Fantasy Football Daily - Steve Wilks Firing, the Forty-Whiners, and Brett's Mock Draft 1.0 | Take Talk Podcast

Episode Date: February 15, 2024

Steve O'Rourke (@callmesteveo7) and Brett Whitefield (@BGWhitefield) discuss Steve Wilks being scapegoated for the 49ers' loss, the Niners' inability to shut up, Patrick Mahomes' legacy, and Brett's surprising QB1 in his first 2024 mock draft. SIGN UP FOR FANTASY POINTS IN 2024 AT OUR EARLY-BIRD RATE, INCLUDING OUR NEW ALL-IN PACKAGE: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.fantasypoints.com/plans#/ --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/fantasy-points-podcast/support Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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We'd love to talk, business. It's time to the Fantasy Points podcast, brought to you by FantasyPoints.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. Yo, we are back with another episode of the TikTok podcast. The first super, I'm sorry, first post-super Bowl edition, Steve. I'm your host, Brett Whitefield. This is my host, Stephen O'Rourke.

And Steve, we're kind of late to the Super Bowl recap party. So I think we're going to avoid most of that. It is Thursday. I was a little under the weather yesterday, our normal recording day. And so I think every podcast and their brother has already recap the Super Bowl, right? Yeah, I would say so. I don't know if we're going to hit many points or any points that haven't already been talked about in some way, shape, or form by somebody else. Yeah.

So we'll stick with some of the more recent points coming out of the Super Bowl, which, you know, yesterday the 49ers have relieved defensive coordinator, Steve Wilkes, of their duty. This is a track record with Shanahan. This is a track record with the whole Shanahan offshoot of coaches, actually. My good friend Joe Marino put out a tweet today. Go check it out on X. Breaking down how all of these coaches have slightly. through defensive coordinators like their candy. Like it's kind of crazy.

Some of them to give them credit, they've had, they've been necessary changes because their, their defensive coordinator leaves for another job. Like that's a good thing, like Rahim Morris, for example, going to Atlanta last year with Dimeco Ryan's

leaving the 49ers to go to Houston. So it's not always bad. It's not always a guy getting fired, but they are cycling through defensive coordinators that almost, like more than double the rate of normal NFL teams. So that's concerning. Yeah.

This, for me, Stephen, what I really wanted to get into is, well, one, we can have takes on whether Steve Wilkes deserve to get fired or not. And then two, there's a constant trend with the 49ers and Kyle Shanahan and the culture there where it's, there's a lot of excuse making anytime things don't go right. I don't know if you agree with me. Oh, you do. Okay. So, yeah, I kind of said that like we were in unison on that and I wasn't sure. So, yeah, no, I mean, yeah, I agree. Yeah.

of the reasons it was so hard for me to watch a Super Bowl because I'm kind of over the Chief's dynasty and the 49ers just rubbed me the wrong way and but it's just more of the same for them like last year when they lost the Eagles it was nothing but excuse making no one in that organization seems to be willing to look at themselves in the mirror like even Nick Bosa with his comments man like what was that like oh we weren't prepared for the read option that like that's not Steve Wilkes's fault the chiefs haven't run that once the season right that wasn't on tape how are you supposed to prepare for something that they haven't pulled out at all. Right.

And at some point, it comes down, the players got to get in the film room. They got to do their own study. Nick Bosa, you've been taught how to defend read option, probably since you were a freshman in college because that's where it gets run the most, right? Right. Like, don't pin that on your defensive coordinator. Like, that's not his job to prepare you for a play that doesn't exist and their other team's playbook at the moment.

Like, and then the naked, too, like, they weren't prepared for that naked boot, the other long run, that all. And that all, I mean, based on, like after watching the game over again, that, I mean, that's just awesome work by Andy Reid and the offensive coaching staff from Kansas City because I have to believe that that was an in-game call. That was not something that they really had prepped much during the week. I don't think because of how, like the situations that they pulled it out in. And it was just because they saw all day. Nick Bosa was crashing so hard on any of the shotgun zone plays. He was crashing that to the running back so hard.

And so like that's just, hey, that's good gamesmanship. That's good coaching. That's good situational play calling. It's, I mean, yeah, you have to be ready situationally as a player. You can't expect like no coach, no defensive coach. or, you know, defensive game caller in general is going to be able to prep you for every single possibility within an offense. Obviously, you're going to prepare for the things that you see most often on film. And, you know, again, credit to the chiefs because they, they saw something in game

and they switched to it and it worked out and it was effective. Yep. And honestly, like, I just want someone in that organization to be disciplined and stand up and say, you know, we didn't play good enough to win. Like, it's as simple as that. We'll get better. we'll get it right. Nobody really has that mentality. It's like, ah, well, we should have won. It's not my fault we lost. So, yeah.

The other thing, too, Steve is like, was Steve Wilkes calling the perfect game? No, like, I think, I think you can, there's a few situational calls where you could argue they were bad. I know the soft shell to start the driving over time was a little concerning. But then you're getting into your head coach, calling timeouts to change your play call. Again, this just reeks of like, dude,

it's like a micromanaging like what is it like when you have a culture of micromanagement like that you you you kind of tie the hands of the people around you and so Steve like Steve Wilkes is going to start second guessing himself and you're mad about soft coverage but then you're mad about a zero blitz like because you call the time out that changes zero blitz and I'm like right well but then you use the argument that you didn't like the soft coverage on the play before so I'm very I'm very confused by what you want um in that game too the chiefs really didn't have guys that were winning in their route patterns. Like,

not really at all. He's not really, he does have that hezzy, you know, when he's trying to beat man coverage that is pretty effective on those crossing routes. But other than that, like he's he to crossing route combo he runs. He's not beating man at the rate he used to.

Rashi Rice is still developing his man beatier game. And then everybody else is kind of just a dude. So like, yeah, I kind of, I typically don't like blitzing Patrick Mahon, Steve. but in that moment, that was probably their best option, actually. It's like, let's force a ball.

They don't have guys that can beat man, and we'll take advantage of that. I thought that was a good call, but Shanahan opted to call the timeout and to change the play call there. So I don't know, not a fan. And I mean, to me, it all just kind of feels a little bit scapegoaty of like, well, someone needed to be reprimanded for this, and I'm the head coach. I call the offense.

not going to reprimand myself. So I'm going to pin this on the defense, but look inward. Listen to Kyle Shanhan. You had two turnovers and you scored zero points off of them. Yep. Two turnovers that you, like in one of them you got in the chiefs, on the chief side of the field, and you did nothing with it. So I think, you know, the chiefs are a good team.

They played a great game. It was a fantastic defensive play calling. And Trent McDuffie was an absolute superstar. throughout the game. But it's just, yeah, the lack of onus to take on responsibility for different things within, you know, I think it seems to be something within Kyle Shanan a little bit. And I don't want to put words in anybody's mouth. And I don't know Kyle Shane Ann personally.

But it just, I don't know, it seems like it's a culture that's kind of cultivated because every player seems to embody that. And the firing of Steve Wilkes feels similar to the players coming out and being, you know, Nick Bosa coming out and saying, I didn't know how to defend the read option. We didn't prepare for that and all of that stuff. It just all feels like it was this, you know, just a game plan of like someone's got to go down for this because we shouldn't have lost that game. Yep. Agreed.

All right, we can turn the page on that. Let's go, Patrick Mahomes and Legacy. Obviously, dude has, what, three, three rings. in five years as a starter. It's impressive. Very resemblance or sorry, very much resembles what Tom Brady did early in his career. I think he won three of his first four. I think Mahomes is a little younger at the stage of his career than Brady was, maybe by a year.

Yeah. I mean, all the way around. Obviously, Mahomes is knocking on the door of goat territory. I think, you know, I'm pushing pause on that a little bit. I think it's easy to say he's probably the most talented QB we've ever seen. I don't have a problem with that. but as far as like actual on the field dominant like he's got a long way to go like i don't know that he'll get to seven or eight to take over brady like brady here the thing about brady no

one talks about steve is he reverse aged he got better and better and better all the way up until his 40s and i'm not talking just skills i'm talking athletically he was more mobile as a 42 year old than he was as a 35 year old he threw the ball farther and harder as a 43 his Tampa Bay Super Bowl run and I think is his 40 age 43 season. He had three of the longest air yard completions in the league that year, over 60 yards each. He on average, throw for throw averaged the highest miles per hour per throw in the league. Now I'm not saying Mahomes can't do that.

I just think it's easy to say, well, Brady played until he was 45, so why can't Mahomes? It's sure. Maybe Mahomes will. We just, it's really hard to make that leap for me, especially when so much of what makes Mahomes special and great is his ability to extend plays, that playmaker side. That wasn't really Brady's game, so he didn't have to worry about the athleticism falling off a cliff. And when it did, it was very noticed by the way last year. Yeah.

But so save Mahomes loses a little bit of a step and a little bit of that physicality. Is he going to be as effective? He's going to have to evolve. We haven't seen him have to evolve yet, where Brady went through multiple evolutions. You know, Brady commanded just about every type of team in New England. I'll push back on that a little bit. I feel like this year was an evolution for Patrick Mahomes. Yeah, that's fair.

That's fair. I feel like, you know, he, he's always, he's, he's a gunslinger. He's, that's who he is. But I feel like this year was a big development in just his ability to take what's in front of him and not try and force the, force the envelope because, you know, he really couldn't, he didn't have a lot of guys that were winning match, matchups. And so I think this is the beginning of a new. evolution potentially for Patrick Mahomes, or at least that's what it looked like this season,

and especially into the playoffs of just being a lot more conscientious of his decision-making and a little bit less freewheeling and more just calculated. Playing in structure, taking what the defense gives you. It actually, it's funny, the evolutions in their careers had to be at different times. What Mahomes did this year and even last year to an extent was very much resembled what Brady did early in his career. Yes. Those early New England teams were very good defensively,

good run game. It was more Brady just kind of taken what he was given. And then in the clutch moments, Brady shine. It's like, now he's not the same level playmaker Mahomes was ever. But, you know, in those clutch moments where you got to have a play, got to have a throw, that's where Brady really shined. But for the most part, he was a game manager early in his career. Like he was just trying to get to the end of the game and get the dub here.

Like that was just facilitating mistake free football, all that stuff. That's kind of what Mahomes turned into. the last two years. But yeah, that's a good point, Steve. I'm not trying to shortchange my homes either. I'm just kind of simply

pointing out that. No, and I know you're... It's a long road to get to 70. I know you're not doing that. Yeah, yeah. It's just a long road to get to 7.8 homes. We're just not,

not sure we're, you know, I'm not sure he'll get there. I, if I had to bet money on it, I would say, you know, odds are pointing in the right direction for sure. Yeah.

It's, it is funny, though, because I think we felt this way, but it, for like, it really cemented itself. in the Super Bowl where you do have that feeling of what you felt with Brady, where it's like by never going to count him out, period.

Like, and he's shown that time and time again, but even as, you know, San Fran scored with whatever, two minutes and 30 seconds left in Patchman Holmes had to go down and get a field goal. And, you know, the 49ers kicked a field goal. It just all felt so like, oh, this is, yeah, he's, this is his wheelhouse. he's going to win this game. It feels you felt like the 49ers had their chance,

they blew it, and then Mahomes was able to just take over. And that's something that, you know, you don't get that feeling with a lot of quarterbacks. And I think Mahomes is right there with Brady in that feeling that

you're never going to count him out of any game. Yep. No matter, really no matter the deficit at this point. That's exactly where I'm at with Mahomes, where it's like, when Brady, after like early in his career i think i i was telling john hanson this on his show yesterday there was a

stretch where i think i picked the patriots to win the super bowl 15 years in a row i'm not kidding like you just you just don't bet against that man and i'm pretty much there with my homes where when we do our preseason picks in in august eve for for the site i'm probably picking the chiefs to win the super bowl and i don't even care what they're doing the opposite it's just at homes and that's kind of where we're at i mean i went in at halftime and And I pulled up a Fanduel and the chiefs were at plus 2.30. And I'm like, this is stealing money. I'm going to, I can't wait to put money on this because I feel so confident in it.

And just like the fact that they were, they were not even favorites going into the game. And just all of it, it's, I think that that's officially, especially like I feel like from a sports book standpoint, you're going to start to see that change a little bit with Mahomes where a normal deficit where you'd see a team jump to like a plus 300 plus 350 plus 250. Mahomes is going to sit around. Moham's is going to continually sit at like just plus 150 to win like if they're down at the half or something just because they have to protect themselves after this. Yep.

And then I guess the last point is too is I don't always want to focus on this legacy conversation with Mahomes in the moment. I just want to enjoy this while we have it. Yeah. Because you just never know when it will be gone. And he's such a treat to watch. And my plea to the Kansas City Chiefs. I know in the post-Harek era you had to rebuild your offensive line and had to rebuild your D-line and add weapons of the secondary.

Please now, go get my man a legitimate weapon so we can get back to fun, Patrick Mahomes. Go get the guy, Troy Franklin, or a Roman Wilson or somebody that can really stretch the field and win vertically. Beat man coverage for the love of God, please. Just go get one. I don't care what it takes. All right. That's the end of my plea to the Chiefs. Um, Steve, should we do a hard pivot?

Yep, let's do it. Let's hard pivot. So post-season mode. Yeah, off-season mode. Post-Super Bowl, um, each of the last two years, I released my first mock draft of this season. This Monday, I dropped the 2024 NFL mock 1.0. You can find it on fantasy points.com. Um, it has come with a lot of commentary, Steve.

And I even put out a couple of videos. supporting one of my takes in here. And both of those videos are currently over 500,000 views on Twitter. So I would say I've definitely got the conversation starting. And I'm actually going to hang my head on the fact that I moved the lines in Vegas. My mock draft moved the lines in Vegas. I mean, so Brett, you came out with what I think, I mean, came as a surprise to every single person. I mean, me included.

and you got accused of it was so revolutionary and early that you were immediately accused by the bulk of people that read it to be a hot take artist. That you are literally only doing this because you want your name out there and you want recognition and you don't actually believe this. But you pushed back and that's that you have J.J. McCarthy. going first overall. Yes. To the Chicago Bears. I should caveat this a little bit. So this mock draft is a what I would do mock if I was in the seat of every GM chair.

Now, with that said, because I put McCarthy at one overall, that implies that I would take JJ McCarthy one overall and I would. So I've staked my claim that I think JJ is the best quarterback in the draft. And I'm sure, Steve, one of the reasons that confused you is because, Because you and I have had talks about JJ and I've had beefs about JJ in his game. You know, like this season, there's a couple moments against Maryland's especially where I was less than satisfied with JJ's play. But when I went back and graded all the prospects in this class, graded out the film and took in the whole sum of the parts, JJ came out as my top quarterback. And that's, and for those calling me a hot take artist or a click seeking attention person, listen, I'm way too. competitive for that. I care so much more about being right. Yeah. But there's no way I would do

something like that because being like, you know, in this job, there's a little bit of ego that comes with it. There's also, I want to be known as a guy who has the good hot takes, not the bad ones. So yeah, I care way too much about being right to be a hot take artist or to do this for attention. So I was, you know, into victory lap a little bit, Anthony Richardson one year ago to the day, I released my first mock. I had Anthony Richardson going in the top. 10 or top five um at the time most people had not even considered him to be a first round pick or even a top 20 pick i put him at four overall the the underwear Olympics happened and immediately sentiment change in richmond because they saw him run a 40 which if you watch this tape

you would know that he was fast so that made literally no sense McCarthy's going to do the same thing by the way McCarthy's going to go to the combine he's going to run like four or five three and everyone's like oh my god this dude's a freak athlete yeah we we knew that we watched the tape guys Anyways, long story short, anything you want to ask me about this pick specifically? About the J.J. McCarthy pick? Yes. Or do you like? Yeah, so I guess, I mean, I think that the big thing that everybody would ask is, you know,

obviously everybody, everybody in their brother has Caleb Williams, Drake May, 1A, 1B, some order 1-2-2-1, doesn't matter. what specifically pushed J.J. McCarthy past both of those guys for you. Okay. Yeah, yeah. So I have JJ as my QB1 in the class. I've labeled him the perfect marriage between high floor and high ceiling. And I think what really that means to me is I think with JJ, you're getting the highest floor in the draft for quarterback. But you're not doing that at the expense of stealing, which you, you know, you were with other guys in the past like a like Kenny picket was labeled as a high floor guy no ceiling though jj's the opposite he's a high floor guy with the with the really high ceiling now does he have the ceiling of caleb lames i

don't think he's quite that talented but he is very talented he has some elite traits um i think ultimately though we need to define what floor means high floor to me is when a qb does all of the qb centric things at a high level we're talking like pre and post snap we're talking pocket awareness manipulating you know defenders in the pocket to keep yourself clean with slides and steps we're talking about throwing within structure, timing, rhythm, repeatable mechanics, especially footwork. JJ does all of those things at the highest level in the class, unquestionably. Intangibles, JJ's a known leader in that program. He's a winner.

27-1 is a starter. His experience in the pro-style offense. When you go back and look at all of the number one overall picks, the last 12 of them, there's only one of them that wasn't a national title contender, and that was Jared golf every single one since 2009. Actually, even going back further than that, but from 2009, you have Stafford, Bradford, Newton, Luck, Winston, Mayfield, Murray, Burrow, Lawrence, Young. All of them either played a national championship or were a game away from one.

It's remarkable. So when you look at Caleb Williams and Drake May and Jaden Daniels, you don't see that level of winning. I do think the NFL cares about it. Analytics people, film grinders, you might not think it matters. It absolutely matters. J.J. McCarthy is a winner. and I think it matters a lot to the NFL.

So then we talk about ceiling, Steve. We're defining the ceiling. What is, you know, I have these high level traits I evaluate, like what I call premium traits for quarterback. Armed talent, obviously one of them, ability to throw with anticipation and playmaking ability. J.D.'s arm talent's awesome. You see the tight window throws all over his tape.

Like, he has more tight window throws than any quarterback in this draft. Most of Caleb's impressive throws, most of Jaden's impressive throws, are they're throwing into open windows. You know, guys run the street field wide open. And they're great throws. I'm not discrediting what they do at all. I like both of them. But for my money,

JJ has the cleanest, most translatable version of armed talent to the NFL. He throws with anticipation as well, something you don't see the other guys really do that often. JJ throws with anticipation. And then the playmaking ability is there. The mobility, ability to throw on the run,

he is the best in the class at that as well. you look at a guy like Michael Pennix. He literally can't throw on the run. So you're betting on the traits there and you're like, oh, this guy's a mobile quarterback and he kind of fits the modern mold. Well, he doesn't because he has to stop playing his feet and deliver the football. He literally can't throw on the run. And when he tries, it's very ugly.

So all that said, high floor, high ceiling, premium traits, checks every single box. The only real knock against JJ Steve, and I'm sure you've watched enough of his games, you'd agree with this. he doesn't have like every club in the bag like if you view arm talent as like a golf bag of clubs he doesn't have every club in the bag like he probably needs to add a pitching wedge and a nine iron to his bag if that makes sense now like throwing down field outside the numbers he has he he can add touch to the to those throws um but when he's thrown over the middle of the field those intermediate

layered throws that you he'll have to probably hit we just haven't seen him do it by the it doesn't mean that he can't. We just haven't seen him do it or try to at a high level. It hasn't cost him anything either, though, because he just zips the ball in between two defenders and calls it good. You know, why do you need an iron when you can just hit a three iron perfectly? Right. Well, eventually, then you push back and you say,

well, eventually you've got to be able to hit a short shot because it's, you know. Yeah. Oh, absolutely. Yeah. You're just not going to be able to hit those all day. But, you know, a big thing that I, you know, I've heard other people say, and you see it in a lot of like developed quarterbacks to the guys that are good in the NFL right now, is their ability to throw over the middle.

Do you see that with JJ's ability to really dial in over the middle? Because that, going back and watching, you know, tape of different offenses, that has become such an important aspect to an NFL offense as being able to threaten the middle of the field and be able to, you know, have crossing routes and all in digs, all of that, and be able to, you know, see the zone, identify when the guy's coming open. And like you said, throw with anticipation. And do you see that with J.J. McCarthy? And, you know, does that help push him above some of the other guys?

Yeah. Oh, absolutely. I think he attacks the middle of the field some of the best I've seen. Again, though, it is more of those, you know, those throws that require zip. Yeah. In precision, you know, the term on the body on the break. think that JJ lives up to that. But there are going to be moments in the NFL where you wish, hey, we got to see that

pitching wedge. We got to see you get it over a linebacker's head and drop it before the safety. So far, he hasn't had to do that. He's kind of just throwing it past the linebacker's face. Like as soon as he sees shoulder pads, he takes advantage of that. So if he sees you running away from him, he's just going to zip it past your head. He's elite at pushing the ball outside the numbers too. And this is where like his arm talent really shines.

I think he's the best quarterback in the class on high-low concepts. So, like, you're going to run sail flat or seven flat. He is, I mean, he reads that out great almost every time. He doesn't hesitate. He throws with anticipation. And he layers those balls in on those seven or sale routes absolutely perfectly. And I'm talking opposite hash, too. He's ripping it.

So I put out a compilation video of him making about 20, 20 throws on sail flat. And it's just all just beautiful dime after dime after dime. So, yeah. I love it. I love it. I mean, shoot, it wasn't a day after you released your mock that there was a beat writer that came out and said that there's rumors that, you know, NFL teams have J.J. McCarthy as high as QB2.

So I think that you getting your mock out when you did, you were able to jump ahead of that. And it seems that you've gotten some, you've gotten some confirmation that you're not this crazy you know, I'm just throwing, I'm just throwing crap in a wall, hoping that everybody, you know, notices me. It actually is an evaluated take and not just there for, you know, internet fodder. For sure. So the other thing, Steve, Lance Zerline dropped his mock. He's got JJ going 12th overall. So even he's bumped him way up.

Maybe not in his evaluation of him, but at least in his idea of the way NFL teams are perceiving JJ. which, and I think this is going to be a continuous thing all the way up to the draft. It's going to be debated all the way until draft day. Who's the 101? Maybe JJ doesn't go one overall. I can live with that. I'm just simply, I think when it's all done, he will be the best QB in this class. Yeah.

So then you, we've obviously talked about J.G. McCarthy going one. You then have Caleb Williams going to. Jane Daniels going three, which again, I think that that's not necessarily. Jaden Daniels is three, but not three the way you have it, because you have Drake May going at five after Jaden Daniels. So what do you see with Drake May that has you, you know, a little bit lower on him compared to other people? Yeah. So the fun thing about all four of these guys, to be honest with you, is it's Tulesy. They're all Tulsie. They're all like the modern quarterback who have a certain, of mobility and playmaking skill.

For me, the difference between Drake and Jaden and even Caleb is like he has those high level traits. He's got armed talent for days. He can push the ball downfield. He can throw with a certain level of zip. He's mobile. He can make stuff happen with his feet. In fact, I think last year he was the leading rusher for North Carolina while also,

you know, putting up gaudy passing numbers. So he has all those tools. The issue for me with him is just an inconsistency that really plagues him. Even in some clutch moments this year where you just, the mechanics are kind of wonky, the way he opens his hip on his drop to throw to the right side is kind of weird. A lot of balls dying on him when he's trying to get the ball out to the numbers to his right side. He's great out to his left, great over the middle of the field. It is a little weird.

Just the mechanics are inconsistent in that North Carolina offense as well. well, there's not really, they're not really teaching progressions or reading defenses. It's like the play's designed to go here. So the play goes there. That's concerning for me. He, him and Caleb are actually relatively similar to me. I just think Caleb's upside because of the things he can do out of structure. He does all those things at a little bit higher level than Drake that I think ultimately, you know, that's, that's why I have, you know, him ahead of Drake. And then as far as Drake versus Jaden Daniels. Daniels is just a lot more polished. His game is way more polished.

He's also 24 years old though. So like you. Yeah. And teams will have to have this debate internally. And this is why I have them so tight too in my grades. It's not like I love Jaden Daniels and hate Drake May. I still have Drake May going on the top five here for God's sakes. But yeah, right.

GMs will have to decide like, hey, do we think we can get Drake May to where Jaden Daniels is in two years? Because that's the age difference we're talking about. Do we have time? Yeah. as an organization to really worry about that development or should we just take because here's the thing when jaden daniels was coming out of his year 21 season as a junior true junior leaving a Arizona state to transfer to lSU nobody on the planet thought that guy was a top 10 pick or even

a first one pick no he had a long way to go and to his credit he was a fun player right and then to his credit he did develop he did dial in those mechanics he cleaned up the footwork a lot. Go look at his footwork from sophomore year to now, Steve, it's light years different. Even the throwing mechanics are different. It's a lot of credit to Jane Daniels. The LSU offense made it pretty easy. Obviously, he had, you know, Malik neighbors and Brian Thomas Jr. And they're pretty loaded there at skill. But that said, I think he's a much more polished throw. Throw for throw, he's very accurate where I think May has a lot of inconsistency there. So, and then just the running upside to get with Daniels, too. He's the best running quarterback.

in this class for sure. Yeah. What do you have 1,200 yards and 15 tutties this year as a runner? I mean, ridiculous. So I might be exaggerating the touchdowns there, but that's okay. No, but he is a ridiculous athlete. And that, especially in today's NFL, that's so appealing. Yep.

You know, we watch what Lamar Jackson did. You see what Mahomes did. Yeah, did in the Super Bowl, like that aspect of it. And knowing that your quarterback is even a step above as an athlete than some of, you know, secondary guys and guys they're going to face on defense that's such it's such a benefit to a guy and can just make an offense be more versatile especially when a guy is young and developing yep um all right before we wrap this shin dig let's go you got any other questions for me from this i guess the outside the top five of the mock so i mean it's six seven but

i think that this is also kind of an interesting or it's just different a lot of people have Joe Alt as their tackle, or OT1, you have Joe Alt being the second tackle off the board, and you have Fugga from Oregon State going the pick before him. Talisi. Again, same line of questioning. Obviously, Joe Alt, a lot of people are raving about him, but what about Fugge pushed him a little bit beyond Joe Alt for you? Yeah, so for me, so if you read the cliff notes on the selections,

I do say that Joe All is my top alignment in the draft. So the reason I have Fuaga going first, this was team specific. So the Giants are in a bit of the situation where they've drafted two tackles in the first round already, and Andrew Thomas and Evan Neal. Neil has been their right tackle. Andrew Thomas is a really, really good left tackle. It might be the only thing they have going on that offensive line. Fugga brings a positional versatility to the table that I think really allows them to focus

on getting their best five on the field. I think this gives them the opportunity to move Evan Neal to maybe right guard or left guard where he might be a better player. And maybe they like Neil's development. Maybe they think the developmental curve is coming along and he's going to stay at right tackle. Then I think you can park Fawaga at right guard and he's going to be a top five right guard in the NFL for the next decade. So I just like the positional versatility Fawaga is going to bring you. I think Joe Alt is a left tackle. You know, he can play right tackle too.

But I think that's what he's really excelled at at Notre Dame. And the Giants just don't have a need for that right now. And you're splitting hairs when you, like there's a cluster of O-Lignment in this class that are all very, very good. I think you're kind of splitting hairs. And for me, it's going to be, you know, pick your flavor, you know, pick your versatility, what you like and how you think that guy fits on your team. I just think Fuaga fits the Giants better than Joel.

Yeah. Another, again, another premier position group in this draft is wide receiver. And you have Marvin Harrison, Jr. going at four, presumably obviously, he's your wide receiver one as he is, pretty much for everyone. But you have Oduenze going nine, and then you have neighbors going 15.

Yep. Neighbors, I know is catching a lot of, he's really riding the wave of draft hype, and rightfully so. He's a very good player. And, you know, he already obviously was a first rounder going into the year, but you're starting to see neighbors push up to wide receiver two for a lot of people.

And even, I've even seen some people, you know, posit that they can be wide receiver one. But you have him as you have measure your wide receiver three in this draft. So what do you see, what do you think you see differently with neighbors that pushes him a little bit lower compared to other people? Okay, cool. Yeah, I'll hit that. And then I do want to hit Rome, O'Donze, because I think he's worth talking about as well. Yeah. The guy we're comparing him to ultimately.

The reason I'm lower on neighbors than I think everybody, I guess not to caveat everything that I say, but to throw a minor caveat in, is I still really like neighbors. I have him going 15th in this draft. I think he's a very good prospect. In fact, I think he scores very similarly to how JSN scored for me last year.

I think neighbors is going to be a better athlete than JSN, which is why I probably have neighbors. If I were to like compare classes, I think neighbors will score, you know, slightly ahead of JSN. but J-SEN was a top 20 player for me, best receiver in his draft class.

I see neighbors similarly. They were used similarly as well. And so one of the reasons I guess I'm lower on the neighbors and everybody, Steve, is the way LSU used him, he primarily played in the slot. I think like 80% of his production came out of the slot. And then that doesn't necessarily mean anything negative. But in this case, it does because the way LSU used him,

you know, as you know, when you're playing in college, most colleges deploy some type of too high. it's a lot of quarters defense. And so when you have a dynamic player like Malik neighbors in the slot and you're seeing a lot of quarters, what that essentially means is you can force one-on-one matchups with that receiver versus a safety that's playing 10, 12 yards off the ball. And you're giving that receiver a two-way go where, you know, neighbors is hitting him on a sale or he's hitting a post or even a double move. And he absolutely dominated in those scenarios. And it's just not something he's going to see a lot of in the NFL.

but there's not a lot of tape, not a lot of reps of neighbors winning one-on-one from the slot against a man-defender or winning on the outside against a man-defender or even beating like a really good cover three corner for that matter. It's a really, his numbers are really inflated because of the exploit there. It reminds me a lot of Elijah Moore coming out of Ole Miss. It reminds me a lot of Juan Del Robinson come out of Kentucky. Those guys were used very similarly and also had very inflated numbers. And, you know, I had to adjust their draft profiles for both. of them as well.

You know, Wanda Robinson, to me, had no business going in the first round. He went in the first, right? Where was it, like, the first few picks of the second? Yeah, it was early. Then people thought, for sure. Yeah. So, yeah, he got picked at number 43, so, you know, pick 11 or 10. Yeah.

I think I had like a mid third on Wendell, so that's crazy. But anyways, neighbors. you know, he's more dynamic than both those guys I mentioned. He is a better athlete. You do see the movement skills, the suddenness to be an excellent route runner. He just hasn't had to be that sophisticated yet. And he's great after the catch with the ball too. I think he's going to be a good player.

Again, going top 15 here. It's not like I hate the guy. Yeah. I just really see this a little bit differently than I guess the community does. Yeah. Yeah. And then Rome, the guy where, you know, I'm still firm that Rome is number two in this class. I think in almost every draft class, minus the Jamar Chase year, Rome would be the number one receiver in that class.

He is freaking phenomenal in every way, shape, or form. He is a giant target. He's physical. He's super ridiculously athletic. A lot of people don't realize how athletic this dude is. They see, what, 6-4-215, and they just think he's probably a big T. Higgins contest a catch type. No, this dude is an insane athlete. Go watch his punt returns at Washington.

He had won this year that he took for like 70-yard. It was one of the best punt returns I've ever seen. Guy is electric with the ball in his hands. He's an absolute amount of. He's not necessarily a make you miss kind of guy in the open field, but he's got that competitive toughness where he's throwing dudes off of them. He's outrunning them. The amount of plays where he catches the ball in space and outruns,

the nearest defender, is insane for a guy that size. So he's a total package. Elite route runner, elite technician. Great at the catch point. I don't know how much more I can say about the guy I'm making him out to be a Hall of Famer Not a lot of deficiencies to a game Honestly there's not a lot of deficiencies to what he does

I think he's one of the more polished receivers To come out in the draft in some time Like he is the real deal total package Yeah Then I guess the last one just because this is always I think it's always a fun question to ask But we're early this is obviously mock draft 1.0 for you Do you have a player

that you are keeping an eye on that you think could make a big leap here in the next you know with a let's say good combine the next like month month and a half is there a player that you've got your eye on that you're kind of potentially waiting on numbers to push up um yeah

I think there's a few actually um specific to this mock or anybody uh let's go specific to the mock Okay, cool. Guys in the first round, you know, wherever they are, who do you see that, you know, could go for, you know, jump, 5, 10, 12 spots. Yeah, so we'll just go.

So I'll just kind of run through it really quick and give cliff notes. Alu Foshanu from Penn State. He's a freak athlete. I haven't going 10 here. He was, yeah, never mind, you were about to hit it. Yeah, sorry. Coming to the year, he was like consensus O-line 1. and well I mean it was debated with him

and all but I think most people leaned him he kind of had a bad year on tape so a big combine though reminding people of the freak athlete he is could get him back to O-line 1 status I think I'll stand on my tape Eval of him but you know how the NFL loves the athleticism so

he's won another guy sorry go ahead I'd say especially at the tackle position now yep another guy would be Cooper Dejean corner Iowa he's got a chance to be the top corner off the board I think top defensive Wow really yeah I mean his tape is excellent

He played at Iowa so nobody thinks he's oh and he's a white guy He's a white guy that plays corner so a lot of people don't think this is This dude's a good athlete but I I mean his tape suggests he's a phenomenal athlete So I think if he tests well at the combine you could see him getting a firm top 15 grade You know maybe slide into the top 10 even so I he's that good. Yeah. A lot of these offensive linemen, honestly,

because they're all getting built as, like, Graham Barton tackle from Duke, smaller guy, not huge wingspan, so he's going to get penciled in as like an interior guy at the NFL. I know Daniel Jeremiah is saying, put him at center right away. I can see that for sure. I have Tampa Bay taking him in this mock as an IOL,

but I think he has a chance to go blow out the combine, and then you're talking about, you know, him rising way up the board because we just don't think about, interior offensive linemen as freak athletes very often. So if you get the chance, you know, you're talking like Quentin Nelson type status potentially. So, um, really Trice, Edstrom, Washington. This dude, one of the most polished pastures I've seen coming out in a long time,

especially for where I have him going on this class or in this, uh, this first round here. He's a guy that could, to really like fly up boards because I think he'll go to the combine. He'll put up like a six, seven, three cone and, you know, like a four, two, five short shuttle. and everyone's going to be oohing and on over him. Yeah. And then lastly, I'd probably say Troy Franklin. I have him going to Buffalo at 28. He's a speed demon.

And every year there's a guy who runs insane fast at the combine and then goes way up, goes way higher than he should. Franklin's a good player, but he's a, you know, a fringe first round guy to me versus, you know, a hard, you know, a hard top 20-ish kind of guy, if that makes sense. Yeah, absolutely. Sweet.

Oh, that's the one more out there? Yeah, please do. He didn't get in the mock here. He's the other Missouri corner, not rake straw, but Ennis are,

um, um, oh my gosh, Abram drains. Yeah, drains in them. Whatever. Sorry.

Bad with names and I didn't write it down. He, that guy can absolutely fly. So he, similar to Franklin where I think, I think this dude could run like a really, really fast 40 time, like in the 14.

reminds me a little bit of Stokes, Eric Stokes, the Packers took him a couple years ago in the first round. Going into Combine Week, everybody had that dude. It was like a third, fourth round pick. Dude ran 4-2-5 or whatever and then went in the first round. I think you could see Abrams Drain's, if that's his name, do something similar. And he was at the Senior Bowl, right? He had a good week there. Probably second or third best corner there for sure behind Quignan-Mitchell from Tilly.

though. Yeah. Yep. All right, let's wrap it there, Steve. Do you have any final thoughts? I just, I'm excited for the offseason.

I think that we've got a very, just a very interesting free agency, very, uh, kind of a, I mean, a pretty loaded draft overall, an exciting draft nonetheless.

Um, it's just, it's going to be fun to evaluate these next couple months. I'm excited for it. Yeah, I feel like off season is our sweet spot for content because it's like there's just so many things to talk about. Yeah. Or maybe it's just different.

So it's like refreshing. You know, like the subject's always changing. You're not always reviewing and previewing games. It's like there's a more ebb and flow and ever changing content. So it's, I guess it's more fun for me. But yeah. Yeah. Head over to FantasyPoint.com.

Check out my mock draft. It's there. On the clock, my draft podcast comes back. probably end of this week into early next week. I'm very excited about that. I'm sure we'll get Steve on there as a guest as well. Yeah, we're going to have the star-studded cast again this year.

I know next week I've already got Mike Renner on the board. Russell Brown on the board. I got Zerline committed to an appearance. Danny Kelly. Like it's going to be fun. So we're doing that whole set of game. Yep. So yeah, check it out.

Other than that, we will bid you a fair. I'm Brett Whitefield. This is my co-host, Stephen O'Rourke, and 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 FantasyPoint.com.