Credit: The Rich Eisen Show
By Michael Grant on

NFL training camps open next month, and it won’t be long before we see the first preseason game. America’s most popular sport has had a fascinating offseason marked by several major player moves and coaching changes.

To break it down, we recently caught up with Ben Solak. The NFL analyst has been with ESPN since leaving The Ringer in August 2024. Solak is known for his detailed analysis and strong opinions. We discussed some of the more notable league-wide moves with Solak.

Note: This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.

Excluding Myles Garrett, who has been the best addition in the offseason?

Ben Solak: “I think the offseason move that’s going to have the biggest impact is the Chargers signing Mike McDaniel. Justin Herbert has had two pretty poor offensive coordinators in Joe Lombardi and Greg Roman. And I think McDaniel is pretty much the cream of the crop when it comes to offensive play-callers. I think he had issues as a head coach and as a personnel guy in that role. But when we’re simply talking about who’s good at building a game plan Monday to Saturday and then calling it on a Sunday, Mike’s up there. He’s one of the three or four best guys, including all the head coaches. Kyle Shanahan, Ben Johnson, those cats. So that leap for Herbert is enormous.”

Is it Super Bowl victory or bust for the Rams?

“I don’t think so. In the NFL, we know you can have an incredible team. You can do everything correctly. You can have a total super team. And if you lose the NFC championship game 28-27, you do. We don’t play best-of-sevens here in the NFL. We play best-of-ones. In football, a lot of weird things can happen. The Rams certainly are the leader in the clubhouse for the Super Bowl. But I always hesitate to call a team Super Bowl or bust because that’s just the nature of how volatile the NFL is.”

If the Rams don’t reach the Super Bowl, who will from the NFC?

“The Seattle Seahawks are an extremely good bet to defend. Klint Kubiak is the biggest loss, but they might even be better on the offensive line than they were. The running game, you’d like for them to improve, but they hired the Niners running game coordinator (Brian Fleury). I think they can do some more creative things in that aspect. Defensively, you trust so much of what Mike Macdonald has done. I like them quite a bit.

“And then I really like the Dallas Cowboys. I think they’re going to be able to score 35 at will, especially if they get George Pickens on the field. And they need Christian Parker, their first-year defensive coordinator, to really move the needle for them.”

What kind of impact can new Cowboys defensive coordinator Christian Parker have?

“Parker’s got kind of a lightning-rod personality. He’s a very bright guy. He’s an excellent talker. He’s good on the mic. So the media’s definitely been interested in him. You expect him to run a little bit more of what we expect from a modern defense. His background is coaching defensive backs and some of these two-high defenses that have been successful over the last several years. And so they’re going to be able to build a blanket on you, and then they’re going to try to dare you to run the football on them. And that’s where a lot of these recent Cowboys investments in the defensive line (come in). Malachi Lawrence, Donovan Ezeiruaku, Kenny Clark, and Quinnen Williams. They’ve got a lot of dudes. That’s where they’re going to expect to be able to win with that defense up front.”

Which coach is in the hottest seat right now?

“Dan Quinn. You make two coordinator changes, and when you have a double-dip, that’s typically the head coach indicating he saved his job by quickly retooling his staff. He’s got a 30-year-old O.C. in David Blough, a first-time offensive play caller. He’s got a D.C. in Daronte Jones, who’s outside his system and outside his family. He’s a Brian Flores guy. So these are pretty radical changes for Washington. You’ve got only about two years left on the Jayden Daniels rookie contract. You have to seriously ask yourself whether Dan Quinn is doing what’s necessary to maximize the rookie-contract quarterback window. It’s the most valuable window in the NFL. So to me, Quinn’s got this year. The bar to clear for Dan is the divisional round. And that’s a pretty high bar.”

Is the Chiefs roster good enough to return to the Super Bowl?

“It’s not. It’s a very much recovering roster. They’ve lost so much defensive talent over the last couple of years. The best player is Chris Jones. He’s over 30 and tends not to show up much in the regular season; he only really has his big games against playoff-caliber opponents and in the postseason. They’ve made a lot of investments in the defensive line in the drafts, and they’ve plugged some of those gaps defensively, but it’s probably not going to be a top-ten unit.

“Then you need the offense to win these shootouts, and the Chiefs’ offense is not built to win shootouts. They don’t have good enough wide receivers. Rashee Rice has got to be healthy, out of prison, and able to contribute. Xavier Worthy, they’re trying to get more out of him than just a gadget player, but it’s hard when he’s that size. Travis Kelce is not getting any younger. I like a lot of the moves they’ve made, but this is still very much a roster in transition.”

Which rookie are you most excited to watch?

“I think Jordyn Tyson, the Saints’ wide receiver, is going to be really good and really, really impactful. They really needed a guy besides Chris Olave last season. They didn’t have one. They traded Rashid Shaheed at the deadline, which was a fair move. Tyson is just ridiculously talented. It’s just a hamstring-thin issue. If he’s healthy, he’s the clear WR2 in New Orleans. I would not be surprised if he’s WR1 in some games.”

Will the Eagles be much worse without A.J. Brown, and will the Patriots be much better with A.J. Brown?

“You can’t let a talent like A.J. Brown leave and then claim you’re as good as you were. No shot. It was a down year for A.J. Brown, yet he was still top 20 in yards per route. He’s still very good. A.J. Brown had a kind of gravity to him, so when teams wanted to load the box against the Eagles and play a single high, A.J. was among the best in the league at winning 50-50 balls down the sideline…

“The Patriots know what they can do without A.J. Brown. Drake Maye was so good last season, and they spread the ball around. Now you introduce A.J. Brown and his gravity. The easy button he presents is that he’s going to force defenses to provide additional attention. That’s going to make it easier for Drake to distribute to Romeo Doubs, DeMario Douglas, and Hunter Henry.”

What’s it like to work at ESPN?

“The day-to-day work is the same. What’s different is the scope, which is dramatically larger in reach. You write something, and it does well and gets to the first page, the A1 spot on ESPN.com. You do a two-minute hit on the 6 p.m. SportsCenter on a Thursday. You put the suit on. You stand there. They ask what you think will happen. You say what you think will happen. You know what you want to say. And then I go to church on Sunday. I’ve got nine people coming up to me like, ‘Hey, I saw you on TV.’ It’s crazy. It’s such a different scale.”

Has anything funny happened to you while you were on SportsCenter?

“I had a Christmas tree decoration in my office that I forgot to take down, and Elle Duncan made fun of me. It was my first SportsCenter with Elle Duncan. I was getting bullied for having a Christmas tree up in February. I appreciated that from Elle.

“It was tucked in the top corner of my shelf. I didn’t know it was up there. It had just been plugged in, and it provided a nice light to the room. I was like, ‘All right, this is just pleasant. I’ll leave this up for a minute. I’ll surely remember to take it down.’ I think it is still in my office. Now it’s a bit. Now it’s got to stay there forever.”

About Michael Grant

Born in Jamaica. Grew up in New York City. Lives in Louisville, Ky. Sports writer. Not related to Ulysses S. Grant.

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