NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - 40s and Free Agents: Midseason Rookie Report! Who is Surging and Who is Struggling?

Episode Date: December 9, 2025

Join Gregg Rosenthal and Daniel Jeremiah as they break down a full position-by-position check-in on this year’s rookie class! Who’s surpassing expectations, and who’s struggling to find their footing? We take a deep dive into the biggest risers, the biggest disappointments, and how this class is shaping up as we look ahead to a potentially weaker-than-expected 2026 rookie class and free-agency pool. From breakout stars to surprising letdowns, this episode breaks down everything you need to know about the NFL’s newest class.NFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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the season of more on the Off the Edge with Cam Joined podcast. Catch new episodes every Wednesday on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Wasabi Hot Cloud Storage, store more and do more with your data. Try them for free at Wasabi.com. Welcome to 40s and Free Agents. I am Greg Rosenthal. I am joined by the best draft analyst in the business, but that's not all he does. I saw him on Monday night walking out of him.

of the drunkest NFL game of the season, Chargers Eagles. He's already been taping podcasts, move the sticks today. And now he's here for the only job that really means anything to him, 40s and free agents, where we talk a little free agency and we talk some rookie class in this show. Every time that music hits, 40s and free agents, the hair on my arm stands up a little bit, Greg. It's just, it's hard to describe. I'll put it that way.

You don't have to wait as long this time around. I guess we got one month to go. So if you've been listening, we're checking in during the season. On today's show, we're going to do some rookie class check-in. Who's been getting better throughout the course of the season? I might hit some guys who maybe have been disappointing in terms of the rookie class. And then when we reconvening, and you hear that song again, DJ, after the end of the regular season, we'll be going weekly through the draft talking about the 2026 draft.

I'm going to start building my big board. I'm going to get inspired by you, get my free agency board, get all the positions. position's ready. But that's for next time. For this time, we're going to do one last look back at this rookie class. Because one thing I love about it, it's a lot of times by this point in the season, you know this week 15, like they look like different players than they were in week six. So we'll go through each position. Why don't we start at quarterback? And we're just going to kind of pick out a guy that we think is getting better. As the season goes on, I might throw out some guys a little disappointing. Why don't you get us going? Sure. I mean, I'm actually going to

start with Tyler Shuck because nobody talks about him. It's the Saints. They're not really haven't been really a watchable product but they've got a couple wins as of late and Tyler Shuck you use the phrase like who are the guys that are getting better, who's ascending and it's a, I can't underscore it. It's just a massive

development. If he is able to prove over these last few games and continue doing what he's doing, making some plays with his legs, showing the athleticism, still inconsistent, you know, some of the decision making, some of the accuracy can kind of ebb and flow a little bit. But you've got the size, you've got the athleticism, he's got a big arm.

Sounds like by all counts, you know, good in the room, smart, leadership, all the intangible stuff is there. And you're seeing the performance tick up. If that takes them out of the quarterback market, it really frees this team up, it solves a lot of issues for them. And they're going to have, they'll have then eventually, once they get the cap all lined up, they're going to have some money to be able to fortify a very cheap quarterback. And they're going to have draft capital to be able to help him instead of replace him.

And that would be a massive development for this program. Month is a long time in the NFL, but if he continues to play just how he's playing, I'd be stunned if they drafted a quarterback. Yeah, I'm with you. It's a huge development. I didn't expect it. I had my doubts coming into this season.

His athleticism really shows up where he is making second reaction plays. They had some design runs for him last week where he is making that Bucks defense look slow. I think the decision making has been good. That was the thing I was worried about. He was also the guy I was going to talk about in terms of improving. I thought he might struggle against pressure. It hasn't been perfect. He holds onto the ball and takes some sacks.

But for the most part, I don't think any issues he had maybe trying to avoid hits and everything in college. I haven't really seen that so far as in the pros. I think he's looked good. Yeah, he's played better than what the box scores indicate to. It's not going to wow you with where he is on the stat sheet, but he's played well. He's making some plays in that. All you want to see on young quarterbacks is that you're trending upward. And I'll give you one more name here quickly because I know everybody's going to be curious about it.

Shudor Sanders has done a nice job since he's got the reins. There was a pretty large gap between the Browns rookie quarterbacks on my list. I'll go back through and pull it up if I went by position. Shadur was my second quarterback. He was my 20th overall player. And Dylan Gabriel was my ninth quarterback, my 148th overall player. So it's a pretty significant gap coming through the draft process and we all need to rehash how we ended up where we ended up. But I think he's clearly shown that he's he's more likely trying to push the ball down the field.

I know the chunk of salt, not the grain of salt that people want to say the Raiders and the Titans, you know, put it in perspective here. But some good things that I've seen in those games, he's a very, he's a very skilled thrower. When he has a little bit of room and a little bit of space, he just throws a real pretty catchable ball. and he's pushing the ball down the field, which I like seeing. There's still other stuff that continue to grow. We'll see as they come down on the home stretch. They'll play some better quality of competition if he can keep it up. But this is along the same lines of Shuck.

Why I wanted to mention Shadour is that if this takes them out of the quarterback business and all the draft capital that they accumulated from Jacksonville, and you look at just if they can duplicate 80%, 70% of this next rookie class, what they've got out of this class, because I'm going to talk about a whole lot of Browns as we go through this episode. If they can have three quarters of success in this next draft, we're going to be talking about them like we're talking about New England of two-year process and they could totally flip this thing.

That would be bold for Shador to take them out of the quarterback market. Now, the next four games will tell us a lot. I haven't gotten to that Titans Browns tape yet. I'm going to. Yeah, I had to get in the traffic early to get to SoFi for that game. I brought my son and everything. But he's made pro throws, and I think there's been a big difference between him and Gabriel. If I was going to put a faller since we last, like, I think Gabriel just kind of proved where he is.

Yeah. And when he played, I just think he showed he could be a long-term backup for them. Not terrible out of a third-round pick. And it doesn't seem that crazy for Shudur to be a bridge type of quarterback to just give him another year to see when you think about how a lot of teams and evaluators like yourself, maybe it was just the evaluators. That saw him closer to the Tyler Shuck range. Okay, maybe that's a guy you give a chance on. He has looked like a pro so far. And, yeah, that's a weird dynamic in that room

if they went back to it for another year. But that's a story for another day. All right, let's go to the running back. I'll throw out mine first. How about last week? And again, you've got to be careful coming off these Raiders games. It's like playing a lower division school in college or something. But RJ Harvey, good receiver.

surehanded. And I think he showed in that game he can handle the inside runs. Overall, I think he's been solid, but he's just passing the eye test the last week or two where he's just running with a little more confidence. Maybe the game is slowing down from, and I'm seeing some of that juice that I remember had you had Brian Baldinger excited in the draft process where it's starting to pop on tape. And he really looks like a guy that you can help build a running game around going into the playoffs. Yeah, I pulled back up my notes pre-draft. mix of Tariq Cohen and Freeman. You think about, remember how

good way little player Freeman was. Runs low to the ground burst, breakaway speed. They use him in some wildcat. He's got great vision. You hit him on a wheel for a touchdown. He's just got the speed shows up. He's just a little small and pass pro. And he was someone I thought definitely you want to get him out as opposed to keep him in, which

is fine. And Sean Payton's very comfortable doing that, getting him out and let him make plays out in space. But a perfect player fit for how they use him and what they do there as well. Devante Freeman, by the way, he's such an underrated player for those few years. He was really good. He was great.

I love a guy who just runs hard every single snap, and he was that guy. Unfortunately, as a Patriots fan, I do remember his maybe most famous play as a pro was in pass protection against Dante Hightower, and it turned around the greatest comeback in NFL history. Kind of a big game. Can I give you mine? I'll give you my two guys, because there are four names that I wrote down that I think that have trended up. been, you know, if I start with the obvious ones with Trayvion and Henderson being on that list, then I had Woody Marks, who's done some really good things and loved the way he caught the ball coming out of college and he's run the ball well there with Houston.

But the two, to me, that it would be up towards the top, I would say Judkins, number two, and Kyle Manungai, number one in terms of guys who are just ascending as they go to the year. And it shouldn't be a surprise if I was going to say the, you know, the through line with those two guys is power. and as you get later on in the season and defenses get tired and the weather changes, like to me, that's where you start to see

some of these power guys really start to take over. And Judkins, I mean, shoot, just throw them in the Wildcat once they get inside the 10-yard line, he's going to be able to muscle his way into the end zone. He's proven that.

He's just got to remember the play call. He's got to pitch the ball, that's all. Not the best play call, but we probably need to pitch it. He's awesome. I would take him over, Gentie. I don't think that's overreacting.

If you had to restack it. It's incomplete. I mean, I've seen them twice. I've seen Gentie twice. And Greg, I mean, they're awful. Awful. They really are. So I hear you and that's why it's incomplete.

But I feel like if he was John Robinson or Sequin, I would just see it a little more. We said, he never said he was those guys. That's fair. I just love what I see out of Junkins. and that's just my take. So he was my guy that I think he's good. He's going to be a good pro. Ashton Genti, have a good career.

But just in terms of a guy, maybe is it that next level ability? The wrong time, it was the wrong time to pick the running back. And that's the way we've shaped this. If you've listened to our 40s and free agents pre-draft stuff, we've had this running back discussion. And we keep asking the wrong questions. Do you take a running back in the top 10? No.

It's when is the right time with where you are in your build, take a running back. that's the question and that was not the right time for where their roster was great point i love what he marks too tougher than i expected and like davante freeman i mean he runs hard i just love that the energy that he brings every week really fun let me find my let me find my whaty marks uh notes here real quick because i was curious to go back and look at that whaty marks okay he was 5101 207 he ran 454 excellent pass catcher he's a patient runner has those quick little choppy steps he's elusive in space he can jump through low

tackles he had a and i use this word because i'm a fan of the movie he had a plethora of one-handed catches uh fe do you even know what a plethora is uh three amigosos if you haven't seen it go watch it's a great movie uh that's incredible they were they were playing it in the theater uh over at the arrow here in san an manica what well yeah it's like it's like it's like one of those theaters that plays old movies a lot of the time did you go i would have liked to i was like I would go see that in the theater, but it was 7.30 on a... The mail plane. How can you tell?

I don't leave it at that. Yeah, and Woody Marks, they're trusted him to take some of those carries with Nick Chubb when he's banged up. Like, you'll run into the line. I like it. All right. Give me your wide receiver that you see rising. Yeah. So we go through the wide receivers.

It's funny. You're going to laugh at this. I have all my positions and I have all my notes here. And I didn't put a wide receiver down. I mean, I can start you out because I got a few that I really like. Yeah, give you your wide receiver. And this is where I like this exercise. Luther Burden and Jaden Higgins are two guys who, to start the season,

you're learning the playbook, you got veterans in front of you, just weren't a big part of the mix. And as the season goes along, you're starting to see all the reasons you and other draft analysts had them rang highly. And Burden especially, I find interesting that he's kind of taking DJ Morris production now. and I think he's going to take DJ Moore's role period next year. I sort of don't expect DJ Moore to be on that team.

But there was a play last week where he's just the outside receiver and he has a comeback and it's one of the best timing throws. I've seen Caleb make all year 20 yards down the field. And Burden's doing a little bit of everything. Four, five, six targets and catches each week. Good player. And it just shows you between him and Loveland, we could talk about him too.

It's a complicated offense. And sometimes it's that second half of the rookie year you've got to watch because Burden's really been coming on. Yeah, I'm a fan of his game, and I'll pull up my notes on him before I get to the next guy that we're going to talk about here. But Burden, 6 foot, 206 pounds.

He ran 4-4-1. I compared him to Stefan Diggs coming out. Quick athletic slot. A lot of quick hitters. He's got strong hands, excellent body control. He shows real burst after the catch. He can make you miss and did not play with a good quarterback. There were a lot of bad balls.

So, and I'm not, I'm not taking a shot at Caleb here, but Caleb's not going to be pinpoint accurate. So having somebody who's comfortable catching balls away from your frame, off your frame, low balls, high balls, like, that's a good thing to have somebody who's a little bit experienced that. And the weather you're going to plan as they played in Green Bay and they're going to be in Chicago, like you've got to be able to adjust. He's really, really good at that. So I'm excited about him. The one I was going to mention is, haven't seen him in person. I can't remember if we talked about it on the last version of this thing. But Chimir D.K., just in terms of the return skills and now you're,

seeing more as a receiver throughout this year, showing you some promise. I always think about these young teams of who's going to be a part of the nucleus going forward. And I think he's proven to be a playmaker and can be a big asset to Cam Ward going off into the future. Yeah. I totally am with you on that. They found something.

He might just make an all pro team this year as a returner, which is a great, great thing to have. By the way, I know, I know, we're talking about some of the disappointing things. We haven't really jumped into that yet. But I will be honest. I mean, and the timing for some of these players, it takes longer than others. This is not a death sentence by any stretch. But, man, I expected a heck of a lot more out of gold than what he's given to the day.

Yeah, he was a tough one because he's not even getting on the field that much. And it's not like there's scrubs that are playing it. I mean, they have a deep room. They have a good room. But I thought he had a chance to emerge as the best of their guys. And he's not, he's not getting anything. I would never call two-way star bow melt in a scrub. but I found it interesting last week

that Bo Meltin played ahead of him. He got more snaps ahead of him. So they don't think Golden's ready. And he's always, they always, we're just missing those big plays to him earlier in the season. And I mentioned Jaden Higgins quickly. He's just been a great third down target

for C.J. Stroud and Davis Mills. He's, he's really come up. If you look at some of the biggest catches of the season, a lot of them have been Jaden Higgins. In terms of declining, just since when we last talked, look abuka is still in the mix for rookie of the year but it just hasn't been efficient him and baker

they have 35 targets over the last month here DJ he has 14 catches on those 35 targets for 129 yards doing a little math that is under four yards per attempt when you're throwing to abuka there's been about a drop a week it's just been misconnections it's obviously not on him exclusively Mike Evans hasn't been there he was coming off an injury, but it just has slowed down in terms of how great he was in the first half of the season. Yeah. No, I think that's, I think that's fair. I still am a buyer of his going forward into the future. So am I. Don't try to put it on me. I'm not saying. But the Higgins thing is that my favorite part about him is going back through his stuff is my comp was Nico Collins. So it was

his teammate and can accelerate, go get the ball, 50-50 wins, went on verticals. There's a lot of Pass interference penalties that he's able to draw. He's got stop and start quicks for a big guy, which is impressive. And I made this, I tried to make this stick, but then I realized that people, I'm probably a combination of me being old and then also people just not really respecting what were the Twin Towers and Ralph Samson and Akeem Elijah one. I tried to get that like Twin Towers 2.0. I couldn't get it to stick.

But with him and that's before your time. I know how old you are, despite, we. wearing your master's hat here. That was the 80. Yeah, but you were like five years old or something. 47. That's like 80. I'm like 10 years old.

That's like Primo, like NBA fan me. Okay. I was a Dr. Jay. My, my, I go back to the San Diego Clippers, Greg. My brother was the ball boy for the San Diego Clippers.

I mean, maybe you just love ball more than me and we're grinding tape at eight years old. You are two years older. So that makes a difference. But I feel like Ralph Samson was just like, a little bit before my time before I really knew. Those were, you know what those were for me? Those were, those were VHS taped games.

We would go to church. The game would be in the morning, like finals. Like I remember like Celtics Rockets and it was make sure that the VCR is set to record. No TiVo back then. Record it. So then we come back from church, we could actually watch the game and fast forward through the, through the commercials. So that, and by the way, one quick story, because I know you're clamoring for a,

a Stanley of a Clipper story. My brother was the ball boy. My dad was the chaplain. Wow. And our seats were right behind the hoop there. So we were like six, eight rows back and they were just because of them both working there. And playing the Celtics,

I'm a little tiny kid. And Clippers are at the free throw line. And as you can imagine, the Celtics fans travel well as they, you know, as they do. And so then it was, but it was kind of quiet,

Clippers are at the free throw line. the line and I stand up because I'm just saying what I'd heard in the stands and I just yell at the top of my lungs as like a seven-year-old Celtic suck and my my dad who's the chaplain of the team looks over at his little kid he's like what is going on here what no no I don't even know what that means that as that kid I just was repeating what I'd heard in the in the stands that is incredible and don't apologize for that story yet on the third review of free that type of stories why The bosses are like, we need 40s in free agents, even during the NFL season. After the games were over, Bill Walton would soak his feet because he had bad feet, would soak him in an ice tub.

And me and his kids, they would lower the hoop down and we would play. Those kids turned out to be like Luke Walton and his brother and all that stuff when I was just a little guy. And who know? Yeah, those San Diego Clippers team, they're probably, they're better than this Clippers team at the very least. Yeah, I stopped watching the NBA. while ago. Again, that's why my references, like the Twin Towers are all very dated. I think more, I think more. Yeah, I think more Tim Duncan and David Robinson, they were kind of like a Twin Towers. I don't know if they had that. Second version or not. All right,

let's wrap up the skill positions. Awesome, tight end class. You, you talked up this tight end class going into it. And so you got to feel good about where they're at. Who stands out to you from that. Yeah, I'm going to pull back up my list here. So the way I, I had these guys. I had Tyler Warren, Colston Lovelland, Mason Taylor, Elijah Royo, Harold Fanon, Terrence Ferguson, Gunner Helm, Gavin Bartholomeo, Ronde, Gadsden.

And then Jackson Hawes just down below that, who's done a really nice job as a blocker. Like, this class has been outstanding. For me, the ones I've seen kind of ascend, I mean, Harold Fanon Jr. Since you've seen Shooter get in there, it's a favorite target. And I love how they're using him.

He's like an old school, Frank Whitechek, like true hback where you'll see him in some fullback he's in the wing um he's winning down the field on corner routes like he he's using a variety of ways but he's like it not like a hand in the ground traditional y tight end he's like an old school hback and i i don't know i just i always liked i always appreciated guys like frank whitechick i was like that's just he he like plays his own positions like there's not many of those guys that play that spot and have that role which he does yeah that's kind of like haws who you mentioned jackson hoss who's like a sixth off of lineman. But every once in a while, they'll throw it to him.

And he's been awesome. Fanon, I had written down, he is not that far behind now, the production in terms of yardage of Tyler Warren. And Tyler Warren's having one of the best tight end rookie seasons we've seen. Fanon is fourth in fantasy points, if you're into that thing since week 10. He was my guy too. And you can see him. He can change direction. They had him like on a fade last week in the red zone. They have them on like a wheel route out of the backfield. Like you mentioned, just really versatile, but you could, you could choose any of those guys, including Loveland, who they're putting a lot on his plate, right? One of my game.

I mean, just that's one, yeah, was it Cincinnati, right? Where he caught the one down the seam, bounces off the tackle late in the game and takes it in. So he's been a field stretcher, big time, big playmaker. And you can see that that's Caleb's trust and confidence in him is just continues to grow. That's going to be, that's, it's my favorite offense right now. I try and watch the Bears every week. And I know people are, people lose their minds on both sides of Caleb. I'm excited, you know, what I see and kind of where it's headed and where it's going.

But just to, like, in terms of watching, like a pleasure watch for me, even if there's some misfires here and there, it's fun to watch that. Yeah, all those young guys, man. Yeah, the run game, the path game, it's all been good. And so that's why it's hard to have a disappointment at tight end. Maybe the disappointment is teams are letting these guys fall in the draft too far. I mean, if you look how valuable some of these second round guys in this class are, Maybe they're falling too far. I guess Terrence Ferguson and Arroyo, they're having the more unusual trajectory where they're trying to get into the mix, but they have veterans.

There's a lot of mouths in front of them in those offenses. Yes. Terrence Ferguson is a big impressive athlete and has had a few really nice catches, but right now they have veterans in front of them. Why don't we take a quick break and then we'll come back on the other side. We'll do all the linemen and the defensive players on 40s and free agents. If a Lenovo gaming computer is on your holiday list, don't shop around. Just go directly to the source, Lenovo.com. It's your last chance to score exclusive deals on the gaming PCs you want,

like the Lenovo Legion Tower 5 Gen 10 gaming desktop and Lenovo Lock Gaming Laptop. So avoid all that shopping, chaos, and price comparing, and just go directly to the source, Lenovo.com, where PCs are up to 35% off. That's Lenovo.com. It's 5.23 p.m. One of your kids is asking for a snack. Another is building a fort out of your clean laundry, and you're staring at a half-empty fridge and thinking,

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And I'm Bucky Brooks. If you love breaking down football from every angle, you're in the right place. Every week on Move the 6th, Bucke Brooks and I dive deep into the game from the X's and O's to the front office moves shaping the league. We kick things off with Brian Baudinger,

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Listen to Late Round Fantasy Football in the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Back on 40s and free agents looking at the development of this rookie class. I know Daniel Jeremiah just loves to geek out talking about offensive linemen. Who has caught your eye in a draft where a lot of guys got taken high? I guess that's every class lately, but especially this class. Well, to me, I'm going to go right to the top of the interior offensive line list for me in the draft.

It was Tyler Booker was my number one guy at 17. Gray's Abel was my number two guy at 26. And I think both guys, if you're going to say who are the cleanest, safest players in the draft, even though Gray's Abel wasn't coming from a, you know, traditional powerhouse, you know, Power 4 program at North Dakota State, those guys to me, I thought were the safest, highest floor players. And not only have they, you know, their bad moments been few and far between, but they're actually playing at a really, really high consistent level for both their teams.

And two of the better offenses, really, when you look at what they're able to do. Yeah, and versatile at guard, too. You said you're watching the Bears every week. I'm going to put you on the spot. Yeah, you want to go to Trapil. Ozzie Trapilo, who, if you just look at the numbers, I can't say I'm, you know, breaking down his film. He's only had three starts, which really didn't happen until injuries, but he's only

given up seven pressures in those three starts against good pass rush teams. No quarterback hits and no sacks in those games. So I don't know if you've seen anything out of him, but they got to be happy since he came into the lineup. I'm going to pull up my notes on him. I want to see what pick was he here? He was late second. He was the 56th, 56th overall.

So he was 56 overall. So he was my 70 second player. He was my sixth offensive tackle. I compared him to Havenstein though, right tackle. lockout control stays attached balance he's effective in combos he can recover i wrote function over fashion not always the prettiest uh but gets the job done by the way havenstein having stein i say it wrong every time what do we got rob i think it's stein stein i don't know i think i i should have remember 15 years with this team and i should never but that was my comparison to him and

that's someone who just gets the job done and chapill has done that's that a nice job also give a shout to Kelvin Banks. I know the Saints fans are very happy with them. He is out there on an island just quietly getting the job done at left tackle for them each and every week. If I was looking for a guy who's been struggling, it's not new, but Jonah Savanea for Miami has had his struggles this year. I don't think it's really turned around during the season so that that was a high pick that they hoped to get me. Let me pull up my notes on him. He was my 50, where is he, 47th player? He went a little higher. than that. The rumors were that the Patriots were eyeing him for the pick that

ended up being Travian Henderson, that the Miami traded up in front of New England because they thought New England was going to take him. We'll see if that, I mean, there's no way to know if that's true. Right tackle, wide base, clamps his hands. He's stiff. Pull, can adjust. He can wash DTs downline scrimmage, not a lot of polish, strong hands, doesn't roll his hips. So I thought he was a little bit stiff and just a little raw there. So it sounds like that. I haven't studied him. So I'll take your word on it. And he's playing inside and you just see a lot of blown blocks.

So that running game is fun to watch. Let's flip it while we're on the dolphins. I'm going to go off the board. I'm throwing my defensive lineman picks right at you. And it's this guy, Jordan Phillips for the dolphins. He's showing up. Fifth round pick. One of those drafts where the guy you took later is out playing your first round pick

in Kenneth Graham. and he's just a guy that that pops. It's not a good defensive line class. That was my takeaway going through this exercise, trying to pick someone. Overall, it hasn't been great, but he looks like a guy who's going to contribute to the Dolphins down line.

Jordan Phillips. He, you know who my comparison was for him? Hargrave. Okay. Body type wise. Kind of remind me a hardgrave wide four point stance, a little laid off the ball. He's violent club swim.

He's got some real shock in his hands, pure bowl. not a lot of polish but you'll see him like forklift guys like just a real strong power player a good player so maybe that's why he's popped enough for me to just write him down a few times it's just like he's jolt he can jolt he looks stronger than the pro competition which is impressive to do you know as a rookie no that's good stuff uh to me the name that i wanted to highlight was josiah stew which is another um draft day coup for the rams and less need he's got a 13.4.4% pressure percentage, which is extremely high.

And I was thinking about what's the through line with all these successful defensive linemen that the Rams have. And you talk about all different shapes and sizes. You can even look at some of the speed and can be a little bit. I mean, they want guys who are explosive, but speed can be a little bit up and down, a little different there. All of their players, they'll play with tremendous leverage. And whether or not they're shorter or whether or not they can really roll their hips and bend,

like they are going to challenge your brakes. I call them like it's like an AMCO pass rush. They are going to test the brakes of every single offensive linemen. They're going to leverage them and they're going to go through them. And Josiah Stewart was penalized a little bit because he was undersized. If I remember correctly, he did not or he ran poorly at his at his pro day. He was in my top 50 at one point in time. Let me see where he ended up online because I had dropped him through the process.

I think there might have been some medical stuff as well. But he ended up 111 on my list. At one point in time, again, he was like 49-50 range. Undersized bolt of lightning. He plays balls to the wall, has a shake bowl, dip rip. He plays much bigger than he is at the point of attack. He attacks blocks. He plays with big energy.

So, again, that's always a lesson. This happens every year, and you tell yourself, don't do it. Trust what you saw. First look, first glance. Don't let the fog of confusion. Phil Savage just always say that about the spring. It's like the fog of confusion. Just put your grades in cement.

after the season's over. But man, the guy, I dropped him 50 slots. And clearly he should not have been dropped that far. Well, you know, Phil Savage didn't have to come up with weekly rankings with your, when your editor, Ali, you don't have to be down your throat. He's like, we got to move him around a little bit. If it's in cement, what are we doing here? Dan Par content machine.

We're just trying to keep that thing running, man. A couple disappointing defensive line. And by the way, the Falcons edges have both played pretty well. Pierce has got a 14.2% pressure. rate, which is very good. And I think Jalen Walker looks like he's going to be good. The problem is the coach might not be there next year. It's going to be a different scheme.

And that's always the risk with these teams that are changing coaches. Abdul Carter, I wouldn't say he's been bad, but he hasn't been consistent. And when you get suspended or at least benched twice in the span of three weeks, that's not great. And Mike Green for the Ravens, man, they could have really used them. It's a lot to ask a rookie edge rusher's second round pick to just pop right off. the bat, but they could have really used him and hasn't been great, hasn't been making a huge impact. I think he was the guy that was at fault for that Jalen Warren touchdown, that long play last week. And so those are a couple guys higher that haven't really done too much. Yeah,

Abdul Carter's pressure percentage better than his production. He's got a 12.8% pressure percentage, which is solid, only one and a half sacks. But where you're picked, and as somebody who is as talented as anybody in the entire draft class, you expected a lot more production, even in a crowded room, even in a team that's not playing with the lead very often, he should be more impactful than he's been. And the one thing I would say about this kind of collection of guys, I think on the whole, I would say maybe a little underwhelming in terms of the number of guys that were picked high. And the production is not necessarily matched at this point in time. But of all the positions, defensive linemen can take a minute. And some of the best

defensive linemen in the league, go look at their first second year stat. You won't be blown away. and you see guys get better and better. It's a major adjustment at that position in the NFL. Yeah, especially on the interior. That can be true. But really everywhere. I mean, that's true of the linebackers. At least that's what, you know, we think.

But we might have a rookie of the year. I kind of expect our rookie of the year. I just wrote one name down. It's a one-man band. It's Carson-Slessinger, and then there's a gulf, and then there's everybody else. And I could come up and I could talk about Teddy Buchanan and talk about some of these other guys,

but I'm like, it's almost it's a, it's a disservice to sweatsh you to not just constantly give him his flowers every time we do one of these episodes because he's not just the best rookie linebacker. He's playing like one of the best linebackers in the NFL. What a great pick and what a great story he is and what a great evaluation, not just by the Browns, but yourself and a lot of people who had him so high

with such a small sample size and not like a traditional five-star background or anything, but he's the man. It's reminding me of, I feel like back in the day, every year it was a linebacker like him popping up but would win defensive rookie of the year. It's like Patrick Willis or Gerard Mayo. Right, DeCle Jackson.

The Patriots actually had another one. Who am I forgetting? That wasn't Mayo. But either way, it was someone every year and like, okay, I'm going to watch that guy for seven, eight years. I feel like we haven't, Darius Leonard was another one, changed his name to Shaq.

And I think Schuessinger is one of those dudes were just going to be watching him for a decade. Yeah, he's a fun. player. He's a great player. Let's get to the secondary, Greg. Please. I'm going to give you two. And I loop, I grouped him together. Now, I want to say this, Will Johnson's coming off the worst game he had of the whole year. The Rams target him. I think even from a statistical standpoint, I don't think he'd given up a first down catch in like the previous handful of games, four or five games. He gave up five in this game, including two

touchdowns. It was his worst game of the year. Prior to that, he's played pretty good. He's been, he's been a really solid player. So I wanted to group him, Will Johnson, with Nick Ammon, who were two guys that were fallers in the draft, who were viewed as first round picks through the vast majority of the entire process. If I was going to pull up where I had them rated, let me see where I had them in that last one here. So safety-wise,

Eamon-Wory, let's start there. Eamon-Wory was my 15th overall player, and he fell to the second round. And then we go to the corners. Will Johnson was my 16th player. So I had him at 15 and 16. For various reasons, one with, you know, injuries was a part of it with Will Johnson. People worried about it, I believe it was this knee, if I can remember correctly, didn't run.

So there's some questions about his speed. But he's played well for Arizona Cardinals team that's had a rough year. So I think that's been great. And then Eam and Wari, it's been fun. Like there's some, you'll see a little blood on his hands every week where you might, you know, get beaten coverage here or there. But he's been dynamic near the line of scrimmage. He makes splash plays. And you can tell he's going to be really, really good.

So both those guys, first round players didn't go in the first round. So I like the big pat on the back that that was for yourself of how highly you ranked them. Yeah. I was like, I was right. These GMs don't know what they're doing. No, you want to know what's, you want to know what's, this is the, that's not the pat. This is the pat on the back is I didn't have either one of them in my final mock draft. That's the two different jobs, Greg.

It's the what I see of them, but then also they're not going to go in the first round because usually we only get one safety. There's usually not a room for a lot of safeties in there. So even where he's going to get punished. And then with Will Johnson, with some medical, could fall out. For a couple nights every year, you are the preeminent insider. Forget Ian Rappaport. He tries to get in on doing stuff during the draft. You know what's going on.

But yeah, that's why I get anywhere from four to six of those 32 picks right in a mock draft. You're not above patting yourself right back. I hear you. What kind of great is that? What's a great percentage? That would be poor. Football school now, but I know it used to be an academic school. So can you do the math on that?

know. I mean, we've, we've long been a football school. I was the Tulane student television announcer for Sean King. Let's go. Everyone honking about, oh, Tulane doesn't deserve to be in there compared to these big teams. Hey, how about not like, how about taking accountability? All these adults who, oh, take accountability, leadership. And the second something doesn't go against, that goes against them, in a totally arbitrary, like, opinion process where you lost your biggest games of this season. Do they take any responsibility for that at all, like a quarterback would? Like, they would want to lead or two? No, they just whine and cry.

And that's loser behavior. Tulane would never. Does Moeldy Moore lead you guys out of the tunnel in this playoff game? Who's going to be able to doing that? I hope so. Any secondary players you want to throw out there? You want to contribute to this podcast at all? Are you good?

Well, I didn't get to, you know, bag on the Bengals linebackers, by the way. they were down that that is an experiment gone horribly wrong and uh yes i do have a couple guys in secondary i'm going deeper not not the obvious guys like you how about no williams of uh the chief no otherwise no no no no no no hl they i think they found another one they just find these guys no one's heard of and then they're out there and you're like oh that guy's a pretty good player what pick was he tell me i don't know do some homework on this thing at all i think it was like a fourth rounder, wasn't he? Can we pull that up?

Let me see. 85th overall. Okay, it was a little higher than I expected. 85th. 85th over, and you're saying he's playing well? Yeah. Would you say he's playing like maybe the, my 54th overall player? There you go.

He's playing that well. I mean, goodness gracious. I mean, I put out a list, Greg. 603-199, ran 4-5 flat, seven picks. He had three picks against Auburn, had a pick six against Cam Ward, press, feisty, a little quicker than fast. and undercut, he's got great ball skills. He's my 54th player you get.

You act like you just found him on the moon. Just saying he's playing well. If you can get a guy who's contributing right off the bat, looking good in the third round, the Chiefs, they've had their problems this year, but that's been good. And then I'm going to go really deep here. Safety for the Titans.

Kevin Winston. I just noticed they're using him as a blitzer. He's making some plays and running defense. It's one of the prettiest safeties you'll ever. I saw him in person again this year. You know, I saw him this year. I haven't had done him in the draft, but I'm like, he is.

That's what you want your safety to look like when he gets off the bus. They might have found someone. He looks like a player. What pick was he? He's popping up. I'll check. Well, at least probably what, third round? Where do you have him?

It's great podcast. No, I want to know what it is. He was drafted in the third round. Eighty second. 80 second. Oh, we put it in there. 80 second pick. Okay.

Kevin Winston. He was my third safety. He was my 59th overall player. Another W. Common W. He only played two games. He only played two games, but he's 601. So he's 6.1 and a half, 215 pounds.

He ran 4-5-1 in his pro day. And he is only two games, aggressive versus run, quick reads. He was beat by Fanon and in coverage. Hey, we've already established Fanon good player. Has man skills. Excellent to the alley in 23. And 23 played really, really well. But he is a talented player.

Big, physical, good looking. I think Drew's working harder on this podcast than you are, by the way. A little Kenny Baccaro right. How about that? He's not bringing that comp to the table. I like that. I like Kenny Baccaro. That was 40s and free agents in terms of the off season.

The next time we talk to you, DJ, you have a lot of work in the meantime. You might have a playoff run to be announcing for the Chargers. In fact, you better or else it'd be a disappointing end to the season. You need to find one, one maybe two more wins. I think one more probably does it, but two would pretty much lock them in. I think they'll get there too. And during that playoff run, we will already be talking. So we got 40s and free agents coming out weekly, starting to look ahead to the 2026 NFL draft.

And even more important, the 2026 free agent crop. I'm doing my homework on it. By the way, that happens faster. We don't have to draw it out for four months. So we do it in like three days in March. I don't want to, I don't want to ran in your parade here, but in talking to teams, they're saying an underwhelming free agent class, man. I hear that every year.

What's your list? How many do you? 1001, because we work one, one slot harder than the rest. It might be Greg's top 30 free agents this year. There's always players out there. There's always a Dante Jackson. People weren't talking about that one, DJ. And he's helping.

This is going to be a scrollless article. You do not need to scroll. You can get all those names in one view on the laptop. Don't hurt the brand. We're going to be talking about this on the show, too. There's always players out there. But you're right. I think teams,

because of the salary cap going up and up and up in the way they do the accounting, good players rarely get loose. But there's going to be the fastest five minutes in podcast sports as we preview the 2026 NFL free agency with Greg Rosenthal. Alec Pierce signs a five-year, $250 million contract. By the way, I'll tell you right now, you can't have, you cannot have Jalen Phillips high enough on your list.

There you go. Okay. Seeing him in person. Really, really good. We'll see if I take that into advisement in January when we will be back after week 18. Until then, yeah, just check out. Move the Sticks, NFL Daily. See you later.

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Hey, everybody, Daniel Jeremiah here. And I'm Bucky Brooks. On Move to Six, we take you inside the game from breaking down college prospects and NFL rookies to evaluating team-building philosophies, coaching trends, and how front offices construct winning rosters. We study the tape, talk to decision-makers,

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