Geoff Schwartz Is Smarter Than You - 2026 MOCK DRAFT EXTRAVAGANZA

Episode Date: April 16, 2026

The annual extravaganza is underway with Geoff Schwartz, Gabe Goodwin, Matt Ford, and Hank Groberg back on the clock for a 2026 first round mock draft. Smart pickand hijinks ensue on this episode of Geoff Schwartz is Smarter Than You. Download the DraftKings Sportsbook app and use code GEOFF to get $200 in free bonus bets when you bet just $5. #NFL #Podcast #draftkings #mockdraft Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It is April 16th, Jeff Schwartz, Matt Ford, Gabe Goodwin, Hank Grover, Jeff Schwartz is smarter than you. Mock, draft, extravaganza. It's our favorite show of the entire year. We're all together, just like the real draft, a week from today. We're going to take eight minutes between our picks. We're going to analyze everything that we have going forward. No, we're not.

We're going to do this as fast as possible as usual. All of us have put in hours of research, and we're ready to go. Matt, how are we feeling about it? This is your favorite episode we do all year. It's the best. I've been working really hard. Dylan Thinaman, Vega, Yawane. I'm ready.

Let's go. Let's do this thing. How are you guys doing? We're great. I made an executive decision around here. In order to keep things moving and to prioritize who gets mic time, I've provided us one microphone between the two of us. So Hank will only speak when I pass him the talking stick.

Oh, the best of course. We'll get a second microphone in there. And given that Mr. Groberg is a sizable percentage of our audience. I think he will also thank us for keeping his son quiet. He is our number one listener. Thank you for listening to the show. We're going to do like we normally do.

We're going to go through the entire entirety of the draft. We're each going to have our picks. Hank has led that out for us. I think we had sort of picking for our favorite teams as well. So Hank did give you, Matt, the commanders there at seven. Trades, I don't know. We say no, no every year. Game makes a trade no matter what.

So we're going to have a trade here. Let's just get started with the easiest one because we'll just get out of the way. Mendoza's going one to the Raiders. I know they've said that they're fielding phone calls. I don't know. I don't think they are. Maybe things are calling just to see,

but Mendoza goes number one. The draft, to me, starts at number two because it could go in many different directions. There could be trades. There could be just sort of off-the-wall picks. There's not going to be a lot of guys with great first-round grades. It's only a couple generational players in my opinion in this draft.

Gabe, you get the draft in your New York Jets here are the New York Jets bat with the second pick of the draft. Okay, so I say this every year that we do this. Obviously, the Jets should trade this pick because they won't do the right thing with it, so they might as well get some value for it and hand it over to someone else who has a better chance of benefiting. They will not benefit. But I don't actually think anyone wants this second pick for all the reasons you

sort of just alluded to, Jeff. So I think the Jets actually do something that sort of makes sense and realize you'll never get another interception again unless you put more pressure on the quarterback. The best way to do that is my guy, Arvel Reese at Ohio State. So he's going number two overall. Jeff, you can explain why this guy's great. Yeah. I just think he's the no-brainer pick for the Jets at two. So Reese is like a hybrid off-the-ball linebacker pass rush. Sort of Michael Parsons is like Michael Parsons. He's not Michael Parsons. So don't, don't confuse that. But the idea is he's potentially grade is the best defensive player in this draft.

You just get them on your team. You figure it out later. I could see the Jets going for Bailey at two because they know he's a known pass rusher right now. But this pick is Reese or Bailey. That's it. I don't think there's any other thing they're going to do here too. It's Reese or Bailey.

I don't think you're wrong in any direction, but I could see the Jets going with just, we know this guy's the pass rusher. We're taking Bailey. Reese is a fantastic point. He's listed number one on NFL.com highest grade. By far, by the way. Like, not close.

There's no one close to him. as well. So great football player. Matt, you are next year for Arizona Cardinals. Yeah. I think the choice for the Cardinals is a lot like the choice for the Jets. There's been a lot of talk about maybe they go with offensive line, but I'm going to go ahead and give the Cardinals David Bailey. Last year, they only had, let's see, their leading sack guy last year was Josh Sweat, 12 sacks, but their next guy had six and a half. That was Scalaeus Campbell. So they have a lot of work to do.

There's positional value with the edge rusher. So I feel like they just take David Bailey and improve their defense right away. This is a trade opportunity for Arizona, I think. Do you guys pay attention to the mock drafts that come out from the respective people? I do at least, even though they end up not being like that accurate. Someone put out a tweet showing the last mock drafts of like the three best mock drafters. And after pick five, it's a disaster, which we all know. It's not a surprise.

But the mock drafts came out this week had the Cowboys trading up to draft the defender, whether it was to six, whether it was to three. It does feel like the Cowboys are going to trade up here. And Bailey's available. Would not surprise me if they called up to Arizona and asked for the third pick. Arizona gets another first round pick next season. And they draft and they draft Bailey here. I'll leave the Tennessee Titans here to Hank.

What do we got? All right. The consensus here is Jeremiah Love. I think that would be the most excited. fighting pick. Never in my lifetime have the Titans been exciting. So I think we go with Sonny Stiles, partly because Rob Salad, new head coach, he knows he's going to be judged by the strength of his defense. And then second, like what Stiles did at the Combine, I think it's the type of performance that makes a guy fly up the draft, maybe go a little

earlier than they should. So I love the, I love you put that. Off the ball linebacker feels back now in the NFL, by the way. This is the, this would pick would, would make that 6-5, like 240, incredible athlete, does feel like maybe the surefire, like good right away type of player in this draft at the top of the draft. Hey, much of something, I'll give you hand credit here. Something very smart. In year one. Let's start a tracker, a counter for this.

That's one. With a new coach in year one, they have to nail their side of the ball, right? So last year, like Ben Johnson nailed the offense, and this year they're going to fix the defense. Robert Sala's got to nail the defense in year one. And he can work to fix Cam Ward in year one, too. You got to get your defense right. Otherwise, this is the argument against Aaron Glenn.

Like the Jess just, their defense was terrible. It was a defense of coach. How do you not get the defense right in your first year? So opt me for a defensive guy here. It makes sense. I believe I am next for the Giants. I think with the options here, they're going to draft Jeremiah Love at five if he's available. Whoa.

I just think that, yeah, I think that it's either him or or Caleb Downs. And here's the reason why. I think love and downs, in most people's opinions, I know I mentioned Reese as the highest-grading guy like at NFL.com, but I think people view love and downs as like the two can't miss players of this draft. And I think the Giants could draft the definitely draft downs here. But love to pair with Dart and Harbaugh just had Derek Henry. I felt like he saw that that was important to them in that offense.

I think they take love for it. It's lover downs. Like you're in the spot right here. And these are the two options. I think it's lover downs. I'll take love here. Interesting choice. A lot of people have said styles is on their radar.

It seems like it seemed like a month ago that was going to be the pick. But now it's definitely shifting. Interesting. I think it sounds like the Cowboys were maybe looking to move up to maybe get ahead of them to take, I guess, downs or maybe it would be styles. I don't know. But it seems like the Giants pick is on everyone's radar. It does feel.

like the Cowboys would trade up for one of like Stiles or Bailey. That feels like who they would do. So if Stiles makes it to six or seven, I think that's a possibility. So I have both the Cowboys picks in here. And with Gabe up here for the Browns, we've talked about doing a trade up

where the Cowboys move up into this spot. However, in true Cowboys fashion, we're going to talk about it and we're not going to actually do it. So Gabe Brown will walk here with the Browns. Well, I don't ever want to talk about the Browns. So I'd like to stick with the Giants for one more second before I make my pick as the Browns. Thank you very much for giving me the Browns.

Jeff, do you think, I feel like Giants fans are still scarred from what they witnessed in Hard Knocks a couple of years ago? Do you think that Jeremiah Love being on the board means the owner knocks on Shane's door and says, you know what to do here. Don't screw it up like you did with Sequin. Do you think that that's part of the dynamic? I think it could be part of them. I also do think that he knocks on John Harbaugh's door, not Joe Shane's door. I think this is Harbaugh's decision.

And I think this is Harbaugh's decision. And that would lead me to believe that, you know, look, and again, we saw Kyle Hamilton the importance he had in the defense for the Ravens. Like I think the downs are love. I think it's a tough discussion for them. But I think, yeah, I think the ownership could go and be like, this is, you're taking the running back. We saw what the running back did for the Eagles after he left.

We saw what Barkman did when he's healthy here. Give me the running back. Awesome. Okay, so I'm now officially drafting as the Browns? Yes, unfortunately. Well, I think it goes without saying then that we as the Browns organization, rightfully have a lot of confidence in our ability to draft. We picked a pro bowler out of the fifth round last year.

You know, I don't think that we need to get too crazy in the first round. This is a pick. We see other teams coveting, but we know we can find gold in later rounds. So we did take that call from the Cowboys. We did consider it, but then they stopped picking up when we called So we're sitting here thinking to ourselves. We've got the Pro Bowl quarterback. We don't seem to have very many weapons.

It seems like it'd be a fun thing to keep this guy in state. So we are going with Carnell Tate out of Ohio State to be a playmaking wide receiver for us and be part of our future. Two Pro Bowl quarterbacks last season, by the way, for the Browns. Good point. Thank you. Deshawn Watson is going to start for them this year, I think. he hasn't played in like six seasons like he's good in six years

I did six years kind of crazy um he's gonna go fine uh Matthew your commanders I gotta be honest if this is how it shakes out I'll be pretty happy because I think there's a world

I think the commanders if they were to if they were to have the first pick it would probably be between styles and Reese right like they would want like a freak athlete that fits sort of like the Quinn Peters model if it shakes out like this and they don't have a shot at love, they can't then say, like, well, we do need another wide receiver in Tate.

I think they go with just the best guy, and that's Caleb Downs. I think having, like, sort of the quarterback of the defense, Quinn has talked a little bit about maybe switching the green dot away from the middle linebacker and just somebody who's on the field, which I think is kind of interesting. And if that's the case, Caleb Downs fits all the boxes would be probably the best defender on the team by the time he walks in the door. What do you think of that?

And Hank, my thoughts, this is, I think no one has, has this mocked down to the commanders. This is great because this is a, this is the reason why during draft season, you need to read all the individual,

like, team blogs that talk about their teams, because they have this information that, like, national media members might not really have about the individual teams. Like, this is a pick where I think no one has, but to Matt's point,

like, he wants to switch to green dots. You want a, you want a safety, he's going to play every step, but, you don't get this information from a lot of places.

So, look, Downs, again, him and Jeremiah Love feel like the two players that people like the most. And even though positional value would tell you not take a safety here, I think this guy, no one cares. I think that's sort of the consensus right now about him, that they just don't care that he's, you know, he plays a position that people don't view out because he's that good. So improving the defense, got to do if you're Washington. I like this. Kind of out of nowhere. This is like a pick no one has.

Jeff, I want to stay on that. You mentioned positional value first. second like in our first seven picks here we had a running back go we had a safety we had an off ball linebacker and maybe even two off ball linebackers depending on how some people view are bel reefs like it feels like in this draft people are ignoring positional value do you think that's a mistake or is that just the reality of the club players like what's the deal here i think in this draft there's not a lot of guys that have um grades that are so much different than everyone else and everyone's graded about the same at the top of the draft

and so you're just taking like the best player to fit to your need rather than just taking the best player if that makes sense right like like they're just the offense alignment this year for example we haven't drafted any of them yet maybe we'll draft one here maybe we'll draft one i don't know when they're going to go i think 11 maybe with miamii line for example they're the top two guys presumably marinooga and finno are going to play guard in the NFL like you're not drafting a guard seven give me Caleb downs like give me a guy like that right like it just feels like this is the reason why this year. There's just not a lot of quarterbacks. The offense line are fine, but not like elite level guys, right? A lot of, you don't view them that way. So just give me the elite guy in styles. Like,

give me the elite guy in Rees. Give me the guy and Caleb Downs who has those athletic trait. That's what I think it comes down to in this draft. It's different than, than we're going to see next year when like seven quarterbacks go in the first round.

Yeah. And then just my thoughts on the commanders pick real fast. Like, Caleb Downs, as an 18-year-old, was the best player on Nick Sabin's defense. Like, let's not mess this one. up commanders let's let's take the guy who's going to be the best player we've had on defense in a long time with respect to john allen and ryan carrigan you know let's clean up our back end and let's get let's get quan martin off the field like less snaps for that person please i like commanders over i think

seven and a half i'm training that direction the season yeah i think i'm training that direction all right you have um the uh the saints what do you got yeah so it feels like the saints never really do this but i'm going to take the fun player out of lSU which is the the cornerback Mansour Delane. Now, I do think there's a conversation to be had about Mansour Delane versus the second corner in this class, which is Germaud McCoy from Tennessee. He didn't play all of last year. I think it was an ACL tear, but he came and tested at the Tennessee Pro Day and was, had the one

thing that Mansour Delane is missing, which was like a very fast 40 time. Jamad's also longer and more physically gifted. I think they would go with the player who played this season. Just the injury flag would be enough to push Jamad down a little bit, but I'm willing to flop on that pick, Jeff, if you disagree there. I want the chiefs to get up in nine, so I definitely think that you improve your secondary. Look, you need three

corners, right? You need three corners. And so, again, this is where you get back to, like, the draft board. The reason why you work so hard in creating a grade system and grading the guys, because you get to this pick right here, right? And if you're the same, you probably want to Tate.

And why was he's gone? So are you going to overdraft Tyson? You know, overdraft Lemon, you know, no, just take the best player who's you're bored and it's Delane like just do it like that feels like where there's that and I have Kansas City nine and you're sitting there at nine Tate's gone Delane's gone Ruben Bain come on down like that's the next guy you know it's it's kind of simple right if Bain's gone you take Delane right if Delane and Bain are gone you take Tate like that feels like a very easy easy pick for the Chief so I got I got the chief taking remade look the arm length thing is is would make him

an outlier I get it um but I think Spaggs finds a way to make when they have they need pass rush Like there's no choice. They're not drafting offensive line here. They're not, you know, McCoy's come up at knee injury. They're not reaching for McCoy, in my opinion. So I got Bain here for the Chiefs at 9. Makes a lot of sense. They need pass rush and they get it here at 9.

The Bengals at 10, Gabe, you have interesting because I think they would have loved for Bain or downs to be available and they're not in this spot. So Bengals are sitting at 10. You have the Bengals. Obviously, you know, I could go on and on and on about what the Bengals should do and what their front office is thinking about and what both sides of the ball, the coordinators in Cincinnati are looking for.

People don't need to hear that from me. They've heard me give those types of takes before. So I'm going to go with the very tried and true theory here, which is that if you have a franchise quarterback who the NFL propaganda have been trying to tell me is the guy for a few years now, if only he could stay upright, if only they could block for him,

if only he could be healthy. If all those things can happen, he'll just really be the best quarterback in the league. I keep being told. So I suspect that we in Cincinnati are buying that narrative. And so we're going to go get him alignment with some real caliber here. And I love to pronounce this name correctly,

but I will not. Francis Mugawa. You're close. I think it's Malagoa. So you got close. Yeah, Miami offensive tackle. Again, like the top of this draft, him and Fanoe,

might end up playing guard eventually. The true left tackle is Freeling who's not really ready quite yet to be an impact point in my opinion. And some other guys, obviously, other positions. So it's interesting to see him first off the board for offensive line. We got one in the top ten.

Some mock drafts coming out. Have no offense line on the top ten. So kind of surprised. The Bengals need to think about it. I actually think this is, I think I've seen zero mock drafts that had the Bengals taking offense. I like this.

Just, you know, Gabe is playing Angry Birds here in his lap. There's nothing related to football on his phone. There's no notes. That doesn't really surprise me. So are the Browns. To be honest. Bengles during the draft. It's not really surprising to me.

I am, yeah, this is, what do you call it in acting? Method acting? I am method acting the way the Bengals will behave in this draft. When we get to a real team like the Ravens, I'll start to button it up. When Gabe got the list of what he was picking, I know you just, you just searched the four teams out. That was it. That's what I love most of them.

I am now finding out I will next be on the clock with the Ravens and I look forward to it. But for now, Matt is the dog. Okay, so pick six through 10. So you can get right now in Draft Kings, you can get Maui Noga 14 to 1 through the Bengals pick. So interesting there. I don't think people have the big. I might put some money in that.

Miami Dolphins next, Matt. You have the dolphins. They need one position, one position only at pick 11, in my opinion. Yeah. Question is, I am assuming you're thinking wide receiver here. And the question would be which one do I want? I mean, I got to be honest. I was also thinking about Spencer Fano, Fano.

I was thinking, you know, whatever they are doing, they need to protect their investment at quarterback and Malik Willis. I don't know, man. I feel like I'm a Jordan Tyson guy. Like, I just feel like, I'm going to go with Jordan Tyson here. I'm going to go a little off the board. I think that Jordan Tyson has the highest upside,

and the dolphins are in this spot where they kind of need a splash and swing for the fences. This McKay-Lamon thing, like, I just think the. people are being a little bit over simplistic of saying like, cool, like he's a Monroe St. Brown. He played at USC. Like, they kind of look the same. Like, this worked with Smith and Jigba. With Jordan Tyson, you see it. It's the injury stuff, which like the dolphins aren't trying to be great this year. He's still young. Like, I feel like he'll be able to bounce back from some of that, or you could talk yourself into him recovering. So I'm going to take the

receiver with the bigger upside here and be a little controversial. What do you guys think? I think he's the best receiver. He's going to stay healthy. He's had three injuries and three That's a problem. Knee, hamstring. I think he had a collarbone. He's 6-2, I believe it is, catches everything. Like a great player, if he's healthy. The problem, he just hasn't been healthy.

So people have mocked him to the Chiefs, too. I don't have the health issue. The Chiefs just don't draft guys with multiple injuries. But you're right about the Dolphins, right? Like, let's just, we're new staff there. We're not winning this year. Let's take a stab. I think he's the best wide receiver if healthy in this draft.

I think he's better than Tate's. But again, health matters a lot here. you have the Dallas Cowboys, you refuse to trade earlier. So you're sticking at 12, what do you got? I think, so quickly on the Dolphins also, there's something to be said for, they have six picks in the first 100. Like, they can take an upside shot there.

The Cowboys also two picks in this first round. So I think they might be more willing to take a player who's a little riskier, potentially. So I'm going to go Germant McCoy here, the cornerback out of Tennessee I mentioned in America. Nice. I do think, though, the Cowboys last. Last year picked Sharon Ravel, who was another quarterback coming up,

a quarterback coming off an injury. So I'm not, it didn't really work out for them. Maybe they would be hesitant to do it again. But the Cowboys in years past, they just take their guys. Like, you know, taking Booker last year in the first round was a guy. They took them higher than a lot of people thought he was going to go. And also their front office, they've been actually very good at scouting and identifying good players.

So if they think Germad is talented, I think they pull the trigger there, even if there's more of a risk. Back now, I had to beat my dog decided he wanted to determine the Cowboys picked. McCoy's good. He was great in 2024. It's that simple. If you feel his knee is healthy,

the Cowboys need a cornerback pass rush, right, you're sitting right here and you have to choose basically between like a Falk, a Messador who's going to be like 26 and, you know, and McCoy, you're probably, you're probably going to choose McCoy at this spot. Over four and a half corners, by the way, is like plus 350 on draft kings. Might be worth a play.

It's maybe hard to find five. but they list four corners as a favorite to go in the first round. If you look at like to be drafted in the first round, the fifth corner is plus 120. So I kind of thought plus 3.30 didn't make a ton of sense or plus 350. So that is something I've added to my portfolio. I have the Rams at 13. I've been told the Rams might like Ty Simpson.

I'm not drafting Ty Simpson at 13. Wow. But I, I, I, are you one of those guys getting the texts from the agents, Jeff? Wouldn't you say things like that? We have to question you. My, my CAA, that's a, you know my agent. You know my playing agent. Hey, man.

My agent now, my bracket agent is not, has no connection to the NFL draft. But I will forego that. And I will take Lemon from USC, another wide receiver. Because guess what? The Rams best wide receivers in rehab right now. The other one's like 35. They need a wide receiver. So give me lemon here.

I am concerned. I'll let Gabe answer this. because he is the USC fan on this show. He did struggle a little bit this year against sort of physical cornerbacks and physical defenses. A little concerning for me, but Lemon is the new wide receiver for the Los Angeles Rams. He didn't really struggle against anyone. And yeah, Amunrah St. Brown is the comp people make because he's a recent

smaller guy who catches 10 balls a game. So I get the comp. I don't like it. Honestly, the comp that I like better is the role that he will probably play for the Rams if he ends up there, which is more like Cooper Cups. The guy makes these, he runs great routes and then when the ball is anywhere

anywhere in this sort of zone, he comes down with it. He plays a lot bigger than he is, which was Cooper Cups thing for his best years. So I love the pick. I hope he ends up with the Rams. I sure know my kids hope he ends up with the Rams. My turn, I'm Baltimore, right?

Sure, if you say so, you are Baltimore, yes. This is a time saver because it's real obvious to me what they're going to do. And this is the guy Jeff's been talking about for a full year now. Your boy, Sadiq at Oregon, is going there. Because, look, I don't know if people noticed, but Mark Andrews is not the guy he used to be. Isaiah likely who occasionally seemed like he could fill the role is gone. He never really did fill the role. For some reason, Lamar Jackson doesn't like throwing to wide receivers.

You can explain that one, Jeff. This is a no-brainer because it's a wide receiver in a tight end's body. And if he somehow was available here, I don't see how they wouldn't do this. You hit a great touching that's USC this year. It was really good. A few people did, Jeff. I very much enjoyed that. I'm just happy USC is going to be good in like,

2032 and all the recruits. Just focus on the question I asked you. Is he a good pay? He's your guy. Okay? Talk about your team. He's very good. He's also blocks well. He's a willing blocker, a little undersized. I do wonder if because of the new head coach, a defensive guy that they choose to go trenches or defense here, but you want to help out Lamar. I think a tight end.

Look, if you look at the best offense to the NFL, they all have good tight ends. It's like a possible to be a good offense without good tight end. So he fits that role. So he goes 14 to the Ravens in our mock draft here. Matt, you have the bucks at 15. What do you got? This all feels very logical so far. I feel like this is either exactly how it's going to happen.

There's just less offense alignment than I thought we'd see so far. Yeah, well, let's change that here because I think the bucks were very interested in McCoy slipping after losing Jamel Dean and Free Agency. We were thinking about edge rusher, but I don't really know who would be the right play here. Messador or Falk. I mean, those are the two guys basically left. And I feel like I can get better value by getting the second offensive lineman off the board. So can, I mean, we have a pretty good solution at tackle. So I think Fanoe would be my lean.

But honestly, like, can I just defer to you here? Should we go guard and take the Penn State guy? Or should we take Fanoe and, you know, figure out. So they have obviously Tristan Worf's, right, one of the tackles. The thing is that they were just hurt last year, right, at offensive line. I think what you do is you probably take Fono and you can kind of put him anywhere. You know, like you just figure it out later where Vaca is just playing guard. So Fonot to me feels like the pick to make here for the Bucks.

I do think that pass rest of depending on where those guys are graded will be pretty interesting to take here. The problem is Messador is just getting super old, right? And Fulke is sort of big and long, but just the production wasn't there in college. It's always a question mark about production in college. If you don't have much of it, does that ever turn to the NFL at that position? But Fanoe is in the books for the Dolphins. I mean, for the Bucks.

We're making good time. I like this, guys. Hank, you were up at 16 here. You have the Jets. Yeah, so the Jets went with Arvel Reese second overall here. And then they had, I think they brought in nine free agents on the defensive side of the ball. So probably not going to go back to defense there.

I'm looking at, I think, I think I like Vega. I'm going to try it. Vega Iwanay, who's the guard from Penn State who's been talking about, just like very nasty offensive linemen. And then the Jets sneakily last year it looks like they hit on Armand Membu. Look, Gives about it grabbed the mic again. It looks like they hit on Armand Membu and then him and Olufoshana, like, that's a good tackle pair.

And so if you can get Owanai in there, that's like 60% of a very good offensive line if O'Wane hits. That feels like the right pick for a team that's building for the future, but also not necessarily trying to compete this year. I like it. Gabe, how do you feel about your Jets pick so far?

Their quarterback is 15 years removed from when he was supposed to be their big draft pick savior. What are we, well, let's not spend any more time talking about them. Who cares? Matt and I have already made under five and a half wager on the Jets.

That's been, that's our number one. I would have taken under any amount. Under half. Under half. Okay, no time spent. Detroit Lions. I'm going with Caden Proctor here, the offensive line out of Alabama.

He will play tackle or guard for them. He provides them sort of that menacing offensive offensive line personality they like in Detroit. Very, very athletic for his size. I think you kind of just do worry over the years, just making sure that he keeps his body in shape and whatnot. But really, really talented football player. Proctor's a lot. It just kind of fits here. So I like this one.

Didn't go for my Police Academy reference, huh? Nothing there, Jeff. I just kept talking through it. I mean, that, that, I got it. I just kept going. I kept pounding through some professional. I think that one's a little out of your death. I've seen the movie.

I just, you know, we've always many times, okay? Devereurice prod us out in two weeks. It's all my focus has been on for a long time now. Okay. So we're, we're focusing on, on the important things that matter most in my life. And that is it right now. Police Academy is about the same age as we are. Gabe. It's exactly the same image.

And by the way, if Gutenberg could get himself a cameo and Devil Wears Prada 2, I might watch. I think his nephew, his nephew was my producer for like seven years on the radio. Okay. We're not. It was a random connection. Good little data point. Yeah, random connection there.

Minnesota Vikings, Gabe, here we got. I don't want to waste time on the Minnesota Vikings. I think remember they like forgot to get their pick in once. I almost forgot to pick for them just now. But I'm going to actually just scanning the little mock draft here to make a kind of wise pick. Jeff, I like the safety out of Oregon. Help me with the pronunciation. I think that's the play.

Brian Flores defense. The Vikings are good when their defense is good. I can't figure out what their offense actually is week to week. But if they can hold you to, you know, 20, they got a shot. guy seems pretty good. Well, it's just basically, you know, Harrison Smith is gone. Like, they just need a safety. And if it fits that role, very fast.

He didn't play as fast as he ran, but he's a downhill guy. Cover as well, just like a quality pick for the Vikings here in 18 to replace Harrison Smith. Matt, you have the Carolina Panthers. I'm going to do a draft show for the Panthers, I think. I'm looking forward to that next week in the facility there. Panthers at 19. What do we got for?

What do you got? What do you have got? Interesting. We were definitely eyeing Theanam in there for the Panthers. We were definitely monitoring Sadiq. I know.

It's interesting for them. What do they do if those the guys we thought are got? I feel like what they have to do, at this point, I feel like they have to go offense because they have to find out this year if Bryce Young is really going to be that guy for them.

So I think with that in mind, what is going on with, with Ikea Kwanah. Like I, is it, would it make sense for them here to go with someone like Freeling so that they had a little bit of insurance at their tackle position? Because it feels like they could address that here.

But I'm not, what's going on with him? He's, he's come off the injury, right? So it's a matter of just sort of, you know, he'd be their insurance policy with free. So Freeling is out of Georgia.

He's the one guy in this draft at left tackle that feels like he can be, become a premium left tackle. Like, Fano is probably not. Manooga's not. Proctor's not, but Freeling is. And I know I saw Dave Kanaless joke about drafting a wide receiver in the first round again this year. Probably not going to happen. So this makes a ton of sense here to go ahead and take Freeling, who again projects to be like a true left tackle eventually,

is that he recovers from his injury. Obviously, the long-term status of him is up in the air. All right, Hank, you have the Dallas Cowboys. Yeah, so was also eyeing the intimate. here, who's a guy that I've seen mocked a ton to the Cowboys at 12. So when he started to fall, I got a little excited. With him off the board, I think I'm going to go Keldrick Falk. He's a 6-6-275 defensive end. It sounds like he doesn't have the most pass-rush juice, but the Cowboys have made it clear they don't like pass-rushers. They traded away their good pass-rushers because they wanted

to make their run defense better. And Keldrick Falk is going to stop the run right away. So this is a very Cowboys pick. He's also really young, was a team captain at Auburn. The off the field stuff with him seems like a very high, makes him in my mind a very high floor prospect, which maybe counters at the wrist they took with John McCoy earlier in this.

I like the dig at the Cowboys at that line as a commanders fan. Folk just, look, he's, the size is there, right? It's just the production wasn't there this year. And the question becomes obviously like, can you ramp that up? it's certainly obviously possible to do that.

He's also super young, but he's only 21 or 20. So a lot of upside for him. And he passed out. So it makes sense. Pittsburgh here at 21. A lot of choices, right? Offensive line feels like a position here. And does feel like wide receiver is certainly a spot they're going to look.

It feels like to me, you're going to wrong. It just feels like Omar Cooper Jr. Just feels like a Pittsburgh Steeler when you watch him play football. That's fun. So I'm going to take Omar, Cooper Jr. here for the Steelers at 21. Give them another weapon for a quarterback they don't have right now. So because I figure in Rogers will eventually come back to Pittsburgh. So Cooper Jr. to Pittsburgh, could be Miller, could be another offensive alignment.

But I got Cooper Jr. here. Steve, Ty Simpson spot maybe? Stiki what? Could that be a Ty Simpson spot maybe? Yeah, I guess. I mean, they're going to do that again. They're going to draft. like the drafted who was it a couple years ago can you pick it like the same pick yeah yeah

right I just you're right but it's isn't it a little strange that the Steelers once again are like we think Aaron Rogers is our quarterback and we have a first round pick and it's April 16th and we still have no idea who our QB1 is because they just refuse to acknowledge that they have to sort of rebuild like that's the reason why they have to get bad to do it and they refuse to do a new coach certainly feels we're to even say that all right Gabe you You're adopted team now, the Chargers. Lifelong Chargers fan. It's my honor to pick for my lifelong team.

You know, every April we go through the same process, us Chargers fans. Here's the deal. On paper, the Chargers have what seems like one of the most complete and rounded teams in football. You know, but they are, apparently their tendons are built a lot like paper. we were missing a lot of guys in a lot of spots and yet still looked pretty good most of the time. So one part of me wants to be a wise ass and just take the best left tackle available like we've been doing.

Like I correctly picked last year, the best pick of this experience a year ago was me saying Joe Alt. They'll take him, they need an extra guy he can never have enough. That turned out to be true. I could do it again right now, but I won't. They don't need an offensive playmaker. I don't think they have to pick line.

I don't know what they really need on defense, Jeff. So I'd kind of like to ask for your advice here. Give me a defensive player who fits into what they're trying to do that can fit, you know, reasonably at 22. Yeah, I look at the phone of friend here. Yeah. By the way, Matt, behind your back sends be very mean things about Justin Herbert a lot. It's inappropriate.

He does it right out in front. You guys work together. Maybe you're seven. I'll win a playoff game. We'll say. It's hard. Sometimes it takes people seven years if they're great quarterbacks. I understand.

Look, he just needs more help, more first round picks in the offensive line. Yeah, great coach. It's fine. So I think if you're sitting here, we got more time with our,

Darwin, right? We don't need a safety. We don't need this kid from Toledo. I think you draft the six, 6, 330 pound defense to tackle Caleb Banks out of Florida. Like that. Feels like a hard bod guy.

Defense to tackle. Just a big old body in the middle of that defense. That's where I think you go here. Not sexy pick, obviously, but just a player who's going to be good in the NFL. All right, Matt, you've the Eagles, you've been trying to pronounce the Arizona State Offent's tackle's name now for hours.

Is this where he goes? That's funny. I don't think he does. Okay. What the Eagles are, are going to do is our friend nick right calls the eagles gm pf f howie where he looks and he finds the sweetest sexiest name and it's just like yeah so all the all the dorks can like us can just go high five each other when the eagles make another brilliant move um i think that they are going to go with in this situation

a keem mesidor who is unbelievable when you watch the uh him play across from reuben bain but the only drawback with him is he's like what 25 yeah for the eagles though like they're trying to win the super bowl right now they just lost jalen phillips um adding him to that defensive line is a freaking nightmare so i have a feeling they're going to get a really good pick who makes a lot of sense for them and we're all going to watch them in september and be like damn it howie did it again what does he call him again pff howie ah least he didn't call him a clown that was a He did not. He did not.

That made quite... That made quite a stir. I don't... I just... I don't get people. Like, he should not... He should be revoked from saying things like that. What's wrong with that?

It's a talk show. What do you expect him to say? Nothing? I think it's so sensitive now. Nonetheless, Messador would be a much higher draftback if he wasn't 25. He's a good football player. When you watch him this year in Miami,

the speed, the burst, the finish. Really good football player. It fits sort of what the Eagles. want to do. They need pass rush on the edge, right? We know they can rush the ball inside. Rush rush, rush, or inside. All right, Hank, you have the Brown second pick here at 24. The Browns, what wide receiver at 6?

What are they doing here at 24? So I think consensus is like the Browns are going to leave the first round with a receiver and an offensive lineman. Yes. Gabe went receiver for them early. We're going offensive lineman here. There's two names I have on the board here. I'm going to go with the one that's easier to pronounce.

And also the guy who, he started 54 games. in college and I think what the Browns need is someone who's going to suit up every week. So we're going Blake Miller out of Clemson. Sorry, Max. Jeff, what do we think? I'm surprised you. I'm surprised you didn't go loomoo here. Interesting.

Here's my only, my only thing with, with, with, um, with Miller. It's not even his fault, but Clemson has not put offense alignment at the NFL with any success or regularity. And it's kind of surprising to be honest with you. and it does worry me when a school just sort of routinely doesn't put guys out at one position and then and if they do, they just don't end up being very good. It is kind of, for how good they've been on offense for all these years,

they haven't had an offensive tackle drafted. This is Clemson, right? I mean, again, like Jackson Carman was a guard in the NFL. I think you played tackle. That's 2021. They don't have any, they have no offense alignment drafted. It's kind of shocking. It's really, really surprising.

But that's more of a concern. One knock on Lomu, the reason I didn't go with him is because actually one of the games I watched in college this year was when Utah played against Texas Tech. And Lomu had just a really tough day with David Bailey and Romolo Hight where the two Texas Tech ends. And I think what the Browns need is just steadiness, someone who can stand up against good pass rushers right away. And Lomu might get there, but I'm not sure if he's the most like ready-made prospect on the line. No, he needs work. I think he can be really good, but he does need time. The Browns, to your point, need a guy right now.

Miller is more ready now to play, a very smart football player. I have the Bears at 25. I think the Bears would look past rush here. It does feel like they need some help at safety here. And Fiedman is out. He's gone. And so they draft the kid, McNeil Warren, out of Toledo. Remember, last year they fixed their offense.

This year they fixed their defense. That's the way smart organizations do it. pretty high on the Bears heading to this season. McNeil Warren will join their team at safety here. Gabe, you have the Buffalo Bills. What smart comment do you have for them? Well, here's the comment I have about the Bills. Maybe you guys can explain this to me.

I feel like every single year, especially at my fantasy drafts, somebody tries to convince me that, like, the Buffalo Bills fledgling, rando, you know, cobbling together of wide receivers that there's a one and a two in there somewhere. And it's always bullshit. Like, they're never real.

They did, oh, Kionn, Coleman, this is the guy. Stop. They don't ever have wide receivers, which tells me either they can't actually have a one in the kind of offense they run with Josh Allen, or they just keep on drafting threes. So who were the guys there? You know, they're going to go in like the third round

of my fantasy draft. Who? Wide receiver? DJ Moore. Oh, who they have there right now, correct? Khalil Shakir is the guy I was talking about. DJ Moore solved the problem. So we're not going with wide receiver.

We can never get enough defense, so I want defense. And appears to me, I'm going to go for one of those guys who rushes the quarterback. And I'm looking at, who do I want, Jeff? No, it's a lot of linemen are my choices here. I think you could still take a receiver, dude. I love DJ, but like they still get a wide receiver one. I think Casey Concepcion would go here if he was available. The podcaster from the ringer?

If we want to overrule, we're going to overrule Gabe here since, so we over, Matt, so we can just overrule Gabe? Should we just take a wide receiver for them? It's your show. Does Shea Serrano come with him? I think we have to, I think they were, I think they would draft a wide receiver over a defensive women right here. All right. Let's go with it. What you said. Okay. Conception. He's in. Is that someone who works the ringer, obviously?

Who's a great podcast? Am I supposed to know this person? I don't know who's supposed to know what here. So I think I'm just going to move on to San Francisco 49ers, the 27th pick. And we have a clear need in San Francisco with the 49ers. So with the 27th pick, we are selecting surgeon Neil Elytrash from Cedar Sinai who will be putting all of our players limbs back together because we're so near the substation. Welcome to the team, Dr. Elitrash. No, we can't do that.

So we're going to think hard about what to do here. I think the 49ers are a weird team because you kind of look at them and you're like, I don't really know what they need outside of physician. You maybe need to replace Trent Williams. you maybe need a guard. I guess you need a safety. I'm not sold on their receivers,

but it seems like they are. So I feel like they maybe go with Caleb Loamu, I think, because he could probably kick inside. He could probably kick outside. But I don't know, Jeff. That's two Utah offensive linemen in the first round. Both of them can't be good.

What do you think of that choice for them? I think Lomu is the right choice here, I can at Utah. I actually, when I first watched Utah's film, I saw potential in him that was maybe more than Fano. Now, there's more work to be done there, but he's sort of the pro-tipal size of a left tackle. And he won't have to play this year,

I mean, presumably, maybe he plays right tackle for a little bit. But I think Lobo's going to be a really good pro. So I like this pick for the Niners. They need this position. Makes a lot of sense for them here. 28 is the Texans, and Hank you, the Texans. Yeah, so what the Texans need desperately is offensive line. it's been I think three years now of them

of them failing to address it properly in the offseason but you know what I think I think if they were to draft an offensive lineman that would give C.J. Stroud an excuse and we don't, sorry, that would take away C.J. Stroud's best excuse and we don't want that. We want to keep having him fail in the playoffs and then say, but he didn't have a good offensive line

to take Matt's Herbert joke. So I think they're at this point to want a playoff game. At this point, I think Peter Woods is the name I'm looking at. Just as a big, nasty defensive lineman, he also was projected to be a top 10 pick heading into the year. Clemson had a very disappointing season. It didn't seem like he developed at all. But I think if you watch his very best plays, you can see a total game-wrecking defensive player there.

And I think Houston would be confident their ability to get the best out of him. And then the other side of this is there is another Clemson defensive lineman named Dexter Lawrence. who didn't really seem to develop at all when he was in college. But then once he got to the pros with the Giants, he became a difference maker right away. So I would maybe take a bet, like Jeff said earlier on Clemson just doesn't do the best job developing these guys and take someone who's clearly super talented on that side of the ball, just keep building on the strength and let C.J. Stroud figure it out on his own. I think that makes a lot sense for them.

Just sort of best big body right now. I don't think offense-aliming makes sense with where they're at right now. defensive lineman could make the most sense here. I got the Chiefs here, the last pick of the first. I got two of them remember. I think if you told me the Chiefs ended the first round with, you know, the pass rusher at 9 and Ruben Bain at corner at 29, be pretty happy about that.

I think Colton Hood is the guy, a man cover corner. She's played a ton of man coverage. They want to make sure to be able to pressure. You need to do that with, you know, with a man coverage player. So Coulterhood from Tennessee, cornerback is my pick for the Chiefs. Gabe, you have the Denver Broncos.

What do we got? Well, that's a great question, Jeff. I as a Broncos guy and believe that I have my quarterback, even though he was not there in the most important moment of our recent history. But I'm happy to go into the season with that quarterback. I have a great defense. I think I'd like a playmaker. if for no other reason than to get fantasy players to think about my team ever.

Okay. So I would like to go for some sort of offensive playmaker, either a receiver or a tight end if I can find one. And, you know, it's been working for me to pass it to you, Jeff. Yeah. Who do you like that's left of the wide receivers? It's possible some of the guys that have been taken already might have slid. but give me a guy who can maybe, you know, do something special on offense. It would be Boston if you're drafting wide receiver.

Oh, yeah. So Denzel Boston, big guy. Is that David Boston's kid? Oh. I never thought about that. When I saw big-bodied wide receiver last name Boston about this many years since David Boston's prime, I thought got to be, right? I don't know.

Is Denzel Boston, David Boston's son? Let's see what we get. But he's now a Denver Bronco, most importantly. Yeah, and he's going to love it there. That is a football coach named Chris Boston. Oh, well, okay, maybe he's his nephew or something. Coach's son. We love a coach's son.

Coach's son's good fit. But honestly, look, I was not a believer in the Broncos at all, and they had some really bad luck that cost them the end of the year. But, Jeff, do you think my logic is sound? Do you think they think, well, we got a win. a game in the 30s every now and then. We can't win every game, you know, 1710. I think that it's either wide receiver here or a linebacker.

That's filled out the two positions for them. If you take wide receiver now, it feels like it's the best time because the next group of wide receivers is not as good as this top group. It sort of ends with, in my opinion, sort of like the Tate, Lemon, Tyson, Concepcion, and Boston Cooper group, there's more ability, in my opinion, to get a linebacker later in the draft. So that makes sense to me. Matt,

you have the New England Patriots. What do we got here? Super Bowl losers. Also, we will definitely be on their win total under this season. Yeah, is there any news about the Patriots lately? I haven't heard much. Well, this is interesting. They're not doing the press conference.

So we don't, there's nothing to talk about with the Patriots. Yeah, well, they still have a need. Do they? I think this draft, this draft shook out pretty well for them.

And I don't know if you saw this, but there was actually there was photos of Mike Rable embracing someone in Arizona recently. Did you guys hear about this? I think when we have to talk about the pages who have to embrace our hands from now on the show together. Yeah, look, it's Max Ionacho from Arizona State. That's who they're going to pick in the first round.

Look, they're holding hands. All right. Max Ionacho. Arizona State, he's just very raw. He'll be good eventually, not right now. And you can let him kind of sit. and learn for a year. Unfortunately, we did not have a podcast

last week to discuss the minute topics in hand. Very fortunately. We did not have a podcast last week. That was in Arizona. I don't know if I'm getting enough credit for making this joke and landing the plane. Wait, wait, wait, why can't, Gabe,

why is it uncomfortable if we were talking about this last week? What's the problem with this topic? Where's the mute button on this thing? I'm just curious. Like, what's the problem? I mean, no one else wants to talk about it. That's the reason, Jeff. Because the only way to talk about it would be to say things that no one else is saying.

And are we really doing that? We're trying to give people the smartest draft coverage possible. Well, that was, not this week. That was last week. I did talk about it on the radio. I just, the interlocking hand photo is just. The one with Max Ian Natch, George? Yes.

I mean, they're like fully interlocked. I mean, it is like an embrace. It's an embrace. Okay. Nonetheless, last pick here. The champs. Hank with the Seahawks. What do we got here?

Keeping the mic over there for that whole conversation. The champs, I think... Not accidental. This is kind of a... I think like after you win a Super Bowl, you can afford to get a little crazy. There's a lot of ways you could go. The Seahawks lost some contributors in free agency,

so I think looking to replace any of those guys would be a good one. I'm between two here. One thing I want to say first, though, is Seattle currently doesn't really have a running back on their roster. They've been injured Zach Charbonnet, and I think Emmanuel Wilson is the other guy, and that's about it. But there's no running back worth drafting here.

We're not reaching two rounds ahead for Judarian Price or whoever you think it is. So not going running back here. I'm between two. There's a guy I like a lot, Avion Terrell from Clemson, little brother of A.J. Terrell. I heard him described as the T.J. Watt to A.J. Terrell's, J.J. Watt, a little smaller, not quite the athlete, but still very good football player

and someone who's going to be a difference maker. The other guy I like a lot is Malachi Lawrence who's just, I think he's like a nerd darling, he's an edge rusher out of UCF and just really, really explosive player. And the sort of guy I think could be a good Boia Maffei replacement who was kind of Seattle's go-to-speed rusher last year and also could be hopefully eventually their heir apparent

to DeMarcus Lawrence, who's 33 now and is only getting older. So I'll leave it up to Jeff between Lawrence and Terrell, who you like there. But I don't think there's any bad answers here. I think it's going to be Terrell because he's he's good at like pressuring and we know Seattle just does a bunch of crazy stuff on defense I think Terrell will be the guy here the corner out of Clemson And that's a that's the end of the mock draft Best joke of the day was Matt probably had the best joke

You two of them I laughed at two of them Gabe went with police academy that was a little old for everyone but otherwise We did it we did a good job here is game playing a game on his phone? What is happening over there? It's Colin Cowherts TikTok I'm producing enough another show right now, Jeff. I think if we're scoring jokes, I think that Matt missed an opportunity, especially with this foursome.

With that Max, who was the guy you drafted with the second and last pick? Yeah, not sure. Did you say Max Emmanuel Lacho? No. Maximum Emanuel Acho? Sounds like a great take show.

Maximum Ocho. Next time when I come to L.A. Guys, we're going to embrace by holding hands. That's what friends do. We're going to have a friendly embrace. That's what media members and football players who played at one point do. They get together and that's what happens.

They embrace each other with grabbing of each other's hands. Super Bowl and Vegas, Matt. You're probably going to go this year, I would imagine. We'll embrace hands like that. It's in L.A. It's in our backyard. It's down to.

Oh, it's in L.A. next year? Oh, even better. Oh, so we could do a live podcast that week. We're planning all sorts of things. We're also having a breaking news to the Jeff Schwartz is smarter than new podcast listeners. The Ducky Awards, the second annual, will be in person Tuesday, the week of Super Bowl.

So, Jeff, you should come present an award. That would be fantastic. Yeah. I'm down for that. We will have a surprise guest on the show next week. And the week after. We've been asking for this. I finally convinced him to do it.

I didn't have to rob him at all, so it's going to happen. My brother will be on next week. I've just ruined the surprise. My brother will be on next week. Looking forward to that. And the week after that, we're going to hopefully, maybe we'll work a show together in the fall.

We'll see how that goes. But tune into that. We'll preview the draft next week. A lot of fun, guys. I've got to go coach a 10-U softball game. Hell yeah. And hopefully get us to three and three. The old thunderbats chugging right along,

first game after spring break. Gabe, I've got to say, you are a fellow coach. It's very enjoyable to do. I have a good... I don't know why we're still talking. Get your butt to practice, man. That sounds like the best.

No game. It's been an afternoon. I've got my new era coaching coaching jacket on, my cage jacket on, ready to go. All right, guys, thank you so much. We'll be back next week. My brother here on Josh Walker Smarter than you. We'll talk to you guys then. Take care, everybody.

See, Bell.