NFL Network’s Gerald McCoy on Rams, Broncos, Raiders, Giants, Cowboys w/Rich

Gerald McCoy logged onto The Rich Eisen Show with the show's own logo hanging behind him, which is either flattery or psychological warfare. "You know I call you my fearless leader," McCoy told Rich. "I have to represent my fearless leader."

Then he got to the part that should worry every offensive coordinator in the league.

Rich asked what a Los Angeles Rams defensive line with both Aaron Donald and Myles Garrett on it would actually look like. McCoy did not hedge. "For me, it's like watching the new Avengers movie," he said. "But for opposing offenses it's going to suck, because it's pick your poison."

McCoy walked through the math from the inside. Protections slide toward the dominant rusher, and he lived that as a player. "Take Drew Brees and the Saints for instance," he said, noting that they treated him as the most dangerous piece and always slid the double team his way. Some teams instead slide to the nickel, some identify the Mike. All of it breaks when there are two of them.

His comparison for Donald was LeBron James. "His peak athleticism was 10 times anybody else's," McCoy said. "So now that he's gotten older, his regular athleticism is still two times anybody else's." Apply that to a retired player who has not been absorbing hits, and McCoy's conclusion is blunt. "What he will be now will still be at the top of the league."

Garrett is the other half. He already broke the sack record, and McCoy pointed out he did it without much help from the scoreboard. "I think he had 18 sacks by week 13 or something like that. You know, so if you're playing and that's not playing with a lead." Give him leads from an MVP offense, and McCoy sees a real possibility of "two people with 15-plus sacks on the same D-line."

That did not stop him from talking Rich out of coronating the Rams. McCoy's counterweight is Denver. The Broncos, he argued, were "a quarterback injury away from getting to the Super Bowl," they have Pat Surtain, who he called the best corner in football, they have Zach Allen up front, and they added Jaylen Waddle to a Sean Payton offense that has always eaten with a receiver who can take the top off a defense, going back to Brandin Cooks. "I just believe the Broncos right now are the best team in the AFC."

Asked for sleepers, McCoy tried to sneak the Cowboys through as one. The judges said no. He pivoted to the Giants, where he expects Harbaugh to import "that Tom Coughlin type mindset," and he leaned on a story from a visit to Baltimore after he left the Buccaneers, when Harbaugh explained the offense being custom built around Lamar Jackson. "Jackson Dart is not Lamar Jackson, but he has the same skill set."

His AFC sleeper was, predictably, the Raiders. "Once a Raider, always a Raider." He said Maxx Crosby is running on grievance after a trade was undone over doubts about his knee. "Max is out to prove a point. I'm Maxx Crosby for a reason."

Then the last word on Donald, and it was the best line of the hit. "If he has not said no, he's thinking about it." McCoy's guess on timing? "Aaron Donald doesn't half do anything. If I had to guess, when he comes back, if he comes back, it'll be before week one."