We have NFL questions, and training camp should finally bring us some answers
We did it. They said it couldnât be done. But they are a bunch of losers.
Training camp season has arrived across the NFL which means that we will have steady Football Thingsâą happening daily for the next six to seven months. Whoâs got it better than us, Jim (or John) Harbaugh?
With camps kicking off the things will begin to roll as noted, but a lot of these things will answer questions weâve been looking forward to answering. The offseason standstill means that we have had to sit on our hands and guess on certain questions without any data or discernible way to answer them.
That ends now.
These are the questions that we here at The Skinny Post, Michael Peterson and RJ Ochoa, are most looking forward to solving.
How much is Travis Hunter going to be used both ways?
Photo by Logan Bowles/Getty Images
RJ:
Remember when the Jacksonville Jaguars traded up to draft the Heisman winner and one of the most prolific two-way players we have ever seen? That was just a couple of months ago!
Travis Hunterâs role in the NFL is and always has been something that we have been looking forward to seeing and we are finally going to get it (granted on a small scale). It is important to note that we canât read too much, not much at all in this sense really, into what happens throughout training camp, especially for a rookie, but there will be plenty of eyes on how many snaps that Hunter is logging at both wide receiver and cornerback.
Various NFL evaluators have prognosticated as to where they would play Hunter and how they would approach his skillset at the professional level.
New Jaguars head coach Liam Cohen (DUUUUUVAL) is about to show us his opinion.
Michael:
I am SUPER curious about how his snap counts are going to play out over the course of the season.
Travis Kelce was recently on an episode of âBussinâ With The Boysâ podcast where the hosts asked him about Travis Hunter and how he foresees teams looking to minimize his impact on games. Kelce didnât waste any time in noting that if he was a teamâs offensive coordinator facing him at cornerback, they would run go routes over and over again on him, regardless if they were planning to throw the ball that way or not. The point here being that if this one player is expected to play both ways, you make sure their snaps are FILLED with running.
I think this is super obvious and every team should look to do something like this. Playing in the NFL is already hard. Imagine having to cover deep passes down-in and down-out before going over to offense and also running more deep routes? Sounds absolutely horrendous.
I think sooner rather than later, Hunter will start to lean much more into one side of the football, especially if opposing teams find ways to make his life hell on Sundays early on.
Is the current Chargers WR room capable of overcoming the sudden retirement of Mike Williams?
Michael:
The loss of Mike Williams to retirement just as training camp was getting underway was not expected in the slightest. After a ho-hum season with the Jets and Steelers in 2024, the reunion with the Chargers seemed like just the thing for Williams to get his career back on track following the 2023 ACL tear he sustained.
Los Angeles need help at X receiver. They needed a big body to isolate on one side while also giving Justin Herbert a receiver whom he already has proven chemistry with. The idea was that Williams wouldnât have to be the teamâs WR1 this time around, either. Ladd McConkey is now that guy and Williams could simply serve his role without needing to churn out the huge snap count that seemed to really eat at his body in recent seasons.
Sadly, a new injury he sustained earlier this spring was just one more setback he wasnât willing to fight through. And I donât blame him in the slightest.
But now the Bolts are once again one of the younger receiver groups in the NFL. McConkey is entering Year 2 and rookie Tre Harris is now primed for a larger role out of the gates. Behind those two are third-year receiver Quentin Johnston, gadget player Derius Davis, and veteran journeyman Jalen Reagor.
Iâm not sure how this one is going to play out. Iâm surprised Reagor is getting as much run on this team as heâs gotten and Johnston is still not the sure-handed player the team needs him to be. Maybe things will look very different when the season begins, but right now this group does not look good enough for what Herbert needs at this point in his career.
RJ:
With all due respect to Mike Williams, I donât know how this is a big issue for the Chargers.
Obviously they (clearly) would have preferred to have him around, but I would offer that if they were depending on him to be the difference-maker in the offense this season then they went about this offseason in a poor manner. Justin Herbert is quickly falling into âhis team isnât doing enough to help himâ territory and seeing the names of the receivers he has to work with really highlights that point.
The Chargers earned some benefit of the doubt back last year, but I think this is an important season for them in terms of establishing that they are a real-deal team and not just a vehicle for funny Jim Harbaugh quotes.
Mike Williams wasnât going to make a massive difference in that effort in my mind.
Where does obvious trouble (that we arenât seeing) lurk?
Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images
RJ:
Cards on the table here… many moons ago I predicted Zac Taylor to be the first head coach fired during the season. This was infamously ahead of the 2021 campaign where the Cincinnati Bengals went on to vanquish the Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead en route to their Super Bowl loss to the Rams. My bad.
Acknowledging that I was wrong then and that a lot has happened… the Bengals are sort of notorious for poor starts under Taylor (in the Joe Burrow era). They have started off three straight seasons 0-2 and last year even dropped their third game as well.
This is obviously training camp and not Week 1, but I would imagine that this is sort of on the minds of Taylor and everyone involved. The Bengals finally took care of JaâMarr Chase and also stopped being silly with Tee Higgins. They have one of the most dynamic cores of offensive players across the entire league and would be a dream for the next would-be candidate to take over.
The Bengals have not missed the playoffs for three seasons in a row since before Burrow arrived. I sort of feel like (again, admittedly) this could be a rockier situation than originally meets the eye.
Did I mention that their first-round pick is still not under contract?!
Michael:
I donât know exactly how hot I believe Zac Taylorâs coaching seat is entering the 2025 season, but I could easily see the temperature increasing drastically depending on how the season starts and ends.
If the Bengals begin the year 0-2 or 0-3, the boo birds will come out and call for his job. If they recover from that and once again push for a postseason spot â and ultimately fail to make the playoffs again â the calls for his job will be incessant. They wonât be able to simply tune them out and head into the 2026 offseason. SOMETHING will have to happen and jobs will likely be lost.
Itâs truly playoffs or bust for the current Bengals regime, in my opinion.
Will Cam Ward be better off without a quarterback competition during training camp?
Photo by Johnnie Izquierdo/Getty Images
Michael:
The news broke on Monday morning that Titans quarterback Will Levis is undergoing shoulder surgery to fix a nagging issue that has bothered him for most of the past year. Reports also confirmed that the surgery will force him to miss the entire 2025 season as he rehabs for a better long-term future in 2026 and beyond.
This news also means that 2025 first overall pick Cam Ward will not have to go through a quarterback battle during training camp this year. Ward was yet to be named the starter despite his draft slot and the the expectation was for him to earn it in camp against Levis, who was the teamâs starter in 2024.
So my question is whether or not the quarterback competition â or lack thereof â will be beneficial for Ward ahead of his rookie season or the opposite.
I think if I had to choose a side, Iâm going with it being a benefit to his short-term success with the Titans. The No. 1 pick comes with expectations and I personally would not want a battle on top of it either. Yes, sometimes those situations force a player to lock in and not take it for granted, but if Ward isnât the type of player not to put in the work regardless of situation, then he isnât the guy the Titans were hoping to draft in the first place.
RJ:
Iâve always thought it was silly whenever a team tried to put on a front that Veteran QB X was a serious threat to Top Rookie Who Was Either A First-Round Pick Or No. 1 Overall.
If Will Levis, whose recovery I am rooting for, was a serious threat to Cam Wardâs potential as the Titans starter… Ward would not have been drafted in the first place. We are all capable of seeing and understanding this basic principle and that includes Ward himself.
Personally I hesitate to call it a good or bad thing, but ultimately I think it is a positive to just move forward with everyone acknowledging that the Cam Ward era is here and not put on any sort of act about anything else.
