Fantasy Football Daily - Super Bowl Reaction & Brett's Mock Draft 1.0 | Take Talk

Episode Date: February 16, 2023

Back like they never left. Brett Whitefield (@BGWhitefield) and Steven ORourke (@callmesteveo7) return for a new season of the Take Talk podcast...In this episode, they recap a Super Bowl for the ages from this past weekend, while also getting the offseason officially started with Brett's first mock draft! --- 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. Hello everyone and welcome in to the Take Talk podcast. I'm Steven O'Rourke and as always I'm with my co-host Brett Whitefield and Brett. I hear you have a special update for the fans of TikTok and me as well. I'm coming in blind to this also, so I can't wait to hear. Yeah, so I know we've teased the data tool that's going to be coming out, Steve.

Yeah. You know, this thing we work so hard to build. Yeah. Well, guess what? I got to beta tested this week. I don't even know if the boss wants to be talking about this on the podcast, you know, the guru himself. but I'm so excited that I can't keep my mouth shut. As I say, that's too exciting to not talk about.

I bet it. Actually, I'm still beta testing it, but I've been beta testing it all week trying to break it. I would say we're at an internal beta test stage, but all I got to say to the listeners and to the fans of what we're doing and the guys have been excited, we've been getting Steve, we've been getting a lot of emails of people asking, when's this thing going live? Like you've been teasing it long enough. One may use the word inundated with emails. Yes.

Inundated with emails. But this thing, dude, is freaking marvelous. I don't even like, if it were up to me being the non-savvy person I can be sometimes, I would just release it as it is. But, you know, we have to go through technical procedures. Of course, of course. We've got to do it. We'll probably do a focus group beta after the internal beta. So long story short, this thing,

will be out, end of spring, early summer-ish, probably like sometime pretty close to after the draft. This thing is going to come out. But dude, it is amazing what it does. Like it is all the different filters you can customize what you're doing. See, actually here's a really cool. I'm tipping a little bit of our hand right here, but here's a really cool future. I just thought it's it's something that is kind of minimal in a way, but it's so cool. but every data table or tool inside of this master tool

is completely customizable to the user. So we have our preset columns that like, so we have like an advanced passing tool. Right. That has like, it displays, I don't know, 50 different data points for on a team level, a player level, a week level, whatever. You can, so even though we've preset those 50 data points,

say you're a guy who only like, I'm just a fantasy guy. I'm not really interested in some of these other player performance metrics. So I just want to stick with the fantasy driven stuff. You can actually deselect columns. And you can make them disappear in that tool. And you can rearrange the columns in the order that you want. See, that's so nice.

That would be so cool. I've never seen a tool that does this. Each user will have a certain level of customizability. Is that the right word? Customization. Customization. Yeah. I just over here, George W. Bush and it make it up words.

But anyways, this tool is so freaking cool. I've gotten lost just using it. And I already know all the data because we have the prototype sheets. Right. And like that's just for everybody, you know, like where we pull all our stats from and everything, we have access to all this data and we like have it in our own little Google sheets, prototype. And even looking through that.

with like, you know, it's so, it's so raw with what we work with at that level. But like even that, like when people see me looking at it, using it, whatever, like, they're fascinated by it. And I'm like, this is like, I'm like, this is not even remotely close. Yep. To what it's going to be. And like you said, like that small, just a little bit of customization. I mean, that's like half my problem when looking at like pro football reference and some of the like,

some of those other like database sites. I've never seen a tool that customizes like this. It's like having to is like, God, the call my need is all the way over here. Oh crap. I lost which spot my player was in. Like,

you know, like things like that. Like just it's, yeah, I mean. Yeah. One thing that's cool too that the, the developers confirmed to me.

And again, I'm probably saying way too much, Steve, but I'm excited. These customize, these customizations that you make to the table of you. Yep. So you'll basically be able to download a CSV off of our tables where.

Nice. You know, but what's cool is though when you customize it to be how you want, the CSV that you download will also follow those guidelines. So you're not going to, you're not going to have to spend a much time like deleting columns out or whatever, whatever you typically do. Right.

I don't know how you, I don't know how the data nerds do things, but you can kind of clean your data before you have to start cleaning your data, basically. Yeah, exactly. Like you get a set up where you want it. You get a pre-clean. Yep.

So that's really cool. The other cool thing, I mentioned the filters, man, like, anything you can imagine you'd want to filter, you can. Like, you can be looking at advanced passing data, and you can filter for just cover one. You can filter for just cover two. Or you could just put a simple man filter on. Like, hey, I want to see just in all-man. Or against zone or against zone match. Like, there's, it's some pretty cool.

filter ability. I want to see all these stats when the quarterback's under pressure or when he's blitzed or on third down or on play action or whatever. Like, you can just slap these filters on really quickly. The functionality is really, really good. Our dev team

is doing a tremendous job. And I cannot wait for this thing to come out. I'm so excited. So anyways, that's a little update and a little peek behind the curtain to what is coming. This thing is going to be massive, Steve. I can't wait. It's going to be huge.

It's going to get really good reviews. I feel really strongly about it. I mean, obviously, we're very close to it. But still, it's, you know, there's a reason it's taken the length of time it is. And it's because we've wanted to put out, like, the best quality product. Oh, yeah. We could have easily launched a half-ass product six months ago. Right.

But our dev team has pretty much said, just no, like, I'm going to build this the right way and it's going to blow everyone's mind and we we've stuck with that and like we set out to to do this the right way and get it right and that's exactly what uh brock and his team is going to deliver to us and for someone and for someone who's not necessarily always easily impressed to get the big resounding thumbs up from you is a good first step i would say yes i was chris so chris is on vacation right now and i i promised him i wouldn't talk to him while he was gone. But I was so giddy when we had this,

when I did my initial beta, you know, look around. I actually took a video of myself playing with the tool and sent it to him. Because I was like, I can't hold back, man. So, yes,

that was like a kid in a candy store. So I actually asked the dev team each for their address so I could send them flowers because it was Valentine's Day. So that's, that's how excited I was. Now, they didn't follow through with the address, but had they have, they would have gotten flowers. They would have gotten flowers. They would have gotten flowers.

So, all right. Cool little peek behind the curtain, but we probably should talk a little bit about a Super Bowl. And then I know we're going to get into mock draft 1.0. Yes. But Steve, the Super Bowl, we haven't actually talked about it. Like, we were texting a little bit that night. Yeah. But you and I haven't actually really talked about it.

I have no idea your thoughts. There's been a lot of opinions thrown out all week on Twitter. It's actually getting obnoxious to this point. I mean, we're starting to dip into the post-game player drama where A.J. Brown and J. Schoesmisser are going after each other and people are brought up on as well. It's all, it's reached the full cycle to where. Yeah. I actually want to talk about that.

On that note, like, before we get the Super Bowl, I thought Juju's tweet was hilarious. Yeah. Even as a guy who wanted the Eagles to win that game. I thought it was hilarious, but I thought AJ Bounce comeback was also freaking awesome. Like, bro, your career was over. You just got resurrected by the king. Like, he just bodied him right back. That was funny.

They threw a couple haymakers, I thought. It was, it was good. I mean, it was a tightly contested game. And, like, arguably, both players have room to talk shit. Like, that was a flip of the coin game. And, you know, we can all argue the whole holding thing, you know, refs taking control of the game there whatever but like it was overall just start to finish it was a really good game and that like that was my biggest takeaway was like I didn't have like a huge horse in the

race here I was not like yeah in big money pretty much same yeah I was just enjoying it because it was what felt like in what had shown to be the two best teams all year playing against each other and it worked out that way it you know it's Andy Reed, the whole time I was watching the game, the like analogy simile that kept coming to my mind is that I kept thinking of the line from Jurassic Park where they're talking by the velociraptor pit. And he's like, what is he doing? She's like, he's like, oh, she's testing for weaknesses. She's learning. And that's all I can think about when Andy Reid is that like, oh, see, he's testing that motion.

and he's learning. He's figuring it. He's figuring it out. And like that was what felt like the tale of the second half was Andy Reed and Patrick Mahomes starting to kind of figure out that Philly defense and trying to find those and exploit those weaknesses that they had that they had seen on film throughout the year. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, Reed is obviously he's a master at that.

You know, we knew adjustments would come in the second half. Did you hear this crazy stat about the, So the Chiefs, I might get the numbers a little bit wrong, but I know the general theme in ratio. Yeah. So in the second half, the Chiefs had a potential to gain 290 yards total. Okay. Do you know how many yards they gained? $2.88.

280. Oh, that's right. Because I guess he dropped back a couple times on the kneel downs toward the end. And McKinnon took the knee or whatever. Right. Right. Between those two plays, though, they literally could have got the $2.90, but they didn't because the last drive. Right.

How insane is that, though? They, like, they literally, like, the Eagles didn't stop them for a single yard, basically. They didn't. I mean, it's great. And Mahomes, like, he played great. Like, I think he was outplayed by Hertz. Yes. But, yes.

Mahomes didn't make a single mistake all game. And the one mistake Hertz made cost them the game, basically. when you do the math, you know. Obviously, you can't, like, the course of the game changes so you don't really know how it ends up playing out. But more than likely, that was the play that cost of the Eagles of the game. Right. Not the hold, by the way.

Which, did you see, I want to ask you, did you see they, you know, how they do the NFL films, like retelling usually on Wednesdays or whatever? They actually showed a different angle from the end zone. And it was one of those where you saw the jersey pull. Like, it's one of those where you're like, yeah. You hate to see it, but yeah, the jersey extended and 99% of the time a refs going to throw the flag. Whatever. That's all I want.

Yeah, I did think if I was refereeing that game, I wouldn't have called that penalty in the first quarter, the second quarter of the third quarter or the fourth quarter. It just was too, it wasn't enough for me. However, I do like, I guess by definition, it's definitely a penalty. Bradbury admitted it was a penalty. So it doesn't even matter though. I know the refs kind of took the end game into their own hands with that call. But listen, if you want to win a Super Bowl, you should try stopping the other team's offense. And you didn't stop them for it.

Like, you didn't hold them back from one single yard. Yeah. They basically achieved 290 out of 290 yards. Once you take into account the McKinnon kneel down or the McKinnon, yeah, kneel down and then two Mahomes kneel downs. Yeah. I mean, that's just the facts. So like, you know, and the Eagles have done a tremendous job. not blaming the refs and taking the high road with their loss.

Like, listen, that was on us. You should have made more plays. Don't ever put the game in the refs hands, ever. So I love that mentality, but enough can't be said about these quarterbacks, man. Like, hurts. Throw for throw, this was probably the best Super Bowl game I have ever seen.

That was a master class from both sides. Like you said, there were almost like really not many. if there were maybe two or three, like, bad throws total across the entire game. Yeah, it was crazy. It's like Hertz was fitting balls into windows that like we had seen once or twice, like once a game every once in a while. He was doing that like four or five times this game. I think we, we charted him for six wild throws. Yeah, like that.

Which is nuts. I mean, that's a lot for any game, let alone a Super Bowl. And I just, he was doing it with his legs. when he needed to. He was making smart decisions, throwing the ball away. I mean, these were two of the, like, from both,

both sides, both Hertz and Mahomes. Like, the Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles were leading the league, top, both top three in pressure rate for the season. Like, and the Chiefs, you know, we all talk about how they turn on the pressure when it comes to the playoffs. Like, playoff Frank Clark, he always seems to step up.

It still didn't matter. You know, they both got pressure, but they maneuvered the pocket really well. It was just, that was so much fun to watch from just like appreciating quarterback play yeah yeah i don't think technically there was any real sacks in the game i know did the chiefs get credited for two total but they were both they were both plays where hurts like runs out of bounds right at the sticks he kind of just gives himself up yeah it was one of those words like if he could have definitely

if he extends the ball it's not a sack they weren't real sacks these weren't minus seven minus eight yard sacks or whatever. Right. He was never really in threat. Yep. But yeah, I mean, so Mahomes, like, obviously his five-year resume is ridiculous. Yeah. The impressive part about this game is it was almost, like, we've been foreshadowing this

all season in a way, Steve. Like, we've been talking about Mahomes' development, how the way defenses are going to play him now, he has to just be willing to take what's there. Yeah. And this was a master class on that. He didn't really have to do anything too special. I mean, he had a couple scrambles and clutch moments. But for the most part, he was just taken what the defense has given him.

And he wasn't missing, wasn't making a mistake, making the perfect read over and over and over, especially in the second half. Yeah. Which is funny because it feels like we've seen this in like crucial moments in Mahomes career like five or six times is defense. turning to man coverage or a man type coverage on a third and third and six, third and seven in Mahomes navigating the pocket and escaping for a long run to get a first down. Like I've, I feel like it's not, it's talked about briefly, but we don't always talk about Mahomes rushing ability just because we get lost in his arm talent. But he's so adept at like making those clutch runs and knowing when to escape the

pocket and making like just making a good play in those moments it's pretty impressive and like something that jumped like that 20 the 25 yard run to kind of like to put them into what was field goal range and then yeah obviously the ensuing you know once they get toward the end zone to close out the game it's just it's crazy that he came in my homes came in so elite and he's still taking steps forward in his game with like each passing season and like even in the Super Bowl like I felt like he took him taking only like the throws that were there and really not forcing anything that was a step in the right direction because usually you know like this season there was the one or two throws a game where it's like eh you know he got away with one there like

that was a clear interception don't know what he was thinking there and but he didn't do that in this game. Yeah, it's pretty wild. I mean, he's the best, obviously. And now, like we said, leading up to the Super Bowl, if he pulled this off, it was, he's officially in Chase Brady mode, you know? He might not ever get to six or whatever playing, what a Brady playing nine. He might not ever do that, but like, he can still be the best of all time just based on other things. I mean, I mean, if he keeps making it to conference championships, yeah, it's like, like you said, similar to Brady, you're going to break through it. Like, with the GM they have in place in Kansas City and the infrastructure they have in Kansas City,

like it's one of those where, hey, just keep surrounding Mahomes with decent talent, feel the defense that can at least cause a nuisance because like the chiefs are never at the top of the league, but they're, I feel like they're always great at creating havoc. And that's where Mahomes thrives in is in havoc, games that are havoc. I mean, after this game, he's 14 and 10 when trailing going into halftime. Wow. That's absurd. Like, I'm pretty sure every other quarterback in NFL history is like under less than 50% winning percentage.

Right. When trailing at halftime in Malmes is 14 and 10. Yeah, that's crazy. This was also like the hardest carry we've seen in a while. probably since that Deon Branch Brady team honestly. Yeah. But we're just like the quarterback just carries an offense. I mean, he did not.

I mean, he has Kelsey, obviously. Kelsey's great. He's not in his prime anymore, though. And his receiving, like, I mean, he has nothing. He had nothing to work with this year. He had an undrafted rookie running back. I mean, like, guys, like this was one of the craziest carries, like hard carries.

areas we've seen. And that just shows you, like, they're probably going to be in the conversation every single year, just like the Patriots were for 20 years, you know? Yeah. I mean, like going into, this was a, it was a receiving group that on any other team in the NFL we're talking, like, we're talking about how destitute their situation is at receiver. Yeah. But because it's Mahomes, you can talk yourself into it and he can make it happen.

And that's exactly what he did. He just needs guys that know how to run the offense and work in space. And that's what he does. And then give him the opportunity to find you open. And that's what he does best. Yeah. Before we move on, real quick, just let's do a quick snapshot of like what these two teams are looking at off season-wise. I did some time this week kind of looking over their situations.

Yeah. And they're both in really interesting situations. So the Eagles have the benefit of playing in the NFC. So it's like, yes, they don't need to be super hell bent on retaining the exact same roster because they do play in the NFC and herges is a young developing asset. They have, you know, Devante Smith and AJ Brown long term, Goddard long term. Yep. I don't think the offensive line is just going to fall apart overnight. But they do have very limited cap space.

They're currently over the cap going into 2023. So they're going to have to make some adjustments there. Yeah. And they do have a lot of expiring vet contracts, James Bradbury being a really notable one. Yep. So for the Eagles, like, the maintenance comes now with like, they have to get really savvy with the cap. And Howard Roseman's been kind of planning for this moment, like the Super Bowl run for a couple of years now. He's been, if you go look through all their contracts on their team, they're doing like three and four voided years on them, just piling on dead money to try to free up cab space.

And it's kind of, they're kind of, it's catching up with them this off season. And, you know, we saw the Saints do this for a while. But it's really catching up with the Eagles this off season. So I think they have some really interesting choices to make. They do have two first round picks. Yep. Which will help. You know, I think ideally they probably let Bradbury walk and then grab a corner at some point.

Right. That's in the first or second round and try to get cheaper and younger there. But they do have some interesting choices to make. So it'll be interesting to see what they do. Yeah. And that's alongside obviously losing both their cord. who, you know, there's a level of, you know, figuring out who's replacing the, who's replacing both of those guys as well.

Yeah, I don't know that Gannon's much of a loss to be honest. Yeah, Gannon, it's funny because, again, I walked away from the game feeling of Gannon and just like watching the game and their secondary, I felt like that was, like, the story of their defense in the Super Bowl was kind of just like an all-encompassing view of their defense over the course of the second half of the season. They were kind of like they were great at creating pressure, but compared to the first half of the season, their defense gave up a lot more yards toward the end of the year. They were stout at the beginning. I mean, unbelievable at the beginning, but the secondary kind of softened a little bit toward the second half of the season. And the run defense was always

an issue throughout the entire year. It was just we never really got a hold of it because, you know, they were taking leads. And it's just like they made me feel like Gannon was like Patricia at the end where I'm like, this is funny because he's going to get put out as like the coaching candidate, but it kind of feels like a straw man a little bit. Yeah. Well, and Gannon was basically handed the keys to. a Ferrari

right and didn't get Ferrari level production when it mattered right you know now listen like everyone could pretend like they know whether Gannon's going to be a good head coach or not I mean I made a joke on Twitter about him being the next pant Patricia mostly a joke the reality is like when you're hiring a head coach you're not you're it's more about leadership skills right and being a leader man so if Gannon sold them on that and that's who he is that's his character and that's that's what he's going to be then he might be fine like he he won't be maybe he gets a great defensive coordinator and you know i mean that's you we really don't know um i think it was a little bit of a desperation move for the cardinals because

seems like they had some trouble getting high quality head coaching candidates in there yeah so um yeah and then they lost stuyken too uh i think that is a blow for sure you don't especially when you have a young developing quarterback you don't necessarily want to change it up on him I mean, shoot, we saw Josh Allen struggle at times this year because of that himself. You know, the one good thing they got going on is Brian Johnson is a ascending talent in the league. Everyone's been really high on him. The QB coach, and Hertz has known him his whole life, actually. Brian Johnson played for Hertz's dad growing up.

So, like, there's a family connection there. So I think the continuity that you'll see in Philadelphia next year, well, and Siriani, obviously, being an offensive guy, well. Right. Like you'll, you'll see more offensive continuity there next year than you saw with Buffalo this year compared to last year. So yeah.

Yeah. Some things to be worried about, but ultimately I think the Eagles should remain on the top of the NFC. Like you said, their offensive structures in place and like a lot of their offensive talent is in place. It's really about filling in the gaps of those, you know,

those vets that were providing solid playing time and some of the, like you said, the guy opposite Darius. lay, you know, replacing Bradbury most likely. It's, you know, it's small pieces that come with rebuilding. Yeah. A team that makes a Super Bowl. This is, they're in a similar situation to where a lot of teams that get to this point,

because this is usually a lot of the plays that you make to get to that point. On the flip side, the chiefs are looking at, like, they have limited cab space. I mean, I know they're, they currently rank in the top 10 of cap space available, but I know they have some contract decisions to make that could quickly eat up that cap space. One of them being Orlando Brown, the offensive tackle. If they retain him,

he's going to eat into a good bit of that. And then secondly, they do have a lot of picks. So I think they're in a great spot to kind of reload and keep this thing moving full force. They just got to be savvy with how they use their cap space. Yeah. Yep.

And then obviously drafting well. Yes, drafting well. which, you know, if they can just avoid taking a CEH at the end of the first. Everyone's already doing it again. I've seen Bijan getting mocked there. I've seen, although I stopped reading mocks because more like when I'm doing all the draft content myself now for fantasy points. Or not, I shouldn't say all of it, but I'm doing a lot of it. Yeah.

You kind of like want to tune out the outside noise, you know? You want to maintain your own opinions as your own opinions and not like the outside noise. into your thoughts. Which I think is a great segue into Brett, you released your mock draft 1.0 this week. I did. I did. The first of three. You know, it's a unique approach because I don't do the predict, like, I don't do predictive

mocks. I might do one just for fun, you know, as like maybe 4.0, like right before the, right before the draft or something once I, because I do get some, some decent intel. But, no, my mock drafts are like, hey, if I was. in charge of every franchise this is what i would do it as the board falls right which i think makes it more interesting because then it's you know you can actually make an argument for the team it's not it's less the predictive of like ah we've seen you're you're putting more thought into the team building aspect than some people that do the predictive the predictive is generally just kind of

going alongside you know just needs trying to match meads or you know a team that's good enough that they can take best player available and just maneuvering from there rather than actually fully taking into effect team needs who they're losing, who they're getting, and like doing it from the standpoint of a GF, from yourself as the GM instead of the GM in place. Because Brett, I'd put you in place of some of the GMs in the NFL. So the first big thing that I was looking through your draft that I want to, you know, I'm just going to kind of take the time, pick your.

brain a little bit, I think. Okay. Give the listeners some insight into your thought process in the mock draft, kind of where you're, where you had players land and, you know, just see what you're thinking. First thing that jumped off was the four quarterbacks in the top ten. Yes. Four quarterbacks, what was it? Two, three trades in the top ten.

But the quarterbacks to start, you had Bryce Young first in the, which I think seems to be the consensus going right now. He's definitely the safest guy. Yeah. Do I have concerns about his size? Absolutely. But Indianapolis is a really nice fit to kind of mitigate some of that. Yeah.

And I think that as people are watching the film, he's showing that, you know, his ability to read the middle of the field is very good. Oh, yeah. You know, he is small as his frame is, he knows how to operate using it. He doesn't take a ton of big hits. He's smart with, smart with his game. I think that when push comes to shove, like it doesn't seem like there's going to potentially be a lot of movement,

you know, unless something catastrophic happens for him. Yep. But for the Texans at number two, you swung for the fences for the Texans and went Will Levis. I did. I did. This was a little bit of a blend of like how I think,

like, so I knew the tech, like if I'm the Texas GM, I'm going quarterback. Yeah. The reason I went Levis, who is my QB4, by the way, in this draft class over the guys that I have higher on my board

is I just think he's a good fit for Houston. I think they're... Yeah, I don't... Levis seems like a D'emico Ryan's kind of guy to me. You know, he puts mayonnaise in his coffee. Like, he... I forgot about that, damn it. Yeah.

So, like, culture fit for, like, you know, I don't know if you ever heard Damico Ryan's talk, but he's one of these rah-rah type of guys. Yeah. He's similar to, he's not going to give you the sound bites Dan Campbell gives you, but he's an intense leader of men type. And I think Levis has that in him as well,

where he's like, he's kind of goofy, he's wild. He likes to pump up the crowd, likes to pump up the team. Yep. I just feel like when they do their meetings, Levis is going to stick out to them as like,

hey, we're rebuilding this thing from scratch. We have time to grow with you. because it might not be pretty right away with you because like let's be honest levis is not a very developed guy right now no if you're going for a levis guy you're you're swinging for the development of what his ceiling can be yes um so i i just think that like culture fit wise this is probably better than uh i think levis is better in a demico ryan's team than than say stroud or or richardson so that's why i went levis here It's funny. You're right. Levis has the linebacker mentality.

Yes, that's a great, that's a great way of saying. That middle linebacker, like, Ray Lewis-esque hype up, you know, like that mentality. And Will Levis is like in that mold. If he was not a quarterback, if he played defense, he would be a middle linebacker. Oh, yeah, for sure. He's built like it, too. You then. Yeah, some of the feedback I got on this pick, too, are they're like,

my closing statement is like are you sure this guy's a second overall pick because i wrote now the onus will be on the texans new staff under tamiko rites to get more out of levis than kentucky did yeah it's not something you typically write about a guy getting drafted second overall but that's the truth like kentucky did not maximize levis no and it's going to be on the texans to get more out of him like they really have to continue developing him and he's not a finished product so but like you said texans are full on rebuild so they have the time to kind of dive into it. Next quarterback you went to was CJ Stroud to the Panthers, which I think like Panthers again,

another team that everybody's calling for in your mock. You had them trade up for the bear, trade up with the bears at number four. Yeah. Which, so I. That's them trading back twice in the first round. Yeah. Which like that's a dream. That's dream scenario for Chicago.

As a Detroit fan, it pained me. Yeah. But this is what I would do if I was Chicago, and we'll get to them in a minute. But again, I have Richardson higher on my board than Stroud, but I just feel like Reich really values the developed downfield passing ability that Stroud brings at the table. But I just thought it was a better fit for what Frank Reich is going to want to do with that offense. That's all it was. like the Panthers are a little bit more ready to win now too where Richardson and like Levis is going to be more of a developmental guy.

Yeah. I think the Panthers are more like they've got established talent on offense. Yeah. You know, DJ Moore and and Terrace Marshall and Leviska Chanel than a good tight end room. And Ian Thomas and Tommy Trembal and their offensive lines taken step forward. And they're yelling. Yeah, and they're young. They're young.

And their defense is pretty good, too. They've got some wins there. So I just felt like Stroud was better for them right now. And I think Reich will prefer Stroud's pocket passing ability. Right. And that's exactly. Like if you look at Stroud compared to some of the guys that Reich had brought in to Indianapolis, you can see the fit there.

Stroud has the big arm. The plus mobility, but he's not necessary. He's not a run first, not looking to use his legs first in any way, shape, or form. But it's there if he needs him. And I think that's, like, that's right in Reich's wheelhouse is a guy like that. It's decent mobility to move the pocket and things. But overall, like, I want you to stand in and I want you to hit, hit the throws from the pocket. Yep.

Seattle gets a dream. Jalen Carter dropping to them. Yeah, a couple people ask me about Seattle. they're like, how come no Richardson to Seattle? And I just thought Seattle is in a spot where they're going to probably resign Gino to big money. Yeah. I think the one quarterback they'd probably consider is Stroud because I think he and

Gino have a lot of similarities. Yeah. So if you're looking for a continuity move, Stroud might be the guy. They miss him by a pick, but they're perfectly fine standing pat and grabbing Jalen Carter at five. It's like an unbelievable scenario for them. Yeah. I mean, that's arguably the number one, number one, number two player overall in the draft.

Yeah, non-QB, which you're right. I think Seattle staying away from quarterback makes sense. Obviously, that's crazy to think given, like, if we had said this at the beginning of the year. But, hey, they were a playoff team, and you have a quarterback who performed well and was making huge throws, continuity on offense. In that middle of the defensive line, they have some guys in there, but like Puna Ford, they don't have any really like plus guys. Jalen Carter comes in and makes a difference right away in both pass rush, which Seattle struggled with at times and run defense. So I think that like that's a dream scenario for for Seattle who, you know, they've started to build that back end with like the, you know, the young guys in. the secondary.

If they can get that front end bolstered up and get some pass rush, they're right back looking at a defense that, you know, can contend for them again, which is what Pete Carroll wants. Then you went, yeah, Lions Witherspoon. We'll go to the, we'll go to the, down to the Falcons. Falcons go Richardson, which I think is a surprise to some. I feel like the Atlanta Falcons are in an interesting. spot. I know that Lamar Jackson is getting rumored to them. They had, they drafted Desmond

Ritter last year. Why do you think they go, why do you think they go Richardson over, you know, potential other options? Yeah, I mean, I, again, this is me calling the shots as the GM. I, I want a quarterback to build with. And I don't, I don't see that in Ritter. I don't see that in Mariotta. I think what I said about Richardson is he's the superhero version of those two guys. Yes, you did. Which I think is true. He's got so much raw ability. He's got legit arm talent.

Obviously, the legs are phenomenal. He's a guy who's, I mean, he's ahead of where Jalen Hertz was when Hertz was drafted. And we're seeing that. He's ahead of probably where Josh Allen was when Josh Allen was drafted as far as technique and fundamentals go. I really think this is a top 10 player. He's my number two quarterback on my board. I think he's safer than those two guys I just mentioned, Allen and Hertz,

and we've seen how that's panned out. I know those guys are more exceptions than the actual rule, but given that the starting port for Richardson is already higher, he does a lot of subtle things really, really well. Yeah. Quarterback type things, like his pocket awareness and pocket presence is outstanding for a guy who is kind of an elite level runner.

Typically elite level runners, the reason they're so good at running is because they do it often and early. And they bail from clean pockets. Richardson doesn't do that. Richardson actually prefers the pass first. And he's got phenomenal footwork in the pocket. He manipulates his blockers really well to find creases to step up into or slide. Really disciplined with that stuff.

And those are the things that are really hard to teach at this stage of the game for quarterbacks. Yeah. The only really thing he needs to work on is maybe getting through his progress. is a little faster and throw-for-throw consistency. Now, again, I think he's more consistent throw-for-throw than Josh Allen was. So, like I said, the starting point is higher for him. But, man, there's a lot to work with here. And we saw what Arthur Smith was kind of trying to do with these mobile guys and kind of

scheme up some more of that QB run game. And then when they're under center, he's, you know, have those heavy boots and stuff. Richardson's going to be awesome in that stuff. Yeah. So I love the fit here. Again, I don't know that the Falcons will actually look at a quarterback or if Richardson will be the guy they like. But if I were them, that's the guy I would like.

Yeah. Kind of a dream scenario with the way it played out. They don't have to trade up for their guy and they're still getting, you know, who I would love for them to draft. Yeah. And Atlanta is another team that, you know, sure, they played the NFC South. They did okay. But when you look at their roster, it's not a roster that's, you know, overflowing with talent.

They have a couple of young guys in there, but overall, this is a team that probably is more rebuild than anything else. If you were to classify them, I wouldn't put them in like the retool category. They're probably back in the rebuild. And like you said, starting off with the quarterback like Richardson with the upside that he has in an offense like Arthur Smith runs. It could be with it could be awesome. and he has two ball winners to throw two in that offense, Ohio Pitts and Drake London. Yeah, and they'll need to add another guy to that room as well.

But the interesting thing about the Falcons too, Steve, is like they're, like this is year three for Arthur Smith, and you hate to be saying they're in complete rebuild mode in year three. Yeah. So I think the pressure is going to start to mount. I don't see a scenario where he's comfortable rolling into the season with Desmond Ritter as his quarterback. And drafting Richardson doesn't mean you're giving up.

on Ritter either. Right. It's more or less you're taking two darts and throwing them at the board. Right. Because you got to hit on a quarterback and you got to hit on one pretty soon because this is year three for Arthur Smith coming up. So yeah. And then number nine, the Chicago Bears finally make an appearance with an actual pick.

At this point, at this point they've traded from one to four or you would have them trading from one to four. Yep. And they've amassed two seconds. second rounds, a 2024 first, a 2024 third. They get, and then a 2024 second. So in this, in your scenario, you being the GM, they trade back twice. They amassed the picks that I think everybody is hoping.

I feel like this is what Chicago Bears fans want. This is what everybody wants for the Bears. It also creates more fun for the draft with trades. But they trade back from four and then from four to the, or from one to four and then four to nine. Nine they go, offensive tackle, Skoronsky from Northwestern.

Yes. Skronsky is a beast and he's a hometown guy playing at Northwestern. Yeah. Scronski is, there isn't really anything he does wrong.

I had Paris Johnson going earlier, but I think I like Skoronsky better as a player. I think he's a safer player. I think Paris Johnson probably has more a higher ceiling as a tackle, but Skronsky's got a higher floor. Like technique-wise, he's savvy, he's strong, he's long enough, he can play guard if you

absolutely need him to. Yeah. You know, and I like, anytime you can get a guy in your team that's like a close to a blue chip player that's positioned versatile at your weakest spot on the team, like, it's just a win. Like, he's going to allow them to get their five best offensive linemen on the field next year because you can play them where you need to. I love that. I love that for them. This draft should be all about, well, two things, two focuses of this draft of the Bears. One, they have the worst roster

in the NFL. Yes. You can't convince me otherwise. So they need to turn that roster over quickly. The best way to do that is start adding picks. And they have time. They have time. So start adding picks. The second focus should be supporting Justin Fields. Yes. Well, if they're not going to, if they're not going to stand pat at one and pick Bryce Young, what they need to do is start supporting Justin Fields. Yes. And there's an argument to me made that they should do that, but I don't want to get into that right now.

So here they trade back twice. They get the offensive tackle to support Justin Fields. They, uh, he was pressured more than any other quarterback in the NFL last year of 41.5% of his drop. Yeah. Which is absurd. A lot,

a lot of that was his fault because he holds the ball for freaking ever. Yes. But you can't deny watching the tape that that offensive line is, is below piss poor. So, um, this is a huge piece. for them.

And I'm a big fan of his game. I didn't even realize, actually, he was a hometown dude until Joe Dolan pointed that out to me when he was editing the article. That's sweet. And that's always fun when you can get a pillar on your team that's like that culture comes from home, easy to root for. And I think you made an important point with the Chicago Bears when you were describing the Skoronski pick is that he has a high floor. which means that you can plug and play them next year. Day one starter, yeah. I think that that's an important part of this Chicago Bears rebuild is obviously you

like you're looking to get, you know, guys that have high ceilings. But I think an important thing for them is getting guys that have high floors that can step in and play tomorrow. Because like you said, they're a team that is just, it's bad. They don't have a lot of talent. They have a lot of mid-tier veterans running around, and then they have like a little bit of young talent. But overall, it's just, it's every position can be upgraded. And I think that that's important is getting young guys that you can plug in, play, and get experience to start, you know, developing them quicker.

Like the bears don't don't need guys to like stash and develop. They need guys that can step in, play tomorrow, start getting experience and can elevate the floor. of your team in that sense as opposed to some other teams that you know some other that have strengths at positions or maybe you can look to develop a guy behind the bears need guys that can play tomorrow yep agreed the next what's what's the next thing that stood out to you next thing that took out to me was how the wide receivers fell for you i think that we're seeing a lot of we're seeing a lot of movement with receivers but i think from what the consent to seem to be as the college football season finished was that Quentin Johnson was at the top

of wide receivers. You had him going at the end of the first round and you had just your receivers shaken up a little bit. Like I said, I think I've heard you talk about it and you're really the first person that I've seen be vocal about it in that sense. I think you're starting to see some other guys come along in that. But I'd like to, I think that you'd think that you're you were one of the first and wide receiver is one of your specialties. So what, what made you shake up the wide receiver rankings? Why move Clinton Johnson down?

And why bring, I mean, shoot, you have Jordan Addison going like, you have, the Texans take him at 12. Yeah. Yeah. So,

I mean, we're going to support Willis and pick a wide receiver at 12 because our wide receiver room is just okay. We have Neal Collins. We have Brandon Cooks who's aging on an expensive deal. Maybe we save money with him at some point. Jordan Addison comes in and gives him the true separator that he needs. Like Will Levis is an inconsistent thrower of the football down for down.

So I'm going to increase that margin of error by giving him easy throws and guys who are open. Jordan Addison is the best route runner in this class, point blank. So when I did these receivers, Steve, I kind of like, I've already scored a lot of them in the process as I'm writing up these prospect profiles. So I went straight down my board, basically, for the most part. The only exception is I did, I think I put Hyatt in before Jackson Smith and the Jigba. I think Hyatt went 22, right? Yes. You have, yeah, Hyatt 22 and then you had Smith and Jigba going at 23 right after.

Yep. So I went, I went Hyatt to the Chargers because they've needed that speed element for a long time. Yeah. I do have JSM, like, marginally. He scored marginally better for me. They both have first round grades, so there's no reach there for either guy. my opinion. But yeah, so like Addison was far and away.

He's going to be my, my top receiver score by a decent margin. It was just a no-brainer for me to support the quarterback you just drafted with grabbing a receiver. It was either that or offensive line at 12 for me. So I did consider DeWan Jones there. But, yeah, and then with the Hyatt pick, man, like we've been talking at nauseam for two years now that like Herbert needs an actual field stretcher. Yeah. I mean, at this point, it's just an exhausted topic.

It is. It is. And so I just did it. I just screw it. Like, Mike Williams is a good downfield receiver, but he's not, uh, he's not really a field stretcher. He's more of a contested catch guy. You're not, he's not a guy you're going to hit in stride running, you know,

22 miles an hour who's going to house the ball after he catches it. Right. He's normally going to catch it, get tackled. Hyatt's literally a guy. I mean, the stuff they'll be able to scheme up with him. is pretty cool. And Kellan Moore, his time in Dallas, he does have experience kind of mimicking some of those concepts.

You saw at Tennessee with those bunches. Because the thing with Jaylen Hyatt, and this is also the biggest reason for concern with Hyatt is he gets, he was the beneficiary of these really crazy alignments. Like Tennessee would go, it's like ridiculous spread and tempo. And they would hide Hyatt in these types of bunches

where he was basically getting free. releases and like imagine getting tyrie kill free releases on every snap well i mean Miami does try to do that so and you can see what happens so uh that's you're trying to do this i'm not comparing high in hill by any means hide doesn't have anywhere close to the lateral agility is is tired of kill but as far as that pure speed threat goes you get a guy with that level of speed in the middle of the field with no one around him because he got a free release it's it's dangerous um the lines are going to try to do a lot of the similar things with uh james and Williams next year.

So I love this fit. And you're finally getting a player in that offense to maximize Herbert's arm. And I hope they can find a way to keep Keenan Allen because I think Keenan Allen, Jaylen Hyatt, and Mike Williams would just be fun, dude. And that is a legit trio. And just think how much like just having the vertical threat changes how safety's play against the chargers. I mean, like, safeties are able to sit.

so much harder on those outside receivers, knowing that there isn't that an imminent threat coming from the slot. Like, it's a lot of those, like, a lot of safeties, they understand that, hey, I don't have a huge threat coming from the slot. If I have to bail, I can run with them anyway. It's fine. Yeah. Like, I, like, he likes, he wants these guys outside most of the time.

I'm going to sit my focus there. If I see someone screaming at me, I can keep up with them. And that's where Jalen Hyatt changes the complexion. of how defense is play against Justin Herbert. All the receivers are short to maybe Keenan Allen's an intermediate threat. Like literally all of them. Josh Palmer is he's okay at what he does, but he's not winning deep balls. He's not beating corners deep.

Keenan's definitely not at this point of his career. Quincy Carter was the other one, right? D'Andre Carter. DeAndre, why did I say Quincy? I don't know. That's weird. Deandre Carter is the other one. Like this is a short.

Cowboys. Right. So, you know, point being, like, they, they just desperately needed this element to their game. And now that Lombardi's gone, Captain Checkdown here, I think this is going to be, yeah, I think this is going to be dynamite. I did consider going Michael Maher here. Because, like, just, you know, especially if they do lose Keenan Allen, Maher will probably be in consideration because they need someone to kind of, you know,

own the short, short parts of the field and control the middle a little bit. So, um, but ultimately I went high. The next pick, Steve, I went Jackson Smith in Jigba. Yeah. In this scenario, I'm the Ravens. I'm re-signing Lamar and I'm not messing around of that. And then I'm fine. Like how many times have I complained on this podcast that they don't support

Lamar properly? They traded his favorite target in Marquis Brown. It's like we're redoing that and we're getting, you know, a legitimate slot guy who can separate at will. on those short intermediate routes. He's going to control the middle of the field for you. Yeah. With Mark Andrews.

And you're going to give Lamar a lot of easy throws. And that's what he doesn't have right now. There's nobody on this offense makes it easy for him. No. Because Bateman's a big play guy, but you're either having to scheme him up stuff short, you know, screens and stuff like that or deep balls. You know, he's working on that intermediate part of his game. So, like, it's just a really good compliment to each other.

And I think Jackson Smith and the Jigba would be awesome with Lamar, just giving Lamar that kind of security blanket, but he's going to be a chain mover for them. Like I think this is a really nice fit. You're basically putting Amon Rae St. Brown on the Baltimore Ravens. I was going to ask you if it like how that comparison works in a way, just because you're right, Smith & Jigba is similar in that where it's the he can win in small.

He can win in a one by one box. He can win a route and get open. And that's that create, that'll create open to the middle of the field, middle of the field open opportunities intermediate for Bateman, which is kind of where you want to see him because I think like in breaking middle of the field 10 to 15 yards, that could be Bateman's sweet spot. Right now the whole middle of the field just gets mucked up because it's guys

spying and guys, you know, just like not a lot of threats outside of, you know, Bateman and Andrews and Bateman got hurt later in the year. Yes. We saw what happened there. But real quick, too, like there's a like for whatever reason, JSN truthers, when you throw that Amon Rae St. Brown comp out there, they get super offended by that. That's a massive compliment. I think Amonra is a hell of a player.

And I'm not saying JSN can only be a slot guy. I think he can win on the outside occasionally. I think you can get creative with the formations you use him in, just like the Lions do with St. Brown, just like the Rams do with Cooper Cup, just like Keenan Allen's on for the last decade. That's the type of play you're getting. If you think you're getting an outside threat, who's going to win vertically on a lot of routes. You're just not, that's not who JSN is.

And that's okay. Like, he's still going to be a tremendous player. I mean, like having a bona fide chain mover on your offense is necessary now. Like, you know, like that's so helpful for quarterbacks development, quarterbacks in general is just having that guy who they know they can go to. I mean, like, in that,

from that vein, like, Amin Ross St. Brown, like, has helped Jared Gough develop. in great lengths, knowing that he has that security blanket there. And that's, you know, it helped rebuild Goff's confidence. Yeah, exactly. And that, you know, I think that that's a big thing that they need to work on is developing, if they keep Lamar Jackson, is developing that passing game. It's something that's just kind of stalled out because they don't put a lot of focus there.

Exactly. Did you want to hit the other two receivers real quick? Yes. Yes. So you had, you have Smith and Jakeba 23. And then you go. 26th in New York Giants, Zay Flowers, who I think is starting to leap up boards in general as well. Yeah.

I don't know why he's leaping upboards. I agree that that's true. I think he is, I don't know why. I think people just didn't watch him or something. I mean, because the minute I watched this guy, I fell in love with him. Yeah. Boston College hasn't been, like, has barely been on the matter for a few years.

Unfortunately, they get kind of run through a little bit. but from the little bit of tape I've watched he's he's going to be an asset in an offense he's quick twitch speedy guy wins downfield and again I think the giants are another team that need a guy like that yeah there's a like he's a smaller guy there's a lot of similarities between him and Stefan digs and I hate doing the one-to-one's like oh dable head dig so he's going to want a guy like that. It just kind of worked out that way with my board. I was probably going receiver for them no matter what.

Yeah. Flowers happen to be the perfect pick. But like, this is another peer separator. Lightning and a bottle type guy. I mean, I love everything about his game. Complain the slot, but he has enough speed to stack D.Bs and get vertical on the outside, despite his smaller stature. Yeah.

I do think he's a threat out there. This is a home run for me for the Giants. Yeah, a team that is in an interesting spot, you know, picking at 26 is not where anyone had them slated. And they have a lot of, they have some interesting things to figure out with their roster overall. But again, a receiver was an area that all year we were talking about that they just didn't really have a guy. It was a lot of piecework. I mean, Isaiah Hodgins was their number one receiver at the end of the year. like him and Darius Lee was swapping on it off and he was barely hanging on to an NFL roster at the beginning of the year.

Yeah, he was on the bills actually. I wonder if they'd like that. I'd have a mulligan on that. But yeah, I mean, even as the number one guy, I think he still only had like a 17% target share, Hodgian. Yeah. And so, I mean, they desperately need a guy and they're getting that. I considered Quentin Johnson here, by the way. I just don't think Johnson has near the refined skill set that.

dable's going to want in his number one he'd be more of like a Gabe davis in that offense which is maybe they maybe they end up doing that I don't know but uh just for me I prefer the consistency of of a Zayflower when you have nobody you need a consistent route runner you need a guy that you know can get can get open at will can make those big plays the only thing that I do have questions about is like how does Zay and Wondell fit together yeah because you're going again it's kind of like the elijah more garrett wilson crisis in new york where it's like there there's a lot of overlap there yeah i think zay's a better player he scored it as a better player than wendell but there is some overlap there and i don't think wandell's bad so it's like how

how do they rectify that and figure out how to get both those guys in the field those only hang up i had with that pick but ultimately i went zay yeah and then lastly you mentioned him but uh quinn johnson ends up with the kansas city chiefs for you It is Johnston, by the way. Johnston, sorry. I see people mess us up all day, every day. I just did it two minutes ago. So, yeah, I went Quentin Johnson to the Kansas City Chiefs.

This was tough. Because Johnson's technically not likely to have a first round grade for me, but I don't have 32 first round grades. So at some point, you are picking guys that don't have first round grades in the first round. It's just the way it goes. That's the bad part about picking at the end of the first. I just felt like this was a slam dunk for them. They didn't have a field stretcher last year. Like ideally if they could get Wyatt or sorry, Hyatt here, that'd be great.

I just had him going earlier. Johnson's going to be a great downfield threat though. I mean, he is freaking fast. He's big. He's long. He's like he's got some MVS to him actually and that he's, you know, he's traits wise very similar. Yeah.

You can also scheme up some stuff to him in the short game. So I wanted a home run hitter for them. You know, a guy who can hit the home run who can stretch the field and ultimately who will be good ad-libbing with Mahomes. So it's really what like Mahomes does so much damage when he's, you know, breaking the play down and creating out of structure. And Johnson's going to fit that really well for them. He is going to have to develop though because he's not a very precise route runner at the moment.

Yeah. Doesn't really do many wide receiver things. He's actually kind of like Traylon Burks for me. I know I was going to ask because it like, like, watching a little bit of TCU tape, not a very advanced route tree at all. Not at all. It was just like, hey, you're bigger, tall,

or faster than most of the guys that are covering you. So just go win. Yeah, go hit screen occasional slant. Yep. That's basically it. Sometimes they'll do the deep crossers too and just have dug and hold the ball for nine minutes and then throw it when the guy's wide open.

But the difference being that Johnson has the upper tier athleticism. that Traylon Berks did not have. Yeah. Yeah. John's, I think I was texting Debrough, Derek Brown the other day. He was asking me my thoughts on Johnston. And I said he's who everyone thought Traylon was last year. So I, yeah, this is a good pick.

Ironically, a lot of people were mocking Traylon to the Chiefs last year. Yeah, you're right. This is kind of a interesting fit. I don't know. I wonder if we're getting to a point in Mahomes' career where he's going to start favoring guys that are really disciplined in their technique and their assignments. Yeah. It makes you wonder if that's why Sky didn't get on the field much this year because he just wasn't there yet with his refinement. Yeah.

Because as quarterback's age, they do get boozy, right? Like Aaron Rogers hates guys that don't know where they're supposed to be. Oh, we hear it all the time. Yeah, we hear it all the time. Watson didn't get on the field until like week seven because. Right. I mean, you heard about it with Brady, too. Like, that was always the thing we talked about.

about what Brady is like oh Brady likes him. He may not be that good, but Brady likes him because he's always in the same spot. He's always, he's supposed to be where he's supposed to be. Yeah, like I remember like some of the guys that we're going through and it's like, well, he'll last here a week. You know, he may, yeah, sure, he had 100 yards, but he missed his spot like six times. So he's probably out next week. Yeah, not to take a victory lap, by the way, but the year they drafted Nikiel Harry in New

England. Yeah. I actually called Scott Baird on the phone, who was not my coworker at the time. I was at joint practice between the Lions and the Patriots. So this is training camp. And I called him and said, Jacobi Myers is going to be an expedentially more productive player than Nikiel Harry. He was like flabbergous because at the time,

Nikiel was like the rookie 101 in Dynasty. Right. And he's like, there's no way. I was like, no, I'm not kidding. Brady loves this guy. And he is literally where he's supposed to be on every single play. He already knows the playbook perfectly. Like he will be a starter.

by the end of the year. And of course, that's what's basically happened. And Jacobi's about to get paid this off season. So good for him. And Mahomes is leaning that way, too. That's why do you think he leans on Kelsey so hard? Because Kelsey is one of the best at getting to his spot and establishing his spot. So it makes sense. And they have that chemistry. So yeah, so a little bit of a risk here, kind of a flyer with Quentin Johnson to the Chiefs. But I do like the fit. And I think that can end up being great for them down the road. Yeah. And then last thing that I think was interesting is just, and I think is interesting in general, is that this is a pretty strong defensive backfield class. You've got some strong corners that have different strengths. Yes. And you had falling, I've seen, you see Devin Witherspoon to the Lions,

I feel like every once a while. I know you're big on him. I've seen a couple other people who are, who really like him, why does Devon, why Devin Witherspoon over a, you know, waiting to grab Joey Porter or going, you know, like you had said in your mock that you almost went Christian Gonzalez. What pushes Witherspoon to be like the guy that you would go with to the lions as opposed to the other guys?

Well, first and foremost, if I had a crystal ball and I could look in it and say for sure that Joey Porter Jr. would be there at 18. Yeah. Maybe I do consider waiting. Fair. Because maybe that's better valued. They're similar in a lot of ways, actually. But I went Witherspoon over as like a Christian Gonzalez because Witherspoon is a perfect scheme fit for the Lions.

Not many college football teams play more man coverage than Illinois does. Not many college football teams play press more than Illinois does. Witherspoon is a freaking bully. He's a monster. He's going to get up in your face. He's going to press you. He can play man. Um, he's got insanely fluid hips.

So if he's playing trail coverage, like he, like, very, very sticky. Oh, so sticky to the point where like the old, the one concern you have with Witherspoon is like, he might be a guy who draws those, those James Bradbury calls often. Yeah. So, but, uh, scheme fit wise, I think he's perfect for what the lines are looking to do. They kind of changed last year to a more blitz heavy team. Um, they were blitzing a lot. They put their corners on an island, and you have to have the athleticism to run and get your hands on the ball.

Witherspoon is long with tremendous ball skills. I just think that like, like Aaron Glenn's going to love this guy. And they just drafted Kirby Joseph last year. Yeah, I was just about to say pulling from a similar scheme, Kirby Joseph going to the field. I mean, hey, that's, there's something to be said about familiarity with the defensive backfield and communication things like that. a lot of it is the scheme. Like the scheme resembles what the lions do. If they wanted to double down and go like Sydney Brown on the second round and just build an entire Illinois secondary, I'd be fine with that.

You know? But no, honestly, I mean, that's the thing. That's the difference between Witherspoon and Gonzales. He was so off heavy. He did play a man in some press. And he is a freak athlete. Yeah. But they, you know, they play a lot of quarters and a lot of cover three.

Like he's playing with his butt to the sideline and playing more of a mirror. match role than the straight man coverage. And also like Gonzalez's lack of ball production scares me. Interesting. And I know that's super hot takey. I still have a really strong grade on him. I think he, I haven't done everybody yet, obviously.

I think he probably finishes the top 10 guy for me in this class. But that lack of ball production is scary because of the type of coverage is Oregon plays. Right. Like he is in a Reader React role where he has the opportunity to click and close and explode on the ball and use that athleticism and I got news for you guys there wasn't a whole lot of ball production and that's super interesting now granted he would shut guys down sometimes too right just like they wouldn't get targeted when he was you know covering them but um that's the big difference maker for me with him and witherspoon because i think gonzales can learn press man easily um it's more just

witherspoon's length and ball skills are just unparalleled in this class so yeah which you have Yeah, Witherspoon at six, and then we go through a run of some tackles, wide receivers, a couple edges. But then that's where 14, the Patriots go Joey Porter Jr., which I think makes a lot of sense. Very long, athletic, sticky corner fits the New England Belichick mold of a cornerback. Yeah, exactly. What this iteration of the New England defense is asking out of their cornerbacks is actually very similar to what Detroit's asking out of theirs. Yes. So Porter's a great fit in Detroit as well, but as would Witherspoon be in New England.

So this is just like, hey, Witherspoon's gone. This is the next best guy for us. Yeah. The AFC East, and I note this in the article, is so wide receiver rich. Yes. Stefan Diggs and Gabe Davis and Jalen Waddell and Tyreek Hill and I'm forgetting the other team. Oh, Garrett Wilson and Elijah Moore. Like, you need good cornerback play to get by in this division.

Yeah. They might be losing Jonathan Jones, but even if they don't, they really need to upgrade that position. Yeah. So Jack Jones was exciting last year, but not because of his defense, mostly because of a return guy. I do think he's developing nice. He'll probably be in the slot for them this coming season full time, but we shall see. But they need a number one. They need a number one.

Joey Porter brings that in it. I mean, you've seen over the years when Belichick's. offense, or sorry, when Belichick's defense is at its best, it's when he has a shutdown corner at his number one corner spot. That's when their defense has excelled the best because it gives Belichick so much versatility to move around the back end and play with his safeties, his safeties who are very athletic and can move around, having that number one corner kind of allows him to focus on the rest of the field and just do away with him and it allows them to be a little bit, it allows them to move, move guys around and make plays with them.

So it makes a lot of sense. And, you know, if they did bring Jonathan Jones back, that'd be quite the tandem they could have there. Because Jones at number two is very valuable. Jones at a number one is we need a little bit of help here. Yeah. And then you have 16 Gonzalez going to the commanders, which you know in here is a perfect scenario. They need it. They obviously let go of William Jackson the third mid-season,

or they traded him, and they have an open spot at the other corner spot. Yeah, they just have no real even developmental prospects here. I know they have synced juice, but I'm not like sold on him being a guy. They're just really getting a blue chip prospect at a position of need. Like that's that's like draft heaven, right? So, I know Ron Rivera wants to be a guy whose defense wins with four, too, rushing the passer. They want to get to go like with four, which means you're able to play a variety of coverages, some of that off zone that Gonzalez, I think, is really going to be good at. That's where, you know, they might thrive there.

So. And then just touch on Deonté Banks and Emmanuel Forbes, your two other guys, Banks, going to the Buccaneers at 19 and Forbes going to the Eagles at 31, which we just talked about the Eagles and possibly losing Bradbury. So that makes sense. But why banks up in the first round? Why Forbes up to the Eagles as opposed to going other spots for those teams? So as far as Tampa goes, Deante Banks is.

This is another perfect scheme fit. Like Todd Bowles is blitz crazy. He loves corners that can come up and get hands on you at the line of scrimmage and press and be sound and press technique and basically play bully ball. And that's exactly how I described Deonti Banks' game. He's a bully at the line of scrimmage. There are multiple reps, Steve. Like we do separation charting where he's actually knocking his receiver down.

It's almost like he's an offensive line and blocking him at the line of scrimmage. No, that's a little overzealous. You know, you don't necessarily want your corner lunging at receivers. Yes. But the fact that he has the power and the tenacity and that attitude of like, Mother Effer, you are not getting off the line of scrimmage. I'm baptizing you right now and just drop and just dropping a guy. Like that is like, that's exactly what Todd Bulls is looking for.

And they might lose Jamel Dean. They might lose Sean Murphy Bunting. Either way, I think Banks is a good fit for them. Which is funny because that's similar to how. like Jamel Dean was very physical in that way too. And Murphy Bunting also, like both very physical corners that were able to win at the point of attack at the line of scrimmage. And that's, I mean, that's why the Bucks were what they were on defense for a while was because they had those guys who were able to shut down guys for a minute. And like you said, it fills that, fills that role steps in and really doesn't change a lot as far as how they play.

Yeah. Yeah. And for the Eagles, so I kind of knew going into this mock draft, like, you know, as we talked, in our Eagles recap, like they do have a lot of decisions to make. They have Bradbury is a free agent. They've got Chauncey Gardner Johnson as a free agent. They have an aging Fletcher Cox and Brandon Graham. They got to make decisions on.

Like there's a lot there. So my whole, my goal was like continuity. How do we, how do we get cheaper and younger at some of these positions? So I considered Christian Gonzalez at 10 for the Eagles. And actually, I originally wrote that up and then was like, you know, Tyree Wilson is sitting there like you know as a guy you can you know play with power from the edge which we know Rosamund does like sometimes that speed to power you know he's got some Brandon Graham in him he can also kick inside on on third downs and play next to Jordan Davis and in that Javon Hargrave role who they're

probably also losing so I went with Tyree Wilson at 10 which means I knew at like 32 I was probably going to go corner or 31 probably going to go corner depending on the board shook out and it shook out perfectly for me. Now, Emmanuel Forbes is not a guy with the, he does not have a first round grade for me. As I've already discovered, though you are going to have to take guys in the first round

that don't have first round grades. And Forbes is one of them. This was, it seems like with this, with this corner class, there's like a lot of perfect scheme fits. And Forbes is perfect for what the Eagles do. Yeah.

He has a lot of James Bradbury to his game, a lot of Darius Slay to his game. And I know it's the same school comp, so I don't want to go with that. But man, he's so good. in those off coverages. That's what Forbes really thrives in.

The second you ask him to come play like Pressman is when he starts really getting beat up. And he, like the tape is really, really good when he's playing off coverage. So I like the fit just as a one-to-one replacement for Bradbury. Awesome. And then the last thing that I want to touch on, we'll dive more into prospects. And I feel like we'll do prospect rankings. We'll do other mock drafts. We'll have fun with it this offseason.

But I think it is a big topic. It's a big topic given the prospect that's there. And you have a hard stance. I am similar running backs. Oh, it's Bejan doesn't it? Don't matter. But Bejan is, you know, he's one of the elite prospects that comes in every once in a while. We've been talking about, I mean, you've heard about him since he was a senior in high school.

The moment he set foot to Texas, he was talked about being the next. next great Texas running back. Where's the value with Bijan? Is he worth a first round pick? Is he that what we're all, what a lot of fantasy folks and just regular football folks are building up to be? Is he worth it? Yeah.

So he is. He was one of the hardest guys to slot here because I do have a like a real heavy value for positional value. Yes. A real heavy preference towards positional value. Which for the listeners, in your market. draft you have Bijan Robinson going 29 to the Bengals just for just for reference for everyone and he's the only running back in the first round. Yeah, only running back in the first round. He's an elite

talent for me. He's going to be a top 10 or 15 guy for me in this draft class. I just couldn't find a reasonable spot to put him before this. The only really spot I considered him heavily other than 29 was at 18 to Detroit. Yeah, which you know. I took I yeah, I took a hard look there. Maybe you can make the argument both more will be interested because they value the run game that much. I hope they go receiver, but we'll see. So yeah, I went Bejot at 29, mostly because, like, Joe Mixon is a contract they can escape and they can save some money. And we know the Bengals have been pretty savvy with the way they use their cap. And I think it makes sense.

Mixons get a little older. It makes sense if you watched the rotation of their running backstores. at the end of the year. P. Ryan got a lot more looks in the playoffs and end of the season. I mean, he's near a 50-50 split for God's sake. Yeah, I mean, and he was, I mean, he was the main third downback. Yeah, you can't pay a running back over 10 million a year to be in a 50-50 split. Exactly.

But just Bijan himself, the player, like, this guy is phenomenal. He's probably, I haven't compared him to other scores, but I know he's close to where I had Christian McCaffrey. He's close to where I had Ezekiel Elliott in the last decade. So you're talking about a generational guy to me. Right. I mean, dude, my list of weaknesses for this guy, I had to invent them to like write a weakness section in his prospect profile. Yeah, I'll read him to. This is what I got. Upright running style exposes legs to tacklers. Yeah, he's six foot one. That's every six foot running back has that problem. He's a big dude. It's not necessarily a weakness. You know, I just had to write something.

The other one was he loses anchor and pass pro even when well positioned. And that's the thing. He's always in the right position, even in pass pro. Like his pass pro IQ is extraordinarily high. Sometimes he just gets a little laxidaisical and he gets blown back a little bit. But like he's a running back. And he was blocking defensive ends and 320 pound defensive tackles on stunts. Like, yeah, he might not be able to set anchor against that guy.

But I had to find something to write about. So his deficiencies are very, very little. And his, you know, what you're getting out of him is insane. this is a ridiculous prospect yeah and he's been pretty much in a committee type deal since he's been at texas not a ton of wear and tear overall he's held up health-wise for you know like he's i think he's pretty much been healthy to his entire college career he's maybe missed a game here or two but you do when you watch his tape you can just see that he's a difference maker you can like it just pops off the screen right away in every aspect of the game whether it's

of the backfield receiving, like you said, whether it's in pass bro. And his, I mean, his one cut ability at the line of scrimmage is awesome to watch. And what's crazy about that is like he can string the one cut. He can string like 10 of them in a row without losing speed. I don't even. It's like he's playing hopscotch. He can just like bounce around and then all of a sudden he's up to shoot. And he does.

That's the other thing is he has top end speed as well. you know what I likened it to like when he's in the open field too I likened his movement skills to like have you seen what's a good example have you seen the last kingdom the TV show I've heard of that I haven't seen it though I love making these comparisons by the way he's off the wall all right maybe so you haven't seen that what's a good like have you seen Braveheart yeah so William Wallace yeah when he's in the battlefield and he's he just like cuts down one guy runs up to the next cuts down the next one that's what Beja looks like he literally looks like he's on a battlefield and he just runs up to a defender makes a miss

runs up to the next guy makes a miss runs up to the next guy runs right through him like it's like he's some freaking war hero on a battlefield just chopping guys down at will it's unbelievable like this guy's lateral ability for how big he is and and how quickly he can string moves together it just it it really is mind-blowing yeah and there's upside there too he can still develop a route tree to where like that's i think you know you noted in his prospect profile that he didn't have a very advanced route tree but like we said he has the short area quickness where that it could be that could be super easy to fill out for him so what's funny is his last game at texas they've they rarely used him like in special alignments as a receiver yeah but his last couple of games of texas they

they all of a sudden started about like motioning him out to the slot and letting him run a couple routes from there. And he cuts, he catches the ball too. It's clearly like a Texas like they're kind of give him an add-a-boy, you know, like, hey, thanks for all your hard work. We're going to put this on tape for you so NFL guys can see this. Right. It's what it felt like, you know. We didn't give you this chance all the time. So here you go. Here's a couple for you. Yeah. And yeah. And we'll, like I said, we'll dive into it later. I'm excited to dive into the running back class overall. I think it's a fun class with a lot of different guys who have, who are all very versatile. And, It's for a position that continually gets younger across the league,

this is a class that seemingly, I think, could step in and make waves early on in the NFL. Yep, I agree. You know what you didn't ask me about? Mock draft-wise, I can't believe. What's that? I have three tight ends going in the first round. I want that was going to be my next. We're coming up on an hour 20.

So I was like, I'll save the tight ends because I did notice that. and just also how you kind of positioned them, I think it will be somewhat interesting. I had Kincaid over Maher. Kincaid over Maher you have. And then you also have Musgrave jumping up into the first, which again, I think people are starting to follow that after, you know, you had, you had raved about them. A lot of people had raved about them at the senior bowl. And you're starting to see that reflection in mock drafts and player rankings and things like that. Yep.

We'll do a whole episode on the tight end class because there's a lot of them. Yeah. Like I have, Steve, I have more first and second round grades on tight ends this year than I have the last three classes combined. So. Yeah. Wow. There's some athletes. There are some athletes.

It's a fun draft class this year because I think there's just a lot. It's not as. It's fun every year, Steve. It is fun every year. It just feels like with like there's we don't have the consensus quarterback. We have like two consensus top two guys, but the odds that they even go at the top of the draft isn't even that high. It'll just,

it's, it's going to be fun to watch it shake out because I think that there will be a lot of people that kind of get, maybe get surprised by who their team ends up taking because there is so much of the middle class of the first round of talent this year, as opposed to a clear defined top, you know, seven, eight guys and then a little bit of a middle class and then a lot of like low round one, round two, round three guys. So I think certain positions too, Steve, there's there's position like, we already mentioned time, but receiver. Like there's no real blue chip receivers in this draft.

Like Addison's kind of in his own little tier. Yep. But then like there's so many guys in the middle. It's really hard to separate these guys out. Like, I'm going to have a bunch of second and third. third round grades and not a lot of first round grades on receivers. And it's like really at that point, you're just picking for preference. Like culture fit, scheme fit, like stuff like that.

You're not even going for just peer talent at that point. Yeah. So. Yeah. It's, um, we're in it now. The season's over. Congratulations to the chiefs and chiefs fans. I hope you all drink yourselves into oblivion on Tuesday at the parade.

But, just know that you guys are officially the villains now. you know you win one Super Bowl that's just you know oh that's a cute story you win two you're knocking on the door of a dynasty which clearly the chiefs are now just like brady was the villain for so long i think the chiefs are officially the villain of the NFL yeah yeah it was always even though we all love mahoms it was teetering with the conference championships but this probably pushed it over the edge yes yes yep people will be sick of you guys in no time but all right see let's get out of here let's do it We'll be ramping up the draft talk, as you know. Also, keep your ears open for that data tool to drop. Because that's going to be sick. All right. Thank you so much for listening.

It's been a great season. And now we are in my favorite part of the year, which is draft season. So I'm your host, 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 FantasyPoints.com.