NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - NFL ATL: Mock drafting with Bucky Brooks!

Episode Date: April 18, 2014

A room full of heroes -- Dan Hanzus, Gregg Rosenthal and Marc Sessler -- dives head first into 2014 NFL Draft coverage with the help of big board extraordinaire and host of "College Football 24/7" Bucky Brooks.  Elsewhere, the gang finishes up its "Roster Reset" series with the NFC North.Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comNFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Hey, everybody. Daniel Jeremiah here. And I'm Bucky Brooks. On Move the 6th, 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, and give you a perspective you won't find anywhere else.

It's everything you need to understand the why behind what happens on Sunday. Don't miss it. Listen to the Move the Sticks podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Marcus Grant. And I'm Michael Florio, and together we host the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast. Ready to dominate your fantasy league this season? Then you need the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast, your ultimate source for player news, draft tips, and winning strategies. Whether you're a rookie manager or a fantasy vet. We've got the insight to help you crush your opponents.

Listen to the NFL Fantasy Football podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Toyota, the official automotive partner of the NFL. Visit Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more. The Around the League podcast. Sees ghosts in the pocket. Welcome back to another edition of the Around League podcast. My name is Dan Handis, and I'm joined by a room filled with some heroes, Mark Sessler, and Greg Rosenthal. What up, boys?

What up, Dan? Hi. I tried to do the Wesleyan opener. That didn't work too well. No, that's, hey, Diane. How's it going, Dan? How's it going to I am? Mark, you're wearing a new shirt.

It is not new. What it is, it is a flannel shirt that I think I bought about seven months ago that has been pressed between other shirts in my shirt closet. You'll notice, even earlier this week, you were wearing a new. a new pair of jeans, and I noticed that immediately as well. Dan did notice that, which I found... Same pair. Thank you for noticing, but I also found that odd. A sign that it's the off-season and a sign you guys have worked together too long.

Yeah, it's true. I know Mark's entire wardrobe by heart, basically. We have a big show today. I'm very excited about today's show. Wes isn't here, and that's a bummer, because you always want that mad scientist involved to keep things on the straight and narrow, but he's not here. We're going to try to get through it without him.

And maybe we'll try to get in touch with them a little later in the show. We are going to have a special guest in the studio, Bucky Brooks, NFL draft analyst. I'm very excited about that. That will be his ATL podcast debut. We're also going to go through, you know, our roster reset series that we have on the NFL.com backslash ATL. Winners and losers of free agency get excited society.

Also, roster reset, NFC North. Greg, you wrote that. I'm excited. This is the end of the series, and we've successfully filled up a couple of weeks during a very quiet time of the year. Right, and just circling back to winners and losers, we'll get Kevin Patra coming at you on the phone to talk about his choices in that category. But before we do any of that, we check in with the gold standard behind the glass. What's up, buddy? Not too much, sir.

How are you? I know your wardrobe, too. It's going to be shirts that are nylon and stripe typically, and then some type of shield. on the breast. Correct. Yeah. He is the only human that I know that owns only from the waist-up soccer garb that you could go on to a field and be ready to play. You have no...

Wednesday was actually cricket, but I didn't want to say anything. Oh. Yeah, sorry, guys. Get your colonial sports right. I know. Let's do some news. Let's do it. Two interesting bits of news out of San Francisco.

First off, Alden Smith, obviously, the... The pass rusher that continues to get himself into trouble. He was arrested at LAX, which marks that stands for. That's the Los Angeles International Airport. Thank you. For filing a false report of a bomb threat, NFL media insider Ian Rappaport reported Thursday night on NFL Total Access that the Niners do not plan to cut Smith, who has $3 million and guaranteed salary next season.

Ian also added something that, you know, we all kind of see coming, but it seems Like it's something that won't be avoided. Smith has a suspension likely coming his way to start the season. We don't know how long that will be. And we don't know where Smith will be. I mean, he could be in prison. He could be in jail. He has so much stuff hanging over him right now.

Alden Smith, it's a messy situation. I think it also, like, for the 49ers, it may potentially drastically the change the way they look at the draft. I think that's fair. Bucky, who's coming in later, forecasted some trades for the NFL draft. And one of them was the 49ers who have a lot of extra picks trading up for Anthony Barr, who plays a position just like Alden Smith. Ian also reported Alden Smith not likely to get his fifth year option on its contract picked up.

So I think the 49ers are in a wait-and-see mode with Alden Smith. And he was probably going to get suspended for his DUI already. And now it's this arrest on top of that and just adds a lot of uncertainty. They probably can't count on him for a while this season. Yeah, just to go over. Quickly, he has the DUI arrest, he has felony counts for possession of weapons, gun charges, and now also the LAX bomb threat situation. So a lot hanging over that guy said.

Meanwhile, Colin Kaepernick and the Niners had been in contract talks. They're trying to – the goal is to have a new deal in place before the 2014 season. It's expected – a contract that is expected to exceed $18 million a year once it gets done. but that's all on hold, according to, again, Ian Rappaport reported that the 49ers have tabled negotiations while police investigate an incident earlier this month at a Miami hotel. So there hasn't been anything new on that front, and if Kaepernick is actually going to face any type of charges for what happened in Miami, but the Niners, before they go any further, I guess they want to make sure this isn't something that's hanging over the process. Suddenly the Niners have a lot of PR angles to deal with.

This doesn't... Chris Culliver, too. The Culliver was, I mean, this doesn't concern me as much in the sense that when you're one of the rare teams that suddenly stumbles upon a franchise quarterback, this is going to get done. I think they're just letting this thing play out. I agree. What's the rush? The deadline, a very soft deadline is essentially September. So why not let this play out get as much information as you can?

And I suspect they'll get back at the negotiating table. Maybe it'll be in training camp, and that'll be the time. said that before things were tabled, that the negotiations were far apart. So this isn't something that seems like it's going to be getting done. It wasn't getting done soon either way. Suddenly, it seems like the Niners would almost pine for the days when Jim Harbaugh was connected to trade rumors. And Trent Balkie and Jim couldn't get along. That was at least football related.

See, it's funny, and you're right. But if you think about it, these kind of problems are the last thing you need. if you have a fractured head coach and front office. These are all examples where you need the coach and the ownership to be on the same page. How are we dealing with Alden Smith? How are we doing Kaepernick? Something to watch. Legit storm clouds.

Are we assuming they're not talking? You know, I like a little drama. Oh, yeah, you do. I like to instigate drama. Zach called me the Vince McMahon of the NFL media group earlier today. Very true. I think it's quite apt. Well, I was trying to create some, as you would say, Dan, some huge.

Right. Between Zach and our former producer, the talented Crystal Rich, K. Rich, who was down in the newsroom, but they weren't having it. Wait, why not? Why do you leave absent the talented tag when you refer to a gold standard?

Also a talented individual? It's a bit harsh. Yeah, we actually thought about the idea, what if we had the gold standard and K. Rich take on each other in a game of Win West's Toaster? I would probably lose, but I'm up with a table. I would take care of it.

That's a great idea. Maybe if we get K. Rich in here, we could ask you. I was saying you might have to lob me some softballs like, what sport does John Elway play? Right, but she would have that, too. We would put in a lot of Nick Foles questions just because we want K.Ritch to weigh. Or maybe just one football question. The rest you span the world.

I have an idea. Me and my friends from high school, we still go away every once in a while on like weekend trips. And we got into this fun game. I have a buddy named Brian that knows nothing about sports. and then a buddy named Mike that knows nothing about music. So what we did, we did head to head against each other and we asked one guy about the sport

knows nothing about sports, the other person that knows nothing about music and whoever won and what they knew nothing about was the champion. Boom. Gold Standard asked about football. Kay Rich asked about soccer. Yeah.

I like that. Let's do it. I like that we're just accepting the gold standard knows nothing about football when he's the producer of a football show. Yeah, that's damning. Just, you know, lull them to sleep. And then pop out, it's the Trojan horse, baby.

By the way, Mark, I saw you chuckled when I did my Vince McMahon laugh impression. Oh. I'll do it again. Ah! Vince McMahon's laugh. It's good stuff, Dan. It's great. Thank you.

Greg, something you're very excited about, fifth-year options. A lot of news broke last night when I was manning the desk alone. Greg jumped on and said, we've got to take care of this fifth-year option heat. J.J. Watt, who's eventually going to get a huge contract extension from the Texans. For now, he got the option picked up that takes him through the 2015 season. Other notable players that have the option picked up, Mohamed Wilkerson of the Jets, Jimmy Smith of the Ravens. Corey Legit of the San Diego Chargers.

And Panthers will pick up Cam Newton's option. Well, they already picked it up last month. You're right, they will. You are correct. Yeah, they sure. They sure will, Mark. And we know Nick Fairley's not getting it. We just want to address this one time.

First of all, you can check out on the Around the League page, The Fifth Year Option Tracker. It is. It is. Well, I talked to Hansom Hank, and he said that it is reigning supreme on the NFL.com website. Really? Yeah, it is doing some serious numbers. You know it's a quiet time of the year when we've got the fifth option check.

Well, this way we don't have to do a separate post for every guy. Nick Fairley's not getting it. I don't think Danny Watkins is going to get it, by the way. He's been cut by two different teams. Danny Watkins. Since he was a first round pick. So I just wanted to say quickly, it's almost no-brainers. You're going to pick up these options for most of the guys,

but they're getting big-time salary bumps. Jimmy Smith will make almost $7 million next year in 2015. If you wanted, they could still cut these guys, but you're not cutting Muhammad Wilkerson. You're not cutting J.J. Watt. I think he's going to be the highest paid player in the league pretty soon, J.J. Watt, defensive player. Greg, this seems like the right time to tell Mark Sessler that his option is not being picked up.

Go ahead. We'll do it right on the air for the podcast. Well, it was a tough decision, but it would have had to have been, you know, guaranteed for injury if we did pick up the option and we're just worried that maybe you'll tear an ACL that'll hurt your performance. Well, I'm more concerned. And you've also tabled the long-term extension talks with me a la Cappernick. And I haven't even been to Miami. This is a proven airport or L-AX.

You do have several pending incidents, though, across America. Let's be fair. You're on to prove it deal. It's concerning. Moving on, Sydney Rice visited with the New York. This was interesting to me. Sidney Rice visited with the New York Jets in New Jersey on Wednesday. Albert Breer reported NFL media is Albert Breer.

And then we did a post on it. Literally 20 minutes later, maybe half an hour later, Sidney Rice sends out a tweet or an Instagram message saying he's coming back to the Seattle C. And that's exactly what happened. He's agreed to a one-year deal with the Seahawks. Coming off ACL surgery was medically cleared last week. And now the big wide receiver is back in work with the team that he most recently played with. It's hard to get too excited about Sidney Rice because of how far I think he's fallen.

And remember the season he had with Brett Far from Minnesota? I mean, he was outstanding. And now it's like, can this guy play more than six games a year? But Seattle knows who he is. need help at wide receiver, why not bring them in and see where you are come September? Seahawks do put themselves on a little bit of danger when you have your, I guess your

top two wide receivers are Percy Harvin and Sidney Rice now, two guys that are not known to stay on the field. Depth is going to be a huge part of the equation there. Of course, they won the Super Bowl last year with them not staying on the field too much. It's fair. I'm just saying. Well, they also lost Golden Tate.

Right, this off-season. So it's not a great wide receiver group, that's for sure. It was a great week for the glacier. at least for a little while looked like he had slow played that chris johnson moved perfectly but then i feel like he he was just he must have felt a little used here by sidney rice he's barely out of the building hey by the way guys i'm going to see the jets but then he just goes right to see you assume the glacier had even parked and made his way into the building it by the time sydney had instagram his future you were getting a little excited about rice maybe as a another option

for the Jets? Mildly, but I don't think he's a guy that, like Mark said, you can depend on. I think it would have been, you know, potentially a low-risk, high-reward signing, but I'm not going crazy that we lost any rights. He has one good season in his whole career. He's a guy we think of as talented and a lot of promise. One season above 750 yards, and that's out of seven seasons. So he's one for seven, basically.

And that's from last decade. That's fair. nice you know a bit of a small detail there 2009 wasn't like 2001 it wasn't yesterday I know I mean to say last decade there's been a lot of patience has been given to Sidney Rice a lot of money too I just don't want us to mislead the audience Mark he's up there with Matt Flynn in terms of money ratio to low production you're right about that you got to get in a dig on Matt Flynn well no it's made like 16 million dollars and thrown 17 touchdowns or something

Moving on. Michael Jean, more 49ers. I love it. I mean, it's not as aggressive as your Rex Grossman rant the other day. Well, I've got a feedback. Probably does need heat, though. Yeah. You should have seen.

I mean, I wish we're going to get cameras in here eventually, we think, for the podcast. But I just wish people could have seen the way Mark angrily gestured towards Wessling. I would describe it as icy. Wesleyan and I. It was like a dictator from the 1930. 30s, like old file footage. We both grew up with brothers that loved to argue about sports 24-7. I know you had some of that going on too, Dan.

That's how Wesley and our wheel just get into it occasionally, and then it ends when you leave the studio. Okay, all right. Well, Michael James is reportedly on the trade block for the San Francisco 49ers. The former second round pick has been a special team's return man for the Niners and has never really found much work on the running back depth chart for the Niners. He's behind Frank Gore and Kendall Hunter. Now you've got Marcus Lattimore entering the picture.

And reportedly James has told the Niners, I want to see more work as a running back, which means he might be heading out of town. The best subplot to this. It's a good response. Evan Silva from Roto World. Oh, yeah. And who I think is great on Twitter, and he gives you quick, honest opinions. He doesn't pull any punches.

My old co-worker. Basically, well, he called James a bust. And then, you know, this wouldn't have happened 13 years ago. But on Twitter, Michael James, within like 10 minutes, tweeted back and said, you are my motivation to come back and show everyone that you are wrong. Right at Evan Silva. I want to see these two in a ring. I like it.

Is Chris Johnson aware of what Evan Silva is doing to him? Because Chris Johnson can run for like 3,500 yards next season. Compiling some minutes. Didn't this happen a month ago with Silva, too? I love it. My old coworker, Silva is now becoming, he's kind of like the heel. that player was going. Greg Jennings went after him, too.

I think they could get what? What do you think they'd get for Lameco James? Sixth or seventh round pick maybe? Oh, seventh? Sixth? Maybe six. Remember when he scored that cool touchdown in the playoffs a couple years ago

against the Falcons? He had a little juice to him at that point. He has like 47 touches in like two seasons. I don't know. I think he has to go into a system that knows exactly what they want to do. I know we've got to move on. It's a big show.

But before that happened. I just want to say, another running back slayed by Frank Gore. How many running backs have they brought in since the inconvenient truth has come in there and then they leave the building before Gordon? I'm just saying he's outlasted about 15 different 49ers running back. That's true. The reason Greg did not stand up in his chair that time is because he couldn't stand up.

He loves Frank Gore. Well, okay, I'll leave it. Finally, Chad Johnson is back in football. He is signed with Get Ready. the CFL's Montreal Alouettes, a two-year contract back in the game. Of course, Ocho Cinco, the former Ocho Cinco has not been in the NFL since being released during training camp by the Miami Dolphins in 2012. Now he's back in work.

I'm sure this is not an optimal situation for Chad, but he wants to play. I think you made a good point. There was an Instagram photo that came out when he signed, Dan, that you thought nicely encapsulated where he's at right now. And, yeah, in the upcoming end-around column, I make note that if you're an arrested development fan, and I'll hold a picture up to the room, what he's thinking in his mind is the famous Job quote, I've made a huge mistake. It does look like it. And he has a, what looks to be sort of a beefy alouette lineman behind him, number 5'8, people calling him the Cinco Ocho to the Ocho Sinko. That is depressing. Chad Johnson cost the New England Patriots a Super Bowl.

The last time he was... That was Wes Welker, actually. No, it was Chad Johnson. If they had signed, first of all, they wasted $5 million on them. If they had anyone on that side of the field, you guys were at that Super Bowl, right? Yep. I saw Wes Walker drop in the first down that would end the game. There was a bunch of people on one side of the field, and then on the other side of the field was just Chad Johnson, all by himself, with some lackluster defender of the Giants, but he couldn't do anything with all that space.

If they had someone that could have done something. Love how New England's secondary gets a total free pass here, where, you know, the E. Eli to Manningham pass and catch, one of the greatest in Super Bowl history. New England just completely asleep at the wheel. You can't fall off the defense for that. Moving on, roster reset series are wrapping up the final division. We have not hit the NFC North yet, and we will hit it now. Greg Rosenthal, you wrote this piece up for NFL.com, backslash roster reset.

Check it out to read about all the divisions. This is still the Packers Division, according to Greg. I just think last year was the time for one of these teams to rise up. You got a bunch of games with Aaron Rogers out of the mix, seven games, Clay Matthews out of the mix, Casey Hayward, the injuries went on and on. I could list them all. And yet none of these teams could rise up. We think of the Lions as this talented team.

They have one winning season in the Calvin Johnson era. We think of the Bears as a promising offense, but they have one of the worst defense in the league. And when I looked up and down this division, I don't think any of the moves that teams made this year made a big difference. I think it's status quo. I like what the Packers did, if only because they're getting back all these injured players and they made a nice move with Julius Peppers. Yeah, we did a piece yesterday showing that Green Bay is the least active team in free agency since 2010 and probably going back even before that. But you're right, they're getting back a big flood of guys. that didn't even play last season for big chunks of time.

Matthew's missed time. You're getting Brian Bilaga back, Casey Hayward, Nick Perry. Randall Cobb is another one? It's almost like you have, in a sense, added this talent this season. And I ranked them number one in terms of most improved this off season because we're also giving credit for guys that you re-sign. And they ended up keeping Sam Shields their best cornerback. They kept BJ Raji and Mike Neal and James Starks,

who maybe some are role players, but at lower prices, than we expected. Cune. John Cune, I forgot. How can you miss? He didn't even make it into the key re-signings section of our post, but Dan remembers John Cune. Well, what concerns you about this team? What do they not have?

Well, they need their defense to actually come together. They bring in Julius Peppers, who I think is going to be versatile for them, but they don't really have a proven pass rusher other than Clay Matthews. They need more help on the offensive line. And we're just kind of like, okay, Brian Bulaug is back. He missed all the season. David Bactiari's the left tackle. Are you really that excited about that?

So I think their line needs help. I think their secondary still needs help, definitely at safety. There are going to be people, Greg, that disagree with you and think that the Chicago Bears are the team that got better than anyone in the offseason. Why do you disagree? Well, when you look at their key arrivals, Lamar Houston, Jared Allen, Willie Young, even a potential starting offensive lineman and Brian De La Puente, you think, That's a big time off season, but they lost a lot of people. They lost Julius Peppers, who we think is going to be a factor for Green Bay. They lost Henry Melton, who didn't play last year, but was a great player for them.

Josh McCown was very valuable to them. Devin Hester is not that big of a deal. But to me, they maybe improved a little bit when you balance the ledger, but I still think this defense has a lot of problems. And they can't afford on defense to have a push off season because they were an absolute, outside of Dallas, just a complete train wreck last season. Corey Wooten was another player that left. And these aren't stars, but they're basically just replaced their snaps.

Jared Allen, to me, is not an upgrade from Peppers. Lamar Houston, I'm excited about. I think Willie Young was a smart move. So they're getting better, but I think their defense has a long way to go. And I think you made a good point here that there isn't a lot of depth behind their skill guys. So if they get hit with injuries, they're in trouble. They don't have a backup quarterback right now. They don't have a backup running back.

now and they really don't have a number three wide receiver so they're going to have to get those guys in the draft all right what about the minnesota vikings i had them number three think they're treading water you know their big move was giving everson griffin a monster contract which looked worse really the longer that free agency went you started thinking wow everson griffin got paid a lot a lot of money they could have gone out and got someone else they could have gotten lamar houston uh for that kind of money you know they bring in linval joseph who i think's a solid player. Captain Munnerland should help their secondary. Derek

Cox was a guy they just kind of took a flyer on. They bring back Matt Castle. This group, I think, has a long way to go, and they made some cosmetic moves this offseason. And they almost feel forced into having to draft a quarterback at number, where are they number eight?

Right. Are they the soundest bet of any team to take a quarterback in the first round? Well, I think at number eight, you're not number three. And so at that point, some of these guys, if they tumble to that point, yes, I'd say They are. Bucky Brooks is going to be coming in in just a few minutes. Get excited, society.

We can ask him that. And, yeah, they also lost people. They lost Jared Allen, who played a lot of snaps for them. Toby Gerhardt was a decent backup, Chris Cook. This is a strange team because the quarterback position is so weak. And the defense, the defensive line is solid, and Mike Zimmer is a fun hire to think about. But after that, it's just not an exciting defense to look at. And then finally, the lines.

really disappointing team the last two seasons now. Greg, you have them fourth, so you don't see them bouncing back this year. Well, their offseason was not an improvement because I think they changed staffs, and I'm not convinced that changing the staff is a good thing. They have two very inexperienced coordinators on both sides of the ball. So why is that a good thing? New schemes there, they bring back Brandon Pedigrew. They signed Golden Tate, but they lost a lot of guys.

They lost Lewis Delmiss. Sean Hill's been a good backup for them, Willie Young. To me, it was kind of a blah off season so far. I'm not that convinced like Wesleyan is that Tate is so exciting. And I think they're going to take a step back with this new coaching. I will say one thing, though, because they've struggled for, and I don't disagree, I don't disagree with the number four here. But Golden Tate is plugging a hole that they have not been able to patch up for years.

They keep trying to draft or find a number two. Burleson's older than some trees on the planet. Wow. Well, no, he is. Certainly some trees. Some trees. That's not even surprising that statement. We just planted a tree in the backyard.

Well, that's one tree that he's older than. Right. Factual. And it's great, again, that Bucky Brooks is coming in, because I have to ask about the wide receiver position. You have Calvin Johnson. You have golden tape. And now we're hearing some rumors that they might be looking to get frisky in the draft

to get another impact receiver. So, you know, this is a. team that the offense, they're going to score points, but it seems like that the offense goes into funks and the defense hasn't been able to pick up the slack. And I don't know if we see enough here to think that that's going to change, at least through what they've done so far. I think this is the second best roster in the division. So if the coaching is good and the talent plays to its level, I think they're the second best team in this division. I had them fourth in terms of most improved. But like I said at the top, I don't think this is a division where a lot

changed in the offseason. I don't think any of these teams made big major moves. The Lions are interesting because they have so much cap room locked into three players, Sue, Stafford, and Calvin Johnson that they can't really go out and make these high-octane moves in the off-season. They have to do it in the draft where the contracts are more reasonable. So that's where they're going to have to get some big-time players. They have so much money tied into those three guys. All right, stepping into the studio right now, we promised that we have a high-octane draft analyst,

and here he comes. He's sitting down. He's wearing a Cincinnati Reds hat of some kind. Only because it matches. Only because it matches. I'm a matching move. All right. Thank you, Bucky, a man, after my own heart.

Bucky Brooks. Thanks for having me all, guys. I'm excited. Good to have you. All right. So we admittedly don't fashion ourselves as draft experts. No, not like the millions and millions of draftics that are out there. We stay in our lane.

We keep it real. As Dave Damshek says, no jive in here. We want to bring in someone that could help us. So we bring in Bucky Brooks, who dedicates his career to just watching what's going on in college and heading towards the NFL. So we have a lot of questions. And who wants to start? Bucky, we're just going to be throwing things off of you.

That's all right. Throw them out. Yeah, let's start with your two-round mock draft. Oh, my gosh. What? What are you saying? Oh, my gosh. Just because, like, I think the funny thing, like, mock drafts, there's a difference

between mock drafts and big boards. So mock drafts, my take of putting on every general manager's hat and trying to figure out this is how they play, this is where their needs are, who's the talent available. A big board is, here's what I think are the best players from top one to 50. And so it's kind of, there are differences between looking at the two. When people ask me about what do I think on a player based on mock draft,

I said, look, I'm looking at it from. from the odds of the Jacksonville Jaguars, not from my vantage point. Two different beasts. Two completely different beasts. Well, I know initially you didn't have a lot of quarterbacks in your mock draft, and now there seems to be a lot of movement where you now see more quarterbacks going in the first round. How many did you have in the first round?

I had five in the total two-round mock. So three in the first round, and then I had two in the second round. And so what has changed your mind in terms of where you're putting the quarter- You know, when you think about it, I think they're like five quarterback-needy teams that everyone talks about. So you have Houston, you have Jacksonville, Cleveland, you have Oakland, and then the Minnesota Vikings. And so the challenge in this year's draft will be will people reach up like they did in 2011

and take a quarterback because they say, oh, it's a quarterback-driven league, we must have a quarterback. So I'm going to take a guy who's not really valued at that point, but take him in the top of the draft because we need a quarterback. and so we're going to take the best guys available right now. Or are they going to be willing to really look at the entire draft and look at where the blue chip talents are and say, I can get a blue chip talent here in the first round

and I'll come back and find my quarterback in the second round. And I think the reason the momentum or people are more willing to do that now is because Russell Wilson won the Super Bowl. Because Andy Dalton has led his team to three straight playoff appearances because of the success and Colin Kaepernick too going to championship games. because those guys have had success with guys that were outside of the first round that's why more teams are willing to do it but really when you look at the league the league is a first round league the majority of quarterbacks that play well in the league

were first round quarterback so as easy and as novel as it is to say I'm a find a Tom Brady I'm a following call on Kaepernick of Russell Wilson and Nick Foles the eyes are if you don't take your quarterback in the first round he's not going to be a blue-chip player one thing that stuck out to me in the latest mock you did at number 33 the Texans. Hubba, hubo. Well, there are a couple different things, a couple of different reasons why, if we connect the dots. From a talent perspective, A.J. McCarron, I think is good enough to be a quality start in

the National Football League. He played in Alabama where he had a lot of blue chip talent around. And I think sometimes people kind of say, oh, because he has so much talent, all he had to do is just kind of roll the ball out there. But I think there's an art to being able to distribute the ball and get it to the playmakers and keep everyone happy. He's also a really good game manager. And that's a bad word when it comes to draft terms.

But when you really look at the best quarterbacks at the position, the breezes, the Mannings, the Mannings, the Patens, they all managed the game. Russell Wilson. Yeah, they manage the game. They understand what it is. And Pete Carroll says something at the end of the Super Bowl that I thought was really outstanding, and it led a lot of insight. He said, I wanted a point guard at a position. I wanted a guy that could kind of feel how the momentum of the game was. And based on that, sometimes I need to pass more.

Sometimes I just need to stay with it, stay in my lane, just run the football and do those things. their ego wasn't tied into accumulating a lot of stats. I think AJ McCarron is that. And then when you go to the connecting the dots of Bill Belichick and Nick Saban have a relationship, Bill O'Brien worked under Bill Belichick. So I'm sure they all see the game in the same way. Don't turn it over, put us in favorable positions, and do those things. And when you look at the Texans roster, they're pretty talented.

They just need someone who's not going to screw it up. If Matt Schaub didn't screw it up, they don't go to 14. And they don't care that he's on the doorstep of a, reality television venture with his significant on that? I don't think so. You know, I think, you know, the times have changed. I think, like, with all of the stuff in the background and what you're involved in, a lot of it is his wife or his fiance

is driving that reality show. I think the big thing with AJ is, let's look back at his track record. This guy's played a lot of games. He's playing a lot of big games. He won over 90% of his games at Alabama. There's something to be said for learning how to wheel your team to the winter circle. For the record, I watch the Eric Decker reality show on E, nice catch featuring his wife.

You're the only one. I am the only man that watches it, definitely, and I don't worry about his performance with the Jets. True story. When you look at McCarran, initially, there was supposed to be a big gap between the top three quarterbacks in this draft, Bordles, Mansell and Bridgewater,

and the next group, the next group of guys. And it's a big group. Mettenberger, you could throw in there. Tom Savage, maybe. Tom Savage, maybe. AJ McCarran, Derek Carr, and do you think there is a big gap in terms of how the NFL views between those three and then the rest of the big group? Reading the two leaves, I would say that probably the consensus in the league is there not that big of a gap between the top three and the second tier of guys. I think it really comes down to understanding what is it that we want at the position and how do we play?

How do we envision ourselves playing on offense? I have a belief that with Johnny Menzel, that Johnny Manzell will go to a team that is headed by a defensive-minded head coach, a guy who has cut his teeth on the defensive side of the ball because defensive coordinators understand the challenges of facing an athletic runaround guy. Maybe like the Rams. Yeah, there's some buzz and some conversation about that. But when you look at the history of the league,

the majority of the guys that have had these athletic runaround guys have been defensive guys. Jeff Fisher with VY, some of the other guys, like even though Jim Harbaugh is an offensive guy, really he plays like a defensive-minded guy. They run the ball, they do different things. So just think about that athletic playmaker and Johnny Manzell being that fit. Moving away from quarterbacks, I had a question for you. Obviously, running back the value, at least in the draft, is moved away from the first round. We're hearing that's going to happen again.

Who, in your mind, is the best chance to become like the Eddie Lacey type player this year who instantly goes into an NFL roster and performs? You know, a lot of it is always fit and scheming how that player fits. But when you think about Eddie Lacey, it's funny how he goes in the bottom of the second round and he becomes like kind of the bell cow, the guy. I think Jeremy Hill from LSU is a guy that's capable of doing those things, big physical running back. You think about the Tennessee Titans and the second round of team that needs a kind of a hammer. He kind of fits the bill.

You know, I like Carlos Haid, but I think it just depends on where he goes in terms of the level of success. I think another running back, I have Trey Mason tied. to the Jacksonville Jaguars. But why is Tray Mason? When I looked at him, the first thing that I thought of was Marion Barbara III from Dallas Cowboys,

how Marion was kind of like a smaller, but a physical rugged running back that has a knack for kind of fine increases. I think Tray Mason has some of that ability. But I will say this, and I think the running back that everyone has kind of lost sight of is Kadeem Kerry from Arizona

because he ran a pedestrian time. He ran 470 at the combine. People kind of dismissed him. But anytime you run for 3,800 yards in the last two years, 22, 100-yard games, and the kind of production that he's done in our major conference,

I think, is no word. I think you need to pay attention to it. With this, you know, and again, we are not draft Knicks, per se, and I would venture that the three of us a month ago had never heard of Tom Savage. So flat out, we're here, just give us the inside screen. I was fully aware of his background.

Not at all. You don't even know where he's going. Oh, okay, cool. Is this a prank? Is this a real person? I mean, he's a real person. You know, this time of year is always scared because here's what happened.

We moved the draft back. So the more time you have between the end of the regular season and the draft, the more likely you have what we call these ghosts to kind of pop up and kind of make their way of the charts. For Tom Savage, Tom Savage was a five-star recruit coming out in high school, highly decorated. He was one of the top guys in the class

that featured Todd Boyd and some of the other guys and this group goes to Rutgers. It was a big coup at the time for Greg Ciano to get him. Starr says a freshman. He was okay, I want to say, completely maybe 52% of his passes, but he ended up losing his. job to a lesser-known guy.

And so he leaves, goes to Arizona. Arizona obviously ends up getting rich rod. It's not a fit. So then he leaves again, so he's a double transfer, ends up at pit. I will say this, he got better over the course of the season. Did a good job. He has a big, strong arm. He's your classic drop-back quarterback, like he's an 80s quarterback, if you look.

Stand back there, seven yards from the center, and throw darts. I don't know if he's necessarily ready to be a starting quarterback in the National Football League, but he definitely has some qualities that most traditional offensive coordinators look for. And when you think of Paul Chris did a great job at Pitt, scaling it down, simplifying the game, doing little things that allowed him to flourish. A good offensive coordinator, yes, can work with him and build around them. But is he in the class of the Manzelles and those guys?

You're not buying the hype because he's not even on your two-round mock. No, no. He's getting invited to New York, though. That's something. I don't know what is it. That's a Gil-Brent move. Grand must know something. Gil must know something. Gil has been telling him. Now, Gil went a little off the rails when he likened them to Troy Aikman.

Oh, my God. And those things. Like, that's lofty praise. When you throw in a Troy Aikman reference. And also, like, it's important to note, like, it's not about where a guy comes into the league. That's only pole position. But how is he going to play? A lot of times when you talk to Daniel and myself, when we're looking at these guys, it's not about, oh, I think he's going to be picked here, is we're giving a grade based on how we think his

career will project what he will do. Mark had an interesting theory on Tom Savage downstairs. I thought it was very intriguing. Oh, I just asked if he was, if this was a better version, a more, you know, patiently subtle, constructed version of Leon Sandcastle. Maybe, you know, what I would like to know is who is his agent? Because he's done a great job of capitalizing on a media buzz. Because there wasn't this buzz on him, not even in the bowl season.

We didn't talk about Tom Savage being a legitimate guy, and he didn't play in his bowl game. He was hurt, but the fact that we're now talking about him, I saw people at other networks have put him in the top of the second round with the Houston Texans. I just think it's a fascinating climb up the charts. No Derek Carr for you, by the way, in your two-round mocky. You know, it's a little surprising. The thing about it is, I mean, we could play and manipulate and throw a bunch of quarterbacks in there. But when you really look at the teams that need quarterbacks, there are five teams that we know. No. Now, the other teams can take a quarterback, but you have to weigh, do I want to take a position player that can really help me, or do I want to take a developmental quarterback in the second round?

Because there's so many wide receivers in this draft, like this draft at wide receiver is as loaded as we've seen. To bypass an opportunity to get maybe a Dante Moncrief, an Alan Robinson, or somebody on a developmental quarterback, like maybe a Jimmy Garapolo, I think you really have to have a needed position to make that move in the second round. I think they all come off the board in the third round, just because of the nature of it. The rap sheet threw out on Thursday night's total access, a couple rumors. One of them was that the Buccaneers and the Cardinals are two teams to watch for in terms of taking quarterbacks

that maybe in the first or second round, especially Tampa makes a lot of sense. Do you think they could end up adding to that number of five quarterbacks going early? You know, they could. I think when you go back and you look at Jeff Tedford had a lot of success developing quarterbacks at Cal, also at Fresno, and also

at Oregon. Maybe there's a young guy that kind of fits his mold. I've likened Teddy Bridgewater to what I saw from Aaron Rogers when he came out of Cal. And remember, Aaron Rogers spent three years on the bench before he got his opportunity. So when I say Aaron Rogers, like, oh my God, how can you say it?

But remember, there were questions on whether Aaron Rogers was going to be a player in this league before he actually became the Aaron Rogers that we know and love. So maybe when you think about a quarterback that It's not expected to fall. A Derek Carr, a Teddy Bridgewater at the top of the second round. If one of those guys maybe falls into their lap, absolutely, they poured the trigger.

For the Arizona Cardinals, it's wise to finally trying to find someone who can be the replacement to Carson Palmer. They've denied it too strongly, I think, too. They keep – no, no, no, we've got Carson Palmer until he's 37 or 38. Absolutely. But you look at Bruce Ariens and what he's done, a vertical playmaker, a guy that can throw the ball down the field. Zat Mettenberger could be in the mix. Anybody that can play from the pocket, think of a strong. strong arm pass. Think of someone who has played. He's had success with Ben

Rothersberger. He won with Tim Couch. He has obviously Andrew Luck during this time. So he's had a wide range of passes. So he's definitely able to do it. The reason I think in the mock draft I put Zat Mettenberger to Minnesota is understand that Cam Cameron is a North Turner protege. So if anyone knows all the information on what Zat Mettenberger's strengths and weaknesses will be, it'd be North Turner. Because Cam Cameron, which shared that information.

So I heard you guys talk about Minnesota at 8. I think their sweet spot is probably 40 for where they take a quarterback or somewhere. Maybe they move up to find that guy. But I think Zatt Medenberger is the one to watch for them when you like it. I like that. Connecting the dots. Bucky Brooks, NFL media draft analysts. You could check out his 2012 NFL Draft Do-Over, which we all enjoy.

Those must be kind of fun to write, right? They're fun to watch. Now, the key to a do-over is go and look at the draft and find all the Pro Bowl players. Find all the pro bowl players first. Let's find out who the good guys are. And then let's work down from there. But I think it's funny how guys are really upset about the do-over. Like, you wouldn't, no way they would take Russell Wilson over RG3 with the second pick.

Why not? Like, who knows? I throw a lot of respect to your way for sticking your neck out and saying the Browns wouldn't sit on Trent Richardson at three. You know, how about that, though? Like, just how, like, it's funny. Going back and doing the do-overs, just to decide. seismic shift in the value of the running back position. We did

whatever draft was in 2005 when Cedric Benson, Cadillac Williams, Ronnie Brown, three running backs taken in the top five. Can you imagine three running back? That might be the draft that really scared people away, though, because that didn't work out. You know, it didn't, but just think about that and then was

2008, we had all Rashard Mendenhall and CJ 2K and all those guys come off the board. See, those guys need Tom Savage's agent. I need. I need. Tom Savage's agent. Bucky Brooks, yes, check that out. The draft do-overs.

Check out his latest mock draft. And follow along. You have your own podcast. Do you want to get a plug-in right now? Oh, yeah. CFV 24-7, college football podcast 24-7, doing all the draft breakdown,

Danny Jamara, Matt Money-Smith and I, breaking it down. Matt Money-Smith, who does our intros for our podcast, we lean on him and pay him nothing. Love it. We don't pay him a dime.

He's actually a extremely talented host, but I do think his best skills are introing our podcast. It's awesome. He's like it. Egotistical, Greg. When he brings guys in, like, he pulls out these nuggets from Wikipedia and drops him on me. He knows what he's doing. Yeah, so check that out. We highly recommend it. Bucking Brooks, thank you for stopping by the Around the League podcast.

Hey, thanks so much for having me. Go Yankees. All right, great information there from Bucky Brooks. I feel enlightened. I'm going to use the enlightened word there. I thought, well, you know, the thing what I like about this versus the mock draft that's just sitting out there. These guys, Bucky Brooks, Daniel Jermite, they talk to general managers, they talk to scouts. They're not just cooking this up in their basement. Right.

There's nothing wrong with doing basement work. I like basement work. It's interesting, but Brooks is bringing information. I like that he didn't shoot down the whole Johnny Mansell to the Rams room. Not at all. Single-handedly stoking. Just because it would be fun. Come on.

We are going to, because we ran out of time, we'll do the roster reset, winners and losers in free agency on Monday's show give that the time it deserves we'll get Kevin Patrick got that damn it again He did You're gonna start calling it

Kevin Patrick I know Before we go Chris Wessling is not with us As we know It would have been weird If he just didn't He was sitting here the whole time

I'm not speaking He's not here It's an empty chair He's on Tybee Island Figure every show that he's missing Maybe we should check in on him Just see, you know, some people say call the cell phone, but no, there's, Mark, there's a better place to call, right? Well, I mean, everything that we know about the activity of Wes on Tybee Island is a place called Huckapoo's.

Huckaboo's Bar and Grill. So, Gold's standard behind the glass, would you do as a favor? And I don't know if Huckapoo's has a website. It's possible. I don't know. But if you can look up the number and we'll call the bar and see if Wes is there. Yeah, I had a strange feeling this might happen. So I actually know Huckaboo's number by heart.

Sorry, it's no problem, really All right That's weird By the way, it's late morning Well, but No Time difference Early afternoon there

Yeah, he's on vacation There's no watch There's no clock There's no clock There's a There's one of those Like novelty clocks in Huckabooze Or it's like

It's always happy hour It's just always on 5 o'clock there There we go I'm out of west I mean where else could he be? Hey, how you doing? This is Dan Hanzus, the Around the League podcast. Is Chris Wessling there?

I can't hear you. Is Chris Wessling at the bar? Hold on. You got to be kidding me. Wes, you're at the bar already? I just walked in. Wow. That was good timing.

How are you, buddy? I'm doing well. How are you? You know, we're not going to keep you too long. To be quite honest, we didn't think you were going to be there at this time of day. But you are on vacation. It's your own free will. Yeah, I literally walked in five seconds before the phone rang.

Well, we just want to let you know that we missed your presence today, but you should enjoy yourself. It's your vacation. I am. I enjoyed myself immensely last night. Where were you last night? Where he went from the airport to southbound brewery and did like a beer tour, had a few beers. Then went to dinner And then went to Huckapooz

Got to close with Huckabooz I know Wes I can't tell you how awesome it is That we just called Huckpooze In the middle of the afternoon And you're settling into your seat Like Norm from Cheers Or Cliff Clavin I should say

Yeah Well do that Do you sit there And you know Maybe we'll catch up with you again At Huckapoo's a little later next week All right sounds good Thanks Wes

All right Have a good weekend Wait I like how there's already at least 60 to 70 people in there. How big is this place? She just handed the phone and he's just like, oh yeah, he's right here. Like, he's standing right next to the phone as we call. This is one of the more surreal things I've ever seen in my entire life.

And she took it all in stride. She's like, oh, yeah, here he is. I don't find it that surreal knowing Wes. Yeah, that's fair. All right, let's get out of here. But before we do, hey, gold center, is there someone behind the glass with you? We can't see. Yeah, I've got a friend here, actually.

Oh. Wow. Wow, two weeks in a row. Kay Rich? Hey, guys. You know, it's Friday, so I have to make an appearance back. Wow. For Seduction Friday as we close.

And you know what? Since Dan is so high off the Jets. Wow. I love Seduction Friday. This show has just slipped into the complete surreal. I know. Have a good one. guys.

Bye, K, Rich. Hey, Rich. Hey, everybody. And I'm Bucky Brooks. On Move to Six, we take you inside the game from breaking down college prospects and NFL rookies. team building philosophies, coaching trends, and how front offices construct winning rosters. We study the tape,

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