. Let’s move down Bill’s list a little bit into the 20s. Here are the teams Bill has ranked 21st through 25th. You see there, the Steelers, Chargers, Broncos, Saints, and Bears. Last season, you uh you had the Steelers skill position group ranked 27th, so I guess this is better. Can uh can Aaron Rogers elevate this group to uh to better than 21st best team in the league? No. I mean, Aaron Rogers was not elevating anybody outside of maybe Alen Lazard last year. He elevated perhaps a tiny bit. I mean, this is a new group of players. Aaron Rogers famously has had a rocky relationship with receivers he doesn’t already know. So, you’re maybe an adjustment period heading into the season. I think this has to be about the running game, about the offensive line, which is very young and improving, and about DK Metaf, who is going to have to be a guy who has a season more like that breakout year he had a few years ago. He hasn’t been at that level since then. I think he needs to be a superstar for them to thrive. What do you think? How you got to be unfair to Aaron Rogers last year. He elevated Nathaniel Hackett to OC and that went great. That went great, Bill. Yeah. Well, so no, he’s not going to elevate very much except except he can get rid of the ball quickly. Russell Wilson’s big problem last year was he was trying to be old Russell Wilson. Taking forever to get rid of the ball. Uh Aaron Rogers knows who he is now. He knows the limitations of his game. You saw that in how quickly he got rid of the ball last year. He’s just going to get in the ball in the hands of his playmakers, of the two tight ends he has, of DK Metaf. So, he’s not going to get in the way of elevation, which I don’t know if you hang a banner for that. Not getting in the way of elevating guys. Yeah, I I don’t know. We’ll we’ll see what happens. Steelers are I I’m I’m not sure exactly how to characterize their off seasonason. so far, but we’ll find out pretty soon. Uh, moving down the list a little further, you see teams 26 to 30. Um, these are four teams that that people probably don’t expect much from this year and also the Bills uh, who are 28th on this list. What did we say in the meeting? I think they were 24th last year, uh, and they were second in the league in points. So, what does that tell you? That quarterback they have is pretty valuable. Pretty valuable. Yeah, they they gave out an award last year for most valuable and it was Josh Allen. And this is again not including the quarterbacks. So look at the wide receivers in that room. James Cook had a good year at running back. Look at the wide receivers. Look at the tight ends. Do they scare you? The teams right ahead of them, the Giants and the Jets, right? Garrett Wilson would step in. Bills fans would be jumping through tables with excitement if they got Wilson. Malik Neighbors came in. They would be jumping off the roof through tables. They’d be so excited. That those teams, Giant Nets are not good. They have a guy who can get you a bucket if you need a bucket on third and fourth down. Think back to those two big plays against the Chiefs. Those two fourth downs last year. It’s a regular season. Josh Allen runs in a touchdown. Postseason, nobody’s open. They don’t trust that that anyone’s going to get open. They blitz and Josh Allen has to basically throw the ball up in a prayer. We know that Bills GM Brandon Bean would be upset uh by this topic. But Nick, what do you think? Is there enough around Josh Allen that they can win the Super Bowl? Absolutely. As long as Josh Allen is around Josh Allen, I think they got a chance to win the Super Bowl. Uh, I would push back a little bit on something Bill said is that Bills fans, if they got one of those top level receivers, would jump off of roofs through tables. I think they’re going to do that anyway. It doesn’t matter who’s playing receiver for them. They plan on making suicidal jumps towards tables because that’s their idea of fun. But yeah, the skill positions, they matter. I think when you want to win these lists and ratings, that’s one thing. But they found a way to be competitive. But Bill made a great point. those skilled players. There are key moments where if you have a guy like that, it changes the equation of the situation and it takes a little pressure off of your MVP level quarterback.

On Get Up, Domonique Foxworth, Kevin Clark and Bill Barnwell join Dan Graziano to discuss if Dak Prescott and the Cowboys will be successful this season, which quarterbacks need huge performances this season and much more.

0:00 Burning questions on T.J. Watt, Aaron Rodgers and Caleb Williams
4:11 How will Cowboys WR duo of CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens fare?
6:50 Is a big season coming for Dak Prescott?
8:40 What’s at stake for Justin Fields this season?
10:20 The importance of this season for Kyler Murray
12:40 Tua Tagovailoa must perform well this season
15:00 Will the defense hold the Bengals back this season?
17:55 Can Aaron Rodgers elevate the Steelers offense?

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