Rocky Mountain Kickoff, AFC North Chaos & Six Years on the Bench | FeOTB EP 286

Six years.

When Niko and I first sat in his kitchen trying to figure out what the hell we were going to call this show, I don't think either of us could have realistically pictured Episode 286. We definitely couldn't have pictured everything that would happen between then and now.

Different jobs. Different networks. Different houses. A whole lot of football. Some absolutely terrible predictions. A few takes that aged surprisingly well. Championships, heartbreaks, wrestling retirements, coaching stories, guests, arguments and more hours talking sports than I could possibly count.

And somehow, The Far End of the Bench is officially entering Year 7.

So EP 286 needed to feel like both things at once: the beginning of another football season and a celebration of everything that got us here.

We started right here in Colorado, worked our way through the chaos of the AFC North, hit some of the biggest stories around sports, got Niko's Redwoods ready for the PLL playoffs and then turned the clock back for four of our favorite episodes from Year 6.

Basically, this one is about as Far End of the Bench as it gets.

Rocky Mountain Kickoff: What Are We Actually Getting From CU, CSU and Air Force?

College football is back, which means it is once again time for every fanbase in America to convince itself that this is the year.

Here in Colorado, I'm not sure any of our three Division I programs have earned that level of confidence.

That doesn't mean they're boring. Actually, I think the opposite is true.

Colorado Has Finally Reached the Prove-It Year

I have defended parts of the Deion Sanders experiment. I've criticized plenty of it too. But we're entering Year 4 now, and the novelty can't be the story anymore.

Colorado went 3-9 last year. The Shedeur Sanders and Travis Hunter era is gone. The massive national spotlight isn't following every move in Boulder the way it did when Coach Prime first arrived.

Now we get to find out what the program actually is.

There are things I like.

Brennan Marion comes in to run the offense. Chris Marve takes over the defense. Colorado has brought in coaches who have actual jobs to do beyond simply adding another recognizable name to the staff. Julian Lewis got meaningful experience as a freshman, and the receiver room has been rebuilt with guys like Danny Scudero, DeAndre Moore Jr. and Kamryn Perry.

The approach in the portal looks different too. Instead of constantly chasing the flashiest name available, CU seems more interested in finding good players from smaller programs who want an opportunity to prove themselves in the Big 12.

That's encouraging.

But I'm still firmly in show me mode.

One of the wildest parts of our conversation was looking at how basic some of the changes around the program sound. Players talking about learning the fight song. More serious film study. Scouting reports. Reading defenses.

Those things shouldn't sound revolutionary at a major college football program.

That's why I keep coming back to the same question with Deion: Is he a great recruiter trying to become a great head coach, or can he actually become the guy who builds this thing for the long haul?

If Colorado gets bowl eligible this season, that's progress. If the Buffs start competing with teams like Utah, Houston and Texas Tech instead of relying on hype to carry them, I'll start buying back in.

Until then, Boulder has to earn it.

CSU Might Be the Most Interesting Team in Colorado

This is where Niko and I surprised ourselves a little.

If we're buying stock in Colorado programs over the next three seasons, Colorado State might be the best investment.

Jim Mora gives CSU something it desperately needed: credibility and actual X's-and-O's experience.

This isn't supposed to be an overnight rebuild. CSU won two games last year. Getting this team to a bowl would already represent a massive jump.

But look at the opportunity.

The Rams enter a new Pac-12 landscape where, outside of Boise State, I don't see some unbeatable monster waiting for them every week. Oregon State, Washington State, Fresno State, San Diego State, Texas State, Utah State—there are real football programs there, but CSU has an opportunity to build itself into something meaningful.

And Mora clearly wants the project.

That's important.

The Border War against Wyoming immediately tells us something. BYU gives us an early measuring stick. Once conference play arrives, we'll start finding out whether CSU is merely improving or whether the Rams could eventually become one of the programs fighting near the top of this new league.

I'm not picking them to take over college football.

I am saying they might finally have a foundation.

For CSU, that would be a hell of a start.

Never Forget About Air Force

Then there's the program that quietly won more games than either CU or CSU last season despite finishing 4-8.

Air Force.

Troy Calhoun is entering his 20th season. Liam Szarka gives the Falcons an experienced quarterback who can hurt defenses with both his legs and his arm. They return a ridiculous amount of experience, including 68 lettermen, and their identity hasn't changed.

You know exactly what's coming.

They're going to run the football. They're going to be disciplined. They're going to be physical. And they're going to make you spend an entire week preparing for something you barely see anywhere else.

For me, Air Force success is measured differently.

Get back into the Commander-in-Chief's Trophy race. Finish near the top of the conference. Get back to a bowl.

The Falcons don't need a marketing campaign to explain who they are. They just need to get back to being the best version of Air Force.

Our three-year stock ranking ended up CSU, CU, Air Force—not necessarily because Air Force is the worst program, but because the ceiling for CSU and CU is simply different if either one gets this right.

Welcome Back to the AFC North Circus

And then we got to my favorite dysfunctional family.

The AFC North.

Pittsburgh won the division last year and changed coaches.

Baltimore missed the postseason and changed coaches.

Cleveland changed coaches.

Cincinnati went 6-11 and essentially looked around the room and said, "Yeah, let's run most of that back."

Of course they did.

The Bengals Still Have the Same Giant Problem

Joe Burrow is elite.

Ja'Marr Chase is elite.

Tee Higgins can take over games.

Dexter Lawrence changes what Cincinnati can do in the middle of the defense.

I can keep listing the names that make Bengals fans talk themselves into this every August.

Then the ball gets snapped.

The offensive line still scares the hell out of me—and not in the way I'd like.

We watched the starters get pressured repeatedly in the first preseason action after Cincinnati brought the same offensive line back. That's not some hidden flaw we discovered in October. Everybody knows this is the issue.

You have one of the best quarterbacks in football and continue building an offense that requires him to survive long enough to use all of those weapons.

That's the frustrating part.

I still think Cincinnati has enough talent to be dangerous. I still think they could sneak into a Wild Card spot. But until that offensive line proves otherwise, this team's ceiling is going to keep being controlled by whether Burrow stays upright.

I've watched this movie before.

I'm tired of knowing the ending.

Baltimore Is the Team to Beat

For all the changes in this division, Baltimore still makes the most sense at the top.

Lamar Jackson. Derrick Henry. Zay Flowers. A defense now being molded under Jesse Minter. And because the AFC North apparently didn't hate Cincinnati enough already, Trey Hendrickson ended up in Baltimore.

Great. Awesome. Love that for me.

Minter replacing John Harbaugh is a massive organizational shift, but I don't think Baltimore needs to reinvent itself. It needs to stop finding creative ways to come up short with one of the most talented rosters in football.

Niko and I both landed in essentially the same place:

1. Baltimore
2. Cincinnati
3. Pittsburgh
4. Cleveland

I have Baltimore around 11-6 and winning the division. Cincinnati has a path to nine wins and the Wild Card conversation. Pittsburgh is probably still hanging around .500 because that's apparently written into the laws of physics. Cleveland has too many questions for me to trust them.

The AFC North isn't necessarily four great teams anymore.

It is four teams that know exactly how to make each other miserable.

That might be even better.

Jayden Daniels vs. LSU: No. 5 Has Become a Whole Thing

We also had to revisit one of the stranger offseason stories: Jayden Daniels and LSU.

The legal side centers on LSU's continued use of Daniels' name, image and likeness, but the emotional center of this whole thing is obvious.

No. 5.

Daniels doesn't like seeing another LSU player wear it.

And this is where I struggle.

Jayden Daniels was incredible at LSU. He won the Heisman Trophy. Nobody can take away what he accomplished there.

But LSU football existed before Jayden Daniels, and it will exist after Jayden Daniels.

He didn't win a national championship. He didn't win the SEC. He didn't take LSU to the College Football Playoff. If LSU never formally retired No. 5, I'm not convinced we're at the point where nobody else should ever be allowed to wear it again.

There is also another player involved here. If DJ Pickett was recruited with an understanding that he would wear No. 5, why should LSU break that promise to the player who is actually on the roster now?

Honor Daniels. Celebrate him. Put the Heisman season everywhere.

But there is a difference between legacy and ownership.

Von Miller Comes Full Circle in Dallas

This one feels strange as a Broncos fan, but I actually love it for Von.

Von Miller is going home to Texas to play for the Dallas Cowboys.

Would I have loved seeing No. 58 finish his career in Denver?

Emotionally? Absolutely.

Practically? I don't think the Broncos need him anymore.

Denver already has younger pass rushers who need those snaps. Von isn't coming in to be a four-down defensive centerpiece at this point in his career. But as a third-down pass rusher? A mentor? A guy who can teach young players how to survive and succeed in the NFL?

That's still valuable.

And the symmetry is pretty cool.

DeMarcus Ware left Dallas, came to Denver and helped the Broncos win a Super Bowl.

Now Von leaves Denver several stops later and gets the opportunity to finish his career back in Texas while teaching another generation of Cowboys pass rushers.

Sometimes the ending doesn't have to happen where the story started for it to feel right.

The Redwoods Are In — Now Win One More

Niko is going to the playoffs.

Well, technically the California Redwoods are going to the playoffs.

But if you've listened to this show for any amount of time, you know the difference is minimal.

California finished the job against the Denver Outlaws and locked up a playoff spot, and now we get the rematch.

The Redwoods have been one of the strangest teams in the PLL this year because when that offense catches fire, it gets ridiculous in a hurry. We've seen 18-goal performances. We've seen 21.

We've also seen games where none of it showed up.

That's the beauty of the postseason.

Nobody cares what your average looked like anymore.

Get one great performance. Earn another week together. Then do it again.

It's something both of us understand from coaching: when you reach the playoffs, the goal becomes incredibly simple.

Make sure you still have film to watch together on Monday.

California has that opportunity.

Six Years on the Bench

This was the part of EP 286 I was probably most excited to put together.

We don't spend a lot of time sitting around celebrating ourselves. Normally the next game, next story, next episode and next ridiculous sports argument are already waiting.

But six years deserved something.

Especially when I think back to how this started.

Niko and I sitting in his family's kitchen trying to come up with a name.

Recording one of our first attempts while his dad listened before finally telling us, essentially, that was terrible—you guys don't actually talk like that.

He was right.

And maybe that was one of the most important pieces of advice we've ever gotten about this show.

Because Far End of the Bench eventually became good when we stopped trying to sound like a sports show and started sounding like us.

For the Year 6 Rewind, we went back through four episodes that showed different pieces of that.

Episode 249: Bengals Pain Never Changes

We started early in Year 6 with Episode 249 and one of my many Bengals spirals.

Going back and listening to yourself complain about things that are somehow still problems a year later is a special form of torture.

But that's also why the clip worked.

It was football frustration, stupid jokes, Broncos arguments and the kind of conversation Niko and I would probably be having whether the microphones were turned on or not.

Episode 260: John Cena and Losing a Hero

Then the tone completely changed.

Episode 260 came after John Cena's final match, and this was one of those conversations where wrestling stopped being "just wrestling."

We grew up with Cena.

Watching him reach the end didn't feel like watching another athlete retire. It felt like another marker that the era we grew up in is moving further into the rearview mirror.

Looking back, I still love the idea that tapping out wasn't necessarily Cena "giving up." It could be viewed as relinquishing the responsibility he'd carried for so long.

He had done everything.

Eventually somebody else has to carry it.

That's why sports matter beyond standings. They attach themselves to periods of our lives, and then years later one match, one song or one highlight can put you right back there.

Episode 262: Sometimes We Actually Know Ball

Then we revisited our NFL playoff predictions.

Some aged well.

Some absolutely did not.

That's part of the deal.

If you're going to spend two hours a week giving sports opinions into a microphone, you better be willing to pull the receipts on yourself.

That's half the fun.

The funniest part of revisiting old episodes is realizing how quickly sports change. A take can sound completely reasonable in January and completely insane eight months later.

Or, every once in a while, we accidentally know what we're talking about.

We pay attention.

Episode 283: Why We Care About Sports in the First Place

The last rewind came from Episode 283 with our friend Daren Briare.

That episode featured our favorite sports memories, which meant championships, iconic performances and—in classic Far End of the Bench fashion—the story of Niko, Gabe and me clearing out a sideline during a youth football tournament in Las Vegas.

For the record, years later, I can admit I may have escalated that situation.

Maybe.

But that's what I loved about ending the rewind there.

Our favorite sports memories aren't only the ones we watched on television.

They're the games we played.

The people we played them with.

The places we were when something happened.

The championship you watched with your family. The player you grew up idolizing. The stupid youth football story you can still tell 15 years later like it happened yesterday.

That has always been the real heartbeat of this show.

Sports are the excuse.

The stories are why we're still here.

Niko's Awards: Makhachev Dominates, Buss Brings the Drama

Niko's Player of the Week went to Islam Makhachev, who once again looked like one of the best pound-for-pound fighters walking the planet.

Ian Garry had opportunities, including landing a huge shot late, but Makhachev controlled the fight and showed exactly why he sits at the top of the sport.

Niko's Benchwarmer went in a completely different direction.

Jeanie Buss.

The Lakers' ownership situation somehow turned into NBA House of the Dragon, with the Buss family battling over the future of one of the most valuable franchises in sports.

Five siblings are ready to move one direction. Jeanie says absolutely not.

Somewhere, George R.R. Martin is taking notes.

And because we're Nuggets fans, watching Lakers dysfunction from a distance is never exactly going to ruin our evening.

Jimmy's Awards: Welcome to the Show, Joshua Baez

My Player of the Week was one of the easiest picks I've had in a while.

Joshua Baez.

Three home runs in his first three Major League at-bats.

At Wrigley Field.

There are ways to announce that you've arrived in professional baseball, and then there's walking into one of the most famous ballparks in America and going yard three straight times.

Welcome to the show.

My Benchwarmer went to Ian Garry, and this wasn't because losing to Islam Makhachev makes you a bum.

There is no shame in losing to one of the best fighters alive.

The problem was the opportunity.

Garry landed the kind of shot late in a championship fight that can change everything—and didn't attack afterward like a fighter who knew his only path to the belt was taking it away from the champion.

If you're down on the scorecards in the fifth round, there is no tomorrow.

Empty the tank.

If it gets you knocked out, it gets you knocked out.

But you can't walk away from that moment wondering whether there was another level you refused to reach.

Year 7 Starts Now

Episode 286 ended up being a pretty perfect snapshot of what Far End of the Bench has become.

Colorado football.

AFC North hatred.

College football arguments.

Von Miller nostalgia.

PLL playoff excitement.

Wrestling memories.

MMA.

Baseball.

A completely unexpected Nuggets rant because news broke right before we recorded.

And two friends laughing at versions of themselves from a year ago.

I don't know exactly what Year 7 is going to bring.

That's kind of the point.

Six years ago, there wasn't some detailed roadmap that ended with hundreds of episodes, different networks, guests, video content, highlight packages and people actually choosing to spend part of their week listening to us argue.

We just kept showing up.

That's still the plan.

More football. More terrible predictions. More moments we can't possibly see coming yet. More stories that will eventually become another rewind years from now.

To everyone who has listened for six years, thank you.

To everybody who found us six months ago, thank you.

And if Episode 286 is your first time sitting with us?

Welcome.

There's plenty of room down here.

Year 7 has officially begun.

If you don't stay down and you never quit, come on over here and sit on the Far End of the Bench.

Follow @FeOTBpod and catch Episode 286, “Rocky Mountain Kickoff, AFC North & The Year 6 Rewind,” wherever you get your podcasts and on YouTube.