What are the top takeaways from the NFC teams in the 2022 preseason?
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00:00 The NFL preseason is officially in the books and joining me now with some notes and observations
00:06 from the weekend are our Fan Nation publishers, Jon McAroon, Ed Kratz, and Will Raggitz.
00:12 I'm going out at Montana-Pattison with SI right now.
00:15 And Jon, let's go to you first.
00:16 What were your biggest takeaways from this past weekend?
00:20 Yeah, the Detroit Lions concluded their preseason with a loss to the Steelers.
00:24 Not the best performance, but after the game, head coach Dan Campbell revealed to reporters
00:29 that Jeff Okuda, the 2020 number three overall pick, had done just enough and had performed
00:34 well in the preseason and throughout training camp to earn the starting nod opposite of
00:39 Amani Arwariye.
00:40 Now, last season, Okuda suffered a severe Achilles injury, which derailed his entire
00:45 second season in the National Football League.
00:47 So coming into 2022, he was battling in a competition with Will Harris, a converted
00:52 safety.
00:53 And the battle was really strong and back and forth, but for Jeff Okuda, who's looking
00:57 to rebound and have a successful career, really getting back out there and earning
01:01 the starting nod can only bode well for the Detroit Lions.
01:04 Yeah, and for the Philadelphia Eagles, it's hard to look at that game.
01:09 They played Saturday night against the Miami Dolphins and lost 48 to 10.
01:13 But you know, they sat 33 players, all of them starters and important second team guys.
01:18 So really not a lot of meaning in that game.
01:21 So I just kind of pushed that aside.
01:23 I think they have some interesting decisions to make.
01:26 They already made one.
01:27 They cut safety.
01:28 Joukowsky-Tart, who I thought would be a pretty good contributor in the secondary.
01:33 They signed him in the middle of June, but was never really able to find his footing
01:37 in Philadelphia.
01:38 And then at the wide receiver spot, they still have Jalen Rager, who they could possibly
01:42 trade.
01:43 And you know, Devon Allen, this Olympic hurdler, really made probably the best play of the
01:46 preseason, a 55-yard touchdown reception from Reid Sinnett against the Cleveland Browns.
01:51 I mean, this guy's just got speed for days.
01:54 You know, I think he can play in this league.
01:56 He's trying to play this game again for the first time in five years.
01:59 So there's some obvious challenges to that.
02:01 And then also Britton Covey, an undrafted free agent from Utah and wide receiver, looked
02:05 very good as a punt returner.
02:07 So it's going to be interesting to see as we get closer to cut down, what decisions
02:11 the Eagles make.
02:12 Yeah, for the Vikings, they've now lost seven preseason games in a row, dating back to 2019.
02:18 But that doesn't really matter.
02:20 What matters is the evaluation of players.
02:22 And somebody who really stood out throughout this preseason was rookie running back Ty
02:25 Chandler, a fifth-round pick out of North Carolina.
02:28 There's some talk that he could even make Alexander Madison, who's been Dalvin Cook's
02:32 primary backup for the past few years, tradable.
02:36 According to reports, more than a dozen teams have reached out to the Vikings about the
02:40 availability of Madison.
02:41 So we'll see if something ends up happening.
02:44 But regardless, it looks like Ty Chandler has a bright future.
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