KSR - NFL Cover Zero: Draft Week and Round 1 Mock Draft

Episode Date: April 21, 2026

Matt Jones is excited for Draft Week and wonders if teams will draft for production or potenial.  Do the Raiders draft Fernando Mendoza to play or to sit him for a while?  Where will the surprises by and how closely will teams stick to their needs?  Matt reacts to the Bengals trading for Dexter Lawrence while wondering what Aaron Rodgers' future in Pittsburgh will be.  Plus, every pick for every team in Round 1! NFL Cover Zero returns on Monday with the Official NFL Cover Zero Draft Preview!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. NFL Cover Zero with Matt Jones and Drew Franklin is a production of the NFL and IHeart podcast. Welcome, everybody. It has been a while. It is Cover Zero. A new episode. It's your NFL draft preview episode.

And I'm excited to be here. The draft is one of my favorite days of the year from a sports perspective. I think it's just since I was a kid. I wanted to be, it was like my internal. goal of being a gym. I think I knew as a kid, I could not be a player, but I felt like I could pick a team, and this is the, I think the NFL draft

is the best draft because you can actually build a team. You can watch it develop, and there are gyms to be found throughout. And my co-host, Drew Franklin, has had a baby. He has been the general manager of a new family, except this time the choice was made for him as to who would be on his squad. So congratulations. He has a new daughter, Avery Rose Franklin.

So please send your congratulatory messages and, I don't know, toys to Drew Franklin. Billy is here. He's going to do the draft preview with me while Drew is with his young daughter on paternity leave. Billy, are you excited for the draft? I am very excited. First of all, very happy for Drew. and Abby and Avery. Unfortunately, that girl's going to have to be a Titans fan.

A life of misery. Yeah. No, I don't know. Maybe they've turned it around. Well, they could be making a big selection here soon with the fourth overall pick. But yeah, excited about the draft. I got to go to the one in Tennessee a few years ago. And, man, just a swarm of people.

They really make it into an event unlike any of the draft. Yeah, Pittsburgh this year. The City of Bridges. Also, you might be watching this on a video. You may note that after a year, it looks like a show. That's right. After a year of camera work that seemed to try to exist to make me look as horrible as a person could look.

Now we have cameras that light us that make it look like we're actual human beings. Billy, I feel like in year two, cover zero is about to hit the moon. Yeah, I really don't know what to do with my hands with these fancy cameras. They are so nice and like professional TV lighting in this video. That's right on here. Look at these cheeks. Well, we still might zoom in on your face just for old time's sake. So one of the things that happens in draft season, of course, is mock drafts.

They go on, you know, as soon as this draft will be over, they'll be mocking the next draft. And I'm a sucker. I read them all. But I've had a theory for a long time, Billy, about the NFL draft that I don't think you need to do any prep work. None. None. I think teams. Now, it's a very controversial theory.

So far, no one has agreed with me on. I think teams should just get rid of their scouting department and just base their decisions on collective intelligence. Now, this sounds stupid, but I'm actually being serious. There are studies, Billy, that showcase that if, that in regular business hiring, that interviewing people actually makes you make worse decisions. that using creating objective standards is actually the best way to do it because when you interview people personal connections that may have nothing to do with the job at hand in your mind

become more important and you give more credit to your intuitive knowledge than objective facts and so they did some studies that showcased in various businesses what the difference would be between someone that interviews every candidate and someone who just hires based on resume. And they found that generally speaking over time, if you only hire based on resume, you actually long term will have better performance. Okay. So looking at the numbers instead of getting attached to what somebody might say. Because you might get ingested.

Because we have a natural inclination to favor people that are like us. Maybe they're well dressed. Maybe they make you laugh. Maybe you're attracted to them. Maybe you have some sort of bias in your head because, like, you're wearing a generic NFL hat. So what could you know? It was great to put this hat back on before the show today. So basically, you control your bias by not interviewing them.

I remember reading this study four or five years ago, and I thought, well, why wouldn't that apply to sports? Right. We have objective measurements. Production in college. you know, if you believe in combine tests, et cetera. And then they always interview the people. And oftentimes when they're picked, the guy will go, you know, they came in here and they just blew us away on the interview.

And then I often wonder if down the road it's just like, well, you like the guy. So you don't care about personalities on your team. You care about production. It's like a money ball for it. Well, I do wonder what would happen if all you did was take all these mock drafts, just pick based on them. Get rid of your scouting department because the mock drafts are essentially collective intelligence, right? Right.

And then go that way. Take the bias out of it, right? It's like, remember who wants to be a millionaire? Of course. The most successful help on who wants to millionaire was poll the audience. They did a study. You were more likely to get it right if you polled the audience than if you phoned a friend, than if you 50-fified,

the collective intelligence. So do it with the draft. I like the idea. I also like the idea of you being on who wants to be a millionaire. I think you'd do pretty good at that. I would, although I would take the money. People don't realize how stupid they are

when they guess for some of this stuff. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you should always take the money, in my opinion. Take the money. But, so in some ways, this draft that we're going to do here is the collective intelligence

smock draft. I like this. We're doing this. Billy, you would acknowledge you are not a Kiper. You're not even a McShay. Not in the same realm of these guys. You are not a Jordan Reed.

A Daniel Jeremiah. A Daniel Jeremiah. You are a Billy R. Sports. There's only one of them. And thus, we don't have intrinsic knowledge about these players. But I'm going to make a guess that when it's all said and done,

our mock draft of the first round we're going to do today will be more accurate than a lot of these other people's mock drafts because we're using the collective intelligence of a lot of mock drafts. And then do we have to see how it plays out five years later? We're going to do it. We'll judge it after the draft.

Okay. And then you are assigned to five years from now no matter where you are in your life. Come back and see if we did a good job. Yeah, sorry, boss. I'm working on looking back at the 2026 NFL draft. Yes, but you're a vacuum cleaner salesman now. Wow.

We really went downhill. No offense to vacuum cleaner salesmen out there. Are there still vacuum cleaner salesman? There's got to be somewhere. You know, when I was a kid, they would come to your house. No, they come to the house like the milkman. Yeah. Did you all never have this?

When I was a kid, you'd get a knock on the door. There'd be a man. And he'd go, may I speak to your parents? He'd say yes. And they'd come to the door and they go, I'm blah, blah, blah. I'm from the Hoover vacuum company. We would love to do a special demonstration of our vacuum. And if they invited you, if you invited them in the house, they would then like put stuff on your carpet, vacuum it up.

It would look amazing. And then you would buy a vacuum. That would probably be pretty convincing for me to come into my home and then just clean it right there. It worked. It worked. Where, too. Let me tell you something. I distinctly remember my parents bought both vacuums and encyclopedias from traveling sales. So it worked. It worked. And back in the day, especially worked in small towns, because before the internet, where else were you going to get

an encyclopedia? That's right. Yeah. You know what I mean? Or a vacuum clean. And they're in town, right? Yeah. There's, I mean, there are, there are stories about men who traveled the country just getting women pregnant and selling vacuum cleaners. Is there? Extracurricular after the vacuum demonstration. I don't think those two things like were intentionally together. There's a man on the road. Yeah.

You know, find love. Much easier to have a second life when you're not followed around. I think there's a song by Cell Phone. By Tanya Tucker called, I wish I'd known the man a little better that turned my mama on. That's a song? I think it is. It's called,

I wish I know I'm the man A little better that turned my mama on. And the premise of it was... He was a vacuum salesman. Well, he actually sold assorted greeting cards. You think I'm making this up. This is an actual country. I'll have to research that a little bit.

How did I get off on that? I don't. What does that have to do with the mock draft? Anyway, so vacuum cleaner salesman. let's get started. All right, I'm going to let you go first, and we will alternate back and forth

on who we think is going to get picked. So the Las Vegas Raiders are on the clock. Who are you taking? Yeah, well, they got a lot of needs. Receiver, O-line, defensive line, defensive back, but I think this is a no-brainer. The best quarterback in the field, Fernando Mendoza, seems like will be our number one pick

and the number one pick in Pittsburgh here on there. Do we think he's going to do well? I mean, there are people who say, if he was in that draft with Caleb Williams, he would have been like the fourth or fifth quarterback pick. Now he's the number one overall pick. Plus he seems like a very kind of Johnny good guy, but he's going to go to Vegas. I'd be worried about him, but the Raiders made a big move signing Kirk Cousins to a deal.

So maybe that gives him a little patience. Here's the thing. I didn't understand why they did that. Why? I mean, don't you just want to put him on the field? No. No, you've got to give him time to develop a little bit. No, but the number one pick has got to play.

He's the number one pick. You got to put him on the field. Yeah, I don't think the Raiders expect to make the playoffs. When's the last time a number one? one overall pick has not played right off the bat. So that's a great question. I mean, they always play. Cam Warren played.

You know, Caleb Williams played. Well, that's been the trend, right? The expectations have changed with these first round quarterbacks. So you wouldn't start him. No, not all year. Or at least I'd try not to. Yeah, I mean, I think if you go. Would you pick him, though?

Like, you think he's the number of people? I mean, if I'm the Raiders and I don't have a quarterback for the future, you don't know what's going to happen next year. You don't know what the... I mean, there are people who think next year might be a loaded quarterback draft. But if you believe in him, yeah, I think you go ahead and pick him. I mean, I don't think he's going to fail. Right.

I don't know if he's going to be great. But from what I've seen of that kid, I just don't see him failing. Well, Tom Brady's making the decisions, at least probably most of them. He probably knows something about quarterback playing. So maybe we trust his intuition there. Yeah. All right. So now I'm up.

It's the New York Jets. They have two high picks. This is apparently a debate between David Bailey of Texas Tech and Arvel Reese of Ohio State. Arvel, good mountain name could have been from Harlan County, good old Arvill. So, I mean, this is like a classic production versus potential debate. Yeah, and the Jets need. Do you prefer production or potential? Production.

I'm not going to put a defensive edge on the bench in year one. So they need to produce as soon as they come out. Yeah, I'm going to go ahead. I'm going to take David Bailey. I think he tied. He led the college football in pressure last year. He tied in sacks. He played for Texas Tech.

So unlike the Ohio State guys who had a lot of people to sort of share the load with, he's got the load. If I'm the Jets, I don't want to have someone fail. I'm going to go ahead and take David Bailey. Yeah, Jets 31st and Sacks last year. Didn't have an interception the entire year. Is that right? Is that right? Yeah, not one interception.

Oh, the Jets. I thought you meant Texas Tech. Yeah, they never did get one. I'm going to be excited for Aaron Glenn when they get one. Is he going to dance down the sideline again? That's his position. He's got to be like, I could get one. You come in as a defensive coach and you don't have an interception all year.

That is. That's got to be hard. It's an indictment. So now, so he's off the board. All right. So let's go Europe with the Arizona Card. Yeah, they really need a quarterback. There's just not one here for them right now,

and you don't want to jump it too much. Adam Schaefter's saying that Jeremiah Love could be in play for this pick, but I think Arizona needs a pass rusher. And Avril from Harlan really could. Arvel. Arvel could really help you. It's Arvail. I do want to get it right.

Ohio State has some really good pieces in the draft this year. I think they go defensive ed in Arville. You look at these top 10 guys, and you're like, how was Ohio State not better? Right. I mean, Ohio State is projected to have like three of the top ten and something like five of the top 17. It's like they should have, I know they were good,

but like how did they lose to Indiana? Because Indiana has Mendoza and no one else. Well, yeah, you remember the year they won the title, Ryan Day. He was on the hot seat like that entire year. And so even after they won, they weren't really satisfied. So you're taking good old Arville. Arvel. Good boy, Arvill.

Mom raised him right. Tennessee Titans go fourth. I'm going to follow what everybody's doing so far. I'm going to take Jeremiah Love. It's way too high to pick a... Are you keeping track, by the way. It's way too high to pick a running back, but it's what the Titans need.

You know, get a little excitement. He and Cam Ward. I'm going to go ahead and take him, get Jeremiah Love. I mean, I think it is high, obviously. He'd be the first running back drafted in the top. five since Sequin in 2018. But he was worth it. He was.

So you could see the value there. You know, they need a lot of positions too. But Cam Ward and Jeremiah Love can really get, you know, fans excited for when they enter that new stadium in the following year. Yeah. I mean, listen, is it a stretch, possibly? But I think it's a stretch that's worth doing. All right.

Fifth pick. Who you, it's the Giants? Who you got there, Billy? Yeah. I'm kind of looking out of Ohio State again. surprise. And while I like Carnel Tate, I think he's the best receiver in this draft and they could use another weapon

for Jackson Dart along with Malik neighbors. I really like Caleb Downs, the safety out of Ohio State. Oh, you're going to take Caleb Downs here. I'm taking him at five. Is that a bit of a jump? Well, no. I mean, I just hadn't seen a lot of people projecting him there, but you know what? This isn't about

projections. This is about what we think they should do. That's right. And that was a guy that was a playmaker all year long. They were calling him a top five pick since the very beginning. He lived up to that hype. So I think he's an Eric Barry type. I think he can go around the field and be the fifth pick.

Do you remember the Eric Barry song? I don't know. No, I don't think so. For the Chiefs, it was like a rap. And he was like, Eric Barry, you're so scary. I like it. I like it. Look it up. Okay. We'll see if we can

find it. I want you to look it up. I don't know if you would be able to play it on here. But there isn't Eric Barry song. Do you see it on there? Not yet. I spelled Barry wrong, unfortunately. If you spelled incorrectly, it'll be harder. That's not a type of fruit.

The Eric Barry. Okay. Low life? That's a highlight, really. Yeah. Right here it would go. Eric Barry, Eric. You so scared. So, just thought I'd give you that information. I like your pick of Caleb Downs. Nowie number six is the Cleveland Browns.

There's been a lot of speculation that this could be a trade. potentially to the Cowboys, especially if in your mock here that Sunny Stiles was available. I'm going to assume they don't make the trade, at which point Cleveland would pick. And I think at that point they will pick. I think they'll pick.

Another team that needs a quarterback that's just too high. They do, but they're not going to pick them. I think they're going to go offensive line. I'll take Francis from Miami, me, the offensive tackle. Moe Noah. What? Moe Noah.

You know that? I looked it up for the show started because I... This is what good producers do. Francis Moe Noah. That's right. I'm going to read you for a second on Francis Moe, Noah, what the people are saying. First of all, we're going on Daniel Jeremiah's board.

We're going way... He doesn't even have Francis Moe Noah getting picked at all. He doesn't? Well, the number one interior offensive lineman ought to be picked in the top 10. How does he not, what's he got against? Oh, there he, no, he hasn't even going fifth. Okay, sorry.

Peter Schrager. With Francis Moinesoa, he says Jackson Dart is already close with him. And he will be the first. So if Jackson Dart's already close, give me Francis Moley Noah. And the Giants have another pick in the top 10. Why did I say Jackson's Darry?

I'm sitting in the Cleveland. But it would be nice that he knows Jackson Dart. Todd Monkin, new Browns coach. going to need somebody. At least he knows. At least he knows Jackson, that should help him in Cleveland. All right, number seven,

Washington commanders, who you got? Threw me off too. I think this is a no-brainer. I think they've got to go receiver. Oh, you do? Okay, I actually thought, never mind, but good. No, even with Sunny Stiles falling,

I think he's best overall. I thought this would have been exactly where Sunny Stiles would end up. I think Carnell Tate is somebody that they can pair with Jaden Daniels. Terry McLaren's an older receiver. Luke McCaffrey ain't doing much. Traylon Burks is a name of Titans Passed. I think it's a little bit of a reach here, but give me Carnel Tate number seven. Well, you've got, that's what Mel Kiper has.

I mean, that's like a fit, right, if you're the commander. Correct. You're picking him there because it's a fit. It's probably a little bit of a reach in terms of where he's. Although, you know, I've seen him up as high sixth on people's best players available list. So I can respect it, which gets me to New Orleans at number eight. well somebody's got to slip here especially if you're going to get Tate there

I've not seen one mock draft where they don't have Ruben Bain going to going here to New Orleans so even though Sunny Stiles he'll be the guy that slips and I'll say Ruben Bain out of Miami a lot of people who are casual NFL draft fans will remember Ruben Bain because he played so well

during the playoff last year. That's right Miami, a heck of a year for them but that means the chiefs are going to ultimately get this guy? Well, I think the chiefs are sitting there. They're hoping that Francis Molligoa goes in the top eight because no matter what, they end up with a star right here. They would either end up with Carnell Tate as a receiver, which I think they would gladly sign up for, or they get sunny styles, right?

Right. So they're just hoping somebody jumps them, in my opinion, so one of those two one of those guys gets to them. And while they want to reload Travis Kelsey aging, how many years does he have left? Are you glad he's coming back? I don't know. I'm kind of over at all. Honestly, the Taylor Swift. What do you mean?

You're over it? I mean, they had their fun. I felt like it was. They're fun. It was every episode. We were bringing it up. Every game alluding to Taylor Swift during the Chiefs games. It's just a little much.

Let's get back to football, you know? You want to get back to football? I want to get back to football. Okay. All right. None of that's conversation. So with Carnal, do you think they would take Sunny Stiles? Or do you think they would take Jordan Tyson, the wide receiver from Arizona State, that everybody has had them projected here for a long time?

Easy time to overthink it like you think most GMs do. But I think they take place player available and they do go Sunny Stiles. And they have a beast on the defensive side. But I feel like the Chiefs owe it to Mahomes to go get an offensive guy eventually. Yeah. All right. So then that gets us to number 10. and I think the Giants probably traded up here to get an offensive lineman.

But if they're sitting there, I mean, I think if they're sitting there and you're the Giants and you've already picked at five in offensive linemen. Or excuse me, what do we have is five? Downs, actually, is defense. Downs, okay. Then I'm going to take Jordan Tyson here if I'm the Giants. I'm going to take a receiver for Jackson Dart and I'm going to go with him. I think that's the smart pick if that happens.

I think that's where I was going to go with the next pick in Miami. So they're going to have to pivot a little bit here. I like giving DART a weapon. You know, last year, a lot of his weapons got hurt. Have a young guy for him to grow with. I mean, now you've given him, you know, he's sad because his friend went to Cleveland in Francis. Well, Wondell left. Wendell did lead.

Shefter said that OBJ was in the building today. so he might be a possible signing if that guy is still going to play football. But if you can get Jordan Tyson and you can for the next five years have that as your one-two. It's hard for me to know it Jordan Tyson because he played at Arizona State, and I know they were good two years ago, but I haven't seen him enough to know, and he has not played against those elite SEC Big Ten defenders. You might like this detail, though. The Giants GM made the trade right after he left Arizona State's pro day.

Well, I mean, you act like I didn't know that. Why do you think I picked? So maybe they had this in mind. I'm not as dumb as I portray. I had a spy at the Arizona Workout facility. Is that right? Who gave me that information. All right.

So did you like the trade, by the way, of Dexter Lawrence? Did you like the Bengals pulling it there? I do like Cincinnati going all in. That's just a franchise that doesn't do that often. I think they realize that they lose this year. There's going to be a lot of questions with Joe Burrow. and if he wants to stay. So this immediately gives them an impact player on the other side of the ball.

So, yeah, I do. He's a proven commodity, and they signed him to extension. So that's three years of Dexter Lawrence. Three years of Dexter Lawrence. All right. So now we're going to get to the Miami Dolphins. I stole your player by taking Tyson. So who you take it.

Yeah. So I think if they're not going to have Tyson available, I don't know if they're going to go to the USC receiver yet. So I think that they might go defensive defensive. They might go defensive edge. This is all my stalling to try to figure out who to pick here. But I may go the corner out of LSU, Matt. Mansour Delane.

Yeah. I'm going to read you what Daniel Jeremiah says. Okay. Mansour Delane is one of the most consistent players in the draft cast. He makes everything look easy. He's loose and fluid. But when he's attacked, he can locate and make plays on the ball. There's just something.

I think, I don't know if Jeremiah was like being soft. when he said he was loose and fluid, but it felt like it. And I was like Mansour, loose and fluid. I like it. Can you imagine that pro day? Oh, Kana. All right.

The 12th pick in the draft is the Dallas Cowboys. Now, if there's one thing we know about the Dallas Cowboys, they want like a name, right? They want a star. The problem is pretty much all the big names have been. taken right here. So I don't really know none of these feel like

Cowboys picks. You know what I mean? Yeah, no, there's not, I mean, after the top 10, and this is maybe why the Cincinnati Bengals made that move is that it's, you know, not their names. I think it's wide open as to who you take after these. I'm going to say, you know, they like

to go receiver because they like to make a splash. They have good receivers. and that feels like the kind of thing they would do even though they don't really need a receiver. Yep. Jerry's still making those decisions, Matt. He is.

But you know what? I'm going to say they actually do something smart. And they take Spencer Fano, the offensive lineman in Utah. They say, you know what, let's go against our normal, always getting a splash, and let's take a Utah offensive lineman

the least sexy pickpock. I mean, I don't see Jerry Jones doing that. That would make a lot of sense. I mean, Dallas's O-Line used to be one of the best in the NFL a few years ago. And when they were good, that's what they did. So they should rebuild it. I like it. All right.

What's 13? 13 is the Los Angeles Rams. And that's a no-brainer, I think, to me. If you're going to leave me Lemon the receiver from USC, I think he can hear right. He literally can stay in the same apartment. That's right. And, I mean, Pooka Nakua just took a huge jump last year. and Devante Adams is still doing his thing.

When did Puka Nakua become like a bad boy? One of the Nelk boys or whatever. One of those. Like, when did he? Yeah, I don't know. Every time I read something, he's like, is he going to be one of these podcast dudes that I'm going to end up having to hate? Yeah, one of those seemed like he.

Bukkah Nacoa. But you may have to think about that when you're picking. So like, that may be the kind of guy that doesn't have a long shelf life. Well, it's about maximizing Matthew Stafford and what he's got left, right? and you give them another receiver, I think that could go a long way. So I'm going to take lemon there. All right.

So now we get to the Ravens at 14. You know. New head coach. New head coach. So like a lot of the philosophy that we've seen for a while will be different. I'm going to go. Let me see if I can pronounce this. Savio Vega Eone.

Why did I say Savio? That was a former WW. Yeah, for us. Sorry. Ola Vega. Oh, yes. The Penn State. How do I say that first name? Honestly, you could give me 10 different pronunciations that I wouldn't know.

Oli-Ia-Vega. That's not right. Only-veva-viga, loan. That wasn't anything like you said the first time. Well, we're working it out. Ola-Iva-Vega. Yeah, that's... Olae Iva Vega Eone.

He's, that's, Raven's like that. Oh, that is a Raven if I've ever seen. He's huge, isn't he? Isn't he like 398 pounds or something? Let's, 98 would be a lot. 64320. Yeah.

No, I remember seeing him at the Pro Day, and he's just like a massive human being. He's a be a left tackle. I like it. Give me him. But him and Derek Henry running at you, the same time, that is, that is intimidating, no doubt about it. No doubt.

No doubt. All right. So now we're up to the 15th pick. Who's got the 15th pick? My Tampa Bay Buccaneers. All right. So you've, you're an expert here. You should be able to tell me what they're going to do.

Yeah, well, they're not going to win the division this year. I've got really low expectations for them this year, unfortunately. I think they need an edge rusher, but I don't see one really in the caliber that they need right now. So I think they double up. They lose Mike Evans, so they go tight end. Kenyon Sidette. Kenyon Sadiq, pair him with Kate Aten, and I think you've got a new revamped offense. So what do you know about if you're advocating for Kenyon Sadiq?

What don't I know about? Sadieke, Matt, eight touchdowns last year, 6-3-245. I mean, such a massive improvement from year two to year three. What don't I know about Kenyon Sadiq? I mean, he's about to be a Buccaneer. Is he? Let me tell you what Daniel Jeremiah says because he has good things to say. I love his competitiveness, tenacity, but he does not have consistent hands.

What? That's all I need out of it. But you know, I think what he means is one is twice the size of the other. Not what I expect. So he's got one hand that's like three feet tall. And then he's got another little bitty hand. We'll make sure we're throwing the good hand. So you just have to know to throw it to the good hand.

Well, that's why we've got two tight ends, Matt. One with two great hands and one with an exceptional hand. And then I don't know about the other one. That's one just amazing. And the other one's not quite as consistent. Right, number 16. New York Jets are back on the clock. I think now if you're the Jets, you address defense on your first pick.

You go get Omar Cooper Jr. from Indiana. Hmm. He had 13 touchdowns last year. You used to play in Madoza, a great culture. You need a culture. You know, the Jets have all these, there's random rag-tag group of scaloags. And then you throw a good culture guy like Omar Cooper Jr.

And you help rebuild your offense. So I will take him. Yeah, I'm not sure if I can name another receiver besides Garrett Wilson for the Jets. So that go a long way. Yeah. So you get him and Garrett Wilson, pair him up on his. each side. I like it. He also, he had a game, I want to say, against Penn State, where he got that breakaway. And like he flashed great speed in that one. So I, I like him right here if I'm the Jets.

Yeah, there was also, I don't know if it was him that catch in the back of the end zone versus Penn State. But if it was, good play. Oh, Moore. Yeah, that was, he had two big plays in the game. I think so, yeah. All right, what's next? The lions are picking at 17th. and when I saw that there's an offensive lineman from Georgia, that's 6-7-3-15. That is, that literally you would create a Dan Campbell player in the lab. They already got Monroe. Monroe Freeling.

They already got Tate Ratledge last year from Georgia, still waiting on that jersey from you, Matt. But Monroe Freeling, to pair him up there, I think, would be perfect. Monroe, first of all, if there are more Georgia name than Monroe Freeling? It does sound like somebody that knows his way around a peach. My dad's got a farm. Monroe Freeling.

He also, like, it sounds like he'd be in like a fraternity pledge class. Who's your chapter president? Meet Monroe Freeling. He's the disciplinary chair, Monroe. Well, he is huge. And I like that pick. I think that's a good one. All right, we'll go to the Minnesota Vikings.

I'm going to take. I have two choices here. I can either get the dude from Oregon, but people don't like to take safeties. Well, there's two safeties here. Do you want to do Theenaman from Oregon? Or do you want to do, I'm going to go with the guy from Toledo.

Emmanuel McNeill Warren. From Toledo. Yes. He is the, he's kind of been competing with Theenaman as the number two safety behind downs. And, you know, listen, If you're on a draft board from Toledo, you've proved it enough.

Yeah, I mean, the people came from the portal said, you want to cut? He was like, nope, Toledo. He's going to be loyal. I already used those Midwestern colds. Yeah, that's right. He's not too far away. So I'm going to go ahead and take my guy Emmanuel McNeil Warren. Well, I don't think that's a bad pick.

Harrison Smith is in year 14 with the Vikings. Wow, is that right? Yeah, the safety from Notre Dame back in the day, I believe. That is a long time. All right. what the Carolina Panthers are going to do. Well, they'll go with the other safety that you didn't pick Matt. We're not going to overthink it.

Yeah. It's Dylan Thineman is, I believe, how you would. I would say The Anaman. Okay, well, to each their own. But Brian Flores over there, well, that's with the Vikings. The Enaman is with the Panthers with Dave Canales and Carolina Mike and all the momentum over there. The NFL is got to find a new song, Mario.

I've now heard him sing his Instagram, 65 versions of that. if I had $150,000. So is he a one-hit wonder right now? Right now, I think that's where I would lean towards. We need to branch out. But I will say, man, he got a lot of performances out of that. Well, for Bryce Young to tell us, they stopped what they were doing, to turn to the Jumbotron to watch, was a very cool moment.

Totally understand why they did it. I would have done the exact same thing. So now let's go to the 20th pick. Oh, excuse me, four. I want to go back to The Anamon for a minute. And I read you what Daniel. Jeremiah said. Please.

Against the run, he trusts his eyes and will explode in the alley. Overall, I would just say, Thineman does a lot of different task at a very high level. So when I read that, when he says task, I think like he can come fix your air conditioning. Yeah, he's handy. He's like a handyman. Yeah.

I have a handyman. His name's Rusty. Is this real life again? Real life. Okay. The name's Rusty. Comes over. Hey, Rusty.

Can you do this? Yes. What about this? Yes. He'll show up all he's got is a wrench. And he'll walk out and he'll fix everything you got. Oh, that's all you need. It's all you need is a wrench to get it done the right way.

The enemy is the NFL drafts Rusty. He also trust his eyes, which is something we should all do, Matt, is trust our eyes. Are there others who don't? You're telling me. I mean, we are both wearing glasses. Are there guys in this draft? They do not trust their eyes because I'm not picking them. If they're out there trying to play football in the sense of smell.

Yeah, they're just blind up there. Come on, we need people with all their senses. Which way to go? I'm sorry. You don't get this kind of thing on. On what? On Tomic Shays. Yeah.

On Tomic. Where are we? 20th. 20th. Is that meme? Yes. Cleveland Browns. Well, I think it's the

Cowboys here, actually. Oh, okay. Well, now they then they got to go defense. And let's see, which of the edges? What's an edge? Oh, the guy from Miami. Akeem Messador. Akeem Messador?

Yes, he's one of the older players in the draft. He just turned 41. I screwed that up. It is the Browns. Why did you tell me it was the Cowboys? Because that was a protective trait. Well, I'm not taking him. If I'm the Browns, I'm taking a wide receiver. So I'm going to take Denzel Boston Jr.

Okay, I like that big better for them. Yeah. Well, if you make me get the right team. Denzel Boston from Washington, this says he has a huge catch radius. Because, again, he uses all his senses. How many good hands does he have? Just one big hand. Denzel Boston, Jr., I think Cleveland needs a receiver,

regardless of who their quarterback is. Give me Denzel. I like it. I mean, Jerry Judy is there, but besides that, not a ton of talent. So bring in Boston from Washington. He can be a good pickup there for them. Yeah. He's also, isn't he like a, I think he's got a big personality if I've seen that guy before.

I think he does videos and stuff. All right. 21, Pittsburgh Steelers. Oh, they're going to love this pick. You know, everybody gets excited when it's in this draft city. Can we talk about Aaron Rogers for a second before we make this pick? Because he is still not told the Steelers what he's going to do for 2020. There's no more selfish person than him.

He's like, I mean, just decide already, right? Yeah, just make a decision. I mean, now they go into the draft with two quarterbacks and Will Howard and Mason Rudolph, but really no idea of the direction of the team. Well, so the question is, do you take Ty Simpson here? I mean, if you're Pittsburgh, do you want, do you want to take him? And then with Aaron Rogers, is it better or worse? Or do you wait for next year?

Because there's going to be probably six or seven guys that are first-round contendering. next year. Yeah, next year's draft is loaded with quarterback prospects. So what are you doing? I mean, I think the rest of this draft pivots on what you decide here, so don't screw it up. Well, definitely a trade-down candidate if they can. But, like, yeah, I think you just wait for Aaron Rogers and probably go offensive line. So I'm going to go with the tackle from Arizona State here.

And this is another great pronunciation. Max Ian Schauer. Who did you just pat? He's not on my board. He's on the board here. One of the offensive tackle prospects from Arizona. Oh, is that the guy from Nigeria? He might be.

You know, he's from this world. So, I mean, that is in consideration. Well, there's a guy. This is not the guy, Max Ian Schar. But there's a guy I was reading about who the NFL has brought to the draft who's never played football. Did you see that guy? Ian Schauer is from L.A. Okay.

But if he's never played football and he's in the draft, that might be a problem. He's not from Nigeria? No, this guy is from L.A. No, this says, I'm looking at it. Ian Schauer is still relatively new to football. He was a Nigerian-born tackle that came to the United States at 13. Well, ESPN needs to work on their bios for these players because it says he is from his birthplace with L.A. California. L.A. Nigeria.

They're pretty similar, right? I mean, no, there's a guy that they're expecting to go in like the seventh round who has never played in a football game. See, that seems concerning. He,

they brought him, I guess the NFL has some sort of program where they try to get people from around the world involved in the sport. And they found this kid. And he was, I think they brought him to the U.S. He went to,

let's say, I don't know, pick a, like, cop and state or a school like that. And then he didn't play. But he's supposedly like the best athlete ever.

Well, you asked, would you draft on potential or production? No, this guy is like, there's a story about this guy. I can't, I don't know what I'm. I know it just sounds like I'm babbling words, but I promise you this person exists. And they said he's going to end up on an NFL roster because his athletic potential is like bizarre. Well, do you feel like players in other sports could play in the NFL? Yes. Like LeBron.

More than any other sports. So there's the translation there. Yeah, I mean, I think, don't get me wrong. There's a huge skill set to play in the NFL. But you have a better chance of taking an elite athlete and having him be good at the NFL than any other sport. Yeah, basketball, you got a dribble. I mean, that could be a big.

I mean, just think about like Antonio Gates, right? And football was almost secondary for him. And he ended up being a hallfamer. How awesome was he? He was great. I mean, remember Brock Lesnar went to the Vikings camp? I don't remember that. How did that turn out for Brock?

He didn't make the team, but he did. They considered it. Yeah, that just looks like a guy that can play football. Let's sign him up. See how he can do. I can see that. All right. We'll go to 22.

22 is the Chargers here. Yeah. What do I want? Chargers need a lineman, an edge rusher. I'm going to go. Not a quarterback. Boy, I don't like any of my selections here. I guess I'm going to go offensive line and go Blake Miller from Clemson.

All right. Talk about a call. culture change. It gets away from Dabo. It has to go to the bright lights of the L.A. Well, he gets hardball, so, I mean, it's not that different from Dabo, right? I don't know a lot about Clemson offensive lineman, except I remember seeing it. They would always show him.

Like, I guess he was a good student, and he was always wearing khakis, so I'll take him. Oh, well, look at Dabo, start him every game for something like that. Eagles, 23. The Eagles, who Adam Schaefter with some news over the last couple days, likely to move on from A.J. Brown. and likely to trade them to the Patriots. Thank goodness though, right? If you're an Eagles fan, he's just been

reading his book on the sideline. But he's just been a hassle. Like, you won the Super Bowl and you were still complaining. That's a dude you're never going to make happy. No, I agree. I agree. And so I think that they're looking for an edge rusher. I know Blake Miller, or not Blake Miller, we just talked about him. I know Peter Woods is a good defensive tackle,

but I'm going to go more edge here. I'm going to go Zion Young. defensive end from Missouri for the Eagles. Okay. Zion Young from Missouri. That's who we thought. A lot of people had him projected to the Bears. So you stole him from my team.

Yeah. You watch a lot of Missouri games this year? Do you know anything? Try not to. Most boring field in the United States. They say it's the worst, what is it? Well, they have a grass. They have a grass area.

Yeah, the berm. No, but like you can just wander into it. There are people there who think they're having a class. It's the worst stadium in the... It's got to be one of the worst stadiums in a power four. I can't... Dukes is worse. I'm trying to go...

Stadium's worse than Missouri. They're not many. Yeah, they just seem out of place a little bit. They had so much success when they first joined the SEC, but since, not a lot. Yeah. I'm going to admit to you my note-taking hasn't been great on this. That's okay. I've got it all written down here when I check in five years.

But if you, if all of a sudden it's... I'm not really able to keep track of who's on the board. that's why. Are we at Cleveland? Yeah, we're at, yes. Give me Jermad McCoy from Tennessee. He is a cornerback. He missed most of last year with an ACL.

He's a top 10 pick if he had not gotten hurt. And I think if you're Cleveland, you've already had one first round pick that you took a receiver on. This is a guy who, you know, is worth the risk because you could be getting a top 10 talent at 24. And the Browns getting this pick, I believe, when the Jaguars traded up to pick Travis Hunter last year. So the Browns with two first round picks this year.

Which ended up being, I think, a really bad pick for their Jacksonville making that trade. Yeah, he struggled year one. Do you not think Travis Hunter? No, I just think they didn't need to trade up. You know, I think they'd been better off with those picks. Yeah, probably. Like if you were, now Jacksonville ended up being pretty good, so that pick is not as good as you might. have thought it would have been but uh i still i still think you'd rather have the have the because i think

they gave up two picks right to get that yeah so all right who's next uh 25th is your chicago bears so i know you've been thinking about this pick for months at this point now dude if i had a dollar for every time i thought about but you know with all the noise on the offensive side of the ball i think they go defense okay good i think they go defense and i think they go peter woods that's that It's going to be a great get for him at this point. From Clemson, I think he does, fills a need for them on the defensive line. There was a time Peter Woods was. Yeah, I mean, if you, like here on this one, I'm trying to think, who's bored this is?

They have him 10th. So if you get him at 25. But that's a guy who at one point was, I think, projected going in the season as a top five pick, wasn't he? He had a very much underperformed this year. Yeah, I remember that name. So he very well. I genuinely think he was projected maybe at one point is a top five pick. So if you could get him at 25.

It would be quite the fall, though. Oh, that is it. It's already a fall wherever he goes. Because, I mean, this is a dude who genuinely should have been picked in the first five to ten if he had not had a disappointed. I do feel bad for the guys in the green room when they fall and their whole family is just looking around. It was Will Levis a couple years ago. Yeah, that was the bad. It was a bad one.

And then, well, and then. Gino Smith. Lamar Jackson. I mean, these guys are expected to go high. Because a lot of those guys have ended up being successful off of it. I mean, Aaron Rogers. Yeah. Many years ago.

Aaron Rogers was one of the first ones that it happened to. Will Levis got his girlfriend famous from it. Mega viral. Yeah, she became a star from just sitting there and waiting. Yeah. What's her name, Gia Dutty, I think is her name? I remember it all these years later. That's impressive.

I'm impressed. All right. Buffalo Bills are next, right? Yes, maybe our resident team here on Cover Zero after our trip last year. Yeah, I'm going to take, I'm going to take Caden Proctor from Alabama. This is a bust or massive success pick. There's nothing in between. He was, I think, disappointing at Alabama,

but another guy who at one point was a top 10 projected pick. Probably has more upside than anybody, but he also could be out of the league in three years. Who was it? Do you not follow my... No, no. Who did you say it was again? Hayden Proctor. Proctor. Oh, that's right. I was thinking about the other guy.

So I'm going to take him. And I think this is another one of those. If you're Buffalo, good culture. Bring this guy in. And you could be getting a steal. I like it. I like it, even though I just found out who it was after I didn't hear you the first time. You should listen a little bit better.

What's next? The 49ers are at 27. And, you know, it's a luxury, I think, here. I don't know if they have a ton of needs. They, you know, they did sign, I believe, Trent Williams, do a new deal today. So I did see that. But I'm going to go edge rusher here. Who you got?

I'm going to go Keldrick Falk, the defensive end from Auburn, to bolster the pass rush there. The rich get richer in this sense. It feels like Auburn gets a Falk every few years. I can't name any others, but it does. I know Marshall Falk. It does feel like. All right, we'll go to 49ers. I'm going off the board.

For who? For the 49ers at 27. I just picked them. So if you want to go 28, that would be... At 28 for the Houston Texans, I'm going off the board. A lot of people don't see this coming. Cassius Howl. Whoa.

From Texas A&M. People have him projected as a second rounder. Mario write this down. He's the first round. Could go... I think he could go as high as 20th, but I'll take him here at 28 for the Texans. Watch out Cash's Howl right down the road from Houston.

in college station. So what did you see? Like, I mean, the intangibles are there. Maybe one big hand, one little hand. Hips. Oh, the hips. They don't lie. I've heard that. No, he's undersized. He's little. He's 5'1. Five one. Somebody better throw it in the air. All right, I know people will be surprised. I was kind of making that up. And then I just read Daniel Jeremiah. What did DJ say? Against the run, he controls and rolls his hips and uses leverage. I know he lacks measurements, but a smart team will see this as a first round player.

I mean, he saw his hips and had the same thought, Matt. So Cassius how, or is they like to call him Hips Howl? Hips Howe goes 28th. Four more. The Chiefs are back. Chiefs are back. And, man, I think they'd love a receiver here, but I'm not going to give him a receiver.

I will not see that through. I think they go corner here. I'm going to go with what the consensus on a lot of mocks are here. Colton Hood from Tennessee for the Chiefs. I remember him. Tennessee fans were always complaining about him. Why? Because they always just felt like he got beat,

even though he had like crazy talent. I think that's another guy. I know I keep saying this, but there was the time he was projected as a higher pick as well. Well, with DBs, you've got to have a short-term memory. You do. That's what they always say. Who's at 30?

The dolphins are at 30. This is kind of like where a lot of projected trades are, like people coming up to maybe get Ty Simpson here. Yeah, that's not what's going to happen. They're going to pick Casey Concepcion. Whoa. Of Texas A&M. Okay.

Another one, hips. Well, no, it's not about his hip. He has a good jab step. And then he explodes down the field. Okay. You've never seen his jab step? No, I haven't seen... Gets one foot in the ground and then...

And he... That's what the dolphins need. Give me Casey Concepcion. Man, dolphin season might turn around with Concepcion. I can't drop it so much. No, I understand. His drop rate, I believe, was one of the worst in the SEC. Okay.

Well, he's got a clear goal in mind. I'm sure the dolphins won't. Well, receivers, they got to work on their catching. I would say so. All right. Patriots. Patriots, man, they're going to be around for a while, aren't they? You think Drake, May and New England's just going to be in the 30s or late 20s for a while?

It's the success that they have. I think he's going to be a bust. I've projected that for two years. Well, then maybe they should go Ty Simpson here. You know, Matt? That would be a surprise, yeah. I don't think I'm going to pick it. But since 97, there's only been one draft with only one quarterback in the first round.

Is that right? And that was 2022 with Kenny Pipp. ticket going to the Pittsburgh. I remember that. He didn't go until later in the first. So I'm going to make it two drafts since 97, at least on my selections. I'm going to go defensive end, Hakeem Mesdor from Miami. Like him.

Okay. By the way, some breaking news. Spirit Airlines is offering the U.S. government an equity stake to buy the airline. You can be an owner. For those of you that think Spirit wasn't good enough, how about letting the government? government fly your plane. Sounds like they're desperate. They're going to ask the government.

Man. Have you ever flown a spirit? Oh, yeah. That was my airline of choice for a while. Is it like, are there chickens on it? Like, what's it? Close. Like, I don't want to disparage to find people over there.

But, like, you know, sometimes you're, you know, you can't lean back because your chair's not working correctly. They don't have working chairs. No. That's just feels like that's being a wall. or movies or Netflix on the Spirit Airlines, at least the ones I've never been on there. I haven't been on Spirit, haven't been on Frontier, whatever the other ones, Whip? Well, you know, I don't fly private everywhere I go mad like you. I don't fly private either.

I will either fly Delta American or, you know, no, no. Oh, see, you got to muck it up a little bit sometimes. Spirit and Allegiant are just a different experience. Yes, it's an experience I'm trying to avoid. Yeah, well, I wouldn't even fly Southwest. Really? Because I don't want to stay in line. Oh.

What was Southwest point of not assigning seats? Why is that better? I don't know. I mean, maybe it gets a little contentious at times when you don't have assigned seats, right? So what's the good? It can't be quicker. It's got to be quicker. To not have assigned seats?

Correct. Yeah, you just let them go. And they probably just fill it up themselves. There's no like, oh, that's my. my seat. No, you're in my seat. Ma'am, he's in my seat. Can you get him out? I think that takes longer. I flew southwest

one time and I ended up with Marilyn Manson next to me. Is that why you don't do it again? You don't know that? Drew and I flew middle, Drew and I flew from Vegas to L.A. on Southwest and Marilyn Manson set middle seat between the two of us.

Okay. Did not predict middle seat, but was he a talker? He chose middle seat. Oh, he chose? Was he the talker. He never shut up. For an hour, he did not stop talking. And we were like, literally like, well, this guy shut up. I'd be excited to talk.

And then, like, he would for 10 minutes. And then he just keeps going on and on. He put in the air pod. Have you never heard us tell this story? I mean, vaguely, yes, I have. But I do want to play it up for the. For the audience. Okay.

Yeah, he set middle seat between me and Drew, chose middle seat, left his girlfriend to sit by herself. Did not remember that detail. And sat between us and just didn't shut. Including he said, can I get you all a drink? And we were like, sure. And then they came and he points at me and go, he's got it.

That's a rock star move. I love that move from him. Do you? Yeah. But like I would have been like trying to put the earbud in my ear into like the 20, 30 minute mark. He had like five minutes where he was coming. I was on a TV show at the time. And I told him that.

And he goes, oh, I have some ideas for TV shows. and he just came up with Yeah, open the floodgates with that one. All right, finally. Seattle Seahawks, you know, they now have an open spot at running back. Yeah. So I actually think they take the backup at Notre Dame.

Judarian Price, you know, didn't even have to run it very much, but with Kenneth Walker out, they got to replace that. 30-second pick seems perfect for me to get him. You get an extra year with him if you get him at the end of the first round. So I will take him, Judarian Price. Again, the damn chiefs getting a Super Bowl MVP in Kenneth Walker. They just cannot be stopped. But they needed it because they haven't had that running back option in a couple of years because of injuries.

So I like it. Well, you know, Seattle, I'm going to get a good one to running back Notre Dame. That's right. So there you go. That's the fight. So you have written down all the picks. I have it. We will compare them to the picks of everyone else.

I hope you all have learned and gotten yourself ready for the draft. and I think this is all anybody's going to need to listen to. I will never think about vacuum salesman again the same way. And who is the guy that has two hands that are not the same size? It was my tight end, wasn't it? Sadiq. Sadiq. Sadiq.

Two hands that are not consistent size. Be watching for that on draft night. I'm going to have to work with him. I want you to be watching and see, yeah, here we go. He says he has consistent hands. Giam and Sadiq. I'm looking forward to it. How's he by gloves?

Oh. I mean, like big and tall, right? You got to... For one. All right, thank you all very much. We will see you after the draft. Enjoy Pittsburgh. It's cover zero.

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