NFL Stock Exchange: An NFL Draft Podcast - 153. Jalen Carter News Reactions + Early Takeaways From 2023 Combine

Episode Date: March 1, 2023

Hosts Trevor Sikkema and Connor Rogers come to you live from the 2023 NFL Combine to give you their top early takeaways, as well as their reaction to the Jalen Carter news and what it means for 2023 NFL Draft as a whole.

This episode is brought to you by our good friends at NFL Sunday Ticket on YouTube TV. I'm sure by now you've all got back into your Sunday routines, but they could be even better. With NFL Sunday Ticket and YouTube TV, you get the most live NFL games all in one place, every game, every Sunday. And you can even watch up to four different games at once with MultiView, one of my favorite inventions of this decade. It's exactly what you need to catch all the action. Make your Sundays more magical. And also, YouTube TV is great. 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 opening bell of the NFL Stock Exchange Podcast. I'm Trevor Sikma. That is Connor Rogers. Joining you guys from beautiful Indianapolis, Indiana. That's right.

It's good. For the 2023 Scouting Combine. Connor, my man. It's good to see you in person. It is. It's how many times a year. Somebody asked me this actually last night. They're like, how many times a year do you see Trevor?

And like, they were like, how many shows you do? I was like three a week. They're like, how many times do you actually see Trevor? I was like, well, if he comes to New York once a year. Maybe. Which he did last summer. We're like, how many times do you actually see Trevor? I was like, well, if he comes to New York once a year. Which he did last summer. We got that one. Three times.

Senior Bowl, Combine, and a trip that's just for leisure. So here we are, man. We've got to take advantage of these. We definitely got to take advantage. And we will. We've got a couple of podcast episodes for you guys that we're doing in person. And we're going to give you our reactions from a lot of the different Combine storylines that we have throughout the week.

Obviously, right now, it's the beginning of the week. So it's a lot of podium stuff. It's's quotes we're asking general managers and head coaches questions we actually had defensive line and linebackers today so we'll give you guys some little nuggets on on what they said at the podium as well but this is a fun time of year man like this is where we really get a lot of answers and yeah whether it's measurable answers whether it's the drills whether it's asking people things at the podium it's just it's just fun fun to be here and to get a lot of these answers from different prospects. You have everybody in this melting pot situation, boots on the ground, all the same. You're around the prospects.

You're around the GMs. You hear from sometimes first-time coaches. And it's, I mean, you can get in and ask real football questions to these prospects that you genuinely might want an answer on a tape study. And that can vary. Sometimes the scrums could be what seems to be over 50 people and then you know a fun moment for me today i walk up to dorian williams unfortunately by himself and go hey i could ask five questions right to one of my favorite cover linebackers in the class so it's a unique event that you just never know which way it's going to go yeah no it's it's uh there's

there's just a lot of different things that can happen in combine week. I say this, unfortunately, we've got to start with the biggest story that we have so far on the, at the B getting his number away. You have to, yeah. Georgia defensive lineman, Jalen Carter was worn out for his arrest, for his participation in something that happened back in January after they won their second national championship. And, um, we'll, we'll get the, we'll get the official tweet up. If you're watching this on YouTube and you can read all of it.

But I'll read the beginning part of it. As a result of the ongoing investigation into the January 15, 2023 fatal car crash that occurred in the 900 block of Barnett-Skulls Road in the Athens-Clarke County Police Department, they have secured a arrest warrant for Jalen Carter, 21 years old, for reckless driving and racing. The incident that they are referencing is a single-car crash that killed a University of Georgia football staffer as well as a teammate of Jalen Carter, Devon Willick. Devon Willick, I believe.

It's just an unbelievably tragic situation, and it was classified as a single car crash. And we didn't really know any other details outside of that. It was an ongoing investigation. But just about 30 minutes before Jalen Carter was going to take to the podium, this news breaks. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution broke the news that there was the warrant out for his arrest. And, you know, since then, Jalen Carter has released his own statement. Jalen Carter is no longer in Indianapolis.

He's headed back to Georgia, obviously, because of the warrant for his arrest. And he said this morning, I received a telephone call from the Athens, Georgia Police Department informing me that two misdemeanor warrants had been issued against me for reckless driving and racing. Numerous media reports have also circulated this morning containing inaccurate information concerning the tragic events of January 15, 2023. It is my intention to return to Athens to answer the misdemeanor charges against me and to make certain that the complete and accurate truth is presented. There is no question in my mind that when all of the facts are known,

that I will be fully exonerated of any criminal wrongdoings. Connor, obviously there is a legal process that's going to happen here, but this is the player who many had as the number one overall pick in this draft. As of right now, with the Bears sitting at number one overall, the number one player in this class. And just your thoughts, it has kind of come down today, this news that was shocking to everybody. A lot to unpack, right?

And the reason I say that is obviously it reflects back on a tragedy. That's an awful situation first and foremost and then you get to the second part of it what a whirlwind it was here on the ground in Indy I mean Jalen Carter the night before he's supposed to speak on the podium to all the media was meeting with multiple teams doing interviews teams are trying to get to know him and go through that process and then 30 minutes before he's set to speak on the podium and even before this was out he was expected to have the biggest scrum I would say him Will Anderson totally Tyree Wilson that would be the biggest scrum of the day you

have this drop and then you could assume he's not coming out for because it's a serious situation that is going to play out a legal process that's going to play out and you talk about the whirlwind on the draft because this is a draft podcast and we have to go there at some point despite there being a lot of layers to this right you have draft odds for first defensive player being taken jaylen carter's in the minus territory saying he's a far away favorite he was at minus 105 right then will anderson was a plus 130 and then tyree wilson the long shot at plus 500 or plus 600 trevor when that news comes out this board gets dropped they take it off the board oh I see I didn't even look but that is how volatile of a situation this is and how many variables there are at play where

we don't know if this is going to push Jalen Carter out of being the first non-quarterback taken we don't know if this is going to push Jalen Carter out of the top 10 top 15 we don't know yeah right now what we do know is there have been plenty of rumors and reports going around concerns about his character right um that you know not from our show but that were responded to a certain way and yeah something like this comes out and it starts to become a serious issue it's it's far from a lock Jalen Carter is a top three pick anymore. Yeah. Look, like Connor said, there's so much that is going to play out from this. There's so much of figuring out of exactly what happened and the truth in the matter of all this.

So I don't think either of us are going to sit here and make statements like saying that we know exactly what's going to happen or even what happened in this situation. But there's no doubt about it that it's going to affect the NFL draft in some way, shape, or form. And so that is kind of what we're talking about here on this show. And I agree with you. You know, I was chatting with somebody earlier today that I kind of liken the situation to not obviously the events of how they happened, but like when the news broke with Laramie Tunsil, when he had the video of the gas mask that came out on draft night.

Now this is different because we're a couple months away from the draft. And so time is going to play differently here. But it is that similar feeling of unknown, like what's going to happen now? And Laramie Tunsil was a guy who was going to get picked top three in that draft and ended up sliding outside of the top ten. And who knows what's going to happen with Jalen Carter. There are details that are out there, and obviously we'll kind of talk about those when they get more solidified and when we know a lot more in this process and kind of

when it gets figured out and I think as much as time is on the NFL side here and Jalen's here that this could play out and can work to his advantage where say things are cleared or whatever it may be and he ends up ultimately being an early pick like we all thought there are now publicly lingering questions around his maturity and figuring it out and being reliable and when you use a top five pick on a player that's a question that you don't want to have in your back pocket you don't want to go am I going to get the most of this guy not in the building but also out of the building and it's a real thing here there's no way around it and I'll tell right now, that's not a thing with Will Anderson. It's not a thing with Tyree Wilson. I haven't heard it be a thing with any of the quarterbacks. So as talented as Jalen Carter

is, and I think he's the most talented player in this draft. Yeah. This is a significant situation for his draft. Well, it definitely matters. You know, this is something that NFL teams definitely have to get to the bottom of too, because not only is it a tragic and serious situation, but also, and this is kind of a transition into what we saw yesterday and today with the head coaches and the general managers. You ask them, hey, what are you here for? What are you trying to figure out at the combine? Every single one of them, the answer is exactly the same,

but just maybe in different words. We're trying to figure out who these players are. Exactly. We are trying to figure, and, you know. Exactly. We are trying to figure out. And, you know, they liken the combine exercises like speed dating. You know, that's what they say. We only get 20 minutes from these guys. So you don't learn everything there is to know in 20 minutes from a player.

But that is what they are here to do. And there's no doubt about it that this is just a wrench that is not only thrown into the scouting report of Jalen Carter, but also in the entire story of what will be the 2023 NFL draft because he was a player that was going to get picked so highly. Yeah, it's a crazy situation. It's a huge domino that's now fallen. Yeah. And I think, you know, to kind of put a bow on it, I also think of the teams that maybe weren't doing their homework on Jalen Carter to the degree of whether it be a Chicago or Arizona or Seattle or Detroit I think now everybody safely will be and I'm not saying teams don't do the homework but

there's a different degree when you think a guy has a 90 to 95 percent chance of being on the board when you pick yeah versus a 10 to 15 percent I mean hell if you're a team in the 20s right now are you sitting there going well we didn't foresee this coming right and now we need to be ready to roll as well so it's just a ton of variables that play here in a super unpredictable situation no doubt about it and we'll move on but it just i i hope that no matter what happens in this situation judgment is reserved until the truth really comes out of course i hope that this situation is handled with the severity that it requires. Two people passed away in this incident. Yeah. And this is, I mean, like, that is the thing that weighs heavy on this story,

is not only are the details of maybe, okay, shouldn't have been doing this, shouldn't have been doing this. Two people lost their life. And that's what makes this so serious. It's not just about a draft prospect and things about a scouting report. Like, it was an incident in which two people passed away that is unbelievably tragic. And I just hope that everybody out there, whether they're approaching it initially from a Jalen Carter angle or NFL draft angle, ultimately just remembers that in this situation, that it deserves to be handled in the correct, timely manner,

but in a manner that is also serious to what happened here. Without a doubt. Reckless driving is somehow still an under-the-radar massive problem in this country. Massive, massive problem. It's a killer. It's an absolute killer, literally. And that is something that should be magnified in this unfortunate story. Don't drink and drive, please, people out there.

There are way too many resources out there. There are many friends who take the drinking out of it don't i mean don't drive 90 miles an hour that's and you're right you're right you're right be responsible when you get behind the wheel no it's you're right you're right though be responsible when you get behind the wheel lives are at stake make good decisions all right let's talk about as tough as it is to kind of transition from that let let's talk about some of the head coaches and general managers. I've got a couple of nuggets. I'll start with one that I shared on the YouTube short. Everybody, we missed it. We're here. We're dabbling into that a little bit with the YouTube shorts. And I shared this yesterday on the YouTube channel, but a little nugget that I got yesterday, and I'm curious to hear your thoughts on it.

Terry Fontenot is the general manager of the Atlanta Falcons. He got up to the podium, and we don't normally learn a ton. These GMs are pretty good at this, right? They don't want to give away too much. They want to have the obligation of, okay, I spoke at the podium, but I don't want to give people too much of what I'm thinking about. Somebody asked him about nickel corner, and he really lit up when he was talking about slot corner.

He's like, it is a starting position in today's league. Good take. You are in nickel 70% of the time. You know, it is a, he called it a starter, and he called it a critical position to his defense, one that they don't necessarily have right now. He also noted that being the Atlanta Falcons in the great state of Georgia, they put a little Georgia peach icon next to a player that is from the state of Georgia.

Not just played football in college at the University of Georgia. Anyone who's from Georgia, they put a little peach next to their name because they know that Georgia football is a pretty good pipeline. And so if you take those two hands and you put them together, there's a damn good slot cornerback in this draft who happens to be from the state of Georgia, and his name is Brian Branch. Not saying that he's going to go number eight overall, but like I said in the YouTube short, I think it's on the table, folks.

I really, really do. Terry Fano has made it a point to emphasize we are drafting the right football players for the Atlanta Falcons. That's how he's trying to build a team. Connor, what do you think about that? Well, listen, Brian Branch is one of the higher floor players in this draft. The Falcons absolutely are a team that needs to continue that hit rate, right? They need to hit on players.

They need to know what they're getting. They need to fill out a roster that needs plenty of help. He is the best tackler in the draft, I think. I think that's an area of improvement for that defense as well. And I think it's a really of improvement for that defense as well. And I think it's a really good point when you look at what Fontenot was saying, that this is someone who can be a big-time nickel player for us, can probably be a safety for us, can play in the box, can survive in the box, thrive in the box.

And I like that little peek behind the curtain of, hey, you know what, you like what you like in this world. And Fontenot clearly likes players from Georgia. Yes. And there's a lot of damn good players coming out of Georgia. I joked around after I heard this from you. I was like, how did he end up at Alabama? I mean, imagine Brian Branch on that Georgia defense. But no, it makes sense. They already had enough. I'll say this with Atlanta. As if Alabama doesn't. I'm sorry. Now I just realized that Alabama doesn't have enough good players. Yeah, that too. I'll say this with Atlanta. As if Alabama doesn't. I'm sorry. Now I just realized that. Alabama doesn't have enough good players.

Yeah, that too. I've heard this with Atlanta to piggyback off this, and this is going back for about two months now. As much as a lot of the mock drafts are looking at pass rusher for them, justifiably so, they've been doing an overwhelming amount of work on DBs, and that includes the corners because when you look at where they pick, you think Gonzalez, you think Porter, you think Witherspoon. Yep.

But you forget that Branch, who is a safety, is a nickel, and that is if you have a bad nickel in this league, you're pretty much dead in the water. You're getting hosed week in and week out. Right away. So if one of the best players in this draft is a nickel and you have a need there, how do you not consider that with a top ten pick? So Atlantaanta as much as a lot of the mocks are on edge i have heard once again they've

been doing a ton of work on db so what what you are tracking entirely checks out and makes so much sense i believe will anderson also from the state of georgia but yeah don't rock solid football think they're gonna get will anderson if he makes it to eight i think that they're gonna check both of those boxes of needing a pass rusher and a Georgia player. If he ends up getting there, but I don't think that Will Anderson's going to end up getting there. What about you? What's something that stood out from you

from any head coach, GM, anything like that? Man, there was a lot. It's interesting to hear guys that are here necessarily in this role for the first time. First time head coaches. Interesting guys that just don't do a lot of media. You think of Fontenot, how often do we get to hear from Fontenot in that capacity? Three times a year.

Yeah, that's a really interesting peek behind the curtain. You see, I mean, hearing from Frank Reich today was really, really interesting because this is a dude that's had success in the NFL, that's going to a division that I think is ripe for the taking for him when you look at the staff, sorry, Trevor, sorry. It's not a lock. This is Kyle Trask slander. Let's settle down.

And I'm not going to stand for it here. I'm going to sit for it. Go ahead. What I'm tying together as a whole is, and you can't avoid this story here, is Derek Carr is a big story here at the Combine. And that trickles into the three teams he's met with, some of them multiple times now. When you look at that division, you think of the Saints,

who he's met with multiple times. Now he's met with the Panthers. He's obviously met with the Jets, both in Florham Park. And Joe Douglas is here. Robert Sala is not, but has met with the Jets. I think Woody Johnson has been here with them as well. So hearing from Reich was interesting because as much as he was asked about Carr and he had nice things to say about Carr, he pivoted right away, it felt like,

to, hey, there's quarterbacks in this draft. And I'm fascinated what Carolina's thinking. That's why I bring up when you hear from Reich, you obviously have Fitter there as well. What is Carolina thinking? How does that shape the top ten of this draft, right? And Derek Carr's a big domino to fall. Right.

If he goes to the Saints, you look at him and go, eh, okay. If he goes to the Jets, once again, you look at and go okay because those teams aren't shaking up the top 10 of the draft right but if he goes to Carolina or let's say for this case he doesn't Carolina has to be all in on this quarterback class and for sure Trevor how do they sit there back there and just watch you have the Colts you have the Texans you have these teams that are quarterback hungry I think they've they've really knocked it out of the park with step one build a staff a staff that you have confidence in yeah I've always said they have this ascending offensive line I think it might be time for Carolina assuming they pass on Carr which is no given maybe that ends up being the choice to go all in and maybe move up and kind of

stake their claim in this draft and go get their guy. And whether that's Bryce, whether that's CJ, I think either would flourish under Reich in that offense. No, I agree. And Carolina is in a position where they could potentially go all in for a quarterback in this class. And Mike Kay, good friend of the program, he actually asked Scott Fitterer at his podium, he was like,

hey, you know, you get this staff with a lot of quarterback expertise you got frank right they hired josh mccown as a quarterback coach and he asked scott fitter does that give you more confidence to go get a young guy knowing that you have great questions is the the word that he used on the coaching staff already guys who know how to truly groom quarterbacks and scott fitterer said like yeah absolutely like that is a factor not to say they're for sure going to do that with a quarterback but to your point that goes into it and that's something that frank bright talked about as well i will also say you like picking up i like picking up little nuggets as you can tell from these podiums as everybody loves to do. Scott Fitterer said that this offseason, David Tepper,

the owner of the Panthers, came to him and was like, I want to go all in. Go get me the best. And they have so far put together the best coaching staff. I've got to think that motto continues at quarterback. I cannot imagine they are going to sit back. Because if they don't think that Derek Carr is the guy that can go and eventually win them a Super Bowl,

I think they're going to get incredibly aggressive to move up in this draft. I do not. No matter what, if they need a quarterback, I don't think they're sitting at nine, man. No, no, no. There's no way. I do not think they're going to sit at nine. And think about what's in front of this somehow turned to the NFC South show,

which is really funny to me today. But when you look at our Falcons talk. Oh, yeah, I guess you're right. We'll bounce around a little bit. It's because it matters. They're both in the top ten. This matters a real lot. And that just stuck out to me so much because if you look at Carr,

everybody goes, okay, well, Carolina can win the division with Carr. But if you're trying to win a Super Bowl and you have this patience because you have a new staff, a staff that you think is going to be there for a while, and you have a pretty young team, especially you have some really young playmakers on the defensive side of the ball that can help out and carry their share. That's what I came away from listening to both Reich and Fitterer, is that if Carolina doesn't get Carr, they're going to shake up the draft.

I really believe that. And why not? Why not? We talk so much about maybe a houston swap or a colt swap and it also depends how willing how far chicago is willing to go back yep but i just you bring up a great bring up tepper's very important this is a man that we've joked around in the pod but he's hands he's hands he's like bought a mansion to bulldoze it this is the kind of man we are talking about like if you don't know what i'm talking about please google this story

so because it is way too long i'm pretty sure he bought someone's house that he didn't like. Something along those lines. Just bulldozed it. Something along, it's a weird story. Did he like buy the neighbor's house? Is that the story? Like he buys a house and then he's like, I don't like that house next to me. I'm actually going to buy that and just bulldoze it.

I forget. It was pretty out there. But the point is the man has a lot of money and he's very decisive. He's a lot of power too. A lot of power. You know? And I think he's tired of losing. Yes. Yeah. That is the vibe that I get out of Carolina. too. A lot of power. And I think he's tired of losing. Yes.

Yeah. That is the vibe that I get out of Carolina. No half measures for Carolina. That's how I look at it. And that impacts the rest of the draft. I agree with you. I agree with you 100%. Moving on to players.

Is there a player, specifically this morning, that we saw at the podium that either gave a great quote or maybe some news on some players? We're going to do a mock draft for Monday's episode of the show. And so a lot of our thoughts and what we're hearing and learning are going to come to that mock draft head next week. But just before we get there, any thoughts on some players that you saw today? Sure. I mean, you and I were together for Felix, Sanadike, Uzama. Awesome.

Very awesome. It's interesting when you talk to pass rushers. And some guys, and there's no problem with this, are just all brawn and strength. And I'm going to out-muscle you. And some guys are so well thought out that it's wildly impressive. And he fell into that bucket for me. You and I were standing next to each other and we're like, this is someone that just has a plan for every series of the game.

Yes. And talked about how he likes to open up with power, likes to use the long arm, and really does that to test out tackles. And he he's i watch him on film and see what they're weak to then i go in with power and then if i have to i see what i'm going to counter with yep that was and he gave a shout out to anton harrison that was really cool so the pass rushers pod knows the pod listeners of the pod no and so does fel Felix apparently yeah he does he said that was the guy yep uh and in the same mold I thought BJ Ogilary was a very similar interview in a sense of knowing what you are and Ogilary talked a lot about his brother Aziz which is really cool and

he was saying how he has power he's like I'm more speed he's like I win with speed I win with swipes I understand how to win the edge. Just a very prideful guy. He was joking around how artistic and creative his family is. He's like, me and Aziz didn't get any of that. We're the athletes. He was a very funny guy. Pass rushing is an art? I know.

I should have chimed in. I should have chimed in. It was a pretty busy scrum. This is a dude that wore 18 for LSU. That really means something. The confidence that he had, the wit that he had, the brainpower that he had. I walked away, all the pass rushers we talked to today, Anadika Uzama and Ojolari are written as day two guys.

They get no first-round love. And I said, those two are going to figure out in the NFL in a pretty prime role. Yeah, I just want everybody out there to know that I was walking around to the different podiums. This is good. And when Ojolari, when I heard Ojolary's voice and I saw Ojalary's voice I was like betcha Connor's over there sure enough right there he's just standing there big smile on his face listening to Ojalary but I should have put breakfast on my lap and I'll be here for a while yeah but we already knew that

obviously you guys watched the edge rush episode you knew that Connor was a big fan of him he's a top 20 player for me. I like B.J. Ogilari a lot. And he is, shoot, I feel like I've said this to some people in Indianapolis when I've done radio hits. It's like even I feel like he's one of the most underrated players in this class. I don't get it. It feels like he's just going under the radar as a guy who just didn't make

the headlines for whatever reason and people aren't talking about him. He's one of the better pass rushers in this class. I want to go back to Felix Onodike-Uzama and just piggyback off of what you were talking about. We always talk about having a pass rush plan, and I got this question from somebody as well. Pass rush moves, and they're like, how often is it that a player, a pass rusher specifically,

has multiple moves going from college to the nfl how often is that or are a lot of college guys just one trick ponies i was like no we're in the age where a lot of these guys do have multiple moves that they go to they've got multiple moves in the toolbox but it's knowing when and more importantly why to use them that matters most. And that is the thing that stood out to me with Anudike Uzama, is that he understood not just the moves, but the when and the why. Yeah, the why. And that is really important. And this is a player that I'm glad you mentioned it.

These are top 50 guys, but nobody ever really talks about them at the back end of the first round. I genuinely think these could easily be back end of the first round prospects in this class. Maybe deserve to be. Might not when it's all said and done, but these are going to be two good ones. I really do think that. I'm with you all the way.

You just listen to them talk, and you go, okay, that's why they were dudes at their program. They just understand how to rush the passer. We talk so much about toolsy guys, and this class is littered with them at the top. I mean, we heard from Lucas Van Ness today, who was very upset that the Rangers got Patrick Kane. I was sitting there. Van Ness today, who was very upset that the Rangers got Patrick Kane. I was sitting there. Van Ness is a huge Blackhawks fan, and his upbringing was in hockey.

He was a hockey player. I didn't know that. Nice. Yes. Pete Carroll's going to love him because going back to head coaches and GMs at the podium, Pete Carroll raved about multi-sport athletes. So all I'm saying is Seahawks need a pass rusher. He loves multi-sport athletes. Might be a little bit higher on the Seahawks need a pass rusher. He loves multi-sport athletes.

Might be a little bit higher on the Seahawks board knowing that he played hockey. All these years doing the draft, you hear about, and we'll get to wrestling in a second, basketball, track and field. This was the first player I can remember, and sorry if I've missed one, that credited all of his football skills to playing hockey. I've never heard that. Love it. Love it.

Yeah, he was actually on a team that during the pandemic um year made it to the state final four and that final four was canceled because of the pandemic so this wasn't like this dude just like skate around his pod be living yeah yeah he's a smiley guy but i'm sure he wasn't too happy about it at the time. I feel like my destiny was robbed. Yeah. But to be fair, he's an underclassman at the combine projected to go in the top 20. So when people say that he puts offensive linemen on skates, he probably is just like hyped up.

I've done this. Hyped up, yes. If he has a video of dropping the gloves online, I need to find it immediately. And I will bump him up. If anybody can find a Lucas Vianess fighting video in hockey. The questions you think of when the podiums are over. We'll get with his agent. We'll see if we can get with his agent.

See if we can get some hockey. Has he dropped the gloves? Yeah. And will he drop the gloves? I bet he has. Will he knock out the stock exchange spot? I bet he has. Winner gets to be third co-host.

So, I mean, we go back to the toolsy guys, right? You have him, Miles Murphy, even Tyree. But then you look at the day two guys that don't have those tools, whether they're lighter, different builds. And they're just so technically sound and smart. And that's what I walked away from. And back to the multi-sport thing. This is a good transition.

Ivan Pace, our boy of the show. Yeah? He said he wrestled for 13 years. And he basically credited that to everything he does in football. And it was really interesting hearing from him because everybody was kind of, they know he can rush. Somebody was like, well, what can you do to improve your run defense? And he was like, well, I think I showed that at the Senior Bowl.

He was like, the only flaw in my game is that I'm short. And I was like, this is short king. Like, I'm a perfect football player, but I'm 5'11". Can't host the pod. Can't rush the passer. No, can't. But can rush the passer. But can rush the passer and apparently wrestle.

So don't tell him he can't host the pod. Wrestling is... So when I was at Pete Carroll's podium and he was talking about multi-sport athletes, he lit up and he talked about... That is the first question that Pete Carroll's podium and he was talking about multi-sport athletes. He lit up and he talked about, that is the first question that Pete Carroll asks prospects or asks his scouts about prospects. Did they play sports growing up? Were they a multi-sport athlete?

Because he values being a natural athlete so much. For me personally, the first question that I would ask when I'm building a scouting report and I had, you know, unlimited information about guys' backgrounds, I'd figure out if they wrestle wrestling translates to yes to the NFL level just so incredibly well especially in the trenches if you play any sort of trench role if you wrestled you have that natural core strength to you or if it's a linder bomb oh my good there are so many great offensive linemen who have

the core strength to move people and turn the obliques, the core strength everywhere. It's just, man, the balance from some of these bigger, higher weight guys that are natural because they wrestled. Wrestling is just such a paramount background. So anybody out there, if you guys are scouts, you do your own scouting, whatever.

If you learn that a guy has a wrestling background, truly note that. I'm not kidding. I think that it goes a long way, especially when you're deciding between, oh, okay, this prospect or this prospect. This guy had a wrestling background. Often that's something that I feel like is a little X factor that puts a guy over. Absolutely.

Sean McDermott, who I think never lost a match throughout high school. Sean McDermott was like an iconic high school wrestler. Wow. I didn't know this. Yeah, he doesn't like the attention of it, but in a while it'll ever lost a match i'm pretty sure i know i can look this up it lights out yeah check it out um he has the scouting department put like a star or whatever mark that down when a guy's a wrestler and he's a fighter you know like so something i love about about wrestling is anybody who's ever watched a wrestling match before, think of the uncomfortable

positions and awkward positions your body is in and you have to remain completely calm and you have to somehow get out of that with all sorts of different muscles and just different ways to figure out leverage and all that and it's just

not just even the core strength, it's all of that that goes into trench play that I absolutely love It's huge, it's really huge and it's not just even the core strength. It's all of that that goes into trench play that I absolutely love. It's huge. It's really huge, and it's not interesting seeing it make its way into scouting because it's been here, but it's become much more amplified, I think, when you look at it finding the scout. I'm really excited for you to go through this. I'm looking this up.

I don't know his record, but I've seen and heard some wild rumors of his wrestling ability. The phrase, Sean McDermott never lost. That's it. We're going to get some Bills articles on that one. Okay, here we go. McDermott could have had a wrestling career himself. After transferring from North Penn to LaSalle High,

he never lost another match and won two straight national prep championships. Yeah, it's real. Before deciding to walk onto the football team at William & Mary in 1993. Insanity. Wow. That is my coach right there. Yes. That's my kind of guy.

Like when everybody does the coach battles or whatever, he's number one. It's him and Vrabel. It's him and Vrabel. And Vrabel's just like grizzly bear, six-pack and cigarette strength. Vrabel's just like khaki pants, rips the shirt off, full chest hair, growling like a bear. And then there's Sean McDermott who's putting the mouthpiece in and the ear guards or whatever. He's rolling around on the mat.

And you're in like what, a guillotine? You're in the sharpshooter. You're in the Walls of Jericho. You're in the Walls of Jericho. You're in the Walls of Jericho. You're tapping out. The special guest referee is Howie Roseman. You don't know what's going on. We're just going to give you sweet chin music.

Like every good heel match. There is a wrestling plot with NFL GMs and head coaches that is just waiting to sell millions and billions of dollars. So, like, two smaller guys that i also wanted to touch on khalid jacansi and nolan smith so i wanted to touch on khalid jacansi because i asked him specifically his podium what weight did you play at and he said did you get a look or was like was he like oh this guy no he's confident okay good i like that he was confident about it he was confident he's like i played 275 an honest man and he He was confident. He's like, I played at 275. An honest man. And he looked at me, and he's like, right now I'm 280. And he's like, and I'm looking good.

And he looked at me, like, confidently. He's like, I'm 280, and I'm looking good. That's awesome. And I'm like, all right. And, see, this is what you need, right? Because I'm going to go back to an old Pittsburgh player, not Aaron Donald, Jalen Twyman, who we talked about not too long ago when he came out from the draft. And Jalen Twyman was kind of along the same lines. And of people look at Kalijah Canty and they go there's no way

he's Aaron Donald because Aaron Donald's a one-on-one yeah we'll just never get it again you've got to compare him to his teammate Jalen Twyman and Twyman I think where he got in trouble is he tried to flex fluctuate way too much I think Twyman played it like 280 285 ish you know after the combine he gained a lot of weight in training. He almost got up to 300. That's right. But he looked like he was just too big. And then when he got into the NFL, he could not move

and he could not be effective in the way that his athleticism and his skill set wanted him to be at that weight. So then he tried to drop weight, but he wasn't the same kind of a player. If Kalai Jekansi's going to make it, he's got to just be confident in who he is. You are a smaller defensive tackle, and you win with speed. You win with leverage. That's how you're going to do it. And honestly, from the way that he answered that question

and from the way that he was up there at the podium, I got that vibe, that he's going to be like, yeah, I'm going to gain a little bit of weight in the NFL, but I'm not trying to inflate myself up to 305 just because. I'm going to be me. And I think that that's huge. It is huge. Don't become something you're not, right? That takes away what got you here.

Good life lesson. Yeah. Like why would, what we love about Kalajikantsev is his quicks off the snap, his ability to get skinny through gaps. He's an interior rushing nightmare. He's too quick for interior offensive lineman he has enough strength when they even kicked him all the way off on the end yep to play

against tackles and make splash plays against the run so i like that attitude a lot and then you brought up nolan smith yeah probably one of the more i don't know if emotional pressers passionate passionate that's it passionate this dude he's obsessed with football he's obsessed with team culture he's obsessed with loyalty he kind of without you know crushing guys for transfers made it very clear like you finish what you start in life and somebody kind of not checked him but was like well what about your teammate who happened to be one of his roommates uh that just transferred this year and he he's like, well, he graduated from Georgia and is doing his fifth year somewhere else. So he finished where he started.

Like a very well thought out guy. You hear so much chatter with Nolan Smith. Like he was the dude at Georgia. They have all the star talent. They have Trayvon Walker, Carter, millions of guys. Some are in the NFL already. But everybody always talked about Nolan Smith. He's the guy that got everybody lined up.

He's the guy that's loud. He's the guy that people follow. You stand in front of him for 10 minutes and you're like, he'll do it anywhere. He'll do it in the NFL. He just has to stay healthy. He's had some bad luck. He has the pec injury. He's ready to test, which is really big. He's obviously not going to bench, but he's going to do a lot of these. What drill did you have him for? 40?

Didn't you have him for the 40? I believe I did. You picked him for one of the drills that he is participating in. I have him for the 40. Did you pick new players yet? I will do that this evening. By the way, Trevor's being a good sport and letting me swap my 85 guys that decided to come here and not do anything. Because we dropped the episode and then literally the next morning, so

many people tweeted at us because a lot of Connor selections are not going to be participating. So I want in the spirit of what the draft is, I'm going to let him pick some new players. So he's going to pick some new players. So we have some kind of competition. And we're going to obviously review this in the midweek episode next week.

So we'll go back to the combine draft, but Connor's going to at least replace those guys. Absolutely. You've got to do it tonight, though. I do have to do it tonight. The clock is on. Imagine if I just sneak in the winners after. That would be a hell of a contest. No, no, no, no, no.

I'm going to lock the document. That's a good idea. I'm going to lock the document after that. That's a really good idea. Man, but, you know. I agree with you completely about Nolan Smith, though. It was an awesome podium. It was.

He's somebody who is, like you said, a smaller player. But, like, he was even asked about run support, right? Like, oh, you were a smaller player, run support. And he's like, I love it. I love run support. He's like, I play with my hair on fire. And it shows like that on film. How about the story?

And this was towards the end, and I want to make sure I had it right. So Solomon Kinley, who is now in the NFL, but was at Georgia when Smith got there, he talked about their practices, especially run defense, were so intense that it molded them for games in a different way.

Like, one rep he had early on against Solomon Kinley, he said he, Kinley i think broke his nose and nolan smith cut a tampon and shoved it up his nose so the bleeding would stop and just went back to practice that's innovative i was like oh like you're practicing like that wow holy cow and like nobody really like followed up on it or so it was kind of like You were probably afraid at that point. Yeah. Talk about making your mark. People are probably like, excuse me, I've got to get out of here.

Does he break his ankle and just put duct tape around it? He's like, all right, back to practice. I bet he would. Back to practice. I bet he would. Very passionate dude. I wonder if he tried to play through the torn pec. I wonder if he was like, no, I'm good.

Wouldn't shock me. And they're like, buddy, you've got to shut it down down which is uh knock on wood never had it but apparently one of the more painful yes like you just can't you ever seen like the weightlifting oh yes it's when they tear the pad some of them and i'm not a squeamish person those are hard to watch like turns like black and blue yeah totally shreds just comes off the bone yeah gross stuff yeah so that's what he's dealing with and um you know listen he's a fascinating guy because he's a four-year player. He was, I believe, the top recruit of his class. Number one.

Number one. Yep. And he just, he never, he did call Von Miller rushing poetry in motion, which was cool. He did. He never really figured it out as a rusher people thought the way he would. But he checks every box, not only as a run defender but from an intangible standpoint that if he's even a solid pass rusher at the next level he's worth the top 50 pick yeah just because and yeah i agree everything that comes with it on top of

the von miller stuff somebody said like oh yeah you're like i love von miller but then he was like somebody's like oh what do you love about von miller and everybody will be like oh you know the hands the bend whatever and he's like what i love about von miller he's like i just want to work out with him he's like every six he's like, what I love about Von Miller, he's like, I just want to work out with him. He's like, every sixth or seventh rep, I learned that Von Miller goes and runs a gasser by himself. He's like, that's what I love the most about Von Miller. I'm like, you are a work. Like, some dudes get up there and they kind of, like, BS it.

They're like, oh, yeah. Obsessed. Team's going to be, you know, team's going to learn that I'm, like, a hard worker. And then I'm going to, like, give it all. And, like, Nolan Smith would literally strap the pads on and go play right now. I think he would prefer the combine to just be full pads. 100%. That kind of guy.

He might run the 40 in full pads. It would not shock me. He might do the vert in full pads. Very, like you said, the most passionate presser of the day. Yeah, by far. Any linebackers? Anybody stand out to you from the linebacker position? Yeah, I got to quickly chat with Dorian Williams.

That was really cool because he, you know, the way for those that have never been to the Combine, you have podiums, and the podiums are elevated, obviously, and all of us little peasants are under it, so you could build a big scrum around the podiums. There's, I believe, eight podiums. Yes, there's eight elevated podiums, and then was it three or four tables? So there's three to four tables on the side, and they are not elevated.

It's this eye-to-eye level. It looks exactly how you're viewing us right now. And the way, this is just how life goes, the lesser-hyped players get put at tables, and they're more off to the side this year than I can ever remember. There might be one to three people around them. So I'm walking through linebackers are on you know i got to hear drew sanders talk for a little bit a couple different players but i see dory williams at a table and you know one person is really coming up at a time and i'm like

this dude was awesome he's good this year he could fly i remember you loved him like he could fly sideline to sideline he had great production and coverage i know pff had a high coverage grade on him 85.1 so just kind of chatting about him and coverage. And a dude that just, he loved that. He understands because I was like, listen, there's sub-package roles at the next level where you've got to be able to cover running backs and tight ends. He's just so excited with that, his preparation, his speed. He went into, he's like, my favorite thing to do is to take the top off a wheel route.

I'm like, that's one of the hardest assignments for an off-ball linebacker in all of football. And I was like, you plan to run here? He's like, absolutely. I was like, looking forward to it. And I walked away. That's a good last impression. Cause he probably was like, that guy knows. He knows I'm about to, you know, F it up out here. So pretty cool. What about you? Did you get to walk around during linebackers? It was a little bit of a calamity at that point. It kind of was a little bit in the afternoon. So, you know, you're doing different stuff. I had a couple of shows that popped on, but I was walking around a little bit. Henry Choto was somebody who I figured he was going to be impressive at the podium,

and I felt like he was. He talked about his background in rugby, how he actually was really into rugby before he was into football. But the similarities, obviously, between them is something that attracted him to getting into football and playing football a lot. I like what I heard from him. Jack Campbell, I didn't get to hear too much of. Neither did I. I missed him and Simpson today.

Simpson was good. I was around Simpson for a little bit. I asked him a little bit about versatility. The first couple of questions were about that positional versatility, but then I asked him specifically, is being so versatile something that you have always done, or is it something that progressed? Was it like, oh, I was a linebacker first,

and then they kind of let me play slot, or and then they let me play edge. And he's like, honestly, I've just been playing everything since high school. He's like, I play both sides of the ball in high school. I'm faced by it, yeah. It's just a true all-around athlete. So I did also enjoy about Trentrenton sims's podium that like he seemed like he was enjoying it that's his very smile smiles the whole time you really do

appreciate that yeah of course and you get why some guys don't i mean they barely get to sleep they're meeting with a million teams and they're told like interview like this is a job interview like you have to take it super seriously and at the same time you know they'll have you know mentors or whoever tell them like try to enjoy it you only go through at the same time, you know, they'll have, you know, mentors or whoever tell them, like, try to enjoy it. You only go through this once. And I do love that some of these guys, not that it's on a scouting report for me or anything, but I just love it when guys can really smile throughout the process and enjoy it, even

though it is a really hectic week for them. Yeah, I found a couple of guys to be like that. And it was cool. Tully was one of those guys. And it was just, you know, it's funny. I went to the beginning of his and the end of his, and both times,

all the questions were like inside, outside. And to be fair to him, he, he gave everybody the same exact, like full length response. It wasn't like I already answered that or started to get tired of it. And a big thank you to everybody when he left.

So you're right. It's really cool when you see guys enjoying this process, cause it's stressful as hell. It took weeks and weeks, months and months, their entire lives to get up to here. Yep. And, you know, if you can, it's possible. Try to enjoy the media portion of it because I think the media portion is the least seriousness of the entire event.

Yep. We're all rodeo clowns. Besides us. Some of those are just 6'4", 250. I mean, some of the questions we've witnessed what we do at these podiums folks obviously we're getting excited about a lot of these a lot of these prospects and a lot of them are going to be in the nfl soon and when they get into the nfl if you really like these guys if you think they have a bright future then if you

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If you've got a gambling problem, help is available at 1-800-GAMBLER. Visit mojo.com for more info. This won't be the last time that we talk about the defensive linemen and the linebackers because for tomorrow's podcast, we're going to have a lot to talk about. DBs take to the podium, so we're going to get to hear a lot from the defensive backs tomorrow, a lot of great quotes from those guys. We talked about how the corner class, we think,

is the premium class in this draft. So very excited to get to hear from a lot of those guys. Cam Smith, Christian Gonzalez, Devon Witherspoon, Devontae Banks, Emmanuel Forbes. It's just the list. Joey Porter Jr., the list goes on and on with so many guys. Tomorrow's going to be a lot of fun from the podium perspective and it's also drills.

So we're going to get to talk about the defensive linemen and the linebackers from drills as well. Yeah, it's going to be awesome, man. I mean, it's just such a deep group. We're excited to hear from them. Can't make any guarantees we'll have the kicker podium breakdown don't want to break any hearts maybe maybe we'll have one or two we'll see what would you what would you ask a kicker at the podium how much you can bench that's i think that's the move because i that's it's every year folks without fail that's the move there is a there is one or two yoked special teamers.

Well, think of it. I mean, when I was really, really young and I was around Chris Sims all the time, when you're around a former NFL player, you just have so many questions. And you always ask, what do the special teams guys do all the time? Because this is a lot of practice time, and they can't just kick for three hours. No, right, right. And he would always joke. He's like, why do you think there's a handful in the league that are so jacked?

He's like, they have so much time to just be bodybuilders. It's just the movie Pain and Gain, but it's just special teamers. And think about all the food and supplements you have access to in an NFL facility. Perfect diet. Yeah, 100%. You could drink a gallon of creatine and eat five steaks a day. These special teamers, middle of practice, they're like Mark Wahlberg. Like, I can't get a pump in.

And they just got bicep. And they're just going after it on the sidelines. That would be my question. How much can you bet? I might actually make it to the kicker podiums tomorrow. Just for that? I'll find the one. The one.

And I'll be like, all right, come on. You look like you're big. Yeah. How much can you throw? 225 numbers and your match. They're going to smile. And they're going to give you the best answer. They're going to love it. best answer they're gonna love it all week i might even tape it and post it okay well that might be a youtube short that you guys see on the youtube we'll roll it in i won't even

put it on twitter i want to be a pod exclusive yeah now we're figuring it out 5 000 subscribers is on the way nice appreciate everybody who's obviously subscribed to the channel already we were over 4 000 subscribers and we love every single one of you thank you so much for that um let us know what you thought of this episode everything that we talked about here i mean i'm sure there's some storylines that you guys have read on twitter um that you'd like to chime in on fire it off in the comment section on youtube like it's a it's a great way to start so many conversations we've seen that so many times for previous episodes so uh this is always it's draft community podcast right it's not us like talking to you guys it's talking with you guys so

we definitely want to hear from you guys and what you've heard uh and what you believe whether it's draft community podcast right it's not us like talking to you guys it's talking with you guys so we definitely want to hear from you guys and what you've heard uh and what you believe whether it's about the jim carter situation whether it's about what some of the defensive linemen said whether it's about the head coaches and the general managers whether you're disappointed whether you love what you heard from them whatever it is let's hear it in the comment section for everybody who's listening on audio uh we love you guys too we really do we appreciate you listening but if you want to get it on the action that's probably the best way to do it or the middle children or you could not they just kind of get forgotten about and i love them the same right i don't want my child i don't want to still feed them supply them with the needs right you do

forget sometimes no we can't you're not watching the youtube you're missing out well i if you were an audio only listener and i actually have run into a couple people here at the combine who were like i'm audio only but i created a YouTube account just to subscribe to the channel. That's amazing. And, like, that's the true addicts right there. So we appreciate everybody who goes above and beyond to support the podcast like that. Take it beyond belief. If you want to hit us up on Twitter, at Tampa Bay Trey, at Connor J. Rogers,

you can do the same thing on Instagram as well. We will be back with you, I think, tomorrow, unless the drills are really late and we think it might be more advantageous for us to do it later. Sure. As we often do, we plan the podcast on the podcast. Within the hour. Within the hour. Like literally, I'll text Trevor, and I'm always wrong.

I'm never right on our schedule. Even though we talk about it the day before. I'm like two to three, right? He's like three to four. And I'm like, okay. There will be another podcast for you guys at some time. I'm Trevor Sycamore. That's Connor Rogers. Thank you guys so much for listening to the NFL Stock Exchange Podcast.

See you next time.