Fantasy Football Today - Draft Expert Ryan Wilson's Favorite Prospects! (05/21 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Episode Date: April 21, 2025

Enter FFT's Draft Contest Here: https://tinyurl.com/fft2025draft We bring on our Senior NFL Draft Expert Ryan Wilson to dish on the prospects you need to know about! Which team will draft Shedeur Sanders (4:00)? How does Ryan feel about Cam Ward (10:00) and Travis Hunter (12:00)? And what is his outlook for Sanders (17:40)? ... Ryan gives his Top 5 quarterbacks (19:50), but we spend a lot more time on the running backs (22:00) including Omarion Hampton, the Ohio State guys, Cam Skattebo, Bhayshul Tuten, Brashard Smith and more ... Ryan's top wide receivers (39:00) with scouting reports on Matthew Golden, Luther Burden and several others. Plus, find out why Ryan has Tetairoa McMillan as his WR1. And then we talk about the tight ends (54:30) and a little bit about the offensive linemen (1:06:30) ... Email us at [e-mail] Fantasy Football Today is available for free on the Audacy app as well as Apple Podcasts, Spotify and wherever else you listen to podcasts Watch FFT on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/fantasyfootballtoday Shop our store: shop.cbssports.com/fantasy  SUBSCRIBE to FFT Express on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fantasy-football-today-express/id1528634304 Follow FFT Express on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6qyGWfETSBFaciPrtvoWCC?si=6529cbee20634da8 SUBSCRIBE to FFT Dynasty on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fantasy-football-today-dynasty/id1696679179 FOLLOW FFT Dynasty on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2aHlmMJw1m8FareKybdNfG?si=8487e2f9611b4438&nd=1 SUBSCRIBE to FFT DFS on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fantasy-football-today-dfs/id1579415837 FOLLOW FFT DFS on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5zU7pBvGK3KPhfb69Q1hNr?si=1c5030a3b1a64be2 Follow our FFT team on Twitter: @FFToday, @AdamAizer, @JameyEisenberg, @daverichard, @heathcummingssr Follow the brand new FFT TikTok account: https://www.tiktok.com/@fftoday Join our Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/FantasyFootballToday/ Sign up for the FFT newsletter https://www.cbssports.com/newsletter You can listen to Fantasy Football Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Football Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Football Today podcast." Visit the betting arena on CBSSports.com for all the latest sportsbook reviews and sportsbook To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This is fantasy football today from CBS Sports It's time to dominate your fantasy league Here's some combination of Adam Dave Jamie and he And about draft week here we go or just a few days away. Welcome to the show. It is fantasy football today, Monday, April 21st. Hope everybody had a very happy Easter, very happy holiday. And if your kids were on spring break, hopefully they didn't drive you crazy in the house all day. And we've got a special guest to talk about mock drafts

and rankings and all that. It is CBS Sports Senior NFL Draft Analyst, host of the With the first pick podcast. Ladies and gentlemen, Wilson Ryan's joining the show today. Wilson, welcome. Hey, Adam, thank you. Good to see you guys. Jamie and Dave, of course. I'll just say this quickly.

My kids are on spring break here up in New York as well. My 13-year-old came down with a curious cough yesterday around 6 p.m. I said, you're going to school. So just go ahead and wrap that up. But anyway, yeah, I'm happy to be here talking to you guys about the NFL Draft. That is Ryan Wilson, of course. Follow him at RyanWilsonCBS.

He's got so many mock drafts. How many more are you publishing between now and Thursday? So Monday as we do this, one just came out this morning. What I would do if I were stealing the Pete Prisco, if I were the GM for all 32 teams, and then Thursday morning, the day of the draft, the final mock draft will come out where I've overthought everything and trying to get every pick right. And usually it's one of the worst ones, if we're being honest.

Jamie and Dave are here as well. Jamie and Dave, I ordered an Easter cake because we hosted an Easter thing yesterday. And when I submitted the online form, I asked them to put Hoppy Easter on the cake in writing. And they must have thought I was some idiot who had a typo and they wrote Happy Easter. Should I have asked for a refund? You think? Should you have or did you? Yeah, both.

You should have and you definitely did. No, I did not. I could have just altered the shape of a lamb. No, I did not. I probably could have just altered the A and B. Was it in the shape of a lamb? Oh. No, like I'm serious. I learned, like, you know, I'm Jewish. I don't know all this stuff, but like I learned that on Easter it's traditional to serve a cake

in the shape of a lamb. No, it was the shape of a circle. If the lambs are circle shapes, then yes, it was a lamb. Hey, not to get too far down this road, Adam, are you Catholic? No, my wife is. My wife is too, I'm not Catholic either. I don't, Dave is an indication of how good of a,

a Gentile I am. I don't even know when Easter is because it changes every year. Like my wife just tells me like two days before and I just tell her I'm supposed to go. Same thing with me and the Jewish holidays. I don't have a clue. One day I show up and the Easter pie was not so

all over my house. I thought Ryan was just baking a cake. I mean, he's good with those. There it is. There it is. That's a blast from the past if you've only been watching the show for 15 minutes of the Wilson-Ryans.

Yeah, there you go. All right, so Ryan, you had previous mock drafts with Chaudhur Sanders going second. In this, what I would do, you have the Browns taking Travis Hunter, and you have Sanders going to the Steelers at 21? Yes. So where do you think Sanders actually ends up? I think the real landing spot is going to start that

conversation at nine with the New Orleans Saints. But the issue with New Orleans is I've heard they like Chador, but they're not red hot on Chador, like the Titans will be on on Cam Ward. The other issue is Trevor Penning, the offensive tackle has not been very good. Their former first round pick Ryan Ramchak just retired. So they could very easily focus on offensive line there at number nine. And then if Chidor gets past number nine, it sort of feels like an Aaron Rodgers situation back in the day in 2005. Between 10 and 20, there's not a team that desperately needs a quarterback or even sort of needs

a quarterback really. So unless someone trades up and leapfrogs the Steelers and the Browns could potentially do that from the top of the second round or maybe the Giants. I think Chidor falls to 21 and it feels like the Steelers will take them there and it as a Steelers fan I feel much better about Chidor at 21 than I did about Kenny Pickett at 20 back in the 2022 draft. Like I was never a big Kenny Pickett guy. Part of me and our buddy Brian McFadden at the time we were at the draft together we both thought that Malik Willis might be the guy for the Steelers there. So either way, the Steelers have moved on from Kenny Pickett. They don't have a quarterback to speak up here. We'll see what happens to Aaron Rodgers, even if Aaron Rodgers signs, it feels like 21 is

perhaps the farthest Shidou will fall. And I say that with the understanding that our buddy Jonathan Jones released his one and only mock draft hours ago. And he's an insider. So he's not a mock trap guy. But a year ago, he was the only one on planet earth, I believe, who had Michael Pennec-Sherry going to the Falcons. He actually were falling out of the first round altogether. So that's the only thing that gives me pause. Wow. Okay. How many quarterbacks did he have in his mock? How many do you have in your mock? He had one Dave, and I have two. I think Jackson Dart, and I don't mean this disrespectfully,

I think he's a souped up version of Kenny Pickett. And by that I mean a second round pick. Teams love that I've talked to, they're really high on Tyler Shuck, like top 50, the Louisville quarterback. I've never seen it. He's going to be, he's literally going to be 26, I think, when the fall rolls around. He's played for three different schools. He's had injury history. He's big. He's got a big arm. He's pretty athletic.

But I don't see him as a top 50 guy. But look, man, I've been wrong before. So those four quarterbacks seem to be in the mix. And then the Jalen Milrow conversation probably in round two, which team drafts them and how are they going to best use them? All right. Sorry. Let me, I just got one more question for Ryan.

I'm going to let Dave and Jamie steer things in whatever direction they want to go. And I just want to preview what's coming up today. So we I'm going to ask him for his top five quarterbacks, top five running backs, wide receivers, tight ends. I want to learn a little bit more about the offensive line. And we haven't talked about that on fantasy football today. I want to know who he's higher on than consensus. And of course, this is a fantasy football show.

We want to know who's going to make an impact in year one or down the line. So we'll get all of that. I also want to tell people about our NFL draft contest. If you want a spot in the podcast league, you can submit your predictions for the top 10 picks. It doesn't matter the team, you just have to tell us the players in order.

And the URL is tinyurl.com slash FFT 2025 draft. Tinyurl.com slash FFT 2025 draft. You can go to the Fantasy Football Today account on Twitter and you'll see a link for it there. I'll tweet a link to it, but that's a form that you're going to fill out. You have to spell the names correctly. That's very important. And there's only one entry per person. So you got to make it count. My advice to you is to wait a

little bit, wait until Wednesday, wait until Thursday, but get those in. Again, it's tinyurl.com slash FFT 2025 draft. Most correct answers is in the podcast league. We do have a very funny tiebreaker question. Thomas Schaefer did a great job with this. Thank you, Thomas, for putting this together. And he's gonna take his time to sort through all the answers and make sure we have everything right. And someone's gonna win.

And the link is gonna be in the audio description and the YouTube description. Okay, sorry. Next question for me, Ryan. Is there any doubt that Tennessee takes Cam Ward? I know he's probably gonna go number one. Is there any chance we see a trade, do you think? Like, what are the chances? And, you know, that's the only question. And yeah, you know what? Tell me how good you think Cam Ward is. Give me an idea of Cam Ward, where he's going, and what you think of him. Because you said Cam Ward had the best pro day

that you've ever been to, which I thought was really cool. So go ahead. Yeah, Pete Prisco made fun of me for that one. I love everyone, as Jamie has also made fun of me for that as well. The other thing Jamie- He literally just texted me that, by the way. I said, Ryan's on with us right now.

He goes, happiest draft guy in the world. He loves everyone. One of the things Jamie used to do to me, uh, in person when we would be in the combine together, I had this, this, uh, this tech where I would refer to every player we were talking to on set by their full name. So, so Joe Burrow, tell me why Joe Burrow is so good at being Joe Pro types though, and Jamie, of course, made me self-conscious about it. So I couldn't even get through a question without Jamie smirking.

And, uh, that's not the best one I ever did to you though. Oh yeah. I'm sure this is the annual story. So I'll tell this every year because I'm old. I forget stories. So we're sitting on set with, uh, that year, Kenneth Walker, the third. And, and, um, what's his name? Breeze hall.

Yeah. Breeze hall. Thank you. We're running backs one and two, and they were very close for me. And Breeze hall was sitting on set with us and me and Jamie, maybe me and then Breeze and then Jamie in terms of where we were on set and dumbass Jamie looks over with a smirk on his face and points at me and goes, hey Breeze, this guy has you running back too. Breeze turns to his left and he looks like he's just seen someone run over his dog and

he's caught up with the person. He's about to pull them out of the car and beat the life out of him. He goes, uh, okay, I'm top two and I'm not two. And then he just looked straight ahead and it was the most uncomfortable conversation ever. And Jamie's looking like he looks now just giggling like a hole. That's good content, right? I have a follow up question for that story. Um, when you interviewed Ken Walker, the third, did you say, so Kenneth Walker, the third, you put the third in there too? I'm sure I did. I'm sure I did. He preferred to be called Ken.

So I probably called, I probably called Ken Walker the third. But to answer your question, Adam Azer, yes. What there's like a less than 1% chance. I feel like the Titans get off this pick. They need a quarterback. Brian Callahan came in after Will Leveson strapped. And so that's not his guy. We saw the frustration on the sidelines just watching television how anger he was at times

with the way Will Levis was playing. And in terms of Ken Ward, I've gone back and forth on this after that pro day, and I do sort of glow up these kids. I really have a good time watching them, and I want them all to have success. And as Dave knows, someone, when you have teenagers and your kids get older,

you sort of feel like they're in the same age range. So you get that But after some long hard conversations myself if he were last year's class cam ward He would be QB three for me. Like I didn't love Drake May last year Drake May's final season UNC what was up and down in part because he was young and all that stuff their team wasn't very good He played awesome last year for the Patriots But it would have been Caleb and then Jayden and then probably cam ward because he's six and all that stuff, their team wasn't very good. He played awesome last year for the Patriots, but it would have been Caleb and then Jaden and then probably Cam Ward. Cause he's six, two and a half.

He's a really good athlete. He's got like a, just a hair below like Anthony Richardson, Will Lovett's arm strength in person. I was sort of surprised by that. And he's incredibly mobile. Just got a cut down on the hero plays that we saw from Caleb and Jaden sort of when they were coming out of college.

And the sooner he does that, that the quicker it'll be more like Jayden and less like Caleb early on in his rookie season. But I think you have to take him if you're Tennessee and you can't trade out of that pick. All right, Jamie, I'm gonna throw it over to you. Ask something. And someone says, we need a pick of Jamie stirring a pot for gift material.

And I completely agree with that. Yes. What do you got, Jamie? What's on your mind? I mean, I guess if we're going came more to one, Travis Hunter seems like he's pegged for the Browns at number two. So from what you've seen, heard, you know, your thoughts, is he going to play both? Is he going to be primary wide receiver, primary cornerback? Where do you think he's better suited on the next level? And I'm curious what you guys think about this from a fantasy perspective. So the whole contingent of Cleveland was out there at the Colorado Pro Days with the owner on down and they had made it clear they didn't hide it. They thought that Travis is a wide receiver. They said that publicly.

I think Andrew Barry's made that clear several times. The issue from a fantasy perspective in terms of question I have for you, he's a better cornerback right now. It's more instinctive for him, so it's gonna take some time that learning curve. Sort of like how we saw Quentin Johnson. Felt like he struggled. He's still sort of struggling to really put it together. And then you see other guys sort of put it together a little quicker in terms of not playing quote-unquote slow. And Travis was always the best athlete on the field, so he could just go out there and out athlete everyone in college. That's going to be a little bit more difficult as a wide receiver in the NFL. So I get it for Cleveland.

I get it for the Giants. I get it for the Patriots. So the team's picking two, three, and four. Offense makes more sense, but you have to have a plan to use him in a smart way and to limit his reps. But I'm going to turn it around. Like when he's drafted, where are you drafting him in these fantasy drafts and like you don't get points for the defense side of the ball. Right. No, uh, we we've had this conversation. I think, you know, Dave can probably address it a little bit more, but in internally, it seems like we're just going to make him one position, um,

for draft purposes, or at least during, during the leagues, I don't know, Dave, can we customize that or not at all? You're saying that like I've got control over it. No, no, no, no. I know you've had some conversations about it. Here's what I would say is expect him to be receiver eligible unless it's made clear. He's going to play cornerback in which case he will be cornerback eligible and not wide receiver eligible.

If you guys, and I mean, everybody listening, if you've got thoughts on how he will be cornerback eligible and not wide receiver eligible. If you guys, and I mean, everybody listening, if you've got thoughts on how he should be made available, let me know. You know how to get in touch with me. You can even do it in the YouTube comments. I'll read them. I promise. And I can push that along to our developers. Obviously perfect world situation.

You'd get points for every catch. He gets every interception. He gets every tackle that he gets. Uh, I'm not sure if that's how all fantasy managers want it to be. I said it would be in a perfect world. Maybe that's not how it's supposed to be because there's an inherent advantage into a player like that. And I know that it doesn't work that way. Correct me if I'm wrong, Adam and Jamie, for Shohei Otani in baseball, when he was pitching and hitting over the course of, you know, a whole season.

You know, I don't think you were allowed to get all the pitching points and all the hitting points for Otani in a given week. I don't even know how it works now, but the way, because our team is so bad, Shohei Otani wouldn't even want to be on our fantasy team, but the way it did work originally was you drafted Otani. You had to choose, and we played in a weekly league. You had to choose every week. Are you starting him as a hitter or a pitcher?

And he would only get those points. You would not get both. Now you could get hitter one week, pitcher the next week, but you could not get both at the same time. And I'm pretty sure, you can't do that now. It would be, well, first of all, last year I didn't pitch, whatever, but it would be too unfair.

And he would be like in an auction league out of a hundred dollars, you'd probably go for like 70 bucks. It'd be so much better than everyone. So I don't know with Hunter, you know, I wouldn't want both stats to count. Some people would, but you know, we'll deal with that at some other time. Listen, I'm sorry, I got, I would gotta take a break.

I actually had another just note to make on Travis Hunter, if you don't mind. Yeah, and then we gotta take a break break and then I want to get your thoughts as I'll be quick on this. And Ryan, you can react to this if you want to, but we know that Cleveland's got three great cornerbacks already on the roster. It's Denzel Ward, it's Greg Newsom, it's Martin Emerson. Emerson and Newsom are scheduled to be free agents after this year. Denzel Ward isn't a hundred percent, you know, he's got concussion issues. He misses games every single year. It would make sense for Cleveland

to have a long-term view of Hunter as a corner, to have as a replacement for one of Newsom or Emerson Ward, if they move on from him after this year. But for his rookie season, he could end up playing wide receiver because the Browns have so many good cornerbacks as it is. Yeah, no, I totally agree with that. And Kevin Stefanski, as much as we like to forget, actually won 11 games in 2023.

He's a really good coach. He's just sort of dealing with a lot of other things and they got to get the quarterback situation sorted as well, because for as much as I love Kenny Pickett on the Steelers, I love him even more as a Steelers fan when he's a quarterback. Can we wrap up quarterback talk when we come back Adam? Yeah. Yeah, let's do it.

Um, we'll be right back on fantasy football today. Looking for the ultimate online casino experience? Step into the BetMGM Casino app where every deal, spin and goal brings Las Vegas excitement into the palm of your hand. Take your seat at premium Blackjack Pro where strategy meets top tier gameplay. Drop in on the exciting Sugar Rush and Crazy Time slot games or play the dazzling MGM Grand Emerald Nights, a slot experience that captures the magic of MGM. With so many games, it's time to make your move. Download the app and visit Bet MGM Ontario today to experience the next level of gaming.

Visit betmgm.com for terms and conditions. 19 plus to wager. Ontario only. Please gamble responsibly. If you have questions or concerns about your gambling or someone close to you, please contact Connects Ontario at 1-866-531-2600 to speak to an advisor free of charge. Bet MGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario. All right, welcome back everybody. We've got Ryan Wilson joining us here. You can listen to him on the With the First Pick podcast.

Dave, what did you want to talk about with quarterbacks? So I am not the biggest Shudder Sanders guy. Ryan, I don't know if you saw his last game against BYU, but that scared the pants off me. Sorry for the visual. But I do want to tell you that when in the rare circumstances, and this is in a number of games, this isn't the BYU game where Chedur had a clean pocket. He was settled. He wasn't running all over the place and he was really focused downfield.

He was really good. And I'm wondering if that's what a team might see in him is, okay, if we can get the situation around him great, where he's got good protection and he has more than two seconds to make a decision. Yeah, he can throw 15 to 20 yards, you know, on a line, no problem. And if that's the case, then he could end up being a really good quarterback. Is that what teams are seeing? Is that what you see in Shadr Sanders where when everything's right, this guy will be great?

Yeah, I think that's a good way to look at it today because every one of these quarterbacks in a year really, like if they're in a situation where they're running for lives a lot, even Caleb Williams last year at USC, that offensive line stunk and that hero ball didn't translate. And the thing that also Schudr didn't have last year in addition to an offensive line, the running game was absolutely terrible. Now Pittsburgh doesn't make a great fit in terms of the weather. You'd rather play indoors than New Orleans, for example, and maybe even with Kellen Moore, but Arthur Smith is going to run the ball in Pittsburgh and you're not going to be asked to throw the ball 50 times a game.

And if you can just force yourself to start playing on time and not trying to make every play into a home run. And that's actually a bigger issue for cam than for Chidor cam will turn down check downs to try to throw 50 yard lasers. And a lot of times it worked out. Shidor doesn't have that arm strength or that luxury. He's a good athlete, not a great athlete, but he can play on time and he can get the ball out on time

and he throws pretty accurately to second, third levels. He has a great deep ball, but he's got to play on time and you got to give them a running game. Steelers offensive line actually has a chance to be pretty good as a young unit. They have to draft a running back to help out Jalen Warren, Sathamudha from Najee and they can do that in the third round or even on day three.

I think there's an opportunity for success there, but it's just so hard to figure out what these guys... No one knew that Jayden Daniels was actually going to land in the perfect system with Dan Quinn year one and Cliff Kingsbury year one. Certainly Sean Payton, we all thought he was just being arrogant. He actually knew what he was doing with Bo Nix. And now that team is one in which has very few needs, which is a crazy thing to say about a Denver Broncos team who a year ago had a million needs. All right, why don't we wrap up quarterbacks. It comes down to who's coaching these guys

and how they'll be used and how they'll be trained, potentially made better by these coaches. All right, why don't we wrap up quarterbacks with your top five quarterbacks, Ryan. Cam, Shador, and I have both those guys going into the first round. Jackson Dart is a mid to late second round guy for me personally, and then the guy I've been high on

for forever, because he's a local kid, at least last 12 months local, Kyle McCord out of Syracuse. He had a great season, set the AC passing record. He's 6'3", he's 2'18", he's got a better arm than you think in person, throws the anticipation better than anyone in this class. And then it's Will Howard for me just ahead of Jalen Milrow and all six of those guys added an extra one there are day one, day two guys.

Behind them Quinn Uors and Tyler Shuck and I think they, I would take them on day three. I suspect Tyler Shuck will go earlier than that and Quinn Uors probably goes late day two, early day three. Okay, Tyler Shuckel go earlier than that and Quinn Ewers probably goes late day two, early day three. Okay, sorry, one more quarterback question. Yeah. Odds you think that Jalen Milro is by far the most exciting prospect because he's an incredible rusher.

Do you think, what do you think he can do? Can he figure it out as a passer? Can he be an NFL quarterback? I wish he'd come back for one more year at Alabama because of what Kalen DeBoer and Michael Pick, Jr. did together at Washington for two years. Because Michael Penick, Jr. in Indiana was more athlete than thrower. And then we saw him become a pocket passer at Washington. And obviously a lot of that has to do with Michael Penick, Jr. as well.

We just didn't see that last year for Jalen Miller outside of that Georgia game. He's got to get better throwing. And Dave and I saw this at the senior bowl. Second level sort of touch throws and then third level deep throws throwing with anticipation. He can throw the ball, he throws a hundred mile an hour fast ball. He just doesn't throw with anticipation. He doesn't throw into small windows. And if you can fix that and that's a big if, he could be a really good football player. But the athletic stuff you're talking about, Adam, that's a no brainer. He's already the best athlete, one of the best athletes in the draft class. It's just which coach can unlock the Jalen

Miro you need to have success as a pocket pass in the NFL. And that's just a huge issue for me. And that's why I have him below McCord and Will Howard in terms of possible day two goes. All right. Top five running backs for you, Ryan. Ash Jente, slam dunk. He's in the same conversation. And some people disagree with me on this part as Bijon and Jameer Gibbs.

I think he's that sort of player. He didn't catch a lot of passes in 2024. He caught a ton of passes in 2023. So he can do that as well. He's 5'8". So that's tall enough. There's some concern that he might be shorter than that. Amarion Hampton out of UNC is a feels like a juiced up version of Javonta Williams coming out of UNC a few years ago. Between the tackles guy, he can run outside. He's a spread. He has a he's's a track background he can catch and block then Trey Henderson I hate and a guy like a lot more than most people he's only been playing running back for a couple years for Shar Smith out of the you you guys not in the deck the wide receiver so he's automatically the best receiving running back in the strat class because

of his background he's getting better as a running back in the strap class because of his background. He's getting better as a runner in terms of what it takes to have the instinct to play running back. He just hasn't done a lot, but he'll run between the tackles as an undersized guy. He's not Christian McCavar. They can use him in that way. Then finally, Quinshaw and Juckens who transfer from Ole Miss to Ohio State. He's more David Montgomery to Trey Henderson's Jamiro Gibbs. If

you want to use that comparison, he's more bulldozer, but he can he can bounce it outside as well. A little bigger ran sub four five and he is just as much a workhorse as a Marion Hampton in my mind in terms of between the tackles running. So all those guys that have going first, second or third round. Well, Jamie, it's so interesting to get different top fives, you know, like Breshard Smith, Bichard Smith. Yeah, he went to Miami, so I'm familiar with him, but he didn't do much at Miami.

Then he went to SMU and they played him at running back. He had a really big year. He's a small guy. He is so explosive. But to see the different guys like for Emory last week, he had Trevor Etienne and he had Jaden Blue in his top five. So you know, it's, I wonder what kind of surprises were in store for Jamie after I feel like the top three will probably be, you know, Gentie, Hampton, Henderson, you know, I'm not sure about two and three what order, but yeah, it's going to, I guess what I'm saying

is could be a lot of names that we see on day two and we just don't know who it is. And that's the beauty of this class. You know, I think there's so much talent, you know, as as Emory said, he was comparing what the 2017 class of, you know, all the guys that are still, you know, very popular in today's NFL that we get this, you know, five, six years from now, same, same type of production. But yeah, that's the fun of it. I think it's going to come down to, you know, what team likes a certain style, like certain

player, you know, they looking for a starter, a backup, you know, a guy that could be more But yeah, that's the fun of it. I think it's going to come down to what team likes a certain style, likes a certain player. They're looking for a starter, a backup, a guy that could be more physical like a Judkins or a guy that could be a little bit more of a, as Pete would say, an air back like Smith. So there's lots of different ways that these teams can go. And then it's how we and our audience react to those things that are going to be fun. Because is Smith going to be fun because, you know, is Smith going to be

viewed as a lead guy? Let's say like maybe Antonio Gibson was a few years ago when he really was Miss Cassla in that role for Washington, for example. So there's going to be a lot of different twists and turns, I think, with this. But it starts at the top. You're hearing maybe Jacksonville and Gentie. And that is, is fun and frightening, you know, for, uh, for his fantasy value, you know? So, uh, all

those, all those questions, you know, are, um, um, this is the position, you know, this is the thing for us right now, because the quarterback class is weak, wide receiver class for the most part is weak. Um, Adam, I don't know if you know this or were you in the draft on Friday with Heath? No. Uh, so only four receivers went in the rookie draft in the first round super flex super flex, which is still shocking, you know There were two quarterbacks. I don't want to spoil these content, but there were only four wide receivers and in the first round Are you clearly Hunter?

Did he go on the first? So four receivers in the first round so the receiver class week quarterback class week We know the tight ends are good, but they're not gonna go early the top two of early in the first round. So the receiver class week quarterback class week, we know tight ends are good, but they're not going to go early. The top two will go early in the first round. But you know, the for our purposes, this is going to be, you know, the position we spent a lot of time dissecting. I feel like I got to follow up here on Breshard Smith. Five,

nine, five, 10, 194 pounds again out of SMU, he ran a four, three, nine, 40. Now Antonio Gibson had 33 carries in two seasons at Memphis. Tyrone Tracy had very few carries in his first five seasons in college. Then he had 113 with Purdue in his last year. Prashard Smith had 235 carries last year. So by that measure he's got more experience than those other guys. He averaged 5.7 yards per carry, which is good. It's not great in college, but very solid. Yeah, seeing him fourth is very interesting. So go ahead, Ryan, what do you want to say about Prashard Smith?

Oh, yeah. He had 56 targets, only two drops. To talk about the wide receiver background, seven of his games are over 100 yards. And yes, he's 5'9 he's 194 but you talked about the sub-44 speed he reminded me a little bit of a Bucky Irving coming out of Oregon. Bucky ran in the four fives I think was a fourth round pick he's a day three guy so you get a little more juice in terms of the the 40 speed and that who knows if that translates or not your running backs don't have to run four fours I can be run four sixes and be fine but I feel like if you're getting

a Bucky Irvin I would imagine Bucky was relatively popular as a fantasy back last year. Yeah, so it feels like he has that potential and 194 is at five, nine, just shaded in five, 10. That's plenty big in the way he was used at SMU. And that's the way you would use them at the next level, I feel like. All right. Dave, you want to follow up on running backs? You want to move to his top five wide receivers? No, I'd actually like to have a few minutes to talk about Hampton and Judkins, if we may. Adam and I have noticed on Hampton that there are a lot of times where he'll hesitate after getting the ball. And this is on carries, Ryan. And that combined with just how big he is

and the pad level that he plays with, it makes me nervous that he'll get hit in the backfield a lot and won't be a monster like he was against college competition. I'd like your opinion on that and if it can be fixed and then I'll ask a quick question about Judkins. Yeah. I think part of the issue with Hampton last year is that team was so terrible that he was sort of the only show in town. I mean, that team, I can't, I'm not a, I've watched a lot of college, I don't pay attention to the rankings, but they were definitely a top 25 team, maybe better than

that coming into the season. They just fell apart to the point they were trying to run Mac Brown out in the middle of the season. So I'm less concerned about that because, and I say that, Dave, with the understanding to get as a Steelers fan watching Najah Harris get hit in the backfield consistently, you know, 25 times a game for the Steelers. And that was an issue for him in Alabama, because he was playing behind a good offensive line. And, you know, 25 times a game for the Steelers. And that was an issue for him in Alabama because he was playing behind a good offensive line and you know, one of the, the popular landing spots for Amari and is a pig 20 to the Denver Broncos. And that feels like, uh, you're going to get the best case of Mario Hampton there.

So I think if you put them on a crappy team, you're going to see similar stuff. And he was still really good last year, by the way, he's a, a borderline first round pick for me, and he could very easily go in the first round. And I think he's better than Giovante. Like I said, who was a second round pick, I recall. So those are less concerning issues for me, because if you put any player on a super terrible team, they're not going to get the best versions of themselves. So I think landing spot always matters.

Usually set up a quarterbacks, but, but I think once he gets to the NFL and gets behind a good offensive line, you're going to see the best version of a Mario Hampton. Yeah. And then we're going to see that the best version of a Mario Hampton. Yeah. And we're all hoping for that. And we're all nervous about Gentie ending up with a team where the offensive line will stink and Gentie might not be able to overcome that and play to his ceiling. All right. Quinshawn Judkins. Adam and I have also noticed that his, his top gear isn't that fast, especially compared to a lot of other running backs in the league. And that's something that I just don't think can be improved upon, especially

considering that he's already at 221 pounds. I don't know why someone, why a team would want to make them a little bit lighter. He also doesn't use his agility as much. And that kind of worries me a little bit that he, he he's trying to kind of play as like the rundowns guy. Yeah. Does, does, did that impact how you felt about him? And do you think teams will just look at that and then immediately disqualify rundowns guy. Yeah. Did that impact how you felt about him?

And do you think teams will just look at that and immediately disqualify him as being even like a second round pick because he doesn't have the second gear in a deep glass? You know, it's funny, Dave, I actually had those same concerns and I was not as high on him as most folks in the media. And I get it. He's not Trevion Henderson, who is who does have some short area quickness, who has the ability to bounce it and then turn the corner. Even though he did run that sub four five, Quinshaw didn't play as fast for me.

And that's why he's more bowling ball between the tackles guy for me. One cut and go. So the concerns you have are the ones I have. And then it comes down to team fit. What are teams looking for? How does that fit into their system? If you're running a zone scheme and you get a one cut and go guy, you're ready to go there with Quinshaw and Juckins.

And he just tracks guys down the field. But for me, he was like a third round pick and maybe even borderline day two, day three. And that's no disrespect to him. Just class is so deep. But some people like him better than Trey Henderson. I think our buddy Lee J. Duesible does. So it's just going to come down to what you're looking for in a running back. But I share your concerns and it's sort of funny. I haven't heard a lot of people outside of you and me say those things. So I don't know, we'll find out if we're right or wrong, but I'm sort of with you on the view of Quinn Sean.

I don't, yeah, I'm not huge on him. And I know I don't wanna be a YPC for life guy cause I, you know, he's to get some heat for that. But in the big 10- Yes you are. Well, but I'm not, I'm not at all. I look, I think I've replaced that with big playability, which I think is really what separates running backs.

But his big playability is not on the same level as a lot of the other guys. Like for example, Caleb Johnson. Now, Caleb Johnson, I should mention he out of Iowa had the slowest 10 yard split among running backs and he ran a four or five, seven 40. So he didn't really test well and the slowest 10 yard split that does bother me a little bit but his big playability much more frequently than pretty much any other running back. Remember I gave that stat about percentage of carries that went for 20 or more yards. I looked at like 11 running backs that are going to get drafted pretty early and Caleb

Johnson was the leader there. I'm saying he's my favorite. But Judkins, what bothers me about Judkins, I gave this stat last time on last show. He averaged 4.2 yards per carry in the Big Ten. His teammate, Trevion Henderson, averaged 6.5 yards per carry in the Big Ten. And that is just a huge, huge gap for me.

And I don't know, it bugs me. I don't know, Ryan, if that matters at all to you, but to say that the guy that you're sharing a backfield with averaged 2.3 more yards per carry than you in the big 10 and 4.2 yards per carry in college is just not good. So that stands out to me that he just kind of beat up on the inferior competition earlier in the season. He also was great in the national championship game,

which I think is sticking in people's minds, but I don't really want to, I don't really, I'm hoping that Judkins lands in a bad spot so I don't have to make a tough call on him. And I'm also hoping that Henderson lands in a good spot because my gut wants me to have Henderson ahead of Amari and Hampton. I absolutely love him. He's exactly what you want in the NFL these days. He's just so fast. He's exactly what you want in the NFL these days. He's just so fast. He just beats defenders to the spot. Like Jameer gets-

Less picks with him too. What do you think, Ryan? You know what's funny is you guys are talking and this is something that we were talking about at the combine as the running backs were coming through. And again, I'll liken it back to my Steelers connection because Najah Harris versus Jalen Warren. Running backs starting to look a lot more like Jalen Warren

now than Najah Harris. And they're having a lot more success. And I think that's the conversation with Juckins and Caleb Johnson as well. They're not big and they're sort of built like those guys. And now they're sort of evolving into what Jalen Warren looks like and playing that way. And to keep the comparison going, Jalen Warren

was way more effective than Najah Harris behind the same offensive line to your Ohio State point. And you wonder why, you know, if you watch the game, you can sort of figure it out. Now there's a, there's a closer gap between Quinchon and, and Trey. And I think they're, they're both really good players, but there are reasons to ask those questions. If the yards for Kerry, uh, are two yards separating them behind the same offensive line in the same competition. Let me ask you's elusiveness. I just think that it's just the fact that Henderson is just

much more, he's got more wiggle, looser hips, make-or-miss, and Judkins can't do that. I think it's like that with any type of thunder and lightning type of combo that's out there. But, Dave Montgomery was, oh, I'm sorry, Jamie, I was going to say Dave Montgomery was pretty successful, though. Adam, who would you prefer if this happens? If Henderson gets drafted to the Steelers at 21 and Judkins goes to the Raiders in round two. For this year, I would take Judkins for sure. Dynasty, I really cannot see a scenario

where I take Judkins over Henderson. I just think Henderson is such a better player. But it's a great call, right? That's where it gets really tough. Yeah, that's it. I'm going to throw some more running back names at you. I want to get your thoughts. Caleb Johnson, you like him?

No. As a person, I love him. He's a little too upright for me. And even before the 40 time came out, I remember watching him in the fall thinking, why are we having these first round conversations about Caleb Johnson? Again, to echo the pair of Pete Prisco and Jamie Isenberg, I do not want to crap on him as a person,

but just football wise, if I'm stacking him, he's not in the same conversation these guys were talking about. So thank you for laughing at that, Jamie. Your job is to evaluate them. I know, but I'm like the world's softest. We love them all as human beings, for the most part. Your job is to evaluate. I know but I Love them all as human beings for the most part your job is to evaluate. That's right. If that's the disclaimer I do not like him as as a as a first or second, maybe even third round pick Sitting next to you and I said, you know, hey this guy doesn't like you as a person

And that could very easily happen if you're sitting next to Jamie I never do that to you And that could very easily happen if you're sitting next to Jamie. I never do that to you. Cam Scataboo out of Arizona State. Love them. The only concern is how much longer can he play that way? And it feels like the expiration date is in months and not years because he is so he is the angriest, hardest working football player on the field, but it's just not sustainable physically.

It feels like like I would take him to the fourth round because of physical, the physical shortcomings quotation mark, but he's a first round like football player. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Dylan Sampson out of Tennessee. I, you know, I had this conversation, Jalen Wright, I like better last year coming out. He ran a little bit faster and the issue with, with uh, Dylan is that he, he mumbles. So, I mean, if you like your running back to turn the ball over then I get it But otherwise I wouldn't take him until day three James would probably draft him as a gym Who Javis? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, jazz. All right

Just give me like one more name because I see you know, I see basal tootin pretty high in rankings DJ now. All right, go ahead tootin go. Yeah, I love Tuten. He has fumbling issues as well, but he's a four three guy. He plays that fast. He's a little undersized in the Jalen Warren mold. He can run between the tackles. He can bounce it. He can catch balls coming out of the backfield. He's a game changer. He played much the last season with a knee brace on. He was still out running guys at the end zone. And the other guy I mentioned to keep it real

here in Central New York, Laquan Allen is only 20 years old out of Syracuse. A little more upright, he didn't run anywhere in the pre-drop process, which means he's probably not fast, but he plays fast. Another guy, like we were talking with Brichard Smith, he can catch the ball coming out of the backfield, so he gives you that versatility as well. Those are two other guys that I like as potential

day two-ish, borderline day three guys. Are there any other day two-ish running backs that you feel like we need to mention? RJ Harvey out of UCF, I love. And then right there as you sort of day two, day three, JarQuest Hunter out of Auburn. But the thing is, and I think Jamie was talking about this earlier,

I literally have 25 guys that could go in the first four rounds, first four or five rounds. So that's so deep at running back, and every one flavor of ice cream is going to be different how these terms in terms of how these guys are ranked. But it's going to be hard to miss on these guys in the first four or five rounds. If you just pull a name out of a hat because these guys have been so good. All right, we gotta take a break. We'll talk wide receivers when we come back on FFT. Welcome back. Dave, you haven't talked in a while. Can you just please ask Ryan for his top five wide receivers? Let's assume that Travis Hunter is going to play

cornerback unless you don't have Travis Hunter as your well, sorry, would Travis Hunter be your number one wide receiver? Dave, I'm still on Tep McMillan out of Arizona. And the lesson I've tried to make sure I remember is that when T Higgins came out, I liked him a lot in the fall. And then he ran quote unquote slowish during the pre-draft process. I said, oh, he's not fast enough. So I had him as a second round pick. He's a first round pick. Same with Tett. I don't care what Tett runs. I've seen Tett play. And right. It feels like the longer we go between the end of the season and the draft, the more we convince ourselves these kids stink. And there's our buddy, Rick Spielman used to say, you hate them up until the moment you draft them, and then suddenly you love them again. I like Ted McMillan. I don't have to overthink it.

And I had him in this mock draft I did this morning, what I would do, I had him go into the Jaguars at five, sort of along the lines of thinking about Jordan Addison and Justin Jefferson together, thinking about Jamar and T together just to help out a young quarterback and that defense in Jacksonville isn't nearly as bad as Cincinnati. So there's an opportunity for them to turn things around with Liam Cohen. They can get defensive later, but especially like Mason Graham is the landing spot that he's tackled out of Michigan at five, usually in these

mock drafts, but there's defensive line classes insanely deep. So get a wide receiver if you love them, pair with Brian Thomas Jr. And then figure the rest out later. Okay, so the top five would have Tet one, go through the others. Travis two. If we want to include Travis Matthew golden out of Texas who I love three Luther burden is next. And those guys are all first round great for me that a Mecca book is top of the second for me. I know how to stay

man. Yeah, golden and burden to me are the two guys that I just, I know they're so important for our job, right? Is they're going to get drafted early? I don't know how I feel about them. So tell us how you feel about Matthew Golden out of Texas, Luther Burden out of Missouri. So yeah, Golden's a transfer from Houston and going into the season, the guy to watch is Isaiah Bond, who battled injuries and now he's battling some off-field stuff. But Matthew Golden is a legit track guy. I think he ran a 429. And I sort of joked, the only person that really plays 429 is probably Tyreek. But this guy plays fast enough. And my comp for him was Jordan Addison, except he outweighs Jordan by about 15 pounds coming out. He's about 194, just a hair under six feet. I think he's 5'10", 5'11". But he can play outside,

he can play inside, he has returnability ability so he can do all those things that Jordan Addison does. I feel like you can do it at that level. Uh, Luther Burden is interesting and that is season last year wasn't great, but that's because Brady cook, their quarterback was banged up the entire year. If you watch 20, 23, both Brady cook and Luther Burden look like playmakers. And I think that's what you get with Luther Burden at the next level. And he plays mostly slot, but he's six feet almost 200 he might be 200 ran sub four or five so he plays

bigger than perhaps he he looks and he's pretty big Physically and he I think that the speed I have no concern with a Mecca Buka is one of these guys I feel like we're sleeping on just because he does everything at like a B plus A minus but he doesn't do anything spectacularly. He's a huge slot. He runs faster than Jack Smith and Jigba coming out. He's a professional like route runner. He's gonna be exactly where you want him to be. If you're a quarterback, you can rely on him. Great hands, yada, yada, yada. So he could end up being the most efficient of these guys early

on in his career just because he's more advanced. But landing spot, yada, yada, yada. The other name I'll mention, wide receiver six, Jalen Royals out of Utah State, didn't talk a lot about him because he got hurt in October. This dude can play. They used him at Utah State, sort of like they use Malachi Corleone at Western Kentucky, but I think he's a better athlete and a better route runner. Jalen Royals and Matthew Golden had the fastest 10-yard split. Jalen Royals and Matthew Golden had the fastest 10 yard split. Thank you. Yeah. At the combine, they were tied. Royals ran a four four two and he is he is he a slot guy? Well, no, I put in my notes he can play wide or in the slot.

So that's and he has returnability to. OK. Jamie, would you say, you know, he said that a buka is like a does everything at like a B plus a minus does nothing spectacular. Just you think that describes me to like just a little bit lofty for you. Yeah. Softball starts tonight. So definitely that. Oh, all right. Love to see it. Yeah. I just tennis swing. Tennis swing is. Love to see it. Yeah. I go to that tennis swing. Tennis swing is like a solid A right now.

You know, we're past the A minus board, but beforehand anyway. Wait a second, Adam. Yeah. Did you play a tennis match live? I did. Who'd you play against? Dan Schneier.

That's right, you and Dan. Yeah, your stroke is pretty good. Like my son plays tennis in high school. Doesn't work hard at it at all, but whatever. But I appreciated watching someone care about what they were doing and trying to do it at high level. So kudos to you, sir. A lot better since then. It's a record show that Ryan seeked out the live stream of Adam playing tennis. I remember that. Adam loves to be your father to follow

Ryan Wilson on YouTube. Yeah. Thank you, Dave. Or look up his mock drafts right before the show starts. And just to clarify to play Kate Jamie, when I say B plus A minus for Mecha Boca, I really mean A plus, let's be real. Of course. So I just wanna let you know, this came up at dinner yesterday.

Apparently, if you Google my name, the first thing that, the fourth thing, the fourth thing that comes up is Adam Azer tennis match. So I guess a lot of people are three. Just me, Adam Azer wife, Adam Azer Twitter, Adam Azer tennis match. That's yes. And Dan's actually pretty good tennis players. Very good. But I'm gonna give them I'm gonna get very good in comparison to Adam. No, he's very good. He's a very good player. He

played in high school. And I think he actually put some work into it in high school. So you should, your son should talk to Dan. Is very good. Got it. All right. Anyway, Jamie, go ahead to ask, talk about, I'm sorry, I haven't gotten you involved enough.

So the floor is yours. I'm just enjoying the conversation. Jayden Higgins, your thoughts on him and Jack Beck, another guy who's getting a lot of, a lot of pub lately. Yeah, huge Jack Bech guy. I like to watch it. It's a Louisiana pronunciation apparently because I had to I call them Beck as well. He was an LSU guy transferred to TCU and I remember watching him in the fall going good lord why are we not talking about this guy? He never ran or if he did he didn't run super fast. I don't care. He plays plenty fast me and Dave saw him at the senior bowl and he went off there

He was dominating practice had a really good game. I'm not high on jayden higgins I haven't been throughout the process. I had a day three grade on him and then lije Our buddy lije doozle was like dude. This guy has a chance to be a top 50 pick So we're back and watch him again. I'm moving up a little bit more. He ran sub four five He doesn't play that fast like everyone gets on Tepic Mellon for nights separating. Jayden Higgins doesn't separate either. He's six four and he's a long strider and he does all those things. Well, I think Ted is a level or two above what Jayden Higgins does.

And then that doesn't mean Jayden Higgins won't be a top 50 player, but uh, let me see who my comp was for him. Cause I just couldn't get on board with them. And again, that doesn't mean anything other than one person. So Devonta Parker was sort of my comp. Um, that's fair though, like big tester, and then you don't see it on tape necessarily and that's okay. Like we'll, we'll see how it works out.

But I just, I would not take them. Well, do you talk guys talking about comp compares? It's one of the things that we were talking about the other day. We were doing these mock drafts. If you're the, if you're the, the Raiders, for example, would you rather have Ashton Gentey and Jayden Higgins, or would you rather have Tep McMillan and say, Omarion Hampton? Like that's the sort of math you're trying to figure out when you, where

and when to take these guys. It's probably not going to be Hampton, right? Like, don't you think Hampton's going to be in the first round? Even your guy Trey, let's say take Trey Henderson then we'll take Trey Henderson. I feel like he's going to be, I don't know. I feel like he's going to be a first round pick too. But yeah, it could be Henry. It could certainly could be Judkins. Right? It could be Tet and Judkins. I think Trey Henderson's probably not gonna go in the first round. So he could be there at the top of the second for the Raiders. So you could have Tet and Trey or you could have

Ashton and Jayden Higgins was the conversation we're having. I'd go Tet and Trey. I would too, but you know. I think you probably have to go that route, right? That's the problem. Unless you love Ashton Gentry. Yeah. I would guess. The problem is that there's a clear difference between the type of running back Genty is

to Henderson, and Genty can do a lot of what Henderson can do. Henderson can't do a lot of what Ashton can do. Ashton's a very, I'm going to decide on Gentian Higgins. Because I think as, as good as Macmillan is, and he's definitely got that agility that Jayden Higgins doesn't have. You're still going to get a big guy who's six four, who you're just going to throw up 50, 50 balls and he's going to win them. I love, I like Higgins and I love his hands.

Like I won two drops maybe over his time at Iowa State. I think that he could end up being one of the five best receivers in this class. And someone who could, with good target volume, could be an asset in fantasy football. Yeah. I wouldn't push back on that. I just, when I started stacking these guys, and to your point, Dave, 145 targets, just two drops. So he's catching everything you throw towards him. No doubt about it. I just didn't see the,

I didn't see what everybody, Lee Jay saw in terms of him being a top 50 pick. Oh no, he doesn't have the wiggle that Macmillan has. He doesn't have the footwork and I don't think he ever will. So like there's a drop off there, but you're still getting ultimately a big receiver and you're getting a better running back in Gentie. The Raiders would be doing like a fantasy draft that way. I got this guy in round one and then round two, I'll get the receiver. That's always the hardest part about justifying a running back in the first round. I mean, when the giants took Barkley, Nick Chubb, they could have had Nick Chubb in the second round. Right. So, uh, but Barkley is obviously amazing. Um,

I w I do want to know how you feel about Hunter because you have him second. Do you think he can be a great receiver? How about comparing Hunter and McMillan to let's say Roma Dunze this time last year? Where would I have those three stacked? Yeah, so Rome and Tet would probably be pretty close. Travis is my wide receiver too

just because he doesn't play full time. He would be my wide receiver one if that was his only job, just because he'd be somewhere further along. Because now he's just playing sort of on feel and he's a good enough route runner. They didn't ask me to do a whole bunch, a lot of screens, a lot of hitches, a lot of go balls. So, we have to see how that fits in. And I think we heard Joe Shane talk about how they would use Travis in that role on

offense at the next level should they draft them so on and so forth. But I think three years from now, Travis Hunter could be the best wide receiver out of the draft class and one of the best wide receivers in the NFL. He just hasn't done it a lot. Okay, gotcha. If there's anybody to trust, it's Joe Shane.

Ha ha ha ha. Adam Azer, 2023. Ha ha ha. Yeah, throw out some wide receiver names out. You give me a quick thought. Yep. Ellick Iomaner out of Stanford. Big.

He ran pretty well, but he doesn't play fast. But he's a possession receiver. He reminds me of Anquan Bolden, like that sort of player. And you can rely on a security blanket for your quarterback. Trey Harris out of Ole Miss. I was very impressed. He has a 79% catch rate with a 12 yard A dot, one of the best, they should come up with a stat for this,

but like the high A dot, highish A dot, high catch rate. You don't see that. Trey Harris really excelled there. What do you think about him? I like him a lot. And the issue, the hesitation is that coming out of that Ole Miss offense, sometimes the quarterbacks and wide receivers don't translate.

Even though Lane Kiffin, you know, runs a what's considered, uh, look at really efficient, high powered offense. Uh, it just feels like those guys, sometimes when they get to the next level, don't exactly put it together. The, his name's escapes me. The second round pick of the Panthers who they traded to the Cowboys. So Jonathan Mingo, Mingo like that. That didn't work out and maybe it does, but I,

and when they drafted him, it's like, I don't know. Trey Harris is a much better player than Mingo coming out in my mind. But I think his chance to be good, and he's, he feels like a day two guy. So I'd be comfortable with that. Do you like his speed? Yeah, no, I think he plays plenty fast.

I think it was the LSU game. He was just running past guys all day long. The first, one of the first plays of the game, I think he just dropped that bomb from Jackson Dart, but he can get open. He's a big body too. That's exactly what happened. Trey Harris, he dropped one on the first play

and then on the next drive, he caught one. He kept getting behind guys on LSU and he ran a four, five, four, but I'm glad you say that because I look at him, it's like, I even wrote it in my notes. He looks faster than his 40 times. So yeah. Let's see, Isaiah Bond.

So we know he's dealing with this sexual assault accusation. He says he's innocent. You know, I'm not gonna get into that, but he is super, Texas has every fast guy in the world, apparently four, three, nine, 40. Isaiah Bond, you think he's a, if there were no off field issues,

do you think he's a second round pick kind of player? He's second, third round. If we're just talking about on field productivity. He was banged up for part of last year. And then when you go back and watch him like, Oh, this dude's getting open and making plays Alabama transfer. And like, why is he transferring? And I don't know if it served him well or not because of the injury. But I understood what he was thinking. I Yeah, I think he's a day two guy strictly on the field. It's just a matter of how much off the field is

going to be a problem. I'm gonna throw a name at you guys to a guy that I watched in the fall and starting to talk about a little more. But Dante Thornton Jr. out of Tennessee 64 200 pounds ran to the four threes. And he is a poor man's version of Brian Thomas Jr. that you just throw go balls to him and he he catches them. And he's not 185. He is thick. he's a track guy and Oregon transfer and all he does is make plays

like down the field. And I love him as a sort of, I think my comp for him was like Martavis Bryant. When he came out, they just threw him deep balls and threw him slants and let him do the rest. That's Dante Thornton Jr. And then he sort of grows into the role and you teach him how to run routes, yada, yada, yada.

But day one deep ball threat and he has the physicality to be a high point sort of contested catch guy to give me your thoughts on Kyle Williams out of Washington State. I don't love him as much as some of our buddies do like, again, Li J likes him a little bit more. I think Mike Renner likes him a little bit more. He plays outside and he can play inside and he had a good senior bowl. I think he's more possession receiver for me than sort of juiced up athlete. He tested pretty well. But I didn't, I wasn't on the Kyle Williams train

like some other folks where I have him as a day three guy, like fourth, fifth rounder. Dave, you saw him at the senior bowl, Kyle Williams, any thoughts? I thought he was okay at the senior bowl, but he didn't stand out to me. I don't think he was one of the top two or three best receivers that was there. He's, he's somebody I'm studying this week. And we had Chris Chepaso on last week and he really likes. I had a Florida Elijah Badger. Um, he's a huge Elijah Badger guy.

Yeah. He had him fifth. What do you think about Elijah Badger? If you're, um, going to draft a Florida receiver, I would go with Camara DK. I like him a little better slot guy. He's big ran really well. He just runs away from guys in the middle of field on these sort of man beaters. And that's, that's where I would go. Like Badger I have going like late day, uh, day three, uh, DK, I would take, I would take

him in the fourth and feel pretty good about it. Um, I'm looking now, my comp comfort Badger was, was Tajay Sharp. So, uh, he's a number four on your team. Wide receiver wise. I think DK could be a number three, number four, but you put him in the slot and third down and just have them beat guys in the middle of the field. And he's a, he's a yak guy too. Let's get to the tight ends.

Dave, a heart attack. But, oh, it's a sharp, uh, one of my guys from many years ago. Oh, yeah. Oh, is Sharpe a- One of my guys from many years ago. Oh, okay. Oh, look at that, who do? He's your, he's your, he's your Breeze Hall. We got some good chat. I wish it was my Breeze Hall.

We got some good suggestions in the chat for what comes up with you, Google, Adam Azer. So stay tuned at the end for some of those. The chat never lets us down. All right, tight ends. Yeah. Give me your top five. Colson Loveland.

Oh no, no. It is Tyler Warren. Come on, Ryan Wilson. All right, so this is the... Here's the thing. No one helped themselves outside of perhaps Cam Ward more this fall than Tyler Warren. Like he was a day two, day three guy in the summer.

We talked about him on the, on the podcast. The host Adam is called with the first figures. Check that out. Colson Loveland was the victim of terrible quarterback play last year. Sort of like we talked about with Luther Burden when Brady cook was hurt, but he was JJ McCarthy's go-to guy in 2023. And he is, he's basically a big slot. He's more Chauvin Jennings than Rob Gronkowski in that he's going to line up in the slot. He's one of the

best route runners in this draft class. He's enormous. He's slender, but he's tall, big catch radius, and he actually runs through arm tackles just by his size. That said, I think in this mock draft and what I would do, I had Tyler Warren going first because he's a better fit in Indianapolis in my mind than Colson Lovell. So either one I'm fine on and I like them very similarly just for different reasons So Colson Tyler Warren Gunnar Helm, I love out of Texas He ran a 4-8 at the combine, but he had an ankle injury if I were his agent I'd be like yo, man, your your ankle isn't working. Let's run when you're healthy But I give him credit for being you know trying to tough it out Mason Taylor at LSU is next

He's Jason Taylor's son. And he's every bit the athlete, maybe a better athlete, which is crazy. And then Elijah Royo to rep Azar and Dave, either you there, another fantastic athlete who just battles some injury issues. I'm putting this in my notes. Good stuff. Gunnar Helm ran a four eight, but had an ankle injury. So when I, when he gets drafted and we're talking about him on Saturday, I'm be like, guys, don't just remember he had an ankle injury. So when he gets drafted, and we're talking about him on Saturday, I'm gonna be like, guys,

don't just remember he had an ankle injury. All right, so you go, let me just recap everything. I don't think we're going to do that. I said, I heard it on this podcast with the third pick or something like that. What's the third pick? It's a great name.

So we've got your top five quarterbacks were Cam Sanders, Jackson Dart, Kyle McCord, Will Howard. Your top five running backs were Ashton Gentey, Omarion Hampton, Trevion Henderson, Brichard Smith, Quinchon Judkins. Top five wide receivers, Tedaroa McMillan, Travis Hunter, Matthew Golden, Luther Burden, Emeka Ibuka, top five tight ends, Loveland,

Tyler Warren, Gunnar Helm, Mason Taylor, and Elijah Arroyo. Yep. All right, Dave, Jamie, anything you want to get into with the tight ends? Who's your top five kickers? We did a seven round mock draft live on the podcast that I host. It's called With the First Pick Adam. And not one special teams player was drafted and I regretted it immediately afterwards.

So I know the kicker from Miami is good, but beyond that, I don't know. Or a gallus, baby. Or a gallus, yeah. All right, but these tight ends are great. I mean, it's a great tight end class here, so. How many do you have in the first round? Yeah.

I think just two. Like I would be shocked if three go. And the question is how high? And you know, people get angry again, as you guys know, when you do these mock drafts, as you guys know, we knew these mock drafts. Fans get angry, but we did a mock draft with me and Pete Prisco, Brian McFadden and Ryan Carthon making all the first round picks. And Tyler Warren lasted until the commanders at whatever, picked 29 or 30 wherever they're

picking just because other things happened before. Right. You don't that doesn't seem possible, but there was a run on running backs, there was a run on offensive linemen, whatever it was. So sometimes these weird quirky things happen that aren't injury related. Just the way that the board sort of unfolds. So that would be crazy. I don't think it'll happen that way.

I think both these guys will be gone by pick 20, but I mean, you never know. I would be shocked if one of the two don't go to the jets of the Colts. Oh, the jets. Interesting at seven at seven. Yeah. Oh, the Jets? Interesting. At seven. At seven? Yeah. Oh, that's nice. I don't hate that because I have them taking offensive linemen and people get angry about that, but whatever. But I mean, they do have a real need there. And again, we're talking about helping out young quarterbushers. And Gare Wilson has a bunch of scrubs everywhere else. Yeah, yeah, exactly.

And Gare Wilson has made it clear that he's tired of having to carry the load As the only sort of guy in the wide receiver room slash tight-end room We have resale though Jamie they do and two other running backs that apparently they're gonna use Aaron Glenn said He basically hates priest Hall as much as you do once upon a time Before you guys well,, not before you knew me, but before I was making any types of predictions on the air. You're just gonna have to take my word for it on this,

because it's really true. I loved Luke Keighley. He was this guy who was like, this guy is gonna be one of the best players in this draft. Now I could be making this up, I could be lying, but I love Luke Keakley. The Tyler Warren is my Luke Keakley. I love Tyler Warren.

I think he's going to be one of the best players out of this draft. He is like George Kittle to me. Everything you said about Kam Skattaboo is how I also feel about Tyler Warren. He's an absolute beast. And if he goes to the Jets, I'll be totally heartbroken. But if he goes to the Colts,

I'll be even more heartbroken. So, so either just said Tyler Warren will be a Hall of Famer. I honestly think he has, you know, I think he has certainly pro bowl to all pro potential. I don't know about Hall of Fame, but he is going to be everyone's favorite player. He's such, he's such a hardworking,

just monster out there. He's such he's such a hardworking, just monster out there. That far. I mean, I'd love to see the Chargers. Yeah, find a way to get Yeah, no, he feels like a Jim Harbaugh type guy too. I know is I know is his high school basketball coaches. This will make you struggle this down at him like even happier about him. So he's a super quiet kid. Number one. Number two, like he

played in a suburban Richmond high school and he played center at 6'6", 2.35 at the time. And they would, he was the only reason they were able to compete with the city schools of basketball because he was out there just balling out as a 6'6", 2.35. I don't know if he had long hair then. Center looking like perhaps Kurt Rambas, I don't know. But the athleticism is, I think sometimes underrated and I'm guilty of it

as well when you compare him to Colson Loveland. He's insanely athletic. He's insanely driven. He cares about football. He doesn't do much else. And he's by all accounts a good kid. I don't like that. He's quiet, though. I want someone who's in your face and nasty. You want Jeremy Schock? That's all that matters. He's not he's not I hate him now. I mean, Kurt Rambis, you're dating yourself. Kurt Rambis.

I do, like, who is the, who would be the closest version of a long haired basketball playing Tyler Warren? Like, I don't even know. Steven Adams, I was watching him last night. A little Steven Adams. I don't even know who that is. He's from New Zealand though, like you can't, can't go there.

I don't know. Out of the loop I am. All right, so. Kurt of the loop I am. All right. So. Kurt Ramos. Wow. Yeah. I think Steven Adams. Didn't he write Dilbert?

Does that date myself, Jamie? Scott Adams, I believe. Dilbert. Gunnar Helm was an interesting one at three. Can we make a trade and Ryan hosts this show and you host the third pick podcast. With the third pick. The Giants podcast. So these other guys, Helm, Mason Taylor, Elijah Arroyo, you didn't mention Harold Fanon Jr.

He's probably right there. He is right there, yep. How much potential do these guys have as NFL prospects? Mason Taylor has the most upside. He's a sheer athlete at this point, so we're learning the position, but he'll block and you guys don't necessarily care about that for your purposes, but in terms of being an inline tight end. But again, it's funny because

Randy Moss, his son Thaddeus Moss played in that LSU team back during the Joe Burrow days. And he was good. I think he went on draft, but Taylor Mason is legit. Like, you know, his uncle obviously Zach Thomas, his dad is Jason Taylor and the athleticism feels like it's not going to be Cal Pitts level athleticism. And then the warning label that comes with that is that you have to use them properly. Cal Pitts is still trying to figure that out. But you talk about Harold Fanon Jr. He's more of a big slide again, sort of the Malachi-Courley comparison, but a

little better, a little more efficient. He was the, the offensive Bowling Green. And then another player whose dad played in the league right below Harold for me is Aranda Gatz in the second. I was just about to ask you about him. That's Syracuse guy. Yeah. Yeah, he's he's 245. He looks in person like he is 265 He's six four and change He is thick for 245 ish and he again he can play in line and block But he was common courts go to security blanket in the middle of field and not just on short routes

But short intermediate and then he could run the seam He ran a four six five as pro day and I think that's perfect for him. So in Terrence Ferguson, I mentioned a couple of the names, guys that are athletic, how you're gonna get drafted. Terrence Ferguson out of Oregon, had a good season last year. Mitchell Evans out of Notre Dame, not quite as athletic, but it's sort of a traditional tight end out of Notre Dame as I mentioned. He also had a good year Again with some some up-and-down quarterback play with riley lennard

a ron de gadsden senior one of the best highlights in dolphins history When they lost to the jaguars 62 to 7 He scored he scored the only touchdown I believe they were down 40 at that point Maybe more I don't even know. And he did his touchdown celebration, which was an OG, like with his arms. And it was just, it was like Austin Echler when they were getting the boot kicked out of them by the Raiders. And he does the first down when they're down 30. Yeah.

It's like when Homer Simpson scored a touchdown, was it in the Super Bowl, Adam? And he's doing all these dancing. Oh, I don't, I hate that episode. I never watched that episode. Homer Simpson scored a touchdown. Was it in the Super Bowl, Adam? And he's doing all these dancing? Oh, I hate that episode. I never watched that episode. It's like 62 to seven. I don't know. You know who I blame for that touchdown celebration

down 60 points, guys? Rick Spielman, he was in the front office of Miami. He set the tone and they follow suit. So that's Rick's fault. Rick used to be on this podcast, great podcast. What was it called, Adam? With something, I don't remember. But yeah, yeah.

Harold Fanon Jr. I find amazing. Mentioned this a few weeks ago. First tight end in FBS history to lead the country in catches and receiving yards. And he did it on a team that was only 46th in the country in pass attempts. And only played 13 games. Some guys were playing 15, 16 games.

He had over 100, 117 catches, 1555 yards, 10 touchdowns, amazing production from Harold Bannon Jr. And I didn't mention this and I wanted to when we talked about him last time, two games against, you know, big time teams, 11 catches for 137 yards in a touchdown against Penn State, eight catches, 145 yards in a touchdown against Texas A&M. There's a touchdown against Texas A&M. You're not going to like this, Ryan. My personal opinion, the touchdown against A&M, he's wide open, but then he makes a play after the catch.

I don't know if you remember the play. Jukes some guys, like really, really nice highlight play. I never saw a single thing, anything like that from Colston Loveland. Never saw that jukability. That's people get on Colston Loveland, never saw that juke ability that that's people get on Colston Loveland for that the Yak, the lack of Yak. I never saw that from him. I saw that on that play certainly from Fannin. But I did I think it's important for Fannin that he played against Penn State and A&M. He had 140 yards and a touchdown

against both of them. Absolutely. That's the same conversation we have about Ash and Gentie. He didn't play anyone. Well, he beat the pants off of Oregon. So he played them. And I think you're right, because when you talk about the Mac, the competition isn't what it is in the SEC or the Big Ten or whatever, except he went against both those teams from those conferences and took over the game. And a lot of the Bowling Green Offensives just put the ball in Harold's hands and let him do the rest. But to your point, he can make plays down the field. He can make contested catches in the middle

of the hashes on those intermediate routes. The funny thing for me is that he runs, like he's a little quirky way in which he runs. It's like he almost doesn't have knees, but he's still fast and he's still out running guys and he's still making plays. And again, another guy who had a great senior bowl week and I would take him in the third round all day long and just find ways to use them as a slot out of the slot. All right. I'm sorry. We went pretty long here.

So let's just wrap it up. Your thoughts on the offensive lineman in this draft. So last year, I'll ask you a pop quiz, Adam. How many offensive linemen won the first round last year? Who was the first one? Can you tell me that? Like jog my memory? I think it was Joe Walt. I'm actually struggling to I think it was Joe Walt. I'm gonna say six, six offensive linemen in

the first round. Nine offensive linemen in the first round. I was had it. I was the reading upside down. Sorry. It was a nine. Yeah. He's like, you gotta forgive me. Yeah, I get it. With the six pick, you would have gotten that one. Yeah. I think for like four guys, office of tackles and maybe one guard two guards so we could get four to six I feel like so the outside the over under five and a half, maybe six and a half. So Kelvin Banks

Jr is my OT one but I think Will Campbell goes first because he's more ready to start left tackle for the Panther I mean shooting the Patriots we talked about that today. I like our my member going to the Jets at seven but I'd like Jamie's idea of taking a tight end there. And then Calvin Banks could go at nine to the Saints, for example, maybe he slips a little bit further. And then Josh Simmons is the San Diego State transfer, got hurt in that Oregon game for Ohio State in the midst of the second half of the season. But he looks apart, he might be the best athlete of the bunch. And then Tyler Booker, the tackle, excuse me, the guard out of

he looks apart, he might be the best athlete of the bunch. And the Tyler Booker, the tackle, excuse me, the guard out of Alabama, one of my favorite players, any position, he ran a 435. I don't care. People keep talking about that. It doesn't matter. And then Gray Zabel, the North Dakota State left tackle is going to kick inside at the next level, guard and her center. And he has a chance to be a first rounder as well. It's going to come up on Thursday when Will Campbell gets selected, maybe as early as fourth.

Short arms, is he really gonna play tackle or are they gonna have to move him to guard? What are your thoughts? As Will Campbell said when he's asked about this, he said, I started as a freshman for LSU in the SEC and no one cared about my arm length until literally two weeks ago or whenever they found out his arm length.

If you watch him play, like, oh my God, this kid is great and he's great against some of the best players in the country. Talked to Walter Nolan with the senior ball and he said, he said, yeah, the toughest kid I faced throughout my career, this is going back to their high school days is Will Campbell, because they were both five stars at the same camps and all that other stuff.

So Walter Nolan is going to be a first round pick and he is very disruptive. And Will Campbell more than held his own against Walter Nolan. I'm not worried about Will Campbell as a tackle. You just, you put him out there and you see what happens. I mean, worst case you move him inside the guard, but why wouldn't you try him to tackle? Okay. I'm trying to look for some of the Adam Azer's

Google searches. Adam Azer weird sandwich. Adam Azer terrible movie takes. Adam Azer Star Trek shirt. Adam Azer three line gate. Yep, these would all be. What is your- Are you a Star Trek guy?

No, I'm a Star Wars guy. Star Wars guy. What Jamie and or Dave, what are some of Adam's worst movie takes? I'm curious. Oh God. This is a bad take. I actually have one last week.

Great movie takes. What's the romantic movie that he thought was amazing, Jamie? Oh, Crazy Stupid Love, that movie is awesome. Let me get to it. That's a good one. But you said it like top five movie all time. I did not set up.

I think you did. Crazy Stupid Love. Ryan, have you seen the Sopranos? Yeah. Oh, here comes Thomas. Thomas has the worst. There's one with Patrick Schwig. Oh, Dirty Dancing. Thomas has the worst one with Patrick. Dirty Dancing. Dirty Dancing is a great movie. Dirty Dancing is a top five movie. I did not say top five movie.

He didn't say top five movie. He said when Dirty Dancing is on, he watches it now because he didn't see it when he first saw it. Right, Kurt? Yeah. Yeah. It's a great, no, Dirty Dancing is really good movie. I think it's very, I don't know if it's great. You've seen it more than 10 times. You've seen it more than 10 times? No, it's always on. So I put it on in the background. I don't see, like I wouldn't go, hey, let's go watch a movie. Let's watch Dirty Dancing, but it's a good movie to put on. It's like a guilty pleasure.

You know, it's like- Do you own it? No, I don't own it. That guy, Ry Ry, whatever said that if you think Tom Cruise isn't an action star, that's a terrible one. Yeah. Wait, Tom Cruise is not an action star? That's what I'm-

Because he doesn't fight enough in movies. Oh, that is a terrible thing. What else does he do? That's not a great one. He's a Jerry Maguire. He's a drama guy. He's in Cocktail. I'm pretty sure Jerry Maguire came out in 96 and Cocktail may have been 89.

So much drama in Mission Impossible. You know what movie I watched my parents were visiting? Which one, Dave? The 10 of them? I watched, I watched The Running Man with my mom this past week. It was a weird. The original Running Man?

Yeah, yeah. She was. Not a bad movie. That's a great movie to watch with your mom. I know, Arnold's like, he had the splits and she was like, oh my God. And then she's like, that's it, I'm done with this movie. Hey, there's a great NFL player in that movie.

Oh, Jim Brown. Yeah. Oh, look at that call. Mm hmm. All right, fellas. Ryan, thank you very much. Jesse Ventura, I believe, played in the NFL, right? Or college. I don't think Jesse did in the NFL. I got to Google that. Yeah, that's Adam Azer, Jesse Ventura. See what that returns.

I'm glad I was the last one in addition. I'm glad that I realized that I do work with them. I've been in the company since 2011, but yeah. Thanks for filling in. Listen, enjoy your six month vacation that starts on Monday, dude. Oh, I will. I absolutely will. Me and Brice Hall are going on vacation.

Have a great day everybody. Remember to do that NFL draft contest. Again, the URL is tinyurl.com slash FFT 2025 draft. For Ryan Wilson, Jamie Isenberg, Dave Richard, and Thomas Schaeffer, I'm Adam Azor. We will talk to you on Wednesday on Tennessee Football News. I think it's a football.