Locked On Colts - Daily Podcast On The Indianapolis Colts - LOCKED ON COLTS 4/10/20: Blue Star Prospects

Episode Date: April 10, 2020

The Indianapolis Colts under GM Chris Ballard prioritize two things probably more than anyone else: high character and Senior Bowl success. Without further ado, it's our second go-around with unveiling Blue Star Prospects.Last year, we also did this but we went even deeper this time thanks to Dane Brugler's draft guide outlining character. In total, 32 prospects made the top cut. Ironically enough, only two quarterbacks are on the list as well.Blue Stars cover QBs, WRs, TE, OL, DL, CB. No surprise, the biggest areas of need remaining for Indianapolis.Closing out the show, it's Part 1 of our network-wide mock draft covering picks 1-6. Stay tuned for a huge Colts surprise next week! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello everybody, welcome back into your latest episode of Locked On Colts, probably Locked On Podcast Network. Today's iZero host, Evan Sedry. I'm going solo today on today's episode because we have a special unveiling of even more draft-related info for our listeners here on the podcast. And today, if you've been a loyal listener from the very beginning here, when I first started hosting the podcast, I took an idea from Daniel Jeremiah and Bucky Brooks,

and up on that work, Moody Sticks Podcast. They have a Red Star system they use for their favorite prospects and ones that really fit the kind of criteria they want in a player or a prospect. And from what Chris Ballard's shown us over the last couple of years, as far as high character guys, an emphasis on the senior bowl, a very high emphasis on being a

team captain and being a high character player, as well as producing on the field while they're in college, I think we have a pretty solid idea through three drafts entering into year four of Chris Ballard as far as the players he prioritizes. And on today's show, we're going to unveil our Blue Star system, which we did last year. We had a couple of players on that list who were actually Colts on there as well. So if you want to go back and listen to our last year's show for our Blue Star prospects, go ahead and do so. See how many we got right there. But we have 32 prospects on this list.

Thanks to Dane Brugler, who's going to be on actually a Monday show. So look forward to that one. The Athletics NFL Draft coverage main writer over there, Dane Brugler. Very well respected. He was offered a scouting position from Chris Bauer before he went over to the Athletics. So Chris Bauer is definitely familiar with him. Been on the show a couple times. Look forward to that one.

But using Dane's The Beast draft guide over 250 pages, able to really deep dive the past few days into some more players who really fit what the Colts look for. Like I mentioned, high character, producing the field, et cetera. And I have 32 prospects here at positions of need for the Colts. I didn't go into every single player because that's a very thorough process. We're going to talk about even a lot more players who qualify as Blue Stars before the NFL draft kicks off here in a couple weeks. But I think today we wanted to just unveil the whole list as far as a

quarterback, wide receiver, defensive tackle, offensive line, and the trenches. There's a lot of players in day one, day two, day three who really check a lot of these boxes. And don't be surprised if the players that I list today are future Colts, because, like I mentioned, a very, very high success rate is this Blue Star system so far. I'm looking forward to unveiling it to you guys right here, right now, but in the second part of our show, I just wanted to let you guys know, it'll be

picks one through six of our Locked On Podcast Network mock draft. Hint, hint, the Colts will be involved in this some way or another in round one. I got a little aggressive here, so we'll talk about that on the show when those picks are announced later on in the week and in the next week for the podcast.

On the end of each podcast here, while we're doing our network mock drafts, it'll be doing picks one through six and six at a time. Throughout the rest of this weekend and throughout our shows, you'll be able to hear how our entire network went about and negotiated trades and how that first round of the mock draft went. How it might compare to the actual NFL draft here, less than two weeks away,

virtually on Zoom conference, whatever they're going to be using. It's going to be such an interesting experience, what's going on with the coronavirus pandemic worldwide. But without further ado, let's dive straight into it now. The Blue Star players, the players who really check all the Colts boxes as far as high character, team captain, mostly the Blue Star system like I mentioned. Senior Bowl, you participate in the Senior Bowl or an All-Star event. Shrine game, we can also include that if you want to. If you're in the All-Star system or at least had an invite,

some guys who are on this list were injured, so they were included but did not participate. And also, you were a team captain. If you just have those two filters right there, Senior Bowl or upperclassman all-star event plus team captain, we've seen so many guys go to Indianapolis over the past three years just thanks off of that criteria. So let's dive into it now. Starting off with quarterbacks. Interestingly enough, two players, two of the most highly linked quarterbacks to the Colts so far throughout

this process, qualify for this. Jordan Love, Utah State, was a team captain this past year for Utah State, and as well as participating in the Senior Bowl. Jalen Hurts, a two-time captain at Alabama and Oklahoma before he transferred, and as well as participating in the Senior Bowl. And we also, I marked down in my notes here, because I think this is pretty important with what we've seen of Chris Bauer in the past. If he goes and watches a player in person, I feel like that's pretty notable here. He went and watched Jalen Hurts when Oklahoma played against LSU in the National Semifinal.

Lots of NFL process on LSU and Oklahoma. Even more Oklahoma and LSU players on this list as we go on here. But I just find it very noteworthy that we should include that here as we're going through this list. Jordan Love and Jalen Hurts are the only two guys who qualify for this, ironically enough, which means if the Colts, I think, are sold on Jordan Love, I think he'd make the move up to the delay first round. We've seen so far, Buzz is really cool on Jordan Love. I know he really blew up the combine.

A lot of top 10 Buzz, a lot of top 15 Buzz, but free agency really changed a lot for Jordan Love's stock, because we already know Joe Burrow's been number one in Cincinnati. Tua Tagovailoa is either going three via trade, five or six to the Chargers or the Dolphins. It seems like those are the two teams fighting for Tua right now. And Justin Herbert, it seems like his stock has really

risen throughout this process, and his floor seems to be pretty clearly within the top 15 of this year's class. But Jordan Love is the true wild card here. Really, before we saw the close-me-the-trick with DeForest Buckner, we saw Tom Brady go to the Buccaneers, we saw so many other quarterback dominoes now. I think the earliest we see Jordan Love get drafted here

is maybe 19 to Las Vegas. And I feel like even that's a stretch because it's on Marcus Mariota. They seem like they like Jalen Hurts a lot, so they could be a trade-down candidate. Maybe they're not submitting my Jordan Love there. So if they pass on him, maybe Jacksonville at 20 could be an option for them, but it seems like they're pretty intent on winning for 2021 with Justin Fields and Trevor Lawrence.

Go past Jacksonville, though. You get to New England at 23 and a lot of buzz that they're going to stick with Jared Stim for the year. If it doesn't go well, they're going to target 2021 like Jacksonville is. New Orleans is really the only wild card here as far as they can actually take Jordan Love because there's a lot of buzz now about Drew Brees mainly being in the last year of his contract. He has accepted a position with NBC Sports to be their eventual replacement to Chris Collinsworth. So maybe there is only a year or two and maybe New Orleans pounces on the opportunity.

If Taysom Hill, if the smoke about him being a future franchise quarterback is legit, they won't do this. But if it's just a smokescreen, I think they would take Jordan Love in this scenario. But if he slips past 24, guys, I think this is when Chris Bauer really gets into play at 25 in Minnesota, 27 in Seattle, or 31 in San Francisco. I think all three of

those make a lot of sense. We saw last year the Colts did the inverse, trading out with the Redskins and getting a future second-round pick. I could easily see trading to Minnesota, Seattle, or San Francisco. 34 plus a 20-21 second I think is more than enough to get up into that late-20s, early-30s range, which could be

exactly where Jordan Love lands. Just imagine that scenario about a month or two ago. If the Colts could walk out of free agency with Phillip Rivers as their franchise quarterback for now in the next one or two years, DeForest Buckner is a game-changing defense tackle and you still get Jordan Love late in the first round early second round that is a home run off season Jalen Hurts is the interesting one like I mentioned there Chris Ballard Solomon Person his anticipatory reads are very pedestrian at this point in time but I could see maybe the Colts

being a position where they could use him like a Taysom Hill. We saw Frank Reich talk about it, which Cody Bursette, which I think is purely smoke. I can't imagine him using him, anything like that. Maybe you could go Jalen Hurts at 75, have him develop for two years behind Phillip Rivers. I think that makes sense as a possible option there as a plan B. Others who qualify here, Jake Luton of Oregon State. He was in the Senior Bowl, and as well as being a team captain, he'd be a sixth-round pick. He would be a backup. James Morgan of FIU is the only other one that qualified here too. Fourth,

fifth-round pick, possibly be a backup quarterback. I cannot see James Morgan being the franchise quarterback, so please do not try to sell me on James Morgan being the future franchise quarterback for the Colts because if they do draft Morgan, they're definitely still employed for 2021-2022 or whenever they want to get a future franchise quarterback. On the list here with wide receivers, the top one I think many listeners probably know by now, Michael Pittman Jr. of USC is the top qualifier here. He makes so much sense for me. Even 44, I feel like it's a lock for him. 34, honestly, though, feels like it could be a realistic spot for Michael Pittman if the board falls and say say Jordan Love's not there a couple other wideouts go earlier than I expected like Brandon Ayuk, Denzel Mims that leaves you Michael Pittman Jr. I feel like it's the best wideout available in

that spot I know maybe many fans want to go speed want to go more of like quick hitters chase Claypool types but I think Michael Pittman checks every single box here as a blue star prospect high character player had over 100 catches last. Doesn't drop any passes really for USC. I think he makes so much sense opposite T.Y. Hill and alongside Paris Campbell to build out this wide receiver core for the Rivers in 2020. Running at the wide receiver list,

Brian Edwards of South Carolina, a sleeper who could be a round three, round four pick. He's slipped a little bit due to injury, but he did very well for himself at South Carolina. K.J. Hill of Ohio State, Paris Campbell's former teammate there. Chris Bauer went and saw multiple Ohio State games this year, so that's very notable here. K.J. Hill had a disappointing combine, but he's a very smooth route runner. He knows how to get open, so I could see maybe K.J. Hill being like a Zach Paschal

citizen. Maybe Chris Bauer sees that sort of reliable guy, doesn't really drop a lot of passes, knows how to get open. Maybe he sees like a fourth round pick for a KJ Hill. Colin Johnson, Devin Duvernay, both Texas guys. Johnson, the bigger one. Duvernay, the smaller scat one. They're both captains at Texas, both senior bowl players. They make a lot of sense on early day three if you're in round four or round five. I think Duvernay and Johnson make sense in that scenario. And Jawan Jennings of Tennessee is a late round sixth, seventh round pick. He was also the senior bullet team captain for Tennessee, but Michael Pittman Jr. to me stands like a sore thumb on this list. If you get Jordan Love and Michael Pittman Jr., that is a very good start to me as far as a dream scenario for this blue star prospect list. Tied in will be a short

list here. Only three guys qualified. Adam Troutman of Dayton, Bryson Hopkins of Purdue, and Josiah DeGura of Cincinnati. Troutman and Hopkins should be in the 75 range. They probably won't make it out of there. They're round two, round three guys. So if the Colts want to take a tight end like Troutman or Hopkins, you got to probably go at 75. Josiah DeGura is probably a fourth round pick. So if you want to probably 122 makes the most sense for that. Those are the only three guys who qualified though off this list of blue stars. Harrison Bryant is a sleeper guy in this that would not shock me at all if he's there at 122 at the Colts with Pounce on as well. Offensive tackle. This is an even shorter list,

guys. Matt Parrott of UConn and Terrence Steele of Texas Tech. These are both guys, two-time captains, very long arms. Parrott would be a round three pick at 75. Terrence Steele would be round four, round five. Very athletic profiles. One who could eventually replace Andy Costanzo in two or so years. I think Parrot has the higher upside there, but do not be surprised if they waited on an offense tackle. They do go a Terrence Steele in round four, round five. Because he checks every single box as far as being a crisp-out or a cold, blue-start prospect here.

Offensive guard, though, is what I found really interesting. You have five guys qualify here, and they're all like late day two, early day three guys. John Simpson to Clemson. You have Ben Bredesen to Michigan. Jonah Jackson of Ohio State. Chris Bauer wins all Jonah Jackson multiple times this year. He's a round two player. Could be an option at 44 if they want to go interior offensive line early.

Take it to competition, Mark Golinski. Logan Stenberg of Kentucky, another round three, round four guy. And Natani Mutai of Fresno State. The injuries are knocking him down a little bit. Could be a round four, round five guy, but on tape he's a round two, round three type player. Would be a great fit to eventually replace Mark Lewinsky on the interior. Those five

guys, including Perrin Steele on the offensive tackle side, seven offensive linemen here qualify as Blue Star prospects. So keep an eye on these players as we get closer to the NFL draft. On the edge here, Jonathan Granada, Florida. Bradley Anai of Utah, who did very well for himself at the Combine and at the Senior Bowl. They love those late risers. Anai could be a guy at 44 or 75 that could catch the cold tie.

Notre Dame teammates Khalid Kareem and Julian Acquara. Acquara and Kareem, Ballard saw both of them twice this year against Virginia and Virginia Tech, and they both had very good games in both those. Kareem is more the Jabal Shear type, and Julian Acquara is more the explosive type. I think Acquara is the better player, but I could see him falling in love with Jabal Shear, or excuse me, with Khalid Kareem because they still haven't replaced Jabal Shear in his impact yet. Maybe they could get Kareem in round three or round four to fill out those rundown types to go alongside Kamoko Ture and Ben Bannigal on the outside.

Defense tackle here, going across the list here a little quicker. Marlon Davidson of Auburn. He was the captain of Auburn alongside Derek Brown. Neville Gallimore of Oklahoma. Like I mentioned, Chris Bauer wins all Oklahoma versus LSU. And Gallimore certainly checks the box of a three-tech to eventually replace Danico Autry. Gallimore makes an awful lot of sense at 34 or 44 if they want to go that route that early. Leke Fotu of Utah, he is a round four, round three type player. A very burly nose tackle. We'll hit the one-tech, three-tech.

It'll be a monstrous fit. Former team captain there for the Utes. Laurel Murchison is getting some buzz. I know Zach Hicks Stainpey blew a frequent guest on the show., loves Murchison. He thinks he's a Danico Autry type. Murchison makes a lot of sense here on round four, round five for this Colts team. And according to Zach, Murchison has met with the Colts and he did at the Combine. And McTelvin Aguim, or he likes to be known as Sosa Aguim of Arkansas. I think he is a very explosive underrated prospect that's flying under the radar here. He was his late senior bowl add,

did very well at the Shrine Bowl, team captain for Arkansas, former five-star prospect too. He has a lot of juice in his game. I think he, if I see a game on tape, I think Chris Bauer would love him. I think McTelvin Sosa game makes a lot of sense for this team at 122. I think he'd be a home run hit. I want you guys to

go watch McTelvin's game tape if you haven't already. I might post it on the Lockdown Colts Twitter account so you guys can get familiar with him. He's a very sleeper prospect here. I think that makes an awful lot of sense for this team. At cornerback, the last position here that I want to highlight here for the Blue Star prospects, Bryce Hall of Virginia. He got injured this year, but Chris Bowers actually saw him in person against Notre Dame with Virginia. He was a monster in 2018. He would have been a top 20, top 25 pick if he wasn't injured this year, I imagine, or even a round two player.

But I can see Bryce Hall now being in the 75 range for this team because it was a horrific leg injury that happened. He could kind of take a redshirt year, like a pseudo-redshirt year with the Colts. They have Xavier Rhodes in place. If he does fully heal, which it sounds like he's definitely way on track of doing that Bryce Hall, he could fit so well in this zone scheme next to Rocky Hacine and Kenny Moore.

And you have your lockdown corners for the next few years, and you get that comp pick back for Xavier Rhodes if he does well in 2020, if you wanted to from the cold side of things. So that's 32 players there. And just to outline it one more time, the players that Chris Foward saw in person this year, Bryce Hall of Virginia, the cornerback. Neville Gallimore, Oklahoma defense tackle. Khalid Kareem and Julian Acquard, Notre Dame edge rushers. Jonah Jackson and K.J. Hill.

Jonah Jackson, the offensive lineman, offensive guard. K.J. Hill, the wide receiver of Ohio State. And the quarterbacks on the list here. Jalen Hurts against LSU. And Jordan Love, I put down here just because he was scheduled. Chris Bauer was scheduled to be at Utah State versus Boise State, but he did not show up there. Maybe he didn't want to show his cards there. Should I put him on the list here? That's checking all three boxes. That's Jordan

Love. I think an ideal scenario here that could play out as far as the Blue Star prospects. Let's say you trip into the late first for Jordan Love. You send the 2021 second to, let's say, San Francisco for this exercise. You send 34 plus 2021 second to San Francisco, you get Jordan Love at 31 overall. Neville Gallimore at 44 makes so much sense for me as far as being their eventual replacement to a guy like Danico Autry. You could go Gallimore at 44. Bryce Hall at 75. I think it makes a lot of sense.

They want to replace Xavier Redsworth this year to get that comp pick. Have someone opposite of Rocky Hacine and Kenny Moore from next decade plus. That could be Bryce Hall. And then in round 4, KJ Hill, I think it makes a lot of sense. They can go any sort of opposite off the blue star list, guys. Any sort of combination you can think of. There's even more guys that weren't listed today that could be under the radar. But these 32 prospects here definitely qualify as blue stars. And they should be ones that you mark down too and you put on your notes because I think there's a good shot maybe a lot of these players off this 32

that I listed today are going to be future Indianapolis Colts in the next couple weeks. So thanks, everybody, for listening in. This is part one of today's podcast. Part two is going to be picks one through six, starting off our Locked On Podcast Network-wide mock draft here. And like I mentioned at the top of the show, the Colts got involved here with a trade,

and you'll want to listen in for that. But part one here picks one through six, and it's a lot of fun here. You guys are going to enjoy this throughout the next few days. So stay tuned to that, and thanks a lot for listening in as we unveiled our Blue Star prospects here on Locked On Colts. Stay tuned for Monday with Dane Brugler of The Athletic. They've been playing the game their entire life. From the playground... I promise to actually solve any neat right. Stay tuned for Monday with Dane Brugler of The Athletic. To the university. We have 95 players here.

So accomplished as athletes in high school, we gave them full scholarships to the best football program in the country. Now, their lives are about to change forever. Become your mom's favorite player. Whoa. This is Locked On NFL. And this is the Locked On Podcast Network Mock Draft. Welcome to the 2020 Locked On NFL Mock Draft special.

Brian Peacock here alongside former NFL scout Matt Williamson. We will take you through the first round plus in a network wide mock draft. All 32 teams represented, even those without first round picks hosts making picks for the teams. They cover our friends from the college side of the network with profiles on each one of these prospects. They get selected in the locked on NFL mock draft special. Why they are considered worthy of first-round selections, and analysis from my co-host, Matt Williamson, as well as draft dudes Kyle Krabs and Joe Marino, and the Locked On NFL Draft crew, Trevor Sykema and Ben Solak.

If you're listening to this kickoff episode on a team-specific podcast, you can follow along all week, every pick throughout round one on the Locked On NFL channel. Teams are talking trades, so you may not know exactly where your team ends up selecting. We'll conclude this draft next Friday, checking in with those teams in round two who didn't select in the opening stanza,

some of which might jump into round one before it's all finished, and recapping everything that went down all week long matt i'm pumped are you ready to do this thing i'm very ready to do this thing this is a very cool event i think people will enjoy it we've had so many new subscribers since last year that didn't get to enjoy it so you're in for a treat you're in for a wild ride and a really well put together whole situation here starting right now. Absolutely.

Yeah. And it was one of the most popular, it was the most popular show on the NFL side of the network last year. And I expected to be even bigger and better and the way things are right now in the world and wherever you are listening to this podcast, I hope you are well, and I hope this is something fun for you to listen to all week long. Matt,

as the Cincinnati Bengals go on the clock with the opening selection in the locked on NFL mock draft, you've been through this. What are teams doing in preparation, the final days and minutes leading up to the first pick for those specific teams? Well, this year, who the heck knows? I mean, I'm sure that there's things like, you know, the electronics or the IT people are coming to everyone's homes to make sure everything works, checking, you know, the electronics or the IT people are coming to everyone's homes to make sure everything works, checking, double checking, doing all that kind of stuff. We mentioned before,

maybe you could run mock drafts in terms of, let's try to just do a whole walkthrough basically of how this thing's going to work. If we're going to make a trade, who's in charge of calling this team, et cetera, et cetera. But honestly, in the olden days and the not 2020 draft, most of the hay is in the barn really a day or two before the draft. I mean, you might be calling agents of your favorite people to make sure that prospects didn't fall down the stairs or that knee that you're worried about isn't flaring up. But for the most part, things should be done a couple days before the draft. Let's check in with some of our analysts here on the network. We have a pair of NFL draft shows, Draft Dudes, Kyle Krabs and Joe Marino.

It's Joe Marino and Kyle Krabs of the Draft Dudes podcast, and let me just tell you, as a couple of draft dudes, we are really excited for this Locked On Podcast Network draft simulation where each host is going to make the picks for their team. And I know it's not the real thing, but it's pretty damn close. And this draft promises to be very exciting with all the dynamics between the teams with multiple first round picks and all the quarterbacks. So Kyle, I'm sure you're just as excited as I am. Yeah, the big mystery here is from the quarterback perspective, how many can we get to go early? And then the other fascinating subplot is when

does the offensive tackle run start and how fast does it go because there's generally considered to be four top offensive tackles there's generally considered to be three top quarterbacks maybe a fourth with Jordan Love if he sneaks in there remains to be seen and the order of all seven of those players who are feasibly top 12 talents coming off the board is going to be a really interesting scenario to see how it actually plays out here. I think just as interesting as the offensive tackle discussion is the wide receiver. Everybody knows this is a really deep and talented crop of receivers, but there's really exciting guys at the top of the board. Could we see six,

seven, eight guys go off the board in the first round? When does that run start? And who are those late first round guys that teams that like the Packers or like the Saints and Eagles and Vikings, who do they get if they are left kind of picking the later half of those top tier prospects? So offensive tackles, quarterbacks, wide receivers, the NFL is a passing league. And you can tell that this draft is going to really help these offenses be more dynamic. Yeah, it's a deep class and we're going to have a lot of opportunities to see players that in a typical class are probably off the board by 20. They might be lingering here in the late first round, early second round.

So lots to look forward to, lots to get into. Looking forward to see how these teams start their drafts. Hey, everybody, Trevor Sykema and Benjamin Solak from the Locked On NFL Draft Podcast here with you. Excited to go on this journey of the Locked On NFL Mock Draft Special. Ben, this is going to be a lot of fun. There's so many things that could happen in this mock draft. What are you looking forward to most? Yeah, it's always nice when we're able to get 32 guys,

each of whom knows their team as well as the host and the Locked On Podcast Network do, and they can control for their pick. And then you have the freedom for things like trade negotiations as the pick comes off the board. You have the ability for surprises as each individual analyst focuses on their guys. I number one we're not it's not going to be a typical mock it's not going to be like what we see definitely when only one person controls all

32 teams is going to be a lot more aggressive moves so i expect to see big trade-ups i expect to see surprising picks and that's that's the reality with these when you're controlling just that one team you go and get your guy that's what we see in the league I guess that's what we'll be seeing in this mock as well I'm really interested to see how the offensive tackles go here in the first round because it's just the possibilities are endless we saw that in our guest mock draft series that we're doing on our podcast but I mean what other positions are big ones quarterback wide receiver probably right well I think yeah I think that when you're making these sorts of picks and it's it's catered to your audience for your podcast you're tempted sometimes to go for those sexier positions and the sexy position in this draft is undoubtedly wide receiver so to me i'm really interested to

see we know the big three will come off the board and jerry judy cd lamb and henry rugs who's wide receiver four who's wide receiver five and just how many can we fit in this first round oh it's gonna be a lot of fun ben and i are gonna be back with you recapping a lot of these picks throughout the mock draft i'm very excited so let's get it started okay matt we're here the cincinnati bangles are on the clock is there any doubt what the bangles should do here they earned the right through their poor play in the 2019 season to be drafting number one overall on everybody's list. It seems to be the same name, the same prospect that should go first overall. If their phone is ringing, should they even be answering it?

Or do they know who the pick will be with the first overall selection in this draft? I mean, you answer it and if someone offers you a godfather-like offer, you consider it and you still might not even say yes. I mean, I think Burrow is the super prospect. He would go first in almost every draft, you know, nine out of ten years. That's a gift, and the Bengals need it. He's an Ohio guy. They need to sell tickets.

They need to sell jerseys. The offense that he falls into isn't in that bad a shape as first overall selections go. So I think it's kind of too good to be true. All right. With that, this draft is underway. Let's go to the hosts of Locked on Bengals and get the pick for Cincinnati, Joe Goodberry and Jake Lisco.

With the first overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, the Cincinnati Bengals easily and without second thought select Joe Burrow. In fact, Joe, we received no calls in the war room for the number one pick. I guess everyone just knows not to ask. And I don't think we would have considered any offers anyway. So we make this pick. This pick has really been made since maybe late December when the Bengals lost to the Miami Dolphins in week 16 of the regular season and clinched their first overall pick. Joe Burrow went on a tear in the

playoffs after that, and the Bengals will finally get a franchise quarterback. First time they've drafted number one since 2003 when they drafted Carson Palmer out of USC. They're in that position again. The roster has been turned over on the defensive side through free agency. And I think they're looking at this squarely of saying our Super Bowl window opens again if we draft Joe Burrow number one in 2020. That's right. The Bengals don't just spend money to spend money. This is a strategic injection of funds into the defense to make themselves

competitive while they have Joe Burrow on his rookie deal for five years. He's of course expected to come in and be a day one starter in Cincinnati. Andy Dalton is still on the roster but will not be on the roster by the time training camp comes around. He might not even be on the roster by the time the draft is finished. We are looking openly to trade Andy Dalton for whatever assets we can recover. And if that doesn't work out, he'll be cut before Joe Burrow shows up for rookie camp or for the first offseason activity that we're allowed to hold with these rookies this summer. Joe, how much better does Joe Burrow make this team? Well, the quarterback is the most important position. And I think we're looking at a guy

coming off a historic college football season that many have said is the best passing performance throughout a whole season in the history of college football. What does he do better than Andy Dalton? Andy Dalton has been the Mendoza line for starting quarterbacks in the league for a long time. And I feel like all of the skills you look for typically when you look at college quarterbacks, usually they're the big guys with the strong arms going near the top. And you say, can they function in the pocket? Do they have accuracy? How's their IQ? How's their processing? How do they do off script? All the questions you normally go into tape asking with Joe Burrow, those are all the answers you have with him based on tape and based on what he showed this past year.

All of those things are not in question. He has them in spades. It's the arm strength, right? That's the only area you really question. And I would say it's very similar to Andy Dalton. So it should be an upgrade in almost every area of quarterbacking other than that. And that's OK, because when you look at the best quarterbacks in the league over the last 20, 25 years, whether it's Tom Brady or Peyton Manning or Drew Brees,

they all had those other features in their game without having a cannon for an arm. Simply put, Joe Burrow is the most influential recruit in LSU football history. And leading the Tigers to the 2019 National Championship, Burrow was fantastic, shattering school records and setting national marks that may not be touched. 5,671 yards and 60 touchdown passes for Burrow while completing 76% of his passes. His arm strength won't wow you, but Joe Burrow makes up for it everywhere else.

His decision-making is elite. Just six interceptions on the 2019 season. He's the son of a coach and a film room junkie. There's a story about LSU beating Alabama, getting back from Tuscaloosa to Baton Rouge. And when Joe Brady, the passing game coordinator, got to LSU Football Ops that night to go get the cut-ups of the film, Burrow had already beaten him there. Burrow has very underrated athleticism.

Not only was he a high school quarterback, he was also a high school basketball player, and his ability to move the chains with his feet is something that many have overlooked throughout this process. Burrow is a fierce competitor whose teammates love him, who rises in the biggest moments. Should Joe Burrow stay healthy, he will have a long, prosperous NFL career as a franchise quarterback. This is Matt Moscona of Locked on LSU, your source for LSU and SEC content every day.

All right, Matt, there's the pick. Joe Burrow goes number one overall to the Cincinnati Bengals, and there's a lot to like about Joe Burrow. I think maybe if you're nitpicking, you can find some knocks here and there about arm strength, which in some cases is completely overrated. And I like what was said by many smart NFL people in the past that the quarterback position isn't so much played with your arm once you get to the NFL level it's played from the

neck up and I think that's where Joe Burrow really shines yeah absolutely and he is a good athlete he has a remarkable head and poise and confidence for the game, processing, accuracy. He does not have a power arm. And that worries me a little bit considering the area of the country he's going to when it's sleeting and windy and, you know, in the NFC North and late in the year, we'll see how he deals with that. But that by no means would slow me down from making such a pick. He's a tremendous prospect.

More locked-on NFL draft special coming up. The Washington Redskins are now on the clock with the second selection.