Fantasy Football Daily - Dueling Mock Draft with PFF's John Kosko | On the Clock! NFL Draft Podcast

Episode Date: April 19, 2023

With just eight days left before the 2023 NFL Draft, Brett Whitefield (@BGWhitefield) welcomes in his good friend John Kosko (@JohnKosko3) of @PFF to go back and forth on a dueling NFL Mock Draft! BRETT WHITEFIELD'S 2023 NFL DRAFT PROSPECT GUIDE IS FREE TO READ WITH A NO-CHARGE LOGIN AT FANTASY POINTS. Interested in playing Best Ball in 2023? There's no better place than Underdog Fantasy. Use our code FANTASYPTS to sign up for a new account at Underdog, and not only will you get a 100% deposit match up to $100... but you'll get a Fantasy Points Standard subscription for only $5! https://www.fantasypoints.com/underdog --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/fantasy-points-podcast/support Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's time to the Fantasy Points podcast brought to you by FantasyPoint.com. Top-level fantasy football and NFL betting analysis from every perspective and angle. From numbers to the film room with a single goal to help you score more fantasy points. With another episode of On the Clock, I am your host, Brett Whitefield. And today we are joined by my good pal from Pro Football Focus. That is John Costco. John, welcome to the show. Thank you, Brett.

Always happy to be on a podcast with you. Today is going to be fun. Yeah, I wanted to bring you back on so we could do a little bit of a, I don't want to call it a dueling mock because we're not competing, but we're going to do a mock draft or we go back and forth, give you guys some brief analysis about each pick. Yeah, yeah, so we'll keep it short and concise, and I think it'll be fun.

And it'll be interesting, get your, your non-PF perspective on it and you're probably using your board and I'll be using more of the PFF board. Yeah. It'll be much more of what we would do and not predictive. Yes, for sure. That is a good clarification there. All right.

Let's just jump right in. I'm going to be handling the teams with odd numbers. You're going to be handling the teams with even numbers. Yes. Also for the purpose of this, we did do, we did one trade pre-draft so we could kind of make it semi-realistic. so you'll you'll see that as we go but with the first pick in the mock the Carolina Panthers are going to go with Bryce Young oh oh you you quarterback quarterback Alabama now Anthony Richardson's the my number one

QB but I do think it's pretty clear that the Panthers probably want young and young is still a really really good player so I don't think this is a bad pick yeah he's he's a I mean if you if you just take out the aspect of it like the kid is a stud and the key can make every throw he's he's a great player that's that's a biggest concern for me obviously is he going to be able to hold up to NFL hits and then he holds on to the ball a bit too long in the pocket but yeah he's he he's the most polished quarterback safest pick i would say yeah pretty clean profile for sure all right kicking it back to you with number two in the houston texans anthony richardson that's what i'm doing there he's you know, you're talking about like every single tool in the, in the tool chest.

He's got it, you know, most athletic prospect of all time for the quarterback position. Guys, you know, you swing for upside. He has the upside. You know, you just saw what Jalen Hertz did. And he's a much better athlete. Like, and that's not saying that Jalen Hertz is like, I mean, he's a stud athlete. So, yeah, Richardson can, you know, maybe he can develop into into that level. of a player.

Yeah, I would say that's a non-PFF pick from you. I think he's, what, fourth on your guys' board? I know renters are avid Richardson hater, although I will say Sam Monson recently went on a pod and said that the Panthers should take Richardson first overall because they made the investment for the upside. They might as well follow through and go for the upside. Yeah, it's upside, right?

It's all upside because he's not, you know, from a great perspective, accuracy perspective, you know, from the analytical perspective, it doesn't say that this guy should, should be that high of the pick. But as we've seen in recent years, quarterbacks can develop certain things that maybe you didn't think that, you know, certain quarterbacks could. And we've seen that in a few. It almost feels like the NFL's track record with developing QBs has,

like, gotten significantly better in recent years. Do you think that's somewhat scheme-related with, you know, teams being more open to running, you know, spread concepts and and QB run heavy concepts, or do you think it's just better coaching all around? Like, what is the advent here? Because we've seen, like, pre-Josh Allen, this just didn't happen often, ever. And then all of a sudden, you've got like,

you know, Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson, Jalen Hertz, Justin Fields, guys that are running functional offenses with limited or undeveloped skill sets. Yeah, I think it's a combination of both, but I think it's mostly scheme type stuff. Like, teams are much more open to putting their quarterbacks in advantage of situations and not, just going, hey, this is our system.

You have to run our system. If you can't run our system, you suck type thing. So, you know, imagine, imagine trying to immediately make Omar Jacks out of pocket pastor and telling him he can't scramble and use his legs. Like, that's ridiculous, right? So you develop a scheme around his skill set and it allows your team to thrive. And then you hope, you know, obviously you can't be a running quarterback for forever. You have to develop as a pastor.

And, you know, it buys those young. younger quarterbacks more time to become those passers. Yeah. I do think the emphasis at wide receiver for teams is also playing a big part in that because they're giving these guys legitimate weapons except for Lamar. But all right, anyways, moving on. Pick three. So pre-draft here, John, we discussed for Tennessee to trade up to this pick.

But with Richardson off the board, do you think that actually makes sense? No, probably not. I mean, they could. You know, you think you might say if, hey, if they like CJ Stroud a ton, they might do that because it's like, you know, you probably want to have eventually find that replacement for for Ryan Tannenhill. All the reports indicate, you know, that they, they're not big on Malik Willis's development. I don't think that's a great spot for Malik Willis to develop from his skill set.

That's a, that's a team where I thought when that pick happened, it was the worst, one of the worst spots he could have gone. Same. From his, you know, we just talked about Richardson and all these quarterbacks getting developed properly. I don't think he's going to get his, his skill set is going to be utilized properly there. Yep, I agree. All right. So we'll go ahead and follow through. We'll force this trade.

So Tennessee is going to send pick 11, pick 72, a 2024 first and a 2025 third. They're going to get back number three in pick 168 in this year's draft. All right. So Tennessee is going to go ahead. They're going to take CJ Stroud off. the board here at number three overall. I don't know that Stroud needs a ton of analysis. He's probably my number three QB in the class.

Good arm. He struggles with the same things Justin Fields did, and he's not the athlete Fields did. So that's why he's a little bit, I have him a little bit lower on my board than I did Fields when he was coming out, and I was not a big Fields guy either. But, you know, Strau just struggle. All of his struggles are between the ears.

He completely collapses under pressure. And that's, that's a, do a double-edged sword thing, because he collapses under, like, physical pressure in the pocket, and then he collapses under pressure in big moments as well. Yeah, that's the biggest thing for me is that, you know, as an Ohio State quarterback, if you can't beat Michigan, I mean, that's a problem. That's a big problem, right?

Like, I get it if you lose one year, and that's a good Michigan team, but in your own house, you've got to beat them. Yep. And he disappeared in the second half of that game. Yeah. And that's, that's a, that's a, now this now this pick for the colts gets interesting for me because i i am not a will levis fan and they

badly need a quarterback for the for the for the colts uh i think you kind of have to go that you have to go that route otherwise you trade back if you don't believe in them so yeah i have to go i have to go i have to go will levis for the colts here even though i'm not a not a well will levis fan like i would have him as like a mid to late first round pick yeah like what i agree As a cult, you're kind of screwed unless you make that trade up to do something or whatever. Yeah, there is a breaking point in the round where Will Levis goes from being overrated to underrated. That point is not fourth overall for me, though. And the really interesting thing here is now we have the Texans, the Titans, and the Colts all drafting QBs in a row, all from the same division.

And Will Levis immediately jumps in that division as the oldest starter. Wow. Which is crazy because Trevor Lawrence is younger than him. Stroud and Richardson are both younger than him. that's crazy to think about if this scenario played out, Will Levis would come in as a rookie as the oldest starter in the division. That's insane.

Yeah. Wild. Do you want to give any analysis on Levis and why you're not high on him? I've talked about him at nauseam on this podcast, but you can I think he's pretty undisciplined. I mean, he's got obviously raw tools and he can, like, has got a cannon for an arm and stuff like that, but

he's really sloppy with, like, his footwork. he tries to do weird things with his arm. Like he thinks he has better arm talent than what he does, where he's got to be more like discipline with this kind of like a lot of quarterbacks that need to have the same throwing motion, same kind of footwork and stuff like that in the pocket. And he doesn't do that and he tries to get too cute with a lot of throws. Sure, obviously you can coach a lot of that out of him,

get him to play much more discipline. But then I, you know, you talk about like a guy with bad habits. bad habits creep up when when the pressure mounts and the pressure is going to mount way more in in the NFL. You talk about his grade was like something like a 90 for us at PFF. And his, you know, last year, this past year, it was in the 60s or 70s. I have to pull that up. But, you know, from an accuracy standpoint, he took a massive step back.

Yeah, I know he lost a good offensive coordinator and, you know, Wando Robinson and some, you know, some good talent around him. but I think he, I just think that there's a large learning curve there. And I think he thinks he's better than what he is. And we'll see, you know, I might be wrong. I was wrong with Josh Allen, but Josh Allen lost a lot of good talent, you know, from his junior to his senior year regressed. But then, you know.

Yeah. The frustrating thing for me with the Levis discussion is like everyone calls Anthony Richardson raw. and then they don't use the same term to describe Will Levis. And when they like mechanically, they have the same issues. It's all lower half stuff. Like Levis extends his drive leg way early in his, his rotation,

which basically kills his velocity a lot. Like his hips aren't coming through the throw. You can watch that back foot, that trail leg, it doesn't snap around like a normal quarterback's does. And then he also has this really bad habit, John, where completely unsolicited.

Like there's no pressure. He just, he falls off his spot as he's throwing. Have you seen this? It's almost like he's hitting a fadeaway. Like he'll fall to the left or the right. It doesn't make any sense. Why are you doing that?

I think he thinks his arm is more talented than what it is. I think that's just the fact that matter. You know, you have that like Mahomes kind of did those types of things when he was in college, but he had good accuracy when he did. He was a two off platform thrower where Levis just really isn't. No, exactly. He's not. He needs to be on platform.

All right. So to start this draft, four QB. in a row come off the board. Now that the QBs are pretty much gone, we'll speed the pace up here a little bit. I'll go pick five Seattle Seahawks. I'm going to go with Will Anderson Jr. here. I debated between Carter and Anderson.

I do think they're, you know, Anderson, Carter's number one on my board overall, but Anderson probably gives them more of what they need right now. They did sign Draymont Jones and Free Agency. And I think maybe after the Malik McDowell experience from a few years ago, they'll pass on the question, mark surrounding Carter.

Yeah. You know, as a as a as a lion's here, I'm sprinting to the podium for Carter now. Yeah, exactly. You know, when he's he's, you know, probably the best player in his draft like you have him in your in your big board. At PFF, we have Bryce Young is the number one guy and I think Carter's number two guy. And it's mainly because of position importance there. Yeah.

But if you're just talking about from a pure, like, who's, you know, if you take out that value out of it, like, I think Carter is clearly, clearly the best player in this draft at, you know, regardless of position there. So, yeah, I think, I think Will Anderson is going to be a stud in the NFL. And so that's a good pick for Seattle. And I think the Lions, they're a type that this is a perfect place for, like, for him, for Jalen Carter with Dan Campbell as your head coach. and I think he would fit in extremely well with the Lions. And then you talk about going Aiden Hutchinson and Jalen Carter and back-to-back gears. With that defense, it's really came on strong in the second half of the season.

And that's a rising team. That's just going to give them a really formidable pass rush for sure. Yep. All right, pick seven with the Raiders. I'm going to go cornerback Christian Gonzalez. I do like Witherspin a titch more than Gonzalez, but I think Gonzalez fits. more of that Patriot model where they're going to play a little bit more press man.

I know that's not what Gonzalez did in college and Witherspoon was the more press man guy, but I think from a physical trait standpoint, I don't want Gonzalez playing zone. His instincts are really bad. I want him playing man. C-Car, Chase Carr. Yep. Yeah, there's, there's, I agree with that. He's a, there's a lot of questionable plays on tape where there's, there's mess ups in zone for the guy.

And I think he's better as a man as a man guy for sure. Number eight here, the Falcons on the clock. The board couldn't have fallen worse for them in terms of the need that they have at quarterback. In reality, they probably are able to get a quarterback, maybe via trade of a couple picks or something like that. But in this situation, they're not. They have, you know, obviously that quarterback is a big need. wide receiver is still a need for them, even though they have obviously just drafted one last year, but I'm going to go edge here.

And I'm going to go with Tyree Wilson. He's a long athletic dude can really push the pocket for them. And it's a big need for them to get after the quarterback. Yeah. If you project him to the way he'll be used in the NFL, his length, his power, his strength, it translates very similarly to the way Callais Campbell built his career. they just signed Cleas Campbell. I like the idea of getting Wilson in there and mentored by Callais Campbell.

So that's a win for me. I like that pick, John. Chicago Bears, I'm going to go with the obvious low-hanging fruit here. I'm going to go tackle Peter Skoronsky. I like it. I consider Darnell Wright as well, because I do think Wright gives you some potential guard upside if they need some guard play. What Scorosky brings at the table, though, is elite technician.

And he allows them to get their best. five on the field, right? Because he can play a guard. He can probably, I'm going to start him at tackle because it's a more valuable position. But if, you know, as a backup plan, if you need him to slide to either guard spot, pretty comfortable doing that. So I like the idea of the versatility he brings at the table for a team that's desperate for offensive line talent.

Yeah, I like, I like Skoronski. I think he's the best offensive lineman in his class. And you have a need there, take them, especially for the bears. You've got to protect. All right. Eagles are on a class. lock at pick 10. It's crazy that they get to pick a pick 10 here after, you know, just losing in the Super Bowl. They have, they have some decent needs that they still have for this team.

You know, that could go, you can go a couple different ways here. I'm going to go with Jackson Smith and, how do you pronounce that, Nick Jigba? Injigba. In Jigma. In Jigma. JISN for short. JSN for sure, for sure. Guys, the best route runner. in the class gets open, super productive. He can play. I mean, you're going to slot him into the slot and you talk about, you talk about giving Jalen Hertz, A.J. Brown, Devante Smith, and J.S.N.

Like, ridiculous and a number of weapons there for him and just not fair. So is it a need for them? No, but why not? Why not? Yeah, all three of those. guys so you can play inside or out gives them a lot of alignment versatility they can do some really creative things with the formations they're using i do like that talk about maximizing a two hundred fifty five million dollar quarterback let's go ahead and give him as many weapons as possible which

i know the the the gut reaction for most people is to not do that right they're like oh he makes so much he needs to elevate guys and make them better well how about we just keep keep jalen hurts great yep exactly pick 11 this is the arizona pick that traded back from three they need a lot of stuff. I'm going to go with Devin Witherspoon cornerback here. I think a lot of people have been mocking Christian Gonzalez there, but with John Gannon in the fold as the head coach, they like to play a good combination of zone and man, but mostly a zone heavy scheme. And I think that's where Rutherspin's really going to thrive in the NFL. His instincts, his ability to break on underneath routes is absolutely freaking fantastic. Yes. So I love I love the fit here. He's a

coach's dream type player, real safe pick for a new regime in their first year at the helm. Yeah, I agree. This is, he's a, he's a stud. Like you said, instincts off the charts. He's going to fly up on those underneath routes, and he recognizes him good, good athlete. And yeah, he'll be perfect fit for them. Pick 12 here. I've got the Texans again.

I'm going to give them another, you know, you got to give your rookie wide receiver, rookie quarterback a wide receiver to throw. And we're going to go with. Quentin Johnson. Yes, I've been blocking this incessantly. Yeah. Either J.S.N. or 2J. Right. Exactly. So either one would be, I think, a great fit for them. So like JSN would be getting open like crazy. This is a guy that you can, I mean, massive catch radius. Guy can get open deep. Just a, just a specimen at the position. And they have needs. They just have needs across the board. and if you want your quarterback to thrive, give him a big target to throw it to so that he can be, you know, he doesn't have to be pinpoint with it when he's thrown to QJ.

Yeah, like in this scenario, Richardson was the quarterback they took. QJ, I think JSN, I might like to fit better, but QJ also gives Richardson some, some layups as far as playmaking after the catch. Yep. Get him in rhythm early with some screens, some shallow crossers, some slants. Quentin Johnson's really good on slants as well, you know, get the, get the chains moving, so to speak. I think that added playmaking dimension that he has that maybe JSN doesn't necessarily have, will make that a good fit for Richardson and building that confidence there. All right, pick 13.

We're with the Jets now. Man, I'm going to go Paris Johnson Jr. here tackle. I think everyone's penciling in a tackle for them. The question is, which one will they go with? It's another spot I consider darnall right, but Paris Johnson, his experience, starting at right guard for me makes us an easy pick because the Jets do have a few functional tackles in the fold. They just need consistency though. So this is another pick where it allows them to get their best five on the field. Again, Paris Johnson Jr. for me is a left tackle.

I'm playing him at left tackle because it's a more valuable position. But I do know teams like the built-in versatility option there. If things go haywire, if they lose a couple guards and they need a guy to slide in and kind of be multiple there, I think Johnson gives them that flexibility. Yeah, and they're, who's the big boy, Malika, Beckton. Mackay Beckettin. Mackay, there we go. I knew I was going to mess that up, but he's just had the injury issues, you know, when you have that big of a human, he's going to, that's one of the risks. And yeah, you need to, you need to, I need to obviously fix that position with him. All right, we're on to the New England Patriots. And the Patriots are an interesting team as well, because they have, they have

some needs. I think you can go a couple different routes here, but I'm going to go Lucas Van Ness. I don't know where you have him on your board. We have him pretty high as in terms of our edge defenders. I think he's our number three edge defender on PFF's big board. They need to get after quarterback. We know that, you know, that Bill Belichick likes to, likes his edge defenders and his, and his guys, and I think he's going to do well there with the New England Patriots. Yeah, Vanessa, you know, I'm not very high on him compared to consensus. I think he's 32nd on my big board. I got a lot of issues with his game overall, but when you talk about scheme fit,

I do think this is a Bill Belichick type of guy, runs with a liquid hot motor, and he's got the length. Kind of reminds me a Dietrich Wise when he was coming out, and that's worked out pretty well for New England. So I can see, I see some overlap there, and I understand why they, they would be a good team for that pick. Green Bay, 15. This is tough because, like, ideally the player I want for them is Jackson Swift and Jigba,

but I don't think there's any chance he lasts till 15. He obviously didn't in this mark draft. I think I'm going to go with the next best thing, and that's Dalton Kincaid, and in Utah. With Christian Watson and Romeo Dubs being, I would consider them both lower volume, big play type guys. They kind of need a guy to come in and constantly win and be open for Jordan Love. Dalton Kincaid is probably the next best thing in that regard when it comes to, you know, being a true possession receiver, a guy who's going to always be open and be a high volume

player in that offense. So I think Kincaid really steps in. They need tight end too. So it's not like it. They're stretching there. And Kincaid is, what is he? I think he's 15th on my board. Exactly actually. So that makes a ton of sense. Yeah, I like, I like Dalton Kincaid. He's He's a stud. Just a great route runner for the titan position. He's, yes, he's undersized. He might be one of the smallest tight ends in the NFL when he comes into the league, but that just don't have him blocking in line and lining up as a, you know,

a traditional tight end. You utilize him better. Yeah. You know what, though? Just like we've seen a lot of receive, the receiver position gets smaller with, I mean, there's a million guys in this class. Last year there was some small guys the year before. that position is getting smaller.

So is tight end. You look at all the tight ends in this class. They're between 245 and 253 pounds, like all of them, except for Washington. Yeah. So Kincaid is undersized by the traditional standards, but I think new standards suggests this is probably the size most guys will be playing at. Yeah. Yeah, it's a good point.

It's a good point. So, all right, we're picked 16. We've got the Washington commanders on the clock now. I got some offensive line needs, I would say. So I'm going to go with the, you know, darnel right here for them. I think this is the best offense alignment on the board. Easily. And they have a need for offensive line.

So I'm just taking the best offense alignment on the board. I think you, do they have a tackle need specifically? Not necessarily, I would say. But they need better offensive line play for, for, their team. Yeah, this is painful if you're the Pittsburgh Steelers right here, and I'm picking at 17 with them. I wanted Wright for the Steelers. I think right to the Steelers might be the best team player fit possible in the first round. Wright is a nasty dude. He plays with a ton of tenacity, strong, physical, violent player. I think he fits to Steelers identity really well. Kind of bummed.

I didn't get him here, but it allows me to pivot to Penn State Corner Joey Porter Jr. I'm going to take the low-hanging fruit with the father-son lineage, one stealer to the next. Joey Porter-Juniors to pick. He can, you know, the Steelers are one of the teams that like to mix it up. They have a lot of game scripts where they play some heavy man. They have a lot of gamescripts where they play a lot of off-zone. I think Porter Jr., probably best served as a man guy, but he definitely did both at Penn State, and he did both pretty well. So I'm going Porter Jr.

Yep, I like it. Also, he's a good player, athletic, but now we're on to the lion. The Lions have, like we said earlier when I was talking about Jalen Carter, and they've built up a really good team, and they should be a playoff contender this year and, you know, maybe win a couple games in playoffs. If Dalton Kincaid fell to them here, that would be, like, phenomenal, I think, for them, but he obviously didn't. Their needs are, this is a tough spot for them, in my opinion.

It's tough, but it's a good spot. There's a lot of good players left. Yeah, I don't say they, they just traded away Jeff Okuda, but they, I think they still have a really good cornerback room already, and they don't have like a specific need there. I'm going to go, you're going to tell me if I'm wrong about this, but I'm going to go Brian Branch for them. I mean, what do you think about that? You're more of a Lions expert than I am. One of my favorite players in the draft class, so I'm never going to fight with you about drafting good players. Yeah, I mean, that's the thing is like, when we get to this part in the draft, it's really hard to kind of slot these in.

They probably, all these boards were going to differ considerably, but like Brian Branch is a stud. And you want to, I think you have a really good offense already there. So like building up a couple of like studs on defense, you're talking about Carter there and now Brian Branch, who's, I mean, he can, he can do everything at that safety position. And super, I mean, you play it out Alabama. You're going to be high football IQ guy. You can, he can play into slot. He can play up high. You can play in a box.

He's a guy that can't versatile, I'd say high floor skill set that you can fit into any defense. And he'll be a stud. He is 100% an Aaron Glenn type of DB. Look at the way the Saints were operated when he was there. They used a lot of these multiple, I mean, the six, seven dbs. They had a year, John, I think. I looked it up when Glenn was there where they had,

they had seven dbs play over 450 snaps in one season. It's like they love these guys. You can't have enough good defensive backs. Yeah, yeah. But that wasn't because of injury either, by the way. That was because they legit rotate these guys. They have specific roles for them. But my player comp for Branch is Johnson Gardner Johnson,

who the Lions just signed to a one-year deal. Branch kind of, you know, he can learn a little bit from, from a guy who's done the safety slot corner hybrid role very, very well. And then also Tracy Walker coming off that Achilles injury, a chance branch just takes that spot, you know, and it just does that outright. So I don't hate the pick at all. Like I said, draft good players and you usually do well for yourself.

So pick 19. I'm going to go offensive tackle from Georgia, Broderick Jones. Out goes Donovan Smith. In goes Broderick Jones. This has been a common selection in my mock draft thus far, but it makes perfect sense. I think Broderick Jones gives you a little more pedigree than Smith as well. And I think there's a chance here.

upgrading the position there right out of the gate. Yeah, I'm never, I mean, the last offense tackle taken from Georgia is now pretty much a stud and Andrew Thomas. And we've seen, obviously, Brojic Jones play extremely well. He gave up two sacks over the last three years for them, which is pretty good in the SEC. So I think he's, that's a good pick right there. On a pick 20 with the Seattle Seahawks, they have. obviously the second pick in this draft they went will anderson with the first pick they have i would

say let's let's go let's go coliza cancy it might not be oh my goodness john yeah so you're talking about explosive players on that defensive line um i why not right like why not do it he's it uber athlete uh he you know people are obviously competent him to aaron donald nobody's an aaron donald to Aaron Donald's one of one. But Cancy is obviously Uber athletic, super quick. It's got to develop as some counter moves and more than just to beat him with beat offensive alignment with his quickness. But I think being with Pete Carroll in that defense, you can develop those tools that he

needs to develop, especially with this raw athleticism the guy has. You're giving the Seahawks a pass rush package of Will Anderson, Draymont Jones, Elijah Cancy and then either Bois Mafe or Cheninuosa. Like, that's nasty. They can do a lot of cool stunts and twists with that group as well. That'd be a fun group. I like it. Pick 21, the Los Angeles Chargers.

This is a tough spot. I think in an ideal world, Dalton Kincaid makes it this far and they grab him. This is not an ideal world we're living in, though. So we're going to go. Oh, I'm going to do. do it, John. I'm going to do it. Running back from Texas, B. John Robinson. Let's go. I know running back in the first is frowned upon. I think at this point, though, with Bijon's talent, this is perfectly fine. You're not in a situation like you were when Sequin went second overall. Talking to our mutual friend, Brad Spielberger,

John, when Sequin was drafted, you know, he was a top top five paid at his position the day he was drafted second overall. Oh, wow. Yeah. So Bejohn at 20. one, it will not have that effect. He will be closer to the mid-teens, which is totally fine for a guy his talent. You're not, you know, you're never drafting a guy hoping to get him to a second contract at running back. So for them, they're getting five, six years from Bijan right away. He's a one-to-one replacement for Echler, can do all the bell cow things.

Might be the cheapest, most effective way to improve that offense. Yeah, I, um, makes sense. Totally makes sense. You're talking, you get into the 20s, I think taking running backs as, It's perfectly fine now. I'm just never going to be a fan of them taking in that top 10 where, what is it? The rookie scale kind of really drops off after pick 10 or something like that. So I think after that is when it starts becoming much more feasible for non,

non quote unquote valuable positions anymore. So, all right. We're on to the Ravens with Pick 22. And I know they just signed OBJ, but. An issue with the Ravens has been that they just don't have enough wide receiver talent in the room. So I'm going to go with another wide receiver for them here because I just don't think you can. If Lamar Jackson's their quarterback, just give them as many weapons as you possibly can. The two best options here, in my opinion, you might differ here.

I think it's our Zay Flowers and Jordan Addison. I'm going to go with Zay Flowers here. I think he's more, just more athletic, a better, just a little bit better of a route runner. I think they're just, they're pretty close, though, but I think I like Jay Flowers after the catch a little bit better than Jordan Addison. But I couldn't, I could see going both either one of those guys. Cool. I'm glad you went receiver for the Ravens. They definitely need it.

I have Addison significantly higher than Flowers, however. That's okay. We can debate that off air. I do think Edison is a much better route rather than Flowers. Flowers will give you more after the catch, though. That is fair. I think he works more in that Hollywood Brown role that he did well with Baltimore. I think Flowers is definitely more of that type of player. So if that's kind of what that offense requires, I think maybe that is a better pick for them.

Pick 23, I'm coming right back with Jordan Addison, wide receiver from USC. I think they really, really need to get Justin Jefferson another. dude there and Kurt Cousins for that matter. Obviously, they could be in the quarterback market as well, but in this scenario, they didn't really get after it. So they're running the back with Kirk, making one last push. Let's give them Jordan Addison

another true separator route runner who can kind of take some of the pressure off Jefferson. Now you're running with a trio of Jefferson, Addison, and Hawkinson. I think cousins can thrive in that environment. Yeah. Yeah, they need, obviously

they just cut Adam Thielen. You need more weapons around Justin Jefferson to keep him as, you know, arguably the most productive wire receiver in the NFL. All right. So the Jaguars at 24. They have, obviously, this came off a playoff victory. They have some needs. And I'm going to go with, I'm going to go with Edge for him here because I know they do this

picked Edge. and obviously Trayvon Walker last year, but like Walker is not a guy that in college was ultra productive as an edge rusher and he hasn't yet to show that in the NFL. He flashes and stuff like that. I need, I think you just need to get after a quarterback even more. I'm going to go with Miles Murphy here. Kind of another Uber athlete for the, the Jaguars at that edge position. And so you've got Josh Allen, you've got Trayvon Walker, you've got Miles Murphy. That's a nasty trio of guys that you can rotate to get after the pastor. Yeah, I love, I've D-Line is kind of webbed and penciling in general.

I've been going more interior guys, but Miles Murphy's a value at this point in the draft. I have a top 12 grade on him. I think he's a fantastic prospect. He's a better prospect for me than Trayvon Walker was last year. So I think there's a chance he competes there. But also, you're talking about a guy who's extremely long and powerful as well as athletic. so the Jaguars do like to play some odd front type looks on early down. So maybe he kicks into a more traditional four technique roll,

five technique roll as a big close side edge in that odd front. And then in the past rush situations, they can kind of move them around the front, get some production from there. I like to pick, John. Good stuff. Cool. Pick 25.

This is, this is tough because ideally one of these receivers falls to them. I do think you got a little bit of a drop off after Zay. not yeah one of man this is they probably trade up in in real life they probably do trade up to get one of those guys if it looks like they're they're well their chances are they don't like all four of them anyways so they're probably going to trade up to get the guy they like because the receivers are gone though I think the value to reach for one here just isn't there I think they get a similar player at this point in the second round so I'm going to go

cornerback out of maryland dante banks If you talk about sealing, drafting for ceiling, Deante Banks might have the highest ceiling of all the corners in this class. He is a freak athlete and he needs just a little raw. He needs a little bit of development, but they need corners. They need defensive backs in general. So I like putting Deante Banks on that defense. Yeah, his combine was ridiculous.

You know, four, what, mid-four-threes, 42-plus inch for 11-plus broad. Like, dude is, is, and he's, you know, what, six foot, almost 200 pounds. Like, he's just an Uber athlete position. You bank on that type of stuff. The modern product. So, yeah, exactly, exactly. So they have a, they have a, they have, you know, like, you can never have enough cornerbacks, and I think he's, he's a stud.

So, all right, we're on to the Cowboys. You know, obviously, they, they cut Zeke. They have some needs and stuff like that. But I think, I don't know where you have him, this guy on your board, but I'm going to go with Brian Brise, who's a defensive tackle for Clemson. They have into defensive needs for them for the, for the cowboys. I think for is he, you know, big, long, I think he's got some power. He's got explosiveness that he can use. And I think he has a little bit of versatility inside that you can move him around.

but I think there's some development that he needs for sure. But he did come off of a, you know, I think he tore his ACL is two years ago and he came off of that and played well this past year. So I think I like the fit there. Yeah, I've been putting an interior player to Dallas through the whole process, whether it's Collijah Cancy, Bricet and one mock and then Mazzie Smith and another. The thing with Brisei, John, is he reminds me a lot of my golf game, where, It's just not that. Distancy isn't there, but like the high-end reps get you coming back for more, right? So, like, I can suck for 17 holes.

But on 18, I ripped that 310-yard drive right down the center of the fairway. I'm coming back next week to play more golf. And that's Brise. I see that, you know, him dominate a guard and get quick pressure on a quarterback. And I'm coming back for more Brisei tape. So I do like the fit. He needs to get more technically sound. If you know anything about the dude's story, it's actually crazy.

He lost his sister to cancer last fall. played despite that. He had multiple catastrophic injuries. The guy's a fighter, man. He is a warrior type. If he can stay healthy, I think the chance to get consistent is there. So I like it.

But because you left Masey Smith on the board, I'm coming right back and I'm drafting Masey Smith at 27 to Buffalo. I think the writing on the wall for Ed Oliver is there. They need help on the interior. Masey Smith is a freaky mover for his size. 330-pound men should not move the way Mazi Smith does. I think he's going to be a lock first-rounder, and he's going to surprise some people with how high he actually does go.

So I'm going 27 overall to the Buffalo Bills, Mazzay-Smith, defensive tackle, Michigan. Yeah, Ed Oliver is a fine player, but... Well, they're going to trade him, it sounds like. Oh, yeah, and I think, I mean, I remember when he was coming out in that draft and everybody was saying he's the next Aaron Donovan. Like people like to compare that, right? But it's like, I was just saying,

this dude can't get half of the pass rush. He's not a pass rusher, right? He's a good run defender and that's it. So he had no hand usage or move set like Donald. At least Cancy has that for, you know, for all the people making the comps. Cancy at least has the hand technique and the foot speed

and the crazy move set. Ad Oliver just never did. He was literally a power guy. He tried to lock out and then stack and shed. even as a pass rusher. Yeah, exactly so. All right, we're on to the Bengals, pick 28. This one's interesting for me.

I know that some people think that they're going to go like a, like a be-john drops to them, that they would go there because of the situation with Joe Mixin. But I'm going to, I'm just going to give them another weapon. And this might be a bit high. And I think he's your number three tight-in, but I'm going to go Michael Meyer. to give Joe Burrow just another weapon to throw to.

And I'm not usually a fan of going tight end in the first round, but I mean, give Joe Burrow another dude to throw it to, and I think you'll be perfectly fine. And I like Michael Myers tape. I think I'm a little bit higher on him than you are. I think he's tied in two in his class. I think he's three for you, but I think he can be a very, He's one of these, you know, I think he's got the good size for them.

You can move him inside and outside and he runs good routes. He's not a burner by any means for the position. But I think he can win over the middle for Burrow. And they're going to have to start paying, you know, they might pay at T. Higgins or, you know, obviously, Jamar Chast and then Joe Burrow, you need to give him, you know, weapons on a rookie contract to have for weapons. Yeah. I don't, I don't dislike Michael Meyer at all. I think my scores, one of the things that they really value for tight ends is athleticism. There's not a position in the NFL that has a higher correlation to success with athleticism than tight end.

In fact, I don't know. You know, RAS, I cite this a lot. It's not the perfect metric by any means. But when it comes to predicting tight end success, it's actually pretty darn good. In the last 25 years, there's been one tight end to have a thousand-yard season that didn't have an elite RAS score. and that was Jordan Reed and he tested with a torn hamstring. So chances are when you watch Reed's tape,

he's probably an elite athlete, you know? What was Michael Myers RAS for? I think it was like in the sixes. So he's like not bad athlete but not elite. Overall, all I'm getting to is saying, I just don't think mayor has the receiving ceiling that maybe a Kincaid or a Musgrave, if Musgrave can stay healthy, has.

But despite that, I think this is a perfectly fine pick. Mayer probably actually is a better fit for the Bengals than any of those other guys because he's going to give you a little more in the run game, which they do like. I mean, they are still one of those, you know, Sean McVeigh, Kyle Shanahan offshoots that likes the outside zone. Mayer's a really good point of attack blocker. I think he's, you know, perfectly fine, working to the second level, reaching those edge defenders on that outside zone stuff. So I think he's good. He's the best run blocker at the tight-in position in his class. Consistent run-blocker, yeah. Washington's the best, you know, put you in a body bag blocker. Right, right, right. But he's got to clean up some technique to get more consistent for sure. All right, New Orleans pick 29. This is tough because the board just fell miserably for them for what I think they're looking to do.

I'm probably going to go. Is your top guard on the board? Yeah, top guard is Osiris Torrance. That's who I was thinking. But I'm also looking at Nolan Smith sitting there still available. Oh, wow, yeah. I'm not a huge Nolan Smith guy compared to consensus, but I think this is probably a good value for him.

Shoot. Yeah, let me go. Let me go Osiris Torrance. I think they're kind of rebuilding that O-line. Last year they drafted the tackle. This year they get the guard. Yeah, I think that's probably necessary for them. So Osiris Torrance, guard from Florida.

That's all I have to say about it. All right. Sounds good. All right. pick 30 here second pick in the first round after losing in the Super Bowl I picked them with the wide receivers they got weapons there I'm gonna go the Eagles are a type of team that are gonna go top player on the board when it if it falls to them correctly and the top player on PFF's big board right now is Nolan Smith yeah this they have some old

they have some old players on that defensive line and they think I just need to get younger so that's what I'm going on. John, did you know like 70% of mocks have them taking Nolan Smith at 10? Really? And they're getting him here at 30. So they have a Georgia, the Georgia Philly pipeline is a thing. It's an actual thing. They drafted three Georgia players last year, a couple before that.

So like everyone's making the connection to Nolan Smith for them at 10 overall. And they're getting him here at 30, which is great. Like I said, I'm not a Nolan Smith guy, but this is ridiculous value. Yeah. Yeah, things happen in the NFL draft in the first round. You never know, like, you know, I can't remember. You know, 49ers had two picks in the first round, and everybody was mocking, like, somebody to them at, like, three,

and they got the same guy at, like, 30 or something like that. Yep. I can't remember what year that was. All right. To close it out, pick 31, the Kansas City Chiefs are going to go. Oh, I'm tempted to get stupid right now. do it do it

get stupid yeah get stupid why not it's last pick of the draft I'm gonna do they're taking a mulligan on the CEH pick from years past

and they're going with running back from Alabama Jemir Gibbs they're doing it again John they're doing it again they're making the same mistake this time at least Gibbs is a good player

where I was not a CEEH guy I think I had a early fourth round grade on him I have a early second round great on Gibbs. So I think this is a really good fit. What he brings at the past game should be pretty freaking cool for them. Yeah, he's an explosive dude. Like, you watch his tape and it looks like it's everybody else is in slow motion as he's like blown by them. He's a stud. I definitely thought that Clyde was a good fit for the chiefs when they picked them, even though I wouldn't

have made that pick. And it just turns out that he's just not very good. Like when they give him the ball like he actually puts up like good fantasy points and stuff like that but like he's just not any running back would though right yeah any any running back in any read system what makes creates points so yeah cool that was fun yeah all right so either john or i will post this to the twitter's either john or i will post this to the twitters we can get your guys's takes so but yeah thank you so much for listening i will be back tomorrow with another episode we are out Thanks for tuning in to this edition of the Fantasy Points podcast. Remember to subscribe, rate, and review on your favorite platform. And come join the roster at FantasyPoints.com.