NFL Stock Exchange: An NFL Draft Podcast - 15. Interior Defensive Line Position Rankings for the 2022 NFL Draft

Episode Date: February 24, 2022

Hosts Trevor Sikkema and Connor Rogers breakdown the best of the interior defensive line class for the 2022 NFL Draft. The two dig into their Top 5 players from this position, talk about whether this is a strength or weakness of the class, and when to target certain players based off position depth.

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I got it this year. 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 on this episode we are breaking down the interior defensive line class for the 2022 NFL draft it is position ranking day and with that that means we are going down five through

one ranking our top five players from that position in this class we are going down five through one, ranking our top five players from that position in this class. We're going to give you our pros and cons, what we think about this class, whether we believe it is a strength or a weakness of the group overall, plus give you some guys that we have just outside the top five and even some late round gems that I'm excited to get on you guys' radar. I am Trevor Sycamore. With me, as always, is my co-host, Connor Rogers.

Let's get after it. Welcome to the opening bell of the NFL Stock Exchange Podcast. I am Trevor Sycamore. With me is Connorgers on another positional ranking thursday episode of the show we did edge rushers last week and we figured hey let's stay along the defensive line let's just round out the defensive line let's talk about our favorite interior defensive lineman for the 2022 nfl draft connor how are we feeling on this final show that you and i are doing this week? Pretty good, man. I mean, this is time to get through some of the big nasty boys on the inside of the defensive line.

And, you know, an interesting group. I think we've had some late risers thanks to the senior bowl with this group. We've had a couple of guys that played in some big time college football games this year that you'll be surprised to hear from. But definitely one of the ones, Trevor, that you got to comb through very deeply to find the starting caliber players, the guys that can go in the top 60 to 75 of this draft. Not our strongest interior defensive line here, but still very noteworthy because at the end of the day,

teams always need to improve their interior. And that's why we're doing these, it's not just to say hey let's highlight this this prospect group yeah these guys are going to be all top five top ten prospects or whatever we're highlighting all these groups not just to tell you like who we like but also is this a strength is this a weakness if you will the class are you going to have to really pick one of these guys high if you want to help your interior out Are you going to have to really pick one of these guys high if you want to help your interior out? Or is it a super deep position group that you can wait on a little bit? That's what we're doing here. That's what we're trying to do on these rankings. And so

if you've listened to these shows before, you know how the format goes. Connor and I are going to go five through one, give you our top fives for this position. And then at the end of the show, we'll get some shout outs to some guys who just missed the list. Maybe some mid round gems are just guys that we really want to give some love to in this class so let's start it off let's go with number five connor i'll put you on the clock right away we'll get right to it who is your number five interior defensive lineman in the 2022 nfl draft class if you asked me this a month ago uh he would not make the cut but because of the senior bowl which i don't usually do that i don't usually do like oh great senior bowl like you're in but it was it was that good where i'm

questioning some things about his time at the college level number five for me is perry on winfrey from oklahoma and let's get the bad out of the way first right just to set the table i did not think his film from especially last year, especially against the run, was very good at all, to be completely honest with you. I think there's times where there is a lack of discipline, a lack of play strength, a lot of things going on here. I think there's some juice as a pass rusher on the interior. I think the way that he can get off the ball and use his hands at times and beat interior pass protectors can be impressive. But he went down to the senior bowl and was somehow unblockable. And it makes you wonder, was there, you know, meat on the bone that he saw there that

unlocked something different? Right. Was there, was he misused at Oklahoma was he unhappy at Oklahoma is he just getting better over time there's a lot to unpack with Perrion Winfrey so I will put this disclaimer that number five and the top four are very far apart in my eyes this is a number five that I am you know he he snuck on here I think this isn't the deepest group. I think he absolutely kicked ass at the Senior Bowl. He can get on the field as a rookie on third down passing situations, and you just say, go. We need you to go.

Go beat the guy in front of you. Don't think about anything. Don't think about two gapping. Don't contain. Shoot and go. If that's what you are asking of him, and you're getting that on round three or four i'm okay with that for perry on winfrey at five five for you

did winfrey make the cut or is he on the outside looking in no winfrey did not make the cut for me he's one of those on the outside looking in guys and so you know i would have given him a shout out kind of at the end of the show but since you brought him up here at five i guess i'll just give my thoughts there six foot three about 300 pounds right at 300 pounds interior defensive lineman from oklahoma was a four-star defensive tackle was the number one juco ready to recruit in the 2020 uh transfer portal chose oklahoma over the likes of alabama lsu texas so he had a lot of suitors coming from juco and when he got on the field i mean you understood what this guy's entire calling card was.

And it was pass rushing. It was one gapping. It was penetrating. That's what his strength is. And, you know, he did have a really great senior bowl, but a lot of his, I mean, a lot of what we saw at the senior bowl is, is almost along those same lines as we talk about when the combine rolls

around where it's like, Hey, don't count wins twice. Right? Like if you know a guy is fast on film, don't watch him run fast at the combine rolls around where it's like hey don't count wins twice right like if you know a guy is fast on film don't watch him run fast at the combine and be like wow i've got to i've got to put him up in the rankings because you already knew that you already saw he was fast don't count the wins twice that was kind of perry unwin free story with the senior bowl and i don't want to take anything away from it was it was awesome to watch and put on a show but where did he win at the senior bowl connor one on one ones and one gap penetrating like that's literally that's what he is all about he is really quick moving laterally for a big guy he understands man when he can when he can club

rip you and when he can put that arm underneath an offensive tackle really hook you this dude turns he turns quick he turns on a dime for a 300 pounder i'll tell you that for sure but you get him up against certain guards, certain centers, and when he is one gap and attacking really half of their body, right, when he gets to really almost get you into a turn style and get that arm underneath you, man, he can really turn the corner. I think there's a lot of really nice things you like to see from a pass rush profile.

Dude can't hold up against double teams. I mean, strength is not his profile. One down is worrying me. I don't think you can put this guy on the field on early downs in the NFL. dude can't hold up against double teams i mean strength is not his profile no one downs worry me i don't think you can put this guy on the field on early downs the nfl no way even from what we saw at the senior bowl and how juiced up he was you know you talked about hey what in the world happened to the senior bowl i'll tell you what happened he was working with the jets defensive line coach and that guy was screaming he was screaming in his ear and perry on winfrey was jacked man he got up for it. He matched the

energy of the defensive line coach. And honestly, I genuinely feel that was a big catalyst for what allowed him to have such a good week. So he does not make my top five. And a big reason why is because he is so limited right now to me where you basically can only put him on the field and pass for situations. And if you don't have him on the field at all times, can have faith you're just going to say hey you're only going to play a handful of snaps and i'm going to get the best out of you for those handful of snaps there's no guarantee in that either so it's kind of tough for him i think that he's gotta get stronger man it only gets tougher in the nfl i mean shoot he was losing against double teams in the big 12 in all respects to the big 12 i mean like it's a spread you out speed tempo kind of a conference so i

mean if you put para and winfrey in the sec man he gets blown off the ball three four yards sometimes like i i just i'm worried about him from a strength profile standpoint i love what he does is a one gapping interior penetrator he knows where the money is made it's with pass rushing and he has that ability but i agree with you that's something that really kept him off the list for me number five for me and i'm not i'm not super jazzed about my number five either it's it's to marvin leal the interior defensive lineman but really just overall defensive lineman for texas a&m this is a former five-star recruit former number 16 overall recruit in the country when he committed to texas a&m six foot four 290 pounds so he's on the lighter side and i think when you look at the positives for de marvin leal a lot of people will point to his versatility to his burst how he's able to get

in the backfield very quickly how very similarly to perry on winfrey he can be a one gap penetrator kind of an interior defensive lineman he could really make a name for himself doing that. And for, I will preface it by saying this, for an interior defensive lineman, DeMarvin Leal is very athletic. Like, he clearly pops out in what he is able to do for an interior defensive lineman. The problem is, it's kind of the same problem

that Perr and winfrey had i don't think you can hold up i don't know i don't know i don't know what you do with a guy who's 290 pounds because to me that's way too much of a tweener player like you're too light to play three tech and anything uh lower in technique like you can't play a shaded two you can't play a one you can't play a nose you just don't have enough sand in the pants you don't have enough weight there and then am i gonna put you out at the edge am i gonna i'm gonna have you play a five tech because i can't have you play anything that's really like a speed rusher anything in like a wide nine alignment anything that's a a far out edge rusher because 290 is too high like you're not going to beat anybody out on the outside shoulder it's just

not going to happen so then basically the only home I have for you at that weight for DeMarvin Leal is like as a true 5-tech, 4-3 defensive end. And I don't know if he's athletic or twitched up enough to really succeed just like as an end because you've got other guys who are weighing like 260 265 255 even who are bringing more to the edge rush profile so i don't know we're starting off this interior defensive line group mentioning guys who are number five and kind of talking about the things that we don't like about them but guys you know like i said at the top of the podcast is kind of what we're doing here we're highlighting players and we're highlighting position groups and we're

telling you what the strength and weakness and how deep they are. And unfortunately, we had DeMarvin Leal. A lot of people did. It's like a top 20, top 15. Sometimes I even saw him in the top 10 of those way too early mock drafts. And I just don't see it anymore, man. I just don't think he's a first round player. I don't really know what you do with them. And, you know, to throw a player comp out there for you, it's a little bit different

because he was this guy was a little bit lighter. But Solomon Thomas, man, he gives me a lot of Solomon Thomas vibes I think that Solomon Thomas was one of those players who I certainly fell for coming out of Stanford where I went holy cow this guy can fire up the field and you know he weighs similarly to what Aaron Donald did and like he's just got so much great ability and he's got such he's so good as a pass rusher he's so fast on that interior you know guards and centers are just not ready for it and man it just don't turn out like that aaron donald's an alien aaron donald's rare you know it just he he's so fast and he's so strong that he actually makes it work but when you get these guys who are a lot lighter they're often

homeless if you will we we talk about interior defensive linemen having a lot of versatility and versatility being a good thing, but there's a difference between being versatile and not having a home base. You still have to have a home base as a three tech, as a five tech, as a nose, as something that you can always lean back on while you hone versatility skills at other techniques along the defensive line. I don't know where DeMarvin Leal's home base is,

because I just don't know what it's going to be in the NFL. So I feel like I'm being harsh on a player that was a very highly rated recruit, very athletic dude for his size, but man, I think he's too much of a tweener for me. It's going to be tough for him to succeed right away in the NFL. It is. He didn't make my top five I'll clarify that he would have been in the just miss category so I had Winfrey at five he was just missed for you you had Leal at five he was a just missed one of the just missed for me and I think that is part of it you know you wonder can he be a 4-3 defensive end in an attacking scheme well sure but are you willing to deal

with his shortcomings against the run are you sticking you know a belief that you think those will improve I don't I don't know I just I'm just not there I just think I and once again this comes down to maybe I went into the season with too high of expectations mocking him in the top 20 to 25 picks and uh the play the play was not there and if if you guys are listening and really want to get a feel for some of the things we're eliminating you know with Leal I would start with the alabama game and just and yes it's alabama but guess what that's what the nfl is like the elephant the nfl is alabama right so all right so moving on to number four and this is somebody like i said the tier is going to pick up now and get much

different i was joking or kind of being serious with trevor off air before we recorded the show this might be the guy i'm willing to put my name on the most confidently or at least understand of I was joking or kind of being serious with Trevor off air before we recorded the show. This might be the guy I'm willing to put my name on the most confidently or at least understand of what he is. And it's Travis Jones. And he's four? He's four for you? And he's four for me. In this class?

In this economy? I know. It's shameful. It's shameful. He's four. He could have easily honestly been one or two. That's how much I like him. So we'll go with four here for travis jones a true i like to say a true nose tackle shade nose but he could play three tech he could do a lot of different things for you between that range he

has such a thick powerful lower half that he does not get moved and that's what stands out on the all 22 when you see him you're like oh he's not going anywhere he is literally a boulder on the turf that nobody can move and he can take on double teams he can win one-on-one pass rush opportunities he is very very good at stacking and shedding blocks against the run and blowing up the backfield and when he went down to mobile you know because guys like that kind of get the reputation because of their size and their build and what they highlighted on tape as you know run stuffers and don't get me wrong he absolutely is i thought he kind of went into the pass rush drills as a heavyweight boxer just throwing

these haymaker clubs around it was just like whoa like easy there so i i love him i really love him i think if i was a team on day two and i said my run defense sucked i hate my interior we need to be better and we need to be better now i would feel really good about taking travis jones as early as the round. So he comes in at four for me. I think some of the guys ahead of him are ahead of him because of some maybe pass rush ceiling, but big, big fan of Travis Jones. Well, I'll get to my thoughts on Travis Jones, but I'll get to those in a little bit.

So I won't unload the clip on what I think about Travis Jones because we'll talk about him in a few minutes on my rankings. I have him a little bit higher. Number four for me, another kind of tweenerener player but one that I have a little bit more faith in and that's Houston's Logan Hall Logan Hall measured ends at six foot six 270 pounds and some people have him listed as an edge some people have him listed as an interior defensive lineman I think he's closer to like that four-3 defensive end or uh sorry sorry 3-4 defensive end or 4-3 interior player than i would say that he is like this true edge guy um but you certainly see why

you would maybe want to have him as an edge because of his length he has man he's got a great frame and he uses it very very well i think he's got a, man, I was super impressed with seeing him in mobile, not even during the drills, but literally just physically. Looking at him standing next to some of these other interior defensive linemen and edge rushers, man, he just, he's built really well. I mean, he carries a lot of weight in his lower half. He's got a lot of strength to him because of that.

You know, he's got the long arm moves. He can, especially when he's going up against guards strength to him because of that you know he's got the long arm moves he can especially when he's going up against guards and centers and things like that man when he is able to get out of his stance and really explode out of his stance he can extend those arms and there are not many interior offensive linemen in the nfl who are going to be able to counter a really successful long arm from logan hall and so i think that he understands leverage really well he covers those gaps i think he can hold up against double teams if you know he's going to play on the interior a little bit more i think you're going to put a little bit even more weight on him you're going to get him probably into like the 280s and so that's going to come

with more strength more anchor ability while still giving you some decent one gapping penetrating there so there's a little bit of a projection because his size and weight and where exactly you play him is kind of why he's a little bit lower for me, but I'm intrigued and I have more faith in where I'm going to play him. And if he's in, how he's going to succeed in the NFL that I do like a DeMarvin Leal or some of these other guys who might be a little bit more versatile. So that's why I have Logan Hall at number four, the Houston.

I'll say defensive tackle because I think he's going to be more of an interior guy, but it does depend what team he goes to. If he goes to more of a three-down lineman, three-four heavy scheme, I could certainly see him being listed as a defensive end. So it all kind of depends there. But those are the roles where I see him playing, and I've got him number four here on this list yeah i like logan hall a lot so much that he was number three for me and i i just think you love a good transition you're really yeah you love to see it his pass rushing tools are real um and that that is going

to translate the fact that he is you know know, he's obviously got really good length. I do think that weight can fluctuate because he carries it. Well, it kind of reminds me of the career path that Sheldon Richardson has had to go through where, you know, he was drafted by the jets and they were congested on the D line. So they,

they kicked him around. He played three tech five tech. He played out on the edge. And then he's obviously played for Seattle, Minnesota and Cleveland sense. And then back to Minnesota. And he's had a lot of success everywhere. He's gone, but he's obviously played for Seattle, Minnesota and Cleveland since and then back to Minnesota. And he's had a lot of success everywhere he's gone. But he's really bounced around as a defensive end and a defensive tackle and a true 5-tech, 3-tech.

And I think Hall will experience the same thing. And the calling card for both of those guys is that they just know how to get after the quarterback. And they could still be run responsible is what I like to call it. They're not selling out in the same way that I think Leal and Winfrey do at times. So Hall is an instinctive enough player against the run. I think he's got excellent pass rush traits. We've seen it for two years now. He's amassed almost 50 total pressures over the last two seasons, and that was under 500 pass rush opportunities. So for the interior kind of guy, he is converting at a good rate Trevor nailed it when you just get a look at him and the build he has and the athleticism that he has it's there's a

lot to like with Logan Hall so I think it's got to be the right team and only the right team will draft him because he is a very specific kind of player but if you need somebody you know like when the Ravens took Justin Matabuke a couple of years ago it's like okay, okay, we need a guy that can play on the interior and shoot gaps, fire off the ball and win as a pass rusher. And there's going to be unique situations to utilize him. I think Logan Hall will be perfect for that. Yeah. And you know, he's the lack of full on flexibility. You would expect from a player who is six foot six, 270 pounds, right?

I'm not really knocking him in that way. I don't really see that as a negative. I just see it as a reality for him. And that's ultimately why I feel like I would rather take a chance on throwing some extra weight on him, getting him a little bit stronger and allowing him to play inside rather than being on an edge. I'd rather him play a little heavier than a little lighter because I'm not

sure that flexibility gets any better. If you have him at a lower weight. And instead, I think you could have a real good chance at a mismatch kind of a player along the interior defensive line, like I was saying, from basically anywhere from a four-eye technique, which is right in the inside shoulder of the offensive tackle, anywhere from that in. You know, when you're talking three techs over the outside shoulder of a guard or, you know, two're talking three techs over over the outside shoulder of a guard or um

you know two eyes the same thing you get a little bit closer in there one zeros all that he presents a lot of great matchups with length if you throw a little bit more strength on him so i i think that those are all the reasons why i've gotten him on this list and then i'll just round it out because you had travis jones at number four it was a good flip-flop there i've got travis jones at number three i'm not gonna lie to you man i almost had him at number two i really did because it's tough he's that good he is just you know exactly what you're gonna get and i i ultimately had to say to myself just because i'm so sure of what i'm getting in travis jones does not mean he's 100 better than the guy that I have at number two, which we'll

get into in a few minutes. But you know, Travis Jones from UConn came to the senior bowl really put on a show six foot four 300 pounds. He is a monster. He put it on full display in mobile. He was able to show a lot of really great success and pass rush reps. I'll be it. You know, it was bull rush stuff. it was strength stuff but that's going to be his entire game what you really love to draft travis jones for is those early downs first down second down setting the tone holding the point of attack you watch that clemson game man i loved watching that clemson game because he was taking on double teams he was splitting double teams and you know and i thought that he did a really good job of knowing exactly what his job as an interior defensive lineman was on

certain plays. You know, when he could definitely tell that it was a run that was pulling a certain direction and he was going up against a double team, he'd have no problem dipping the shoulder, putting the hand right in between the two guys, splitting them, going right between them, telling the running back, hey, you better bounce it outside or I'm gonna bring you to the ground. And then there were other times where, you know, they would clearly go up against more of a duo or inside kind of a run

where his job was simply to eat the double team. It's not to get in between. It's not to get in between these two guys. It's not to, because that's something you do see with interior defensive linemen who make a lot of their money off of say pass rushing is sometimes they will say okay the best thing i can do on this play is even though it's a run play get by my offensive tackle the guy who's blocking me get into the backfield and force the running back to go one way or another

sometimes that works but if you're not super consistent with it say if you're not basically aaron donald that might not always be the best way to defend the run sometimes it really is just biting the bullet if you will knowing that the duo block is coming right to you standing your ground putting one arm into the chest of each of those guys and holding your ground and anchoring down and letting one of your linebackers stay free and tackle the guy one or two yards after the line scrimmage. And I think that you saw him understand that and execute that very, very well. He gives you such a great, such a great peace of mind, I will say, as a run defender. And then he does, he gives you a little bit of an extra pass rush profile to him. So number three on my interior defensive line group but man i really liked him this i think is probably an early second round pick unless

somebody needs an interior guy enough in the first round and maybe wants to take a chance on him i don't think it's far-fetched but i would tell you that travis jones probably going to be one of those premier preferred players at the beginning of day two i think so too i think just he's passed every test thrown at him I think a lot of people go oh you know UConn like whatever I mean UConn somehow produces NFL talent and Travis Jones is every bit of NFL talent in that regard in a class where because he's so responsible right away it's gonna make him so much more valuable to NFL teams in a draft where there's not a lot of players like Travis Jones in

this class. We just spent all that time talking about Leal and Winfrey. All of their problems are Travis Jones strengths, even for Logan Hall, who I think is very good against the run. But Logan Hall is 260 pounds. OK, Travis Jones is probably going to play at 330. He's an absolute bus. Yeah, like an absolute bus, a slab of concrete to move so all right now we get into the top two for me they play for the same team and nobody's going to be surprised by that uh if you were awake on any saturday of the college football season you could not miss these two humans number two for me is davante wy. And I will say that you could almost flip a coin between number two and number one. And obviously number one, I already gave it away with teammates, I think it's Jordan Davis.

So number two with Devontae Wyatt, he was just tremendous for Georgia this year. He has pass rush juice. He's active against the run. I think the one thing that separated him for so long that maybe didn't excite him as much on broadcast compared to Jordan Davis is because he looks small next to Jordan Davis. He's still 6'3 and over 300 pounds. But Jordan Davis is just the size of two big humans.

So nobody cared about Devontae Wyatt. But you should care about Devontae Wyatt. He was awesome this year, man. He was, like I said, a very productive pass rusher. He was a house against the run. He passed every test down in Mobile, but that didn't matter for him in my eyes because what he did in the SEC was enough. So in a defensive tackle class that kind of leaves you wanting more, Devontae Wyatt's one of the rare ones that if he goes in the top 40 I'm like I get it he's warranted that he has upside starter

potential the tape there's four years of tape for him doing that this was his by far his best year so Devante Wyatt comes in at number two for me I think he's a better pass rusher than Jordan Davis but he doesn't have the size and the strength against the run. That's the difference. Yeah, I like Devontae Wyatt a lot. In fact, I like Devontae Wyatt enough for him to be my DT1 in this class. And so we're flip-flopping here with the two Georgia guys. Devontae Wyatt, I think he got dealt a bad hand.

Well, I guess, you know, that's not fair because he benefited off of it. Essentially, what I'm trying to say is he was on an interior defensive line with him, Jordan Davis and Jalen Carter. And Jordan Davis is obviously the size of a small townhouse. And so he was going to obviously get all of the attention, literally in a lot of different ways than DeMarvin Leal was going to get. But then he also had to go up against Jalen Carter. And Connor, you know how the draft world works.

When there is a sophomore who is not quite draft eligible, who isn't doing, who is doing great things. Everyone drools. Oh, we all go, what about we have this when this guy comes out. If he was in this class. And granted, if Jalen Carter was in this class, I'm pretty sure that he would be DT1. So this was well warranted.

The hype for him was well warranted. But all that to say,vin leal or sorry not to marvin leal to uh davante wyatt did not get the eyeballs that he deserved and he went down to mobile at the senior bowl and you know what he absolutely whooped up on folks we talked about how jermaine johnson didn't even need a third day of practice look man neither didn't davante wyatt he didn't he dominated for two straight days he went up against all types of interior defense or interior offensive linemen and he was cooking them you mentioned how stout he is against the run that's just what Georgia does that's how they breed their defensive their defensive linemen down there that is just in their blood but he's also a fantastic pass rusher I really do think that this guy gives you a lot of plus size wherever you're going to play him

from a three tech to why uh you're going to throw him at nose at some, at some point, he can give you a little bit of quickness going up against centers when he's heads up or whether he's up against the shoulder of them. And he understands that he's got the quickness to get in cross guys, faces one gap in different situations. He's got some good moves. He's got a swim move to him. He knows how to push pull. He can hit the club rip. Like he just, he does it all, man. And I think davante

wyatt is you mentioned it i've got jordan davis number two and we'll get to jordan davis and we'll talk about him in a second but it is the pass rush ability that davante wyatt brings that i don't think many others if any interior defensive lineman in this class do and if they do bring a similar pass rush profile they're doing it at either 15, 20, 25 pounds lighter than Devontae Wyatt is. I think that he is the man. I think he is my top defensive lineman, defensive tackle, I'll say, in this class.

He was just more creative than Jordan Davis. That's what it comes down to as a pass rusher. So, you know, there's just so much to like about Wyatt. I think he has maybe the most complete game of any defensive tackle in this class i you know i obviously can also make that argument for travis jones i was gonna say it just depends i mean like if you're talking about travis's game that's pretty damn complete but i agree with you it's very it's an over it's very overall well-rounded when you look

at davante wyatt all right so let's get into the mountain that rides. It's Jordan Davis. I mean, good God, the man is just, you know, he's such a conflicting player because when he's on the field, he is so impactful in terms of you can't run at him. He's going to open up so many opportunities for his teammates like Wyatt. And the thing is, I think there is a snap limit with him that is not going away I don't think he when you're just that large you're not gonna be this guy that just lives on the field for majority of the game I do think that there is obviously a lack of creativity as a pass rusher you know at his size he's probably been gifted his whole life to be like yeah I'm bigger than stronger than you so i'm gonna run right through you every time and i totally understand that hasn't failed him yet i was gonna say wish it could be us trevor um so i just think when it comes down to it jordan davis is going to be on an nfl field he is still going to be

bigger and stronger than almost most guys in front of him. He is going to be an early down player that opens up opportunities for teammates. I think his successes and impact will not be measured correctly in a box score, but on actually winning football games and getting your defense off the field, he is going to have such a significant impact on early downs that consistently puts the opposition in bad spots on third and longs it's a long game with Jordan Davis that I'm playing here I will say not my kind of player I draft in the top 20 after all of that praise I think there are people I'm always perplexed when I like I'll do a mock draft and someone's like Jordan Davis ain't making it to 23. And I'm just like, what do you mean?

Like, what are you talking about? And then I'll see one that has him in the top 10. I think the way the league has gone, you don't see that kind of player drafted that early anymore. Right. Man, like I've said to you before, you put them on the bucks at the end of the first round next to Vita Vea. And it's the impact is unbelievable. Yeah, so I love that pairing. I mean, it's absolutely hilarious to think about Vita Vea sitting next to Jordan Davis.

I would sign off as a... Meme aficionado. Yes, that would be absolutely fantastic. So my comp for Jordan Davis is the Mountain from Game of Thrones. And that's probably the best the best comp that I could possibly come up with just because it's just towering uh imposing uh everything is is when you look at Jordan Davis the strengths in a scouting profile for a guy who is six foot six 360 370 pounds are obvious he's a monster against a run you can't move him in the middle

double teams barely work against him if you single block him he's just gonna straight stack he's just gonna straight stack and he's gonna peek he's gonna see where the running back's going he's gonna throw you off and he's gonna make the tackle yeah so that's not an option he is one of those players and we kind of hear this all we hear this all the time and the thing that i think is the biggest uh what word am i going for here um if you really want to draft jordan davis high what you want to emphasize is that he can help you change the math if you will and i've heard a lot of people a lot smarter than me talk about this and i've tried to learn what this is all about i know the guys in the too high podcast dionte and seth talk about this all the time and it's

it's those players that are so uniquely gifted at what they do that it allows you to steal a gap if you will sometimes you could do that with alignment uh we've seen you know the tight front be able to do that we've seen different defensive coordinators try to get creative with where they align guys to almost kind of steal a gap if you will and i'm talking about kind of like gaps in the run game which is kind of where everything starts in football when you have jordan davis you basically command that two people have to block him because if two people don't block him you don't have a prayer of staying in front of them now there are things that you can scheme to run around or put a speed element to avoid going straight up and head up against a player that is that big you know for

example i think that if we were doing a mock draft in october november i would have had jordan davis as a top 12 pick i would have told you god don't make many of them like this dude he's unbelievable he's gonna be fantastic just draft him figure out later. And then the college football playoff kind of came around, and we saw teams really expose Georgia, specifically Alabama, with tempo and not allowing Georgia to substitute and get Jordan Davis off the field. So all of a sudden we're a handful of plays into the drive, and Jordan Davis is absolutely gassed. He can't even do what you have him on the field to do he's he's gassed against run support not just pass rushing so that is an

issue for him and I'll I'll say this people are going to compare it to Vita Vea and where he should go in the draft Vita Vea goes just outside the top 10 but I think Vita Vea was different Vita Vea brought more of an athletic twitchy profile to him he was six foot four 347 pounds jordan davis is six foot six about 365 vita spent most of his first two years with tampa bay simply getting his weight under control and reshaping his body and i think that that's going to be a decent amount of what jordan dav, especially if you draft him high, because if you don't improve his body shape and his conditioning, then it is going to be a problem for you. And if that's going to be a problem for you, then he's not worth a top 20 pick. No. So, so if he gets picked really high, I'm going to tell fans of that team right now,

you're going to have to live with the frustrations because the first two years is just, they're basically going to say your entire job is to get in shape eat really right eat really right eat really well reshape the body and get your conditioning going because year three year four you're coming out like a monster and i think that's kind of what the path is for jordan davis he is very uniquely gifted in his size and his strength that he'll be an asset in the nfl no matter what. But the difference between what makes him a first-round pick, a high-draft pick, and a day-two pick depends on your expectation

and how you're going to treat him and knowing that it's going to be a little bit of a retooling and how conditioning is going to be such an emphasis to getting a lot out of him. So those are my thoughts on Jordan Davis. I think it was perfect. I think it's a matter of you always need a plan. You should never draft a guy without a plan. But for somebody like Jordan Davis, it's even a more particular plan, right?

And I think, you know, you go back to that weight and conditioning. You look at rare guys in the NFL size-wise, right? And there's always the question of you're enamored with the size and how much that can change the on the field results but you're also cautious of the size because can that prohibit them from being on the field at times and the most recent example i think of and i know i'm biased here is mckay beckton with the jets though i mean his rookie year he's on the field a decent amount and he was awesome and i know he got hurt his second year but weight has been a legitimate issue in you know the rehab process obviously and the ability to consistently stay on the field for long stretches of time so it's

it's a gift and a curse at the end of course yes it is and and jordan davis is going to go through the same questions fair or not and that's what's going to dictate him the same questions, fair or not. And that's what's going to dictate him as a top 20 pick or a top 40 pick. And you can ask 50 draft analysts or 50 scouts or the 100 total, and I think you would get a dead split of different answers. So who's some guys that might have just missed the top five? I guess I'll recap it right now. My top five, I had DeMarvin Leal from Texas A&M. I had Logan Hall from Houston.

Travis Jones from UConn. Jordan Davis from Georgia was my number two. And then Devontae Wyatt from Georgia was my number one. Connor, you had Perrion Winfrey from local home at number five. Travis Jones at four. Logan Hall at three. Devontae Wyatt at two.

And then Jordan Davis at number one. Who's somebody who kind of just maybe missed the list or somebody that you just want to show some extra love to here at the end of the pod yeah so earlier I said Leal just missed as well he didn't make my top five another guy that didn't make my top five and I would feel better about floor wise than Winfrey but not ceiling wise would be for Darian Mathis from Alabama glad you're bringing him up yeah I think Mathis has had a quietly really nice year plus here that it's almost like he plays for Alabama. So it went unnoticed at times because they have so much talent on that defense. Mathis does a lot of the little things right. You can see a nice variety of moves. Very, very good. Like you said earlier, I forget who you're talking about,

but the same thing with the rip in the club. He knows how to win on the inside and get himself into space and make plays in the backfield. And Vardarian Mathis, to me, is just a rock-solid prospect that will probably be a third-round pick and will end up playing 60% of the snaps for somebody for a good stretch of time and being a nice starter that holds his own against the run. He's starting to show some pass rush juice.

So at the end of the day he was the one that i was most conflicted on leaving out of that number five spot because i do like what he brings to the table as a player nothing overwhelmingly impressive but just a lot of little things in the right way where he could be an average starter yeah i'm really glad that you brought him up because you are right he is so rock solid and you know right before we were doing this podcast i was preparing for and everything i was like you know what i'm gonna get on here and i'm gonna have de marvin leal at five and i'm gonna have logan hall at four and i'm gonna talk about what scares me about him as prospects and then we're gonna get to the end and i'm just gonna

talk about how much i like darian mathis and just how steady he is and uh how much i like his game and i was like i should put darian at number five i feel the same way now I didn't I mean I didn't do it because you were right those guys have higher ceilings than Fedarian Mathis and I do think that that matters but when you're talking about a mid-round player I don't know where Fedarian's gonna end up going but you're just getting a really nice backup rotational defensive tackle in there you know I I I look at, and I know this team really, really well, so I use their examples a lot. But for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Rakeem Nunez-Roches is a dude who just comes in when Vita Veya

and Dominick Nsou need a break, either of them. Him and Will Golsan are those two dudes that come into the interior. But Rakeem Nunez-Roches, he's just good. He's just a good rotational no one cares and and right and he never gets any hype but he plays the zero he plays the one he can play three tech he's just he's just a a really solid backup defensive lineman and i think that's exactly what ferdari mathis can be in the nfl for a long long time maybe he'll be even more than that but i know the high the floor is really high for Mathis,

and so I'm glad that you gave him a shout-out. Yeah, I think Mathis would be the number one guy you got to go to, and then one sleeper here. It's hard to call anybody that plays in the SEC a sleeper, but I think that when you're looking for bodies on early downs, Neil Farrell Jr. from LSU is somebody to me that can come in and hold up against the

run. He's a massive human, 6'4", probably going to play around 330. And I think the run tape is rock solid where especially, you know, you turn on the game against Alabama, you turn on the game against Florida. He does a lot of good things against the run. He's a true interior player at that size. So he's someone that might even go on day three of the draft, and his role is very defined as an early down player. But in a draft that, once again, there's not a lot of rock-solid run defenders, I think Neil Farrell Jr. is that guy outside the top 50 that I go, okay, I like him, and I feel good about the role that he brings.

Who is that guy for you that you don't really see as a top 50 pick, but you're like, I know he could do this for me from day one? Yeah, it's an interesting prospect. I'm picking Zion Hill, the interior defensive lineman from Louisiana. I watched a little bit of him because he had a pretty dang good PFF grade when I was looking at things. In the middle, in the end of the season, he's a former two-star recruit. I thought he was really nice as an interior penetrator.

He knows his his bread is buttered with pass rush and um i think he's got great get off i think he's got a really nice burst interior player now the reason why he's six foot one 290 pounds so he's not gonna be he's not gonna be a big time starter for you but man when when i looked at this list and i saw these tweener kind of players for whatever reason that we were going to mention in the top five around the top five I was like look you know what if you're considering these guys as high draft picks then you might be able to pick a Zion Hill later in the draft and get that kind of potential that you want to take a swing on at least that archetype of player maybe not to that level as those other guys but I don't know man I just I watched his tape and I was like you know

what this guy knows exactly what he is he's a speed rusher he's a those other guys, but I don't know, man, I just, I watched his tape and I was like, you know what? This guy knows exactly what he is. He's a speed rusher. He's a one gap penetrator, but I'm not going to have to pick him with a top 50 pick a top 75 pick something like that. I can wait on him and I can let him kind of develop, maybe be a situational player for me. He doesn't bring enough strength profile to be in there on early downs and consistently right now, but he's a mid to late round draft guy, probably more likely a late round draft guy that you maybe take a chance on help you on special teams. Be a practice squad guy.

See, we can get out of them because getting past our rush reps, good pass rush reps out of interior defensive lineman. I think you're always going to get to go after that stuff. So Zion Hill from Louisiana is the late round guy that I wanted to give a shout out to. All right. That wraps up the early defensive line preview, the pre NFL combine defensive line preview.

Obviously, a lot of different flavors in this group. I think it is clearly lacking, you know, like when you look at the seasons that we've had in the past, right? Like you talk about Derrick Brown, like everybody knew knew Derek Brown was going to be like a really early pick and impactful kind of player. I don't think it obviously doesn't have that guy, but I think it made this group that much more interesting. Yeah, I mean, it's going to,

we know that regardless of the class is super deep or super shallow, teams are going to want to add along the interior defensive line. That's just how it is. Teams are building through the trenches every single year. And it'll be interesting to see who goes where and how high

they go so even though you and i clearly don't think this is one of the stronger positions in the 2022 nfl draft we know the teams are going to be looking for these guys and it's just going to be a lot of fun i guess to see how they evaluate them, where these guys end up going. But we're going to find out a lot more about that next week because we got the combine next week, baby. That is the, it's the start of combine week next week. Connor, I cannot wait, man. We did not get to do a podcast in person for the senior bowl because of weather and travel plans and all that. We got to get one. We we gotta get one for the combine yeah we will we will get one that will be everyone's monday show so that'll be pretty much

lining up with post combine with the way things are scheduled this year so we will get to do a show in person uh we are going to have a lot coming out of the combine if we get to see all the people that we think we're going to get to see not talking about on tv talking about what goes on behind the scenes yes post combine is going to lead to a lot of fun stuff so you'll want to stick with us through that for sure very excited combine week is one of my favorite weeks of the entire football calendar we're going to bring you all the updated rankings we're going to talk about who's playing well who's talking well some great quotes from head coaches gmss, and of course, all the rumors and what we are hearing from behind the scenes

with a little bit of liquid courage, if you will. You know, the beers, the mixed drinks, they always help trying to figure out information. So we promise not to have too much fun for you guys, but certainly enough fun to where we're going to be able to bring you a lot of really great information. We'll see you guys then. Thanks for tuning in to the NFL stock exchange. Thank you.