NFL Stock Exchange: An NFL Draft Podcast - 135. 10 Potential Prospect-Team Fits For 2023 NFL Draft

Episode Date: January 13, 2023

Hosts Trevor Sikkema and Connor Rogers each give you five potential prospect-team fits for the 2023 NFL Draft, with conversations of how and why

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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 giving you 10 prospect team fits that we'd like to see we're opening up the imagination for this one so go easy on us a little bit but have fun with us as well we're going to go down the NFL draft order we're gonna look at some teams we're gonna look at some

prospects and say they could be available for this team to select them I'd love to see the impact this player would have on this exact team it yields quite the conversation hopefully you guys enjoy it make sure you get in on it with us as well I'm Trevor Sikamba 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 Sycamore. That is Connor Rogers joining you guys on a Thursday edition of the show in which we get a little bit creative here. Back end of the week on Thursdays. we're all jonesing for the NFL games that are coming up during the weekend we've talked plenty about those so we're giving you a little bit of a break a creative break as Connor and I each give you five prospect team pairings that we really like now

Connor I kind of set this up to go any different way. There could be a little bit of wiggle room with, hey, you know, maybe this prospect doesn't quite get to this player. But if they do, I'd love to see the pairing. But we're going to give you guys 10 total, five from each of us. Early look at some prospects who we think could go to certain teams. How are you feeling today, my friend? Good, man.

I'm excited about this one. As we get these declarations, it opens the door for us to be able to do shows like this, where you could start not talking about the player on the college football field as much and more about the player fitting with an actual NFL team for next year. And you and I have already discussed these. We've had a lot of fun with these. I don't want to say don't take these too seriously because I think we came pretty close. I mean, projections, but take Connor's fun take connor's more seriously than mine scream at me uh praise trevor and by the way no yours are more realistic i'm saying people are gonna freak the hell out at mine we're gonna have we're gonna have a lot of fun with one of yours let's just hype it up that way and i do want to give a shout out it was really cool to see our midweek show even with it being one day later than usual as i t and honey my voice for dear life here uh the views the response the engagement and not engagement

of like click this for your crypto dreams like actual like you know, you know, like people like commenting, getting in on the combo or wanting to be a part of the combo. It just goes to show you when it turns the new year, the amount of people that gravitate to the draft is overwhelming. And I know you and I are very appreciative of that. Yeah. Oh, I'm glad. I'm so glad you shouted it out. This is, this is part of what this podcast is. Yes. Connor and I are going to bring you the facts of what we think you need to know for a lot of these prospects and how you can evaluate them and potentially plug them into your favorite team.

But also, we are draft fans. We do this because we love it. And shows like the one yesterday where we had so many different, what if this team does this? What if this team does this? That's so much fun to us. So are days like today.

Let's think about what is possible with the NFL draft draft i think that that's always something that i really enjoy i did want to shout out one matthew hit me up on instagram about this one and uh it's it combines one of what we talked about on yesterday's pod but it goes even further matthew said Bears trade back to Indy's pick at number four and also get two future first-round picks because the bidding war goes up so high. Okay, so follow me here. Chicago dropping from one to four and then getting two future first-round picks,

one in 2024 and then 2025. Wow. Then, not done here. Then... Wait, there's more. Quarter quarterback goes one and two overall to indianapolis and to houston chicago's sitting there at four guaranteed that one of will anderson or jaylen carter will be there then he says philly calls up with 10 and whatever it is 32 and goes give us four. We want Will Anderson or Jalen Carter. And so then Chicago trades from four to 10 and 32.

So then Chicago goes from having the number one overall pick to having the number 10 overall pick, the number 32 overall pick, an extra second round pick as well that they got earlier this season, and then two future first-round picks. Ugh. The mad scientist GM in me has a massive smile. Matthew, well done. It's unhinged, my friend, but you love to think about scenarios like this. Totally unhinged, in the best way. Yeah.

That's amazing. I just wanted to read that one off. That and so many others were thrown out there as scenarios and comments and everything that you guys are great bringing to the table. Talk about building a war chest of draft capital if you're Chicago. You're just sitting there like the, like Huel laying on the pile of money. It's Ryan Poles laying on a pile of draft picks. All those draft picks.

Yes. And as long as he's guaranteed that he can, you know, live out his time in Chicago, as long as those draft picks are still there so that's my question is one does he play himself and he doesn't get to make the picks which is why we don't see brilliant scenarios like that ever really happen in the nfl although if you look back chris ballard maybe should have done it because he's going on bought time and indie yeah um but also the fact that the bears are in a fascinating place right because it is already year three next year for justin fields and his rookie contract and you do play with the fine balance of like i don't think anybody expects the bears to be a a legit contender next year you'd like to

see them make the jump like we saw the lions jacksonville and before they bottomed out the jets like those three teams went from always picking it felt like in the top three to five to seven plus wins this year that's probably what the bears are looking for next year but you need to be careful where you push everything so far down the road and you're like, oh, shit. Like now we have to probably pay Justin Fields. Right. I'm not crapping on that comment.

I actually think it's really interesting. But these are the fine balances that NFL GMs always have to weigh. Yeah. I think we'll get into a similar combo today, Trevor. Speaking of rookie quarterbacks. Yeah, we're going to get into a lot of things today. So shout out to you guys listening to the podcast, getting in on it. It's what we absolutely love.

We want this to be almost an NFL draft think tank, a community in which you guys can kind of get out your ideas and see what other people think for both your team or just other teams as you're watching the NFL draft get solidified in the order there. All right, you want to start out with this one we're given five each prospect team pairings that we really like and like connor said we did try to keep it somewhat realistic now you could look at the order as it stands today and be like all right that might be a little bit of a stretch so maybe some of yours maybe some of mine might need a little bit of a explanation

or context saying like ah you know this might be a little early for this guy this might be a little late for this guy but if it happens somehow some way a trade up a trade down movement or sitting where they're at some guys that we would love to see go to certain locations who is your first that you want to bring to the table here okay so I wanted to do this working my way down. So I'm going to start with my only playoff team, and that is the Jacksonville Jaguars, who I have Michael Mayer going to them. And a couple of things come to mind here, Trevor,

because some people are going to look at Mayer as this luxury pick of this first round, and I just think he's more than that. I really do. Jacksonville, we don't know if they're going to look at Mayer as this luxury pick of this first round. And I just think he's more than that. I really do. Jacksonville, we don't know if they're going to bring back Evan Ingram. Totally different player. Even if they brought back Evan Ingram, there's still the door for Michael Mayer to be your inline tight end.

But I look at the potential connection that Mayer and Trevor Lawrence can have in the middle of the field while getting tougher in the trenches, improving your run blocking from the tight end position a guy that Doug Peterson loves that versatility of guys that can play on the line off the line um you know they're set at wide receiver there or you're really comfortable with what they have at wide receiver there but the thing we always say about Jacksonville is which is why you saw Quentin Johnston getting mocked to them so much, they need more size out of their pass catchers, right? They're not a small pass catching group,

but they need that more physical target. So I look at Michael Mayer and just think, man, him and Trevor Lawrence can be really, really dangerous. In my opinion, he can be a Mark Andrews-level producer at the next level. I think they'd have a great connection in the middle of the field to move the sticks I think it would once again make them a tougher football team in line and we talk about Michael Mayer's range all the time Jacksonville's in the playoffs so even if they lose you know say they pick what 21st or something I'm comfortable with

that for for me what is the top 10 player in this draft class? I'm going back right now and I'm trying to look up. Has Trevor Lawrence ever really had a tight end to lean on? I think. Now that I can remember. The 20, the 2018 season, 2019 season.

No, absolutely not. I'm looking at like the top six, seven reception leaders on clemson none of them are tight ends braden galloway is the closest thing that we have here and this was the 2020 season when he gave 77 catches to amari rogers 53 catches to cornell powell 48 catches to travis etn and then next was bradenalloway, which is 27 catches for 369 yards. So we've obviously seen a little bit of the success that Evan Ingram has had

in Jacksonville. And when I say that, I don't mean to bring up context like, oh, there's no point in doing this. Trevor Lawrence has never utilized tight ends. In fact, I'm bringing up the opposite. I don't know if Trevor Lawrence has had a tight end that he's been able to really rely on outside of this year. It feels like the first time that he's really been able to do that. So I like this thought process here by you because Mayer might not be this top 20 lock because of somewhat of limited athleticism. But if you are

the Jags and you've got playmaking potential at christian kirk travis etn maybe even bring back evan ringer i don't know but you're obviously adding calvin ridley to the mix as well if you get that like security blanket it's such an overused term i know but that that's what he is that go-to guy over the middle of the field to go get first downs, that could be huge. That could be the difference of some of those situations where we think about last game, where it felt like Jacksonville just didn't have that go-to guy.

You get in third and medium, third and long, where's the ball going? You're not really sure. Sometimes it would go to Christian Kirk, but if it's not going to Christian Kirk, maybe it's a one-off to these other players. Instead, you might have a guy who could be a consistent first down moneymaker for you to continue to keep drives going,

to continue to move the chains, to open everybody else up. I like it, man. I don't know how many times I've heard of Michael Mayer going to the Jags, but I do like it, especially thinking back to how I just don't believe Trevor Lawrence has had that kind of presence at tight end throughout his career no he hasn't I whenever I think of Trevor Lawrence throwing to a bigger target T Higgins is the guy I think of obviously a wide receiver yeah when you're thinking guys that can go up and win the ball and to your point about security blanket chains mover Trevor he's caught 89 first downs in

the last two seasons i mean it's a cheat code it's a cheat code in that area so that was one that i thought was a lot of fun from a dynasty perspective a real football perspective a player that is better than a top 20 pick but could go outside the top 20 um and my only playoff team i used for this where are you starting now so i'm gonna go with actually i should probably go in the same sort of thought process that you have okay okay i'll start with a layup i'll start with an obvious one if bijan robinson gets picked somewhere in the 20s i want buffalo to go get him like i don't know if Buffalo is going to be picking 30, 31, 29, whatever. If Bijan even starts slipping at all,

maybe just move up in front of the Ravens wherever the Ravens are picking and just go swipe Bijan Robinson. Look, I already can hear people saying, don't use a first-round pick on a running back, let alone trade up to go get a running back. Bijan is a different kind of talent though you know no you don't want to find yourself doing this often but look at what mcafree was able to do for the san francisco 49ers that's yes that's he put he puts them over the top right when you are in

the right spot if this is something to put you over the top that's where the bills are you know the bills are in a spot where i think they need better backfield production anyways but they also need some slot receiving work some receiving work out of the backfield that's exactly what bijan robinson is he's one of only what two three maybe four blue chip prospects that we've got in this class if if he starts sliding simply because he's a running back and look you and i both don't necessarily think that's the most plausible thing here, but if you're Buffalo, I would genuinely keep my eyes on this, and I'd pull the trigger. If we get around 20, early 20s, and he's still on the board, Buffalo's got to be picking up the

phone, because this is a winning window now for them. They are clearly in a winning window for the next couple of years. Go get this guy to be a major difference maker for you. And you could say, okay, Trev, San Francisco already had stars, right? San Francisco already had Devo Samuel. They already had Brandon Iuke, George Kittle, all those guys. Okay. So does Buffalo, right? This is truly a cherry on top of what could be a championship. And I really do think that it could be something that would be fantastic. There's a couple of different spots do think that it could be something that would be fantastic. There's a couple of different spots for Bijan to go that I think would be great and a lot of fun. But the most fun, the prospect pairing that I love the most is him getting to go to Buffalo.

It's just somebody that you get to rely on consistently out of the backfield. It would allow Josh Allen to take a lot less hits as well. So forget just the impact that he has in the run in the past game. I mean, you're taking some off of Josh Allen's plate as well, which I think is paramount for him continuing to stay healthy and being the guy that's always out there on the field. So that's kind of the way that I feel. Don't really believe we're getting a slide from B.

John Robinson. We talked yesterday about him, maybe even being the top 10 pick, but if the league all buys in on this, yeah, we don't really need a running back. Yeah, you don't really need a running back. And it gets close to something around 20. Buffalo picking up the phone and making a deal happen, I think could be very advantageous for them,

not just next year, the years that follow, because of what he can do for that offense. I love it. When I watch the Bills, they are not only a great football team, they're a well-coached team. They have talent at all three levels on both sides um you know when i say three levels of the offense i mean

the offensive line could use a little help but overall my number one point when i watch the bills is man they could use one more guy on offense that you're terrified of you're terrified of stefan diggs you're terrified of alan's arm and legs but gabe davis i don't think he was what they thought this year he wasn't bad he wasn't a guy that was a massive difference maker dawson knox has run hot and cold james cook could maybe be that guy but we haven't seen it consistently yet it's you don't question that would be John Robinson. Like you said, Trevor, he's your slot. He's your super back.

You know, the comp I made when we talked about running backs was he's Rams Todd Gurley under Sean McVay. Oh, yeah. That and the Bills offense is just utterly terrifying. So sign me up for that. This one to bring us down to a little bit more, you know, I don't want to say level-headed, but a little bit more. You can say it.

I'm going wild out here. Boring, I think, is what it is. This is a boring pick. But I think it's one that fits the range, fits the franchise, fits the needs. How about Broderick Jones to the Steelers? The Steelers are a team that yeah yeah the Steelers are a team that they could use upgrades on the offensive line I think specifically at tackle whether he's going to play on the left or right and they just need to get bigger and

tougher on this offensive line and that's what I think of with Broderick Jones and the Steelers ripped off a ton of wins at the end of the season, so they're now picking 17th. Spoiler alert, I think Skowronski and Paris Johnson are gone by the time they pick. So then I look at a guy like Broderick, who, former five-star, really has all of the tools to be a top-ten tackle in the NFL. Still has a couple technical things to clean up. Really needs to not let uh defenders get so much

leverage under him under his pad level which he can get low too that's something i love about broderick is like he's got like the hips are flexible man like he can he can spread out the base and like his base is super wide he gets the butt down low when he's an impressive human i yeah i agree i agree that's there for him so that was it for me right here with the steelers it's He gets the butt down low. He's an impressive human. Yeah, I agree. I agree. That's there for him. So that was it for me right here with the Steelers. It's the Kenny Pickett era going forward. George Pickens, Najee Harris.

They got stars on defense. Yeah, there's a couple of things they could use on defense, but I look at getting this offensive line right, and I think that's the guy that's there. They need corner bad too, right? They do. I mean, I'm not to nitpick the pick. I love the Roger Jones pairing.

I'm just trying to think of options for the Steelers at 17. We talked about the potential corner run, like Joey Porter Jr., Cam Smith, Keely Ringo, maybe Christian Gonzalez if he makes it down there, right? Depending on how high Devon Witherspoon goes. It's just guys that you're thinking about anywhere from 10 to 20, I would say, could be a good run for corners.

But I think that's also the perfect run for offensive line. And I think the point that you brought up with Kenny Pickett is an important one. Don't let the offensive line get in the way of really screwing up a rookie contract for like, if you believe in this guy, if you think this is the guy that can get you to the playoffs and can really move you forward towards the championship, which pick it took good strides moving in that direction at the end of the

year, don't let offensive line be the question mark. You know, as much as I do think corner is a premium position. I agree with you. I think a project don't Jones is a good one. Do you, do you think that's probably where they look first i feel like it has to be right even though there's other needs that could be tempting for pittsburgh i i i think offensive where they're going tackling corner yep all right um but if the tackles are gone like do they have to look at no sirens you know know, sirens, torrents? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

I mean, yeah, but that's where my brain went right away when looking at the Steelers. All right. I'll stick with the corner train. I'd love to get Christian Gonzalez in Seattle. Right? I just, it's, I'm a sucker for this becoming a reality. Seattle's draft class last year.

Unbelievable. This is a team that we thought we're going to win three or four games. And here they are sitting in the playoffs. One, of course, because of Gino Smith and how Gino Smith is played. But in last year's draft, they found two starting offensive tackles. They found two starting cornerbacks. One of them, an outside corner who has unreal potential and they also got themselves a athletic pass rusher in boy i'm off a and a offensive rookie

of the year candidate in kenneth walker seattle truly took a two to three year drafting window and condensed it into one class. For them to hit, especially an offensive tackle, right? How many starting caliber offensive tackles do teams get in a single draft? Probably only one. And that's only if you use a first or second round pick on one. You're normally not getting starting caliber offensive tackles in the nfl drafting them in the third fourth fifth six whatever rounds not saying it can't happen but i'm saying the odds of it happening are very slim

shoot even the guys hitting at the very top are sometimes very slim so for seattle to have achieved that last draft accelerate so much of what they were rebuilding on the roster. Go make the secondary just an absolute strength of your team. If you get Christian Gonzalez, 6'2", 210 pounds, moves about as smooth as butter. He's going sub 4'4". If you got him on one side, and then you've got Tyreek Woolen on the other and Kobe Bryant can

stay in the slot and play where he's had a lot of success early this year you got Jamal Adams on the back end uh Quandre Diggs still on the back end Ryan Neal is on the back end like I don't know which one of them has a has a contract that might. Jordan Brooks in the middle. Yeah, I mean, it's just... I am a sucker for that becoming true. It's long, athletic, secondary players that can allow you to have the versatility to match up against any team however you want. And I'd love to see it.

Now, Seattle's currently picking 20. They're also picking it six or five. Six. Five. Five is what it is. I'm trying to remember off memory. I'm getting it, folks. I don't think they're taking Christian Gonzalez at five.

Maybe you could trade down from five to 11, 12. Probably get them somewhere around 10. Yep. Take 12 to eight. So that's realistic if that could happen there. Or if they lose in the first round this upcoming weekend, you stay within striking distance of, let's say, now let's pull up the draft order here.

Tennessee's at 11. No, I'm thinking a little higher. Like Tennessee's at 11. Yeah, he'm thinking a little higher like tennessee's at 11 yeah he's going top 15 new england's 14 if christian gonzalez is still sitting on the board and seattle's picking it around 20 you can call those teams and realistically get up i think if they want to if they would want to make a deal so it might be a little bit of moving and shaking to make this one happen but the prospect to team a fit is something that i love i'd love to see it he's every bit of the freak show prototype that they love

and i like your idea of making an area we're growing stronger in and solidifying it to make it a strength i'm always a fan of making a strength stronger man gives you an identity gives your team when you get off the bus, something that everybody knows is a problem and there's not much they can do about it. And to me, it doesn't allow you to fall into the trap of drafting for a need, right? That's when I think teams do get stuck

is sometimes when they pigeonhole themselves to say, well, we don't take an edge rusher in the first round of this draft. We're screwed. And there are times throughout a franchise's history when you just kind of got to bite the bullet. It just is what it is. Like some years don't really come out the way you want them to but i feel as though responsibly continuing to make a strength stronger especially in areas that have high impact do allow you to grow a healthy identity for your team a healthy roster and and complement it um appropriately so that was my that was my other one christian gizalas the seahawks speaking of building on an area that was improved in last draft how about Jackson Smith and Jigma

and Jigba to the Packers here in the top 20 yeah so I mean here's the deal for me one we don't know if Aaron Rodgers is playing quarterback we don't know if Jordan Love is playing quarterback we don't know if jordan love is playing quarterback what we know is they have christian watson right who showed a lot of promise the second half of the year it kind of seemed like alan lazard is not optimistic about returning did you find that interesting uh that interview is i mean he's i was a little surprised he surprised he's like yeah if this is my last game which it is I was like oh yeah whoa okay okay a little strange but all right and very out of character I I didn't know he was that mad neither did I I got to interview Lazard at Radio Row a couple years ago and talk about like the happiest like light-hearted you know just like a dude that's just like he was just like wow for him to do that this isn't somebody that's pissed to be pissed all

the time i was like what what went on here either way knowing that let's assume alan lazard is leaving in free agency okay i mean i like the long term of romeo dubs dobs is a three dobs dobs doobs dobs dobs my god and then you get into the world of you need another wide receiver and you need a good one jackson spoiler alert jackson smith and jig was still my number one wide receiver in this draft and i know i know he's falling he didn't play this year uh he was hurt that's gonna hurt him i get it dude this guy has so much polish the 2021 tape i get 89 of those snaps were in the slot i think he can play outside we did that combo with justin jefferson and look how that turned out and i don't think he's justin jefferson let me make that clear but when you get so hung up on saying a guy only played the slot in college most of the time that's

it you got to look at the traits and this is somebody that wins with route running to me he's not small he's not big but he's not 5'8 out there he's not 180 pounds so he's not 6'4 250 so he can't host the show he's not on the stock exchange level. That is absolutely right. But yeah, I think I, I know they don't do it. And I know I'm just kind of, you know, speaking to no one because green Bay does not take wide receivers like this in the first round, but I would really like the idea of a guy like this that could be an

intermediate possession machine paired with an athletic speed freaking christian watson for the next five years no matter who is under center his game log in 2021 is so funny he goes all right so from the beginning of october in 2021 this is the year that he played the the 1,600-yard year. And it was nuts. He goes, these are receiving yards, 103, 99, 97, 240, 139, 105, 127, 347. He was a machine.

While sharing targets with two guys that were in the front of the offensive rookie of the year race this year, Chris Alave and Garrett Wilson. And I'm pretty sure both of them pointed at him one time when they asked, like, who's the best of U3? Just saying. And I don't agree with that, but I still think the guy's pretty damn good.

Pretty damn good. That was to the Packers, right? That was the team he used. The Packers who are locked in with the 15th overall pick. Yeah, okay. All right, I have a Packers one that we're going to get to next. My Packers one is next. But before we get to that, we're talking about a lot of rookies.

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Minimum age and eligibility restrictions. Reply. Apply. See show notes for details. All right. We ready to open up this can of worms with my pack as well? Let it go. Just let it rip.

Do not hesitate. Do not keep it in the holster. A little stretch. Green Bay Packers. At number 15. If you hated Jackson, Smith, and Jigba, boy, do we have something for you. Anthony Richardson. All right. Here's how it breaks down, okay?

Nothing like a little cough and a laugh together. Drafting Jordan Love and getting the most out of a rookie contract for him failed. He is in the last year of his rookie deal. They don't have any, I don't think they have a fifth-year option on him. Do they? I thought when I looked it up, they didn't. Jordan Love? Yeah.

Oh, absolutely. Did they claim it, though? Where is, uh... Now I'm going to have to do it live on the show. Now I'm going to look like an idiot. Yeah, here we go. My take still stands. The take still stands.

I want to make that very clear. Well, they will pick it up, right? That's, yes. So they're going to pick it up. All right. We're assuming they are picking that up. Here's what you do. Don't pick it up.

Draft Anthony Richardson instead. Jordan Love's got one year left on his deal. He still has the fifth year option. I guess they can pick it up. It's fine. Aaron Rodgers has a lot of reasons to come back. Okay? Think there's reason to believe that Aaron Rodgers is going to come back.

If he does, then you're going into next year, picking up Jordan Lowe's fifth year option, which guess what? Fifth year option, not exactly cheap, right? You then have only one year to evaluate this guy before you then have to pay him a decent amount of money. Certainly not going to franchise tag him because you know how much that costs. Is he going to accept a little bit of a much cheaper discount? Jordan Love's got value right now. So what you can do is whether you have Aaron Rodgers for next year or not, if you draft Anthony Richardson at 15,

which Anthony Richardson, more talented than Jordan Love, maybe not nearly as polished, maybe wouldn't be able to come in and play right away, more talented than Jordan Love, you could draft Anthony Richardson, get a future four and five year deals on him because of the first year option, and reset the rookie quarterback contract.

In a perfect world, what you do is you have Aaron Rodgers come back one more year, you have Anthony Richardson sit behind him, and then you've got those three extra years on the rookie deal plus the one-year option. Meanwhile, there are teams that need a quarterback that will not be able to draft one in the top 10 of this year's draft. You can trade Jordan Love to one of those teams

and probably recoup a second round pick and maybe a little more. So all of a sudden, yeah, you're drafting Anthony Richardson at 15, but you're drafting Anthony Richardson at 15, you're getting an extra second round pick, which means you get two second round picks and a third round pick, plus you are getting a more talented, higher ceiling quarterback and resetting the rookie quarterback contract that you have.

I did it Connor. You did. I saved the Packers. So let me start with this. They are absolutely going to skewer your ass. My boy for this one. But, but let me explain why when you when

Trevor brought this up to me before the show that I was really excited for this conversation it does make you realize whether you love Anthony Richardson or not I don't know is as much of the point but it does make you realize that the Packers, things did not go to plan, right? When they took Jordan Love in the first round, how much time do you think they thought Aaron Rodgers had left for the team? Two years, Max? Yeah, probably.

Okay, two years, Max. We all know how it went from there. The point of drafting Jordan love was to restart the franchise at quarterback and whenever anybody does that one of the benefits is the rookie wage scale that comes with that compared to paying a guy 30 to now 50 million dollars a year no matter what green bay does right jordan love or aaron rogers this offseason because remember if they trade aaron rogers it's not like the money just evaporates from them no matter what they do that benefit is gone it i don't want to use the words they blew it i don't think that's the right frame no no but that that benefit

is gone you didn't maximize that benefit and the good news is aaron rogers was too good that you didn't need to the bad news is something you highlighted to me is that by the time jordan love plays you're gonna blink and one stunk, which isn't good, which I don't think he will, by the way. No, I don't. No, no, no. I don't. I don't either.

I don't either. Two, you're going to have to pay him. You're going to have to pay him. So obviously, this was a very creative scenario by you. Yes. But I think that was the conversation that should come out of it to me is that no matter what Green Bay does,

they are very expensive. It feels like a quarterback no matter what. I, of course, don't ultimately think that this happens. I wanted to throw it out. No, but it's a conversation. It was a fun scenario

that was kind of going around in my head and it's an idea that I really didn't hate. So to highlight your point, hypothetically, say you're Green Bay. Say you're Goody, and you evaluate the quarterbacks, and you go, we think Anthony Richardson is really good. We actually think Anthony Richardson is a better prospect than how we evaluated Jordan Love. Very tough PR sell,

but from a football standpoint, you trade Jordan Love, like you said, Aaron Rodgers is going to play next year. He probably is retiring after that year or two years. Correct. Then when Anthony Richardson is time to play, the quarterback money is mostly gone. So you are back to the point you were always trying to get to that. I think is the theme of your entire plan. Yeah, it was a, it's,

it's again, it was a mad scientist plan because the Packers are running out of time. Now I think that Jordan love could end up certainly being beat fine, right? There is a reality that exists where maybe Aaron Rodgers retires maybe they start Jordan Love maybe he looks fantastic whether or not they picked up the fifth year option or not which we we think they're going to pick up the fifth year option heck there's still a reality that exists where Love and Rodgers both on this team next year

Rodgers retires the year after that they play Jordan Love on the fifth year option for one year and they make a decision after that it's just a lot of money to be making a decision like that for not a lot of time that you've seen it. Could it work out for Jordan Love? Could all that time kind of learn him behind Aaron Rodgers? I mean, he hits the ground running. It looks great. Yes, of course, that is still there.

But this is a scenario that I thought of in my head that I was like, you know, if you like Anthony Richardson, like you said, if they evaluate Anthony Richardson and they it, like you said, if, if they evaluate Anthony Richardson and they go, this kid can be special, maybe he won't be special day one, but there's a chance we could have something incredible here with Anthony Richardson. Then you could draft them at 15. You could still, you still have the time to then recoup the picks. So it's almost like a, I don't want to call it a pick swap, but like a quarterback pick swap.

And instead you're just getting, what is it? Two extra years, three extra years on a rookie deal for a player that you might find more talented. We've spent too much time on this. I'm trying to logic myself into it when people are already angrily typing in the comments.

So I'm sorry, Packers fans. I know that one's a little out there but i wanted to have some fun on this episode so i did so here with this one connor please take the heat off of me and give me your fourth one okay my fourth one here is peter skoronski to the titans at 11 uh if you if you listen to this show it's probably been buried into your head how bad dennis daly has been this year i will remind you one more time now that the season's over he allowed 12 sacks nine more quarterback hits 31 hurries 52 total pressures that amounts to so the titans have a tackle problem and even if you are one of those

people just you know kind of praying that there's a world where Taylor Luan is back on the salary he's coming back for. I mean, we kind of went over this on this show. It's a very complicated matter. So with that being said, why don't you get a guy that is viewed as a pretty versatile top-tier offensive line prospect, Skowronski, that I think can play tackle, I think can play guard. He was recruited as a top center out of high school.

Tennessee needs to get back to being reliable in the trenches. That's what this team is under Mike Rabel. And Skowronski, to me, is the highest floor offensive lineman in the entire draft. So, I mean, and he was, by the way, we haven't talked about him yet. He was phenomenal this year. He allowed one sack. He rarely ever got beat.

He's a great run blocker. This to me is just one of those. It's so easy that it really should happen in a couple months. It's just a matter of whether or not you're okay with the measurables, right? Yes, exactly. Which I am. Yes. Longer arms, a a bigger frame a longer frame helps you go one-on-one against some fast edge rushers but you know what else does

just being a damn good offensive lineman yeah and i think i think one way or another peter skoronsky is going to end up as an offensive tackle in the nfl some people think it's the other way around like he's going to start at offensive tackling he's eventually going to end up as an offensive tackle in the NFL. Some people think it's the other way around, like he's going to start at offensive tackle and he's eventually going to be interior guy. The way that I look at it right now is if, let's say he doesn't get prioritized like an offensive tackle. Let's say most teams in the NFL are like, more of a guard, gets picked somewhere in the 20s.

Let's just say he gets picked somewhere in the 20s. It's like OG one in this draft. I think there's going to come a time where, because this just happens, he's starting at a guard spot. Somebody ends up getting hurt on the offensive line, left tackle or right tackle. They put Skowronski at one of those spots. He looks great, and he will stay there.

So I think that whether he is getting drafted as a tackle in the top 15 or if he gets drafted as a guard in the 20s, I feel as though his path is going to end up as an offensive tackle at some point. That's kind of how I see the Peter Skowronski conversation. His tape was just, it feels like so good, so reliable over the last two years. And you can't, I don't think you can give up on tape like that if it were up to me i'd start him an offensive tackle and wait for him to fail at offensive tackle before i ever thought about moving him inside but i know some teams are very different you know we um we talked about carolina

using brady christiansen automatically on interior, just because they're like, Oh yeah, he just doesn't have the measurables we like. And it's all right. Well, and they started using him at tackle and I was like, Oh, okay.

He's good now. Crazy. Wow. It's wild. Dude. Jonah Williams, Rashawn Slater. Like we do that.

Elijah Vera Tucker was really good at tackle this year when he had to play there. We do this combo all the time. Yep. All right. So i do like that one i'll stick with i'll stick with offensive linemen um i'll stick with an easy one because i i need to i need to get you know i need to get the defrost a little bit i need to get the people back on my side you know i need to i need to throw them uh i already sent you to the guillotine it's i sorry. Your head is now on a spike outside the city that says this man tried to draft another quarterback

to the Packers. Now I'm saying tax breaks for everybody. You don't have to pay taxes for a year. Now everybody loves me again. I'm giving everybody ice cream. I don't know what I'm doing. I don't know what I'm doing, he says. Paris Johnson Jr. to the New York Jets. It's, it's so simple. You did come back in a

really good way, by the way. It's the one that makes so much sense to me. We've talked about it before on the show. I had it in my mock draft, but there's, there's so much versatility there. You mentioned the versatility of Elijah Vera Tucker has for this team. Um, what Makai Becton could be for this team. If he comes back. If you get Makai back, wonderful. He'll start at left tackle. Paris Johnson Jr. will start at right tackle. Elijah Vera Tucker starting on the interior. Who else is going to be back on the interior?

Whose contract is up for the Jets? Well, it's going to be Lakin and ABT in an ideal world. Okay. So, okay. Lakin's still, all right. So, Lakin's still around. So, I mean, the offensive line all of a sudden looks totally different if that's the case.

If you don't get McKay back-to-back, then you get to start Parrish Johnson Jr. at left tackle. Maybe you start Elijah Vera Tucker at right tackle. Maybe you draft an interior offensive lineman later in the draft. And then all of a sudden... You have Max Mitchell coming back. He looked pretty good as a rookie. I mean, you're 100% right.

Parrish is the new chess piece thrown into the board that you're like, cool, now we have him in ABT and we could throw them around the offensive line. You're right, you're all over it. I actually really liked Max Mitchell coming in the draft. I think he was my... He had blood clots, but before that, he actually flashed as a fourth-round rookie.

I think I had him as like ot7 we did a mock draft where we had him right at the end of the first round yeah very early very very early yeah and then we kind of reset and we're like okay he's probably gonna be day two guys so when he fell to the fourth round for the jets i i think they thought they got a really nice swing guy that can get you out of a bind so anyways uh if you draft one more really good offensive lineman especially one that's got the versatility that paris johnson junior has you're you're kickstarting a new look all line which which i think would be fantastic for the jet so that is my uh that's my fourth one what's your last one here

okay this is probably my heater i guess my heater is like a squirt gun compared to Trevor coming out with a flamethrower. How about Devon Witherspoon going 10th overall to the Eagles with the Saints pick? So no James, so no Bradbury. No Bradbury. Bradbury walks. I saw some people saying that the Eagles don't take corners like this. The Eagles are such a good team that capitalized on the strengths of this class.

Wait, good corners. Like what? I, one of the comments was saying that like, they don't, they wouldn't do this. Cause we've talked about corner for them.

I was like, ah, brace yourself. They are definitely looking at the corners in this draft. I know that for a fact, by the way, this is, this is the,

this is the team that started Avante Maddox for forever right brother you don't have to tell me twice okay i no no i mean like the eagles have had short corners no no they don't know they don't draft like prioritize them in the first round oh okay i thought they i thought they were talking about just like because one i don't think devon Witherspoon's that short. No. What's he like six foot five, 11, something like that.

Maybe five, 10. He's not, he's not, he's not over six foot, but I thought you were talking about it. I thought you were talking, I thought you were talking about size. And I was like,

no, I mean, I feel like the Eagles more than like other teams actually put up with smaller size of corner, but I continue, continue. I see what you're saying now. He's right in the running to be my top corner in this draft.

And I love his attitude. I love the way he plays and run support. I think he was sticky in coverage. He's got great click and close. I would just love to throw him on the Seagulls team. I really would. I think they'd get a true upside starter from day one. Really, I really do.

And I think that all I'll say is, wherever people think he's going, it's a lot earlier right now. He's, uh, Connor says he's going 10, so I think he's going top five. No, I'm just kidding. He might be first overall to Chicago.

Yes. Well, the places we go. I do like Devon Witherspoon a lot. I also think that, you know, you got to play with an attitude and you got to play with the chip on your shoulder when you play corner no matter what. But especially in Philly, it's just a team that carries so much swagger to it. That defense is just so in your face.

They're so aggressive. They're so confident. And he'd fit in right away. Him, obviously, seriously, I really do believe that he confident and um he'd fit in right away him obviously seriously i really do believe that he would uh he totally fit right in right away so i like that pairing as well the last one for me oh yeah darnell washington oh one of my faves to the Detroit Lions. Now, Lions pick at 6, and they pick at 18. And they're not taking them at 6. I don't think they'd even take them down if they're trading down from 6 to 12.

I don't think they'd take them. I don't know if they're taking them at 18 either. But all I'm saying is somehow, some way, if they find a way to make it make sense, a trade down from 18 to 28 or whatever it is, let's use the bills, okay? Let's say the bills make the AFC championship game and they're picking 28 or 29.

And they want to trade up to 18 to go get B. John Robinson. And then when the Lions are picking wherever the Bills were, they go get themselves Darnell Washington to bring this thing full circle. Washington with Detroit, I think, would be awesome. It would give you a plus in the receiving game, as we've seen from his improvement and emphasis as more of a receiver this year. They would give you a unique in-line player who can act as that sixth

offensive lineman in so many different situations. And this is a team that traded away TJ Hawkinson, right? So they still do need that impact player at tight end and they can get the total package of impact player at tight end. If they get a Darnell Washington, you gotta, like I said, you gotta get a little bit finicky with how he would end up on the team unless you draft them straight up at 18 which feels a little bit rich but hey maybe that's where his value ends up because he's such an alien of a prospect but no matter what wherever

they would draft him i would love this pairing i think this would be a great addition for the detroit lions i mean can you imagine dan campbell's face when this guy walks out on the draft stage? Just this mammoth of a human. In this situation, Darnell Washington would get to line up next to Penny. Is that the most size and athleticism side by side

in NFL history? and athleticism side by side in the modern in in nfl history yeah because penne is what 653 35 and darnell washington 67 280 and they both can run like the wind yeah you could you could you could throw in an extra offensive lineman to make penny sewell and darnell washington eligible in a in a 12 personnel package dude it's hilarious that's the play i like that one a lot so yeah we had we we ended with one that i hoped was a fan favorite so yeah that's dar Darnell Washington Alliance. Trevor trying to reel everybody back in after they already clicked unsubscribe to the show. Yeah, I had to.

Respect. We're doing damage control here. We're doing damage. This is a fun one. This one's good. I enjoy this one. I like when fans start to get attached to players for their teams.

This is that time of year. It is that time of year. You always want to be early in on somebody, and so fans love doing that. I may regret doing this, but let us know what you guys thought of the podcast. Let us know. Comments disabled for this video. Let us know on YouTube.

If you guys are watching this one on YouTube, a good way to give us your feedback, give us your opinions, give us your takes, is just write down in the YouTube comments, of course. You can also hit us up on Twitter, at TampaBayTrey, at ConnorJRogers. Hit us up on Instagram as well. If you guys are listening to this just in audio form and aren't really big YouTube people, you can definitely do that, and we'll be able to read it and see it.

But we would love to hear you guys' thoughts as well. Give us one of your favorite prospect team pairings for the early parts of draft season here there's a lot of draft season that we have yet to go there's a lot of things they're going to move up and down this is not a place to old takes exposure this is just having some fun as you guys could clearly hear but we're recording everything we are going to laugh at you we're doing this solely for the purpose to laugh at people we quite literally are recording everything we actually made this podcast just to laugh at bad takes we are trolls yeah mainly just mine uh all right that's it for this week for us we'll be back on monday we'll give you what matters most do we want people to you

want to you want to open up the listener mailbag? Well, here's my question for you. I love that we have our podcast meetings during the podcast. Yeah, we didn't talk about this, which is bad, actually. Do we wait until the Bucs play? Or do we, no, no, no.

We do the what matters most on time and then we include the bucks game at the top of the draft show no i feel like we can't do that i agree it doesn't feel right no it doesn't feel right oh man wrong to the people what if we he's got a plan he's got an idea folks folks. No, no, no, no. I think we have to do the Sunday night show. People are going to wake up Monday and they are going to be hot pissed if the five games are not recapped. And I don't blame them.

So then why don't we do that? So then why don't we do that? Okay, let's recap the games. Let's give our thoughts on all the games that we saw this weekend. Let's stick with it. A little bit of a what matters most for monday's episode um without the bucks and cowboys game and then to start the monday episode of the show we can kind of you know talk about the bucks game a little bit and then get into more draft order talk maybe even get you guys a little mini mock draft not sure then we're gonna we'll probably get back into prospect

rankings yes yes yes absolutely look at that we planned out next week already you know what my god thanks guys thanks guys appreciate appreciate you uh you getting in on uh telling us how to run the show giving us some suggestions there i'm glad that we could all do that together and then we could come uh come together and do something like that um everybody have a great weekend out there uh enjoy watching the NFL playoffs, whether your team is in it or not, make sure you get some good food, some good time with friends and family.

Enjoy it. The NFL season may kind of be coming to a close, but hopefully the best games are yet to come over the next couple of weeks. We'll be, we will surely be watching. You guys should too. We'll hear you on Monday. I'm Trevor Sykema. With me is Connor Rogers. Thank you guys so much for watching the NFL Stock Exchange Podcast. See you guys on Monday. Thank you.