Won’t You Be My Nabers: X-Factors for Every NFC team

**Mina Kimes** (0:00)
Ray-Ban Meta Glasses take the friction out of travel. Move through the world with your hands free and your head up.

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Closest metro to you is Union Square, about three blocks away.

**SPEAKER_4** (0:11)
Hey Meta, text mom, I'm getting on the train now. Sending message.

**Dan Pizzuta** (0:14)
Juggle your itinerary, take calls, and listen to music with open your audio.

**SPEAKER_6** (0:18)
No digging for your phone, no stopping for a map, just you and your glasses.

**Mina Kimes** (0:23)
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**SPEAKER_6** (0:26)
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**Mina Kimes** (0:35)
The Mina Kimes Show featuring Lenny, only NFL broadcast. One of the hosts thinks one of the best tight ends of all time is named Shannon Sharpay. That's Lenny, I mean it, guys. I've been thinking about him. I've been thinking about a lot of old timey football players because I am completely addicted to all of these 17-0 games on the internet. Dan, are you playing, Dan Pizzuta is joining me. Dan, are you playing them as well?

**Dan Pizzuta** (0:57)
I played a couple, and then, especially the football one, got real frustrated with the mechanics of what they liked and didn't like. I was just like, I'm too competitive for this, and I'm not going to continue to waste my time. I'm also in the middle of FTN almanac writing.

**Mina Kimes** (1:13)
Yes.

**Dan Pizzuta** (1:14)
So the free time that I have to play around with a game like that, very limited, so I tried to be responsible and cut myself off.

**Mina Kimes** (1:21)
Can you tell me what divisions you're doing?

**Dan Pizzuta** (1:23)
I am doing the AFC East as well as the Lions and Vikings. So six chapters for me this year.

**Mina Kimes** (1:31)
Two teams that will come up today because we are doing NFC X-Factors. We did AFC X-Factors two weeks ago to remind people. That's when we choose an X-Factor player for every team who is not a quarterback. Then we took a week off because two gigantic trades broke, which was insane.
With the AFC, Dan, I did, I feel like way too many offensive linemen. This time, I actually didn't end up picking as many. There's a few in the mix, but it's a lot more big names. Did you notice any tendencies in your picks before we dive in?

**Dan Pizzuta** (2:11)
When I first started with the teams, I wanted to put the wide receiver too for every team and then got away from that. So I think there's only one that I have, but I think that's a big thing that came up. But yeah, I tried to mix it up a little bit because these are really interesting teams with a lot of ways you can go.

**Mina Kimes** (2:34)
Well, I'll start right off with the wide receiver. I'll go first. I gave myself the Giants. I thought about some more obscure picks for this one, but it seems to me, if I think about a player whose performance, availability, etc. could swing the season, and also when I say swing the season, that means a different thing for different teams. So when I think about the Giants, who I don't view as a contender, sorry Giants fans, I hope you don't think that either. But a team that feels like they're on the rise, young quarterback, new coach, all of that. The thing I think that's most important is helping the young quarterback achieve success. And if Malik Neighbors ain't there, it's pretty concerning. So he is my X-Factor pick. So for those who have not been paying attention, Neighbors of course was very hurt last year. When did that injury happen? It was late September, the torn ACL and torn meniscus.
The questions around when he is going to practice, when he will be ready for the season, get a little concerning.
I think it was a couple of weeks ago that Adam Schefter implied that he might not be ready for week one. They're on Sunday Night Football against Dallas. And when you look at the rest of this receiving group without him, pretty rough, pretty rough. We got the omnipresent, non-present, ever-present, Darius Slayton, Calvin Austin, who actually like Calvin Austin, Darnell Mooney. All these players are fine if Malik Neighbors is in the mix, but if he's not Dan, this is a really, really weak group of receivers. I'm sorry, OBJ.
Right. Pardon me, OBJ. Malak Ifeels, they drafted this year. Okay, sorry. Anyways, Juju Swishyster. I mean, if it's 2018-19.

**Dan Pizzuta** (4:43)
We're doing all right. Yeah.

**Mina Kimes** (4:44)