Brett Kollmann & Trevor Sikkema Answer Your Preseason Questions
STACKED extracted the fantasy-relevant player signal from this podcast and kept the full transcript here for context.
24 min
Duration
Estimated from transcript
Aug 26, 2026
Published
Wed, August 26, 2026
5
Player insights
5
Players mentioned
Topics
A.J. BrownDalton SchultzJackson HawesJalen HurtsMarlin Klein
Player analysis
Player insights
A.J. Brown
NegativeDepth Chart13:43
The absence of AJ Brown from the Eagles' roster will fundamentally change the team's philosophy regarding how they push the ball down the field and emphasize their passing attack.
Insight pageDalton Schultz
NegativeUsage17:14
Dalton Schultz is described as lacking the ideal run-blocking profile for the Houston Texans, which contributed to the team's reliance on six-offensive-lineman sets last season.
Insight pageJackson Hawes
PositiveUsage16:18
Jackson Hawes is identified as a game-changer for the Buffalo Bills' run game, with the team recording a 74.6% run rate when he is on the field. His presence as a true blocking tight end has allowed the Bills to move away from using a sixth offensive lineman.
Insight pageJalen Hurts
PositiveUsage11:43
Jalen Hurts is transitioning into a new offensive scheme under coordinator Sean Mannion that emphasizes under-center play action. While the offense may initially rely on bootlegs that cut the field in half, the goal is to evolve into full-field play action concepts that allow Hurts to utilize his accuracy and athleticism to access every blade of grass.
Insight pageMarlin Klein
PositiveRole17:29
The Houston Texans drafted Marlon Klein to serve as a true 'Y' tight end, with the expectation that his blocking ability will allow the team to reduce their usage of six-offensive-lineman formations.
Insight pageFull transcript
Episode Transcript
0:00Is play action dead? Why are blocking tight ends making Timofey Mozgov money at this point?
0:05And will the Eagles offense actually function? I'm gonna get my hamstrings loose before you go deep.
0:10All these questions and more will be answered today on NFL Fantasy Football Show.
0:14Coach, you feel the juice, coach? You feel the juice?
0:17It's awesome. It's our first time doing this, like literally our first video together on the channel.
0:22Originally we were gonna start on September 4th with our season preview episode, but you guys are very loud and you wanted something earlier.
0:29So Trevor, here we are. Dude, I'm so excited for this and you're right.
0:33This episode is 100% for the people by the people.
0:36Because this is a Q&A episode that we're doing.
0:39You and I tweeted out, hey, we know that you guys are excited for the NFL Pro concept that we have coming this year.
0:46And we would love to just hear some ideas from you guys.
0:50And Brett, you know, like I figured, you know, we get a couple, but we hadn't even launched the show yet.
0:56As people didn't exactly know what it was about.
0:59Brother, the floods of questions that we got. We're obviously not even gonna be able to get to all of them today.
1:05But don't worry everybody, we saw all of them.
1:08We've already got the Google Doc going on for the evergreen content to go back to some of these episodes and some of these topics.
1:15Because hopefully you guys get a little taste of the things that we're capable of and how we get to break things
1:22down from a film perspective, from an NGS perspective.
1:25But yeah, buddy, I'm excited to launch this show here with you.
1:28First, Trevor, I want to put you at odds with a former Tampa Bay Buccaneers coaching legend.
1:33Tell me why you disagree with John Gruden. Okay, yes.
1:36So the first question that we have here today that we want to dig into, this one comes from Tampa Bay sports fan.
1:43It says, Gruden has spoken recently about how teams essentially have banned play action from their playbooks.
1:48And it's now a thing of the past being replaced by RPOs.
1:52Do you think that this is accurate? And why is it to simplify the games for young quarterbacks who don't do this in college?
1:59And I think there is a little bit towards, you know, the second part of that tweet, Brett.
2:04And when you look at the reason why play action and RPOs are even a thing, I think fundamentally they're a little different, right?
2:12I think that RPO work is for the quarterback.
2:14I think that play action work is something that happens to the defense.
2:18So I think that they're a little bit different.
2:21It's not necessarily an apples to apples, but obviously these are two things that you sort of do at the beginning of the play.
2:28And I think that they've got different routes, but you're kind of trying to get the same result.
2:33And that is making things simpler when it comes to RPOs though.
2:37Like, you know, this it is a quicker type of offense, right?
2:40If you look at the last three years, so a little bit bigger of a sample size, the median time to throw for an RPO 1.63 seconds.
2:48So you are snapping the football, you're reading with the RPO and then the ball's coming out of your hands.
2:54Like it's a bubble screen. It's a slant. It's something.
2:57It's a lot of quick game stuff, but play action is totally different.
3:01When you look at the median number of time to throw through play action, it's 3.27.
3:061.63 and 3.27 when it comes to time to throw, you're talking about completely different plays here.
3:11So I don't really agree with John Gruden. Of course, all due respect, I don't really agree with what he's saying because
3:18I don't think they're really replacing one another. And I don't think the numbers really showed that either.
3:23There was a little bit of a dip in total teams that were kind of running a lot of play action, right?
3:30Because I went into NGS and I said, okay, give me the teams that ran at least 100 play action plays last season.
3:36And I did that for every season, Brett, going back to 2016.
3:402016, it was 5. 2017, it was 9. And then we got into double digits.
3:45It was 10, 11, 11, 14, 10, all the way to 2022.
3:482023 and 2024, which I think maybe is the reason why this question was asked.
3:537 and 7 both of those years. Again, we're talking about teams that ran at least 100 play action snaps.
3:59But in 2025, it was 12. So it kind of goes into the NFL getting a little bit more towards their 2006
4:05heavier era, like you said, the people absolutely love.
4:08But I also just, I don't really think that statement is true.
4:11And I think that, yes, younger quarterbacks like to operate in sort of that shotgun world where everything's in front of them.
4:18Because if you think about true play action, right, you're turning your back to the line of scrimmage.
4:23They never do it. Right. And that's the thing.
4:26They're not asked to do it in college because a lot of these college coaches, they're just trying to get kids to
4:33move the ball like as fast as possible. And in the NFL, you go, okay, snap the football.
4:38You turn your back to the play. Then you have to turn your back around.
4:42Now you're looking at the defense for the first time.
4:45Sure, you saw things pre-snap. But we live in a defensive world where almost nothing stays the same pre- to post-snap.
4:52So you're evaluating things. That's why the time to throw is so much longer.
4:56Yes, some teams like to operate in a quicker offense.
4:59So like RPOs can maybe replace play action a little bit because RPOs are still manipulating the defense in certain ways.
5:05But to me, Brad, I just think the offenses are just different.
5:09Sort of what is the expected result with RPOs versus play action to where I don't really – I don't agree with
5:15this statement just because I think fundamentally they are different things.
5:18And I believe that we're going to see here in 2026 play action is still going to be a major part of
5:25what we see a lot of – half of the league do.
5:29I'd be surprised if that 12 number of teams that ran 100 play action plays last year isn't bigger this year.
5:35Oh, it almost certainly will be. That's what I'm saying.
5:38So I think that, yes, RPO offenses as opposed to play action offenses help younger QBs when they're starting quickly.
5:44But ultimately, I think a lot of teams are going to want to continue to use play action.
5:49I don't see this as banning play action from playbooks.
5:52I just don't think that that's a thing. I mean, if we're looking at the origin of this, it's the difference between the college and the NFL rulebook.
6:01This is something that people don't realize. Like, yes, we know the hashes are wider in college, which then means that if
6:07the ball is spotted on a hash, right, you have way more space to the field side, which is going to encourage,
6:14you know, things like screens and all the stuff that really attacks laterally more so than vertically because the field, it's not
6:20wider in totality, but there's more workable space. The rule that people don't realize exists is specifically for RPOs.
6:26Linemen can get three yards downfield in college before they're ineligible.
6:29In the NFL, it's one. So obviously, you're going to completely take advantage of that in college and have centers and guards
6:36three yards past line of scrimmage because it's still legal, right?
6:39And, you know, the RPO rate in the NFL, I think, is like three to three and a half times lower, maybe
6:46even four times lower than in college because of that.
6:49Because you're just going to get flagged for an eligible receiver if you try to do it as much as they do in college.
6:56Which screen rate's lower as well. Which I think goes right into the next question that we had, which is all about the Eagles offense, right?
7:03I mean, like this is from Mr. H. A lot of talk about how the Eagles are changing schemes to help develop hurts.
7:10I know a lot of people are talking about that right now with Sean Manning, their offensive coordinator.
7:16What ways can they pivot depending on how that goes?
7:19So I know that you've studied and you've seen a lot of Sean Manning's offense.
7:23So I'll let you kind of spearhead this question because I know you got a lot more expertise in that area.
7:29So I've spent all summer studying this because Eagles fans, I mean, they're excited, but they're also nervous, as you heard.
7:36Right, right. And this is going to be a pretty drastic departure from what they're used to, right?
7:41It wasn't that long ago, just a couple years ago, when their total play count for the season in terms of under center play action was five.
7:49Last year, the Rams did it 217 times. So they're entering an entire new world here.
7:54And so if we look at, okay, what are Sean Manning's influences?
7:57What can we anticipate this is going to look like?
8:00You know, obviously played under Sean McVay with the Rams.
8:03While he was also kind of rewiring Jared Goff at the time.
8:07He was Jared Goff's backup. Goff came out of the air raid.
8:11They called it the bear raid at Cal. So he was learning how to do under center play action.
8:16And now Goff does it second only to like Stafford, basically, in the entire league.
8:21Especially with Ben Johnson, they did it all the time.
8:24And so he kind of got some of McVay's philosophy from playing under McVay in terms of the importance of under center play action.
8:31But really, his main influences are going to be from the Gary Kubiak side of the Shanahan Kubiak tree, which McVay is kind of an offshoot of.
8:39There's like a little mix of John Gruden in there, but it's a topic for another day.
8:44But if you're looking at all part of the all part of the all star Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
8:49Yeah, no, the NFL runs through Tampa Bay, Florida.
8:52I've often said this. I've often said this. But if you're looking at where he went to after McVay, he went to Minnesota, right?
8:59Gary Kubiak was obviously involved in Minnesota there, assistant head coach.
9:02Kevin Stefanski was the offensive coordinator. You know, work with Gary there and then left and then came back to Minnesota, whereas
9:09OC was Clint Kubiak, Gary's son, now head coach, the Raiders.
9:12And then he went from there, ended up coaching under Matt LaFleur, who, by the way, former Gary Kubiak assistant with the Texans in the late 2000s.
9:20That was when Kyle Shanahan was the OC. Mike McDaniel was there.
9:24So you could see how this whole cabal formed around Tampa Bay and Houston in the 2000s.
9:29And so the Gary Kubiak side is really his main influence, which back then in the late 2000s, it looks something like this, right?
9:36This is Texans tape. We're using it here on NFL Pro simply because we can.
9:41Why not? And it looked like this, right? It's naked bootlegs off a wide zone action.
9:45You've got Andre Johnson running down the field. It's actually a pretty well-covered play.
9:50But when you have Andre Johnson, who's 230 pounds and runs high 4'3", low 4'4", you're going to throw it anyway.
9:56And he's probably going to come down with it.
9:58You know, one of the byproducts of this style is that it's going to cut the field in half.
10:04Like you're really only working half the field. You have limited receivers down the field.
10:09So it better work. Which is why you kind of need an Andre Johnson.
10:13Cut! And that's a gain of 52. Then you get to Sean Mannion as a player under Clint Kubiak, Gary's son.
10:19Clint and especially Matt LaFleur really believed in kind of varying up the types of actions in their offense.
10:25So it wasn't just wide zone that led to a boot.
10:28You have stuff like this where, okay, we're running a counter action.
10:32And the pull key from the guard is going to move the linebackers to one direction.
10:36And we're going to have the angle of the back, the angle of departure of the back, keep those linebackers flowing in that direction.
10:44This tight end's looking like he's advancing up to the Mike linebacker.
10:47It just looks like a counter run. 10 times out of 10.
10:51And then he boots off of it. The tight end slips through.
10:54It's 24 yards on a deep cross. Easy peasy.
10:57But again, the field is cut in half. This is one of the limitations here.
11:01So if this like deep post or deep cross, if that comes open for a touchdown, but you're booting the other way,
11:08you can't really make that throw all the way back across the field unless you have like a Josh Allen arm.
11:14Like you have no shot. And what we've seen McVay with the Rams and LaFleur do a lot, which again, Mannion was
11:21just coaching under LaFleur, is they believe in play action off of man blocking concepts, like just vertical drops that keeps you
11:27in the pocket and able to access every blade of grass.
11:31We are not cutting the field in half. And if we look at this touchdown to Christian Watson, this was in 2024.
11:37Mannion was an assistant there under LaFleur. Love looking deep on first down.
11:41He's got a man out. Watson for a Packer touchdown.
11:44Look at how every single receiver is available to Jordan Love here.
11:48He can hit this deep dig. He can hit either check down in the flat.
11:52If this guy wants to pivot, he can go to the flat.
11:56Like he can hit anybody here. But again, because he's not booting and his feet are set, if he sees this alert
12:02post to Watson open, he can just hit it.
12:05And he does for a touchdown. So that's really what we're seeing evolve here in the play action game.
12:11It's not just wide zone and boots off wide zone and cutting the field in half.
12:15It's no, we are having the quarterback do a hard play action fake and be in the pocket so we can work the entire field.
12:23And that's what I think is going to be interesting to watch with Jalen Hurts as the season goes on.
12:29I think they're going to start off doing the boot game, the easy stuff that just manufactures completions, cuts the field in half.
12:36As the year goes on, we're going to see them do full field stuff off play action.
12:41And that's the true test because the best offenses in the Shanahan Kubiak cinematic universe are the ones that access every blade of grass.
12:48We'll see if they can get there. Jalen's been awesome.
12:51You know, I really think he can do anything we ask of him.
12:55He's accurate. He's a great athlete. Yeah, no, I'm fascinated to see Jalen Hurts' progression throughout the season because I agree with you.
13:02I think that there's going to be a lot of takes on the Eagles offense early on just because there always is.
13:08Everybody's very excited for the new football season, especially when you have changes at coordinator and quarterback and things like that.
13:14But I do agree with you. Like, this is going to be an offense that's supposed to evolve.
13:20And ideally, they would like for it to evolve to the end of the year.
13:24But sometimes it takes an evolution, you know, multiple years.
13:27Maybe it's something that, like, okay, now it takes a little bit of offseason.
13:31So we'll see how quickly, you know, Hurts and Mannion are really in sync and can really line it up here.
13:38Obviously, not having AJ Brown on the team either is going to totally change their philosophy of how they want to push
13:44the ball down the field, how they want to emphasize it, all that kinds of stuff.
13:49But, yeah, I think that that's going to be a fascinating development there to see what Hurts is like in the early
13:56weeks and then how much maybe they can expand the buffet.
13:59Buffet, if you – I couldn't even say, like, a plate because it feels like what Mannion is doing is it's going to be multiple plates.
14:07And we've all been there before. You go to a buffet, it's not just one plate, right?
14:12You didn't pay for that. You paid for multiple plates.
14:15Three sides minimum, baby. Correct, correct. I'm going to go to go ball this time.
14:19We've got to take what they give us. Let's move on to the next question here because we've got a couple more
14:26that we really want to get to. This is from Anthony.
14:29He said, I would love an episode about unheralded game changers such as defensive tackles that seal a gap and fundamentally change
14:36how defenses operate or blocking tight ends that changes the complexion of the run game.
14:40Yeah, I mean, this is a fascinating question. And to be honest with you, I think that everyone in the football world
14:47that follows NFL football specifically wants the answer to this question, Brett, right?
14:50Not just fans, but also coaches, right? Coaches are trying to figure out, okay, what is the next little margin that we can steal here and there?
14:58And a lot of times it is in the run game because we were in such a pass-heavy league over the last,
15:05what, four or five years it felt like, especially when quarterbacks were really tearing up single high defenses when that was in vogue.
15:12And now we've moved more towards, okay, now a lot of teams are basically playing these two high defenses because we're trying to slow down these alien quarterbacks.
15:20And now you're trying to steal a little bit of an advantage somewhere else.
15:24I'll start with tight ends because I'm fascinated. Just as a draft guy, I'm so fascinated at the emphasis, I think, on
15:31the position in free agency, but also in the draft, right?
15:34I think that a lot of people, myself included, were freaking out about the Nate Borkercher selections, you know, when he was taken.
15:41With the 56th pick in the 2026 NFL draft, the Jacksonville Jaguars select Nate Borkercher.
15:46Tight end, Texas A&M. I remember your reaction. That was great.
15:49I might pay for that one, but hey, I've said before, if it works out, then I'm going to be the first
15:55one to be like, okay, that was awesome because I love when general managers can zag when everybody else is taken and obviously it works out for them.
16:04But tight end feels like one of those positions where you're really gaining an advantage.
16:08Two guys that I want to point out here that are game changers in the run game, Jackson Hawes for the Buffalo Bills and Charlie Kohler.
16:16When you look at NGS, highest run rate when these players are on the field, minimum 300 snaps.
16:21Jackson Hawes, it's 74.6%. Charlie Kohler, it's 71.1%. So it's almost like these teams know they're not really fooling anybody.
16:27They're just ready to execute. Like, that's it. And I think for both of these tight ends, you look at things, especially
16:34in the red zone, the heavier you can get in the red zone while also still remaining a little bit of a
16:40passing threat, that is a thing of beauty, right?
16:43And I think if you go back two years ago in Buffalo, they were one of the top teams, might have even
16:50been the top team in terms of usage of six offensive linemen on the field.
16:54They really loved having that extra OT because no disrespect to the existing Bills tight ends at the time, they weren't getting
17:01it done as blockers in the run game. So they really liked having six offensive linemen on the field.
17:06And then they get Jackson Hawes and magically they just stopped doing it, right?
17:11I think we might see a similar thing with Houston this year.
17:14They were a big six offensive lineman team last year because their existing tight ends, again, no disrespect to Dalton Schultz.
17:20If you're looking at the cutups of Dalton Schultz run blocking, not exactly ideal.
17:25Now you draft Marlon Klein, who's this big, strong tight end out of Michigan.
17:29They think he can be a true why for them.
17:32Maybe that'll impact the six offensive line rate in Houston.
17:35And that might have also just been a contributing factor to all these teams drafting tight ends.
17:40Like one of the most tight end heavy drafts I've ever seen.
17:43And I've covered this for a long time. The 59 pick for the Houston Texans.
17:48They select Marlon Klein, tight end, University of Michigan.
17:51I think it's because a lot of teams realized that these not small, but more slender tight ends that are basically just big slot receivers.
17:58Like they're not getting it done in the run game.
18:01We got to draft real why tight ends and they were flying off the board.
18:05Yeah. I mean the game it's, it's math. Like this entire sport is math.
18:10I mean, going back to the RPO thing, deciding whether to give it or give it off to the running back or throw the screen.
18:17It's literally a math equation. Do I have a numbers advantage outside or inside?
18:21And when you have a defensive tackle that gives you a math advantage, in the box, like if you can have even
18:28numbers in the box, but not really because one guy is worth one and a half, sometimes even two, if it's like
18:34a crazy elite DT, then you're winning the math equation every single snap.
18:38And that's going to, you know, really cascade into longer downs and distances.
18:42Typically most people would just look at it and say it's a lighter grouping, but they are really able to impose their will and dictate the terms.
18:50And it's why they're arguably, you know, the best defense in the league.
18:54For a lot of DCs, how they get to third and long doesn't matter.
18:58But their goal is to get to third and long because the average conversion rate of, say, third and one to three
19:05is, you know, quote unquote, relatively high. And then third medium is lower.
19:09Third and long falls off a cliff. Like you just need to get to third and seven plus by whatever means necessary.
19:15And for a lot of teams now, especially the ones that are playing mostly nickel, it's, I need to have a defensive
19:22tackle and I can put it at two eye.
19:24Yep. Two eye meaning line up on the inside shoulder of the guard.
19:28That's different than a one technique, which is lined up on the shoulder of the center.
19:33Right? So if you're looking at a two eye, I need somebody who can be there.
19:38Doesn't matter body type. We're looking for skillset. They need to win that one-on-one with the guard specifically in the run game.
19:44And if we can stop the run, you know, statistically speaking, we're going to get to third and long more often.
19:51And as long as we're like an average defense on third and long, we're going to get off the field a lot, give ourselves more possessions.
19:58So I want to show you what this looks like using two different body types, two different eras even, because this is not a new thing.
20:06This transcends era. This is Pat Williams from 2006.
20:09You guys remember the Williams wall? Basically led the NFL in having the best run defense for a half decade straight.
20:15Having Pat Williams and Kevin Williams there. This is Pat Williams lined up as a two eye.
20:20Again, on the inside shoulder of the guard. The reason why they put him there and the reason why offenses hate the
20:27two eye is because it forces a one-on-one through alignment.
20:30When you have a defensive tackle at a two eye, the center is not really going to combo this.
20:35He might give you a little jab. He might give you a little hand.
20:40But they're not really going to do a true combo.
20:43He's going to trust, which is a tall order against Pat Williams, he's going to trust the guard to win the one-on-one.
20:49If he was lined up on the center shoulder, okay, now we're going to combo this thing because he's kind of more in between us.
20:57But if he's more shaded to the guard, that's going to be a one-on-one by design.
21:01Defenses know that. So they're going to put him there to force that one-on-one.
21:06And when the center just gives that little jab and says, good luck, buddy, I'm going to go up to the linebacker,
21:12the guard gets completely trampled by Pat Williams, turns into a TFL.
21:16That is why that spot matters. And the fact that Pat Williams, who I think was listed at 315, but let's be honest, it was like 335.
21:24I was going to say, it's spelled 315. That's a skinny 315 right there.
21:28I think they were screwing with us listing him at 315.
21:31But if you look at Byron Murphy, who is a legit 310-ish on his best day, the Seahawks last year did the same thing with him.
21:39Why? Because it transcends body type. It's more about skill set.
21:42And Byron Murphy is incredibly hard to uproot. He might be the lightest nose tackle I've ever seen.
21:48But you can put him at that 2Y. He's going to win that one-on-one.
21:52He's going to get us TFLs. And he's going to get us into third and long, which is where we could do
21:58all the crazy stunts and blitzes that Seattle likes to do.
22:02Bada bing, bada boom. We're the best defense in the NFL.
22:05That specific spot is worth everything to a defense.
22:08And the fact that you have edge rushers paid $50 million a year to win on third down, but they're not actually
22:14getting to third down without those guys is a total injustice to me.
22:18Yeah. Yeah. Dude, I remember when Murphy was coming out of Texas, one of the best corkscrew technique undersized nose tackles I've ever scouted.
22:25It was just so unbelievable how he was able to control the line of scrimmage.
22:30So he had the explosiveness, but also the run defense stuff.
22:33So all we got to do, go out there and dominate and be us.
22:37This show is going to be coming to you guys during the season twice a week.
22:42So make sure you subscribe to the channel because we would love to have you every single show, every single week.
22:48Our season preview show, September 4th. That's when that's coming to you.
22:52And normally these episodes are going to be somewhere around an hour, maybe a little bit less.
22:57But that season preview show, right? You know how it goes.
23:00We got a lot of things to cover. We're going to be talking about, of course, like what a lot of people
23:07were talking about with the season awards, how we think the teams are going to do, who's going to win the Super Bowl, all that great stuff.
23:15But hopefully you could tell from this show, we're going to get a lot more into the weeds, what personnel and what
23:21trends and everything that we think could be happening in the 2026 season.
23:25We're going to look at some old faces and new places there with some teams.
23:30We're going to talk about some secret superstars, all that great stuff.
23:33So make sure you guys tuning in on September 4th.
23:36Appreciate you watching this first episode of the NFL Pro Show.
23:39For everybody behind the camera making it happen, for Brett Coleman, I'm Trevor Sikkim and saying, see you in the next episode.
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