NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - Winners & Losers from the 2023 NFL Draft!

Episode Date: April 30, 2023

A virtual room filled with some heroes - Dan Hanzus, Marc Sessler and Gregg Rosenthal recap the 2023 NFL Draft by naming their biggest winners and losers, including the AFC South division (4:39), the Steelers (15:49), Jordan Love (20:26), the Lions (23:48), NFL GMs not named Howie Roseman (28:58), the Browns (36:28), veteran players on the trade block (40:29), the Cardinals (42:11), kickers (44:55), and Ran Carthon (51:25). The heroes finish up with rapid-fire things they loved (57:18) and review the sandwich props from this year's draft (1:11:23). Note: timecodes approximate.NFL 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 NFL podcast. Invented live streaming during the NFL tracts. Welcome to another edition of Around the NFL podcast. in the NFL, the podcast that has everything concerning the 2023 NFL draft covered and doing it in an innovative manner,

as you just heard there, the zoom drop. Dan Hans is here, Mark Sessler, Greg Rosenthal scattered across Los Angeles, but bringing all the coverage needs here, hey boys, you know, most podcasts I think would just like kick back and relax after we broke as many barriers as we did. It's like, I don't know, it's after hitting four home runs in the World Series, we show up the next day and hit another couple. Let's go. I feel like my physical body is still sort of in recovery mode from that live stream. But, you know, we're here. I'm feeling comfortable. I'm sitting in a chair. What can go wrong? Yeah, once they got, you know, once I got

to the hospital and they got the tubes in me and I got the fluids that were necessary to stay alive after the heat wave that struck that specific studio. I was able to reflect upon what was a very successful Thursday for our podcast. The live stream did really, really good numbers and showed that you guys, the listeners, are interested in that experience when it comes to our show. So that is something we have filed away for future use, potentially. And of course, you knew we were going to bring in the podcast goodness as well on Thursday. And now Saturday comes as the draft comes to an end, seven rounds in the book, roughly 700 more compensatory picks in the books.

And now we break down a draft that, Greg, I know you're a big fan. I know you see it is potentially now problematic. But at the same time, it's got some juice to it. It's got your brand connected to it. The trade tsunami. 41 trades by last count. connected to this draft, which is a new record. So GMs are more brash than ever when it comes to wheeling and dealing in this exciting time of year.

I like it, but I also don't want to hear any more in March that's like, oh, my gosh, my heavens, I would never give up a fourth round pick for Stefan Gilmore. Like, who would do that? Then we get into the draft and the Patriots are like trading multiple picks to move up to take like a small school kicker and no one gives a shit. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. We're going to get to that. Why would nobody give? This is exactly what I'm talking about.

I'm just saying they don't care about the pick. It's not about the kickers. I just mean, okay, the saints then just they have some guy they want like the lions moved up from the fifth to the third and just gave up all these picks for a guy. No one was going to take probably anyways. Just like once they get here, they lose the value of the picks. It is the straight like a strange sporting event inside the NFL calendar because the mentality seems to completely change to your point from the boundary.

is outside the draft where it's like the idea of trading draft picks in the inside itself inside the weekend becomes this like flurry of activity totally bizarre i love it so we're going to go through as we do every year the winners and losers of the 2003 NFL draft and i was thinking about when i was going through it in my mind how to best handle it i feel weird about really getting after draft classes where it's like, oh, that guy was a weird fit there or a weird pick because it's so, it seems like a fool's errand to try to really guess how these draft classes are going to play. But also you can look at what the needs of of a team or how things were handled. I know, Mark, you have something on your plate that you're going to share with us a little

bit later about how some teams kind of presented themselves during and after the draft. And And so we're going to share some winners and losers. And we are, you are going to share that, right, Mark? I am planning to, yeah. Yes. That's a tease in the industry. Right. My list is mostly winners. Like, I have an article on NFL.com, too, and it's, I could have just made it winners of the NFL draft. You like some things better than others, and you kind of jimmy rig some losers in there, but it's just like, they like better than others. Well said, exactly. So we'll try to give you, we'll try to give you both sides of the spectrum. But I think part of the good thing about the draft,

and we talked about it with Damashchak during the live stream, is that it is an optimistic time of year. So we're going to dig into it. I can get it going. I'm going to go with a winner here in a broad sense. The AFC South. I think the AFC South has been a bit of a chore the last couple of years. And we've all had to suffer through some lean years.

We've had to suffer through some, you know, not so hot Thursday night football games through the years. And that could be about to change or at the very least the division to me has some much needed intrigue now. We already had Trevor Lawrence and a rising operation in Jacksonville. But now we have C.J. Stroud and Will Anderson in Houston and that team seemingly pointing in a new direction, a positive direction. Anthony Richardson bringing his completely unique athleticism to the QB position in Indianapolis. And by the way, Jim Ursa spoke with, I think Judy Patista, our own Judy Patista. And he said, A, they planned to play Anthony Richardson this year, start Anthony Richardson

this year. And Ursay, because he's Jim Ursae, also said, hey, we would have taken him if we had the number one overall pick. And he also said, and he says the sliding doors, yeah, Jim Resey likes to talk, the sliding doors at the NFL draft that if Richardson was taken before they were on the board, they might have taken Will Levis, who went later. Speaking of Will Levis, even the Titans, there's some juice with the Titans who trade up in the second round for Will Levis.

And he's now positioned as the heir apparent at QB with a chip on his shoulder, the size of Nashville after that first round free fall. So I'm not saying like all of a sudden we're going to have AFC South dominating their conference, but there's little juice there now and hey that's overdue i'm with you i mean i think you know it was a year ago we were talking about the afc west as this newly formed division with you had patrick mahomes but russell wilson who we did not think was going to fall off a human cliff the way he did and it was like a human cliff yeah we cannot watch it cannot wait to watch these afc west games all season long and it didn't pan out so i guess i come out of any draft

weekend with a fair amount of cynicism that half of this won't work out. But that said, like the tone of the AFC South and the hope around it and the fact that we're not going to know right away that for the next couple of years, like these young quarterbacks going up against each other will become one of the more intriguing flip-flops in all of the NFL because the AFC South has been largely unwatchable, at least portions of it for big chunks of the time that we've in doing this podcast, and you've suddenly plopped like three super intriguing young quarterbacks into the mix on teams that are growing before our eyes. And the fourth is Trevor Lawrence and the Jaguars, who, depending on how things go, could be a genuine AFC title

game threat. So I'm with you on this. Right. I'm totally selfish in that. There's no way that these moves don't make them more interesting. And that's all I really care about. They're going to make them more watchable. The Colts are going to be extremely watchable, I believe, with Anthony Richardson. The Texans at least have a vision, a direction. They've just kind of been wasting time for two years, and they're going to make these 10 a.m. games more watchable. It's funny that these teams, you know, add some juice at the moment that they've taken away the requirements that you have to have a primetime game now

because they're still probably not getting many primetime games yet. They're going to, you know, the networks are going to wait. Amazon's one are going to wait to see if they actually start winning games. Jacksonville will be in primetime. I don't know if Anthony Richardson and Stroud will much, but it'll be good picks for us in our preview drafts. And what they did over the weekend, too, made me more excited. Houston, you know, there were all these little receivers that were available in this draft.

Josh Downs went to the Colts. He reminds me so much of Hunter Renfro. And now you kind of think of like a little jitterbug over the middle getting open. And then what Richardson does well, which is, I think, throw the ball deep to the outside. And he's got Alec Pierce and he's got Pittman on the outside. And it's like, okay, you're putting something together here. with a running game that has Jonathan Taylor, that's going to be tough to stop.

And then you look at the Texans who are expecting to get John Mechie back, their second round pick from a year ago, who had that battle with cancer. But he is expected to play. And they took Tanked out, who was my favorite of all those small receivers. The man with the Hutzpah to be like 5'7 and call himself Tank, who a lot of people thought the 40 time that people just missed on that

because he just plays so fast. And so both of these teams kind of added fun pieces during the draft to along with the quarterbacks. And they're just going to be more fun that there's like a point to them this year. Yeah, is there a team that's a bigger wild card, at least on the offensive side of the ball than Indianapolis now.

And I think that's, if you're a Colts fan, you're really excited because you've went through this post-Andrew luck era. We don't need to go through the quarterbacks again, but they went through veteran after veteran after veteran, bottoming out with Matt Ryan, who didn't have much left. And now you go to the opposite.

What's the opposite of Matt Ryan, like 2022, Matt Ryan? It's Richardson and what he brings. And I want to see Jonathan Taylor, let's not forget what Jonathan Taylor did in 2021 when he had a like a Jamal Charles in his prime type season, just a dominant player before his ankle got jacked up. And he was not the same player all season. Think about that offensive line that was seen as like this like absolute stone cold lock is one of the better lines in football. And then they had injuries in strange, ineffective. with some suspect coaching. What if that comes back together?

You know, if Richardson hits the ground running, watch out. This team could really, really shock people in the AFC this season. And I know the conference is loaded, but could one of these teams hit the ground running as a young team? Absolutely.

So AFC South, you got some juice. Yeah, I'd also say just, it's not a knock on Frank Reich, but we like the match of Shane Steichen with Anthony Richardson. And the Texans to me, who have gone through a complete chaos, complete chaos with coaches over the past two years.

Like I think Demico Ryan's is going to be someone that like a season from now, we look and say like he completely gave the Texans like a different kind of vibe and identity. And so there's more like there's some coaching intrigue as well where I mean, before I just, it was hard to take the Texans seriously no matter what they were doing because they've been wandering through a total abyss for the past three seasons. But they think they're going to be good. And they sort of have to be good with that trade they made for Will Anderson. It's a it's a little bit of a subplot.

Cardinals fans can enjoy this year rooting against the Texans. It's always fun when you have a first round pick of another team. The fact that they gave up that first round pick for Anderson, that could be, you know, based on their previous history, a top five pick, a top three pick. So I think they believe that they're going to be better than most people think or else they would not give up that pick plus a second round pick this year, top of the second, like the very first pick essentially the second and a third round pick.

The more time I've had to think about that trade, I think it was kind of insane. and Will Anderson almost has to be a Hall of Fame player to make it worth it. But they believe in it and if he is that type of player, no one's going to honk. And that's what I'm talking about with,

I don't like winners and losers exercises with the draft. When we just don't know yet, because Will Anderson could be an absolute dominant player and then it makes all the sense in the world. We need to see him play. My one last point before we move on to the next winner regarding the cults, one other thing that's like, keep an eye on this.

Jim Ursay had a pretty wild season as team owner last year. And after years of, you know, you're not necessarily connecting him to the way his dad handled running a football team. It was Jeff Saturday was the head coach last year. And it's like, how involved is he going to be now with this young explosive, completely unpredictable entity at quarterback with Gardner Minchu, a respected veteran behind him? How much of his hands will be in the mix with a rookie head? head coach. The cults are interesting to me on multiple levels. I'll leave it there. I mean, Erse seems to bubble up the most when the team is struggling because you could look at most of Frank Reich's tenure and say that Ursa wasn't like a meddling nightmare on a week-to-week

basis. I mean, things got real crazy and he took control of his property essentially. But if things are working and if Anthony Richardson's working out, he goes back to delightful little tweets and strange tweets and maybe not too much more, hopefully. That's the hope for Colts fans. The other one, the other reality is that he's just going all in. He's doing the George Steinbrunner in 1985 move. I mean, the Levist, the Levist tweet he sent out before round two was one of the most insane things I've ever seen that he sent a tweet out to all the fans.

Should we draft Will Levis tonight? You know, the day of round two. And I don't know if he was trying to mess with like, I don't know what he was doing. Probably nothing important. But while we're in the AFC South, we should mention that. I think he crossed the Rubicon, Greg. That's my, I'm wondering if that's what happened last year. What was that?

I maybe it was trying to make it. I wanted to happen. Right. Maybe the Titans, he didn't want the Titans to take Levis. And the Titans did. And the Titans traded up for him. Like, I think that made sense that for where the Titans got Levis and where they are. And I called Levis a similar prospect to Ryan Tannahill. It does make you just curious to watch.

They're a team. We'll talk about plenty. in August because of Levis's presence there. And because they took Taji Spears, like the next running back to replace Derek Henry. Like those two guys still feel a little precarious or at the very least, like the last year they'll be in Tennessee. There is. What's up, Justin? Well, also talk about them a lot because of me, right?

Well, it's an accident. Because of you and that rotating Titans helmet with your remote setup, which I cannot get enough of. I just love it, Justin. thanks how do you feel by the way how you feel big picture right now about the titans i feel like if will levis is a franchise quarterback it's a home run draft and nothing else matters if will levis sucks the fact that they came out of this draft without addressing wide receiver until their very last pick and without addressing cornerback when you have guys who've been injured a lot and like you know unknown future contracts christian fulton in the last year of his deal caleb farley never been

able to really stay healthy or play well i think it's a weird draft for the titans maybe they you know went with his best player available thing taj spires by the way has like a crazy medical issue where apparently he doesn't have an acl in one of his knees or something like that so overrated two lane guys don't need ACLs yeah that won't be a problem hopefully i hope it works out like i think they got guys that can be contributors you know even in year one i would say start will levis now trade ryan tanahill at some point for a pick next year because if if you don't know that will levis is your guy going into next year's draft when you have two expected really great quarterback and Caleb Williams and Drake May

and other guys that could pop up at some point. You can't go into next year's draft so committed to Will Levis because you don't know what he is yet that you pass on potentially your actual franchise quarterback. So that's why I'm at. Let's stick a pin in the Titans soccer so we're going to get back to them a little bit later.

Mark, do you want to throw out a winner? I will. This, to me, came into full view during day two of the draft. And, you know, historically, this is not a team that I've, wanted to see Thrive, but you just have to give in at some point. He's going to do it because it's the Pittsburgh Steelers.

I mean, they kind of did also. If they had been listening to me, which no front office should be spending a second doing, but I found that the two players that I kind of talked about a bunch before this draft, one of them was Joey Porter Jr. When I was like, you know I've already been down this road. Just if you're the Steelers, historically, go get the son of a great former stealer and just swing for the fence and see if it works. I think it addressed a need, but also Joey Porter fell to them appropriately. They made the right choice. They went and got him. I love them

going and taking Broderick Jones in the first round, a need again, but they went and got a tackle. I think that the New York Jets probably wanted right after him. And that line, which has been a problem for a couple of years, starts to become something that you can rely on. I thought they improved down the stretch over the course of last year. That whole offense is growing together. And then you add to the mix, one of the most fascinating players in the draft to me from a physical traits perspective is Darnel Washington, six foot seven. I think it might take him a little bit of time to get going from a production standpoint. Dan, he's not probably going to fulfill the quest that you put out there for a Titan to come on and just set the world on fire. But can you imagine being like a smaller cornerback trying to take down six foot seven Darnell Washington in space on a pass from Kenny Pickett?

I just kind of like compared to where we were 13 months ago before last year's draft where the Steelers offense post Big Ben seemed like it was a fading old school mess has gotten a lot younger all over the place. I think there's a lot to like about the fact that they're growing together. You've added a new offensive tackle and a really freaky tight end that I cannot wait to watch. And Damashet came on our show during the live stream and he talked about the Steelers as an 11 win team. That is a tall order. in a super top-heavy AFC. But Mike Tomlin goes and wins seven, eight, or nine games

when you're in a so-called rebuild. I don't think 11 wins with the way that Omar Khan has just stepped right in at GM and paved the road for the Steelers. It's not out of control. It's not an out-of-control prediction. You know, with as unpredictable as every season is, the Steelers always, to me, are a team that could be double-digit win. And right now I like where they're going.

They were that team that, like, kept taking the guy that was the highest on, like the consensus boards like Daniel Jeremiah's board for instance even in the fourth round when they took Nick Herbig whose brother is on the team they're so into brothers it's a little it's a little too much I think they sign Nate Herbig they got Nate and Nick now uh calm down a little bit yeah come down with the brothers come down with the sons although it was worth you're right taking joey porter just for the picture of Joey porter seeing you're holding joey porter on the field at the Super Bowl when when they won like that alone uh it's worth it I mean they were going to use that photo no matter where he went still would have been a cool but it's even cooler yeah why they wouldn't

have why would they that they wouldn't yeah father and son you know legacy i don't know maybe they wouldn't they're they're they had locked and loaded in the truck of course they're gonna use it like they they went and got picket last year in a weird quarterback draft and if you're not going to have a like ultra talented freak of a quarterback you build up the group around them and that's a good looking group right now i mean you have darno washington as your wide receiver too as your tight end two now. And I'm not really counting on anything from Alan Robinson, but they're good enough at wide receiver, even without Alan Robinson doing much. That's like, that's a fun team. Yeah. And we talked about the idea of the running game finally getting some teeth to it with

improved line play. And you know, don't forget a Pat Friermouth, who was a just outside the top five amongst all tight ends last year in receptions and receiving yards playing with a rookie quarterback. So, yeah, I think Washington, who, again, 6-7-264, he's basically built like Aaron Judge, is going to go out there. And even if he's not immediately an offensive terror, who knows if he ever develops into that, he seems like somebody who could kick some ass in the blocking game at the very least in some two tight-end sets. So, yeah, late in the third round, that feels, I feel like when you get late in the third round, fourth, round, fifth round, start throwing the darts at like guys that could be freaky. There you go.

It's a good pick. I agree that Pittsburgh Steelers got a lot of positive pop and I know Shaq was very excited about it, but Shaq was going to be excited no matter what, let's face it. Winner, Greg? I'll throw out a winner. Let's go Jordan Love. Let's go Mark Sessler too.

You know, the Packers and Goody making Mark Sessler sandwiches, making Jordan Love happy. I don't think they're really making Aaron Rogers upset by taking a bunch of second and third round like tight ends and receivers. But if that's a small bone, Something tells me Rogers isn't too plugged into, like, day three, day two of the Packers draft. But Luke Musgrave in the second round, past catching tight end, who I didn't love just because he looks so upright, like, how could he not get hurt?

And he spent a lot of his college getting hurt. But smarter people than me, like Land Zero Line, like thought, you know, he's as explosive. And DJ liked him, too, as any tight end in the draft. You took a receiver, Jaden Reed also in the second round. And then they took Tucker Kraft. So they just like went three straight receivers. Tucker Crafts a tight end as well. But he was a guy from South Dakota State who I did get a chance to watch it. Like Greg Cosell could not stop gushing about as a Dallas Goddard type of clone.

So they're building their team in a certain way. I think it was interesting that they doubled up at tight end specifically. I think they're going to be a run-based team with a lot of A.J. Dillon and a lot of two tight-end sets, a lot of Aaron Jones. And I just like that, yes, you took Lucas Van Ness, which was such a Packers pick in the first round, but you didn't overlook love. And then you knew Sessler had sandwiches on the line. So you took another receiver in the fifth round, Dantavian Wicks. That's the man. That's why I didn't take the pick because it was nebulos.

Oh, wait. And another one. It was somebody coming late in the round. 256, round seven, pick 39. I missed that one too. Charlotte's own, Grant Dubos. So they went way over four. And yeah, you're bound to hit one.

I can only imagine that these sandwich props that we boil up are massive talking points inside various team buildings and probably triggering thought processes. So I'm with you that they were listening to that. But you know what I think about like Matt LaFleur who for his entire run in Green Bay and it's been successful outside of January. I mean, you kind of were under held hostage to do exactly what Aaron Rogers wanted to do on offense. The big part of it was like Aaron Rogers is going to freestyle. little bit, but in general, the offense has to be something that he's happy with that's catered around him outside of not drafting picks for him. So they went and got a bunch of new guys around love, which, I mean, A, just makes sense. They needed help at these positions. It wasn't like

a vanity project necessarily, but they went and did it, but I think that with the two tight ends and what they could do, like maybe LaFleur is a chance to put a little bit more of a personal stamp on altering what they do around a different type of quarterback. So for me, the Packers have sort of been the same thing since like 2010. And even before that for a thousand years with Brett Favre, I'm not sure they'll be better. I'm just weirdly more intrigued by them than I ever have been before. And I like the idea of a completely fresh start. And stick a pin in that thought because coming up later this week or next week, we'll do our around the AFC and NFC in 48 minutes. And we'll kind of dig into the post-mortem of the draft and looking ahead of what things mean for

these teams. All right, we got more winners to get to, a couple of losers to get to, but first to break. Hey, this is Matt Jones. I'm Drew Franklin. And this is NFL cover zero. We're just here to try to give you an NFL perspective a little bit different. Did you see the Colts pretzel? That was my other big takeaway from that game.

What was that? Oh, my. We think NFL coverage should be informative and entertaining. And twice a week, that is exactly what you're going to get. NFL cover zero with Matt Jones and Drew Franklin on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Toyota, the official automotive partner of the NFL. Visit Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more. What's up everybody? Daniel Jeremiah here. And I'm Bucky Brooks. On Move the Sticks, we take you inside the game from scouting reports and player development to team building philosophies, coaching trends, and how front offices construct winning rosters. week, we study the tape, talk to decision makers, and share the insights you won't find anywhere

else. It's the kind of conversation that connects the dots, from college football prospects to the NFL stars of tomorrow. We break down the draft, analyze matchups, and evaluate how teams put it all together on game day. Plus, we dig in the coaching strategies, roster construction, and the trends that shape the league year after year. Whether you're a diehard fan or just love understanding the game on a deeper level, we give you the full picture. If you want insight that goes beyond the box score this podcast is for you don't miss it listen to the move the six podcast on the iHeart radio app apple podcast or wherever you get your podcasts i'm marcus grant and i'm michael eff 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. All right, we're back. All right, Gregie, how about a winner? All right, let's go

Lions. They had a weird Thursday. Let's just be real. I heard some speculation from a couple places that they were a little bit like the fantasy draft, you know, manager at pick six that spun out because they totally expected the whole time to take Devin Witherspoon. No one thought the Seahawks were taking Devin Witherspoon. It just felt like a chalk pick. And then suddenly you're trading out, not getting good value at all from going six to 12. If you look to the trade jar and you take Jamir Gibbs there. I like the Jack Campbell pick fine. He definitely fits a need maybe as a higher ceiling. But after day one, and this is what happens when you're Brad Holmes and you just stack all these picks, you're going to end up looking good. I mean, they had six picks in the first three rounds.

And the next four, to me, were really intriguing. Brian Branch, who they traded up to get ahead of the Patriots. Maybe the Patriots were taking Brian Branch. He just felt like a Patriots player, like Nick Sabins, Binky, just can do everything. Kind of a Chauncey Gardner-Johnson type, and they have Chauncy Gardner Johnson already there. But, man, that secondary is versatile. he's going to be smart, he's going to be there forever. They took my favorite tight end in the draft

in terms of like a value in Sam Laporta, but I don't even know if it's a value anymore because they took him over Michael Mayer, which is kind of wild, but man, Leporta is athletic and it's too easy to compare him to kiddle because he's from Iowa, but I just think he's going to be a big playmaker.

And then you wait for Hendon Hooker until the third round. And at that point, like, that to me was the perfect spot to do it. I know he's, it's crazy. he's only three years younger than Jared Goff, who's been in the league for eight years and has started 100 games. But I still like the idea of having a young quarterback to develop. But when you take him in the third round, it's like not as much pressure that he's got to play anytime soon. If he just turns into a backup, who cares?

That's fine. You just spend a third round pick on it. So I kind of like what the lions did. If you add up all the three rounds and put it together, I mean, these are guys who are going to play for them. So there's still a team because Holmes set this up so well with all these picks that got a lot better. was six picks in the first three rounds. And I kind of like that he's doing things differently. He's not worried about the draft cognizanty.

I think it's like really easy for especially those of us that you jump on to the draft process a little bit later. And we're valuing positional need and positions in general over the players sometimes. And like that, I think that contributed to their Thursday night looking a little wonky. And maybe it was. But also, and you know, this is where Hard Knocks helps a little bit. One of my big takeaways coming out of Hard Knocks was like, wait a minute, this coaching staff is for the first time that I can remember in Lyons history is forward thinking. They've shown they can develop players really well. So I thought what they did over day two and day three really just galvanized a roster that's already like a playoff level roster.

And the one little thing is like Hendon Hooker got a lot less of attention because of the injury is a little bit older. But if that pick worked out and they fell in love with them and he replaced Jerry. Gough and did that kind of seamlessly a season from now, this draft looks incredible because if you suddenly hit on a later round quarterback, you look absolutely genius. I don't know, Greg, about Lions running back as team around the NFL, but they remain highly juicy, a lot of heat around Detroit. I would do it. And it's despite being public number enemy, enemy number one on Twitter today, because I sent

some tweet about their backfield. and Lyons' Twitter was not happy. I was basically like, I said, Jemir Gibbs and David Montgomery, you know, because we'll get to the DeAndre Swift trade. I guess we can mention it now. They traded DeAndre Swift for...

We will get to it in one moment. A little later, but for not much. And I just said, like, Gibbs and Montgomery isn't that much better than Jamal Williams and Swift. I think that's... Like, they're probably better. And if Gibbs turns into a huge hit,

then they're a lot better. But I'm just assuming some picks work, some picks don't. I'm not a big David Montgomery fan. That was one of my least favorite signings of the offseason. To me, that's a wash with Jamal Williams. And it's just like you spent a lot of resources to kind of kind of upgrade your backfield when you were really productive as a running team anyway. So that was it.

But I am getting severely ratioed to high head. Someone texted me about it. And I wasn't aware. And it's something. That is, I think there's also sometimes when those things happen, the, the fan base knows it too and they're just offensive about it because they just want it to be and Gibbs like kind of the point guys were making about Bijan uh with Atlanta on Thursday night I think for that to make sense like Gibbs has to be a monster like he has to be a stud and

David Montgomery has to be healthy and work in another a really nice complimentary way but I think it really goes back to you if you're going to use that everybody could talk about oh finally running back is getting respect in the first round sure but you it has to be it has he can't be good. He has to be great. Or you should have focused, I think, on using, getting your roster better in other places. And that's a neat seg to one of my losers. We mentioned that, or we mentioned quickly there that they did make the move sending the talented injury prone running back, DeAndre Swift to the Eagles for a fourth round pick, I believe it was. In 2025. Yeah, two years Okay. Yeah. And, you know, that in addition to their big Thursday night where they brought in two defenders who are highly valued, Nolan Smith and Jalen Carter bringing those two gentlemen in and including all these other Georgia players that are entering the fray over the last two years. Here's Peter Schrager late in the telecast on Saturday about something he heard regarding embittered general managers across the landscape. Oh, I love this.

I talked to all the GMs around the league. There is a little bit of like a, all right, guys, everyone, you, ESP, enough with the Howie Rose makes the go. There's a little bit of that too, that this is like a media just showering. Oh, the Eagles, they didn't win the Super Bowl? There's other teams in the NFC. You know, like there is a competitive nature amongst these other teams that this Eagle squad has been getting all out of love. Howie, motherfucker. And, you know, I'll give Daniel Jeremiah who, you know,

I got to give him. The whole crew on NFL Network did great, including Jeremiah throughout the weekend. And Daniel, 42 of his 50, top 50 on his big board, 42 came off the board in the first 50 picks, which I really think. He, his, I hate saying this guys, but Jeremiah has become such a titan in this industry that I really think he's now able to kind of affect things on some level because GMs and front offices, care about what Daniel Jeremiah thinks. But he quickly responded to Schrager's reporting there or the conversations he had by saying, well, how about this? And we know, by the way, DJ has Eagles ties as well. So he was going to be a little jumpy on it. But still, he says, I want to hear, go to those GMs that you talk to and look at the Eagles roster and then look at

that GM's roster and ask them if they would trade if they could and then see how the conversation ends after that. I just got to, uh, it is. is a little of a waterfall of celebration of Rosen, but he kind of earns it. And I think what he was able to do with Carter and Smith, they won. And then the DeAndre Swift trade is the exact type of move that you want your GM to make. And he does that all the time. I feel like he makes those common sense moves to bring in players that have a lot of upside at a good cost. And here's an example of why he is so good. He brings in, he gives up that fourth round round pick. And if DeAndre Swift, when his contract runs up, leaves the team next year,

they could get a fourth round compensatory pick back. So it becomes him essentially taking on DeAndre Swift, who is absolutely a monster when healthy and in the right offense. And he's not even giving up anything. And don't get mad because your GM doesn't think to do the same thing. I totally agree. And it's like it was a year ago that without a lot of pre-whispering around this, he pulls off the AJ Brown trade that completely changes the development of Jalen Hertz, changes their office entirely. And it's like, okay,

so Robesman is doing it year after year. There's a consistency to their front office. And they went through a post-Dug Peterson rebuild that took what, 14 days? I mean, there was no dark ages for them. They turned around, change who they were, developed a quarterback, and did it very quickly. So I do think that in general,

it reminds me when we were at the Combine a couple years ago, and that like coaches hotness rankings list came out and yet a bunch of coaches grumbling about it because certain guys always get ranked high on that kind of a list by the subjective eye of many thinking this guy's hot or not and like there's people just grumbling it's kind of the same thing like they do listen to this I think the one thing you kind of just start to hear

is like these guys read listen to everything follow Twitter they know that the temperature out there and there probably is sort of a consensus that Howie Roseman's a little over-celebrated But no one logically could break it down and say he isn't being celebrated for the right reasons because he is. Because I think a year ago, like Les Sneed was like, this guy's changing the way the NFL works and people are going to start to do things like the Rams. Then the Rams fall off a cliff. Who's talking about, I mean, Les Need is still a very talented general manager, but he's not the chic guy to discuss right now. It is Howie Roseman.

And so if people are talking about you, that's the best thing. That's the best indicator that you're succeeding and damaging their goals. Right. The best they could come up with, oh, he didn't win the Super Bowl. Sorry, like they scored 35 points and a holding call prevented them from going after at one more drive. I think I've always gotten the sense. I mean, people in the NFL don't love Howie Roseman because he's a short, non-ex player, different background from a lot of front offices. And he's been killing it.

And so there's a lot of football guys. Did you say short? I was going to go with his background in general is just different. Let's just say that. Is that, you know, all that is different than a lot of the people running teams. And there's a lot of football guys who kind of see that. And they see the analytics department there, too, as a threat. And they kept the Georgia thing going.

Kelly Ringo, their, their fourth round pick at cornerback is a, if you go and look at like the preseason, like who's going to get taken in the top 20 picks, top 10 picks, he was all over that. And he fell in the draft for various reasons. But it's like they take another Georgia guy who with a lot of talent at, least that was kind of a boomer bus guy and they get him late they got value everywhere listen to this georgia tidbit a little over nine percent of the eagles roster this year will be players drafted from georgia in the last two years five out of 53 and by the way that is funny and a little

weird but also like they like that program that's a successful program they so they see it as a football factory that they trust and again it's kind of like not to dumb it down or flatten it but it's like they have a process he has a process and sometimes you wish like your general manager would think this way as well like how do I make my team better oh use the college program that pumps out consistently star defensive players oh dandre swift he could be had at a very cheap price and he's from being he's from dray over mild sanders like yeah oh my god you're right like i'll bring him in i'll take him in oh if i do this the right way i could even actually kind get him for free and I'm only paying them like 1.7 million this season. It's like awesome.

So it's definitely a nightmare for fantasy. Just stay away there. You know, Rashad Ben and Kenneth Gainwell and DeAndre Swift. Like I get it, Lions fans. DeAndre Swift will frustrate you going for the big play and he's going to get hurt a lot. And he's an inconsistent player. But his numbers speak for themselves. He's very effective per touch. But between him, Gainwell and Penny, it's like they'll all get hurt, but they'll all take turns being good. People sometimes sleep on how. too just in general and i know i know some howies and i know i know i know howies on both ends of the spectrum like wildly impressive howies and some howies are like very much like uh well i don't know about that howie he's on the positive end yeah high variance but he's one of the good howies

is that what you're referring to no i didn't think so all right go on uh how about you mark what he got winner loser throw it out there Here's a team that I've been real tough on for the last year, the Cleveland Browns. And I think that this is a team that basically had no draft capital, obviously because of Deshawn Watson, and that's the big question mark hanging out there, like, what version of that player do you get this season after selling your soul for this quarterback? But one of the reasons they didn't have an extra pick this time around was because they went and got Elijah Moore.

There is some projection here, but if Elijah Moore works out alongside Amari Cooper and I liked what they did after reading about this pick more and more that gets Cedric Tildman, the wide receiver out of Tennessee, is one of the bigger guys in the draft, sort of an archetypal ex-guy who I think fits with Amari Cooper and fits in that. Suddenly, that was a weakness last year. The wide receiver group was a weakness. They also were a team that were real soft up the middle of their defense. And they brought in Jim Schwartz as their coordinator, which I like the coordinator switch in

general. That was a problem all last year. But they were getting run on easy. There just was nothing in the middle. And they went and got Dalvin Tomlinson and free agency, but then drafted this guy, Siaki Ika, who is absolutely massive. He is like a 335 pound front door. Now, I don't know what else he's going to do for you in general, but it's kind of like

described as a guy that makes things easier for other people around him. And so this guy along with Tomlinson gives you, that's sort of what Jim Schwartz wants in the middle of his defense. So I like that. And then they went and got DeWan Jones, the offensive tackle, because Jedrick Wills, I think it's a real question mark at left tackle. That did not work out

post Joe Thomas the way that they've wanted and I think this is a big season for him. And Dewan Jones down in a number 111 is we'll see if he can play but if he did and you got an offensive tackle right there

it's another potential need and so without a lot of draft capital I thought Andrew Barry after kind of a rough year put together a good draft with what their resources were. I add them down as a winner too. Totally agree.

Partly because I'm just I did my wide receiver rankings on Twitter, really making people talk, making people think. And Cedric Tillman was very high on that list. I loved his tape. He just looks like a guy who I'd rather have than all these little receivers that were taken in this draft that I think can be productive. I had him as the fourth receiver. And I kind of like that they took Dorian Thompson too. Pretty much the consensus QB6 in this draft, who has a lot of good tape out there. fifth round you maybe get a backup quarterback who knows you know

well i guess you're stuck with the shot watson forever the sean watson was on twitter spaces he did an interview um this weekend it appears and uh he he had the quote you can't define my career off of six games and uh went on to talk about how he sees the browns as a team that could sneak up and surprise a lot of people the way the eagles did last year, uh, we shall see. But, uh, yeah, there's a lot of that barry Cooper had obviously a big year. Yeah. He also, um, at one point, I don't know if it was on this spaces, uh, Q&A, but at one point over the last three or four days talked about the fact that Elijah Moore, escaped a toxic culture in New York. It's like, who are we like, can we maybe chill out on

describing cultures and teams right now to Sean Watson? Yeah, I'll let his comments stand on their own on that. That's, that's right. They, they did. They did get better without a ton of, like, easy resources, I think. De Juan Jones is a freak of nature, too, how big, how big that dude is. So it's a fair, it's a good enough point by Watson that you can't judge, like, I've been killing him based on those six games. Those six games were so much worse than any six games he had ever played, ever, like, in college or in the pros as a six games table, that I think it's truly concerning.

But it's also fair to point out, like, you can't judge. his entire career off of that and we'll see. I think they've set him up to succeed. Mark, do you have another one? I have a loser for now because I think there was some buzz around DeAndre Hopkins leaving a terrible situation in Arizona. I think it can still happen, but kind of every time rap sheep talks about it, it's like it's not about to happen. There's nothing really on the horizon. I thought there was a world where he became like a Patriots wide receiver this weekend or somewhere else, and it's not come to fruition.

And right now, if you're DeAndre Hopkins or you're anyone on that offense, your career is just put on hold. You don't have Kyler Murray. I don't love that team in general. I think it's probably the worst roster in the league. And you've got a truly star wide out that someone's going to want at some point, but he's tough to trade and he's tough to trade for even the Cardinals. We talked about this because they don't get a lot for it.

I know they probably want to move on just for the sake of it, But they're stuck paying so much of his salary that I think it maybe wasn't as easy a trade to like to finesse this weekend. And so he's sort of stuck in abstentia wondering what will happen with his 20, 23 season. I do. Yeah, I think veteran trades in general was like a loser, you know, Hopkins, Dalvin Cook, Zadaria Smith, Derek Henry, Ryan Tannahill, Mack Jones, Trey Lance, Cortland Sutton, Jerry Judy. like all these guys you thought maybe could go not much really happened like the swift move came up during the drafts and then happened quickly some of those guys I think maybe one of the Broncos receivers and maybe Hopkins could make sense in August the others I'm not sure about I think

most of those guys will probably just stay but at this point yeah I don't think Hopkins or a guy like that's going to get moved that said I think the cardinals were winners weren't they they loaded up on picks for 20 like they did a nice job moving around the board where they sort of won each one of those trades and they have two first round picks including the Texans next year two third round pick like they they loaded up for next year I think they did a good job without really losing any picks this year still makes sense to trade Hopkins I would think though yeah I don't know if it's because of his is his market uh sometimes we we see a veteran and we assume he has a market and then it turns out he doesn't is that really the

case like is this going to end with howie roseman trading for d'andre Hopkins and giving up a fifth round pick you know what I mean like there just has to be value and and I know they came out even strong and last Thursday and on Thursday night and said you know he wasn't going anywhere but I don't know maybe I still think another shoe could drop there well I think also once once we get players back on the field and a couple injuries hit here and there a lot of the veterans that Greg mentioned might become more feasible to move Greg I would agree with you that I think that if you're the cardinals or you're a cardinals fan you got to put this year on hold and look at it through a different lens. And at least they load it up for next year. And this is a, this is a tank season.

They're not going to call it that. We're not allowed to say that. But there's a chance, Kyler Murray doesn't even play this year if they don't want, what's the worth of playing him? If he's coming off this injury. So it's like, it could be a complete mail-in job, but then you've loaded up for next off-season. Yeah, there, there's something, PFF Mooh, Timo Risk on on Twitter, you know, posted this chart of trade value gained in the draft. And the Card actually even passed the Bears in terms of how much surplus, like money and value that they picked up, even though the Bears traded down from one. And those two teams were, let's see, about three and a half times more than any other team in the league. So they just put, they got a ton of resources.

And they didn't do it by like getting rid of this draft either. They filled needs and took some good players in this draft too. So I like that. They are setting up for the tank. And that Texans pick, man, I mean, they're going to be, they're going to be rooting against the Texans and hoping like that that's a top five pick two next year. There's always one trade or two trades that you go into the ensuing season, like keep an eye on that and what that can do to the draft board. That is certainly the case. There you go, Cardinals fans. I know it's been, there's some negativity or critical discussion of your team on the show in recent weeks and months, but nice weekend. There we go. The sun will come out. Maybe not tomorrow. Sun will come out in like two years. Something like that. That's all right.

All right, let's take a break, and we'll keep going. Hey, this is Matt Jones. I'm Drew Franklin, and this is NFL Cover Zero. We're just here to try to give you an NFL perspective a little bit different. Did you see the Colts Pretzel? That was my other big takeaway from that game. What was that? Oh, my.

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Toyota, the official automotive partner of the NFL. Visit Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more. We gotta go. You know why? Everybody's talking about the running backs getting some respect this year. How about two kickers going in the first 112 picks of this draft, including a kicker going top 100. Both my boys.

Chad Ryland. The Patriots traded up to get Chad Ryland. Moving up eight spots in round four to take the Maryland stud with the jets how do you feel about that that the jets feel great and with the patriots my love of and support of the kickers and how important they are in our league supersedes anything including my own family wow and then michigan's jake moody who was absolutely nails for the wolverines he gets picked by the niners you know an operation that everyone respects in the third round and it's like when is the last time that happened well i'll tell you what

It is the highest a kicker has gone in the draft since we don't like to bring this name up. It's like, you know, I'm reading the Harry Potter books with the boys. I've told you. I'm in book two now. And the main baddie, the antagonist early in the books. And I'm blanking on his name, but he's also known as. Voldemort. Voldemort.

He's known as the one who shall not be named. We do not like to bring up Roberto Aguayo's name. name around here. He is the one who shall not be named, the second round pick of the bucks who was cut after one season. But that's the territory we're in that the Niners. And it's usually a team that really is satisfied with their roster. And if we're going to, if we're going to get on the Lions a little bit and be like, hey, or even the Falcons, you had a good running back. Why did you get a running back? Robbie Gould is a great kicker. He's old, but a great kicker. But they bring in this kid, Moody. And here is the, here's the phone call from Kyle

Vanahan Niners coach to Jake Moody, one, they made him the 99th overall pick, courtesy of the Niners. Jake, congrats, man. Thank you very much. Hey, man, you got to know how high we think of you, man. We didn't take a running back. We spent a third round pick on a kicker, so that shows you how we feel about you, don't. Let's go.

Two funny things there. That's obviously the Niners, like, a little wink to people who, it's a bit of a trope that the Niners just love taking those running backs every year. and I just thought it was funny because my son Jack does it and all his second year old second grade buddies do it like whether you're a boy or a competitive athlete in America now and beyond you just say let's go all the time let's go let's go I hear that from my kids like nonstop absolutely let's go make someone you know kick one through the legs let's go play you're playing you're watching YouTube you find a video you're like let's go Have you seen that Tom Brady commercial where it's just him saying let's go in different ways and in the first like four like let's go. And the last one is like let's go. And it's some like car rental commercial. Yeah. Let's go is really it is bro culture right all the way down to elementary schools is dominated by let's go. But anyway, back to it. Big day for kickers when that when you get two in the top one 12. And I like both picks. I do think it's just interesting San Francisco would had a one of the best. veteran incumbents and use the third round pick and a guy that I guess he'll be better, but you don't know. And it was a couple episodes that we each announced like our guys in the draft.

And I'd already picked Joey Porter. Greg, you took Tadje Spears and Dan, you took Jake Moody. So your guy, obviously the NFL or at least one of L team truly felt what you felt. I can't say I love the Niners ability to draft much in this draft with what they had given up already with the Trey Lance deal. The situation going on with Trey Lance is weird. And I don't mind teams. I think the one thing that I'm funny about the draft, it's like, oh, you'd never draft a kicker. But then it's like eight out of 10 teams seasons go totally on the brink when you get into that flux where you have to go find kickers off the street. So if you go get the next version

of Robbie Gould, like the Niners are that much more consistent in offense. So I don't hate the move if it works out. But I'm not, I got to say their draft in general, it's just there wasn't a lot of ability for them to be to do much and it's just kind of a low walk if you look at the two teams in the nfc title game like what the eagles did in this draft and what the niners were able to do it's vastly different right i just think it's funny you said that like go get the next version of robbie gold you literally had robbie gold and i know he's old because he's old he's like what 40 something i mean i didn't i mean if you statistically i didn't see a lot of slippage i don't think he's ever missed a uh a field goal in the playoffs ever i mean it's a little

crazy that like because so the packers replaced mason crosbie that was surprising or they're going to try to that was that was less surprising that was a six round pick the patriots drafted a kicker as you mentioned they traded up they have taken some kickers high they took kaskowski in the fourth round but they traded up for a kicker and they still had nick folk who was you know doing well but both gold and folk aren't hitting those bombs and kyle shanahan loves himself he loves setting up for long field goals surprisingly like you think of him as this aggressive guy and he loves kicking field goals but uh you got to beat out robbie gold i like that the patriots also drafted a punter they drafted a kicker and a punter in the same draft what roby gold's a free agent greggie he was on the graybeards

okay so they just they said we're moving on i don't know maybe there's some more to that story i have no idea i mean it's all right it wasn't because of overt decline but well he didn't he didn't have uh much range by the way the patriots punter i saw his picture And it's hilarious. Like the last punter they drafted was, didn't you have like, how do I put this? White supremacy paraphernalia tattooed on his arms.

That didn't go well. Kind of short circuited his career. The guy they drafted this time, total opposite. Looks like he's brewing his own beer and like hosts like a horticulture podcast or something like that. I really like this gentleman. So the Pats were replaced their,

they reboot the entire booting game. That's good. All right, Mark, you want to bring some negativity to the proceedings? Well, I don't want to completely slash the Titans. So I think that Gravedigger talked about the ways that this draft could be looked at positively. Except I don't love what happened with first year general manager Ran Carthon in their post-Peter Scaranzi presser draft. He came out, let's play this clip. And then I want to say something afterwards.

Yeah. This was actually Friday. This was the day two. press or recap after they didn't draft a wide receiver and kind of got grilled for it right um i just want to say something real quick um you know today and as as yesterday um these kids are living their dreams right having their name called you know realizing a dream and being drafted and i don't want these you know interactions between us to always feel like we got to take a negative turn and you know this would be a joyous moment for us to praise these kids this is a moment these

kids are going to see this you know and this is a moment for them and their families to rejoice in you know because it's only going to happen once you know so it's like i get it this is um the first time that carthons had a you know press conference after his first draft and but there's something about all that did not was not received well by um some in the room uh for being a little preachy like paul kuharski's who's a friend of the show and i think i love him as a Titans reporter because he's a little acerbic, a little more cynical and a small media market. Wasn't he an enemy of the show? He wanted to take down Dan. He was critical of the Titans moniker, but he's a little bit brassy and he's a little different than other reporters. And

that's okay. Yeah. But peace was bridged during our time with him, if I recall. And he said, if your confidence in the Titans is low, Mike Rabel, who usually does well to restore such things, didn't do a lot to reinforce it in that press conference. And Rand Carthon gave some really poor answers. And then his second tweet, which was sort of a response to being preached, that was, I'm not in kindergarten. If you draft a guy with a reputation for bad QB decision making, I'll be asking about it. You may have heard it's a soft media market. It's not going to be what you ask. Sorry, Titans. We'll see all this plays out. But there was something about the Titans draft. And they're overall, like years long, including the trade of AJ Brown, to just sort of ignore the

wide receiver position that I think is driving certain reporters crazy, driving certain And fans crazy, you're hanging on to the idea that you drafted Colton Dowell in the seventh round as the only addition at wide receiver. It was a major issue last year. That team completely nosedived and vanished offensively down the stretch. And now you have Will Levis and Ryan Tanna Hill facing the same situation going into this season. And you're floating answers out there like, hey, we're a little smarter than you. Let's celebrate the players we picked.

And please no critical questions. Don't love it. I know where you're coming from on that. I thought maybe, although it wasn't, he wasn't sparring or challenging the reporters, it came off as a little bit touch condescending. And like one of the reasons I got into journalism and what I loved about it and love about it is that the reporter's job on some level from my perspective is to kind of be the voice of the fans and to be the ones that ask sometimes the hard questions.

And while I understand what Carthon is saying there, I also think to myself, Yeah, there are a lot of Titans fans that are like, hey, man, we need to get a little more explosive. You traded away A.J. Brown. We need to kind of start building. And that question has to be asked. And it might be in conflict with your idea that we should be celebrating these kids entering the league. I think there's room for that. But you can't tell another person in that room how they should be doing their job. You know, they're in two different positions. So I also don't think that Carthont should be killed over it. but that's not a great way to get your relationship going. Also, I don't know if Qaharsi speaks only for himself

or if this is more of a big issue or a bigger issue that's brewing behind the scenes over there, but we'll see. I mean, his tweet was pretty condescending and like, look at me too. So it was a little back and forth. It's like, oh, you heard it's a soft market? I'm going to, I, the guys who are on the radio. I kind of liked it. I got to say.

I like it too. I kind of like both is just how I would say. Like I respect Carthon kind of bringing that perspective. and he can speak on it if that's what he wants to. And I respect Karaski coming back and I think that's healthy. But there's always one guy on the radio in the town. It's like, hey, you might not like it, but I'm going to tell it like it is. Usually that guy's kind of a jackass.

I mean, I'm with the dragon. Like, I'm not also, I'm not trying to come out of this like flaming carthon because I think like there's a reason they picked him and time will tell if he's successful. It's just like, I think it's important in 2023 and beyond to kind of nail these press conferences. Like you just don't want to come out with these talking points. And there seemed to be an apprehension to kind of answer the tough question around what is your plan with wide receiver and et cetera. It's like you're going to have to face those. If you're not going to go do what the fans want, you're going to have to face the questions. Fair enough.

I think that was Greg is and, you know, the New England media markets, no walk in the park. But that's like the type of questions, I think one of the things Carsey is getting at that maybe in a New York market or a bigger market, like you're going to. get and maybe he's saying in Nashville and Tennessee maybe that's not the type of line of questioning Carthons expecting but you know Maurice Carthon Rann's father he knows that more what it's like to play in a big market I'm sure they'll work things out I'm looking for we get we get Paul relationship yeah we get Paul and ran together for a burger and a beer and we'll just sort it sort it out all right how you got Something else, Greggy?

Yeah. I mean, are we wrapping up here? I could do a lot of quick getters. Why don't we got? I got a bunch of little things too. We want to go a little more. Yeah, let's do some things I enjoyed. We mentioned it a little bit on Thursday.

I like the Bears meat and potato draft. It was what they had to do. It wasn't flashy. I think they got bigger. They got tougher. I love the Michael Mayer pick to the Raiders. That was nice. I wasn't in love with Tyree Wilson, but Josh McDaniels.

That's good. Jonathan Mingo was kind of my guy, at least at wide receiver in this draft. And you paired him. with Bryce Young. So that's another thing to be excited about in terms of the offense in Carolina. And then I like the college connections. Jake Hainer, drafted by the Saints,

Fresno State guy, like Derek Carr. They already had a relationship. They're already talking. He wants to be his mentor. And then Stetson Bennett, the Georgia national champion who just won a title in SoFi Stadium with Les Sneed watching is now the next Rams backup quarterback.

And I know he's the backup because there's no other quarterbacks on the roster. And they're both Georgia guys, Stetson Bennett and Matthew Stafford. I like the synchronicity there. Here's a connection to that. Because I have it labeled under weirdest tweet of the draft from ESPN's Diana Rossini. Here's the tweet. I'm just going to read it. It was never a big secret that the Rams loved QB, Stets, and Bennett, but they played this out really well. I was told how important it was to get a QB in that room who wouldn't be a problem. or cause issues what what what what what right no like they took them very early there was like a rate a run on kind of

surprising quarterback prospects or like so they took them very early everyone knew they liked them apparently so they had to take them early and uh i don't know about the problems thing i mean he did just have like a DUI so i guess they're saying like a guy that wouldn't like want the starting job right away and he'll know his place because he's friends with Mattie Staffordback right so i don't know oh so all right i think that maybe that's is that what it means mark that if you took a high not that they could they could even take a high draft pick this year but if you brought in like some you know playboy from the college game it would tear apart the locker i i don't know i guess i mean i think like because i don't thought the experience with baker mayfield if anything was was

perceived to be positive and we all thought that like he and mcvay got a long well. But I guess if you had stuck with Baker Mayfield, you're going to get a couple quotes over the course of an offseason where he's telling you he wants to be the starter. I don't know. I think it was that Stafford and him were kind of buddies, which is like, okay, great. Cool. You got another nug there, Greg? Oh, yeah. I got it. I mean, this should have been front and center. Big winners. We got history being made. Riley Moss, cornerback. Where was he from Iowa. Now I forget, to Denver. He's going to be the first white cornerback to be playing regular snap since Jason Seahorn. It's been a long time here. He's breaking barriers. The guy

Zerline was talking up, right? He's breaking barriers. Went in the third round. A lot of people really liked him. And so, yeah, shout out to Riley Moss for just changing. You know, we talked about body diversity that I'm in favor of. We just need all sorts of different types. It's It's absolutely crazy that that's true, that there hasn't been ones since Jason Seahord. How about our short king, Deuce Vaughn, 5-5? Yeah. He goes at round six, pick 35 to the Dallas Cowboys.

That's actually Marky, a nice little spot, I think, for our short king, who enters the fray with Zeke out of the picture, with Tony Pollard coming off a major leg injury. They signed Ronald Jones in free agency, but come on, it's Ronald Jones. They also have Malik Davis, who is just a guy. So our short king has a chance to do some things at 5-5-179 and coming up back-to-back 1K seasons and All-America honors. I love the idea of it.

And, you know, we work with a short king in MJD. I don't think he'd have a problem with me calling him that. He didn't. I'm right here, Mark. I'm right here. Yeah, but you're not a former NFL running back. I'm talking about an actual, someone who's doing what this You know, it's over my shoulder right now?

It's very small, really not befitting, you know, the honor. Division I, one state champions, Minneton regional high school. I agree with your body diversity, but I don't think like one of the NFL teams is looking to bring in like an ex-high school tennis player at this point. I just don't think so. I'm just saying I'm the short king of the podcasting game. They've never had such a short podcaster out there. I just, I don't want to demean that trophy, Greg, but first of all, it's impossibly small

for the achievement and also it was a team tennis title it wasn't a singles championship i think we had established no disrespect absolutely but i went undefeated you know uh that season starting you know team tennis is it's three people basically the three of us rolled i'm not taking any grief oh we need like if we had the rights we just roll in springsteen's glory days right now um mark you got some stuff you know um i'm not going to go down win winners and losers Boulevard, but I liked what the Bucks did in general, like I, except for not addressing quarterback, which is weird, but they sit out there as a team that might go do that next off season in a big way. But Cody Mock, like the offensive tackle out of North Dakota

State is a wildly immense, giant, amazing human, who I think is going to be an interesting fit down in super hot Tampa Bay. And Kalaja Cancy as well, Yaya Diabli, this guy, or Diabi, this like, edge guy that they got helps because Shaq Barrett's coming off in Achilles. So I think this was a sign that the Bucks aren't like, they're reloading on defense a little bit. They got a tough offensive lineman. I kind of like the mood of what the Bucks are doing right now, minus the quarterback situation.

Because as much as I am pro-Baker-Mayfield, I don't see that going perfectly well. It's a good job, too, because I think the Bucks might be ranked 30th, 31st, 32nd, and times mentioned over the last three months on this podcast. So that's a good job by you. I'll throw it out there I think although I haven't been on board with what I have perceived to be a premature push

for the Atlanta Falcons the last two years I do believe they are on a compelling path as we look ahead to 2023 still wish yes that they address quarterback in a different way Ryan Tanna Hill's still available hey heads up but I also I respect Falcons fans for what they've gone through the last five or six years

I'll never forget being at that Super Bowl in Houston, I believe it was. And we all walk by this kind of run down hotel on the outskirts of town that was completely booked out with Atlanta football fans, partying, having the time of their life on Saturday night and thinking of myself, A, I hope my fan base gets to do this just once before I die. And B, God, that's the first group of people I thought about when 283 went down. Falcons fans are so sick of 283. And the only thing that's made 283 worse has been the fact that the team has not really

been relevant or compelling really ever since. I know they won a playoff game the next year. We were there against the Rams. But other than that, it's been really a downhill ride here. Listen to this. A fan, super fan. I wish I had his name. If we could get it, that would be awesome, Justin.

But if not, don't worry about it. announcing a pick and then hearing someone shout from the crowd, you know what they shouted. With the 224th pick in the 2023 NFL draft, the Atlanta Falcons select, Jamarco Helms. No. Defensive back, Alabama. 283, good one. We've heard that before. Oh!

I'm assuming that came from the New England section. down in the orchestra pit. Absolutely. I'm so glad we got that on film. Little funny. Yeah, a little point and a mocking. Yeah, we've heard that one before. Thalcons fans don't want to hear that.

It's time for them to build their next cycle of success so they can really move on from that horrific Sunday. If you aren't watching this on YouTube, go find that clip either on this episode or somewhere else because the what he's wearing there is one of the more, it completely combats my concept of male fashion being in a low place at the moment. He is doing something completely different with his choices. It was an eye popper and I think it gave that production a little life at that point

because that was like deep in the seventh round where, you know, you're just struggling for something to say and like out comes this eye-catching wonder. It's a red suit with the dirty bird all over it. And he was holding a championship. You should watch this YouTube, you know? Hit the like, subscribe to around the NFL podcast on YouTube. Smash that like. Check out the live stream from the other night.

It's still cranking. Does anybody have one more? I have one more, but I'll defer to some you guys if you have one of the first. Yeah, quickly. Danny Kelly pointed out Devin A-Chane during our running back preview. And I wasn't familiar with him at the time. But he compared him to the running back version of Tyreek Hill, his explosive. is insane.

When I went to watch him, he is an insane player, and now he's a member of the Dolphins. That's the fastest track team I've ever seen, and so I'm just excited about that, him and Moster in the same backfield, just like he is pure speed. And then my last winner of the night,

you got to give it to the guys overseas, our buds, both Neil Reynolds and Will Gavin, Neil of Sky Sports, Will Gavin of Talksport Radio, both introducing picks on day three, coming through big in a big spot. They were sort of, introducing young fans in the UK that actually said the pick.

But they were there. They got their moment in the sun. They got some nice NFL network pop. So good job by Will and Neil. Both top blocs. I needed one of them to be in holographic form because I lost, as far as I can tell. We'll get to that. I don't know if I tracked every pick, but it's not looking good for the non-human making a pick.

Yeah, we will get to that. Mark, you got something else? I mean, I know we talked a little Patriots, but I thought in general, I liked their draft. And I think a winner has to be Mac Jones because I had become more and more convinced that he was going to get shipped out of town, that they were maybe going to go quarterback in general. They hung out there on the fringe of the potential Lamar Jackson, like Chase. And then a week later, there's really no competition outside of Bailey Zappy for Mack Jones's job. He's a star. I think he's the presumptive starter. I don't think he and Belichick are like the best of friends, but I don't think Bill Belichick's ever really been the best of friends with almost any of his quarterbacks. And so it's like you got Bill O'Brien. It's a better situation than a year ago. And you haven't just been thrown somewhere else to start all over in another city. Kea and White, their second round pick quickly, was as upset as I've ever seen. I really felt for him when he got drafted number 46. I believe he was at the draft and he left because he was.

was disappointed and they did still have a camera on him when he got drafted the second right i've never seen a player look as pissed off he was not getting over it in the in the moment so keon white a lot of people thought he'd be a top you know 30 pick i hope he brings that energy and he takes it out on the rest of the league very nice very nice i want the ultimate winner this is my last one i mean no one won the the draft in kansas city at a higher level than Hollywood actor Eric Stone Street, the modern family star, loyal to the soil, as they say,

all over the coverage on NFL network and beyond Stone Street Mania. Here he is announcing the Chief's pick late in the draft. All right, Kansas City! Hey! Hey, looks. Hey, real quick.

I'm so proud of our hometown. You guys showed up and show the National Football League what a great welcoming city, Kansas City is. So thank you, Kansas City. We love all NFL fans. We love everyone. We love football. Hey, man.

When you have an opportunity to just own the moment, as Stone Street has this weekend, you grab it. You grab that rocket and you go for a ride. And Stone Street hopped on. and he soared across the skies of Missouri. All three days. I mean, he wasn't just like a Thursday night guy or a Friday night guy. Hell no.

He was in all three days. And I've learned since, like, he had, he has beefs with different reporters around the country. Jeff Howe of the athletic who was once covering the Patriots. He has a beef with Stone Street because he once, you know, talked a lot of trash about one of his articles. So it's like Stone Street's in the mix and he's not going away. Did you see what he was doing? Outside of the announcement there, he had Rich Eisen in the passenger seat of his car. And he's got a vehicle with one of these, like, massive, like, speakers outside it.

And he's just driving around. Yeah, well, he's driving around being like, hey, I'm Rich Eisen. He's pretending to be Rich Eisen and saying sort of, like, bizarre stuff to people on the side of the street. Like, he's feeling himself. Do you know what they call that? C.S. Classic Stone Street. That is.

It is. We love football. Sounds like it could be the slogan for next year's season. Just we love football. Put that in the chamber. We might be firing that one off come next September. All right, before we say goodbye, let's check in on go get my lunch.

Once again, Nick Fortier. Oof. This was my worst one ever, I think. By the way, Nick Fortier reached out to me. You were concerned, Greg, that perhaps he was disrespected earlier last week that I couldn't quite place his name. But he took it in great spirits and signed a message to me, Nick Fortier,

a.k.a. Ryan Frontier, aka. Chad Foster. Chad Foster. This is just funny. Chad Foster. But yeah, you took a bit of a dirt nap here, Gregi. Well, you finish under 500. So Tyree Wilson is the first defensive player taken in the draft. No, he was not. It was who? Will Anderson? Yeah, Will Anderson. Dan and Mark pick up sandwiches there. Then you had all four of the top QBs. Young Stroud, Levis, and Richardson are drafted within the top 10.

Almost, but unfortunately, Lever was fell out of the first round and was taken 32nd overall. So you did not get that. Two more sandwiches for Dan and Mark. And then you had D.Hops. We all got, we all got banged on the veterans being moved. you had D-Hops traded to the bills by the end of the draft two more losses there so you finished five and eight Mark Sessler hey man listen we talked about it you're deep in the rearview in the standings you just got to chop wood for a few years that's it and here's a perfect example you have

the perfect jacket for it I feel like that's a good chopping wood jacket sure when mark is wearing the faded black Levi's jacket on a Saturday look out mark went seven and five the Packers draft at least four wide receivers and tight ends. A big W. Only one sandwich, though, you know, because I found it to be. Egregious. Nebulos. Nebulos.

Mac Jones is not a patriot by the end of the draft. There's your ding there. Dan and Greg took you on that. And Mac Jones is very much, it appears part of the equation there. A non-human slash non-animal makes a draft. draft pick, Dan and Greg both pick up sandwiches there. Was there ever a moment? I saw at one point there were, what the hell was it?

I turned it on today and it was monkeys or puppies or something. There was some type of animal. A dog peed on Daniel Jeremiah. Speaking of a winner in this draft, that dog is a winner. They brought a dog on stage. Oh, does you go boy? Yeah, peed on DJ. So that's good.

That sounded like something Mark would have predicted. Yeah. Yeah, I should have, you know, I didn't sense that when I was cooking up my sandwich things, but I'll be fully accountable. I did not track every single day three announcement. I like to watch as much as I can, but other human things were occurring during the day. But I know that if a non-human, non-animal had made a pick, I would be getting tons of tweets from people. And it was essentially totally quiet.

So very confident that a non-human, non-animal was not a participant today. the old Zeus are eight and four opening up a bit of a lead on the old boss the Texan state number two and draft the QB pick up two cute sandwiches there with C.J. Stroud coming up to board of two. I just missed really cleaning up in this draft because I had the Jets select Roger Jones in the first round. And another Schreger report that was out there. He was saying on Friday that the Jets weren't happy with the quote unquote narrative that everyone thought that. that that's who they wanted when that not necessarily was the case. I don't know if I necessarily believe that, but the jets were pushing back against that. They ended up taking the edge rusher. So I missed that one, though. So it cost me two sandwiches.

And then I had, once again, we all got dinged with the trades. Titans trade either Tannhill or Henry by today. So I guess they still have until midnight for that, but I don't see it happening. So that's going to cost me too. And then finally, the curse of the producer continues. Justin had no trades within the top seven picks. And as we said before, this was a historic draft.

There was more trades than ever, 41, I believe, or in the 40s somewhere. You had none in the top seven. I believe there were two in the top seven. Yeah, since you got that doubly wrong, you have to get us two sandwiches each. Okay. Well, one day I will win a sandwich. which, watch, one day. How did it go Thursday night after that long day?

And again, thank you to Justin and everybody behind the scenes, including Jessica as well, your lovely girlfriend who sat in on the live stream. When you got home, was she happy about being a part of it? Or was she like, what was that all about? Like, where did she come down on the live stream ultimately? A little bit of both. She was happy to be there. She was happy to see it up, like, happening live and not having to watch it, you know, on YouTube at home waiting for me to get back from work.

But at the same time, she did feel like, why was it a million degrees in that room? Why didn't you and Mark get more picks right in your mock draft? So I had something to do instead of just sitting there waiting for you guys to be wrong all night. So, yeah, that's where she came down. I think it's a totally fair assessment. By the way, I have some reporting I want to share about the temperature in that room. and this is something that I you know I like the triple source so I did I heard it someone volunteered it to me and then I checked in with a couple other people on this and

it has now been confirmed to me that the room where we did the live stream for five hours which was filled with you know roughly eight to ten people with lighting and cameras all over the place. It was known that there was an issue with the air conditioning weeks ago. And yet, we were thrown to the wolves or thrown into the fire, literally, despite them knowing full well what the outcome would have been. Wait, and you triple source this. You triple sourced it from within the building.

We were, and when I say we, I'm not just talking about the three of us. And we're not just Justin, there was a large crowd of hardworking NFL media employees inside what was a room that was no bigger than a small bedroom essentially. It was very compact, no windows, no ventilation. And you're trying to tell me that higher-ups within the building knew that they were willingly throwing their employees, the people that they value into this sort of hot house for four plus hours. You're telling me that's the scenario. I can only tell you what my reporting came up, came back with, which is they were fully aware, Greg, that if they put that many

people and that much lighting and that much equipment in that room for that amount of time, it was going to be a potentially dangerous experience, especially for the talent. And, and that's all. And we could, we could take action steps going forward as we head into the off season, the proper off season for us. But I think I had to get that out there. And I know that's going to rub some people the wrong way, some shadow leak figures that I would bring this reporting out here. But that that's part of what the Zucer has to do in terms of his reporting. And I'm just, that's it. Well, you know, Yessica had mixed feelings when Justin returned. Emika's feelings weren't mixed at all. She saw me. And she was like, did you lose seven pounds of water weight tonight?

Because you're looking good when I walked in. She's like, just get those soggy, uh, that soggy underwear. out of here and then you know let's go let's go the night ended with Greg ringing out his tidy whiteies into the kitchen sink don't need to visualize that all right I think that's enough good stuff good stuff another draft in the books that is the 10th draft we've covered for this podcast we've been involved with more address probably about 12 or 13 as a group but in terms of We're on the NFL podcast, our 10th, and we thank you for listening. Gregi, I know you checked it out. The number is very healthy and robust, both with the stream and the podcast.

You guys, 10 years, 13 years in, well, 10 years into the show now have continued to support us and the show has continued to grow. And also, again, Justin, jump up, jump back in here. Justin, this kind of is the year anniversary of Justin taken over as our full-time producer, replacing Erica, who obviously was incredible for us, but Justin, that was a hell of a first year with ATN. So we thank you for everything you do. Thanks. It's been a really fun year. Learned a lot and looking forward to a year where now I know all the like events and the tent pole things that we're, you know, expecting to cover. So I think I'll be better. You've done it all once. I don't,

I don't want to get ahead of ourselves. We haven't talked about this. But I'm actually ready to to ask you to be our pre-fiance producer. We're pre-engaging? Pre-engades. I don't know how that works. Yeah. I want to pre-engage with you, Justin. I do.

Just imagine us all on our knees, yes. Well, on one knee. Okay, that seems like a good time to get out. Thank you to everybody until we got again, like I said, we have around the AFC and NFC with special guests galore this week. So check back in on Tuesday. Until then, Dan Hed is signing off for Mark Sessler, Greg Rosenthal,

Justin Graver, everybody behind the scenes. Heed the call. You know, I'm going to be able to be. Hey everybody, Daniel Jeremiah here. And I'm Bucky Brooks. On Move the 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, 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 I Heart Rating. 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?

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