NFL Stock Exchange: An NFL Draft Podcast - 102. Early 2023 NFL Draft Outlook (Projecting the Top 15)

Episode Date: October 26, 2022

Hosts Trevor Sikkema and Connor Rogers look at the draft order as it stands today and think "what could be" for the teams picking in the Top 15.

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It's awesome. Sign up now at youtube.com slash BS, device and content restrictions apply. Local and national games on YouTube TV NFL Sunday ticket for out-of-market games excludes digital only games welcome to the NFL Stock Exchange podcast in this episode we're taking a look at the NFL draft order as it stands today we're going to look at the teams that are picking in the top 15 in that order have a good discussion about who we think is going to be at the top of this order when it's all said and done, who might be a little bit further down, who might be in the playoffs right

now, who we think could maybe end up with a top 15 overall pick, and then give you guys some scenarios, work through some team needs, where each guy could be going, who's really set up in a good spot. Plus, of course, it is a Stock Watch episode, so Connor and I are each going to give you three guys that we watched this past weekend that we want to bring to the table that you got to get on your scouting sheets. I'm Trevor Sycamore. With me as always is Connor Rogers. Let's ring the bell. Welcome to the opening bell of the NFL Stock Exchange Podcast. I'm Trevor Sikama. That is Connor Rogers.

And today we are taking a look at the NFL draft as it stands today. I know that this is normally the stock up episode and we'll get to some stock market movement. Don't worry. We'll get to that at the end of the show. But what we wanted to do, this is Connor's idea and I thought it was brilliant. Let's take a look at the nfl draft order as it stands today we also have a great tool over at pff.com to look at projections of where teams are going to finish how many wins they're going to get which of course means where

they're going to pick in the draft order connor i'm excited about this one man i'm juiced up for it not only do we get to talk prospects but we get to talk a little bit about what's going to happen at the very top of the draft at the end of the season, man. So this is a great idea on you. Big kudos. This is going to be a fun show. Thanks, dude. I think it's a good State of the Union time. I find myself sometimes getting so wrapped up in players and evaluations

that you forget of the drama that factors so much into this, that is who is making the picks at the top of the draft. And, you know, we're sitting here at the end of October where there's kind of a picture to be painted I know things could certainly change but when you look at the actual draft order that tells you one thing but like you said when you look at PFF's uh average wins based on projections that might tell you some other things so it's a good time to do that and as always we each have a couple players to get into from the weekend but this draft is going to be fascinating because of the quarterback power and defensive star talent at the top and there's some clear

contenders for who could be in the mix for those guys there really are you know i also want to do this at the very top of the show you know connor so go, go, go during the season that we didn't even recognize our 100th episode, which was like three episodes ago at this point. We missed it by like a lot. We totally missed it. And I just wanted to say to you guys out there listening, holy cow, time has flown by. I hope it's flown by for you guys as well, because of how much fun we have been having on this podcast. This is something that I'm not sitting here waiting for milestones.

I'm just waiting for the next podcast, man. This is a blast for me to do. It's an honor to do it with one of my good friends in the business. And I think that hopefully that comes out in some great content, some great conversations with you guys. We've had the chance to connect with a lot of you

over these last 102, 103 episodes, whatever it is now. So just wanted to say off the top of the show, I appreciate y'all so much embracing yet another draft podcast as if there aren't a million of them already. And this has been a lot of fun for me and a lot of fun for Connor to do. And it's you guys who make that possible. So just wanted to say thank you so much for listening to the 100 episodes. Here's to a lot of 100 more. Well said, man. I second all of that. Thanks for picking me as a co-host, first off.

And it's just, it's been a blast. I love doing this show. I feel like it's the one time of the week that you can kind of take a breath and look at a lot of things that you just get lost in the shuffle over the weekend or throughout the week. And I know you and I, we've talked about this a lot. We're really excited even for after the season, because the draft season that we had in our, you know,

first year of doing this show was incredible. We can't wait to see what this year brings. And it's been a lot of fun. And the community aspect to me is what's blown my mind the most. The people that are so involved or talk to each other or react to the show or comment on YouTube or leave us a review. And I've had people message,

a couple of people messaged me on social media asking, you know, can we do a Twitter community or a Discord? And those are things that we're always thinking of and trying to discuss. And maybe when we get closer to draft, we'll find a way to create an even better community aspect as well yeah we do need to we we need to look into discord we need yeah we need to look into discord it would be a while right right i feel like that's the next

that's the next step of the podcast also uh can we give a shout out to one listener specifically nicole antonio you are unbelievable you guys see that if you're watching on youtube you could see the custom cup that connor got i have it as well i don't have it uh within reaching distance but she sent connor and i a care package and and we just oh man it just means the world thank you so much for not only awesome podcast her and joshua who recently got married so obviously a big congrats uh to those two i just blown away blown away by it there are a couple more things there's actually a christmas ornament which if you watch this show you know that behind me i have these two tiny little christmas trees

that are right next to my tv so this is very topical for the show i'm gonna put one of those christmas ornaments right on uh right on one of those little christmas trees and there there's something else in there that I won't give away yet because I think we're going to use it on a surprise show at some point. I didn't even tell you this yet. I don't want to ruin the surprise.

Every man and woman has to have a cup, dude. You've got to have a go-to cup. I will say that men specifically yeah well because we don't even wash them we have one cup there's just one we pick one cup in the house it's normally a plastic cup it's probably a plastic cup from like six years ago and we make that our cup and now i have a new go-to cup with uh with our podcast nfl stock exchange on it so

i'm very excited for it me too man i i got a lot of uh comments on my previous tumblr that looked like a liquor shaker and now i've graduated thanks to nicole to the stock exchange tumblr as well so i'm i'm over here i got i currently have water in like a like an actual pro shaker bottle yeah yeah just you know just doing real what do you say real man real man real man things out here one cup one shaker that's all you need all right before we embarrass ourselves uh with our dishes um our dish uh i don't want what do i say here? How we use dishes, how we go about dishes. Dish usage. Dish war.

Dish wins above replacement. Before we get too much in the weeds with that, let's talk about this draft order, man. We are a full seven weeks into the season. And I'll just read off the top 15. I'll go top 15 as it stands today. We're going to talk about that a little bit. And then we'll talk about what PFF is currently projecting

for the draft order to potentially be when the regular season is all said and done. Detroit Lions. We had such high hopes, Connor. We had such high hopes for them. Season's not over. Season's not done. But they're sitting here at one and five.

They're picking number one overall. We got Houston at number two. Carolina, big win against the Buccaneers to get them out of number one. They're houston at number two carolina big win against the buccaneers to get them out of number one they're sitting there at number three crazy enough man philly houston seattle those are four five five and six all three of those teams they got from trades those are new orleans picks cleveland's picks and denver's pick that's crazy we got pittsburgh sitting at seven jacksonville's at eight las vegas is at nine atlanta's at 10 miami because of their trade for san francisco with the trail and steel got Pittsburgh sitting at seven. Jacksonville's at eight. Las Vegas is at nine. Atlanta's at 10.

Miami, because of their trade for San Francisco with the Trey Lance deal, they're sitting at 11. Got Arizona at 12. Patriots at 13. Chicago at 14. And then Washington sitting there with that number 15 overall pick. Connor, what stands out to you right now with the draft as it is today?

That a couple teams that were hoping to not be in this conversation are still there it feels like their rebuilds are not going the exact right there's been good signs from both the lions and jacksonville but we didn't want to see the lions in jacksonville in the top 10 here and they have time to turn it around. The season's young. Now, when you look at PFF's average wins, they are projecting the Lions at third in this draft and Jacksonville fourth. So it's not looking good right now. And once again, there's time.

But Houston and Carolina, you can kind of see this coming with those teams. The one that fascinates me the most, Trevor, I'll say this, in terms of what could happen or what will be discussed, what if the Steelers are picking in the top five to eight picks of this draft? Yeah, what do they do, right? Because if you're picking top five, then clearly your season has not gone the way that you have planned.

I think they're encouraged by Kenny Pickett right now. Kenny Pickett has certainly given them a spark that Mitchell Trubisky did not. So right now, the fresh blood, if you will, the new face, the new arm in that offense is no question about it, better than what we saw from the Steelers at the beginning of the season. But is it enough to not pick Bryce Young if you can? Is it enough to not pick C.ce young if you can is it enough to not pick cj stroud if you can that's where we really get into uh a lot of debates that may feel to me if we get in a

situation where pittsburgh's picking in the top five it might be steelers fans versus everybody because steelers fans might sit there and say we're okay with Pickett yep uh we could we could we roll with Pickett it's fine and basically everyone else outside of Pittsburgh all the other fan bases in the NFL that casually just become draft fans are just gonna be say you're out of your mind if you don't you're right quarterbacks so I totally see that as a potential thing that's happening and I think I don't I haven't made up my mind in the argument like i want to see more of kenny pickett before deciding that but of course there's not a franchise offensive lineman that we've seen yet that's a no-brainer in the top three to five picks that you're looking at the steelers and you're going yeah absolutely on the flip side

as much as you'd like to see detroit be better Detroit picking one or two, the good side of that is they would get their quarterback of the future, which this team was always going to need eventually. I wonder if Dan Campbell's going to be the one to pick it, though. Right? Good question. You know, I do think coaches sometimes get a really short end of the stick.

There's a lot of coaches, and people are going to respond to this and be like yo coaching contracts are fully guaranteed they're doing all right and you're right they're going to get paid anyways it doesn't really matter in that aspect but you look at dan campbell they made this trade with jared goff for jared goff to be his quarterback over these last two years with the vision in mind that at the end of year two of golf's time with the lions they will then get to pick their franchise quarterback like that is when it comes up for them that timeline connor is going according to plan yeah now i don't

think i don't think they believe they look this bad. The defense is a problem. That's the big issue, right? And you can look at reasons why. You can certainly look at the Lions defense on paper and say to yourself, they don't have enough talent to win. And I would tell you, you know what? You're right. But dead last?

You know, like the way that they started this season, that stuff looks ugly. And that's the stuff that might be hard for him to overcome. I just wonder if the Lions get the number one overall pick, I'm with you. That feels like the best case scenario for them. And honestly, where their rebuild is going, how the timeline of their rebuild was first established. Will Dan Campbell get the luxury or get the commitment, I'll say,

to finish that part of the rebuild, to get to that point of the winning window? I don't know. It's an impatient league, man. I just don't know. I think ownership really likes him and believes in him. So I would lean yes, but it's a fair question. Now, when you're evaluating things right now, the Lions have the second easiest schedule remaining for the rest of the year per PFF's projections.

Houston, on the other hand, has the sixth hardest schedule remaining. So when you're looking at this, Carolina 20 25th uh hardest so they're actually they play an easier schedule easier right Jacksonville 10th though so Houston and Jacksonville their their schedules are bad you can sit there and go man Jacksonville should be better than what they are but Houston Houston is it crazy to say the safest bet right now feels like Houston is walking out of night one of the 2023 draft with Bryce Young, CJ Stroud, or in a world where things get a little wild in these next couple months, Will Levis? Yeah. Like, that's it. We're down to that already.

Yeah. For as much as the conversation is there for who's picking number one we can argue a couple of different teams but in terms of likelihood of a team picking in the top three i would agree with you that houston has the highest odds for that they're just they're just not a high ceiling team you know you it goes back to the conversation that we had on the monday podcast on what matters most and when i talked about the Raiders versus the Texans, I said this on the show, Texans aren't bad. It's not like they're an extremely poorly coached football team.

They're not catastrophic. They're just not talented. So unless you really blow it against the Texans, they just don't have the guys to be able to fight at that weight class, if you will, to be able to fight in that division. So I feel like you are right. It seems as though we are trending towards them being an absolute lock for one of these top quarterbacks, which, dude, is exactly what they need.

That's exactly where they want to be. So it makes sense for them. Who trades mac jones instead of drafting a quarterback um which whichever team is that loses musical chairs and the draft is screwed and you know what the problem is is that like carolina can't afford to do this again carolina no no no no no no carolina is in a spot where you know i i went on a no no no i went on a carolina radio station on friday last friday and they jokingly asked me is there any way that the carolina panthers can win against the buccaneers and i I kind of laughed, obviously, at the time. I had no idea what was about to unfold. Didn't know P.J. Walker was going to go God mode. Sorry, didn't predict it. Hats off to P.J. So I kind of said on the radio, I laughed and I was like, they don't want to.

If the Buccaneers win the game on Sunday, that is the ideal outcome for both teams. Carolina cannot be in a spot where they don't get a quarterback in this coming draft. They cannot be in that spot because even if there is a decent option of a quarterback to trade for next offseason, Carolina is not going to come close to touching it. So man, as fun as this past week was with pj walker connor carolina better start losing some football games man they cannot get away from this top three they have to be in the top three if they want to slingshot this rebuild uh the way that i think that they're hoping they can this offseason don't let deontay foreman get hot dude don't let him get hot oh buddy carolina who is gonna trade for mac jones i i was like being a little serious i know that's a red alert let's have the conversation

who's trading for mac jones which one of these teams atlanta maybe but why would they trade for mac when they've got desmond ritter you know because they didn't think desmond ritter was good enough to be taken in the first two rounds well that's that's that's very true I just try to think like a draft room where Washington Washington is absolutely they're picking in the middle they're not you know but that's probably yeah but what what yeah what is Mac Jones worth? Mac Jones isn't worth a top three pick. No, no, no, no, no, no. Not a first. This season is...

Is that crazy? I just heard those words come out of my mouth. Mac Jones wouldn't fetch a first-round pick, right? I never say never with quarterbacks in the NFL. Yeah, that's why the second I said it, I was like, hold on, Trev. Did you just embarrass yourself on national YouTube television?

I know who the team is. Who is it? Maybe I walked us back. I don't think... It's like the meme of the game. You puffed your chest out for that one. You were like, I know who this is. Because it makes sense,

but knowing Chris Ballard's evaluation, I don't think it does. It's not the Colts. Oh, okay. It can't be the Colts. But I mean. That's why it's the Bucs. Oh, man.

Kyle Trask for Mac Jones straight up. Who says no? Straight up. Who says no? I receive. You receive. Shout out to Ryan, the GOAT producer for that. You receive. for mac jones straight up who says straight up who says no who says no i receive you receive shout out to ryan the goat producer for that you receive kyle trask i receive mac jones you know and a fifth you talking about the colts and we're gonna get every every colts fan to turn off the

podcast right now but you bringing up the colts is truly that meme of that of that woman who's just like who tries i don't remember what she tries but she tries the drink she's like no no no absolutely not well you know like it's they might be in this situation where because for as bad as the cold season is what are they three three and one what's their yeah they're three three and one that and the pff projections have them picking 16th so no man's land that's why i said it i'm like the colts aren't gonna be bad enough to get one of the top three quarterbacks no way at that point you gotta pray anthony richardson declares and everybody's too scared to take him till you get to 16 and it doesn't matter for you i I can't wait for the chaos that is this quarterback class. You know what is wild?

Where are we in projected wins for the Saints? Oh, dude, they're sixth. Sixth. The Eagles have this pick. I know. Howie Roseman is diabolical. Yeah, he's a mad scientist right now. Howie Roseman is about to reunite Jalen Carter and Jordan Davis again if he gets the number six overall pick.

What if Will Anderson just falls into their lap? What if the Saints really stink it up the rest of the year? I mean, that's the thing. If the Saints finish with a top three pick and the Eagles get Will Anderson. It's not crazy. It's really not. And they need an edge rusher like that. They have a good defense, but when you look at it, you go edge rusher for their future.

Next three years, not next year. Next three years. I can't wait. I can't wait for the draft already. I love this. I forgot how much I love this because we haven't talked scenarios yet. We really haven't. Houston right now has two top five picks. Which is great for them.

They have Cleveland right from the Deshaun Watson trade. They have Cleveland's first round pick. So they have the number two overall pick right now and they have the number two overall pick right now and they have the number five overall pick there is a non-zero chance that houston can come out of this draft with bryce young and will anderson there's a non-zero chance that that happens which is absolutely bonkers yeah that's pretty gnarly and i'm curious to see if they move brandon cooks or laramie tunzel at this deadline and get more ammo they should i'm of the opinion that they should absolutely move cooks but i'm also of the opinion that they should not move tunzel i well i agree

with that okay yeah okay okay tunzel's playing at such a good level. He's 28. He's under contract for the next two years. But you never know. You never know. How high does Vegas have to pick to pick a quarterback in this draft? They're at nine right now. Oh, man. Derek Carr has no guaranteed money after this year. Yeah, I think they get flexible after this.

Yeah, so Carr, pretty much, if he was cut after this year it would be about five million dead money but you're saving almost 30 but like what are we talking here like let's say let's say will anderson's still on the board not will anderson sorry let's say will levis is still on the board and vegas is picking like 10 so you're not a car i was gonna say so you're not like a catastrophically bad team but you'd still like you say he takes i don't i don't want to say a slide because i think this is realistic for will levis to be yeah in the middle or maybe even the end of the first round do does las vegas consider a quarterback if they are not in the top five yes oh you think you think you think they consider it okay i i try to think of josh mcdaniels over there look at new england right new england just came out of last year mac jones makes the pro bowl all he's a top 100 player on

the nfl's funny list and i'm not saying they took bailey zappy all the top 100 NFL's funny list. And I'm not saying they took Bailey Zappi. Oh, the top 100 of the funny list? Yeah, funny list. Okay, all right. Interpret that as however you want. That's funny. That's pretty good. I mean, dude, they drafted

Bailey Zappi with a pick. Pick 137. I'm not saying that's a crazy priority. And they did need a backup for the future. Brian Hoyer is not going to play until he's 80. But it's still...

They just take quarterbacks, man. That's what they do. Josh hoyer is not going to play until he's 80 but it's still they just take quarterbacks man that's what they do josh mcdaniels is going to be the same way and it wouldn't shock me if you what if he falls in love with will levis and they're picking 14th right that's yeah tough luck derrick carr this guy's going to sit behind you and you're going to hear his name called every time you throw an interception we don't't care. I wonder how much the Devante Adams part of this goes into that. That is like the ultimate, you know, you know,

Joker card. Like what? Like what? Yeah. Cause obviously he, he, you'd think that he came to the Raiders for a lot of reasons, millions of reasons,

if you will. But also I think the car was a big reason why I, yeah, absolutely. Do. All right. Here's a, here All right, here's a fun exercise. Of the teams currently not picking in the top 15, who are, give me two or three teams that are most likely to be picking in the top 15.

I like that. I'll say Washington. Oh, they are 15 15th they are dead 15th you coward just kidding yeah i can't use them just kidding oh this gets pretty tricky i would say i would say the rams i would agree uh the Colts are 17, but that's... They count? They do count. And then Green Bay is currently picking 16. So I think the obvious answers are Green Bay and Indianapolis,

but they're sitting right there at 15. I'm kind of more looking at these projected, or at least where we have it right now, the playoff teams. I don't want to say Seattle, man. My heart doesn't... I don't want to do it. I don't want to say seattle man my heart i don't want to do it i don't want to do it and you know what i'm not going to do it okay so rams are one yeah that is projecting them to be 15th seattle yeah hating that hating ass they have the eighth hardest schedule moving forward oh damn rams are currently 20th. They're sitting there at 3-3.

I think there's a decent chance that they're picking in the top 15. I bet a lot of people would say the Jets. Jets are 5-2. They're picking 26th. Unreal words just came out of my mouth. I will not. I think not the trade for James Robinson itself, but it shows you that they're not looking at their massive injuries.

They just suffered and saying, well, we had a good start to the season. We'll try again next year. Wow. They're currently projected at nine and a half wins. Nine point four. Yeah. 18th hardest schedule remaining. So not an overwhelming schedule.

I'm not saying they're going on a's just going on a playoff sneaky one it's a real sneaky one the chargers i think the chargers defense is in trouble sneaky potential top 15 team yeah just lost jc jackson for a long who was not playing well not playing well gotta make that very clear but it's they could always get worse oh baby sure you've watched enough jets football and i've watched enough bucks football to tell the good people out there it can always get always trust me always get whoever whoever you're hating on on sundays when he goes down and you go our our problems are solved, guess what? Murphy's Law.

Sometimes there's a reason why they're out there. All right. Well, got anything else for the draft order? No, that was a good – what do they call it? Primer? Yeah, sure. I don't know. That'll work.

Yeah, yeah. A whore's divorce? Yeah, I like that a lot. Somebody laughed. whores divorce yeah there i like that a lot somebody somebody laughed i think it was on it's just football when i when i pronounced hors d'oeuvres as whores divorce because that's so good when you just look at it that's how it's set and like people freak out about it they're like oh that's not how it's that's not how it's pronounced that's not how it's pronounced and i'm like yes it's like calling jalapenos jalapenos.

Jalapenos. Gets everybody. They look at you like you're actually an idiot. And you're like, I'm not actually an idiot. I'm just trying to mess with you. You know, I think this is a good time to admit to the world that my dad, who does not listen to the podcast, love him to death. He constantly refers to Chipotle as Chipolte.

Chipotle as Chipolte? Yeah, he just calls it Chipolte. My dad's got some good ones. I got to think of this. But I think that's a classic dad one. Dads do that. Yeah. And they just keep moving.

They don't even correct themselves or try to correct. Unfazed. It's a really like, when you get to that point in life, it's really it's you know you can commend someone for that you don't even care yeah my dad at all my dad's had enough my dad was a small business owner he's uh he's had enough stress in his life of people management that he's had to deal with that if he pronounces a restaurant the wrong way he doesn't shit he is moving on oh man i don't know where i have to uh i have to admit something before i move on to stock up i did google kyler murray's contract extension to see if he could be traded

but can he yeah can you read can you read me the numbers just for fun just yeah just for fun just for fun you don't know hey let's let's say mac jones becomes available you know just for fun you know just well so his cap number next year is only 16 mil and then 2024 goes up to 52 mil which is quite the quite the rise it's just that it's all that guaranteed money in bonuses that so his guaranteed salary in 2024 is 35 million dollars okay there there's just it's not a contract that i i it would take a lot of different cap gymnastics and logistics and cash flow i don't think many in arizona are going to be there after the year but i think whoever takes that job is inheriting yeah kyler murray absolutely is kyler murray is not going anywhere even if they clean if they fully cleaned house like if they got rid of the general manager

everybody on the front office everybody on the coaching staff kyler murray would still be there kyler probably gets to pick the coach right he is the lowest on the pecking order of who do we who do we get rid of here i think the quarterback is absolutely going to be the last guy who's out of town in arizona and i don't think that he's going to be out of town uh before we move on to some stock up we're going to give you some uh some players that we like from over the weekend that we want you guys to have on your scouting radar i I got a question for you. What if you could have invested in Tom Brady stock as a rookie? Okay. Your investment would be worth up to 4,000% higher than the money that you put in. Now it's not what if, but who's next? Mojo is the all new sports stock market that lets you invest in your favorite athletes and cash in on your passion. You sign up

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All right. It's time for some stock up. Where are we going? Where are we going this week, Connor? You got three. I got three. Who do you want to start with anthony orgy the linebacker from vanderbilt my god this is one of the best games from a linebacker i've seen in the last couple years all right let's hear it i just the orgy was everywhere dude you couldn't miss it you could

you could not miss the orgy out on the field i mean thanks rg3 that it's just did you see did you see when he said that he literally said that live on the broadcast i think no i'm i think anthony orgy got a safety and robert griffin the third who is doing the color on the broadcast is like it's an orgy in the end zone oh that is unbelievable oh man that's unreal broadcast it's crazy wow anyways go ahead this game was just truly insane from him he had a sack that kind of went viral because his teammate jumped over the pass protecting running backs which was really cool uh really cool move so he had the sack that they both kind of contributed to being a strip sack he had four tackles for a

loss he had a forced fumble against the run so he was in on the strip sack he forced the fumble against the run he had four tackles for a loss and he had an interception i mean this was just i there's not games like this for anyone it was insane it was really insane six foot two 230 pounds play speed instincts uh just wild really wild he's a good blitzer he's obviously pretty adequate in coverage but his range in the run game is what makes him such a fun player to watch. So I was insanely impressed. It was one of those games where you had on the TV, you just couldn't miss him. He was in on every single play, making big plays, taking away the football in three different varieties.

Anthony Orji was just number zero. I love that on a linebacker. It's such a great aesthetic. So, yeah, I was blown away. He was somebody that right away I was like, man, I i gotta go watch the rest of the tape of this guy because this is just a real performance uh so my fiance elissa was doing sideline for vanderbilt old miss a couple weeks ago and i actually got to go there

right yeah yeah i actually got to go watch that game in person and he's clearly their best defense player clearly i mean i i get it people who are listening to this you're gonna be like yo it's vanderbilt but but anthony orgy is actually legit like he was the best player on the on the on the defensive side no doubt about it they also have a guy who we shouted out i think it was that week um on the offensive side of the football jayden mcgowan the the freshman wide receiver but those two clearly standing out as the best two players on the team um shout out to will shepherd though he's also he's also good he's gonna be a draft eligible guy as well so i gotta get eyes on him man i gotta look at him under a microscope and uh i i definitely

gotta get to him because senior so and you love to see that he's gonna be a circuit all-star circuit i was gonna say all right trevor who you got i think he's a senior bowl guy. I think he's a senior bowl guy. Oh, yeah. Okay. Oh, yeah. I'll stick your, I'll stick it. First round, not first round. First round of invites. Ah, okay. There we go.

Okay. Yeah. First round. Just like making. Yeah, pump the brakes. Not first round player yet. I'm making that the headline of the YouTube video. And it's just like a.

It's an orgy in the first round. Jesus. It's okay. Moving on. I'll stick in the SEC um i'm gonna go with marshawn lloyd the running back from south carolina who had a really good week this past week of south carolina took down texas a&m for the first time in uh in school history i believe that they is that right a&m yeah i didn't know it's the first time ever yeah yeah so a and m came to the sec in 2014 was it 14 because they weren't always they

weren't always in the sec and i think it was maybe it was a little bit before it was a 14 you're around the i think it was something like that 13 14 whatever and um they're in the sec west the gamecocks are in the sec east so they don't play every year guaranteed but yeah they've never been texting up and they were able to uh get off the schneid this past weekend which is great um marshall lloyd though they're running back they lean on him and he absolutely delivered five foot nine 212 pounds his red shirt sophomore this year was supposed to get some serious playing time in his freshman season but he tore his acl on the second day of camp and his true freshman season. How bad does that suck,

man? You go through that, that whole recruiting cycle. You make the stressful decision of making a final spot. You go to a school that you love, you get in camp. You can't, you can't wait to really get after it.

And you tear your AC on day two, like that, that just reading that. So thanks. So I, I hate to read that, but fast forward and he's putting himself in a great spot this past weekend after it and you tear your ac on day two like that that just reading that sucks thanks so i i hate reading that but fast forward and he's putting himself in a great spot this past weekend at 18 carries 92 rushing yards two touchdowns 88 yards after contact he had four yards that didn't come before some contact really liked what i saw from this rusher he is he's gonna have some fan

favorites i think it's a mid-round back um he draft eligible this year i'm not so sure he declares right because it's not like he's blowing the doors off with stats but there are some traits to really like first of all he's very light on his feet there are a handful plays against a&m where defender was able to penetrate on the interior so beating the guard of the center and they were able to get close to him and they were going for a tackle so they were going kind of low on him and he was able to just jump right over him, sidestep him, whatever he was able to do to avoid that in the backfield and take what could have been a negative play turned into a positive normally of dancing behind the line of scrimmage when he's running behind pullers um certainly when he is a mid-zone inside zone runner as well another scheme that i really like for him because of his footwork he's just light on his feet and because of that he has a lot of good elusiveness especially we saw that on saturday um use his shoulders to set up defenders for a little stutter step a move that he consistently goes to whether it's behind the

line of scrimmage or in space outside of it. I'll say this, man. He's got a little Kenneth Walker to him. He really does. I watched Kenneth Walker last year plenty, not just for the draft, but I also was doing a feature story on him when he was at Michigan State. And the first thing I noticed is like, okay, this guy bounces out to the outside a little bit too much,

but he's so good at it. Like he's so light on his feet that when you get initial penetration on him he will bounce right by the initial penetration and then he will go to where the open space is he'll go to the outside he'll uh get towards the sideline and he'll normally be able to uh overpower defensive backs that are out there or outrun linebackers that are trying to chase him to the sideline and i saw a handful of those similar plays in marshawn lloyd's game this past week against texas a&m so got him he's got a knack for getting skinny in between blocking concepts especially when it comes to zone you know when those creases those cutback lanes are real tight he's able to somehow get that 210 215 pound frame

right through it so i love how he gets skinny, if you will, a scouting term that I learned a long, long time ago. All in all, I'm not so sure that Marshawn Lloyd is going to declare because it's his first year really getting carries after coming back from that ACL surgery. So I think he's probably a guy who's destined for the 2024 class.

But if he comes out this year, there are traits that I like that I think can definitely succeed in the NFL. It's a great show. for the 2024 class but if he comes out this year there are traits that i like that i think can uh they can definitely succeed in the nfl it's a great show i mean he was the fifth best running back in the country in his recruiting class so there are huge expectations for this guy who's right he's healthy and what it sounded like you were talking about trevor is that he's he's looking like the guy that school expected him to be and it's just a a matter of, you know, how hot does he get this year? With running backs, you never rule it out.

You never rule it out that it's like, hey, you've shown enough for scouts to keep those legs fresh and get to the NFL or really get comfortable, have a monster year in 2023 because he's only a redshirt sophomore, like you said. So Marshawn Lloyd, definitely somebody'm excited uh to keep watching as well all right one for me that I thought he'd be in the NFL already to be honest with you at this point but I was really impressed with what I saw this weekend Zach Harrison on Ohio State the big defensive end was wasn't his grade insane insane he had a day pass rushing he had eight pass rush snaps and he only eight against Iowa okay and he had a 96.5 grade that is

territory that's just man's getting after it it's not seen very often he had a sack two more quarterback hits two more quarterback hurries so essentially and an unblocked pressure so he got home on six of his eight reps that's like that'll do you're against a traffic cone at that point is what it looks like and oh, and that's Iowa too. And it's Iowa. That's O-line U. What I really liked with Harrison, I had big expectations from going into 2021.

And I think he showed power at times, but really just no, we know how well that school coaches up D-line. And he didn't look like a guy that had a wide array in the toolbox while he had all the physical gifts. And what I saw against Iowa was winning in a variety of ways that can make him a scary player. There was a quarterback hit that he got off the ball really fast, two hand swipe beats that soft shoulder to the outside and kills the quarterback and almost forced him to throw an interception. It was batted pass the strip sack he was so twitchy all setting up the inside move that he got the tackle to overset wide he shot through that gap and and and really ran the

hoop to chase the quarterback as we see the combine drill ran that hoop and got the strip sack i mean this is a dude that look he's a six foot six 275 pound defensive end he's a big guy and at times what i saw last year is i'm like man he just he moves a little slower than you'd like but he's big so that's what you get he was moving moving in this game where i'm like man he's starting to figure it out as a rusher where he, he might never develop into that guy that a lot of people saw as a recruiter underclassmen and said like, he's going to be a top 15 pick one day, but he's figuring it out as a rusher while being such a strong, powerful edge setting run defender.

I was very, very impressed and very happy to see him take these kinds of strides. Yeah. That was, that was the main question for me after seeing him a little bit, when we were going through summer scouting is okay. I know what I'm getting from this player, both from a physical standpoint and a power standpoint.

Like this is a guy who you could put his hand in the dirt. He could be a four, three defensive end for you. You can kick him inside a little bit because he's got the length he's got the size he won't be overwhelmed too much so you've got that versatility there but does he have the juice and i didn't see a ton of juice from him consistently last year i'd love to go back to this game because you even mentioning him getting close to a position where he's running the hoops that tells me that okay you're coming around the corner with some speed.

You've worked on your ankle flexibility as much as you possibly can, you know, and that's, that's stuff that will potentially unlock Zach Harrison to be a top 50 pick when it comes to April. So got to watch him. Got to watch him. Yeah.

It was just really good to see. Cause you know, it's always been there and you're like, okay, this is, you're going to be in some big games this year for that program. And you're obviously going to have the spotlight in that chance. And he looks I know Iowa has not had the year that we expect from Iowa, but he looks good. Looks real good. Love it. Have you talked about Parker Washington yet? The widest year from Penn State? I have not. I don't think we have.

So we haven't. There's a handful of people that have tweeted at us, messaged us what our thoughts are. We get a lot of Penn State requests, by the way. I'm not saying good or bad. I'm just saying that's the school we get the most requests from on a weekly basis. I think you're right. But, dude, athletes at Penn State,

they know how to recruit athletes, and so that immediately translates into potential draft guys so as a freshman had 489 yards receiving six touchdowns as a sophomore last year he upped that to 820 yards at four touchdowns this year he's not lighting the world on fire and i think that that's why people aren't paying as much attention to him as they potentially could, but should they? I'll argue that. I would argue that. He stands at 5'10", 212 pounds.

He's a slot receiver, as you would expect, redshirt sophomore. As a redshirt freshman, he actually had seven starts and was second on the team with those 64 catches, 820 yards and five touchdowns, so they were leaning on him constantly. Going to be honest with you, Connor. Quarterback play at Penn State, not great. Suboptimal. It is suboptimal is a good way to explain it,

good way to encapsulate it. But Parker Washington definitely shows out in a variety of different ways, man. I think that he is a really good high-end straight kind of a slot wide receiver. Now, I don't think he's blazing fast, but I know he's got a track background. I know he ran track in high school, and you could see that when it comes to that acceleration. You know how you watch Jamar Chase,

and it's almost like this smooth acceleration to where you're almost fooled into thinking he's not athletic, but then all of a sudden he's just running past all of the defensive backs that are on the field. That's kind of how I feel with Parker Washington. He's such a smooth speed, smooth buildup that you watch guys who play in the slot. And if they're not these freakishly quick twitch players you say to yourself oh there's other athletes that i'd rather have the slot position be careful of being fooled with that when it comes to especially parker washington because he is a guy who a lot of his production is schemed up it's mesh concepts it's drag routes over the middle you know they're trying to just get him moving horizontal across

the line of scrimmage easy dump off pass to him he can get a lot of yards after the catch but when they ask him to run routes man he sinks those hips those feet chop and he can break he creates separation on his brakes but kind of my favorite part about him is he's five foot ten he can go up and catch the ball away from his frame as if he is six foot two six foot three this past week against minnesota he had an incredible body spinning sky floating catch for a touchdown straight over a defender where he just absolutely mossed the dude and you go i'm sorry he's 5 10 that's not even the part of his game that he boasts love how good of a natural hands catcher he is uh love what he can do after the catch when he immediately becomes a playmaker he's got to be averaging a ton of um

missed tackles forced on the season because i i saw them with my own eyes on tape but this is a guy man when you look at potential slot receivers in this class and you kind of formulate who do i like the most he feels like my cup of tea he feels like a guy who yes he's got the slot skill set and the slot size but he can even give you a little bit more than that those are the kind of players that gravitate towards so i really do like parker washington i think that there's a chance that he could be a top 50 guy for real love to hear that and somebody that has been productive right away which is so rare at the wide receiver position in college. Like you said, I mean, he was productive as a freshman on that team.

And he's got a thick build, man. 5'10", 2'12". I mean, he's built like a running back more than a slot receiver. Reminds me of Amari Rogers was built like that, who the Packers drafted as a slot for them. He had that thick slot build. He's just going to hang on to the football. He's got to hang on to the football.

All right, my last one here, brief mention, because kind of like you said earlier in the show, is that you don't always expect these guys to declare when they're in that redshirt sophomore category, and Frank Gore Jr. is somebody who is a redshirt sophomore. Not playing for a big program, Southern Miss. Man, he looks good. This is the first time I've watched Frank Gore Jr.

He's 5'9", about 200 pounds, and he's forcing a ton of missed tackles. He forced eight missed tackles on the ground as a runner, and he forced another two missed tackles on his only reception which was a 21 yard catch in this game really just to check down where it looked like he honestly made three guys miss on the play he's very very elusive Trevor really good feet uh stop and start he can run through contact like his dad did but I mean he had 96 rushing yards and 77 of them were after contact. I think he's been quietly one of the better yards

after contact running backs in the country this year. The blocking is not great with this program and he's making guys miss right at the line of scrimmage. They run a wildcat package with him pretty consistently. That's how much they want the ball in his hands. I mean, there was multiple, he had 20 attempts. There were multiple wildcat attempts with gore uh as well so maybe a guy that we're a year early on here but frank

gore jr is going to be playing in the nfl just like his dad oh i was gonna say off name alone off name alone he's gonna be playing wasn't a big recruit though that's obviously that is true and it's your southern miss no i was southern miss i was gonna say if he was a bigger crew he we got to think he would have been in miami right probably in miami just on legacy alone right right so i i it was it was when i first learned of frank or junior outside of me being like damn i'm old uh my next my next immediate thought was hey like how did he end up at southern miss so um you know maybe we'll be able to uh maybe your people over pff we can get a little sit down with them ask them all about it ask them what it was like living in the uh maybe living in the dad's shadow and kind of would

be cool paving his own way you know that'd be awesome i'd love to learn his story yeah and really did right you see so many uh recruits or or children of famous players that go on to be huge recruits. And they're covered maybe a little differently than the average player because it's tougher for them, the expectations. But Frank Gore Jr., I mean, obviously a good high school player, but goes to Southern Miss, wasn't a big recruit, and now he looks like a really, really good player that's going to find his way into the NFL.

So it's, which doesn't surprise anybody when you look at the bloodlines at all. You ready for this last one, Connor? Yeah, I am. What do you got to close out the show? Go, baby. It's Bo Nix time. Well, no, he didn't.

We threw on the tape. He's out. He's out. For those of you who are only listening. nicks listen to me man i get it i get it top 10 matchup this past weekend oregon versus ucla my man bone I never wavered. Never. 22 for 28. 283 yards. Five touchdowns. Zero picks. Okay.

All right. Let's bring you up to speed here. Obviously, a lot of people know of Bo Nix. Six foot two, 215 pounds. Just senior. Transferred from Auburn. Because he, wow. He wasn't very good.

He wasn't very good in the SEC. He had one. You never wavered, though. He had one. No, he never wavered. He had one good first quarter against Oregon, his true freshman season, that he made like two or three throws, and then all of a sudden everyone just couldn't stop talking about Bo Nix. It was mayhem.

It was fun for a week. Right, but then I think the next two years we had a lot more tape on him, and he just never was able to take that step forward. Obviously, you go into this year as well. Oregon plays Georgia right off the bat. Knicks does not look good. That game was, again, bad, and people were like, all right, well, not much has changed for Bo Knicks.

Look, it's one game against UCLA. Without question, Bo Knicks' best game. Without question. And I'm even going beyond the stats because, yeah, he threw five touchdowns, but he really only had about one or two big-time throws. There were a couple of turnover-worthy plays. We didn't knock him for any.

We have a zero for turnover-worthy plays. But I watched all 30 of his dropbacks this past game, and there were one and two that you could have considered turnover-worthy plays, I think. This past game read the defense incredibly well. I've never seen him play with more confidence truly he was reading defense in the pre-snap he was adjusting where guys were going um at the line of scrimmage he knew exactly where his guys were going to be playing and where the open space was coming from that ball was coming out of his hands exactly when it needed to it was coming out fast and it was

coming out accurately there were two back shoulder throws in particular when i where i went excuse me like that that's an that he those were legitimate nfl throws that he made on those two back shoulder balls which are beautiful to see he also hit a couple of running backs on some wheel routes fantastically right in stride for them to get uh to great get great yards after the catch. Showed off the arm with both distance and velocity, but the velocity is what stood out so much to me because of how confident he was in this past game. It's one game. I get it.

I'm not going to sit here and tell you that Bo Nix is now a first-rounder and that I never wavered and that I always believed, although I never wavered and I always believed. But it was cool to see this kind of a game from him because for as much as the tape really hasn't matched the hype for him in most of his college career, there is a reason why a lot of people couldn't quit talking about him. And that is because he is a decently mobile quarterback with a damn good

arm. And I think that we saw that this past week with Oregon really putting it on UCLA. This was the best I've ever seen Bo Nix look. Will it be the catalyst for this to be the standard for him moving forward? Who knows? But in the moment, I wanted to bring him up because it was a big name. There's a reason we haven't talked about him to this point.

But I got to give the hats off. Great performance for him. I think it was the best of his career. No, and well done by you. I mean, it's true. He had an awesome weekend. And, I mean, the reality is that Bo Nix is going to be a part of the draft process. This just happens every year, right, with these guys that have a chance to go to the All-Star Games.

It might not be the Senior Bowl, right? It might be the Shrine Game. It might be – there's a lot out there. NFL PA Bowl. Guys get drafted. The NFL Stock Exchange Bowl, which you and I are starting. That would actually be amazing. If you and I – what would we call our teams?

We wouldn't do East or West or North or South. What's an inside joke on the pod? Yeah, I was going to say. It's got to be some sort of inside joke. I'll keep talking while you look this up no i can't look it up there there has to be like a mailbag episode where you and i have been on opposite ends of a pop culture trend phenomenon yeah that's uh i'm sure that we could have done that we could have done here but maybe the listeners remember better than we do bonix is one of the more fascinating people to google he's from a place

because i was looking for his stats for this year and his wikipedia comes up on the sidebar he's from arkadelphia arkansas doesn't arkadelphia sound like if there was just philadelphia and arkansas i mean as if our as if as if arkansas couldn't be original enough, they just are Kansas, you know? Now they're taking Philadelphia. I didn't even think of that. Right, right. I'm kidding. I'm kidding people from Arkansas.

Yeah, we're going to get some hate mail. It's all love. Look, love the Arkansas football program. Love Sam Pittman. Y'all are great. And honestly, I've been to Fayetteville. It's a wonderful place. Surprisingly, I have too. It is a nice place. I've been to Fayetteville. It's a wonderful place. Surprisingly, I have too.

It is a nice place. I have been to Fayetteville. Everybody's very nice. It is a cool little college town when you kind of get into town. And it's, I remember we were staying at a hotel that was close to campus. And I went on a little run for a workout around campus. And it's just beautiful, gorgeous. It is very nice.

You know, laid out very well. Big shout out to Fayetteville, Arkansas. Big shout out. I drove from. I wish the airport was a little closer very nice you know laid out very well big shout out to Fayetteville Arkansas big shout out I drove the airport a little closer but you know that was the issue right it's like an hour and 30 minute away from the airport yeah I was driving all over the place and drove through Fayetteville and hung out in Fayetteville um on the way to the airport but I had like a full day to kill. And my flight actually got canceled that night because of the thunderstorm. So I spent even more time. I've had some weird adventures in this country, man.

I can't even begin to tell you. And I won't spend the rest of the pod doing so. Well, next mailbag, somebody needs to ask. Connor, what are your top three weirdest travel adventures? Oh my God, I've been to some weird places. See, now you got me hyped up for it. Fayetteville's not one of them. Fayetteville's not a weird place.

Fayetteville was very normal amongst the list. Man, loaded show today. Indeed. Bo Nix made his way onto the show. Shout out to Bo Nix. Shout out to Bo Nix, you know. From Arkadelphia. From Arkadelphia, Arkansas.

God, what an unbelievable. I would say we'll promo tomorrow's show, but I have no idea what we're doing. We'll figure out something fun. Yeah, yeah, I won't lie to you good people. We don't know what we're doing yet. But the beauty of the Thursday shows is that we have the flexibility

to be able to do whatever we want. I think we've come up with some good topics. You guys have as well. And as always, we love to hear from you. It's not, just don't think of this as, oh, I gotta listen for the end of the episode and if they like ask me for ideas, like then I'll tweet them out ideas.

If you've got a format for the show, we'd love to hear you, hear from you. At Tampa Bay Trey on Twitter, at Connor J. Rogers on Twitter. You can find us on Instagram as well. If that is your medium of conversation and connecting, you can definitely do that too. We always love to hear if you're like, hey, I had this idea for

the pod. I think it's really cool if you guys drafted this or, ooh, dude, we haven't done a good old-fashioned head-to-head draft in a while. We haven't. Maybe we could do that. Something draft-related? A draft something. We'll come up with something we have we have time

what are your top bo nicks games your favorite five bo nicks games against each other i get the first pick i'm gonna pick this past game okay thanks yeah and i'll take his first ever game and then good luck from there udfa grades sorry Shout out to Bonex from Arkadelphia. All right. Yeah, we're going to, no matter what it is on Thursday, we're going to have a good time. Maybe it'll be draft related, but honestly, if you guys ever have ideas for the show, hit us up.

We're always looking to try to facilitate some really great ideas and give you guys exactly what you want to hear. Hopefully you enjoyed the show. I'm Trevor Sikma. That is Connor Rogers. We will see you guys on Thursday for another edition of the NFL Stock Exchange Podcast. We'll see you guys then. Bye.