NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - 2026 NFL Draft Winners and Losers

Episode Date: April 26, 2026

Gregg Rosenthal and Ollie Connolly look back on the 2026 NFL Draft and tell you which teams they think came out of the Draft in the best shape! Gregg and Ollie explain why they think the Chiefs and Mansoor Delane is a great fit, why Todd Bowles and the Buccaneers defense had a great Draft, which teams have them feeling better or worse about the state of the organization, which Offensive and Defensive Coordinators should be the happiest and more! NFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. I'm Daniel Jeremiah. And I am Greg Rosenthal. I know that, Greg. We're teaming up on 40s and free agents, the podcast that owns the NFL offseason. This is where teams are built.

Free agency, combine, pro days, trades. Every move matters. From my draft boards and mock drafts to my vaunted top 101 free agents and how rosters come together. Quarterback movement. Surprise signings. We'll tell you what it means. And who really.

really wins. Open your free IHeart radio app, search 40s and free agents and listen now. It's a tough sport. It's not for everybody. You've got to be a little sick to love this game and we've got some sickos. Welcome to NFL Daily where we're getting used to loving the Cleveland Browns draft. I'm Greg Rosenthal. I'm here

in my garage. The draft is over. Day three was fun. If you wanted live coverage of it, you could have listened to Ali Connolly on the read optional live stream slash podcast. He was taping into the middle of the night all three days of the podcast. How are you recovering right now, Ollie? And you better have some powder dry for us here on NFL Daily. Now I got some sleep last

night with struggling those first couple of days. I'm preparing myself for a wonderful trip to Paris. By the time people listen to this, I'll be full of cheese and wine. And nothing gets me fired up like the idea of talking prospects and dousing myself in cheese and wine. So I love the thought of all that. I also, I do feel uncomfortable with liking what Andrew Barry did. We'll get to the Browns. We got a lot to get to. How I wanted to do it, we're doing it winners and losers style, what we liked about the draft, what we didn't. But just to have some fun, I gave a ton of categories to Ali to come up with answers for, and I came up with the answers myself.

So in the winners category, we'll start there. Let's just, let's think about it from the player perspective. Let's start with some best landing spots possible for players. And I've got more than one. I'm sure you could go long on this one too, but I'll start towards the top with just Mansour Delane. Like, the fact that Steve Spagnolo loved him so much that they went and traded up for him and kept mentioning Brett Veach did on the phone call with Delane that like, man, we love you, such. We're like, we had to go get you. Now, it might have been a situation listening to his conversation, you know, conversation with the media that they, I think they really love Tate and Delane.

They wanted to make sure they got one of those two guys. But man, a cornerback that talented, who I know, you were really high on Ali in Steve Spagnolo's system just seems like it's going to be awesome. Yeah, it's going to be wonderful. I think bringing in a guy who is as comfortable up in bump and run coverage, you can play off, has all the instincts in the world. I think it can be a pretty active blitzer for them too. If he goes and plays in the slot sum, has complete versatility,

playing outside, playing inside. It's going to be, I think, more of a shadow player than he is going to be a true playmaker for them. But he, I think, will fit into all the versatility that Steve Spagnolla wants to do. and they've not had, even when they've had really good corners, or they've had really good years, whether it was Sneed, whether it was McDuffie, I think they've had anyone quite of the caliber of talent of Mansour Delane. So in the spot they were in,

to be able to move into the upper echelons of the draft and go an ID one of the guys, so I think can be one of the four or five best players from the draft over the next six, seven years is pretty damn good. They also have a Lowy Gilman back there. They have Cater Kohu. It's a totally remixed secondary, but I'm with you. That's a bold statement.

considering Trette McDuffie made an all pro team. But I agree, just in terms of pure talent, like they haven't had anyone like that. They also had R. Mason Thomas, the pass rusher in the second round. But we're sticking with like the best fits for players. Who stands out to you of just like a player that ended up like in a perfect spot for that? This one's a slight cheat, but it would be Ruben Bain, Josiah Trota,

Kiante Scott, together as a trio and top balls a system. Everything those guys do is about playing downhill. Everything top balls ask you to do is about playing downhill. I have some reservations, but when we've got a turn and running coverage, particularly for Josiah Trotter. But Kianti Scott was the best blitzing defensive back in the draft. Him and Ruben Bain together the interplay of how they got after people in the blitz game at Miami. There is all sorts of nuance and subtlety to the mechanics of the blitz game. It's a little two-man dance between the guy on the first level, the guy who's coming behind him.

Those two have such an innate feel and understanding together. So you able to keep them on the same team to be able to maximize Scott, who is still a somewhat limited player, by all the fun of weaponizing him as a blitzer, being able to get Ruben Bain with the 15th overall pick and keep those guys together while stacking Josiah Trotter on top of it, I think is just pretty remarkable to come away with all three. You're a linebacker scout by trade.

You have like these, you know, multiple thousand word reviews of all the linebackers on your substack in this class. I mean, you have other positions graded, but not the same. What did you think about Trotter? Because, you know, I see my guy, C.J. Allen on the board. I think he could be. answer for this question too. I mean, he landed in a great spot with Lou Anarumo and the

Colts. But what do you think about Trotter made them take him over, over C.J. Allen, or just thought, thinking it's like a great fit. Trotter is in the politest way, an absolute maniac. He only wants to fire downhill. He triggers on the first thing he sees. He blasts people up at the point of attack. You can go and find plays with him, where a running back is seldom, perfect past pro posture and he'll just dive over the running back to go and get the quarterback. So the guy's trying to take him out of the knees or trying to dive or trying to cut him or anything. He will just leap over a running back to try and make a play.

He is pretty frenetic. He struggles to find the ball when he just stands off the ball. But in a point and shoot system where it's just firing downhill from depth over and over again, pre-designed rumble. It's using him in the passing game. That is where he's at his best. He can be a little all over the place, a little chaotic in coverage. but the way the book set up defensively,

they're kind of used to this style of player. They're used to building game. We'll have our safeties protect some of that space. So in another spot, if he played for a fanjo style defense, where there's a lot of reading and reacting and seeing it and playing it out, I would be nervous that the instincts

would maybe catch up with him at the next level. But in that kind of situation where he can just play downhill relentlessly, it's pretty exciting. I love that call. And I love thinking about also when you talked about Bain and Kianti Scott, like the marriage of an end.

edge and a safety, which you don't normally think of it. Heard seeing Keante Scott fall so far to the fourth round. The fact that he did fall so far, you know, he's not locked into a big role, certainly, but I really liked watching him. Tyke Smith and him is an interesting kind of combination back there. And I love what Todd Bowles did. In general, I think they had a great day. They were one of my answers for a category we'll do in a second,

just teams I feel differently about because you could throw Ted Hurst, the wide receiver from Georgia State, into their fun draft. I do think this team found guys that can help them right away. And for Ted Hurst, it might be like just running 20 routes a game and keeping defense as honest going over the top. And maybe he has a better version of Kyle Williams' rookie season for the Patriots, which was like, well, he only caught this many balls, but like every other one that he did catch was a long touchdown and helped out the team.

So I'm with you. I love what the Bucks did. For the landing spot question too, Ty Simpson, for him, landed in a perfect spot. We'll talk about the Rams a little later in losers, I think. At least I'm going to.

Hakeem Messador, I think, was a great fit for him, just getting to learn under Cleo Mac. He'll be part of a rotation. I just like that fit there. And then Mark Elbelle, if you're a developmental tackle, he was the tackle that the Eagles took in the third round, just a big, you know, size, really tall,

like, you know, physical marvel that you want to land with the Eagles. That's a perfect spot for him to potentially turn into the best version of himself. Yeah, potentially the future right tackle when Lane Johnson inevitably retires. He is a ridiculous athlete for his size 6, 9. He's got really quick feet for being that big. It's just the technical refinement. He really does just rely on being bigger than everyone he could ever face in college football. And guys can sink underneath him naturally just because of the sheer size.

it's just hard for him to sink down and keep smaller guys off his frame. But as you said, in terms of like developmental factories for alignment, I'm sure every developmental tackling the draft was like, just get me to Philadelphia. I don't have to be thrown out there in week three of the season. I can kind of learn on my trade over time. Anthony Hill, the linebacker that fell to the Titans, what, latent round two? The linebackers really did go off the board.

He's another one that kind of felt like a boom or bust prospect that might not work out. But then Robert Sala and the Titans draft him, and you're like, well, that could be the boom. Like, if he likes him, he's probably going to make that work. I like that for him because I do see him as more of a coverage-style linebacker than me and a guy who wants to play downhill. He's got an interesting profile in the sense that when he's allowed to, when he's point and sharp downhill by design.

So when it's a blitz or when he can just see it quickly in the run game, he really brings full throttle down to the line of scrimmage. But when it's read and react, I thought he asked out of too many plays. I wasn't sure he was always up for the fight. for a guy who has the size speed profile to have been the second or third linebacker taken in the draft. He has unbelievably light feet for someone

as big and as tall as he is, but playing off the ball deep in zone coverage, just the long arms, that is what Robert Sala craves is just clog up the passing lanes, run around, rally from depth. So as you said, whenever Robert Sala IDs are a day two or day three linebacker, they usually turn out to be at least capable

starters, and then it just depends on what the upside is from there. I know enough though about you now at this point. If you're saying a guy's not up for the fight. That's the nicest way of saying you're you're not into him. It's like when DJ has the best characteristics and it's like like worker. You know, it's like, okay. I mean, that's the DJ's tell is when on the broadcast, they only show senior bowl film because it's the only positive film he could find him up like he couldn't find it in the game film. I promise I'm not going to give five answers for every question or else we'll be here all day.

So the bucks would have been one of my answers for a team that that I feel differently about after the draft, at least in a compliment. way. Give me one team that stands out to you that you think you legitimately look at them in 2026 and think like, okay, I feel a little differently. There's two that really stand out. One is the Raiders, obviously. I mean, they went and finally found a potential long-term answer at quarterback. But beyond that, I thought being able to pick up Tradeon Stoaks and Dalton Johnson, the two safeties from Arizona, was really good value. I love Keirang Crawford. The edge defender kind of mugged up lineback can play all over the front. And this is going to be a really a

based defense next season. It's going to be a ton of blitzing, a ton of mugged up players. I just thought Crawford was a better player in college than Keldrick Folk. He's got more juice, he's got more versatility. He can play all over the formation. He can drop out into coverage. So I think in that system, Crawford has a chance to be a really impactful rotational player as a rookie. And I like them picking up another lineman in Trey Zune. He can play all five spots along the old line to just trying to get the five best out there over the course this season and they're able to steal Jamat McCoy. And initially, I thought when

Montbeckoy started sliding because of all the niece stuff and the conversation was, well, can he make it to a second contract? Can you play on the second contract? Will he have to miss a season? I thought, well, one of the contenders should go do it because it makes a ton of sense. Like, why not take the swing on a guy you'd never normally have access to in the draft?

But the more I've thought about it, I love it for the Raiders being like, we're at the start of the rebuild. This guy, based on the injury concerned, he may never play football again in two seasons, in 18 months, whatever it is. But if he does play, we just got a guy who for some teams

was the number one cornerback in the class just based purely on the film. And so why not go and take the swing, move up, trade up to go to the top of the fourth round and have a chance to take a play we just normally wouldn't be able to get. Some of the cornerbacks that went in round three, it's one thing if you're taking a different position

or even some of the tight ends, we'll get to that. It just seemed crazy in this draft where I thought once you got to round three in this draft, it. It wasn't as spicy. It wasn't that at spicy for not to take a chance earlier on McCoy. And the Raiders didn't either, to be fair. You know, they took a couple third round picks before they even took McCoy. But man, the ceiling on that pick is awesome. Yeah, maybe maybe that's not a great

answer to the Raiders. I had them as like my under the radar great, great team. It's more that we haven't talked McCoy on this show yet. And yeah, to to pair him with the with the rest of the class, which is a little more block and tackle. I think trading Stoaks, the safety, they're They're certainly ricks there, but they also brought in Ron Johnson. So it'll be interesting how those two kind of mix in the back. And they are a completely different roster right now. Don Spitech. I don't know if he's back, but if this gets to be, this is like, if they do well,

going to be written about like, oh, this was actually Spitex's first draft. Like, we don't talk about the Pink Carroll year. And I like that they announced trading Stoaks as a safety. I know a lot of people saw him as kind of nickel hybrid player. I thought he was pretty sloppy playing in that role, but he's at his best attacking the ball in the air, so you move him further back off the ball, you let him just kind of roam around there on the backside. I just think that's a better fit for him.

And with them already having someone who can go and play in that nickel roll for them down and down, it makes sense to me that you would move him further off the ball. I liked him the closer we got to the draft. I just didn't get there where there was some first round buzz, because I just don't think in that hybrid Cooper de Jean style role, he really has the tenacity or the first. feel for playing close to the box. And they just needed players back there. I mean, McCoy, it's great.

You got a corner. They have Jeremy Chin and Polamau, who played pretty well last year. But that's a nice, or at least an improved safety group. Was your other choice, the Cowboys? The Cowboys, I just adore everything they did. So it's not almost like sneaky. Right. It's not sneaky, but the team, I do feel differently about them after this draft for this

year. I already was probably going to be higher than consensus on the, Cowboys just because I feel like I bet on offense in general and I just felt like that would like the defense was bound to improve. And then to get Caleb Downs who just feels like a perfect matured like adult, even though he's a rookie got to have such, I think, a big responsibility in turning that entire secondary around, Malachi Lawrence, add some juice at a position where they needed a little more juice. They're not awful, I would say. And then you're a big fan of Barsham, who they announced as a linebacker.

And I think that was interesting because he played Edge in his last year at college, but they announced him. And they even said in their press conference, they're going to start him out at inside linebacker. So he's either going to be next to DeMarvie and Overshone or just kind of replacing DeMarvie and Overshone. We got a report on Sunday that Overshones changing agents to David Mulligetta, who is the Thorn in the Cowboys side.

So I love overshone, but he's been hurt a lot. Either way, that was a position that they needed. You put Downs next to Jalen Thompson. You have a new coordinator in Christian Parker. It's just a team that like, okay, I can see more of a vision of the defense being competitive right away. And the offense, I have no reason to think that it's not going to be good. Yeah, I agree with you.

I mean, Downs, Lawrence, and Barham were three players in my top 35. Downs was the normal overall player on my board. Lawrence was the third top edge on my board. So they really go. unreal value based on how I saw it. With Bartham, they said that they saw him in that Zach Bourne role of playing some off the ball, playing some on the edge, move him around when they're trying to blitz or get after people. Christian Parker comes over from Philadelphia. So in Downs, you have a little bit of a Cooper DeGine type conf he's going to play close to the box,

play close to the line of scrimmage. He'll bring some natural disguise, which they're always chasing in that Philadelphia system because it's, they roll and rotate a lot on the back end, but it's not a huge disguise-based team. The disguise comes. like artificially by just having a play who can play in a bunch of different spots, so you're not quite sure where he's going to be. And Downs has some boo to make it to his game too, so you can get a little bit exotic, a little bit creative with some of the firepower. And then Malachi Lawrence, you mentioned it. I truly do think that in three, four years, that's the one people will look back on and go, why did we overthink? The size, the bend, the burst, the technique,

the understanding of how to take on blockers, purely because he was at a smaller school, didn't have as many rush opportunities as other people. It's like if you just go through all the pass rush opportunities anyway, you see everything you want to see in a B tier to B plus tier pass rusher in the league. And then he's an unbelievable player chasing down. So against scrambleers, if he has to be a pseudo spy on the edge, he just fits the mold of what those get off Ben burst pass rushes are like in the league. So I think they found three starters.

Barham, it might take a little bit more time finding the role. But getting those three together and then adding it on the back end, LT. Overton is a rotational interior player, taking a flyer on. Devin Moore, who we talked about in the corner podcast, is this long, tall, boundary corner who's just being decimated by injury throughout his career. But when he's out there, he's got incredible ball skills, has all the length in the world to play some press man corner. So to just take those flies in the back end of the draft when you've already kind of settled players who can be difference makers for you, I think is about as well as you can run a draft. Yeah, it's wild to me

Malachi Lawrence ends up getting taken higher than Ezrako. I thought of Ezrako the whole last season as a first round pick. He wasn't. He was a hide too. And he's a player too. I think could develop well. I think he showed enough as a rookie. And it reminds me a little bit of Laiatu Latu, a guy who just does a lot and maybe it just takes them a little longer. I always think of it like a tennis player who can do everything. They always mature slower because it takes a while for them to kind of figure out when to use what. And Azaraku I think is going to get better like Lato has. And D. Winters is also part of that linebacker group. Who was the other team then you felt differently about? You had a different one?

The commanders. I was unsure all the way through the offseason if I was going to buy the belief that Durante Jones was really going to be allowed to run the defense he wanted to in Washington. And what I like about taking Sonny Stiles in the first round, then Joshua Joseph's in the third round, is it kind of gives Dan Quinn the opportunity to let Durante Jones have a go with the all-mugged-up, all-attack defense. But there's such great scheme fits for his tree. traditional style too, if he inevitably, which I think he will, pulls the rip corner and says, let's get away from this fancy new young guy stuff, let's go back to some Dan Quinn football, they can kind of change whole cloth in the middle of the season and still have ideal scheme

fits or ideally blend and fuse the two styles together in a way where you don't quite know what's coming down to down, which is where you get to the Seahawks or someone like that, which is the best place you can be in. I mean, that sounds great, but, you know, if he's, If he's pulling a ripcord, like they don't have that much rope to be pulling ripcords. We can't get to two and five if you're Dan Quinn. I mean, maybe you can. You're not going to get fired mid-season, but you can't survive an entire season of his defense not working. I agree with that.

But if you look at just the roster now, they went from being so old, so slow, tied in terms of ideas, I thought. I thought Dan Quinn was just completely out of ideas with chasing his tail every single week. They are so explosive now. Now, are they good? Do they have a ton of like really one-on-one winners? I'm not sure that they do. But the Falcons got away with this last season.

Let's just put a ton of speed on the field. Let's get after it with all these different players, we'll just cycle through speed over and over and over again. And then if we want to back off slightly and play a little bit more Dan Quinn's style, they at least have some gas off the ball at front and then Sunny Stiles you can roam around at linebacker and just clean things up for you.

I am so excited to watch Sunny Stiles. And that group in general, assuming Frankie Louvre, stays on. that team. Branky Lubo, Leo Chanel, with Sunny Stiles. Like, he's got Durante Jones does some some guys to play with and they brought in so many players. I don't know if that's a risk. They had to do it, but they also have, by my count, eight, possibly nine new starters on their defense. That's outrageous. They needed it. They needed it. They were hold and pull, you know. It's like, it could be seven if I'm counting. It depends. But yeah, it's outrageous. Let's let's talk

about some negative. And this is like a positive way to be negative about the drug. Because you talked about Kenyan Sadiq on your show. And that's what gave me the idea for this question. I really liked watching Kenyon Sadiq. I think he was a good value for the Jets at 16. I think he was a good pick. They just need weapons.

And I don't hate it over, you know, McCoy Lemon or Casey Concepcion there, especially when they get Omar Cooper Jr. later. like it all makes sense to me. And yet for Sadiq himself, that's maybe not the best spot for him with Frank Reich and the Jets situation. And so this category is kind of like a good player in value,

but maybe not the best fit for the player himself. What do you think about Sadiq there with the Jets? Yeah, the Sadiq fit with Frank Reich really worries me. It puts a ton of pressure on Mason Taylor as like a 21-year-old second-year player to be a true impactful like three-year. way tight end, where he can block, he can give you something underneath as kind of a checkdown option, then can he kind of stress defense as well enough down the field to have Sadiq maybe

release underneath. He's going to have to be a starting caliber player to get to some of the 12 personnel two tight end stuff where I think Sadiq could thrive. The one that really panicked me after Sadiq was K K Klubnick, because that really indicates to me. They want to be this RPO-based offense that Frank Reich ran 10 years ago that was prehistoric by the time he was booted out the previous go around calling an offense in the NFL, and he's not going to kind of keep up with where the league is at right now. I loved the Jets draft. I thought they got tremendous value.

There was a real opportunity cost, I think, with taking David Bailey over Ravelle Reese, that I would argue probably till the end of my career, unless David Bailey turns out to be Nick Benito, which he could be. But I thought all the way through, even to the sixth and seventh round, it was about as good as value as you can find from anyone. And it just struck me as they took some electric players. they got really explosive, which they weren't before, but it will be great for the next death once Frank Wright is out with her.

Yeah, that is, it is a little bit of a worry. And David Bailey is very possibly there because, and I don't know why more people didn't connect this pre-draft, three Stanford assistants are on that staff, including Frank Reich. I know it's an offensive coach, but that was someone who had a lot of knowledge of David Bailey, and he makes it happen. Who's the player you think fits into this cat,

We're a good player value, bad fit. Kalon Black is the one that kind of upset me because we talked about him as one of my sleeper running backs outside of that big crop on the consensus sport. He winds up being the third running back taken and I'm cheering in my office like, oh, good for Kalon Black. Then he goes to the Niners where the great strength of his game is he was the best pass pro back in the league.

He has some juice between the tackles, but not really top end burst or vision truly. It's all about what he gives you in the past pro world to get on the field early. He reminded me a Kyle Manung guy, and he goes to a team where, why would he ever be on the field or must have it passing downs?

Why would you take Christy McCaffrey off to get Catelyn Black onto the field? Yeah, and they've been in a slump. They take these mid-round backs every year. Brett Coleman sent a tweet out, so it's in my mind on Sunday. Mid-round running backs before Kalin Black that they've taken the last five years.

Joe Williams, Tray Sermon, Tyrion Davis Price, Isaac Garando, Jordan James. None of them have topped 500 yards in their careers yet. Joe Williams was a wild one back then. I was like, is that a real person? Yes. That happened. All right.

Let's talk Rams. I had a category biggest enforced error. That's going to be my pick for it was just the whole press conference situation. The Ty Simpson pick also feels like. an unforced error that I worry about for the Rams, and we should talk about that too. But just in terms of people that for some reason only consume content by only listening to NFL daily, when we last left off, we were talking about Sean McVeigh and, you know, the first night press conference and how he bungles that.

And we were taping during night two when he has the day two press conference. And so we haven't heard from him. And I wanted to hear from his words. He also went on ESPN with Pete Trager and Kyle Brandt, kind of walking everything back from him being very grouchy after he took Ty Simpson. Let's listen to him on the night of day two, him trying to make amends. What do you guys think? Am I angry right now? I will say this, though.

The one thing that would never be doubted is, you know, we couldn't be in more lockstep in every decision that we make. For any of the questions or misunderstandings, just based on my demeanor or disposition, I did want to get that out of the way. This is my buddy right here. All right. So I did that was brought to my attention because I got so many texts and that was never my intended way to be able to come off. But sometimes I can be a little grumpy, you know. He also goes on and that was a good way to handle it. It's very convincing when he just rubs less as a, I do believe they are buddies. That I do not doubt for one moment. I do think though it's a working relationship. And Sean McVeigh is the one wears the pants in that working relationship. I don't think that's any slight to Lesneed

who has done an incredible job taking picks after the first round, in which it might be Lesneeds domain, which is like rounds two and on or three and on. Like he's been incredible. But Sean McVeigh is the most important person in that organization. And any suggestion from media members who had all this conspiracy theory that they're making this pick and McVeigh is somehow upset is preposterous. Like you don't think Sean McVeigh has the biggest voice of taking a quarterback that he's going to basically pin a big chunk of the next five years of his career on. Of course, he has the biggest say. He went on to say to Peter Schrager and Kyle Brandt and later in that press conference too that his consideration for Matthew Stafford and wanting to be respectful

to Matthew Stafford was really what was behind that. So I guess he was kind of acting like he was upset. I don't even know. It didn't work out. It was all an unforced error that almost has taken attention away, Ali, from the unforced era, that was the pick itself. So I just don't get what happened here, and I just hope it's not a moment we look back on as

when this little Rams era started to go downhill if we don't look back on that fourth quarter against the Seahawks in the regular season as that moment, too. That is the logic I heard right away when I asked people over there, like, what is going on? This is so peculiar. It's like, oh, Sean's doing an acting

job. He doesn't want to upset Matthew Steph. It's like, Matthew Stafford knows Sean McVeigh very intimately. You don't think he can tell when he's acting? You don't think he was on the phone with him? I wonder how that call wet. I have no clue, but I'm sure if, I'm sure whatever McVeigh was saying publicly is not going to change the content. Go on, sorry.

No, but just it does remove some of the, some of the concern around just the pick in general. I find it just such a baffling choice to me. I like Ty Simpson as a potential solid starter down the line. Could he become Brock Purdy with some development? To have to wait on that for two years, if you sign an extension with Matthew Stafford before he retires, why would that be the style of play you would take to go through that development arc?

You do that with someone like Aaron Rogers, where you want to change the throwing motion. You do that with someone like Jordan Love with a high-end upside who just needs to get integrated into a pro-style setup. Part of the reason you would take Ty Simpson and maybe rest him or sit-in for one season or 11 weeks is because he has all the fundamental understandings of what a pro system looks like, he just doesn't quite play at NFL speed and maybe needs to add some more body armor. So to have to wait two, three years for a guy without mightily

impressive physical tools where you're betting on the mental intellect, that's just a confusing profile of Quartzbat to take this far out anyway. I agree. And just like, why not take it later? I know you're wanting to think of the future. And you're thinking, well, we're not going to be up at 13 too often. But Ty Simpson type prospects will be available at the places that you're taking off. And usually, like, Ty Simpson is not necessarily a guy you have to get into the top 15 of a draft to get. He's closer to, I don't know, like a Mac Jones type level of talent, which is like

middle of first round or whatever. And I just worry that, like, I think distractions get overrated. but this is a win now type of team. You got Puka over here. You got now this quarterback. You're just inviting all this into your building in a way that feels unnecessary. When you could have had Vega Juane

just make that offensive line like incredible, right? Like he's sitting right there. You could have, I love Casey Concepcion, like maybe they didn't see him as a fit for their offense. You could have had a different offensive weapon to just add there. You could have taken Kenyon Sadiq, who the reports were they were quite enamored with,

and they end up taking what might have been a reach at tight end in the second round instead. So I just don't get it because it just felt like asking for a lot of attention, certainly. And it's all going to be on shot. It's going to be like up to Sean McVeigh to make everyone wrong. And I don't want that to be the focus of Sean McVe, proving that he's smarter than everyone. else by making this pick. And I don't want to skip over the rest of the class. We can come back to that.

I think that is a problem too. But just on Simpson, lastly, for that being the guy that like, oh, we can't not take Ty Simpson. We're never picking at 13 again. He really is more in the mold of a Jared Goff of a Matt Ryan. He doesn't even quite have the arm of those guys. I don't think that can improve in the league. Guys have done that before.

Brock Purdy did that. Tom Brady did that. But we just saw with the change from Goff to Stafford that it put so many new things on the menu for for McVeigh that he's almost like self admitted himself back into the Jared Garrette Gough world he tried to get out of by trading for Matthew Staff. I just find it peculiar that that is the style of player they would be willing to sit and wait on for two seasons. Yeah, I maybe some of it's just from my own basic like human angle that it's just from a human perspective with Stafford and everything going on with this team just seems like bad vibes. Let's talk about the rest of the

class though. Max Clare in the second round, I don't know if it was necessarily a reach, like where he went and where he was in that tight-end class. But for them to just add, you know, yet another tight end. They have Terrence Ferguson. You have Davis Allen. Obviously, Colby Parkinson, like, went to another level last year. Tyler Higbee is still on this roster. They take Kegan Trost, tackle in the third round. I don't know if you have any thoughts on just like how they approach the rest of the draft. I found it utterly baffling. They're in a really baffling. They're in a a Super Bowl window where part of the reason I've got to suspect for taking Ty Simpson is contract or not for Matthew Stafford, they just don't want to play the annual, is he retiring,

is he not, how is the back, is it not? So from that standpoint, I can understand going for the quarterback. The rest of the draft class is a move tight end who didn't play an awful lot for Ohio State that was probably better at Purdue the season before, a developmental tackle, C.J. Daniels, a small vertical wide receiver who creates no separation down the field, and then Tim Keenan, who I actually really like, he was excellent in 2024 out of Alabama as a big run-stuffing nose. But the ideal scenario for all of those players

is they play zero snaps in the middle of a Super Bowl window. You have the best roster in the league and you went into a draft or at least came out of the draft with a crop of players where you're really hoping they don't play. Hmm.

It's a great point. And look, last year's draft, Ferguson didn't have to contribute right away. I love how he moves. I think he could contribute. Josiah Stewart didn't have to play right away. They really didn't get much production at all out of their entire rookie class. So those guys need to step up.

But you also don't want to be going back-to-back years without getting any contributions for your rookies. It gets thin quickly. And it's not like they're going to have all the same injury look. It's not like they don't have a need to tackle. They would probably like to improve over McClendon. So there was guys they called. of Broin, you mentioned Sadiq, you mentioned Mikhail Lemon, there's all the stuff going on with

Pooka, they tried to move on from Devante Adams, like they admitted basically publicly that we do feel we've got a need at wide receiver. And so to just not try and find any kind of extra offensive firepower, I just find very puzzling. Makes me think that they could be active in the future. Like, I don't know if it'd be a trade. No one signed Joanne Jennings so far. Like, there are other options late in the off season. That would be. be fun. Why not? Maybe Terrence Ferguson could be included in a deal. Okay. Man, that guy walking off a bus, he reminded me of Kyle Brady back when he was in the Patriots. Just impressive specimen. Let's take a break. We're going to come back. We'll get a little more positive,

do some more winners, and yes, a few losers after the break. 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. I'm Daniel Jeremiah. And I'm Greg Rosenthal. And this is 40s and free agents. The games may be over, but the NFL never stopped.

This is my favorite part of the calendar. Yeah, mine too, Greg, free agency, the combine, the NFL draft, Pro Days, trades. This is where teams reshape their future. This is where Daniel Jeremiah makes his money on 14. And priorities and free agents, we break down every move that actually matters. From my draft evaluations, mock drafts, and team fits. To my top 101 free agents and how real rosters are built, cap space, contracts, and all the tough decisions included.

You got quarterbacks on the move. We got teams rebuilding. It's hope season. Yeah, absolutely. It's hope season. We'll tell you what's real, what's noise, and what it means for your favorite team. Smart analysis, real conversations every week. I don't know about the smart, but definitely analysis.

Listen to 40s and free agents on the IHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Back on NFL Daily. Take so important, we had to do this show on a Sunday. Get it out ahead of the work week. I got a category for you, Ollie. Pick or picks that stirred your football loins. Just what got you ready for like this thing to get going in training camp? It was Chris Brazol to the Panthers.

Interesting. Him going where he went in the draft, understandably there's some off-the-field considerations there too, but he does move differently to everyone else, and it really's got me thinking that the Panthers, I went on this long monologue with you, I think two years ago, then I did the same monologue a year ago,

and I'm going to repeat the monologue. I'm sorry to the audience this year. I think they're starting to come around slightly to my style of thinking of how they're going to build their offense out, They have assembled a basketball squad of players around Bryce Young. It's a bunch of tall guys. And with Brazil, you get extra explosiveness.

You get uncommon movement skills. And as all the league tries to trend towards, we're getting bigger. It's going to be heavier personnel. Two years ago, the most efficient way to find an explosive playing football was either when the bills put Alec Anderson on the field as an extra lineman, or it was Bryce Young and empty. And the rest of the league tried to copy what the bills did. We're going to get to 13 personnel, but an extra tight end on the field.

we're going to start playing with extra eligible alignment. No one tried to go the other way and match the volume of empty the Panthers were playing in, including the Panthers. And if you're trying to offset all the defensive movement pre-impost snap, whether it's the different fronts, whether it's all the rotations and disguises, whether it's all the blitzes and the pressures,

you've got to try and make the defense be static. The best way to do that is either by getting to empty or by playing with tempo. We saw this with Jade and Dinners on the commanders in his rookie season, which the commanders have now said, we're out, we're going to the heaviest stuff ourselves. And if you just look at how they've assembled that roster with McMillan, with Coco, with Brazil, even with Monroe Freeling as a really rangy tackle who can play, ideally, as a left tackle on an island with a really wide extended pocket.

I just get the sense that they may be looking at this going, we're going to have to go down with a ship with Bryce Young. Is he special or not? The best way for us to find out is to put him in the pocket as a point guard, distribute it around, and give him as many options as possible on every single snap. and that means being a 15 to 18% empty offense, which is what they were, by the way, when he came back from being benched and actually looked pretty good for the first time.

Yeah, I'm excited about that one. Former two-lane player, Chris Brazzell. Like, he gives you a little bit of Brian Thomas Jr. vibes just in that, man, there just aren't that many people who move quite like that. It's a spot where, you know, you're talking about them, helping to change their offense. Like, he was someone that you thought, okay, he's going to need a little time to, like, ease in,

and yet the Panthers need someone to contribute, I think, right away, because you can't count on it at tight end right now. You can't count it from Xavier Leggett, so they kind of need a third guy, but the ceiling is there. I like that you went excited about that. I like, basically there was those three third round guys who I'm just curious to watch their careers. Ted Hurst, we already hit with the Bucks.

Brazzled going to the Panthers is fun. And then the dolphins took, Chris Bell off the board, right? And that was bizarre. We're just bouncing around here, but because Chris Bell, who looks like he could have been a first round pick practically if he had been healthy, he's coming off of Tour and ACL, was taking 20 picks behind Caleb Douglas, who I think the 75th overall pick, and that was just a surprise. Like, what did you think about that mix? What did you think about the dolphins in general? I love the Chris Bell pick. I mean, they found a player who could be somewhere on the continuum between

AJ Brown is the common comparison, but there's also some de-bonous after the catch. If you can just get him the ball, he's not got immense stop-start quicks, I would say, and he's not got much crisp or snap coming out of routes, but if you can get him on the drags, get him on the crosses, getting him running to grass, I think he can be an absolute steam train after the catch.

And then along the sideline, can body people up, can bully them out the way. I found the Dolphins Raff was a bit peculiar in the sense that we've heard all along about how they want to build through the trenches and that's their mindset. It's going to be very green bay centric. And you saw that with Caden Procter

and there's a little bit of that with Jacob Rodriguez that he's kind of a lighter tap dancey style linebacker. You saw it with Will Casmerig. But then when you go through Chris Johnson, Traymore, Chris Bell, Kyle Lewis, those are more space cardinals, Nick Rawler's style players, than they are.

We're going to build this big, imposing two sides of the line of scrimmage type roster, and then we'll start addressing some of the skill positions, some of the off-the-ball work down the line. So you mentioned Kazmeric, which was a late third pick, and that kind of gets us to a different category. I'll go back to the picks that got me going in a second.

But in general, I kind of want to talk about what happened with the tight ends because you were talking about, okay, a year ago, or a couple years ago, to try to create explosive plays, get big, or, you know, maybe spread them out, play some tempo. And the league just is getting bigger. They looked at all the tight end usage that the Rams were so effective with, you know, three tight ends on the field sometimes. The Rams take now a fifth tight end. They're going to keep doubling down. It was a point a lot of people made after this draft of just like tight end media. We knew Kenyon Sadiq was going to go early. Eli Stowers as kind of a

big receiver to the Eagles middle of the second round. That was pretty much to be expected. But then it got a little wild. The Jaguars take Borker, third off the board, an older prospect who had 19 catches in the second round, a wild pick. But then it just started a run. Kline from Germany goes to the Texans, right? He's going to be 24 when the season starts. The Rams take Max Claire. That's the second router. The Bears in Sam Roush, Oscar Delp, who kind of looks more, I think like what we normally think of as a promising prospect with the Saints in the third round, Casmeric in the third round, Eli Raritan in the third round, you know, different values, different styles of players.

But kind of what do you make about this tight end mania type of draft we just had? I think it says across the board the draft wasn't very strong. This is also, if you look back the last two seasons, last two drafts, not just this one, this is the range these guys going. They're always way lower on the consensus board, and the consensus board typically defaults to the guys like Eli Stowers, the guys like Justin Jolly who winds up going way later, where it's receivers who are called titans in college,

and just the usage in what is asked of a titan in college ball for the most part doesn't align in any way with what they're asked to do in the pros. So teams will bet on the guys who can block and have some degree of physical gifts, and that's why you see Delp go, that's why you see Borrature go. it's why they'll just say let's just take Sam Rouse, let's take Kasmarek, let's take the best blocking guys in the class, we at least know who they are, we can identify

the skill set. Everyone's going to be playing more out of 12 or 13 over the next two or three seasons. They try to offset all the chaos that's happening defensively. If you just look at the best defenses in the league, whether it's Denver or Seattle, the only way to get after these guys is do we trust ourselves in empty protection,

do we have a Hall of Fame quarterback? Or we're going to have to get big because we've got to make those guys be static and the only way to do it is to get as big as possible. Well, yeah, it does, I guess your answer to the question I had, which is like, what's next? Because this is how the league trends work is like, once everyone starts to get on trend,

it's sometimes too late already because everyone spent this off season trying to figure out how to defend that. And then we'll see. Some of these picks, it's not like they're like. That's where the McVevalm was interesting with taking Max Clare because he seemed to double down in a way. I really thought he would have said, I did that for one year. I solved the puzzle before everyone else. I'm going to head the other way.

It will probably, and that's where the Sadiq one is interesting, where stowers, though I do see him as a big power slot receiver more than a titan. You've got to try and get yourself to that Patriots 2011 model, most likely where you are two titans, but it's with tempo. You're basically a spread offense, but you just have the two titans on the field. That's difficult to find. I thought the Saints coming out with Oscar Delp is the one that kind of gets me a little bit intrigued that Kellan Moore could maybe adapt some of that. old school patriot stuff. I like that. By the way, the picks, I kind of got just my football loins going, we talked our sunny styles. I feel like Arvel Reese,

it happened so long ago that just no one's talking about it anymore, but him landing there and them starting him at linebacker makes me excited. I mean, in theory, there could be better situations, I guess, than the Giants, but I like the vision that they have for him.

And then Dennis Allen getting another fun safety in Dylan Thieneman. Like, I just love that. Dennis Allen's living his best life as a head coach. He should have never become a head coach. You mentioned the Jaguars. I have a category that's under winners and losers. That would be more of a loser. It's like a team that you feel differently about. It could also be a pre-draft take that you regret. I'm wondering if the Jaguars fit either one of those modes, because I'm curious to hear what you think about the Jaguars draft. the Jags one was deeply confusing.

It really did feel like overthinking the room. I liked Boecoche and more than the consensus spot. I still think the 56th overall pick was a bit rich. I understand there was going to be a run on tightens. There were still guys going on day three who have some degree of at least blocking capability or upside. You take a 25-year-old guy with barely any production is pretty confusing. I liked Albert Regis. I liked Emmanuel Pregnon.

The Jalen Husky one was the first player who went off the board. I had evaluated roughly 350 players in the class. I hadn't even watched Jailen Husky, so I can't say it's a bad pick because I haven't seen him. But it felt really rich for a guy who wasn't even on the consensus, but I didn't even have on my long watch list to get to get to before the draft. All the way through Wesley Williams is a real tweener, who I'm not quite sure will ever have a real role in the league. So it just felt, yeah, massively ahead of consensus,

IDing once again that we're smarting the rest of the league even when you watch their pre-draft or they did the free agency video there was an arrogant strain running throughout the video that we know better than everyone else and you can agree or disagree with the consensus board itself everyone builds their own board and in this draft in particular I think the consensus board

was going to be off and there were particular positions I would say outside the first two rounds where the league's board is just completely different to what the consensus board is But even with that said, there was a lot of really rich picks, I would say. It's an interesting situation because their front office did a good job kind of getting some players around the margins in free agency and like different pickups last year. They didn't get much production out of the rookie class. I mean, I love the Travis Hunter trade, but obviously, you know, he didn't play that much.

Caleb Ramsaugh, their third round pick, Wyatt Mullum, like was, were not really on the field for them. Partly because of injury, partly not. Bachel Tootin was a good fourth round pick. They had a ton of day three picks, but you haven't like seen their guys, quote unquote, for this new James Gladstone staff, like step on to the field. And so there's just still a lot of questions. But I like a team that's confident.

I feel like people are ready to just take shots at Gladstone, though. Maybe they're asking for it. I don't know. That is true. That is true. The best part of the free agency video was when a member of the staff said, we should film this. And then James Gladstone says,

it is being filmed. And he revealed to his staff that the whole place was wired to wire with cameras. And then maybe he should have let his underlings know beforehand they were being filmed throughout their jobs.

That is a great call. While I'm thinking veterans, I have a category, the weirdest veteran-related story. Jordan Schultz, and there were some whispers about it, mentioned that maybe some teams were interested

poking around at Nico Collins. That was a little weird. I mean, it's not the first time I've heard that. And so I think it's going to be safe. Nick Asario came out after the draft and said, Nico's not going anywhere. But two years left on his contract, pretty underpaid.

Maybe it's just a contract thing. But it sounded like some teams were like sniffing around on Nico Collins. Also, Brandon Ayuk, like after the draft still was not traded. And John Lynch literally went up to the podium and was like, yeah, we just think it's good business to keep them. If anyone's interested, just let us know. He literally said that. I was like, I've never seen that before.

This is so weird and so vindictive. Everyone knows that he's available, John. They're not going to call. They're just going to wait. You're not carrying him onto the season. Just give up the ghost. Those are my weird choices. I don't know if you have thoughts there

or a different weird veteran kind of related story. The idea one, though, correct me if I'm wrong, they have to pay him no money, right? So it's free to people. They have no guaranteed money, but he does have a contract. So they can just wait until almost the season starts, but then it guarantees itself that once you get to week one, there's zero chances on the roster week ones,

but you could wait around until it can't be right. The thing I found a bit peculiar post-draft was why the lions and the bears, based on how their boards went, did not outbid for Jonathan Grenard. I just, I found it a little bit puzzling that I liked both their drafts. I liked the bears a lot more than the Bears fan base appears to do, which I completely understand.

I'm mostly in the mode of evaluating the play to the scheme fit, then you do have to sit back and say, okay, what does the roster look like? And it's got some holes that they could have addressed during the draft. But, well, wait, why didn't they like this? He had this is where I should be on top. Logan Jones is center in the second round, tight end Sam Rauch in the third round.

He was part of that tight end run. Zavian Thomas, the LSU wide receiver in the third round. Like, what was it that they didn't? Like, what are your favorites? Kishon Elliott, a linebacker in the fifth round. Yeah, Dennis Allen knows ball. He's like he knows what's okay. I don't even know what they didn't like I didn't have any any problem I think it's it's the not addressing like in the interior defensive line not trying to go and get one of the addresses it was a stacked ed rushing class and they just kept going and you could have got guys with real value. Uh, even early on day three in the middle of day two there was a ton of value to get with the edge rushes. I think that would be the best fans main concern from what I've understood a couple of them were probably a little bit puzzling to me. The one I really loved was zavian Thomas. I had him graded out as a tier four player for me. me. I thought that was like way high because he just wasn't showing up on any of the consensus

board. So for Ben Johnson to buy in on him, he's got a little bit of Luther burden to his game. He might be the most electric returner in the country. Really good stuff after the catch. He is really explosive. So I thought the Zavian Thomas one is one that we'll look back on in week 10, week 11 when there's a lot of guys who are talented, maybe long term developmental players, but you're looking up on Red Zone and there's just this like electric player making a whole bunch of people missing and returning puns and kicks. I love that. And I think with the Lions draft, the most surprising

thing to me was that they gave up a fourth to move up six spots for Derek Moore, the edge from Michigan, just because man, they were really projecting that another team was going to take Derek Moore, and they really do seem to fall in love with their evaluations, which I get, like, who wouldn't?

But it seems like if he had been taken, Gabe Yacchus was there. There was other edges that would have been available. And that's just kind of a thing that the lines do. They're also moving Penaiseu to the left side. They did say Blake Miller is going to be their right tackle Penaesu on the left side. And that's more of a league-wide trend. Man, a lot of these offensive linemen are being asked to move positions right off the bat or don't have set positions, which I think is risky. Like Ihanachor for the Steelers,

I think was a good value, but they don't seem sure where he will play and are you going to move Falunu away? And they're kind of saying, we're not sure, really. And I believe him. They're not sure. And so that's, I think, a risky part of this, almost this entire, like, top of the offensive line class. What did you think about, like, all the different linemen that aren't going to play where they played in college? Well, Blake Miller, I think, will play on the right side, right? So that's where he played in college. The Heanichel won out. I would probably keep him on the right and move Fawah Tarnu to the left. That's where he played in college so you can get him back to his most comfortable spot. I think Heanichor is the one in three years. The whole league will go,

what were we thinking? This guy moves like Tehran Armstead and we decided not to take him because he's not played the sport for very long and his techniques out there. We just saw Jordan Mila to go through the same development arc to become one of the best left tackles in the league. And there was, I thought, good tackles in this class, but the majority of them are going to have to move inside, most likely to guard. None of them move the way Maxiana Shaw does. He moves like Armand Membu. He's not quite as nasty in the run game. There are some technical flaws, but he just moves completely differently to anyone else that was drafted. I get why you take someone like Blake Miller.

He's really durable. He's really explosive. I think there's way more upside with him that he's given credit for. He's kind of peg does like long term starting Clemson, tackle, like solid technique. If anything, I think he's a little bit inadequate. Technically, he doesn't really play to how he's going to have to succeed in the league.

But he's crazy explosive. He's got the nasty mean streak. He's a pure Dan Campbell player. So I love the Blake Miller one for the Lions and the Hearnature one. I know he wants. wasn't that first pick. They wanted Mackay Lemon. It's a pretty impressive fallback plan to get a guy who could wind up being the best of the whole group. Yeah, those are some depth charts worth watching. I think we know what they're going to do in Detroit.

We'll see the offensive line with Pittsburgh. A couple other depth charts I'm watching. I had a category spicy depth chart situations. Carson Beck, Jacoby, Bressett. I'm kind of into that. You're putting your hand on your head. There was a graphic. We're going to put it up if you're watching on YouTube. that ESPN put out, which I really enjoyed that said, are, is this the future of quarterback in the NFC West? And it was Ty Simpson and Carson Beck. I don't know.

I don't think it's the future, but we'll see. That Cardinals draft in general was puzzling. And it's a difficult one because they drafted a ton of players that I really like. Everyone loves Jeremiah, love, how could you not? I'm a huge fan of Chase Bissontas. Caleb Proctor as the Flyer Interior Russia from the small school. in that system, I thought was an excellent value pick, but I thought he'd go a little earlier than the 104th pig.

But you come out of a draft, having had the third overall pick with the most guaranteed money to running back rooms in the league, and still with needs of quarterback right tackle and second edge Russia. And even Besantus, his skill set is as slick feet in pass pro, which doesn't really marry up with the fact you just took a running back, third overall in the draft, and you're telling us you're going to be this downhill thumping type offense. So I just found it very, very puzzling for a team

having this heavy rebuild. And taking Carson back in the third round is just, that's mind-blowing. It was crazy to me. I get, like, trying to take a quarterback every year just to see if you hit on one, then take Nussmeyer in the fifth or whatever. Garrett Nussmeyer goes eventually in the seventh,

using those high-volume picks, I mean, a high-value picks on Beck, especially when it sounded like maybe ownership gets involved with the Jeremiah Love Pick. like a great player, but you worry about how that process all went down. Like that makes the second and third round picks even more important to get guys that can play right away. And Carson Beck is probably not going to be that. I'm also curious about the Ravens wide receiver situation. You know, Zay Flowers is there. Rashad Bateman after every season gets unhappy. There was a

whole thing after last season. He's still there. And then your guy, Elijah Serrat, what are you worried about? What are you worried about? Catching passes on the outside from Lamar Jackson. And then Jacoby Lane, who they took a round ahead of them. And so they double up at wide receiver. Surat's got a chance to play, because I think his skill set matches up pretty well with Lamar Jackson. Jacobi Lane, I don't want disrespectful. I have little to no interest in.

Elijah Serrat, I had in the same tier as all the top receivers in the draft. I understand that if you go and watch him, it's not going to be as explosive and as almost expressive as the really dynamic receivers in this class. But in just terms of professional receiving, get to point A, get to point B, on time, in rhythm, and get yourself open. The fact he creates such a chasm of space without being a new berathlet, kind of tells you he knows what he's doing,

and he's doing against elite competition for the national champions, going up against everyone. He's got the deepest, most diverse package of any of the receivers in this class, and now he's going to go and play with an MVP quarterback who will be able to just throw the ball off the sideline, and Lamar hasn't really had many of these types of players. It's being like the embers of D'Andre Hopkins. he's not being in the Justin Herbert situation,

which is if you just throw the ball off the sideline by two yards, this guy can go get it for you. That's the get out of jail free card. Every time it's third and seven, the rush is coming home, just throw it off the field, a pseudo throwaway. Elijah will come down with it. Look, I hope for your sake that evaluation of Sarat is right. I hope for Patrick's sake.

I hope for Lamar Jackson's sake. Because the description that you have for him, he's where you need him to be on time, in rhythm. Not a description I would use for many of, the Ravens wide receivers in the Lamar era. A lot of it is, it's Zay Flowersish. It's Lucy Goosey. It's feel it out.

Like Bateman has his moments. And I've always thought he's got a chance and underrated. But that hasn't had a lot of reliable like Derek Mason for Joe Flacco type players. I feel like he could use some. Yeah. The high end outcome for Surrat would be somewhere with Mike Williams, Keenan Allen, and how they were used with the charges. And he's going to come in and block his tail off.

it's going to be more of a compressed, condensed type system rather than the pace and space and all the fluid moving motion in that sense. I think he's going to become a really reliable target for Lamar in a way that they haven't had recently. We're going to take one more break and we're going to drive Eric a little crazy, but there's only one draft all season and there's only one show with Ali recapping it all. We'll finish it up on the other side. 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 I've 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. I'm Daniel Jeremiah. And I'm Greg Rosenthal.

And this is 40s and free agents. The games may be over, but the NFL never stopped. This is my favorite part of the calendar. Yeah, mine too, Greg. Free agency, the Combine, the NFL Draft, Pro Days, trades. This is where teams reshape their future. This is where Daniel, Jeremy. Jeremiah makes his money. On 40s and free agents, we break down every move that actually matters.

From my draft evaluations, mock drafts, and team fits. To my top 101 free agents and how real rosters are built, cap space, contracts, and all the tough decisions included. You got quarterbacks on the move? We got teams rebuilding. It's hope season. Yeah, absolutely. It's hope season. We'll tell you what's real, what's noise, and what it means for your favorite team. Smart analysis, real conversations every week. I don't know about the smart, but definitely analysis. Listen to 40s and free agents on the IHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Back on NFL Daily, we're thinking, okay, what do we still need to get into this show before we drive Eric crazy? Let's drive them a little crazier and talk about the bills. I said I had a category, sneaky, bad draft for a team. and your response, Ollie, was like, was the Bill's draft sneaky bad? Like, was it even sneaky? What did you think about Brandon Bean doing Brandon Bean things over the weekend? It just continues to do what he does. It makes no sense to me.

Joe Brady gets hired in part because he convinces ownership and Brandon Bean that I'm not just the offensive guy, can be the CEO. I'm going to pick up the phone to Jim Leonard, one of the up-and-coming defensive minds in all of football, and we're going to buy into the fact we're going to have the most modern defense you can find. I'm not just an offensive guy. And they go throughout for agency, they go through the draft, and they acquire no one who fits the model

that Jim Leonard would need to actually run the defense you would truly want to run at heart. And even beyond that, just, hey, it doesn't fit schematically what we hired this guy to do. They didn't add any juice off the edge. They added no interior defensive linemen to help with the fact they cannot fit the run. They didn't add a true off-ball linebacker.

They didn't add a true depth safety. So all the things were an issue just down the spine of the defense last year when they played pretty mundane ball. they didn't add to that and they didn't add any of the versatile hybrid pieces that Jim Leonard would require to actually be able to run a scheme. Well, they did add TJ Parker. What was that?

Zero juice. Zero juice off the ball. Some people like T.J. Parker. Derek Classen had him in his top 20. The bills clearly liked him. You can like T.J. I'm not disputing that you don't like T.J. Parker, but you like T.J. Parker for the scrappiness

for some of the inside outside potential for the fact that he's an all-out effort player that he's smart against the run. He's not coming in as a true burner flying it off the edge. Skylar Bell, Yukon, wide receiver, fourth round, 125th overall. Can I interest you in a little Skylar Bell? I understand why people like Skylar Bell.

He had a ton of production at Yukon. They built the entire plane of the offense out of him. I do worry about those guys when they come to the league and you're like the third guy in the progression playing 20 snaps. What does it look like when it's not all bubble screens and jet sweeps kind of padding the statue? Yeah, and look, T.J. Parker, I'm just trying to play devil's advocate here. Bradley Chubb, not a lot of juice. In uninspiring offseason overall, a lot of it

was around DJ Moore, like the money and the draft picks. And so that's really got a hit. But look, they're all Sabres fans there. They're happy right now. They're distracted. How about the Seahawks as like is it, is it rude to say their draft was sneaky bad? Or should I be wary because they've been nailing drafts so well lately. You know, you take a running back to Derryan Price who's exciting, can fill a role for them. Bud Clark, the safety late in the second round, Julian Neal, Arkansas, cornerback, probably more of the first two picks, a little risky. But the Seahawks have seen things different than the rest of the board for a while,

and for the most part, they've done well. Yeah, they're pretty good at this. They just had a parade, so it's tough, I think, to criticize Schneider. He doesn't have maybe the best resume of doing the late in the... the first round running back thing, which is where he overthinks things, I think. Price was clearly the second back in the draft, and he does fit the need of the Kenneth Walker of getting some real juice and explosivity in there, and he probably is going to work on a pitch count depending on when Zach Charbonnet is back from the injury. So you can make some sense

of it. I'm just not sure it was the best value. It's just hard to find a lot of space on that roster to truly upgrade. Anyway, I really love Julian Neal. I thought he was a massive sleeper in the draft. He's a perfect fit for them. And Andre Fuller, the cornerback from Toledo they took in the seventh round, is the most Seahawks player you could have found in the draft. He lives to fit the run. The coverage stuff, we can worry about four or five years,

but just flying downhill on special teams, being forced out there because we've got some injury concerns in week eight, week nine, whatever. Fuller, I think, has started potential. So it wasn't awful all the way around. I was just not a huge Bud Clark guy, and then you can have the conversation about running back value. That's fair.

We haven't hit day three too much because we didn't do a show after it. I'll just give you the floor on any day three pick or picks that you want to kind of give some love to. We did talk about Keante Scott, the kind of nickel that's going to be playing for the buck. So that's one we already covered. Some other day three guys maybe in your eye. One that I'm going to track really closely is Vijay Payne, the safety from Kansas State. I think he's a natural corner who was forced to play safety. And I love the idea of getting him.

He was the 228th overall pick. going to Aaron Glenn, who might be the best pure man coverage technique coach and all of football. I don't know how many years he's going to get to work under Aaron Glenn, but in terms of taking a late round flyer on these cornerbacks, there's a lot of slow, small corners that were taken late in the draft. And I think he was just completely miscast as a safety, was evaluated as a safety by most people. I think for the Jets during training camp, they'll try and move him to corner. And that one interests me.

And then it's got to be tail and green. Getting tail and green late in the draft, who has legit potential, as a lot of the, a quarterback. He played in school in the Lamar Jackson offense that Lamar ran at Louisville. He played under center just as much as Ty Simpson. He played under center way more than Fernando Mendoza. If you go back to 2024 against Texas A&M, he has some pocket navigation and throws on the move that are absolutely outrageous. I think he can be a quarterback if someone's willing to invest the time commitment to do the development. And if not, you get a guy with the size, weight, speed profile of Calvin Johnson. That feels like a pretty good thing.

to do. You think that's a joke. Go up on mock draft a ball, pull up the spider chart. It's him and Calvin Johnson one to one. He could be Terrell Pryor. Maybe he plays tight end. He's adamant. He's going to be a quarterback. And that needs a massive mechanical overhaul. But if Ty Simpson goes 13th overall

because he ran a pro-style system, so did Taylor Green. He just also is this ridiculous athlete who can pull the ball and take off and run. Yeah, I loved me some Jalen Milrow going into last year thinking like, well, worst case, he's a plus Taysome Hill maybe with a package of place.

That has a, you know, borne out yet, although we'll see. I'm not giving up on Jalen Milro. But Green, who you mentioned from Arkansas, taken by the Browns in the sixth round. So another quarterback added to that room, which is interesting. Now, he might, maybe you can sneak Tailing Green through waivers and he's on your practice squad. Maybe you could do that for Dylan Gabriel, frankly. I don't know.

The Browns in general, we kind of skip past Emmanuel McNeil Warren getting taken by them in the second round. Like I mentioned it on our show, but in general, the value that the Browns got, pairing up Concepcion and Denzel Boston, getting Spencer Fanon early, and then just taking picks throughout that for the most part made sense to me.

The only thing that didn't make sense to me was on Sunday, you probably didn't see this quote, where Andrew Barry called Jerry Judy, their bell cow wide receiver. The rookies are not going to threaten him in any way. They're just trying to make Jerry feel better about the fact, and I didn't even know Belkow receiver was a thing. I have my doubts whether that'll actually happen. But yeah, like, while we're here, let's give some Browns,

the Browns some love. Just when I was coming around at Andrew Barry, you read that quote to me. That's brutal. That's brutal. The Spentefano pick makes a ton of sense. I was not quite as high on him as other people in the class, but if he was there at that top grade at tackle and they move back to get him, that's great value. Not just Concepcion, who I'm slightly worried about the scheme fit and him just being cast as Zay Flowers, when I think. think he can be more than that. But getting Concepcion and Denzel Boston together, I think is an excellent value. There's two completely complementary skill sets. I was not as much of a fan of Denzel Boston as the consensus was, but he has a pretty clearly defined skill set,

which is he could dunk on the head of anyone. If you throw it up above the rim in the red zone, he can go and dunk on your head. And I think if you force that in the first round out of being concerned, but you get a three-level demon like Casey Concepcion. You have to fry everyone throughout the rest of the course of the game. I'm pretty cool with bringing Denzel Boston is as the red zone target. Yeah, Concepcion could have fit my category earlier where like good value, really good player in my mind. I'm not sure the fit's perfect.

I mean, you would have liked a different spot than the Browns, but maybe it's Arch Manning throwing ball to him. And credit to Andrew Barry, because one of the other trends was, and no one was given up those 2027 picks. The league on mass was saying, we think this class stinks. It falls after the top 100 picks. Barry was able to squeeze out a fourth rounder in a trade for next year's draft, which compared to this draft might be a,

late two, early three, comparative to talent across the board. So he not only nailed it all the way through, I love Justin Jefferson, the linebacker from Alabama, as a potential coverage safety down the line. He's really athletic. Austin Barb was one of my preferred developmental tackles. You mentioned McNeil Warren, who I think that's the right range for him,

rather than being pushed him into the first round where he was being mocked. So it's crazy value. Although I even prefer Joe Royer to almost all the titans who went off on day three. So I thought they absolutely crushed it both in terms of value and moving the board, it was pretty impressive. If they have a second straight, really strong draft, like Andrew Barry is not going anywhere.

I don't care what their record is. Maybe they'll get a new coach, but not him. Day three picks, by the way, I did want to shout out. You are Bernard with the 251st pick, Philadelphia, invited by OCU Minura to participate in the 2024 Nigeria camp. I had long conversation with Maurice Jones Drew, who was there. at the time. And when it happened, like, OSE is finding these guys. And Henry Hodgson, our friend, has been excited about, I think, Bernard in particular, hasn't literally played any football.

But he landed in the international player pathway program because he has some of the freakiest numbers, like testing-wise, that you have ever seen. So if some team's going to figure out how to make him a player, how about the Eagles? That's a day three pick. I like Jonah Coleman, the running back for the Broncos. I think could be a real factor as just like a doubles hitter might lead them in carries. This year wouldn't surprise me at all in the fourth round. And then I wanted to mention an undrafted kicker, Kansai Matsuzawa, the Tokyo Toe.

He wasn't drafted, but he's on the Raiders. We should have mentioned him as part of the Raiders Hall. He fell in love with football visiting Las Vegas years and years ago, went to a Raiders game. Or no, maybe it wasn't Las Vegas. Yeah, went to a Raiders game. love with football, then he went to Hawaii, barely missed a kick last year. So shout out to Kansai Matsuzawa, rooting for him. I got to say on Bernard, it did hurt my soul that my beloved Lou Moore went undrafted and a guy who's never played the sport was actually taking the seventh

round. He does have the crazy athletic profile. I got a little bit nervous when I saw, I was sent through the black market of the draft community. You get some of the workout stuff with him to do the evaluation. I was really nervous during the interview portion of the package that was put together when he said it's very uncomfortable to wear the helmet. And I was like, okay, okay. Let's get ready for training camp. I mean, we can get through that. We can work on it. We can work on it. We can work on that. Speaking of the Eagles, I had a category, happy new offensive coordinator. What are you, and I would put Sean Mannion as my pick in that category. What do you make of the transition that they are undergoing as an offense, Eli Stowers and Mackay Lemon,

and two guys maybe make it plays over the middle of the field. Certainly, Dantavian Wicks and Lemon, I think, fit well in a style of offense that Mannion was learning under Matt LaFleur in Green Bay, that it's different than what the Eagles have done. It's different than what Jalen Hertz has been running the last handful of years. So just kind of what do you, what do you make of what they are doing and what that means for hers. I really like it because I think they've been able to find the players who could play both styles. And so if it doesn't work out one way, they can at least break glass and revert back to being

pretty static, pretty spread, and playing one-on-one football. I think Mikey Lemon can roast people in the slot just with the two-way go, classic Julian Edelman type football. He's probably at his best playing more like Cooper Cup, where it's tight to the formation, it's really condensed, he's running to grass, it's a lot of crossing routes. Stowers, I think, similarly, is more of a power slot to me who can play some matchup football for you. And if you want to force him to be a tight end, the best comp I could come up with would be Dallas Godot, where it's really vertical in the receiving game. He's mostly they're in the gun.

He's splitting across the formation. He's not really the target point in the run game. He's just kind of a nuisance in the way to make the numbers work. So I think what it's given them is guys who fit the new style, if that's what they want to push to, removes any kind of get out of jail for Jalen Hertz. Like, this is what we're doing. This is the new offense. Are you willing to throw the ball to the middle of the field with rhythm or not? And if that kind of falls apart,

these guys still fit the old model they used to run rather than boxing themselves in to what the new system is going to be. I mean, if that falls apart, it might be Tanner McKee time. And also, don't sleep on Cole Payton. Jalen Hurst doesn't want to do the push-push stuff anymore. They go and get a quarterback in, who is a downhill thumping Tassim Hill-type quarterback. If we're going to move the system again,

it's okay Jaila interesting you touch push together like that do you have a coordinator you think on either side whatever one stands out

to you most like a coordinator who is just like much happier after this draft of what he's going to get to work with I think

Kelimore and Doug Nussmay together with the Saints I think the offseason in general they've got to be pretty pleased I think if you come away with Jordan Tyson who plenty of teams

graded out as the number one receiver in the class we talked about Oscar Delt being that profile of. That fits the model of George Kittal of the guys who didn't have great production in college, but they're great athletes and they block their tails off in college and that usually translates better to the league. And then Bryce Lance, he went lower than I thought.

They were able to get a potential, maybe Rashid Shehid replacement as a size speed vertical threat and you add that to David Edwards in the offseason with Travis Eton and free agency. You look at that offensive line. If McCoy is healthy, which I know is probably not the. Smaristing to rely on McCoy's health, but they have real talent. And with Tyson and Delp and Lance, I think it's just a great amount of building blocks around Tyler Shook. So I'd be pretty fired up if I was Kellemore and Douglas Meyer. Yeah, the only, the only fly in the ointman for Saints fans is Caesar Ruiz is still there. But we'll see. They can't quit him. I know. Some Saints fans were

unhappy with their draft, which I was shocked by. Kristen Miller was your guy at defensive tackle. You really like that pick. I think it was your number one. defensive tackle. And then they've made some moves since the draft, or at least since we talked about. They traded a seventh for Tyree Wilson. Not so sure that was worth it, but it's a seventh. I mean, the freaking Ravens let their owner take a fifth round pick. Did you read that story? No. No. Who was it? I will find out. I think it was a Clemson running back. Am I crazy? Anyway, I'll get back. Was it Randall? Was it Randall, the Clemson running back? I'll get back to it. Did you like him, by the way? Did you?

Do you have any feelings for him? I was not a fan, no. Okay. Steve Boshaddy at some like Ravens Summit, they always do in Florida or whatever, like a month or two ago. He was like, I want a draft pick. Eric DeCosta told this story at the president.

He's like, I want a draft pick. Like, I've never gotten to take any. I've never gotten involved. I want one draft pick as like a homework assignment. And they were like, sure, boss. Like, what could you say? You would have thought it would have been a seventh round pick, but they actually gave him a fifth round pick to play with.

And he says he went in the last. and oh by the way happens to be like friends with dabba swoon or some assistant there and takes that running back they did then take a punter after that which is indicative of probably how deep their draft board was they were kind of done by pick 150 they thought the class stunk and they were like yeah the owner can take a fifth round yeah they said our last fifth down wreck and he quote this is a quote from da Costa he did his research he studied the tape and talked to people he has a really good relationship with you know dabbo I mean okay so he just talked to dabbo who should I take late?

My happy coordinator, bouncing all around here, is, oh, wait, I didn't finish my point on the Saints, which is that they trade for Tyree Wilson, and they also signed Anford E. Jennings, the former Patriot, Edge Setter, which I think was like a good, that guy can actually play snaps for you signing at this point in the off season, like just a good run stuff. The Saints are just making sense, which is a strange feeling. It does. It does. I don't know what to do with myself.

Chris and Miller I had as you said I thought was the best interior defensive lineman in the class he is a picture perfect fit for Brandon Staley I just like that on offense they said we we think we got something in Tyler Shuck he could be really really good for us in two three seasons let's go and try

and take big home run swings if we just find one player out of Delpen Tyson those are Boomer Bus type players to me if just one of those guys is a near all pro type player it's worth taking the swing on those guys then defensively we'll go and get Miller, who's the most sure thing, I would say, of the defensive lineman in the class.

Jennings, sure thing is a free agent pickup. Terry Wilson, he is what he is. For a seventh round pick to have an interior guy who has some degree of umph, I would say, as a pass rush, as an interior player, I just think the work they've done is very sensible in a way that makes me feel confused. Yes, that the only thing I fear is it's a team full of on-paper injury risk. I know every player is an injury risk. It's tackle football, but it's just, there's a, the receiver group,

shock, the offensive line especially. Like you mentioned McCoy, he just hasn't been healthy. So there's a lot of like if, but it could work out really well. My last thing I'm going to talk about here, and if you have anything, you just got to get out on the show, think about it, Ollie. But first I'm going to ask you about Brian Flores, because I'm going to have him as my happy defensive coordinator.

For them to go all defense, It was almost like Kevin O'Connell knew everyone said he was now in charge of the draft, and so he wanted to show everyone, hey, I'm going to do what's best for the team. It's not all about my offense. And they go defense with their first three picks. Caleb Banks, a really high-ceiling defensive tackle from Florida, whereas, like, if he's healthy with Flores, it could be a home run. He's had foot problems.

It could be a total swing and miss. They get big orange. Dominique Orange, defensive tackle in the third round, a different style of play. player than Banks, and then Jake Golda, who listed at linebacker, but maybe a little bit more of a hybrid role. All three of these guys really could be hybrid-style players, and because you have Brian Flores, he's been pretty good at picking the guys that will fit for him. Man, I think as good as their defense was to add like an influx of youth, which they needed. They actually were kind of an older defense, really promising for the Vikings. Yeah, Caleb Banks on the best reps looks like

Chris Jones. It's just how often you can get those reps and whether he can stay healthy. But I was totally understanding of if any defensive attack was going to go in the first round, you take the guy who, in flashes, looks like Chris Jones. Just seems like a pretty good bet to me. Perfect fit for Brian Flores' system. Gold day is the one-to-one comp would be Van Ginkle. He played a really peculiar role at Cincinnati. It was strange to try and project out what system he would work in as a true stacked linebacker playing in the box. I'm not sure he would be able to have. handle that. But for the Vikings, as playing as a mugged player in the past rush game, playing on

the edge on early downs, I can absolutely see that. And you mentioned Big Orange. They got big citrus in there, who is more of the two-gapping run stuffing guy. But I think he's got a bit more wiggle than a lot of the guys who went ahead of, even someone like Cader McDonald, who is a better, like, pure run defender, better technique defender, can blast people in a way that Dominic Corrance doesn't have that kind of thunder in his hands. But he's got more juice. He's got more sideways wiggle. So I think that fits for Brian Flores more than other guys who are on the board. And the last guy I'll note for them they took late on in the fifth round. Charles Demings from Stephen F. Austin is one the best all-around athletes in the draft.

He's got no clue what's happening right now at Corner. He was so much more athletically gifted than anyone he ever came up against. He was just doing his own thing, freelancing, having fun, could get away with it because he was this crazy athlete. But to find one of the four or five best pound for pound raw athletes in the draft in the fifth round of a draft of a draft everyone saying, oh, this class stinks. The Ravens giving their pick to their owner in the fifth round. can come away with Charles Demings and hand him to Brian Flores, former DB coach for a couple of seasons,

that's one to keep track of. I will be, and I was even before you said that, we actually have sound of Charles Demings and maybe my favorite head coach call interaction of the entire weekend. I can't get enough of these, but this was a particularly good one

between Demings and Kevin O'Connell. Charles, man, congrats. I appreciate it, dog, man. It's so good. It voice sounds like better than any melody. That's the first time of my life Anybody's told me my voice sounded like a melody Thank you for that man

You just made my whole day right there I hope we made yours We're fired up bro Oh yeah man This is divine interaction right here dog You know the other teams man They drafted dogs with John Just got a beast man

I'm telling you Hey I'm gonna hold you to that man I'll tell you I'm gonna hold you to do that Oh yeah we're gonna walk through the dog And run straight through it man I'm got to order my Deming's jersey now I'm in yeah I wish in another life I could just be like an NFL cornerback that's definitely what I would what I would want to be you have that vibe need a little

more height a lot more weight it's all happened did you do you have anything else you need to get into our winners and losers show Ollie before you get on that plane for Paris you asked me if there was something I wanted to brag about or made me look smart and Yes, that was a category we never got to. To maintain the pompous, arrogant allegations, I'm not going to miss out on that category. I just would like to point out to you politely that John Harbour said that Rval Reese is a versatile player, we're going to play my inside backer, Will Linebacker. Does this mean the DJ owes me a bit?

I love that. We're going to be taping our last 40s in free agents. And that is going to remind me to bring up that very issue with the main. and himself. DJ did an awesome job. It was fun watching him all weekend. And he's like taking pictures with Mel Kuiper. But you're right. That was a good, good pat on the back. That ultimately, that's what Arvel Reese is going to do. I thought you were going to pat yourself on the back for Malachi Lawrence. No, the one I would really do it for would be Jaden Kennedy, the Chiefs fourth round pick, who is this safety nickel, 510, 180, small by league standards, probably is going to play

a safety not nickel. I just loved everything about his game. He is an electric player to watch. Crazy smart, crazy tough. Plays so much above his height and weight and it's just a complete dog on the field. And I just loved him so much more in the crop of like long-limbed safeties who are being pushed into the second third round discussion. And he wound up being the seventh safety taken off the board. He was the eighth on the board for me.

He was 20th on the consensus board going in. But he went ahead of Genesis Smith and Jailing Kilgore and Zaki Wheatley. And just the ideal fit for Spaggs if anyone could. figure out a role of him to play will be Spagnola. I mean, that's who you want drafting your defensive back prospect evaluations that are extra high. Spaggs is going to make you look smart. That's awesome. And look, Ali also broke the Jonathan Grenard news.

Sort of by mistake on his podcast. So check out the read optional. You deserve a break. Let's hit that music. I will put our NFL Daily crew up against any crew in the business. We will be back on Tuesday. and Wednesday with two of my favorite shows of the year where we hit every single team in the AFC and NFC.

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