Fantasy Football Daily - Fantasy Points 2025 Fantasy Football Rookie Watch | with Brett Whitefield and Theo Gremminger

Episode Date: February 3, 2025

Fantasy Points begins the March to the 2025 NFL Draft with Brett Whitefield and Theo Gremminger taking a look at some more rookies to watch in 2025 rookie drafts. #FantasyFootball Fantasy Points Senior Bowl Fantasy Notes article here - https://www.fantasypoints.com/nfl/articles/2025/senior-bowl-fantasy-notes#/ Where to find us: http://twitter.com/BGWhitefield http://twitter.com/TheOGFantasy Find Our Podcasts Here - https://www.fantasypoints.com/media/podcasts#/ Subscribe to FantasyPoints for FREE - https://www.fantasypoints.com/plans#/ FantasyPoints Website - https://www.fantasypoints.com NEW! Data Suite - https://data.fantasypoints.com Twitter - https://twitter.com/FantasyPts Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/FantasyPts Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/FantasyPts TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@fantasypts Intro - 00:00 Jaxon Dart - 00:42 Jalen Milroe - 04:04 Ollie Gordon II - 06:30 Brashard Smith - 11:33 Devin Neal - 15:06 Jack Bech - 18:13 Jaylin Noel - 22:39 Jayden Higgins - 26:11 Jalen Royals - 27:51 TEs introduced - 31:30 Elijah Arroyo - 31:51 Mason Taylor - 36:05 Harold Fannin Jr. - 38:04 Outro - 40:41 #fantasypoints #nfl #fantasyfootball #dynastyfantasyfootball #FantasyFootballAdvice #dynastypoints #dynasty Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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We're talking about players who gained value down in Mobile at the Senior Bowl. We're talking about some of Brett Whitefield's biggest winners at the Senior Bowl, as well as a few notable standouts. I'm Theo Greminger here with Brett Whitefield. We're dropping videos like this all the way up to the NFL draft. Brett, we've got to talk about your guy Jackson Dart. This was a big week for him. This has been a quarterback class that has been.

in really looking for a third quarterback to join that big two. Did Jackson Dart pass the test? Yeah, I think so. I mean, for one, you know, there's not a lot to take away from senior bowl practices for QBs. We've noted this before, but it's like there's just so many moving parts. It's hard for guys that really stand out. I mentioned on a previous show, Bo Nix and Michael Pennix last year.

I thought both of them performed rather poorly at the senior bowl, and they still went, what, eighth and 12th, respectively. So as far as that, because I thought Dart looked fine. His play on the field was fine. I did note some extra mechanical things they were having them do. But also just the thing I really took away was the vibe check on him was great. You know, he just seemed like a dude. I know you're seeing reports from some insiders saying there were several teams that loved him.

And he's really, you know, kind of made an impression on teams. There's also people saying the opposite of that, but it is lying season after all. Overall, though, I felt like Dart had a really good week. And I got to see the man, Jackson Dart. That was important for me. Yeah, and I think you sort of nailed it. I think that he's like not a perfect prospect. And I think if we were like last year's draft, if we were having to rank him, it would

be a little difficult. But because of this year's quarterback class lacking the high end depth, guys that we think could be first round quarterbacks, I think that helps him. Then it helps him that he has one of the better arms in the entire class whatsoever. I love how you brought up that he did things footwork-wise in Mobile that he wasn't asked to do at Ole Miss, sort of showing a high learning curve to take on new skills and new concepts. We'll talk about that a little bit, Brett. Yeah, and I would say furthermore, he was asked to do things in Mobile that the other

quarterbacks just weren't asked to do, maybe outside of Tyler Shuck from Louisville, but bringing him under center a lot. you know, that was something missing from almost old Mrs. Playbook. And a lot of those complex run schemes like power encounter, some misdirection stuff where we were having to do a lot of intricate things with the ball mechanics and the footwork in the backfield for him to pick that up right away, not having done that in college and just go do that immobile. And not of that being like the only quarterback being asked to do that stuff, I thought

was really impressive, showed that he's a quick learner. Yeah, and over 4,000 passing yards, 29 touchdown pass. is he has a number of starts under his belt. This is not like some guy that's a completely raw prospect. And when you look at it, there's going to be a number of teams drafting in the second half of the top 10 where I think Jackson Darton might very much be in play. There's already some media. I live on Long Island.

There's already some New York media sort of talking about him as a potential draft pick for the Jets at 7, New Orleans picks at 9, Vegas at 6. So even if it goes Cam Ward should or Sanders ahead of them, there's a lot of quarterback needy teams in this draft. I think what Darts done is he sort of locked himself into the top 20, Brett. And we've seen this a number of times. When you're locked in that top 20, all it takes is a couple of people trying to position themselves and you're like a top 10 pick. So big week for DART. We are definitely on team DART.

What about Jalen Milrow? This was another player where there's definitely a high. hive. When it comes to Jalen Milro, there's going to be certain fantasy analysts looking at him and saying, this could be the guy. He's got that mobility. He won some big games in college. Sort of a mixed bag down at the senior bowl. We're at day one, definitely not a good day for him. But day two, we saw some signs of life and improvement. Yeah, Jay, so the thing with Miller is I understand why the fantasy crowd wants him to be a thing because it's like, hey, we've seen this model work, right? Great legs, awesome runner of the football, super explosive and

dynamic with his legs. He's got some creative element to his passing game as well where it's, it's not necessarily pretty, but he can extend plays and make things happen downfield a little bit. The thing for me is just the down for down consistency throwing the football just not there, whether that's, you know, not getting through his progressions correctly, not reading what the defense is doing correctly, or just not throwing the ball accurately. And we've seen, we're seeing a lot of similar issues with Anthony Richardson right now. And so I'm just not, for me, when I see guys like Jalen Hertz go in the second round, I don't see Milro getting that kind of capital because Hertz was a far superior prospect

to where Millero is right now. I will have a day too great on him. It looks like back end of the third round for me. So, you know, like you said with Dorrell, it takes his one team to really like him. Who knows, maybe the Pittsburgh Steelers at the end of the first round really like Jalen Milrow. I'm not ruling it out just for me and for my flavor.

That's not a recipe for success moving forward. Yeah. And I think with Milro, if you draft him early, like first round, even really a top 40 selection, you're saying you sort of want to build your offense around his talent. That's also something NFL teams are going to have to consider. There was some arm velocity on his throws, but there was a lot of incompletions, some bad interceptions. So Milro, I think the book is definitely still not written. I would say that I'm going to be probably projecting him to be a second round pick.

I do think there'll be one or two teams that are very optimistic about that profile, but you could be right. He could be a third round pick, and that makes his level of success go down considerably. The hit rates on third round quarterbacks versus second, it's lower. Let's pivot over the running back position. And I've got to say, I'm seeing some absolutely terrible process rankings, not only by drafters, but also by competitors of ours. Ali Gordon right now might be the best value on underdog among any running back,

really among any player at any position. You always see a rookie discount this time of year, but Ollie Gordon is running back 49. I'm actually shocked by that one. He's 12 spots behind Cam Scatabo. And then PFF has him as RB22 overall in this class. I don't know if these guys are watching what Ollie Gordon did at the Senior Bowl. But Brett, this is a guy where if we were recording one,

one year ago at this time, the two of us would have had Olly Gordon very highly ranked as like a guy we would predict to be one of the main running backs in 2025 class. This year, Oklahoma State has a nightmare season. They win three games. Ollie Gordon's production dips below 900 rushing yards still has 13 rushing scores. But it's been sort of a player that's had maybe been over corrected in the rankings. The senior bowl, though, you show up there. He's an absolute unit of a running back, 6-1, 233.

And when you stand next to him, Brett, we're both kind of big guys. Ollie Gordon is like a tight end, an NFL tight end-sized guy out there. So I was very, very impressed by Gordon not only physically, but he has great feet. He caught the ball well for a larger back. Everything about Ollie Gordon just stood out. And it was a strong running back class. Your thoughts on Gordon. Yeah, I got a couple.

one, the adjustment that you talked about to Olegor and having a down year is crazy to me because I still care about the tape more than the numbers. I don't care about box score stats. You should, if you've known me long enough, you should know that by now. I want to see what the tape says. And when I put on his 2024 tape, it looks awesome. He was really, really good. So I don't really know what else to say beyond that.

As far as like the quick feat you mentioned, and this is really where I was looking forward to the senior book because I wanted to see how he. looked in person, how that, you know, that lateral quickness stacked up with his linear explosiveness, which we know he has that and droves. And I was impressed in the route running drills. He looked fluid. You know, he's not like a, he won't be a past game weapon, Theo. But does he have enough in the feet to be a guy who can catch the ball and be productive

for the, absolutely. The hands are supernatural. He's awesome in the screen game. He's awesome as a checkdown threat. And then the footwork in the backfield, I think is really important to note because coming from Oklahoma State, he did play in a really diverse run scheme. They had a good blend of inside zone, outside zone, duo, power, counter. All of that requires different footwork models, different vision models.

And he accelerated all of that. There wasn't a single run concept he was bad at. I've completely 180 on him. I was a little unsure where I'd have him stacking up going into senior bowl week. I think he's back like, hey, I'm sticking to my guns here. I think he's the top five running back in this class. So I have him at running back six. So I think we're pretty close there.

And I think you brought up a great point where he's not a guy that's going to go out and be a guy that you're scheming a ton of targets for. But he's a good enough for receiving back with his size that if he can become a 40 catch a year type guy in the NFL, and that's more than enough because running wise, he's got the size. he's got the durability and he has the makeup to handle volume in the pros. So if you could just offer a little bit on top with the receiving game, which I think he does, then you're talking about a guy that could be somewhere in between Najee Harris and your comp of Brian Robinson, Jr., which I thought was a good one, but I think it might be a low-end comp, a very realistic comp for him. If Gordon lands well, this is a guy where we talked about that underdog RB-49, I mean,

Brett, it could rise like 20. spots on on draft day it should especially if if he goes in the range i think he'll end up going in his underdog adp will rise for sure um you i want to throw this out there too because i say every time i do comps i don't do ceiling floor comps i know everyone does i do style comps so when i throw out a cop it's like hey when i watch this player he reminds me of this player it's definitely has nothing to do with ceiling floor ollie gordon reminds me of brian robinson junior but there are qualities to gordon's games that for sure exceeds where brian robinson junior's at yeah i think that's a way of putting it. Brett and I are going to cover a number of other running backs. We're also

talking about our wide receiver winners and our tight end winners when we come back. Welcome back. Theo Greminger and Brett Whitefield. We're talking about rookie risers. We're talking about rookies who gained value in Mobile down to the senior bowl. We're going to be dropping content like this all the way up to NFL draft day and beyond getting you ready for your dynasty rookie drafts, getting you ready for your redraft leagues. If you want to take advantage of all the content Brett's putting out my content and many others. Make sure you're signing up for fantasy points today. We have our early bird special 20% off right now, Brett.

And you're going to be dropping a ton of great, great rookie stuff coming out. Let's talk about another running back where the two of us podcasted a week before the senior bowl. And we talked about players we really had our eyes on. And one guy that was, we were definitely didn't anticipate being this good in person was Brashard Smith. He's got an interesting story. He was a wide receiver at Miami,

transfers to SMU, has a terrific season this year at SMU, 1,300 rushing yards, caught a number of passes. This was obviously a massive season for SMU where they made the college football playoffs. But Breschard Smith was sort of a guy that was a little bit overlooked. He's not going to be overlooked anymore.

You're starting to hear potential Bucky Irving comparisons, Tyrone Tracy comparisons. this is a talented running back who was awesome catching the football. I think he was the best past catching back in Mobile. And Brett, what was surprising was he looked great as a runner, ripped off a number of long runs. He's very fluid in his running style. Share your thoughts on Breschard Smith of SMU.

Yeah, I mean, he wowed me in every way, shape, and form. I expected the past game stuff to be good because he's a converted wide receiver. But the attention to detail, the vision and the bird, as a runner was awesome to me. Look, this is a guy that he had like, what, 15 career carries coming into the year, most of them on jet sweeps. And he went right from that to 235 carries as a senior in college. So there's a pace and a rhythm and just a field that comes with the running back position

that takes time. And he went from never playing it to 235 carries in one year and looked relatively good doing it. So he's a huge riser for me for that reason. He kind of proved he belongs. I thought the pass pro stuff looked really good. But when you talk about him as a runner, one of the things missing on tape is like this, this kind of blinding physicality you want your running back to play with

where it's like, hey, I'm not going to shy away from contact and when I need to grind out tough yards, I will. But he's only been playing the position for a year. And I feel like that comes with time. He's clearly added muscle mass to his frame. I actually did some digging. SMU, or sorry, it may have been Miami. Whoever he played for in 2023 listed him at 187 pounds.

and he weighs in at the senior ball at 202. So, I mean, he's clearly added mass along the way, and I feel like that's only going to increase and be better for him long term. Yeah, and I think if you're trying to think of a body type in the NFL somewhat stylistic in terms of the things they do, James Cook for me. Would you agree on that one, Brett?

Yeah, for sure. Cook's another one, too, where he's slowly adding body mass as he gets older here, and I thought he looked more like Dalvin this year than he ever has. But yeah, I mean, that's a great cop. great call out. Yeah. So I would say Breschard Smith with what we've seen, I don't think he's a day two pick, but I do think he's going to be one of these guys

that get selected early on day three. If I had to pick a round, I would say round four. Am I being a little too bearish on there, or do you think that that's about right? No, that seems about right. I mean, you know, he's, gosh, I think what Kenny Gamow is a fourth round pick, right?

Yeah. I think they're similar play style wise, and I think Breschard Smith's probably even a more accomplished player than Gainwell was coming out. So I think that's fair. And he's another one where if he lands correctly, high value touch guy in a top-notch offense, you could kind of paint yourself a picture of Breschard Smith making an impact as a rookie.

And I do think he would do well in a committee backfield, which is pretty much more than half the teams in the NFL are using some sort of a committee. One running back who has a hive where there's a ton of enthusiasm surrounding him in fantasy football circles for months now is Devin Neal. Devin Neal, we both walked away where if we were doing like an all senior bowl team, neither one of us would have Devin Neal on that team. But I don't think that he hurt himself.

And in fact, I think the most important thing for Neal was him weighing in well and sort of passing the eye test. 220, Brett. That's a win right there. A huge win. The burst to weight combo is insane with him. That's ultimately what NFL teams are looking for. You look at, talk to any O-Line coach or run game coordinator in the league,

they'll tell you the two most important things to a run game are generating explosive plays and preventing plays that go for nothing. And he's got explosives written all over him. And you look at Sequin Barclay and Jemir Gibbs and the impact, these guys are having on their team, Bejan Robinson. Well, Neil fits that model where it's like, hey, he's a big physical guy, he's going to prevent those, you know, tackles for negative yards. But he's also got that explosiveness where, hey, you give him a little bit of

daylight. He's turning a eight yard gain into 40 yards. I think teams value that an absolute ton. And he's awesome in the past game, too, just a natural fluid route runner. Almost looks like a big slot receiver out there running, running routes. Yeah, you brought that one up. There's a sort of in fantasy circles, there's sort of been a Taije Spears comp. And then the people that are that are extremely into him have made an Alvin Kamara comp. I had a chance to speak to him down in Mobile. I know John Hansen did as well. But Neil told me that he, he kind of has compared his game to Joe Mixins, and he likes watching Mixin tape. Do you have a somewhat of a stylistic comp when it comes to Devin Neal?

So that's funny. You say that my comp coming into the week was if you created a spectrum between Taday Spears and Joe Mixin from a play style standpoint, he's somewhere on that spectrum. So he has the patience and the vision of like a of a mixing, but he's got that short area burst and explosiveness that Taday has. He's obviously a lot bigger than Tadj too. I talked to him off the record too, Theo, and you know what he told me? He's going to run very fast in the 40th Combine. I love that one. That's sort of one of those off the record, but I don't mind it dropping out there.

The guy's going to, like, if this 220-pound profile Devin Neal has, if he comes in there and he actually does run the sort of 40s that Brett thinks he could potentially run, this is a guy that's going to be a day two pick hands down. very strong in the screen game as well, which is important to a lot of NFL teams. Devin Neil, it's sort of like when you watch the tape from Kansas, you sort of wonder why they didn't utilize him more as a pass catcher. He would always catch some passes, but it wasn't like a guy that they were continually manufacturing targets for.

Neil, I think, is a guy that's going to continue to rise. And it wasn't necessarily the play, but it's the way he carries himself, the body type, and that he didn't hurt himself in any drill. who just, you know, was not Ali Gordon down there. Wide receiver wise, there was a number of players that really, really impressed us. We got to talk about the player who had the best storyline by far, obviously some tragic circumstances heading in to the Senior Bowl,

ended up having one of the best Senior Bowls of any player down there at the wide receiver spot, and then ends up catching the game-winning touchdown catch in the actual Senior Bowl, which is we don't really talk about. We talk about all these practices, but it was wonderful to see, Jack Betch of TCU shine like this. And I'll give you props, Brett, because we podcasted about a month ago and Jack Betch has been a guy that you've been higher on than consensus. You continue to be sort of ahead of the curve on some of these players. Betch is good. The market is going to come in line with where you were a month ago.

But how much has Betch risen potentially in your rankings based on what you saw down there? Another guy who physically looked apart more than I thought he would have. Betch is a big strong receiver. He's sort of like Adam Thielen size down there. And I had thought that this would be a guy that would have been a slot. I think he's a guy that can play inside. He can play outside. Catches literally everything.

Your thoughts? Yeah. So going into Senior Bowl week, he just as a power slot archetype role, Theo, he was scoring for me as a mid-second round pick. He goes to the Senior Bowl and they don't really play him in the slot that much. He played in the slot in two receiver sets, you know, from, certain alignments or whatever, but he honestly played X receiver most of the time. And that was the big question I had was could he go win as an X?

I know the short area quickness is there. I was never worried about that. But can he go stack a DB up? Can he go? Does he have enough juice to win off the line and get in a blind spot, create these two-way go situations, you know, hit some throw-by techniques for some easy yards? And he answered the call every step of the way. I mean, not only was he winning, he was winning with authority.

And whether it was big separation downfield or, Or winning at the catch point, the dude was, I mean, literally all over the place. I don't think he, I mean, I'm trying to think, was there a single contested catch ball he didn't come down with? No. And he had the catch of the, he had the catch of the senior bowl as well. Yeah. And this was, that's like no small feat because there was a number of like circus catches made. Yeah.

There was a strong class down there. But it was a Jalen Milro pass, a deep, a deep sideline pass. And that was a ridiculous grab by bet. He contorted his body, got both field feet and bounds, like showed big time contested catchability. I was super impressed. Yeah, and the, so this is my ninth year scoring prospects of my model. And when I go back and look at the number one trait consistent among every successful wide receiver in the NFL,

it's not route running, it's not yards. You know what it is? It's body control. Body control leads to all those other things. If you have good body control, you can be a great player after the catch. if you have good body control, you can be a great route runner. So I think bash going out there and showing just ridiculous body control and ability to track and adjust to the football is huge for me.

We already knew the route running was good. And I think he answered some questions on the vertical speed as well. But that body control man stands out. So long story short to say, he was a mid-second round player for me as a power slot archetype. Now I think he's a guy you can play on the outside if you want. And he's flirting with that first round score for me. We'll see you. I got to get some actual testing numbers. He's got to hit some benchmarks for me.

But if he does, if he checks those boxes, we're looking at a first round player for me. Yeah. So if I had to predict, I think he's a second rounder, which is still a huge win. When we talk about hit rates in fantasy football, if you can get that upper half of the second round draft capital, your chances of giving us a wide receiver one, wide receiver two season are much higher than if you're drafted a little bit later. And I do think NFL teams are going to look at Betch as a guy that's very much in the rotation, whether he's a team's third wide receiver, maybe a strong wide receiver too for some teams as well. That's in play. And testing-wise will be interesting, but I will say that this is a guy that looks rocked up. Definitely is a fast-twitch, more fast-twitch than I would have thought.

But Jack Betch was not the only wide receiver winner down in Mobile. We've got to talk about a potential new wide receiver. you and that's Iowa State right when we come back. Welcome back, Theo Greminger and Brett Whitefield talking about players rising up fantasy football rankings that had great weeks at the Senior Bowl. Brett, I never thought we'd be talking about two Iowa State wide receivers that are both going to go in like the top 60, the NFL draft. When we talked before the Senior Bowl, we both thought that Jaden Higgins was going to

have a strong week in Mobile. And he absolutely did. But before we touch on Higgins, we've got to talk about Jalen Knoll. One of the biggest risers down in Mobile, Jalen Knoll, day one was awesome, and it kept going throughout the entire week. Noel is a massive riser. Talk about his profile. Yeah, I mean, again, another guy coming into the week,

I was relatively high on, thought he was a good player, felt more of like an early third round type guy to me, slot receiver, you know, kind of an Amunrah clone, but maybe not quite that skilled. When you look at the tape from Iowa State, the way they used him was like he was the motion man in the offense. He was, you know, always getting schemed up touches, wasn't asked to ever go beat press, wasn't asked to really ever win vertically against an outside corner. All of his vertical stuff was, you know, against quarters coverage, against those safeties, you know, aligned 12 yards off the ball, easy wins, I guess is what I'm trying to say.

So for him to come to the Senior Bowl and then probably be the most dominant route runner, you know, from day one to day three, I think speaks volumes to an untapped skill set. And I always talk about the main value add for the Senior Bowl to me is guys adding to their story. I invoke the Terry McLaurin anecdote whenever I can, because it's such a good one. But he was used very similarly to Jaylon Null coming out of Ohio State. We had no idea this guy could run routes. And just like Terry McLaurin, Jalen Lowe walks in here. holy crap he put on a route running clinic getting off press um he was one of the few guys that didn't do the you know six second dance at the line of scrimmage to get off press that was

driving everyone nuts um i know the next guy we were to talk about was was great with that as well but man the the profile is hey we have a primary slot receiver who can run routes he can win against zone he's got that high football IQ he's awesome after the catch catches everything he's tough he's physical but the added bonuses hey we can let him up on the outside sometimes too and we don't have to take him off the field and two wide receiver sets. So I think he's now profiling for me as a solid second round pick. Yeah, no, I'm with you. And I think that this is one that's a top 45 pick in the NFL draft.

And it's time and time again, these guys go down to Mobile. They shine. And the market doesn't adjust quick enough. It happens every single year. Last year, Xavier Luget, Ricky Purcell, Ladd-McConkie, all drafted more highly than some projected them in the NFL draft. And I think Noel will be the one. size-wise, he's a little under 5-10. He's a little under 200 pounds,

but he has that versatility. This is a guy that had no problem getting open, and the production was there. This was a guy that had over 80 catches this year. Jalenol, you brought up that he was the guy they put in motion. He was also a big play artist for them, had a number of big 40-plus yard touchdowns this year. And I think that that translates as well.

They, Iowa State kept him in the slot about 70% of times. but I don't think he's pigeonhole there. I think you're right. I think he can get moved around. Jail and Noel certainly moved ahead of a lot of wide receivers that had a lot more hype than him coming in, namely Xavier Restrepo. This was like what we had anticipated for Restrepo. Noel went out and did it.

So big time, big time winner there. Let's talk about Jaden Higgins, though. We talked about a number of wide receivers in this draft class that were in Mobile. but Higgins was the one physically that was the biggest combination of physical size and on-field production, a shade under 6-4, big wingspan here, Brett, and weighed in at 217, which we thought was a huge win for him. I love the profile that he gives us big physical receiver, and he has the body control. I just ranted about with Jack Besh.

He's a catch point artist. you know, he was used as a power slot quite a bit at Iowa State as well. But he can win on the outside. No, he's not like a burner by any means. I think my best comp for him right now is I like doing the spectrum thing. So if you created a spectrum between Michael Thomas and Cortland Sutton, I think Elijah Higgins is somewhere on that spectrum. And that's when you say that, you're going to get people super, super, super hyped.

But I think it's going to be there. I think Higgins is a guy who's going to get the, like Noel, I think he's a lot to go inside of round two. I'm not sure where he's going to end up in my wide receiver rankings, Brett, but I think somewhere in the top eight or nine, I think that's fine for him. And Noel and Higgins collectively, both of these guys are going to be appealing. And when you look at their stats in context to one another,

they both had really big time numbers. But you have to think if they were on the field without the target competition of the other, their numbers could have been even better. So it makes their numbers actually look better this year when you see them both so dominant against future Sunday players. Another player who was a little bit of a mixed bag here, but overall, I think it was a big win. Jalen Royals, who told me he was playing at about 80% down in Mobile, season ends with a foot injury.

He was averaging like 120 yards per game at Utah State, had these two massive games against Boise State and UNLV then goes down for the season. You could see it though, Brett. Maybe the downfield speed will be a little bit better by the NFL combine. But Jell and Royals is an absolute beast underneath. Great route runner. Your thoughts. Yeah.

So contextualizing what we saw this week with the fact that he was playing at 80%. And you could tell too, right, he's grabbing his thigh. You know, he's coming off the foot injury. You could tell he's being truthful when he says 80%. so but contextualizing that and then him doing what he did despite that is insane and i already talked about the guys in the the six second dance to get off the line of scrimmage like it was pretty clear that this wide receiver class at the senior ball minus noel bash and and royals which you're talking about now they didn't know how to get off press theo i mean they had they had no

concept for any actual press releases it was a dancing game even uh uh higgins who we just talked about i felt like he kind of struggled with that too he had the one go ball win where he I mean, he took 17 seconds to get off the line, but it just doesn't work. It doesn't translate to the NFL. So Royals, on the other hand, dominated press and he did it quickly and effectively. His first step was always forward.

He had a variety of, you know, I'm not going to get in the nerd terminology, but he had a three or four really good, you know, NFL style released packages where he just dominated press coverage. And to me, that was the biggest win because that was something we never saw in the Utah State tape. I mean, Utah State's smaller school, you know,

once you get in the lower levels of comp, you don't see a ton of press coverage, just because they don't have the corners to do it, obviously. And then you mix that with the fact that he was basically Debo Samuel in that Utah State offense, and that's how they used him, never saw outside press coverage, and then went to the senior ball and dominated it.

I mean, huge, huge win for me. And this is a guy, that was my biggest question, Theo, I think even when we podcasted a week ago, I was like a little lower than you on Royals because I had all these questions, you know, from gaps in the film. but he goes and does that and you get the yak stuff on top of it, man.

What a player. I mean, seriously, what a player. Another guy who's firmly in my second round territory there. And, you know, one of these guys, I think will sneak into the first because there's still a need for wide receivers and a lot of these teams. So I don't know which one it will be, but I think, you know, Noel, Bash, Royals, one of these guys will sneak into the first at the end of the day. Yeah, I think that that's definitely, listen to Brett on that one because I remember this time last year, you were saying the same things about Ricky Purcell. nobody had him at that level and then Ricky Purcell ends up becoming a first round

draft pick by the 49ers. Royals to me, it's funny, you bring up the Debo Samuel one. He's just so physical. Royals was another one where the way in, before we even started, was a win for him. 5-11, but he looks like a running back. He's 2-10, but a very, very solid 210. This is a player where you brought up sort of

people trying to press him and jam him up at the line. He obliterated a defensive back trying to do it on one route, just completely manhandled him. It was like a kind of a get-off me moment moment. We both said it was a grown-ass man route. So Jell and Royals, there's a lot there. And we're talking about a guy who had 15 touchdown grabs in his last fully healthy season at Utah State. So I think he's a guy that NFL teams are going to like. I agree with you second round pick.

Tight end. We have talked about running back before as a strength of this draft class. but tight end is also looking like one of the best positional groups, period, across every single position. There's a number of guys are going to be drafted very early, and then there's a number of guys where you could see them becoming a NFL starting tight end. We've got to start at the top, though. One of the biggest winners down in Mobile, Elijah Arroyo. Arroyo came in as a guy that was a 20-year-old Miami tight end, an intriguing prospect, but it took us about half an hour. Brett before we realized that Elijah Royo was going to be a riser. This guy started out quickly,

was running great routes, was really unguartable in the one-on-one drills. The 11-11s made a number of plays, and he looks the part. This guy moves differently. He's six foot four and a half. He's 251 pounds. Just turned 21 years old. There's a lot of room to run with this profile. And I think he's going to continue doing it through the NFL Combine. Your thoughts? Yeah, the analytics community, I'm just going to tell you right now, he's going to hate his profile because he's, what, he had three years of no production, right? Yeah.

One year wonder. I think even despite the production this year, it was only on 35 catches or 34, something like that. So like massive yards per play guy, but there, I'm not sure. I said this a couple days ago to you, Theo. I'm not sure what Colson Loveland does better than Elijah Arroyo does. And to me, it's like, you really got to start having these conversations. And I'm not saying that Arroyo will go first.

I'm saying there's a chance. And I'm saying when I score these prospects out, if I only consider the one year of tape for Arroyo and throw out the rest, like he probably scores better than Loveland for me. I have to consider all, you know, all factors, though. So, but man, it's going to be close. It's a close race. I think he's absolutely a guy with a not only an NFL starting pedigree, but an NFL producing pedigree where he has every single trait you could want to tie an. He's a freak athlete. He's a good route runner.

He has excellent body control. He caught literally everything thrown at him, Theo. He's awesome in the run game as a blocker. He's big. He's got that modern frame, but he's physical. You know, what is he, 6-4-250 and physical? Like, he just, he kind of has it. And Miami's not exactly the bastion of well-run programs in America.

So, like, you can make some excuses for that production profile if you want to. Yeah, and I thought it was interesting because his profile here in terms of his size, in terms of his potential speed. You're talking about a Sam Laporta type athlete. And this is one where Mario Cristobal talked about him. And that's obviously the Miami Hurricanes head coach, Mario Cristobal. But he talked about how Elijah Royo is going to be the next big time Miami tight end. He brought up guys like Jeremy Shockey, guys like Greg Olson, guys like Jimmy Graham.

And there's a Royo. I actually read kind of patterns his game after LaPorta. and he brought up Isaiah likely, just to kind of let you know that the streets know that likely is just this nasty route runner. But I think that the market is going to continue catching up with Arroyo. For me, he's tight end three in this class, which is really no small feat,

because heading into the senior ball, he was not in my top five. And I'm not ready to put him above Loveland. I think Loveland's done what he needs to do to be a top 20 pick. But I think a Royo could actually sneak into the end of the first round and make this a three tight end first round, which would be just massive. It's been a number of years since that happened.

He's a huge, huge winner. And when I brought up the combine, when you watch him athletically out there, Brett, it's really hard to not envision him putting up huge testing numbers. Would you kind of agree on that? Yeah, for sure. We got the GPS data back from Cedar Bowl a week,

and he was the fastest tight end there by a mile. Wasn't even close. A name I'll invoke from an athletic profile standpoint is Luke Musgrave. Okay. And that's a freak athlete. He didn't test amazing at the combine. He had some injury stuff going on,

but an absolute freak athlete. I think Arroyo is right there with him. No, I love that one. And Musgrave was also a guy that gained considerable value at the Senior Bowl, ended up rising into round two. Arroyo's locked into round two. And you're starting to see him in a number of top 50 overall rankings, somewhere around like 30.

When you're a tight end in that range, you're definitely in the wheelhouse for some high, high, early draft capital. But Arroyo was not the only tight end winner. We really liked Gunter Helm, and we were disappointed Gunner Helm didn't show up to the Senior Bowl out of Texas. But we also walked away saying, wow, Mason Taylor is another guy that's almost a lock to be drafted early in the NFL draft. Your thoughts on Taylor, just a physical specimen of a tight end. He's 20 years old. He's over 250 pounds.

Jason Taylor's son. And it was pretty easy to see the lineage there. Taylor also did very well in some of the red zone drills. He caught the ball well. Just looks like a long-term starting tight end in the NFL. Yeah, I love hitching my wagons to former player's sons because these guys are bred to play ball, man. They know the, he already knows what the NFL is going to be like before he ever gets there. So that developmental runway that a lot of guys need usually isn't there for these guys.

These players entered the NFL ready to play right away. And that's what you see when you put on Taylor's tape. He didn't have like jaw dropping, receiving. production or anything like that at LSU. But he looks like a starting NFL tight end, a throwback in line. He's huge. What is he, 6.5, 260, something like that? Yeah, he's definitely big.

I think it was, I'll pull up the exact measurement, but it was close to that. The official measurement for Mason Taylor was actually a little bit under 6 foot 5, but he weighed 250 and the wingspan was very, very solid as well. So this is a guy like, I mean, it just checks all boxes athletically. Yeah, absolutely. And in the run game, he's phenomenal already. He's good in pass pro. And then I thought he showed out as a pass catcher this week, too, which we didn't get a ton of on his tape.

Yeah, because we talked about that. Like, people will bring this up. But Brett, LSU tight ends rarely do anything in terms of putting up numbers. Yeah, almost never. So, yeah, that doesn't really concern me too much. And you would agree Mason Taylor gets drafted inside of the top 50 picks, sounds about right? Yeah, you know, maybe that's a touch aggressive. I'd say he's a top 64 pick, though, for sure.

Okay, well, there we go. So another second round tight end. But the tight end everybody wants to hear your opinion on is one that I had to adjust in my rankings just based on the strength of Elijah Oroyo. And that's Harold Fanon Jr. Fanon Jr. did some things down in Mobile, like including making a couple of really nice catches. but definitely behind Arroyo. That was a little bit disappointing. Your thoughts on Fanon Jr.

There's a lot we like there, but he could end up being like tight end six drafted off the board. Makes a little bit of an uphill climb, potentially fantasy-wise, if he doesn't get that draft capital because of guys like a Royo. Yeah, I liked what I saw from Fanon this week. I think he had a very quiet day one.

But as the week went on, you saw him kind of settle into, you know, his route running. You saw a little bit more explosive this and we saw day one. And then just the contested catch stuff. He's just awesome. He had a one-hander in the back of the end zone. And I believe that was seven-on-seven. That was really, really nice.

I kind of started to pop in that regard, that body control that I've waxed politically about. He's got that for sure. He's great after the catch. My one concern with him, Theo, let's just say everything checks out as far as his upside in the passing game. my one concern with him is that a team doesn't view him as an every down player. And that's the biggest thing for me. It's like I just don't know he's light 2.30.

You know, is he going to get into a situation where he only comes on the field in 12 personnel or in obvious passing situations? And if so, that's a little scary for me. He's got some, you know, like Gerald Everett's made a career out of it, but he's never really been super fantasy relevant. Johnny Smith kind of the same thing. He's been good but not great in fantasy. And I think of some of that is Johnny wasn't really. an every down player until this year. So I don't know. I just worry about that a little bit. Yeah. And not being an every down tight end, people are going to say, but Brett, I don't care

if my tight ends are every down. I want them to get targets. But the thing is, the tight ends that put up the fantasy numbers are the ones that are able to hold up as a blocker enough that they stay on the field. Brock Bowers, a great example of this. Brock Bowers was a player that was not the biggest tight end, but he was the guy that was an every down player, Evan Engram as well as a rookie. So for Fanon Jr., there's a couple of things we're going to be interested in. With this profile, we need him to run very well at the combine, a little less wiggle room on like the 40 and some of the testing numbers. And the draft capital matters a lot. If we need Harold Fanon to be drafted kind of inside of day two, really, this is a player that we love the production.

We would have liked to see a little bit more down in Mobile. Brett, this was awesome. We're going to be dropping shows like this all the way up until the NFL draft. and then we're going to get you ready for your dynasty rookie drafts. I'm Theo Greminger with Brett Whitefield. We'll be right back in a couple of days with our rookie rankings.