Fantasy Football Daily - Julius Brents, Keion White, Paris Johnson | On the Clock! NFL Draft Podcast

Episode Date: March 3, 2023

Brett Whitefield (@BGWhitefield) and Russell Brown (@RussNFLDraft) from @Cover1 take a close look at Kansas State CB Julius Brents, Georgia Tech EDGE Keion White, and Ohio State tackle Paris Johnson. 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://play.underdogfantasy.com/p-fantasy-points --- 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. Welcome into another episode of On the Clock. I am your host, Brett Whitefield. And today we have a very special guest. And he's wearing one of my favorite hats. His name is Russell Brown of Cover 1.

He's a National Scout at Cover 1. He actually lives apparently a few miles from me, which is crazy. We could have done this podcast live and in person, Russ. How are you doing? I'm doing great, man. I appreciate you having me on. I'm glad you have this podcast. So maybe down the road here, we can do this in person, whether it's in your garage or my garage or wherever.

But, yeah, you live where I grew up. So it's always cool kind of chatting about home and stuff like that. but I'm not happy to be here, happy to talk an NFL draft with you. How are you doing? I'm doing excellent. Why don't you read your hat to the people so they know what it says? Oh, yeah. It's draft good players.

It's from the draft network. They brought this out last year. Just love the crew there from Joe, Kyle, my guy, Damien Parsons, Keith Sanchez, Ray, Paige. They're all, just everybody there. They're awesome. Love the content that they have and love everything that they're doing. And so I got this last year just to kind of show support because I thought it was a great hat. And I'm like, I agree with the terminology.

You got a draft good. I love it. Yeah. It was the best draft swag I've ever seen. They're all friends of the pod too. Joe, Kyle, and Ray have all been on the pod. So you're following in some great footsteps here. Well, hopefully they didn't set the bar too high for me because I don't know if I'll reach it.

But we'll try. We'll see what happens. Well, sweet. So we have this usual format on the show, Russ, where I kind of prep you with, hey, give me a player your higher on than most. give me a player, you're lower on the most, and then pound the table for a team player fit. But before we get into your first guy, I did want to pick your brain a little bit about your process when you're watching guys. I love to hear this stuff.

Everybody's a little bit different. I use a numeric scoring system. It's a weighted scoring system, and it's on a zero to 100 scale. Some people use a zero to seven scale. Tell me a little bit about your process and how you kind of bring everything together to stack your board up. Yeah. So when I first started, I mean, I've been covering the NFL drafts.

10. That was the first draft I ever did. Colin Sam Bradford was a bust was probably not smart, but it wasn't too far off type thing. But I was young then, you know, and I've learned a lot in the last 12, 13 years. And in 2017, I really kind of started taking it serious. Like, hey, I'm, I kind of starting to learn a lot here. I kind of really like this stuff. And I'm kind of just following the dream. So I learned this zero to 10 score and grading system. And I started kind of, of messing with it. And then in 2018, my first year with cover one, I rolled out my first ever big board. And I liked the zero to 10 thing. And I was like, but it kind of is just like too close. And I feel like I can enhance it. So I kind of learned this zero to a hundred thing,

probably similar to how you have it. And I've been just doing that through the whole time. And really my process is, is, you know, we get into the summer months. I try to watch, you know, a game or two on, you know, about 50 players. I kind of come out with an initial list. I try to get to about 50 players through the summer. And then as the season progresses, I try to maybe get to another 50 on top of the already 50 I watched. And then if I can, you know, after the regular season's done, I might get to 25, maybe 50 more. So in total, maybe 125 to 150 players is kind of what I've been average in the last three, four years. And in total, I get to probably three to five games for every player, three to five games for every player. And I grade them through zero to 100. And, you

100, obviously being like the best player I've ever watched, Zero being the worst player I've ever watched. And I just put them on a board through, you know, a spreadsheet and just kind of filter through. And when it's all said and done, you know, I get my big board or draft guide that I've dropped the last two years for free. And I always pin it to my Twitter page. And every player is a little bit different. Every position is a little bit different, right?

So it's just a fun whole process. I just love watching players. I love researching these players. and figuring out how they tick, why they do the things that they do, their high school, you know, track and field scores and times and things like that. Just I love all of it. So I'm very passionate about the draft. I wake up thinking about it. I go to bed thinking about it and all throughout the day.

So it's awesome. Yeah. So do you do any positional value adjustments in there? Like, so in my score, like I hit running backs a little bit for being running backs, bad life choice. I hit linebacker. I'm kidding. And then I give, you know, QBs and corners a boost and, you know, offensive tackles and edge also get a little bit of a boost because of positional value.

Yes. At times, it does really just depend on the player. Like, for example, Bejohn Robinson this year out of Texas to me is one of the five best players in this draft. And positional value, sure. Like, is he going to last five years in the league or 12 years in the league? You know, like, is Paris Johnson going to last 12 years in the league? maybe you would probably think just because of the position. But who's to say, Bejohn doesn't?

He might last 10 years in the league and he might get two to three contracts in this league. And he's just a difference maker. And I have to, I always value it through the draft that we're currently in. So like in this draft, there's some good and some great players, but not not the home runs that we've seen in years past. You know, you've got a couple. But in previous years, we've had a ton of phenomenal players across the board. So it was one of those things where it just depends on the draft and it kind of depends on the position group as a whole. If there's a bunch of great running backs, which are this year, but Bijon is for me this year is just different.

Yeah, this draft is really strange. It's like there's there is a general lack of blue chip prospects. And then, but it does feel deep at the same time, like the depth of finding good solid players, I feel like runs really deep. I don't, you know, there might not be a ton of all pro guys in this draft, but there, I think there are a lot. lot of dudes that can help your football team. It's really, like, I feel like I've been hanging out second and third round grades like candy. It's super weird. Yeah, no, that's, I mean, I look at my board.

I mean, my second round grades start at like 18 or 19 on my board. Yeah, 18th on my board. Like, my last first round grade is Dalton Kincaid. He got a late first for me. And then there's, you know, a couple of quarterbacks there, a couple of receivers, a bunch of offensive linemen, a bunch of edge rushers and corners. And, I mean, the second and third round grades go, like, all the way down to, I want to say, like 80th, 81st or something like that.

So I'm talking about like 50 players. And I'm with you. I think it's one of those where you might not get the eight to 10, 12 year guys in this league, but you're going to get guys that go for four to seven years. And that's fine. I mean, you can get guys into through a whole rookie contract, which should help you win. And then you might get a few years into a second contract. And maybe beyond that, some guys might be different.

I don't know. but I'm with you. It's just kind of a weird draft, but it's definitely a fun one. Yeah, for sure. All right, let's get into it. The player that you like more than consensus,

you came at me with Kansas State cornerback, Julius Brent's. I'm going to let you take it away from here. I want you to sell me on Julius Brent's. I like Brent's, but I have some questions, but I want to hear what you have to say first, Russ. Yeah, I mean,

I don't know what the consensus board is across the league or really across kind of our draft evaluation. circle of draft community. But I think he's, you know, a top 40 player. And a lot of it's because of just his length and athleticism and just how successful he is at the catch point. I mean, he can play through the hands of wide receivers consistently. He can jam receivers in press, man. He can play off. He's got the lateral quickness, which is super fluid. And that was really impressive to see that up close and personal in Mobile. Like I kind of expected it because I was hyping him up since October. Kobe November this year.

But then he kind of just followed it up and followed through with that. And I was like, well, now I'm seeing it in practice. And I'm seeing it in games against some really good receivers. Not all of them were great, but some really good ones. And it was just one of those things where he's my type of corner with the length, the fluidity, the athleticism. And then like I mentioned, playing through the catch point, the athleticism with the ball skills, it's all there.

And I just, I don't think he's going to be a first round pick. I mean, unless he blows the doors. off the combine this weekend. But I think he's somebody that when you get into the second round and you're talking between picks 32 through 40, 45, I think that's where his sweet spot is. And I really believe that's where he could end up going just simply because of how he plays and how I think he projects to the NFL. Because teams in the NFL, they love long corners that have kind of that aggressive style

when they're jamming receivers. And then they love guys that can recover if they lose a rep off their press. And I think he can do that. So what you just said right there is the big thing for me. Do you think he has that elite recovery speed? I do. I mean, don't get me wrong. There's going to be times where he's going to get caught for holding in those types of things.

I mean, it's going to happen to all these guys. But I think he really does. And especially with that length, he's going to be able to close that window and then utilize that length. I mean, if we're seeing Hodges Tomlinson do it from time to time at his 5'7, frame. There's no doubt. And I get it. You know, he's a little bit smaller. So it might be easier for him to drop his hips and have that fluidity within his game. But for me, just Brent's, he, he just screams, you know, second round fine. That's going to be a really good corner for a long time. And as we talk about guys that go seven, eight, nine years in the league, I think he falls into that category

because of just how he plays the position. And I mean, again, I could be wrong. But I'm, I'm praying I'm right here. because I think that's what I'm trusting what I see. Yeah, for sure. So I've seen a lot of people criticizing Brent's ability to turn his hips, especially when he is a little bit closer to line of scrimmage. I do think we get carried away. A lot of people do in the draft circle with aesthetics. And Brent is a really long guy.

And I think it doesn't necessarily look pretty when he has to flip those hips. But he gets the job done. I've never really seen him struggle for that. to be a thing. My one area of concern, when he's playing off coverage, because first of all, a lot of people are kind of pending him as a zone corner, you know, because he's got that length. They're trying to recreate Richard Sherman. So a lot of people have kind of like, I don't know, put him into this little box that that's all he can be. But I don't think that's true. But anyways, when he is playing that off zone coverage, it does seem like sometimes he doesn't trust his speed.

and when you really threaten that outside shoulder, he can get a little mixed up, I've seen. Do you see that too? Do you, what are some concerns you have with him, if any? Yeah, I mean, that would certainly be one of them where, and I think that's a big thing that sometimes we as evaluators don't always think about, and I'm glad that you're thinking about it because it's one of those things that I think kind of gets lost in the sauce.

Like these guys also have confidence, right? Like if you go to your day job, you got to have confidence when you're punching the clock and doing your eight hours work, kind of the same thing here. he might get caught up in a big moment and loses some confidence, and then the next couple reps are bad. But I think he realized the confidence and the potential that he has at the senior ball. He realized, hey, I can do this.

I can play with these guys and perform against some of the top talent. And I think that helped him gain confidence because, I mean, you saw it. The media days down there every single day he was just hounded by the media because everybody wanted to know more about him. And I guarantee the NFL was the same way. But yeah, outside of that, I mean, I think the long speed could get tested. If, I mean, they're saying he could run a sub 4-4.

If it's in the 4-5, that's what they're saying. If it's in the 4-5 range, I mean, maybe he gets tested from time to time and he doesn't recover that way because, you know, with his hips, but he's one of the few guys through my time of watching corners where I would watch him almost like double turn. And like while there's times where if he's flipping vertically and he's got to run with that guy, I think that hesitation and that doubt is where he might get beat. But then there's times where he knows like that dig route is coming because of how he studies.

And when I talked to him, he talked about how he's super into watching film and how he's very peculiar in the way he watches film. And he's cerebral with it. He's got a format like day one he does this, day two he does this, so on and so forth all the way through to the game. So I think that's the big part with him is that he understands how to study film. But there's times we go watch him. he'll flip his hips open to the left to run vertical. The dig route happens. He flips his hips right.

So there might be times he gets burnt in the NFL on it, but so far in college, I haven't really seen that. And I think that's, I mean, if that's the biggest concern for me, I think that's a pretty good corner. Cool. Real quick to finish him up. One, how early you willing to take him if you're an NFL team? And two, what's a throw a good team fit out there for him?

Well, I mean, I think you look at Seattle at 38, right? Like, I think that's a great fit for them. I mean, you look at what Tariq Wulin is. You bring in another guy like that. I think it's really, I think it's a really good fit. I think Arizona at 35 is super intriguing, just simply because they need corners and they need, they need more there. I think New Orleans at 41 would also be an interesting spot just simply because of kind of how they attack their corner room. I mean, I know they have Marshawn Lattimore, but they could use another corner there.

And if they end up having to clear some space, is Lattimore a guy that they potentially move on from? That's kind of been something that's discussed. And if he ends up falling any further than that, I mean, is there a chance that he ends up falling in the lap of like a Brian Flores out of Minnesota? I just feel like Flores would love a guy like that. You look at the athletic corners that he's had over the course of his career for his defense, especially if they're playing an off man, which some, like you mentioned, some people, feel like he might be better in that off man or zone or something like that. So maybe that's something he does.

But even if he goes there and Flores just wants him to be his press man guy, I think Prince would, you know, he would flourish with a Brian Flores. Right on. Good stuff. All right, let's move on. So a player you are lower on than consensus. And again, we don't really know what consensus is. This is just a feeling thing, you know.

It's Keyon White, Georgia Tech, edge defender. I fully agree on this. I have not seen it from day one, and I've, frankly, I've tried. Yeah, dude, I've tried everything. I watched three games of his. I put on, I got through the three games.

I put on, and I watched the North Carolina game. I watched the games where he had his most production. And keep in mind, he only had seven sacks this year, and three of them came against North Carolina. So like almost half of his production came against one team. Other than that, you watch some of these other games.

I mean, I watched the Syracke, or not Sir, God, I'm blanking on the team. But he, I'm watching him play. And he's just a heavy leaner. He looked really out of shape, like awkward body type. Like, kind of brought me back to the draft of Carlos Basham when he was coming out of Wake Forest. Just kind of an awkward build. And he didn't carry his weight well. And like, everybody talks about his motor.

And there's times where the motor's on, but it's very hot and cold. And then just the overall speed, it wasn't there. He didn't run in the 40-yard dash today at the combine. So, like, that kind of tells me right there, like, sure, you're going to do it at the pro day, but what's it really going to be? He's listed at 285. If he was 275, I might feel a little bit different, but, like, 285, edge rusher. I just, I don't know.

I think he's more of like a four-eye, a three technique, heavy leaner. no real pass rush mover plan just not my type of guy i didn't like him zero pass rush mover plan zero no he weighed 290 even at the senior bowl that's heavy like i would be looking at him like everyone kind of talks about him like he's a freak athlete i don't know that i see the same juice but that could be the lack of pass rush plan like he just doesn't know what to do so he does nothing yeah no and he could he could just be simply focused on hey i'm i'm gonna try to translate speed to power or just all power. And like that might work in the ACC where, you know, some of the offensive linemen

you're playing against are not NFL Gallibor offensive linemen. But when you're going in the NFL, dude, if you're trying to do that against, you know, Tehran Armstadt or Trent Williams, good luck. I mean, good luck to any Eddrus for doing that. But like, I mean, come on, be real. Like Keon White, 285. I just, I don't know, man. If he would, I don't know, I just, I don't see it.

I tried. I tried my best. I'm with you. I tried my best trying to figure him out. and I can't. And I'm going to go pull up where I have him on my board, but currently. And yeah, he's outside the top 50 for me. Yeah, yeah.

Well, I mean, I look at this guy like I'd probably be thinking about him at 3 Tech as an interior pass rusher, a guy we're going to have to develop, which basically, you know, that takes him out of the first round conversation for me as well. I mean, he played the other, for the people that don't know too, he played tight end up until what, 2020. Yeah. So he's been on this journey of gaining all this mass and size and it just, he hasn't really developed any technique, which it's hard to do in a couple years. You know, a lot of these guys that takes them a full four years and they usually played that position in high school as well. And he hasn't really.

So, man, it's just, it's just the skill summary for him is pretty bare. at this point. It's purely projection with him and trying to get the most out of like an athletic 290 pound delinman, but I think his best move is going to be on the interior. Yeah. And like the thing too is like

is he like almost like tack McKinley like kind of like heavy leaner. And I know McKinley was 6-2 260 and all that stuff and tested great. But like you're talking about a guy that got a bunch of high praise was a first round pick. And just, you know, a few years in and was out of the league. I mean, he was a, you know, he's first

round pick 26th overall. And McKinley just wasn't it in the NFL. I think that could be the similar thing here with Keon-Loyt, not saying, you know, that's a bad thing. You go make your money, dude, go do you. But I just, man, I'm with you. I just, I don't see it with him. And I've had people in my mentions and people DM in me and saying, like, you need to watch this. And I'm like, dude, I've watched it. Like, I coach it at the high school level. Like, I know the position. I just, I can't figure it out, dude.

Like, I just can't figure it out with him. Yep, I agree. So he's not inside your top 50. Do you have a day two grade on him at some point? Yeah, no, I mean, I still, I gave him a middle second round grade. I still think, you know, you could take him in the second. And as I mentioned, you look at Carlos Basham, same way I felt about him. He had a second round grade.

I mean, if you're looking at the teams outside of the top 50, I mean, Miami at 52, Seattle at 53, potentially Chicago at 54. Seattle would love him. Right. I think that those are- LJ Collier 2.0, except Collier actually had the functional strength down, but yeah. Yeah.

No, and I think that's, you know, I think those are all very possible. He kind of screams like a, kind of like a San Francisco 49er type player that's part of that rotation that they have. And as you mentioned, play him at a three-tag, play him as a four-eye. But other than that, I mean, does he go on the first round? It's very possible, especially once you get through his pro day. It's all possible. And I think there's some intriguing teams at the back end of the first round.

Philadelphia kind of has a luxury to do what they want, Kansas City. So there's some teams that could swing on him and they could miss or they could hit. And if he hits and I'm wrong, it's not the first time. So I'm okay with it. Yeah, yeah. As long as you have a process you're convicted about, you'll, you'll, you know, you'll win some, you'll lose some. That's what happens. But all right, I did ask you about a team player fit.

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And there's more. If you sign up using the code fantasy PTS at underdog, you will get a fantasy point standard subscription for just five bucks. That's underdog fantasy promo code, fantasy PTS. And remember, new underdog users who sign up with our code get a fantasy point subscription for just five bucks. Cool. paid the bills. Let's talk about your team player fit. I love this one as well. So we're kind of an agreement here, man. But you had Paris Johnson to the Atlanta Falcons. This is your pound the table team player fit. Let's hear it. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I could go through probably a couple different players, but I'll start with Paris Johnson. And I just love this fit to Atlanta. They've got the eighth pick. I think offensive tackle is kind of a sneaky need for them. And Paris Johnson's not my top-rated offensive tackle. I still like Broderick Jones quite a bit. It's very close between Jones, Skoronsky, and Johnson.

And like the more I watch of Paris Johnson, the more and more I like just because he's so strong in the run game. He chips, climbs to the second level. He has the upper body strength to steer and redirect defenders kind of at ease. I like the torque that he plays with, but really the lower body, the athleticism there, you know, with his kickslide. It's all very smooth. And he's got the length.

He's 6-6, and he can ride these defenders just out and away from the pocket. So that's really nice. My biggest concern is just he kind of opens his hips a little bit too much in past protection. And I think there's just times where he might get beat there. But he's played a different position every single year at Ohio State. He played right guard, right tackle, now left tackle. I think that's a big plus for an Atlanta team that sure they've got Jake Matthews at left tackle.

But Caleb McGarry is. a free agent. They could easily put him at right tackle for them if they move on from McGarry, who hasn't necessarily been, you know, that guy for them per se. And you have, you know, Desmond Ritter, Tyler, Alger, you have to kind of invest around those guys. And I think this is the smart way to do it. Get Paris Johnson, get that offense going. And at eight, I don't think it's too rich because I think there's a chance that maybe there's an offensive tackle off the board, maybe Los Vegas at seven, whether it's Skoronsky or Jones. And even if it's not, if Paris Johnson is the first offensive tackle off the board,

me personally, I'm fine with it. And I think it's a realistic chance. I mean, especially with the combine this week, we'll see how it goes for him. But I like him a lot. I think he's a top 15 player. And if he doesn't end up going to Atlanta, I will say I do love the fit for Paris Johnson to Tennessee as well. So we'll kind of see. And it's just kind of funny.

Arthur Smith was from Tennessee, now at Atlanta. So either way, I think he kind of fits what those two teams are looking to do. Yeah, I mean, Paris Johnson, if you're just scouting physical traits, he's a very easy guy to fall in love with, man. He's my number two tackle, and I have Skoronsky ahead of him, but I mean, it's really like a pickier flavor kind of situation. Scoronsky's a more, he's a technician more than that Paris Johnson is, but Paris Johnson has the freaky traits, the 6'6 frame with the long arms. And like you said, the excellent movement skills for guys of that size. I feel like in the run game he could get a little stronger, but his ability to climb to that second level on combo blocks especially is so

attractive to a team like the Falcons who really prioritized that run game and they run some duo concepts in there. And like he's, you know, Paris Johnson is going to be a good fit there. So I do love that. From a past pro standpoint, I would I would almost hate to see him play guard. I know he does have the versatility. It's like, man, I think he. I think the ceiling is really, really high for him in pass pro.

And, man, like, yeah, I don't know. I would consider moving Jake Matthews, not Paris Johnson, you know? Like, that's how strongly I feel about that. But you don't usually move your vet. Yeah. Right, which is possible. I mean, you never know. I mean, a guy like that, he's been around the organization.

He might take one for the team. It's rare, but, I mean, it's possible. And even if they don't, it's kind of been a common trend across the league right now. We're seeing a lot of guys go from right tackle, start their career. rear there and go back to the left side. Tristan Worf's about to do it for Tampa Bay. Detroit's probably going to do it down the road with Penae Sewell. So I think it's going to be a common trend.

And maybe Atlanta follows that trend here with the eighth pick. I don't really know. I do want to ask you, do you think there's a chance that Skoranski falls a little bit? And I know we're going away from Paris Johnson, but is there a chance that Skoronski falls a little bit just because of the guard stuff? Are you buying into any of that stuff with the arm length? Because I'm not just because of, as you mentioned, he's a technician, super consistent. I think guys around the league want good offensive linemen.

Yeah, I'm not buying it yet. He hasn't measured his arms yet, right? No, no. I don't think they go till tomorrow. Okay, so unless we see something ridiculous there, I'm not buying it. As long as he's like close to 32s or bigger, I think he's going to play tackle. There's so, I mean, the league is starved for good tackle play. You know, I just, I think you have to try him there first.

And if he doesn't work at tackle, then you at least have the good fallback option of putting him at guard. But yeah, I'm a big believer that he can make it work. So he's got a ton of reps at left tackle. I mean, it's crazy. Yeah. Well, and he's got the speed to kind of mirror and match guys. He's got the athleticism. So it's like, great feet.

Yeah, if you can do that, the arm length doesn't, it doesn't really matter. because all you need is, what, three to five seconds, if that. So, like, if you can hold your own there, I think we're going to be just fine. And I think he's going to do just fine. So I'm with you there. I just, I'm always curious about that one because I know a lot of people put him down at like 17th or 20th on their board because he might be a guard. And that's, it kind of brings us back to that positional value thing that we talked about to start to show about like, you know, guards and running backs and things. So I was just curious how he kind of falls into that.

but I'm glad you view him to tackle. Yeah. All right, good stuff. So we've wrapped those three guys. Before we go, though, we have a couple minutes left, Russell, I want to ask you about your mock draft. There's some stuff in here. I just kind of quickly went through it. And for the people listening, you can find Russ's mock draft.

It's his pin tweet, right? Yep. And your Twitter is at Russ NFL draft. It is his pin tweet. Go check that out. He also has all kinds of cool content on cover 1.net. And you have a draft guide coming out in April too, right? Yes.

I'm going to aim for the first week of April. It just kind of depends on my son's baseball and him turning 13 that week. So we'll kind of see how that goes. But yeah, it normally comes out first or second week of April. And it's always free. I never charge anybody for it. And if you want to give me money, I give you charities. in the link, so feel free to donate to charity.

Nice. All right, your mock draft. First pick here I want to talk about. Actually, you have Skoransky going forth to the Bears, which is what I did in my mock draft. So that's funny. But no, the first pick I want to talk about is Christian Gonzalez, cornerback from Oregon, to the Detroit Lions at six overall. This is the Rams pick they're making here.

I went a different direction. I went Devin Witherspoon here. And it's not necessarily because I think Witherspoon is a better player. It's because I think he is a better fit with the Detroit Lions than Christian Gonzalez. They actually score almost identically in my system, so it doesn't really matter to me. But I think Witherspoon is a better fit. What say you, Russ? Yeah, no, look, I'm a big Christian Gonzalez guy.

I mean, and it's close between really Gonzalez-Witherspoon and Joey Porter. Jr. I do believe Gonzalez and Witherspoon are a touch ahead of Joey Porter Jr. But it wouldn't surprise me if Porter Jr. came into the league and just tore it up. But with Gonzalez, he's a top 10 player, the only corner that got a top 10 player grade for me. And a lot of it is just simply because of his fluid lower half, the ability to flip his hips and run in stride with receivers. He shows so good timing with his start and stop ability, really to compete against receivers on like those hitches and back shoulder throws. There's times like he's playing through the catch point on those back shoulder

throws because of his length. And that's impressive to me because you see a lot of the times these corners getting beat on those types of throws, right? Like Aaron Rogers has done it for a decade to Detroit and other quarterbacks. And it's like I look at him and some people might say, hey, he's one dimensional. He's a boundary corner. But I think when you look at the athleticism, it's right. And I don't care about that stuff.

I look at that athletic ability and there, I mean, there's a rumor he's going to run in the 4-3 range. And it's like Detroit could use a guy like that. They've gone to the West Coast before, Brad Holmes coming from that side of town. They've gone to Oregon before with Sewell. And I just, I think he's a fit and not saying Witherspoon's not because the press man ability that he possesses and just that dog mentality fits Dan Campbell. But I just think Gonzalez is so smooth. then he reminds me of like Patrick Sertan the second of the way I felt about him a few years ago. Yeah, I mean, I don't disagree with anything you just said.

My only contention for Witherspoon is twofold, actually. One, Witherspoon played more man coverage than any corner in this draft in college. He was left on an island all the time, you know, singled up with really no safety help a lot of the time. And those are the types of looks he's going to get in Detroit. We know Aaron Glenn loves to dial up the heat when it's when it's, when it's, time to do that and they zero blitz a lot and they need a guy who's used to playing with that kind of pressure and survive those types of plays. I think Witherspoon has acclimated himself very well in those plays. Furthermore, yeah. I was going to ask, do you think having Kirby

Joseph has any impact on that pick? I do. In fact, just build the whole freaking Illinois secondary. Go get Sidney Brown on day two and round the sucker out. Yeah, exactly. The best Big Ten secondary ever, perhaps. Seriously. At least for Illinois, it was.

Right, yeah, exactly. The other thing with Witherspins, I just think, makes him so attractive even over the other guys, is his ball production was insane. I mean, and it actually, it's like double the ball production of Christian Gonzalez. And some of that is,

you know, it's Illinois and, you know, I don't know the teams necessarily respected him right out of the shoot until he kind of, you know, proved it. Because he really is a one year wonder. He, you know, he kind of busted out of the scene and really truly broke out this year. So I think early in the season, he was getting tested a lot and he was making teams pay for it. But his ball production is ridiculous. I mean, it's the best ball production in the class at corner. Yeah. Just a million pass breakups. You have good interception total. he's got good length I see some fluidity

in his body as well probably not to the degree of Christian Gonzalez someone said Christian Watson brain is broken officially but yeah I think all those things and then you mentioned the dog mentality with him like yeah I can't

I can't see Campbell not loving this kid you know he's only what 180 1885 pounds and he will come up and smack the hell out of you man oh yeah no and like testing will be huge for him because if he runs in the same range as a lot of these other guys, he's going to just, you know, solidify himself in that top 10. So I wouldn't be mad either way. I've been on this Christian Gonzalez to Detroit trained for a while and I just got to ride it out like I did with, you know,

other decisions I've made in the past of other players. So I just got to, I got to ride till I die, baby. Yep. I value cornerback play a ton. Those guys get a boosted my my scoring system. So I wouldn't be mad about a corner either way, you know, whether it's Porter Jr. too. Like the thing with Porter Jr., man, is like this guy was bred to play football. Like from the time he was born, man, he's been raised by his dad to be a baller. So like, yeah, we've seen these guys translate recently at a very high level. Yeah. His comments at the at the combine during interviews was on the field, I'm like my dad, but off the field I'm like my mom.

I thought that was awesome. That's awesome. So the next pick I want to talk about, and then we do have to go, is New York Giants taking Quentin Johnson, wide receiver TCU. I'm asking you specifically about this one because I did Quentin Johnson on yesterday's pod. We talked about him. And when I got to the team fits portion of that podcast, I said, I want to see him on the Giants. So we are sympathetic here. Tell me what you're seeing there and why you think he's a good fit.

fit for the New York Giants? Well, I don't know what's in the water in our side of town here, but we're thinking a like on a lot of stuff here. So, uh, no, look, I, I like Quentin Johnston. I really do. I, I see some of it with him, but there's other times that I don't see it. And that's why he goes down the board a little bit and kind of lasts as far as he does in this mock draft.

Um, and a lot of it's because of the, the concentration drops with him. I'm watching him run over the middle of the field and he's, it's just hitting him in the chest. and he's dropping it. You go to the Fiesta Bowl against Michigan, and he's getting, you know, bodied against a freshman corner on a slant route. And I'm like, dude, you're 6'4-215. Where's the play strength?

Why aren't you creating the separation? And I'm a sucker, and don't get me wrong, I'm a sucker for 6-4, 215, 220-pound receivers that can, you know, run up the field vertically and they can't separate, but they've got the body control to high point the football, box out defenders, and come down with it. Mike Williams, T. Higgins, Drake London. I'm fine.

I love those guys. But Quentin Johnston doesn't really do that. And it kind of bothers me because there's so much potential there. I think if he can figure out how to utilize his play strength in those 50-50 situations, he will definitely win me over. The drops though are a big concern. And that's what I pay you to do. If I'm taking you in the first round, I'm going to give you a second deal.

to make you, you know, a $20 million receiver, you better be catching me the football. But the other thing I do like about him is that he is, you know, a prototypical ex-receiver can run after the catch, design screens. That's all dynamic. He can really track the football. So I like it.

But he just falls in this spot. And I think when you look at the Giants, nobody did more with less than Daniel Jones this past year. You know he's coming back. They're going to figure that out one way or another. You need to get him a weapon. Kenny Gulliday's gone. Sterling Shepard could be gone.

No offense to like Richie James and Isaiah Hodgins, but that's not going to win your offense over. James is gone too. Oh, well, even furthering my point. So I think receivers are really big need for this team. And I think if Quentin Johnson is there, that's a run to the podium for them. Yeah, everything you just said about Johnson is literally like verbatim what I talked about

on my pod yesterday. But he, man, the thing that's funny about him is the things you would expect the 64 receiver to do, doesn't really do, but he does a bunch of other things really, really well. Yeah. Like the, he actually generates a lot of separation on, I mean, his route tree was pretty limited at TCU. Don't get me wrong.

He wasn't running a very elaborate route tree or very detail oriented route tree. But the routes he does run, I mean, you see him crush corners, especially when he's attacking cushions, man. It's crazy. Yeah. You, you wouldn't expect the fluidity in a 6-4 receiver, but then it's like, where is the 6-4 215-pound frame at the. catch point. He's literally getting boxed out by five, nine corners all the time. It's so,

it's so weird to me. And it makes it even weirder because when he has the ball in his hands, he runs like a demon. Like he wants to kill you. But then the second, he's at the catch point, he's like, ah, I'm soft now. Yeah. I don't understand it. It's so weird. But I think there's so many traits to bet on there that I still, I still like him in the first round. He's a guy, I think, would really help the Giants team specifically. Yeah, absolutely. And I think he's going to go on the first round. It's just a matter of win and where. And he could go much sooner. I mean, he's had a lot of interviews with teams that are picking top 15. And it makes sense. I mean, you go back to his athletic profile, as you mentioned, dynamic after the catch. He had over 500 yards after the catch this

year in 2022 for TCU. You go back to high school. You know, his PR for the high jump was 610. The long jump was 22 and 6.75. He was a forward in high school as far as basketball. He averaged 13 points per game and almost seven rebounds. So like it's all there. It's just, you know, I don't know. If you can get a little bit stronger, I'm falling in love with you. And he would be a clear cut wide receiver one and probably a top 12 player for me. So.

Yeah. And you have to think the general scarcity of ex receivers right now is probably going to bump him up the board. Like look at the free agent list, dude. Like DJ Chark is probably the best X receiver available. It's not that Chark's a bad player. It's just like, where do you find these guys? Look at all the guys in this draft. Save Flowers, Josh Downs, Tank Dell, Jackson Smith & Jigba, Jordan Addison, Jalen Hyatt, Rishie.

Like, all these guys are small. They're tiny. So, like, if you need that prototype X and you value that in your offense, you don't have many places to turn to. So I think by default, he's going to go higher than probably most realized because of that. Oh, because other than him, who are you looking at? A.T. Perry, on day two. And Cedric Tillman, maybe. Tillman, yeah, that's a good call.

Well, sweet, Russ, thanks so much for coming on the pod, man. One more time for the people listening. You can find Russell at Russ NFL draft on Twitter. Is that, is that it? Is there any other spots that can find you? Are you an Instagram or TikTok guy? No, I mean, I have a TikTok at Russell NFL draft, but I hardly used it. I used it last year when I had COVID.

But yeah, on Twitter at Russell NFL Draft, smash a follow button. Awesome. Thank you guys so much for listening. I will be back Monday. So Monday will be back. I got a very special guest lined up for you. In fact, we're going to do some combine, you know, discussion on Monday and talk about all the best performances. It's going to be a good time. Thanks again for listening. 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. Thank you.