NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - 40s and Free Agents: Gregg Has Thoughts About DJ's Mock Draft 3.0

Episode Date: March 17, 2026

On this episode of 40s and Free Agents, Daniel Jeremiah and Gregg Rosenthal talk about DJ's Mock Draft 3.0! Gregg checks the list up and down then gives his thoughts on how the board shakes out.  Gregg breaks down DJ’s picks, highlights the players he thinks teams will feel very good about on draft night, and points out the ones that might deserve a second look. He also dives into the new names appearing in the mock, the prospects who dropped out, and which players could be climbing boards as the draft gets closer. NOTE: This episode was taped before the Broncos traded for WR Jaylen WaddleNFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed human. Getting ready for a game means being ready for anything. Like packing a spare stick. I like to be prepared. That's why I remember, 988, Canada's suicide crisis helpline. It's good to know just in case. Anyone can call or text for free confidential support from a train responder anytime.

988 suicide crisis helpline is funded by the government in Canada. Welcome to 40s and free agents. I am Greg Rosenthal. This show is presented by Toyota, and that is Daniel Jeremiah, the number one public enemy of the public library system of Southern California. Welcome, DJ. Two things, number one, for those that are listening, this was Greg's ninth take to start this podcast. So that's the first part of it. The second part of it is, like, who knew there was a librarian fan club out there that has just been all over me on social media?

Greg has rounded them up, and they've attacked with the vengeance. And I got to say sometimes you, there's sometimes you got to fall on the sword and say, I was wrong. This is not one of those times. So let's go on with the podcast. We still have not heard from any listeners that have the Jerry Mark Bright book. We will be looking out for them. This is a big show. Big day.

DJ's mock 3.0 is out. When you listen to this, you can go check it out. You can accompany that you're listening. And look, how many do you get to in the end? Is it four? Is it five? How many are we going to do? I think we're getting.

close here. I think four or five, no more than five. So we're either one or two left. Like, do you care about getting hits on 3.0? Does it matter to you now? Or you just care about that last one right before the draft you're trying to get hits? Yeah, I wish I could tell you that I don't care about any of them. I do. I wish I could say that it. But the last one, there is like, it's not that I hope to get, you know, 15, right? It's just like you have that in your head. Like, I just, I mean, Mendoza, hopefully, one, one were okay there. Like, just give me a handful of them. And then that's it.

And then you'll see everybody that puts the scorecards out there and all that stuff. I don't really care about that. I just, I'm looking not to be completely embarrassed with the final tally. Oh, you like getting some right. And look, I had a problem going through this entire list because it all seemed too logical to me. So we could go through it 1 to 32. That would be boring. Let's talk first about the changes in the top five.

You have Mendoza first overall, but the first big change is Arvel Reese. I'm just going to run through the top five and then ask us some questions. Arvel Reese, the edge from Ohio State, call him a linebacker, going to the Jets. That is a change. You had Bailey there before. You have the tackle Francis Maui Noah from, you know, going from Miami, going to Arizona. And then Jeremiah Love at four to the Titans. That's spicy and sunny styles.

the big linebacker from Ohio State going to the Giants at five. So let's go through these kind of one by one. Obviously, Mendoza is easy. Love at four is spicy. Is this because they spent so much on defense, the Titans that is, in free agency, or is it just best player available? It's both.

It's best player available, but it's also the fact that they went out and signed a billion guys on the defensive side of the ball. I literally was just looking at this saying, this pick is for Cam Ward. So who is the pick that helps Cam Ward the most? And we've long discussed the running back philosophy and all those things. But to me, I just couldn't argue for any other player that would help Cam Ward more than Jeremiah Love. And there's also, look, there's the team side of it.

And I do think he would be a dynamic player in that offense. That'll be fun to watch. Those two guys kind of grow up together would be fun. But Greg, they're going into a new building. I think it's a year way. So there is, I always, you know, there's sometimes where you look at the team side of it, but there is some of the business stuff has to seep in there a little bit of like, man, those are two fun, you know, those big banners that they hang up of the players outside the

stadium when you're pulling in. Like that's a little sales piece there in Nashville, put those two side by side. Jeffrey Simmons, great player, beloved, I'm sure, in Nashville. But when they did the Titans uniform reveal and the lead guy for, is Jeffrey Simmons. I'm just thinking, this team needs a little more pop. Also, like, why is Cam Moore to the side? He's your quarterback. Let's show some belief in your quarterback. And by doing that, giving him a big time weapon. Yeah, I think Jeremiah Love would be a lot of fun there. I do think there's other

pieces they need to add into place offensively. I think they've, you know, the thing that's going to be fascinating with them, and this is a longer discussion for another day. But when you overpay for Dan Moore in free agency, And you're in a weird spot there because you're like, well, we've committed to him. We paid them all this money. But we also know that we'd like to be better at that spot. Like at what point in time do you say, okay, we need to get someone better there? That's a tricky place to be in.

So, you know, you give him an offensive player because they spent so much in free agency on defense in a way. You know, they trade for who was. Germain Johnson. They have Cordell Flot. They sign Alante Taylor. Jonathan Franklin Myers gets money. They have a couple other, like, lower tier signing. And yet, despite all that, I would argue, you know, this draft is great at edge at the top.

They would have edges on the board. Did you think about the fact, like, okay, they have Jermaine Johnson's on, you know, last year of this deal? And then Oladajo is the starter opposite him. So they, despite all these additions on defense, they still aren't really that great at edge. But to me, it wasn't what they did on defense. It's what they didn't do on offense. So it was just that they took the resources they had, and some of them, like you mentioned, they're going to be short-term deals, but they neglected the offense to a large

degree. So that's why I'm like, you can't go an entire offseason and do nothing to really, really support your young quarterback. And it can't just be bringing Calvin Ridley back. That, you know, Wondell Robinson, okay, solid player, but they need more. They need more firepower for him. So that's why I went that way. I love seeing Arvel Reese at two. You moved him up. Is that because of how you view him or because of how you think the Jets or the league views him? There's always a couple guys where I kind of, I have the same grade on him. And sometimes you wake up on this side of the bed, sometimes the other side of the bed of who you like better. This is not about that.

I still have Bailey in my list over Arvel Reese just because to me there's more certainty. I've seen him play this position. I know what he does there. Whereas Arvel Reese has a little bit of that versatile. to play in a couple different spots. I just, you know, I kind of want to look, they're playing a 34. They want to be multiple, do different things. I think Arvel Reese, you want to be able to drop in coverage.

He can do that. He can do a lot of different things. And I also think this is not a team that's all in on 26. This is a team that's got all these assets, including three first round picks and 27. They can play a little bit more of the long game here and not worry about the, the immediate results you're going to get from this player. So that was the working theory I had.

Some of it is simple too, Greg, like, look, I've put other guys there. How does it, I want to see the domino effect of if this, then what? So that's part of the mock draft exercise for me. Just to keep yourself mentally engaged because this show isn't doing it for you. That's fair. Yeah. By the way, what is going on with your lighting back there? It looks like you've got like streams of lights coming down.

I'm in the studio today. You know, we're working around the Jeremiah schedule. So, you know, we're going right into a big NFL daily right afterwards. I got it to get into the studio. One question, though, Juan Rees. If he was with the Jets, I would make the argument, you might just knock out their worst starter from a year ago, Jamie and Sherwood at linebacker, and he plays there.

And he doesn't. The Page Sherwood, a lot of money. I know, but he didn't play well. Because at N.AV, I believe, according to NFL.com slash IQ, I believe. You could just eat that loss because they have the cap space to do it. At Edge, they have Will MacDonald, Joseph Assai, Kingsley, and Igbari. So they actually do have some edges there. And there are people.

I might try to get Ali Connolly, who's on NFL Daily, to join this show and have him really make the argument that this dude could be a generational linebacker, real deal linebacker that you shouldn't move him. What do you think about that? Yeah, I would not agree with that. But I think he can play off the ball, but I think his impact will be better felt off the edge. I think he's a tick late. I think instinct-wise. I think Sunny Style is more instinctive than him. You watch him next to each other.

I think he sees things a lot better. So you have Sunny Stiles at five. That fills a huge need for the Giants. I like that. I do like how you guys are always about, it's about the tape. It's about football. It's not about the Combine.

But then the second Sunny Stiles gets out there at the Combine, you're just like, oh, we got to put him higher on my top 50. We got to put him up in the mock draft. I'm just pulling it up right. I'm just pulling right. Well, yeah, because my first list came out January 22nd. Okay. Yeah.

That's my first list. Sunny Stiles was my fifth player on January 22nd. What's he now? Sunny Stiles is my third player. So he's moved up a whopping two spots and I have him going. Oh, look at that.

Five on my list. What a gross overreaction. Moves up two spots and goes the exact same spot of where I have him on my overall list. It's such a cheap shot. It's a cheap shot. Two spots is a lot. You could view it a different way.

He went up 40% from five to three. It's a lot. How much would you have to give up in the draft to move up from number five to number three? That might be like a second round pick, a first round pick, something like that. He's got the same grade. He's got the same grade. That's come on. That's just such a lazy narrative.

I don't blame me. You see them in person and you get excited. To lump a group of people together. Oh, you guys. I mean, gee, many Christmas, Greg. I feel bad now. So let's do a section that I am really excited about. today. It's all in presented by Toyota, and it's the picks on your mock draft that I think you got

right. We've only gone through the top five so far. So let's go to the rest of the 10. I'll just read them off for now. Carnell Tate is going number six. That's obviously the Ohio Statewide receiver going to the Browns. You have Ruben Bain Jr. going ahead of David Bailey. So Bain goes to the commanders. Bailey goes to the Saints. Then you have Spencer Fano going to the Chiefs as the second tackle off the board and Caleb Downs to the Bengals. I kind of want to circle back and say, I like the fact that you had Bailey to the Saints. I think the Saints would take either one of those edges.

But if you look at the commanders, they could really use like a run-stopping edge. Was that like the feeling you're getting from the league or more just like looking at the depth job? That was more just me looking at it. And I'm glad, you know, first of all, Greg, at the start of the show, we're not going to go one through 32.

That would be boring. And we're going to literally go one through 32 here. No, I decided you go one through 10. I'm not going to go the rest of the time. But I think people are listening. If you're a fan, you want to hear it. It's like there's nothing wrong with that. That's just where we are.

But I want to just a couple things I want to explain on a few of these and then we'll get to get to it. Cleveland is a gamble. Like it is well expected, I'll put it that way, that they want to come away with a tackle and a receiver with their first two picks. and then order of operation is going to be everything. Now, the safe play is that you take the tackle first because there's fewer of them, and they need a left tackle.

So if you're looking at the left tackles, truly it's Monroe Freeling and Caleb Lomo. Those are the two left, like play left, pure left tackles in this draft. Proctor, to me, I think, is going to end up being more of a right tackle eventually, but you could have that as maybe the fallback out of Alabama. So I've been giving him a tackle, and I think Monroe Freeling could be in play there, even though it's a little bit higher than I have him.

but I thought, okay, what if they gamble? If you gamble, take the receiver first, take Tate, who's a great player and will really be a nice weapon for you offensively, then I think that would lead them, and we'll get to it later, that moving up a little bit from 24, just to get a little, they might get a little antsy of we need to get one of those other two guys, so maybe they move up. So that's the gamble pick with them taking Tate.

When you get to Bain, who you're mentioning, I like the fact with Bain, it was Bain and Bailey in that spot for Washington. And then I look at Oway and Bailey as almost being very similar. You know, speed guys, that's how they play. Whereas Bain, I think you can use them on base downs on the edge. I like the fact of letting Bain, which he did a lot at Miami, kick inside in sub-situations where you've got O'A on the outside, got Chasun on the other side, and then you have Bain rushing over a guard next to Oway.

I think that, you know, that's a way that he kind of can do that more than Bailey would be able to do that. So that's why I fit him in there. And then Bailey, you know, with New Orleans, that's just to me by far best available. It's a need for them. Gives them a fastball. They've kind of got Granderson and they've got Chase Young. They don't have like juice, like real juice coming off the edge. Bailey gives them that.

So a little something that they don't have. So that kind of gets us through those ones. And then I don't know if you even got to Kansas City with Fano, but that's one where. You're not listening? I mean, I said it. Yeah, I was listening to you trying to say the names properly, which is an absolute chore. But the fact that you have a need there at right tackle, he's played, he is a right tackle. He can go there.

I think he'd be an upgrade over Sue Matia at left guard as well, if you, you know, if you wanted to do that. And there's a relationship thing. I do the, you know, the Charger Games. I've been at Chiefs games and seen Kyle Whittingham on the sideline late in the year at Chiefs games because of him and Andy Reed have a friendship that goes back decades. They're very close. He's going to know everything about this kid. So, and I've been in the draft room with Coach. read and relationships I've heard, you know, when we're talking about players that he,

he values heavily what his friends, you know, say at these schools. So that's why I had Fano going nine to Kansas City. A lot to get to there, but I thought you would give me some credit for getting Maui Noah right with the, you know, it's like Little Wayne says, geez moving silence like in lasagna, you know. There you go. Well, I just, if you would have been able to spit it out within 10 seconds and not looking down, looking up, looking around, and trying to search in your soul for how to say that properly, I probably would give you some more credit. No, it's more that I printed out old school, like the list, but I got my laptop.

You pronouncing, you pronouncing Maui Noah was like Charles Barkley's golf swing. That's what that was like. It was like you hit the ball, but it was a long time to get there. It was like you trying to handle a pop culture reference from the last 20 years, which I just did with a little way. That just went, whoop. I was like, what? It wasn't.

I did, I didn't do TV with him, though, on NFL network. It wasn't, it wasn't silk from the 90s, like R&B. That's all. I would have, yeah, if you wanted to go H-Town. If you were knocking boots, I would have been all over that, but not so much. Not so much. Caleb Downs, is he the pick bear for the Bengals? I got you on your heels a little bit with that one.

You did. I was just like, well, I am a man in my 40s. Caleb Downs at, look, they've been trying to make up for Jesse Bates since he left. They did bring in Brian Cook, who's kind of a different type of safety. They re-signed a guy named Jalen Davis, who's been there for a while just as a one-year deal very low, who's probably, if you had to start today, the nickel in Cincinnati. Do you see Caleb Downs filling that sort of rule? Yeah, he can give you that versatility to be able to do that.

And to be, you know, you want to use him as a big, nickel he can hang in there and do some of that duty you can move them around it's just to me it's it's a versatile smart defensive player from the big 10 and specifically from ohio state like this is just on a tea for the Cincinnati Bengals like this is it's just set up for him and he's he's just to me he's a total adult like he's going to come in there and just provide you know the leadership the communication just a real steadying guy I think it makes a lot of sense for them you mentioned Cardinal take going to the Browns. First of all, I pointed out on social media that like,

I actually wanted to give the Brown some credit. They signed four starters on the offensive line. I thought that that would be tough to do. It almost felt like, okay, good job. And then I thought about it, and you're still spending $77 million in dead money and players that aren't on the team. You don't have much cap space,

and you're still spending about $47 million in cap space on Deshawn Watson. And you've got a ton of holes on the roster. So I don't want to give them too much. credit. And shockingly, there were a lot of Browns fans that were like, we don't have a lot of holes in the roster. Like, where are the holes? The whole, like, and, and I think, you just said left tackle and receiver. They're going to be looking for that. I think they could use some safety help. I think they could use a running back. I think they could use a quarterback. I mean, there are. Well, they got two young, they got the two young backs in last year's draft. They're talented. Sure, but Judkins might miss. That's a very serious injury. What was his injury? It was, it was the combo, you know, fractured leg. and tearing ligaments where that can really set you back like a year and you can't you can't really count that my question for you though is he the consensus number one receiver you think everyone agrees or most teams agree that carnal tates number one i the the i would

say so i believe the vast majority of people are going to have him as the top guy um i think the the it wouldn't shock me if there were some people out there um who had jordan tyson as the number one. For me, I'm a little bit lower on him just because I factor in the durability. If you, if you just want to go purely off of the talent and the ability, you could make that argument. Like, I can understand why some people would feel that way. I'm a little, I'm not quite as, I'm not quite as willing to risk things in the first round. I, Ozzie Newsom was always a proponent of doubles. Like, we're not going to swing for the fences. Like, if you have somebody who has, if you're comparing players and one guy's available, one guy's got durability issues,

or one guy's got, and this isn't Tyson, but if you got somebody with some learning issues, like, I don't, I'll take those shots and chances after the first round and the second, third round. You want to roll the dice a little bit. I'm a little more risk tolerant, but not here. I think, to me, Tate is rocks. I'll, you know exactly what you're getting.

So I have two more picks. I think he got right. That's it, I guess. No, I liked a lot of the picks. But two more that stood out to me. Akeem Messador, the edge rusher at 15 to the bucks. An interesting name, maybe different viewpoints of him out. there, but they absolutely need an edge rusher. What was your thinking there? Yeah, well, I mean,

I definitely think it's a need for him. And I, to me, knowing Jason Light, I know he values production. So you've got somebody who's got, he's got numbers to go along with how hard he plays and the temperament that he plays with. So you bring kind of a little bit of an edge to the edge position. And he's another one that has the ability to kick inside and rush, you know, inside over guards. Miami did that with both those guys last year. So I just like the temperament he plays with. And, you know, the age, I don't know that that's going to hurt him as much as maybe some people would think. 25 years old.

Yeah, he's going to be a little bit older. But I just think you're going to, you know, he's going to be rip-ororn ready to go, polished, no development required. And he's going to step in and make an impact. I wonder what edge that they could sign in the meantime, you know, Joey Bose is still out there. there's a couple guys. AJ Epinessa is still out there. Cameron Jordan, that would be funny after they went back and forth on social media.

Because I think they are kind of in the spot you don't want to be, which is they have to take an edge, I feel like in the first two rounds at this point. They might feel that way no matter what they do, but they might add one other signing. And then one other one I wanted to shout out was your 27th pick. Kenyon Sadiq, the Oregon Titan, falling all the way to 27. But I love the fit.

I can see it on the 49ers. you know, how did he fall so far? And then what do you think about them taking like a tight end even when you have kiddle in place? Yeah, there's always this happens every year where there's somebody that you think is, you know, like highly rated. Let me see where I have him on my top 50 list to give you that. I think he's in your top 15. So he's my 13th player. But this happens every year.

And when you're going through the exercise and you get by some certain spots, like here was, I've long thought his floor would be the. Chargers at 22. And people will say, well, you've got Gadsden. You went out and got Kohler? Like, I'm like, this is a different type of player. Like, he's just a different caliber of guy. And I think a play caller like Mike McDaniel would be able to use him and have a lot of fun with the creativity and how you could utilize him.

In this scenario, I had Yawani, the guard from Penn State falling down a little bit. So if you're the Chargers, and I'll pose that question to you, you've got, in my opinion, the top interior offensive linemen in the draft and you've got the top tight end in the draft. I couldn't, you have to take the interior offensive linemen where they are. I know they've paid Cole Strange and they've made some other investments there. They brought penning back, but Yawani's on a whole different level. I would have a hard time passing on him to take the tight end. So that was kind of the last hurdle, which got him all the way down to San Francisco.

The same things I would say about him playing with Mike McDaniel, I'd say the same things with him playing with Kyle Shanahan. I like the Yuanay pick, and I'm definitely taking that because Daniel Jeremiah told me to. I'm getting the feeling that, like, DJ is the shadow GM here for the Chargers. He's always nailing these chargers picks. No. Somebody did something. I don't know if it was them or the Ravens. It was one of the, or maybe it was the Eagles.

One of the teams that I'm often associated with, it was like, if you go back and look at his mock draft 2.0, he always has the right one. that one. Did you do this? Yes. I told you about that, but yes, I saw that on social, and it was the Chargers. And I went back and I saw a quote from you in the scouting combine. You think I don't do research for 40s and you called him your favorite offensive linemen in the draft. So, of course, the Chargers are going to take him at 22. I don't know. I don't know where they stand on that. The funny thing is, like, I do. I've known Ortiz for 20 years and we're buddies, but I have other buddies around the league where we'll talk a little more openly about players, and he doesn't give me anything.

So I never really have any firm intel. People I know think that I am, but I promise you I'm not. Okay. I like to see you squirm here. All right, those were the picks I thought you did well on. That was all in presented by Toyota. We're going to take a quick break. And during that break, I just want the listeners to think about what it was like

when a young Daniel Jeremiah was playing H-Town on MTV and his parents walked in the room, how he just scampered to switch the channel. We'll just be back in a minute. That was an uncomfortable song to be on when it was like it came out on the car. No, the worst one was, what was the one? Let me lick you up and that was the one. That was definitely the uncomfortable one. Please put that into the podcast.

No, please don't do that. Getting ready for a game means being ready for anything. Like packing a spare stick. I like to be prepared. That's why I remember, 988, Canada's suicide crisis helpline. It's good to know, just in case. Anyone can call or text for free confidential support from a train responder anytime. 988 suicide crisis helpline is funded by the government in Canada.

140s and free agents presented by Toyota. That's why we had to cut out the X-rated version. which included DJ singing Freak Me Baby to turn the freak. That's what I'll remember when I think about 40s and free agents. When they shut this thing down in a month from now, is that all you're saying? Oh, stop. Look, some picks. I think that you got wrong.

This was a suggested segment. And so I just had to go for some. We mentioned Maui Noah before. You have them at three. your description, and you have them in your top 10, so it's a player you like, but maybe not, that's not quite the value that you see him at.

When I read on Daniel Jeremiah's description of him, that he has a skill set to be functional in past protection, I'm not that excited about number three. And my argument, my pushback for you would be, I don't know if you've been hearing something specific, that sure, they have a need at right tackle, but they have a need almost anywhere

else that they would be considering here, especially those defensive players. They could absolutely use an offball linebacker. And I know they have players at edge, Zayvon Collins, Baron Browning, et cetera. Josh Sweat, those should not be players preventing you from taking the best player on the board. So ultimately, I just think this team needs juice. And I don't see any reason why they wouldn't be looking at the other players for a little bit of juice at number three.

All right. I'm going to pull up something here real quick. I mean, he's not even functional yet. He has the skill set to be functional. I want a little more from the number three pick. Okay, hold on. Let me, I'm pulling something. Okay.

Off the ball, here's an off-the-ball linebacker. Six, three-and-five-eighth, two hundred and thirty-eight pounds. He ran four-three-nine, long-ranging linebacker playing a slot and move around the deep middle. He's got big-time burst, just average take-on. So it was an off-the-ball. linebacker as a need. You kind of see that, you know, being a selection. Unfortunately, those are my Isaiah Simmons notes. And so I just worry about the ghost of the past. How many GMs again ago? I don't. I don't care. It's organizational. And I just, I worry about and I look, I have

sunny style. I gave, I missed, I whiffed on Isaiah Simmons. I openly admit that. Sunny style is a better player than him, but there's an off the ball linebacker still an off the ball linebacker. And I think when you've, when you've taken one high and you've missed on one at that position, even if it was somebody else inside the organization, that scared me off of that for them. And then with Maui Noah, look, there's some tackles that are going to be more popular than the running back room than the quarterback room,

and that's where he is. Now, the good thing he's the right tackle and on a left tackle, you're going to have, you're going to have, you know, there's going to be against the elite guys. You're probably going to need to help him out a little bit, but he's a dominant run blocker, and he's someone that you're not going to be able to get through his chest in Bowling, which a lot of left ends are going to try

and do and are equipped to do. So that's, that's what used to be, we would talk about right tackle profiles, left tackle profiles. And the left tackle was the elite change of direction, bend, balance, footwork, the rare athletes. The right tackle was almost more of a bully. And this kind of is an ode to that era a little bit. So he's not perfect.

He's not perfect. But that's, you know, that's the logic of how I got there, if that makes sense to you. The logic definitely makes sense. And it's something that I could see happening. I would just say, like, how about the teams that, you know, passed on Lou Keekeley, you know, in that draft when everyone knew he was going to be a general. Like, they got their value or the teams that passed on Kyle Hamilton for positional value. I think you take the best players. And in this case, that could also be Jeremiah Love.

I mean, do you hear anything about that at all? Yeah, no, I did. To me, they're just, they're so far away from being far away. I look at also with them two things. Number one, the quarterback need is desperate. There's nobody that they can take that position with that pick, in my opinion. But if you're in lieu of taking the quarterback, you'd like to be able to sell the ownership that, while we might not be getting a quarterback, we are building the foundation to be able to support that quarterback when he comes,

whether that's most likely next year and next year's draft. You have to be, you're always trying to sell vision and hope in order to secure your professional. So if I'm Monty right there, if I'm Monty Awesome for it, I'd be like, okay, look, I can reach and take a quarterback just to take a quarterback in this draft. That's not the smart thing to do. But what I am going to do is I'm going to create this cocoon so that when we do get the quarterback next year, he's going to be able to hit the ground running and off we go. It has to be connected to the quarterback. That's the hope of your franchise. I'd say you're saying they're far away from being far away.

He's not a new GM. He's in what year four? Like this thing should be cresting. And if you draft an offensive or defensive rookie of the year, whether that be Sunny Stiles or Jeremiah Love or Rubin Bain or something like that, I think that's going to be good for your job security. All right, we'll move on. Jordan Tyson to the Ravens.

You said you see them trying to hit doubles. I do want them to take a wider season. This was more of a question of like, convince me that this is the right move. Because they've got a sneaky amount of needs, I think, on this team that the Trey Hendricks and Max Crosby excitement has covered up. They lost a lot of players this off season. I think they could go in a lot of direction. Just convince me that this is a good pick for them. Well, it's not necessarily what I would do in that situation.

And I do think there is a little difference in how the Ravens have drafted over the last few years versus maybe what they traditionally had done. Like Wiggins would not have been a Ravens draft pick, you know, 10 years ago. It's a different style of player. And looks pretty good. I think that's a good pick right now. Yeah, yeah, but was not the toughest guy in the room, you know, was a more of speed athlete finesse of a player, didn't really kind of totally fit the bill there. So they've drafted outside of their normal patterns a little bit over the last few years.

And with this pick particularly, I'm looking at Declan Doyle as the offensive. a coordinator. And I'm looking at what they liked in Luther Burden and the success they had with Luther Burden last year in Chicago, especially as a year one on. And I can look at Jordan Tyson and say there's a lot of similarities in terms of how they play the game and the style that they have. And it would be a compliment, a much needed weapon to compliment Zayflower. So a little bit of that got into my thought process there. There's also, hey, this is the new regime. It's, hey, we trust Jesse, you're going to be able to get the most to maximize our personnel on defense. We just spent on Hendrickson.

Yeah, we could take Mesidor right there. That was the choice between those two. But it was, man, let's get Lamar excited. Let's give him something here with this new young offensive coordinator. We want him to buy into what we're doing. Let's give him a weapon. Yeah. And speaking of weapons, you had Mackay Lemon being the second wide receiver off the board at two.

And let's go to our next. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Yeah. I mean, not at two. at 13 as the wide receiver to at 13 to the Rams. So after they supposedly get involved in the AJ Brown talks, they end up just drafting someone, which makes more sense to me.

I wanted to get to your wide receiver four. I'm looking ahead. Omar Cooper, who would be one of the biggest, if not the biggest riser in your mock draft. Not in the mock draft last time around. Now he's all the way up at 16. You also bumped him up in your top 50

in the last time you did it, although you had him pretty high to begin with higher than consensus. I feel like Omar Cooper's having a moment. Like for whatever reason, he's one of those guys and maybe it's the league catching up, but he's someone that's getting talked about a lot more now than maybe was expected back in January or during the season. I'm looking to see now. Hold on. It is interesting to look back. So he was, I hadn't watched him when I did my first list, because you remember he was playing all the way to the end of the season and was late to decide whether he was coming into the draft. So he doesn't make the January 22nd list.

So February 20th, my first time he's on the list, he came in at 19. And then the updated version, as Greg likes to say, I get totally crazy and I moved him up one spot. So that was a wild. It was the 19 that I noticed. The wild jump there. It was the 19 out of nowhere. I didn't know that he wasn't counted in the first one.

But that was a good job by you. I think you were ahead of things. I love that fit for the Jets. They just traded Justin Fields away, and it was a reminder how little they've done on offense during this free agency period. They've signed all these older veterans on defense, five or six starters. But on offense, all they did was trade for Gino Smith. They signed Dylan Parram at Guard.

And, man, they need, I would say, at least one more wide receiver there. Although Adi Mitchell looked pretty good. Talk to me about, like, Omar Cooper, what you like. about him and that fit with that group. Yeah, I like him a lot. And I, you know, I actually have him over Jordan Tyson. I just think he's stronger. I think he's tougher.

He's not quite as dynamic in terms of, you know, some of the releases and some of the stuff at the top of the route, but he's really good there. He can play above the rim and go get it. He plays bigger than his size. He refuses to be tackled. He is super, super tough. And when I go back and look at, you know, the receiver position over the last, however many drafts, I did this study last year.

like trying to find what are the what are some of the things that they share in common and why they've been successful. And I came back to toughness. And so I think toughness is an underrated thing when you're evaluating that position. I love how tough he is. So Garrett Wilson can give me all the flash and the, you know, the creative route running and Omar Cooper's, you know, you're going to use him to compliment that with just kind of a more rugged style of play. I'm telling you, Breeze Hall, Garrett Wilson, Omar Cooper, A.D. Mitchell, who I still have some stockin. I bought it. you know, when he got traded and I think he came through for the most part for the Jets is showing some potential. Mason Taylor, that's not a bad group. That's a fun group.

Can I give you a preview into the future, by the way? Yeah. It's going to be, I'm going to predict that this is going to be a hot topic of conversation. And it'll probably, I'm guessing it'll kick off in the summer and definitely into the college football season in the fall. It's not me, but I'm just telling you. there's going to be the discussion of will the Manning family allow Arch to play for the Jets? Like that's going to be the, the Jets have three first round picks. We assume the Jets are not going to be very good again next year.

They're going to be in the mix in that range. And whether it's the Jets or maybe it ends up being another team, but just because of the Eli thing, you know, when he was coming out with the Chargers and the Giants, that's going to be, that's just such a talk radio like low hanging. fruit. That'll be a story is what I'm predicting. That'll be a story. I don't think it's that low because there's precedent. Yeah. But can't you just see that just being? Yes. No, I think you're right. I think it's fair and I wouldn't blame the mannings for getting in the mix. The problem is

you got you got to find out who actually has those picks and if he actually is going to get drafted that high. But you're right. I mean, the draft isn't all fair. And so if the players can exert a little control like Archie did back in the day. Kind of a slight to your to your hometown there of San Diego. Well, it worked out great. I mean, they got Philip Rivers.

They worked out for everybody. They got Philip Rivers plus a bunch of picks. I think it was a good trade. They got a better quarterback. Giants fans don't want to hear it. I'd take Philip Rivers any day. Yeah. Well, there go.

That's my little sidebar. But don't you think, like, I would be willing to. Oh, yeah, it's happening. It'll happen for sure. Because whatever teams at the top, It's probably not coming off of a history of success, whether it's just trying to think of the teams that would be, the Cardinals, the Titans, obviously,

are hoped to be better the Jets. We'll see. Casey Concepcion, if Omar Cooper's having a moment, maybe the receiver out of Texas A&M is as well, plus 13 picks. He was the last pick, the last time he did this, did make your mock draft. This time he's 19 to Carolina.

I like this too because their lack of weapons stand out to me. They have not really done. anything in free agency? What kind of receiver is he? Real dynamic. You know, if you just want to look at guys getting off the line of skirmage, quickness, you look at what he does. His ability to transition after the catch and then just like explode.

He's got, and I was kind of surprised when I was told like where he would be running time-wise, because I thought this guy's going to run like low four-threes, and I don't think that's necessarily the case, but he plays super fast. The issue's been the drops. He had seven drops last year. If not for the drops, we'd probably talking about him in this range. And because of that, you're talking about most people think he's a late one, early two. But in this case, this is, again, I always worked with different, you know, theories when I'm doing this thing.

And this was my thought exercise here. You could say that Caroline Panthers off of a playoff here, number one goal is to get back to the postseason. I would argue if that's 1A, 1B has to be able to be able to make a confident call on Bryce Young. And so I want to put the resources in place where there's no. guesswork. We've seen what's happened in this free agency cycle on bad bets on quarterbacks and not having the proper evaluation on your guy. That can be difficult to navigate around. So I just think to me, they need to put the pieces in place where one way or the other. Hopefully it works out great. He plays great and we're confident in him and off we go.

Or you look at it and say, man, we've given him everything and the play didn't tick up. So that's why I went with the weapon. And they've spent big money on defense with Devin Lloyd, Jalen Phillips. They did bring in Rashid Walker, so I think that's going to help their evaluation of Bryce Young while you have your franchise left tackle, Okunwo, coming back from an injury, you get a better evaluation with Walker at left tackle. But the weapons, I was a little surprised at the combine when I asked their brain trust, including Dan Morgan, about receiver. And they were like, well, you know, we haven't given up on Xavier Leggett, and we think Koker is going to develop. And I got the sense, okay, you may be,

I do too, but I got the sense in free. agency, they weren't going to go there, and they didn't. And they also say, well, we're going to get, you know, at running back, you know, healthier. We're going to say goodbye to RICO Dowdell. I just, they could use a little more juice. I don't know if they're going to be able to make that. That's where, that's where I went there. All right. So, Caden Proctor was another guy who moved up into your mock draft. He was not picked last time. Alabama. The Eagles take him at 23. That was the kind of the last riser that really stuck out to me as a guy who I think fits the mold for what the Eagles like in terms of big, strong, and fast. And the Eagles address needs a year ahead of time.

So Lane Johnson's back, but I don't know, you can't count on him to run out there for 17 weeks. So it gives us some coverage there and also gives us the guy for the future. They've done that forever is always trying to get ahead of their needs. So that's why I had him going there. And he is one that, you know, he's got a wide range, maybe of any of the tackles. And some of These guys, I would say he's not alone in that. But if you told me that Proctor was the 14th pick or the, you know, 34th pick, I think that's, it's in this draft. That's kind of what we have. Kind of pick whatever you like at that position.

Yeah, there's not a lot of consensus. Yeah. So new names in your mock for and everyone should just go to NFL.com. See, I didn't read them off in the end. We don't, we don't need to. It's an audio medium. At the end of the mock, you had Cassius Howell from A&M going 26. to the bills. That's an interesting one.

The Texans who still need offensive line help, even though they have signed a number of players with a lot of people, and a lot of people out. Chase Bassatt is from A&M goes there at 28. Caden McDonald, the defensive tackle is now in your mock going to the Patriots at 31. And then the Seahawks take

Judarian Price, a second running back in the first round. I feel like this would drive Seahawks fans like a little crazy if they took a running back in the first round. Yeah, I think they're in a pretty good position where they can kind of see how it falls. But I would say that, you know, as we're recording this, I don't think they've really done anything. And they've got Charbonnet coming off injury. So they need her back. And in this

draft, in my opinion, as I see it, there's a huge drop off after price. So you've got love, a little bit of a gap. Then to me, there's a size of a like a full round gap before you get to the next group of guys. They did pick up Emmanuel Wilson over the weekend. I know you're busy. you're at the library with the family. So you're trying to get back into the mix. So you missed the Emmanuel Wilson signing. I don't think that will prevent them from doing anything. But I think a nice kind of depth signing for them.

Let's wrap up with the guys that, you know, you probably broke their agent's heart. Maybe them too. If they're locked in, you kicked them out of your mock draft. It's a big responsibility you have. I don't envy you with that. Keldrick Falk is the one that really stands out.

I'm going to list the five guys who are no longer in your mock, but I do want to hear. you talk about Falk. Falk, you had a 19th last time around. He's now out. Denzel Boston, who feels like just consensus-wise is falling a little bit. He's out of this mock. You had him 21st last time. Peter Woods, the defensive tackle from Clemson, Malachi Fields, who you had in the mid-20s to Buffalo last time from Notre Dame is now out of the mock. Lee Hunter and Zion Young are both not in this mok. That would be pretty surprising, I think, if you finish with Rich Charles and everything on day one and there's no Keldrick Falk on the NFL network coverage.

Yeah, he's a tricky one because he's a real, he's kind of a smooth mover, like kind of a, he's not twitchy. So in other words, he's six, five, he's long, he's got this ideal body, he's young. I think he only had two sacks this year. So the production wasn't great. And then it's kind of a tweener, you know, is he an undersized. three is he just kind of a bigger edge, how much pure, you know, juice does he have coming off the edge? So he's, and he's, by all accounts, is a phenomenal kid who's like, they

rave about him at the school. I've talked to teams that he's played against, coaches that think he's the best player they played against. So he's one of those ones where it hasn't all matched to what I've seen with my eyes. So look, if you, if, if I told you that the Cowboys took him with at 12, I wouldn't. be shocked. I mean, if I look at where I have him on my top 50, he's probably in the early 30s, maybe. Where is he at here? I have him at, where is he? Falk is 32. So yeah, I mean, literally, he's on the borderline for me of, you know, is he a first round pick? Is he a not a first round pick? But he's a tricky one. Like there are some guys that are just, if you're with a team and

you know exactly how you're going to use him and he fits us, like you could see. sell that. When you're in a generic spot that I'm in, it's like, I don't know exactly where he fits. So do you want to edit out the like 10 seconds you went looking up your ranking of them? Or do you want them to like clean that up, make you look better? No, I don't think it's, I'm not ashamed, but I haven't memorized where I have these guys on my list. No, but people are listening. It's an audio medium, but they could be at, at, yeah, they're all right.

They're experiencing it. They're along for the journey. If I've, I'm doing this on the phone with guys I'm talking to all the time around the league. Hey, where do you have this guy? Hold on just a second. And you know what? The GMs and assistant GMs and head coaches I talk to don't seem to have a problem with the delay. But Greg, whoa, Greg's precious time.

I don't want to waste that. I just wish you would allow that that song you sang it. What's it called again? That was the uncomfortable one if a parent walked in the room. That's a tough one if the parent walked in. Freak me, baby. What is it comes? I don't know what you're talking about.

That was a tough one. Yeah. I don't know what your reference. there. Can I leave? Can I leave? Yes. I think we're done. We're done here. Forties and free agents. We are in your ears every single Tuesday up until the draft. I cannot wait for next season.

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