Happy week ahead, Multiversers; we are back with a Monday morning edition of the Morning After Huddle. As we anxiously await for SDCC (stick with us: we’ve got you covered), the NFL sprints towards NFL preseason in just a couple of weeks. That, coupled with Madden 23’s nearing release date, and guess what? It’s beginning to look a lot like football. Let’s see what we got for you this morning, starting in New England with a second year QB who is in a terrible situation.
- Mac Jones had a very good first half of 2021 and then an awful second half, culminating in a playoff game where he and the Patriots were systematically routed. Bill Belicheck had to hide his rookie QB in many games down the stretch and, now with no notable addition at WR and the departure of Josh McDaniels, this young QB will be asked to do so much more. In order to do that, it seems Mac Jones switched up his diet. No more big Macs at 3 AM for the former Crimson Tide QB, as Phil Perry of NBC Sports Boston shared Jones’s anecdote about how he improved his diet this off-season. Now, if only his GM had chosen to improve his wide receiver room.
- Speaking of wide receivers, Justin Jefferson set social media ablaze when he said that he will be the best wide receiver in the NFL by the end of this upcoming season. Jefferson has been the most productive young WR this side of Randy Moss in NFL history, eclipsing even the impressive marks of one Odell Beckham, Jr. As he nears a big-time contract and has taken over the number one WR role in Minnesota, it will be interesting to see if his claim pans out. Defenses will be looking to make other guys in the Vikings passing attack beat them.
- On the topic of big claims and defenses, Chauncey Gardner-Johnson believes that the New Orleans Saints will have the best defense in the NFL. The word “dominate” was thrown around by CGJ to on Good Morning Football, and with the additions to the back end with Marcus Maybe and the Honey Badger, there’s a good chance he’s right. The Saints defense was top 5 statistically in almost all defensive categories, and if they get Michael Thomas back to where he was then that can only help a Saints defense that really has ridiculous talent at all three levels. They’ll be somewhat tested in that division with Tom Brady and Marcus Mariota in an Arthur Smith offense, but not as tested when you remember they get to play Sam Darnold or Baker Mayfield. The Honey Badger, proof that you can always go home, is probably salivating at those two matchups.
- Lastly, on the topic of going home: Bobby Wagner’s career in Seattle ended this off-season, and he wasted no time signing with the Super Bowl Champion Los Angeles Rams. Wagner is a California native and, while we never know what role that plays in decisions, he said that it actually was one of the reasons he chose the Rams. Now, I buy it, but I also can’t help but wonder how much of this was that he also gets to play versus the Seahawks twice in one year, and he gets to compete for a Super Bowl.
