NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - 2026 NFL Draft First Round Recap of EVERY Pick

Episode Date: April 24, 2026

Gregg Rosenthal and Jourdan Rodrigue recap the entire first round of the 2026 NFL Draft. The Rams made waves by selecting Ty Simpson with the 13th overall pick. The Jets made a trio of first-round selections. Jeremiyah Love went third to the Cardinals. There was a flurry of late-round trades. Gregg and Jourdan break it all down! NFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Welcome to NFL Daily, where the Rams left us no choice but to start the show with them on draft night. I'm Greg Rosenthal. I'm in a studio with no name upstairs in the NFL Inglewood offices with my friend Jordan Rodryg. Yes, it is round one recap time. We're going to go through all 32 picks, Jordan, including the biggest story, which is. includes your Los Angeles Rams. I apologize for them making us talk about them right off the bat.

The team that as we speak has has their draft operations and a draft block party right down the street. And yet somehow we're not hearing a ton of excitement around this one. Well, I'm sure Ty Simpson's excited. I'm excited because it gave us something juicy to talk about. But we're going to go through all the picks. Look, the Titans surprising everyone with Carnell Tate, all the teams trading around. You wanted a bunch of first round trades. It took a minute, but man, it got really active at the end. All the teams who really made statements of intent, like the dolphins, the new regimes, the giants with their double picks.

But I wanted to start with the biggest takeaways of the night. And yes, I think the Rams taking Ty Simpson, 13th overall, has to be the start. And this is no bias. This is a perennial Super Bowl contender with the MVP on their roster, taking a first round quarterback number 13 overall that literally no one was mocking to them at 13 overall. Some people thought the Rams were interested, especially early in the process you heard about that.

You started to hear a little more Ty Simpson first round talk as we got closer to the draft. But let's be real. If a different team took Ty Simpson, let's say the Atlanta Falcons, who were supposed to have this pick, took Ty Simpson this early, needing a quarterback,

It reminds me a lot of the Michael Pennex pick, and people would be killing them. I don't think an MVP has ever had a first round quarterback in terms of a reigning MVP, just sitting right behind them. What did you think when you saw that pick? I think I would have really loved to be somehow on that phone call when Sean McVeigh reportedly calls Matthew Stafford the morning of the first round Thursday morning and tells him that they're going to pick Ty Simpson in the first round, a pick that could have turned into several other picks for a team that typically really likes to build for the future in the second round and onward,

a team that historically the head coach has had a significant amount of say in the first pick that the Rams do use, whether it's been in the first round or not, the second time a quarterback has been taken in the first round, one not in the Sean McVay era, one in the Sean McVey era, just two first round picks in the Sean McVeigh era, and Les Need and his connections with Ty Simpson's father, who's a coach. This all was really surprising this early, I would say. And I know we're going to get into it.

Where do you even want to start with this, Greg? First of all, vindication for Dan Orlovsky. I mean, there's one person that values Ty Simpson as much as Dan Orlovsky. And that's Sean McVeigh. I mean, maybe he didn't have him as the number one quarterback in the class. Maybe Sean McVey would have picked Fernando Mende. those if he had the chance. Orlovsky famously, you know, started a whole news cycle saying how much he likes Simpson. And they're really putting it on the table because this is a team that needs as many

pieces as possible. They're not a perfect team. They're trying to get over the top. And instead, they take a guy that McVeigh says, quote, will compete with Stetson Bennett for the backup job. Yeah, Stetson Bennett, a former fourth round pick who missed his first season with the Rams, came back to join the team and has been developing specifically to be the backup quarterback for this football team. Setson Bennett was never drafted to be the heir to the starting position on this team. This is, there's so many layers to this,

Greg, because the Rams are a win now team. And you can argue that they already have used one of their draft picks. They had two in this round, in this first round in 2026. You can already argue they used that pick on a player at a premium position. They traded for him and then extended him as they are wont to do. especially with corners and edge rushers and with quarterbacks.

You can also argue that this is a team that even though they don't have a lot of glaring holes on their roster has always looked at where the next couple of years are that they will have needs. They in recent years have made a reinvestment in their offensive line that I thought they were going to potentially do here. There were certainly options for them at 13. That trading back was likely an option to stockpile more picks to continue building for the future. This is a team that did not necessarily draft well last year after two incredible draft classes in 2023 and 2024. This is a team that no, does not have a lot of glaring right now needs because they are built to compete for a championship this year, in part because of their trades for players at positions of need, especially corner. But they have tackle questions on both sides after this season.

They do have a quarterback question, but the entire line out of that organization has been Matthew Staff, Will and can play for us as long as he wants. Now it seems like they're putting a timer on him. Well, the reporting from Ian Rappaport was he told Matthew Stafford, you can be the quarterback as long as you want, but we got a plan for the future. And I just read that as, yeah, he'll be the quarterback as long as he's a top 10 quarterback. It's not that different. Obviously, he's older than Aaron Rogers was when they drafted Jordan Love.

But yeah, if he goes out and keeps winning MVP like Aaron Rogers did when they drafted Jordan Love, Matthew Stafford will continue to be the quarterback. But it just adds a little bit of stress, I feel like, for everyone in that building. Your old friend, Gary Klein, who's covered this team for a while, said, of all the draft pressers with Stedon McVeigh, whether it involved first or second round pick, this one lacked their trademark ebulence and sense of humor. And he shows a picture of them in saying that's the mood because I think they go in front of the media and they're immediately on the defensive.

And that's the negative of this pick is, I'm not going to say a pick is a distraction, but it's just going to be a talking point. It's confident, I guess, would be the best way to say it. Is it overconfident? I think I've said this many times. I'm on the record saying this. I've said this two people in the organization. I think this team is about as hubristic as it possibly gets overall.

I don't mean that as an insult. They have built a reputation because they have job security and continuity. They've built a reputation of going and trying things, of shooting their shot. And in this case, I'm just, just going to be honest, Greg, I don't have any proof from this organization that this is going to work out. It might. That would be great. I think a lot of people would like to see him succeed and would like to be wrong about the initial eyebrow raise of this pick. But Sean McVeigh has actually never developed a quarterback from his rookie season. Sean McVeigh's coaching staff

loses offensive coordinators and quarterbacks coach coaches every single year creating an environment that has a lot of turnover that a rookie quarterback absolutely needs continuity in those spaces. Sean McVeigh has pivoted with impatience from quarterbacks before when they don't match his pace, not necessarily ability or potential, but when they don't match the pace at which he coaches. That's why him and Matthew Stafford were an absolutely perfect fit for each other, because this is a veteran who's seen so much football matching the pace of a coach who is often ahead of league trends and everything the league wants to do. This is also a head coach who has had a significant say in every single pick that the

Rams have initially used in every draft that I would be really surprised if he didn't also have a significant say here, even though it seems like Les Need had a deep connection with this prospect as well. I mean, it has to be, take a quarterback in the first round, Sean McVeigh has to be leading the way. It'd be insane if he wasn't, that it's his offense. Hubristic, though, you know, that isn't a bad way. That would be defined.

Looked it up while you're talking to. Oh, good. We got the dictionary out. Excessive pride. I was going to say, how could hubris not be bad? Extreme arrogance or over the top self-confidence. So we'll find out if that's the case. Here's the thing about Ty Simpson.

I think he was a little miscast as, I don't know, like a safe but not that exciting pick. If you take the best five throws from Ty Simpson's games every week, it's awesome. He reminds me a little bit in a way of, of Bryce Young as a pro. Not really in style, but that, like, despite his size, the great throws are great. You can see why they would love him.

A little Jared Gough-like in that way. But he is a total outlier in many ways. If he succeeds at his size, and Bryce Young was an outlier for size as well, at his age and at his lack of experience for college playing, like he would be totally out of the norm. And there are some exceptions here and there of each one of those. but when you stack all three together,

it's a really extreme swing for the fences. We'll see. Another team swinging for the fences. Yes. The New York Giants, two picks in the first round. We are going to go in order, one through 32, but we just thought we would hit the two most fascinating stories of the night off the bat, and you chose the New York Giants.

Yeah, because everyone was waiting with bated breath to see what they were going to do with two top 10 picks for a second time in Joe Shane's tenure. It's crazy. And what was really interesting, was like you could see some of the maybe potential strategy that was involved here because we'll go through this more in depth, but, you know, Jeremiah Love goes at three, right? And so you have to think our Ian O'Connor at the Athletic had this, he has an inside track to John Harbaugh, and he reported tonight that John Harbaugh really, really liked him.

But he goes, and then Carnell Tate goes. And so you think maybe these best player available type players on offense cause a little bit potentially of a pivot. But it's not like it's a pivot from an A plan to a B plan. A lot of times when teams game theory out, the possibility of the draft, especially one that everybody knew, all these teams knew would be hinge this much

on whether the Jets picked David Bailey or R. Val Ries and whether the Cardinals actually picked Jeremiah Love at number three. Everything, you had to have multiple plans, multiple lateral directions, which you can take your own picks. And yet, Joe Shane said, of all the scenarios that they had, there was no scenario that they played out a million times where they had a chance to take Arval Reese and Francis Maui Noah.

Now maybe that's just one of those things that you say, but that's kind of amazing that in all their scenarios, it never got to that point. But to my point to instead do the John Harbaugh thing, the ultimate, we're going to try to get better on either side of our defensive line slash our front seven. That is absolutely a John Harbaugh. Like, I can see that to a T.

So no, maybe the players specifically, when they game them out, it was a really long shot that this could happen. But going up front, investing in a difference maker with high potential, high upside on defense in Arval Reese with their fifth pick, and then investing up front in the trenches, a player who has a lot of position flexibility, which they'll need so he's not an extraneous player for them in Francis Maui.

Noah, a massive human being altogether. This feels very like, even if it was a lateral plan, it's a good one, in my opinion. So let's listen to John Harbaugh and Joe Shane on. the podium after landing their two guys in the top ten. You mentioned Kvon's name. Does it give you flexibility to potentially move on from him or you plan to keep Kvon, tip it up?

We keep all the good players as much as we can. Right? Yep. We love Kavon. Yep. I just like that Joe Shane's new role is to say yep to John Harbaugh and to go on last second scouting trips

to meet with Jordan Tyson as a potential smokescreen. Although in fairness, we don't know. Jordan Tyson was not on the board for 10. Maybe they would have taken. I just had a flashback. That exactly. If anyone ever wanted to know what it looks like when me and Greg are in meetings over here,

that's exactly. Greg says something and I go, yep. That is not me. Although I'm starting to look a little older. Like John Harbaugh there. I don't know. The short hair doesn't make him look younger. I don't know why.

We all age. He said he doesn't intend to trade Kvon Tibido. This is the second straight draft where after the draft they said that. And I think that speaks to Arvel Reese's fit here. And to me, Rvel Rees was the most exciting player in this entire draft. I thought, and Ali Connolly, who we had on Thought This Too, that just as a linebacker prospect, he was about as exciting as it gets. And the projection to Edge and him being kind of a versatile player that does both, maybe he's more of a Zach Bond to start out, where you're using him

obviously as part of your rush plan, but he's more of a linebacker most downs would be more comfortable for him. And he landed in a spot. And I saw that Malik Neighbors was on Bleacher Report live with our friend Adam Lefko during the draft. And he was like, where's he going to play? And I think the answer is linebacker. Yeah. And I think that makes sense. Adding Arvel Reese to that group while he works on his pass rush, a la Micah Parsons in his rookie seasons. But I think Reese is a little bit more of a true linebacker. And then you have this great pass rush. I think it's a really good situation. for him, for Dinard Wilson, the defensive coordinator, and for John Harbaugh, who's kind of the quiet closet defensive coordinator.

At least that's what he was in Baltimore, very involved on that side of the ball. Do you know what I think is really interesting too about this is there was a drumbeat coming out of that market, out of that organization, kind of carried also by the beatwriters who are very plugged in over there, about Abdul Carter's playing more linebacker and playing more. But it never really unfolded. It never really manifested. To me, this screams of, we already had a plan for a guy we want to play in that type of a role.

And especially being sort of adamant or having it be known through Adam Schaefter that they're not going to be trading Kavon, Tibodeau. They're going to keep that three-man pass rush rotation. And Arvel Reese can be used on a lot of sub-packaged things. They can use, you know, him on some extra wide nine type of things. They can use him as a blitzing linebacker. They can do a lot of things with him. That was kind of a role that it was coveted by certain members. members of the organization for a player last year that never really manifested with Abdul Carter.

I love Reese. I think if you're taking that high, try to get a guy who could have a gold jacket. And he was one of the few guys in this draft where you watched him and you thought, that is special. They said afterwards that Reese and Maui Noah were two of their top five picks on their entire board, that Reese was their number one overall player that wasn't a quarterback, so that's Mendoza. You never know. I know teams say this after the drive. This is one where I actually believe it because Maui Noah was projected to go to the Giants by a lot of people who were in the know.

Some people thought he might go as early as five to them, but once we heard he might fall, he was a very popular among the Daniel Jeremiah's pick to them at number 10. He probably moves inside to right guard or left guard. But that's where a lot of people believe with his footwork. and his agility, his power. Actually, he'd be used best. And so I think he's in another good spot. Maybe like Tyler Smith with the Cowboys a couple years ago,

where because you have Germain Illuminaur on the right side and Thomas on the left side, he starts out at guard and then you have a good injury protection plan. And I think the Giants got a lot better. I'm excited. That was a good pick. He's a massive person. I once was on a plane with the guy and I had to make a connector.

And I was like trying to get by people sort of standing in the aisle and I was starting to panic because I didn't think I was going to make my connector and all of a sudden in front of me is this one of the largest human beings I've ever seen and no way does that guy fit on like a standard aircraft. I mean if you are drafting people to not be in your way getting off of a plane Maui Noah's top 10 overall. You're super nice about it. Thank you. There's no way he remembers this but you're super nice about it. I was freaking out. He was very kind about it and I made my connector as well. But but yes. He, massive, massive human being.

He pulled a Will Campbell on the stage. I guess this is just going to be a thing that first round tackles do each and every year. Let's listen to the Miami prospect. Cece, what do you want to tell Jackson Dart about how you'll help protect him on this giant's align? I'll die about this shit, man. Man, I'm ready to die for you, man. I know a lot of things that's happened, bro, but I'm ready to die for you, bro. I love that.

What are the things that have happened? Oh, I think he means like the concussion. Don't bring that rule number one of Giants fandom, Jackson Dart fandom. Don't bring all that up. But I love the get-up. I love Maui Noah. Now what we're going to do, let's go through all the picks. At the end, we'll talk about some trends, our favorite picks.

We'll speed it up here, but we want to get every single team that picked covered. And look, a lot of teams didn't pick, including our producer, Eric Roberts's bills, who traded out, I think, three times at the end of the first round. So there were a lot of trades. but we knew going into it there wouldn't be a trade at number one. Let's listen to Roger Goodell, start the night off. With the first pick in the 2026 NFL draft, the Las Vegas Raiders select Fernando Mendoza.

Love the reaction for Mendoza and his family. Love that he reportedly got a call and some pressure from Peyton Manning, who was asked by the NFL to maybe subtly encourage Mendoza to go to the draft for the good of the league, and he said, no, I'm staying home. That's a man of faith and conviction. I mean, he talks about his faith a lot. I watched him on ESPN today, and he was wearing a free shirt that the Rose Bowl had given him. I love that out of Fernando Mendoza. Everything he says is so genuine and, like, just forthright, but he means it. Like, in another,

if you just heard the words, you were just like, this is, this is too much? Is this a real guy? But it seems very genuine, and I think for Raiders fans, it's a great start to a new era. Are you buying Ian Rappaport's report during the draft? A couple times he said this, that the Raiders hope and plan for Kirk Cousins to start week one. I believe it because Clint Kubiak doubled down on this multiple times. He's done so through the off season about not wanting to rush a young quarterback into a situation, wanting to give him patience time to develop.

He saw firsthand last season. with Sam Darnold, what can happen when you take a step back and actually give a quarterback time and patience in a good situation? He also saw, because he inherited Sam Darnold, what also happens on the converse when a really high-level prospect goes into an organization that doesn't necessarily have the tools around him to help him function and to really protect him in the right way. I think the Raiders saw what happened with their offensive line last season, And yes, some of that is going to be coaching, but other pieces of that is going to be just getting better players all around it.

It all makes sense. I'm sure they do, quote unquote, hope that Kirk Cousins is the starter. But even better would be Fernando Mendoza just looks so good in training camp that he's the starter week one. Kirk Cousins will be on the shortest of short leashes. If he has a bad first half, you don't think that Allegiance Stadium is just going to be asking for Mendoza. So we'll see.

I put the over under on Mendoza starting still before the season. I think it's probably week one. April. Yes, it is April. Congrats, though. It is exciting. We've talked about him a lot on the show, but those back shoulders throws that he makes as good as anyone. And even though it wasn't really a pro-style offense, when he did just rip those seam balls, great arms, keep an eye on who they add for him the next couple of days, including his receiver, Elijah Serrat, who you just saw catch a pass. I think that would be a great combination for him maybe at the top of the third round, but we'll see.

Click Kubiak came up too in a system that it doesn't necessarily matter what system the quarterback played in college. It's going to be a yards after the catch heavy. Hello, they have a player who can really thrive in that already in Brock Bowers. It's going to be, it's going to ask the quarterback to probably play under center more to get the play action game going. But they also can use the pistol. They did back in some of those Kubiak-Shannahan systems. And you could also ask a quarterback to do that if he's not as comfortable without seeing the entire defense in front of him. and you can do all sorts of things that help set up the quarterback, ease him in to a system that you want him to play in versus making him do it right away.

I asked Nate Tice. We brought it up. If you listened to our last NFL Daily show, how Mendoza had asked Nate Tice for advice. What should he work on? And I asked Nate Tice, what did you tell him? And he told him under center, you know, that's just over and over under center stuff. Let's talk about the Jets three picks. Yes, they made three picks.

So second overall, this is where the draft, the first hinge point, reportedly they decided on David Bailey, the Texas Tech Edge by way of Stanford late last week. The insiders were right about this. The public was wrong, which is interesting. As the draft started to happen, Arvel Reese was the betting public favorite. And I always think that reporting that stuff as news as if they actually know anything is worrisome. And upsets happen. The public was wrong.

The insiders were right. was David Bailey, at least from late in the process on. He goes two overall. That starts a domino effect, but I want to stick with the Jets as three picks. They take Kenyon Sadiq, the tight end 16th overall. A lot of people thought that would be Mackay Lemon there, maybe Casey Concepcion, maybe they trade up for a receiver. Instead, they get the weapon Kenyon Sadiq at tight end from Oregon. And then just for a little extra spice, they trade back up into the first round to take Omar Cooper Jr. 30th overall. Wow. Like, first, as a Gino lover, like, thank you. Like, what a great day. I know it's not all about Gino, but I think Cooper specifically, we talked about on the show how I thought

Mackay Lemon would be a really nice compliment for Gino because he loves a smart receiver. He wants them to be on the same page. He loves to just read the coverage and have the receiver be on the same page, loves to throw over the middle of the field. That could have been Mackay Lemon. Instead, they go with Sadiq, who is more explosive as a tight end. but then they get a similar-ish type of player in Omar Cooper, maybe a little more after the catchability in Omar Cooper. Mendoza's teammate, I'm sure Vegas was watching that and wondering if he would slip to the third round or the second round,

and that might be one reason why the Jets traded up. But some big swings. When I think about the day overall, there's a few teams that they just went for it. And to me, especially Bailey and Sadiq, these are big swings with some really. risk to them, but big swings. Well, I think it's really interesting because I see these two players, Kenyon Sadiq and

Omar Cooper specifically as guys who like travel well. And what I mean by travel well is they will be really friendly to Gino Smith and they will be really friendly to whatever quarterback comes after Gino Smith. They're just that type of players. No, actually Gino's going to be their starter for like the next six years. For the next six years. I just think these are guys. It's also like going to be such a yards after the catch.

heavy offense now. And I'm like, ooh, exciting. And then I went and I remembered that it's Frank Reich, who's the offensive coordinator there now, which is not necessarily a bad thing. I just don't think of like one of these scheme heavy yards after the catch offenses when I do think of Frank Reich. However, these two players, these young playmakers are going to be so good with or without the ball in their hand.

The blocking is outstanding too for both of these players. And so all of those skill sets combined to me means that. that these are two guys who you expect and hope will carry this offense and carry you from one quarterback era into another, which is what the Jets have to be planning for. So you're watching, you're checking us out on YouTube. By the way, thank you to everyone who is joining us live. And thank you to everyone who's listening to us in your ears. And you can check out the footage if you want on YouTube the next day whenever it is.

Cooper is great after the catch, but he's not like a create plays for him like a Debo's Samuel type. I think he's just more of a really rock solid receiver, which in some years might go middle of the second round, whatever it is, but a high floor, intelligent gamer, that type. Sidique, I love the swing because, and I thought the Ravens might take it at 14, but Yuwana ended up being on the board for them at guard. Yeah. Sadiq just moves crazy. Look at this seam ball here against USC. It's electric. His production was not that crazy, but he was next to. a tight end who might get taken in the first round in next year's draft class. And I think that impacted his production. He could be special. I don't want to go gold jacket,

but I want to say like if you're taking a guy in the first round, you want to have the hope he could be an all pro. And in terms of the ceiling, I think it's right there with any of the receivers in this class, including Carnell Tate. And I think what's important with him compared to some of the tight ends in this class is the effort is there with the blocking. He is not going to be an in-line guy,

but you can keep him on the field as your Y tight end. And I think you're going to teach him how to block and you're going to have him there every down. So he is an every down player. I'm really excited about him. Yeah, I probably watched every Oregon game this year randomly. And I just, every time he touched the ball, something exciting was going to happen. And it's interesting. You talked about Gino Smith.

And yes, I think obviously these are players for the present and the future. With Gino specifically, this is whenever Brock Bowers was on the first. field and not injured, which was a very small sample size for Gino, that was the electric connection. And I'm not saying it's one to one at all between Brock Bowers and Kenyon Sadiq. I don't want to do the player comp thing like that. But in terms of having that like really physical, massive presence that can just roll through a seam like that and be a friendly target for a quarterback who does like to take risky throws and a quarterback who probably would want some zone defense breakers,

as Kenya and Sadiq would be, I think that this is an outstanding match. I love those picks. I thought taking David Bailey was a mistake. I think the, quote-unquote, CV on him was all wrong, which was, well, if you want someone to step in day one and help you in the pass rush, he's more ready to do that than R.V.L. Reyes.

I think he's a boomer bus player. I mean, I think his comp is Nick Benito, you know. Did you see Nick Benito's post, by the way? What did he say? This was from Not Today, but he said something about how some of these player comps you guys do are not even close. I don't know if this was a sub-tweet. When you said Nick Benito, I just thought of it. Was there another Benito comp that's just like this first step demon?

I mean, his first step is so special that it was going to get him taken in the top 15 of any draft. But I think there's a scenario where his run defense is a problem, where it just doesn't translate as easily. I think Arvel Reese actually had a higher floor and a higher ceiling. I think that was a mistake to take him there, but he fits Aaron Glenn's system. They kind of knew who he was going to be versus Arvel Reese, where they maybe weren't really sure how he was going to fit. They just want someone who can get up the field and go, and that's going to be David Bailey. We'll see if I'm right or if they're right. Jeremiah Love goes next. Shout out to our guy. He's going to be joining us on Friday evening.

We're going to be going live, by the way. I don't know if our producers know this. After round three, Nick Shook and I, how about a couple weeks ago when no one was talking about Jeremiah Love to the Cardinals, I promise you, when Nick Shook put it out there on his mock, he got a lot of blowback. Let's listen to Shooki.

I go love, and I got a lot of hate from Cardinals fans and just critics online, as is the case with anything that you write, because the Cardinals have already bolstered their running back room. this offseason, right? They have James Connor coming back from injury. You go and you sign Tyler Alger. You also have Trey Benson back there. None of that makes me feel super excited about this offense, though, and that's no disrespect to any of those guys. Well, it is disrespectful to say that you're not excited about the players that are there. But I never bought the fact that, oh, Tyler Algear's

there. How could you possibly sign a running back? That's not the reason to not sign them. There could be some reasons to not take them three overall. Do you think there were legitimate reasons to not take them three overall. What do you think about this pick? Well, I mean, he is one of, if not the best offensive prospect in this draft class. He's one of three. So if you're really going to argue best player available, sure. At the same time, it sort of makes my inside shrivel just a little, just thinking about running backs taken super high. Now they can work out. Jeremiah Love sounds and looks like a player who will be a franchise cornerstone for them. That's exactly what this era, this new Cardinals sort of half era needs.

Monty Osamfort kind of felt like he needed to make a splash with one of these picks. The Cardinals have kind of gone from, or fallen into the slump of being the fourth most talked about team in their own division. How about like the 31st most talked about team? On the back foot in a lot of ways. And, you know, combined with Mike LaFleur, Michael Flore, a lot of people don't know that when he came back to Los Angeles, the reason he did was because the Rams wanted to install what he knew about Kyle Shanahan's run game into their own offense. And also some of the gap and counter

and some of the inside stuff that the Rams then started running to great success across the league. So it does make a lot of sense to me to see Michael Flores specifically pick up a running back, a player who does give them this electricity in their offense. Now, they could have gone a lot of different directions. And Greg, talking to some league sources, nobody really knew. I think the chatter kind of got out there a little bit late in the down here, but nobody really knew what the Cardinals were going to do and a lot of possibilities hinged on the player that they were going to pay. There was so much talk about them possibly trading down. And they took the pick pretty early while they were on the clock. Now, they might just have had no calls, but normally if you want to

trade, you wait, the now eight minutes on the clock. It didn't seem like there was as much interest, maybe as we thought. Maybe the teams like the chiefs who wound up trading up, we're thinking more trading up just a few spots. My issue with the pick are the reports and the suggestions of the process, right?

That our Ali Connolly suggested maybe ownership is getting involved. I reading between the lines of other reporters, hey, there's someone with some real say in that building who kind of late in the process went and put their finger on the scale. And so you're talking about Montaacinfort, who's a

GM who just got to hire his second coach, despite the first one not going well. And like, who's making the picks here? That part of it worries me. And when you're hearing some insiders and some of the conversation almost buoying this pick before it even happens that, hey, this team doesn't have a lot of juice or attention and they need to like sell seats and get the fans excited. That's not good process. I think Jeremiah Love is cardinals proof.

I think he's going to like go in the Cardinals ring of honor someday. So in the end, even if it's bad process, I think he's going to be great. He's that good. And yet I don't know if this coach and GM are going to be the ones who like enjoy his best days because they might not survive. Yeah. Here's the layer that, you know, this is, this is of course cannot and could not be a legitimate reason why Michael Flore would be interested in picking him at three, knowing the Titans led by Robert Salah, the guy who fired him in New York,

who is very close with his brother, Matt LaFleur, but who did fire Mike LaFleur when things were starting to go. He took him from Salah out of spite. Really sideways. It is interesting the way the picks fall here where I think Titans fans really wanted Jeremiah Love, and instead they go in a different direction,

and Arizona gets Jeremiah Love. Arizona needs, listen, the buzz is what it is. I think there's real accuracy in what you're, you're saying about that. However, man, the Cardinals need someone. They need someone to hang the franchise hat on. They've had legendary players. Wouldn't be surprised.

I forget so much. And I'm surprised I remember this, that they passed on Adrian Peterson for Levi Brown back in the day. I remember that, right? Yeah, maybe that was haunting the ownership group there. Ian Rappaport also reported it was a relief for Jeremiah Love who got a report at the combine of an abnormal EKG on his heart. But it ended up being something that was checked out obviously by the teams and everything looked great. And I'm talking a little out of both sides of my mouth because when Shook brought up that number three overall pick,

and I swear he was the first one to say, I think this could happen. And then it became almost consensus by the end of the process. I said, I don't think that's that crazy because I think he's such a safe. safe explosive pick. He is so good. It's so obvious. It's just this is a team that has so many other massive needs. And he's now the highest paid running back in the league and you have to at least

consider that. I'm Luke Wilson. Join me each week for Film Never Lies. Since retiring from the NFL, I've had a lot of my mind and now got my own show. So if you're tired of lazy takes, if you want honest conversations, join us each week. Film Never Lies available on all TSN platforms in the IHeartRadio app.

So with love off the board, the Titans surprise everyone. and go Carnell Tate, Ohio State wide receiver at fourth over all. Very interesting because if the reports were right that love was the apple of their eye, and we won't ever really know, it's interesting that they pivoted not to Arvel Reese or Sunny Stiles, who I thought might go to Tennessee would be a good fit for Robert Sal. But instead to another offensive player, what does that tell you? Well, it tells me they were going to go offense the whole time.

That's what it seems like to me. And certainly you can look at these two players. I mean, Cardinal Tate is receiver one in this class. And you can look at those two players as two impact playmakers. We're going to talk about what the rest of the Titans did when they came back into the first round at the very end. It seemed like they got a player for Brian Dable and a player for Robert Sala. Keldrick Falk, the 31st overall pick from Auburn.

Yes, they traded up just a few spots. It's a nice little compromise between two guys, two former head coaches who are now in their respective roles here, doing it again, trying to get this right the second time around. I really think that there's some good book-ending picks here. Carnal Tate's an awesome pick for Cam Ward. As much as I love Jeremiah love. And again, in terms of pure power and footwork and explosive ability, there aren't many prospects since Adrian Peterson with that kind of ability of just like big, playability and he's a great third down guy. And yet I think Carnal Tate is a better pick for Tennessee,

not just because they have an okay backfield. It's not about Tony Pollard. It's about the fact that they need receiver badly. And I think it was a little undersold because, yeah, they took a couple mid-round guys who looked okay last year. And they kept Calvin Ridley and they signed Wondell Robinson. They had the drops of the year. I remember we were having a coronary here in the middle of the season

watching Cam Ward throw to these receivers. and they were just dropping passes. You know what Wondell Robinson looks better as? You're number two slash three receiver. And that's what he'll be now. And we'll see if Ridley stays on the team. But either way, I like the energy from Carnell Tate, the suit he had on.

Nice suit. But with like kind of the undershirt underneath, it was just, that's the kind of energy I want out of my first round pick out of my number one wide receiver. He might have won the night for me just in terms of like vibes. On that alone, I feel more confident about him at the next level. Yeah, he clearly, I really liked the, it was a cropped suit jacket,

but he went with like a textured layers underneath. Like, it was, it was good. Titans fans get it. Any tips, send them our way. Yeah, Titans fans get excited because I think you just needed to do everything and obviously they're not done to help Cam Ward out this offseason as you possibly could. We'll see what they do with their offensive line. We'll see what they do in terms of other weapons.

I wasn't a big Keldrick Falk guy. I did mock him to San Francisco thinking that's their type of guy, although they drafted one kind of like him last. Robert Salas type of guy. And then it turns into Robert Salas type of guy. More of a run stopper, more of a rotational guy with, I think they'll hope in the long run, some pass rush upside at 31.

All right. We've gone through those four. We talked about the Giants who went five and ten. Let's now go up to the chiefs who make the first big trade of the night. They send a third round pick and a fifth round pick, number 74 and 1. 148 to jump over the Saints and Commanders. I thought when they did it, I was like for Ruben Bain.

No, Ruben Bain ends up falling all the way to 15. So that was way off. For Mansour Delane, the number one cornerback in this class, really interesting. A couple things with this trade. Do you think they knew for sure Arvel Reese was gone when they made the trade? Like, was it possible that they were hoping Reese was there? Because just the timing of how it played out and the bruce,

broadcast and what was announced, it seemed like I don't think the number five pick was made. So that's interesting. But this all happens several minutes before the broadcast picks any of it up. I even mean like in terms of the pick was in. It's sort of beside the point. They would only make the trade if they want to make the trade for either Reese or Delane. Really interesting that they thought the commanders or the Saints could take Delane and that they valued a cornerback that highly.

the whole MO is like, oh, Spax can find corners in the third round. Maybe they won't even take one with either of their first round pick. Instead, they trade up for the number one cornerback in this class. Yeah, I think it just took what we already know to be true about them, which was that this was going to be a position they absolutely certainly would draft and then also depend on Steve Spagnolo to help develop these players and to scheme them up for success and just amplified it, magnified it to where it was a greater need probably internally than even it looks like

watching at their roster on paper and certainly a position that was a priority. And then if you fall in love with a player, you know, if you're a team and you really want a player and you understand that like he's also going to excel in your system and maybe your defensive coordinator is pounding the table for him and your scouts are pounding the table for him. And then also it just so happens that he could be a great addition to two other teams that are ahead of you, then yeah, I would say that you could leap frog over. I don't think the Saints would have taken him.

That would have really surprised me. Although they need cornerback. LSU? It's possible. I think they were in on Tyson. Good history with the Saints in an LSU corner. That's absolutely right. Look, Delane, the more I got into this process, I think, was a higher ceiling player than he was

originally given credit for. A true number one corner. And when we found out that teams were not valuing Jermad McCoy, who maybe his tape at LSU the year before, was even better. than Delane in some people's eyes. Maybe he would have been the top corner, but that his injury concerns knocked him all the way out of the first round. That means the drop from Delane to whoever was cornerback to in this class was so great. I think maybe that informs it a little bit too. Now the chiefs, they become very chiefsy late in the round and they take, who did they take,

Peter Woods from Clemson, which is just very much a Andy Reed pick, total boomer bust, incredibly physically dominant and yet not a lot of people's favorite players. His 24 tape was really exciting. His 25 tape was not great. Some people questioned just like the motor every single play. Like where is the playmaking for a guy that should be this talented? And that's just Andy Reed's type. We'll see if, in Steve Spagnola's type, we'll see if they can make that work.

So that's their 29th overall pick. Let's move on to the seventh pick. That's the commanders. At this point, Sunny Stiles had fallen a little further. I was beginning to think he might be the story of the first round because if he got past this pick, just because of the teams that were drafting after him, and I thought that Cowboys were more likely to take downs,

and that is what happened. We'll get to Caleb Downs. I was like, who's going to take Sunny Stiles? I didn't see a fit, but Dan Quinn, he made the fit happen, which is good. I like it when the best players get taken at the beginning like they should, and that was Sunny Stiles, Ohio State lineback. Yeah, I was getting a little worried

because Sunny Stiles would be a value to any team, basically, above these teams that picked in front of the commanders. I like this because his comp was Fred Warner, right? His comp in terms of the physical skill and his football IQ and his captain material and all of these things. And it's Adam Peters who's making the pick who used to be one of the executives in San Francisco. It's a player that a lot of people matched potentially

with Robert Sala a few picks higher because of that reminder of Fred Warner because of that player comp. But then also, Dan, Quinn was Robert Salah's mentor. Dan Quinn had some really, really good linebackers on his old Seattle teams that he was the defensive coordinator for. And also he had some really good hybrid linebacker safeties that really started some of these trends in the NFL to cycle around again a decade and a half later. That's what I'm saying. He's like, you know, I'm not, I'm not making this comp. But when I think of Dan Quinn saying this, it's like, okay, yeah, I see Fred Warner, but also

a little camp chancellor in there too in terms of the ability. be like in 2026. Nick Gammon Worry. He'd probably be a little closer to like a linebacker than he would be a safety. There was some immediate criticism. I saw that, man, for this team, a quote-unquote non-premium position, you added Leo Chanel in free agency, although he's, you know, not an every down player. You have Frankie Louvre who is going to play a different role.

Played really out of position, it seemed like last year. I would push back on that. To me, Jordan Tyson was probably the other. pick here or you know you think about offensive line i think these are picks you think about Caleb downs i think that's a fair like guy to think about there but you don't want to be picking this high so far you if you're adam peters you have to assume you're there in in three years you take like guys that can be with your franchise for eight nine years and sunny style is just a really special best player available best player available and you know a good team that a regime that

deserves to be there, we'll find a way to use a really good player. And if they can't, that tells you everything you need to know. It's kind of like Jeremiah Love. The player is so good. It's hard to criticize the pick too much, especially here at 7 for the commanders. I like that pick. Jordan Tyson, Arizona State wide receiver, eighth overall, your alma mater. You mentioned to me, Arizona State receiver. Nothing has ever gone wrong when you pick an Arizona State receiver. Never in the history. No, Jordan Tyson's an awesome player. He's awesome. I love. Little risky though. I love it though. I love it. He's immediately one, two, with Chris Olavet, and he's got Tyler Shuck, your favorite quarterback in the entire NFL. I mean, you keep saying how

I don't like Tyler Shuck. My draft analysis of him was wrong. At this point, it's totally out the window. The second that you see him play in the NFL and do the things that I didn't think he was going to do, then you just own the L and you move on. Like, we'll see if he can stay healthy. I hope he can, but he is an exciting young quarterback. And I did think, Jordan Tyson's emotion going up to the stage. He takes the knee. He's crying on stage. I thought the most emotional thing of the night was his spittle actually flying through the air.

Just a little saliva. I can imagine the thing that people are knocking him for through the entire pre-draft process is something he really had no control over. His handstring injury? Just the injury history and just having, I mean, it can be a really freak thing. And so I think that's where you heard about a lot of people, a lot of teams that had interest, whether that was agent-driven conversation or team-driven conversation or smoke stream or whatever. You did hear a lot of teams were interested in him as a top 12, top 15 player.

And this just happened to be a team that can really, Kellan Moore really, really wants as many receivers to add dimension to this offense as possible. And it's year two of Kellyn Moore kind of figuring out who he is as a head coach and what he wants his offense to be. And he has a quarterback. So now he wants to get players for that quarterback. And this makes a lot of sense to me. Maybe I just missed on him. And I think he's a guy, it depends on which game you watch. I think what happened with the hamstring injury is that it affected his play.

So much he played through it. And he just didn't look like that and explosive of a player. It wasn't an effort thing. It was just more of a health thing. but a soft tissue injury makes you worried. Patrick yelled at me about this. I should get more excited for Jordan Tyson. But look, the Saints have two wide receivers who can do everything.

And at their very best, that's an electric one too. I think the ceiling is very high for that receiver group. And the floor is low just because of the injury history for both players. But they don't go offensive line and they don't trade up. And I think for longtime Saints fans, both of those feel good. Sure. Nicky Loomis. Every single trade he's ever made in the draft.

25 of them, all 25 are trades up. My favorite's that. Not one trade back. The Browns who have traded back a million times in the Andrew Barry era were on the other side of that Chiefs trade. And they go back to nine overall. And they take Spencer Fano from Utah. A lot of people thought the Chiefs with the Andy Reid connection was going to take him. He's supposedly personally close with Fano.

Instead, it's the. The Browns, he ends up being the first tackle off the board, but the latest tackle to be drafted first since 2019, which somehow had no first round tackles, which is just a wild thing to think about. It started a run. Like we thought, the tackles were going to come off fast, none in the first eight,

and then six of the next 13. And then the Browns, they get to basically have their pick of the litter at nine. They come back around late, stick and pick for my guy, Casey Concepcion. What do you think of? about what the Browns did holistically. I like it.

And I also appreciated that Jimmy Haslam wisely got himself out of the camera shot this time around instead of the camera shot hurt around the world last time around of him sort of standing over the shoulder of Andrew Berry and Kevin Stifansky. I think that this is a great pick. There's some reporting out there that the Browns would have picked him at six and then saw the board falling to where he would be available to them. I buy that. That was where a lot of mock people had him taking him. I buy it too. He could play left tackle or right tackle.

He really fills in. This is a Browns team that let all of their offensive linemen, essentially, their contracts expire and did not draft to replenish any of them last off season. And so really, I had really hoped that they would start drafting guys who can compete immediately for them and then also play a part in the future. I love the idea of him blocking downfield on like screens and some of these sweeps for Harold Fanon. I'm excited about that. I'm going to avert my eyes

at whoever's throwing the ball will see who it is. I hope that it works out for them at the position because I'd like to see this offense reach its potential. Haven't you heard Shadir Sanders, first snap, team drills.

I love that. Football is back. Good for him. That's awesome. And I feel like this is a great pick and they also added another layer to their passing game because they needed to.

They had to add another receiver who could do the things that Casey Concepcion can do. So the question with them at six and 24 was always, okay, they're going to go receiver tackle. Everyone said that throughout. If they cover the Browns, they said that, if they don't cover the Browns, they said that. It's exactly what happened.

I think you have to look at the board. They were there at six. Carnell Tate's already off the board. It might be a different decision if Cardinal Tate is available. Once he's off the board, they essentially are choosing whatever wide receiver is behind door number two, and we get to pick any tackle that we want in the draft and get an extra selection by moving back. Luxury, wealth. It's a really good process by the Browns. I have to give them credit. And I've said Casey Concepcion is my favorite player in the draft. I've been asked for

an official statement for Concepcion Nation if we are worried about this situation. The answer is no. The nations, like Gino Nation, we stand strong. He's probably going to lead that team in targets. He's going to be wide open. I think he is. going to be Browns proof, just like our guy Jeremiah Love is going to be Cardinals proof. And it might not be this year with the quarterbacks, but ultimately he's going to get open. I think it was a great choice. And look, they had their choice between him and Omar Cooper and Denzel Boston. So I think it was an idea of knowing the board. And I think they did a really good job with their first two picks. So I'm giving the Browns a lot of love here. Let's talk about the Dallas Cowboy. So if we're going in order

here, we just passed the 10th pick with the Giants. Already spoke about them. they moved down, or they move up rather, to the 11th overall pick and trade a couple, what was it, late fifth rounders, compensatory picks to the dolphins to get to 11, and they take the Ohio State safety, Caleb Downs. Doesn't matter what the year is. If you hear that some guy is going to be a future all-pro safety, he goes later than he should in drafts. And Caleb Downs, he ultimately went earlier than Kyle Hamilton. and he went earlier than Derwin James, but this draft, I don't think, is as strong. So it's kind of like the trend basically kept up.

And I think the Cowboys did a great job. You got to love it. I absolutely love this. I turned to Greg in the middle of this as they were picking, and we were really trying hard not to tip picks here in our studio today. I gave up about halfway through on that. And I said, I just turned to Greg without saying anything else. And I said, I'm turning into a person I never thought I would become.

And that is, I think I'm going to ride with the Cowboys this year. because I really, I already liked what they did on offense last year. I thought they were really fun to watch on that side of the ball. Their defense was a disaster until the end of the season. It improved a lot, especially with Quinn and Williams coming over. And now Christian Parker has a player who is absolutely the most perfect fit you could possibly think of for the Vic Fangio hybrid subset offense that he is going to run, a coach who just spent the last couple years of his career coaching Quinnian Mitchell,

Cooper de Jeanne, Zach Bonn, all of these guys in the back half of that defense and in their secondary as well, devising development plans and getting these guys mathematically situated to really attack offenses versus the other way around. I absolutely love this fit. If anyone is going to pick up this defense incredibly well immediately, it usually takes a couple of years. It's going to be Caleb Downs. It's got to be on everyone's. favorite picks list. We're going to do some later. I love it so much. I won't even hide it. I hate myself a little for becoming this person, but I absolutely, I love this pick.

The Cowboys have either made the best picks of the last 15 years, some of the best picks. Will McLeigh, man. Good for him. Or some of the biggest groaners, to be honest. And like, some of the bigger surprises. The last two years of Tyler's, we'll see. But so far it hasn't been great with Tyler Guyton and Tyler Booker. Yeah, there wasn't like a Tyler at this pickpoint. Right. Not available. Yeah. But what I love is, okay, they move. move up. They were obviously a little worried that Miami could take him at 11. If you're going to move up one pick or you're worried some other team is trading into that spot potentially and you just want to make sure. And they trade a couple late fifths. But what do they do later in the draft,

Jordan? They actually back up three picks to go from 20 to 23, knowing that Malachi Lawrence was still going to be there. I wouldn't say a shocking pick once we actually got to draft day. Some people were connecting both the Cowboys and the Bears to Malachi Lawrence, ECF prospect, who got talked about a lot on NFL daily late in the process. But initially, a lot of people had him outside like the top 50 overall players, really talented edge rusher. They figured he's going to be available. And they pick up 114 and 137.

So they actually get better picks than they gave. Right. To move back. And they get a really exciting player that was kind of one of Daniel Jeremiah and Ali Connolly, two of my favorite analysts, favorite players in this draft was Malachi Lawrence. I think a lot of people looked at Malachi Lawrence and looked at David Bailey and said like, you know, is there that big of a difference between these two players in terms of profile, in terms of pass rush juice. That's what they're looking for.

Well, I love it too. He's versatile, you know, and I think that he just really, they're piecing together following the loss of one of the best pure pass rushers we've seen in a very, very long time, ever. Voluntary loss. And a voluntary, yes. A voluntary loss. And I said this earlier this offseason, Greg, that it's basically them being self-aware without actually admitting to their

mistake or that they even made potentially made a mistake. And building, rebuilding this past rush plan in the aggregate, right? And that includes shoring up the interior as well. I really like that they went defense with both of these picks. They had to, honestly.

I don't think it would have been acceptable. for them to do anything different. They also got good George Pickens news about this year, at least, that probably helps them not veer toward a skill player. He signed his franchise tag, which Adam Schefter immediately followed up with. That means they can trade him at any time. Felt a little bit like, hey, anyone want to trade for him?

Now, our guy in Rappaport said the plan is to keep George Pickens. Yeah. But I think him signing that deal, locking him in, maybe at least gave some flexibility, which I have a feeling George Pickens and his agent would not mind. Ian Rappaport said they had a conversation, his agent, he's represented by the same agent,

David Mulligallet. David Mulligata. Yeah, who Jerry Jones very much insulted last offseason because saying he didn't know his name, didn't talk to him. And also didn't want to speak to him during the Michael Parsons because negotiations, he wanted to speak to Micah directly.

And Ian described that conversation as cordial. I was like, man, that does not sound great cordial. So if you're George Pickens, the Cowboys are already on record saying they are not going to give George Pickens a long-term contract. He is playing under the franchise tag this year if he's on the Cowboys. Okay, sign us because we would love a trade because a new team will give us a new contract. And so I don't think the Hay is totally out of the barn there. If you told me that tomorrow the Cowboys draft a wide receiver and George Pickens is part of some blockbusts. like I'm not going to be stunned.

I'm giving the odds on that at one in 4.5. Wow, that's very specific. That was what I wanted to do. By the way, they also added Rishon Gary this off season. And so Rishon, Gerey, Donovan, Hezaraku, Malachi, Lawrence. Okay. Quinn Williams. Sam Williams is still there.

He brought them back. Not bad. I'm loving this new world that we're in that the Cowboys are making us fans. So the dolphins move back one spot. Nice trade for them. Good order of business. Who is going to be the statement of intent pick for the new Miami Dolphins? I would even say the statement of intent picks because they have two in the first round.

And they move around the board and move up for their second pick who winds up being Chris Johnson from San Diego State at cornerback. I'm leading with that one because I like it just a little bit more than tackle Caden. Proctor with the 12th overall pick from Alabama. The only thing I'm a little concerned about is this is your statement, first pick of the draft. And what do you do? You do a very Packers thing. I would say it's so Packers, right?

John Eric Sullivan, you remember where you came from, man. But the Packers always had a history of taking these massive guys who sometimes were knocked a little bit for, like, you know, you didn't see it on tape every single snap. It kind of went up and down. Hayden Proctor's weight kind of went up and down in his career. Nick Saban on the broadcast for ESPN today, who had him, you know, as his player was like, great player, works really hard when he's there with you.

Sometimes you've got to be a little worried about him. I know he's a college player. I did see some added context shared that that was Nick Saban talking about him when he was like an 18-year-old who first came into the building. It's absolutely fair. Big player might be moved inside to guard. I can see it.

Kind of similar to Maui Noah. They'll probably try him at right tackle where they have Austin Jackson, but he might not be long for the dolphins. Well, flip Austin Jackson, flip him somewhere. You know, he has position flex because remember he was their left tackle. You could play inside. They have their left tackle in Patrick Ball. Yeah, and he's played inside in the past as well.

So I could see a lot of movement on that. Just like a little risky, which is why I like why they came back and moved around a little bit, came up for one of your favorite connections. And players, one of Mina Kimes' favorite players too in the draft, Chris Johnson, who just looks like a 2026 cornerback, if that makes sense. Just a guy who fits in today's NFL. I just love it. And I love the fit in Miami.

You know, we joked that one of the other first picks, the Packers ever made, of the Brian Gutikins era, of which John Eric Sullivan was one of the executives also in that building, was a corner. Now, they traded around a lot to get there. But offensive line corner position for the short term and the long term and a premier position and also a player who I think is great. One of my favorite, like you mentioned, one of my favorite players in this draft class in Chris Johnson.

And it just makes sense to me. It just, because, again, we've seen the Packers do stuff like this and be successful with it. And it just makes sense that it's being reapplied. I also really absolutely think that building around an Aaron Brewer, for example, at center is a really good idea to build guys that compliment what you are, a force that you already have anchoring the middle of that offensive line. I wouldn't be surprised if they dipped in again if the right player felt to them.

They got five more picks in the next two rounds. But I also think that as we have noted, the sprint rebald that they're in, they're going to have to pay incredible amount of attention to the defensive side, especially with some of those premier players. And picking up a corner, one of the better corners in this class is great, in my opinion. I love that. And that two-pick combo actually reminds me of one of my favorite nuggets from the night. I forgot to say you mentioned how Joe Shane, yes, got to take two players in the top 10.

for the second time in his career, which is absolutely insane. And he took the exact same positions in the same order as he did. Because what was it, five years ago, he takes, or four years ago, Kavon, Tibado, and Evan Neal, and then this year, you know, he takes the pass rusher hybrid, Arvel Reese, and then Maui Noah at 10. I'm Luke Wilson. Join me each week for Film Never Lies. Since retiring from the NFL, I've had a lot of my mind, and now got my own show.

So if you're tired of lazy takes, if you want honest conversations, join us each week. Film Never Lies, available on all TSN platforms in the IHeartRadio app. Let's go to The Ravens who made all the mock drafters happy. One of the only picks that everyone had seemed to be Venga, Juane, the guard, everyone's top guard on the market, 14th overall. Thought they could consider Kenyon Sadiq there. And they chose not to, and they kind of take the meat and potatoes line. and they really needed that. I think for their running game

and for their passing game. Very exciting. They also picked up the fifth year option for Zay Flowers. Maybe just a get back in the flow pick there by the Ravens. I like it. Yeah, kind of surprised he even lasted this long. I understand, though, that the sport kind of shook out in a very interesting way once, you know,

two and three happened. I would have liked him for the dolphins better. So if a maybe a little critical about the dolphins, I should say who I would have traded. I would have taken Juana personally. I love this for a couple of reasons. One, he can absolutely grade the road for Derek Henry and Lamar Jackson. He is just an outstanding run blocker.

He is tough. He is, you know, nasty parentheses complimentary. And he also can just, he's a player who there's actually been some chatter about bumping him over to center as well. Now, that's a, that is a huge, huge thing to ask a guard to do. Obviously, playing center is one of the most difficult positions on the field. but the football IQ and the way that he can just play in the interior and just shore up the interior. I mean, you have to at least talk about it. They have a gaping hole at center now minus Tyler Linderbaum.

Yeah, I love the pick. And I don't think you need to get too cute when you're the Baltimore Ravens right now. You are in your window. And I think somewhere, you know, Jim Harbaugh was not happy. Because I could have imagined a world where the Chargers traded up for you on it. Yeah, could have traded up for Yuane if he fell a little further down the border, or at least hoped he fell all the way to them like he did in Daniel Jeremiah's mock draft, where I was really surprised he fell all the way to 22.

So Yuane goes there. The Buccaneers select Ruben Bain Jr. We haven't mentioned Ruben Bain's name yet because he hasn't gotten taken, but of all the projected top 10 picks, he had the longest slide. You know, Jermad McCoy was in a lot of people's top tens for a while, but not going into the draft. In the end, he only falls to 15. And it's ironic, I guess, that Hakeem Messador, his teammate was projected by just about everyone to the point where I'm pretty sure the insiders knew that the Bucks really liked Hakeem Messador, the Miami Edge, who was kind of the robin to Rubin Bain's Batman as their 15th overall pick. And I think they were pretty confident he was going to be on the board, and that was going to be the pick.

maybe they'd even trade back for him. Instead, they get his teammate, Ruben Bain Jr., who, just by the tape, is right there with David Bailey as the best pass rusher in this class. I don't even think it's like that much of a question. I know the arm lengthing. He's a little different dimensions. He had the incident that our colleague Ali Connolly reported about, and I don't know if that caused teams to think differently of him. To be clear, they were aware. of the citation that he had had. He was involved in an accident where a young woman died a year and a half ago

and then another citation. All the teams were aware of that. So it wasn't Ollie's reporting that I think would have changed how teams viewed. They already viewed him that way. But whatever the case may be, Bain is an incredible player and exactly what the Buccaneers need.

And this seems to happen to Jason Light. Like the right player just falls into his lap. Gotta be good to be Jason Light, man. Just draft and develop these guys, pay them early, and them out. Like, that's, that's the thing. It was like the worst kept secret in the NFL draft process that like the bucks were going to pick an edge. Yes. You know, it was just like, all right, well, which one? Like, you just knew that they were going to, to go after it. First of all,

it's a position of need, but then the pick point that they're at, absolutely you knew at least one of these guys. Right. They weren't, they weren't going to be a tackle team. They weren't going to be a wide receiver team. That was kind of who was there. And he's been really good, Jason Light of doing the thing that seems like the obvious thing to do, but not all GMs do that. And still just gets like everyone just like forgets. Oh yeah, Jason Light's coming up. Oh, wow. Yeah, that's definitely the player he's going to pick. It's early. I really like Bain as a player. I think he could turn out to be one of the best players in this class and it's early. But I have a feeling whatever the Bucks win total is, I'm going to be over.

I think I'm just, I'm going back to Big on the Bucks. Welcome. Yes. Last year did not work out. We're happy to have you. It did not work out well for people believing in the bucks. I want to believe in the Lions. We'll see. They take Blake Miller 17th overall.

You had that as the pick. Yes. In your what we should do mock draft, which you, it wasn't supposed to be predictive, but you wiped the floor with me. These teams were watching our, what you should do mock draft. And they were saying, well, if Jordan says we should do that, we're going to do that. Like Miller, Clemson.

tackle. One of many of your picks that they agreed they should do. It just, he's a dirt dog. You kind of, you kind of, I said dirt bag. Parentheses, complimentary.

You know, there's a lot of things that the lions could have done. They did the thing that makes sense. Yes. Which in years past, maybe they haven't always done the thing that just makes total sense. And that's, you know,

that can be fine if those players go and contribute at a high level, which many of them have. But this just made sense. His personality. the way he plays, the position of need. It was like their favorite player fell to them on the board in the correct way. It just really fell right into their hands. To me, this is not one you overthink.

They didn't have to overthink this at all. And teams apparently were higher on Blake Miller than I think the mock draft consensus was. Teams loved him. I think he was getting taken in the next couple picks if they had not taken him. And there was a very real possibility that they would have to trade up to get the tackle that they wanted. Maybe Proctor going 12th overall, which a lot of reporting said was maybe their top choice, and that it might have been a two-tackle class for them that they really loved those two. Maybe I Hana Chor from Arizona State, but they got the guy that they wanted.

And I just love when they show the Daniel Jeremiah comps, one of my favorite things in the draft. and the comp, which he wrote, you know, months ago, is Taylor Decker. And it just happens that way. How about that? Now, unfortunately, Taylor Decker is like doing interviews where he's not happy with how the lions have treated him and he still wants to play football. I hate for that to be the way his lion's career ends, if that is how it ends, because it seems like they don't need him back when you got his comp.

Love that pick for them. Minnesota makes one of the most surprising picks of the entire draft. Caleb Banks, defensive tackle from Florida. when I thought about teams that were just going for in this draft, the Jets came to mine, and then the Vikings came to mind because, look, he was the 51st player on Daniel Jeremiah's board. If you watch, man, what was the tape?

Was it the LSU tape? I forget, there's one tape from 24 where, I mean, he looks like the number one overall player in the draft. He is that special for someone that big to move like that. And you saw it at the combine, too. It was just freaky. I'm like, how is this guy not going to be taken early? well, it's because of a foot injury that's going to be a problem.

And even when he was on the field this year, like he didn't look like himself. So it's, he being was up and down on the field, like in 2024, was probably affected by the foot. But they're just going for it. They're like, we might have a top five player or it might be a bust. Kind of seems like what Quest he did. Yeah. Back of the day.

And the team brass, which includes obviously Kevin O'Connell and then interim general manager, Rob Brzezinski, they said that they really trusted. the medical staff's clearance of Caleb Banks. They did a lot of medical research on him and that foot specifically. I almost wonder, you know, because of the way that he was moving at times last college season and then into a really physical training program, you need to do a lot of things to specifically train for the types of drills that they want to do at the combine, I almost wonder if we don't find out like maybe a few days from now as the teams start

to talk to their beat reporters, that maybe the medical staff found something that had been hindering him a little bit that caused him to drop down some of these bores that was beyond maybe this foot injury at the combine that stuff just tends to happen to happen i think they had they cleared him big time yeah the report for me in rapaport that there was an extra some sort of medical clearance that caleb banks's agents and people sent to him that he passed i i forget the details now like this week within the last two days that actually did make teams feel better about a recent checkup and maybe that gave them the confidence to do it. So they went for it. The Panthers take Georgia tackle Monroe Freeling, 19th overall. I do like that. They showed his draft parties.

He's from South Carolina. It's a little, a little bit of a local connection. You're celebrating. You're a big Freeling girl. I love this for the Panthers. The Panthers did something that was smart and made sense. I wanted them to take Concepcion because I'm a simple person who's like, oh, well, they've already got Rashid Walker there and Conwo. get healthy at some point. I'm just a dummy who was like, get a weapon for Bryce Young, but obviously offensive line is a weapon. I wondered.

Now here's some interesting like just first round and teams trying to figure out what other teams are doing machinations, right? So the Eagles trade up right after this pick to go get Mackay Lemon. We'll get to that in a minute. I do wonder

if everybody, I wonder if Philadelphia thought that the Panthers were actually going to take Mackay Lemon and saw and learned that he wasn't loved him. I do know they love, that Eagles love Mackay Lemon, you know, as a pick, trade up for him and see that the Panthers are taking Freeling, who, by the way, is a great pick for the Panthers because not only is left tackle, I know they signed Rashid Walker, but there is no guarantee, yeah, and there's no guarantee that he was even going to be their full-time starter in the coming

season. So Monroe Freeling can obviously play on the left side. He is a player that needs more development. He's got great traits. He's got great lengths. And he's really a good mover and has good balance and just the way that he can manipulate space and find leverage is really solid. There's a lot of upside there. And he can also play on the right side. He has played both through his college career. And Taylor Moton is the Panthers Iron Man, but has played there. My gosh, he came in when Christian McCaffrey came in. Can't play forever. Can't play forever. And so I feel like this is just a really, really solid pick for the Panthers, for the short term and the long term. And once again, goes back to what we've been saying is they are building everything around

trying to make absolutely sure on their quarterback before it's too late. Right. I think the strength of the draft at that point was tackle or receiver. Take one. They'll both help. And obviously tackles are harder to find, especially in this draft. Like, there's only a couple more on the board. And then it was going to be a big wait.

So you mentioned the Eagles. They trade up with the Cowboys. We mentioned that trade earlier. Mackay Lemon, according to our NFL network reporters, was on the phone with the Pittsburgh Steelers, was going to become a Pittsburgh Steelers. Now, Steelers Eagles, as a rivalry, is pretty overstated. You'll hear from their fans, it's like, yeah,

they're six hours apart and they're in a different conference. It's not really like a thing. But to know that Philadelphia, who's been a lot better than Pittsburgh for a while now in the NFL, you know, won a couple titles, that they end up taking Mackay Lemon who can't get through to Mackay Lemon because he's talking to the Steelers,

but no, it's them who get him at 20th overall. Howie, I believe, has been chasing the mistake of drafting Jalen Rager over Justin Jefferson ever since it happened. This draft was giving me flashbacks. Because Mackay Lemon's like an interior player, slot player, who people think, oh, maybe the ceiling's not that high on him.

And I swear, if you go back to the draft cover, of the Justin Jefferson year. Even though everyone thought that was a bad pick even at the time, Rager over Jefferson, the logic was, well, Rager's more of a playmaker. Jefferson's more of a low-ceiling guy who's probably going to have to play inside, mostly, as a pro. One of the worst evaluations that the consensus has ever made.

Maybe the McKay Lemon will make up for it. Either way, a very solid pick for Jalen Hertz. I just love this. I absolutely love this. Mackay Lemon was one of my favorite players and certainly one of my favorite offensive players in this draft class, because he's so friendly for the quarterback

and especially coming out of the slot. He creates space, even though, yes, I know everyone talks about like the 40 time and all these things. Play speed is there, getting open is there, strong at the catch point is there, does not drop the ball is there. And he obviously opens up to me, having somebody who can work that space on the inside

can really open up the perimeter. Jalen Hertz loves to throw to the perimeter. The problem is they've added a bunch of guys over the middle of the field for a quarterback that, you know, doesn't really throw that well over the middle of the field. But I hear what you're saying. But it all opens up.

If we are to believe all of this reporting and all of the, you know, watch what happens after June 1st and the reports. Oh, AJ Brown's gone. Yeah, that talks are going to resume, right? Like, like that we, that's going to happen. The word on NFL network was talks are going to resume just before June 1st. So, okay.

May 31st, 1159. You're thinking about Devante Smith now is the one, obviously, in this offense. And you're thinking about all the ways that Devante Smith can truly affect their perimeter and will be the volume target in this offense. Well, you can't have them bracketed or doubled every time. You have to have multiple of these other guys, especially in Sean Mannion's offense. He is taking the 2017, 2018, 11 personnel, Rams, some of the Packers stuff that they did. And he's basically saying, you need two sifting, receivers in the middle of the field and then a guy you can get shots to on the perimeter.

That's exactly the math. As simple as that as what this is. Steelers then quote unquote settle. I'm quoting myself for another Arizona state guy. Max Ihanachur, 21st overall. I know it was settling, but it could turn out to be a great pick, a really high ceiling tackle that a lot of teams were really interested in. I think the last really high ceiling tackle, wouldn't have surprised me.

me if the Patriots, Ali Connolly, you know, reported was really interested in, maybe a guy, I don't know if they were going to trade up for him, but certainly their dream would have been to take him, has only played the position for a few years. Again, I go back to, I'm not scouting nine tapes of this guy, but when you watch him move, he looks like an NFL left tackle in a way that almost no one in this class does. He's just massive. Massive, good feet. agile and has a lot of room to grow.

And so you got to be confident in your development plan. I think this could work out that he ends up being an even more important player than Mackay Lemon would have been. So either way, it's a nice consolation prize for the Steelers. Man, knowing what we know about the Steelers pulling in some of these yards after the catch players to recoup for the loss of Kenny G. And then watching just now that escort block that he just hit to launch a yards after the catch play.

Like, it's just, it's, yeah, it's good. There are some teams that are just don't out smart themselves and they take big guys. The Eagles are usually one of those teams.

They take big guys or receivers. The Steelers are often one of those teams. And again, big guys are receivers. And then the Chargers are one of those teams. And they quietly had an edge need this off season because look, Kaleomack can't play forever.

Tuli Polu is going to be around. But, you know, Joey Bosa is long gone. Akeem Meper. Messador comes in as kind of a youthful guy that they can bring in. The Bucks seeing Rubin Bain fall to them. Actually, I think works out well for the Chargers because otherwise, I think he would have been off the board. And I think this is a premium position of need for the Chargers.

I think they would have loved Juanae, but I think Messador is a really good position. I don't know, like, it was right at the cutoff where I'm starting to get a little less excited about the edges. Malachi Lawrence goes next to the Cowboys. He's super physical and he's super high after. And so, okay, Jim Harbaugh. Right. Jim Harbao is going to be out on the field, like slapping his hands against his pads and all that. The other thing is they did extend Kaleel Mack, you know, on the contract.

They adjusted the contract extension for him. And so it does not surprise me at all that they want to go cost control here. They told you that they wanted to go cost control when they did not retain Adafay OA. So the combination of this three-man rush that worked really well for them last year, they still have that. It's just more cost-controlled now because they didn't extend OA and then now they brought in Messador through the draft. I forgot to mention the O-A factor of it all.

And I think, like, Messador could be a more complete player than O-A, who for most of his career with the Ravens was not, like, thought of as much of a run-stopper. Messador also only one year younger than Tully Polotu. Like, he is more of a finished product, even though he just converted from nose tackle. What a weird... I know you were telling me about this. I was just saying he weighed so much more. I don't know what he weighed exactly, but the fact.

that he was playing nose tackle and then was this good at edge makes you really excited. But yes, a 25-year-old prospect. Another guy who was well-traveled, we're into the 20s now. We're passing the Brown since they took Concepcion. The Bears take Dylan Thineman with the 25th overall pick. This was a popular mock pick to the Vikings who surprised everyone earlier with that Caleb Banks pick. They do not take a Harrison Smith replacement.

Instead, Dennis Allen takes the Kevin Biber. slash Johnson Gardner Johnson replacement, wherever you want to call it. Multiple players, obviously, because of the departures they had in free agency. If they were going to address the secondary, this just fits to me. He's a player who can do a lot of things,

sees the field really well, and we'll contribute with them, probably will start for them immediately. And the denisance being on, as we've established, it'll be interesting to see what he does with him in this defense. There is something just funny to me. He just feels very like Dennis Allen,

will be very happy about this. Like ever present in our NFL. He didn't go, he left New Orleans. And yet here he is just affecting, you know, one of the most popular, uh, prospects in this class. Like, they're taking him for Dennis Allen. And he had a great year last year as a coach.

I'm Luke Wilson. Join me each week for Film Never Lies. Since retiring from the NFL, I've had a lot of my mind. And now got my own show. To if you're tired of lazy takes, if you want honest conversations, join us each week. Film Never Lies available on all TSN platforms.

the IHeartRadio app. The Texans end up moving up in the draft a couple spots with the bills to take Keelan Rutledge, a Georgia Tech senior, who late in the process, it was thought, you know, could be a first round pick. The second guard off the board, Chase Basantis is still out there. And so they decide they need to move up. Apparently they thought maybe San Francisco was going to take him. That's the only reason you would move up to pick.

San Francisco did trade out of their pick after this trade. So maybe they had some good intel. So did the table get launched or something? You know, like, and he does. Well, because it's Domingo. Domingo from the Shanahan, you know, of course they have Intel. He seems like a brawler, Shanahan type of guard. And they definitely need a guard.

He seems like a Nick Casario. Okay, let's take the Georgia Tech senior that just like we, he loves like the five-year captains and every, he loves the off-the-field stuff in the positive way, Nick Casario. And they take these wild guys. whether in New England and here in Kaelan Rutledge, they have attacked this offensive line with aggression.

Gotta love it if you're C.J. Stroud. There was, they had everyone in the first half. There was a little panic in the first half as free agency began. That maybe this was not going to be a priority for this team, but I think they've turned it into something really interesting. And there is some chatter that he could play, Kaylyn Rutledge could pop into center if needed. I think right now he's probably their center,

but I don't know if they've talked about. that Wyatt Teller is at guard, ursery at left tackle. They signed Braden Smith. They brought back Trent Brown. They brought back Ed Ingram. I like the vision there for the Texans. So we mentioned Chris Johnson at 27.

Here is where the Patriots took the final tackle. It's funny how predictable the tackles ended up going off the board. They went in roughly the consensus order. And kind of the one question was, okay, will there'll be seven tackles or six? Caleb Lomu is probably going to be the seventh, and he's probably going to be right at the end of the first round. If he goes, that's exactly what happened.

One of the reasons, you know, he was a redshirt sophomore. So he's a young prospect, and they don't necessarily need him to replace Will Campbell right away at left tackle. That'll be next year. No, that's a mean joke. That is what Greg foresees and hopes will happen. He could have position flexibility. Morgan Moses was talking about retirement.

So at most, one more year with the Patriots, so it could be at right tackle. He's someone who could play at different positions. And look, they need linemen. I think they were maybe a little disappointed with how the board fell, but happy to get Lomu. Not too shocking. He's someone I thought we talked about him as maybe a possible 49ers guy

who could fit with them for the short term and long term. Understanding he could slot in at a couple different places early on as needed, but then also could develop into an eventual left tackle replacement. So we got to talk about the Mike Raibble press. conference. While we're at New England, what a wild day for Mike Vrable. More reporting comes out related to Diana Rossini and Mike Vrable. More pictures come out. But the bigger thing from a football perspective, we had already learned the night as the draft is starting. East Coast time, it's already draft day. The Patriots announced that Mike Vrable will not be with the team for day

three of the draft to undergo counseling and focus on his family on day three of the draft. He's going to be with his family. Of course, he spoke just two days ago about that he needs to make things right with his family and with his team. The surprising part of all this, first that announcement was obviously surprising, but then that he decided to call a press conference right before the draft started. Let's listen to Mike Vrable. blame how over just the last two and a half weeks,

you know, any situation of the bonus or anything other than it? It was laughable to, what is that process? Well, that's a private and personal matter. I don't think that those comments. I think that that was, you know, always an attempt to protect your family. And I would never be dismissive. But, you know, I think my family and this football team

are the most important thing. And that's what I plan to do. And I'm excited about the challenge with both of those things. I'm excited about the challenge with both of those things when he's referring to his family and his team. That was the fourth question that he took from the media. Initially, I didn't think he was going to be taking questions, just make a statement. Before he came out, I was the only thing. The only reason for him to come out and make a statement, I was just speculating to myself was maybe a leave of absence.

Like, what else would this be? and then kind of exit stage right. Maybe it was just that he wasn't going to be speaking to the media again for the rest of the draft, and he just wanted to own it as much as possible. Again, a very apologetic tone. Again, talking about how much he needs to make it up to his family specifically. Again, speaking with regret. I included that question because it was the toughest question,

and it was the question that got to the heart of the matter, is basically what changed between your first statement that you made to the New York Post and the last two times you have spoken to us? us in a more apologetic tone. And he said that initial statement was his way to try to deflect attention away from his family, which based on everything we've learned since, checks out. Just a wild couple of days there for the Patriots, but he went out of his way. He even spoke to fans to just say, look, Elliot Wolf's got this draft on lockdown.

In general, it is Elliot Wolf and the personnel staff's draft, and they're going to be continuing on and they'll continue without Mike Brable for the third day. He also made it clear he will be communicating with the team for the third day. Didn't say if he'd be away from the team any longer than that, but didn't indicate any particular that he would. All right, so we mentioned the Chiefs and the Titans. I'm just going to move on to our final pick of the first round. We did it, Eric. I know we've been honking a lot. And that pick was another one that you, did you nail this one, Janarian Price? No, you had him with the Jaguars. Yes. You did nail a lot of these picks. And this actually was one of the buzzed about picks.

And I didn't think it was going to happen because John Schneider told us he was going to trade out of the first round. Why didn't you trade out of the first round? Maybe nobody had a price that he was willing to take. Well, the Titans traded back into the first round. The Jets traded back into the first round. I guess that was it. Sometimes when you win the Super Bowl, teams do not want to trade with you.

Fair. Engineering price is an exciting. I wouldn't say he's similar to Zach Charbonnet, but in the way that I think he does everything at a high level, like B, B plus level and is going to be good on passing downs, it's kind of a good compliment. And he was behind Jeremiah Love at Notre Dame and has less tread on his tires in that regard.

Like he... Very few touches. He is a really exciting player. In fact, I know of a couple of teams that were kind of eyeing him at the top of the second, potentially trying to maneuver even into the bottom of the first to see if they could potentially, target him and the price is just maybe not there and you have to make those decisions in accordance

with what you have and what you're offering and all of those things. And he was a player on day two that really was to me somebody who was like getting a lot of buzz to the point where I think it was Daniel Jeremiah may have mentioned this that would not have been surprised to see him pop back up into the bottom of the first round. You wouldn't have been surprised if he would have gotten up into the first round if someone traded up for him, which is, which is really. I thought it was going to happen. I really did. And look, he went in the first round. I love it.

This is a, he is to me, he is RB2 for a reason. He's an awesome player. I think he fits them really, really well. You know what he is for the Super Bowl freaking champions? He's RB1. Yeah. I mean, Zach Charbonnet is coming off. I was saying he's RB2 in the class.

No, no, I know. I'm just saying it's crazy that he is immediately going to step right in. The rich get richer. To a big role. I think he's going to be a guy a lot of fantasy leaguers are into. And the heat's already off him. Somebody took a. running back way higher so they can't get heat for drafting running back in the first round.

We're wrapping up here. I mentioned, yeah, I thought the Vikings, the Jets were two teams that took some huge swings. We had that tackle run. I think the Cardinal Tate pick is going to really stand out to me as one that kind of changed the draft. I love what the Giants did. Do you have any just favorite picks? I mean, we've talked about them, but what are your like favorites? Yeah, absolutely. I loved the McKay Lemon to the Eagles. pick for all the reasons that I said when we were talking about it. Caleb Downs and the Cowboys to me is has magical potential honestly. I can't wait to see he is he gives you a mathematical advantage anywhere you put him and I that is all about what Vic Fandio's defense is with which

Christian Park will be running in terms of creating leverage advantages and breaking tendencies, breaking rules quote unquote from an offense. That is what he's going to be able to do. Blake Miller to the Lions. It just was one of those who's like I would really, love Dan Kemp, to like just get, like, listen in with him and Dan Campbell just having a conversation. Neckap bider. If I've ever seen. What are you calling him a dirt dog?

Dirt dog. That was what they called the 2004 Boston Red Sox, I believe. I mean, when they won the World Series. Shout out to. I was too young to remember that, you know. Yeah, you really are. I like the Yuanay picked by the Ravens. Yeah.

In part because I can imagine him being an important part of a team that wins the Super Bowl, contends for the Super Bowl. There's only so many of those picked, like a guy who could be one of the best starting players on a team that's winning 12, 13 games. Like, that's special. Sunny Stiles, I think, is going to be a great fit with those two linebackers. I'm just going to be, like, for me, really fun to watch. And then I'm going to give the Browns just some love for their two pack of players.

Good for you. If you're going to take my player, Concepcion, I'm going to like you. My least favorite was probably Simpson. I think Caleb Banks was a huge swing. I just hope it goes well for them. It's interesting with Kevin O'Connell. as the guy that if you think about Kuesia dofa Menta's first draft, it was a fiasco because he took two players in the secondary that were big risk players.

Both of them were kind of injury plague. Both of them stayed injury plague did not work out. What people keep forgetting is that the Kuesia dofo Mensa brought over very few support staff with him. It was all the same people contributing to making those picks that are still in the building now. So it doesn't actually super surprise me to see them go. in this direction. I hope it works out for them. I would love to see a successful Caleb Banks in this defense, truly, because at his, at his best, it actually could be really, really exciting. However, I just, people really are forgetting that. Yes, but then again,

you just said in this defense, and I thought, man, with every favorite defensive player I had in this draft, all I thought was, I hope he lands on the Vikings. Like, CJ Allen, if he goes to the Vikings in round too. Yeah, I really, I would love that. I would love that. If Thienaman went to the Vikings, I was like, oh, they'll really know how to use him. if Cassius Howell goes to the bike, like that. It's like, okay, well, make it work with Caleb Banks. Like, Flores will have a vision for him, and I trust that vision. All right.

And yeah, Ty Simpson, if nothing else, it's going to just, if Sean McVeigh was losing any motivation, all the hate that he's going to get for Ty Simpson, having to prove himself right for the next five to 10 years with Ty Simpson will be plenty of motivation. Let's talk about any just favorite off the screen moments or just anything else as we say goodbye. I'll start. How about seeing Daniel Jeremiah and Mel Kiper on the set together? That was cool. Before the draft, there was a moment where on my computer, I thought I was about to watch Mike Rable, like, take a leave of absence from the Patriots on one screen,

while I saw Daniel Jeremiah and Kiper on ESPN on the other. And I'm like, what is 2006? This is a strange time we're living in. But, yeah, seeing on NFL network all like the ESPN mic flags because they're sharing, you know, the sideline reporters in this case. interesting times. Mine are, you know, it's always prospects with their families and their moms especially. I think it was Messador who had a really nice moment with his mom.

That was really, really sweet. I also love just like the in the moment interviews that Laura Rutledge was doing tonight. Like she always does such a great job with those. And it always really gets right to the, right to the meat of the moment that they're trying to communicate. and you could tell whether a player is really, really excited or overcome with emotion. I like how all the prospects who haven't been picked yet, high five and celebrate the ones who are walking down the tunnel or out of the green room in order to succeed. And Greg, I really liked watching the draft in here with you.

Oh, that was too. I hope that's true. Yeah, you did wait. Well, first of all, we said that was a should draft, but here's the... Well, you didn't let me do a mock. Here's the sad truth. Your mock was the official mock. My mock was even worse, the predictive.

draft so it was all bad i'm retiring with an oh and two record in mock draft um no uh it's funny with the espn thing i said their their PR put out a tweet of ian rapaport just smiling into the camera day one of in the books i'm just like what what is this this weird world peter woods had the best what's the word for it or uh but just like scene design i mean set design his outfit and his family's outfit and him like sitting among it just find the picture on Twitter. It was absolutely

We need room Raider to step in. Incredible. I don't know. I like the Mancer Delane. That was just more of a pick. That really stands out to me of like the chiefs just making it happen. All right, who didn't get taken?

And yes, we'll be covering everything on day two after the draft, me and Nick shook. Jermad McCoy projected to go in the top 10 for a lot of. this cycle because of his injuries. Emmanuel McNeil Warren, talented safety that Daniel Jeremiah had in his top 20. Colton Hood, the cornerback from Tennessee. Denzel Boston, good receiver from Washington.

Not many crazy guys that fell, though. McCoy was probably the most noteworthy, the guy I'm most curious about. Because I thought the Patriots might take them. I thought the Seahawks might take them. Just teams that feel like, we can just take a swing on like a top eight talent. Yeah. Kind of reminded me of Will Johnson. Very similar. Yes. And look, Will Johnson ended up playing a decent amount in his rookie year.

It was up and down, but also had injuries, to be honest, in his rookie year, too. T.J. Parker, Caden McDonald, good nose tackle. But yeah, not a lot of crazy names. Avi and Terrell. Great first draft with you. Yeah. We've been doing it in this room now for a minute here. I know. This was nice. How was it nice being off the Rams beat?

This would have been a doozy to be on it for. Oh, man. Can you imagine if I had to write a call? Follow him tonight? Holy cow. This is easier. Just honking. Thank you to everyone who watched us live on YouTube.

Thank you to Sam, to Sean, to Eric, to Chris Babona behind the scenes. Everyone who helped us out. We will see you on Friday night. Good job by Pittsburgh, by the way, showing up in full fourth,

underrated city. We'll see you Friday. This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human.