NFL Stock Exchange: An NFL Draft Podcast - 18. Combine Prediction Draft (40-yard Dash, Bench Press, Vertical and 3-Cone)

Episode Date: March 3, 2022

Hosts Trevor Sikkema and Connor Rogers preview and predict the drills at the 2022 Combine by drafting who they believe will perform best against each other.

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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. What's going on, everybody? Welcome to the opening bell of the NFL Stock Exchange Podcast. I am Trevor Sikma. That is Connor Rogers.

And half of us are live here in Indianapolis at the 2022 NFL Scouting Con. Bye, Connor's getting here a day later. So unfortunately, we could not do the pod together. But I'm representing for us, Connor. I'm representing here for NFL SE. I know you're all over social media covering this as well. But miss you, buddy. Can't wait for you to get here. It's a great time so far. Dude, I'm excited. As people are listening to this right now,

I'm probably on a plane or with you by now. So I can't wait. We're going to have a lot of fun today. And it's only going to get better as the combine drills actually begin. And that's what we're here to do here on this podcast, on this episode. We are doing a combine superlative draft so we have right now the positions that we think are the most interesting because we're not going to do athletic drills for quarterbacks it doesn't really matter but we've got wide receiver

running back offensive line defensive line linebacker and defensive back and what we're going to do with these positions is we've got four different athletic test categories the 40-yard dash the vertical jump the three cone and then the bench press. Connor and I are going to be drafting guys that we believe are going to perform the best from those positions in these drills. Now, there's a rule here because we're putting some skin in the game. We're putting some pride on the line. And Connor and I will actually probably put something on this.

I don't think we discussed exactly what we're going to do, but we're probably going to put some sort of bet on it. But the rules are, let's say Connor takes a player at wide receiver for the 40-yard dash. I then cannot draft that player for the 40-yard dash. I can draft them for something else. If I think he's going to do great in the three-cone as well, I can pick him in the three-cone. But I can't double up in that exact category. And then, of course, Connor cannot pick him again. What we're going to do is if that player, the one that

we drafted, is the top player overall at their entire position, we get three points. And if they just happen to be better than the other person's selected guy, we get one point. So we'll keep score. I think it's going to be a fun way to preview the athletic test at the Combine. Connor, you ready for it? Dude, let's get into it. I have to ask, who's at the combine connor you ready for it dude let's get into it i have to ask who's got the first pick i know we're starting with wide receivers and we're starting with the 40 which is probably the most popular thing of the entire combine uh we have not flipped a coin we have not done anything for whoever has the first pick i'll let you go trevor i'll just let you go okay okay actually now that this, I'm going to do this on the fly because we didn't specify this.

Do you want to go, like, wide receiver, 40-yard dash, we both have to do that? Or do you want the whole board open at the same – so, like, if you think that there's a gem at one position that you want to go with, you could pick him there at one of those positions. Do you want to do that? I feel like that might be more wild, wild west. That might be more fun if you want to do that? I feel like that might be more Wild Wild West. That might be more fun if you want to do that.

Yeah, let's roll with that. Let's get crazy on this thing right now. All right. So then I'm going to start. I'm going to go defensive back, 40-yard dash. And I think you know who I'm going with. Oh, of course. This is the biggest layup of the combine right here.

I love it. Good idea. I'm going with Kalen Barnes, the cornerback from Baylor. This dude almost ran a 10-second flat 100-meter dash in high school. Like, this dude can fly. So, you know what? I'm going to take my three points here. Thank you very much.

And I'm going to put Kalen Barnes, the corner from Baylor here for my 40-yard dash guy. All right. Well, I'll take the same route. I'm going to go with linebackers, bench press, Leo Chanel right there. Oh, you suck. There are videos of this man, I think, topping 40 reps. Now, combine reps are a little bit different. You can't bounce the bar. You really got to lock out.

It's definitely a slower process. Lock out. But I do think there's an adrenaline factor at the combine so leo chanel uh could be setting the record for the bench for linebackers okay i think those are good ones uh those those were those were two of the more obvious ones oh man i i'm thinking of whether or not i want to pull the rug out from underneath you with one of your guys that you mentioned in the last podcast. You know what? I'll do it. I'm going to go with Jerome Ford, the running back from Cincinnati.

I'm going to take him in the 40-yard dash or sticking along the 40-yard dash here. I guess I'm just going all team speed to start this out, but I'm going to go Jerome Ford, former Alabama running back, was behind a stacked room there, transfers over to Cincinnati. He is a dude who can absolutely threaten being the fastest guy here. There are a couple of other guys, so I don't think they're too devastated with this one. But I wanted to make sure that I could get Jerome Ford if I could.

So I'm going to go running back Jerome Ford to have the fastest 40-yard dash from the running back group. And I'll stay right here with the 40, but look at wide receiver instead. And this is, you knew this one was coming early. I'm going to go Calvin Austin here. You know, Trevor, you wrote a really great story about him on pff about his track background what he's been able to do he really was a track guy first before being a football player there right at memphis so calvin austin for the 40-yard dash with wide receivers but you do have some really good runner-up options here that's why i waited this wasn't my first choice yeah no no calvin austin i think, is a fantastic choice.

And it was wide receiver day here. This is Wednesday. We're recording this podcast. It was wide receiver day. So we got to talk with Traylon Burks. We got to talk with Drake London. Drake London is not doing any of the athletic testing. I know we talked a little bit the previous episode about wanting to see Drake London,

how he was going to test the athletic drills. He said he's about 85% healthy after recovering from his ankle injury that he suffered during this season. So he's going to wait. He's going to wait till pro day. The numbers might be juiced a little bit with some home cooking at USC, but hey, look, buddy, if he reruns anything close to the four fours, I'm going to be pretty happy about it. And I'm going to count it as a scouting win because you know how much I like Drake London there. Did you get a chance to check out any of the quotes

or any of that craziness from the wide receiver group today? I did. I saw you set Jets Twitter on fire almost before I could even open my eyes with Traylon Burke saying his interview with the Jets went great, and I loved that, by the way. So I thought that was cool. It's always great when these guys get to come down here and just be themselves pretty much, and that's a crazy environment.

So I'm excited to hear. I believe the DB speak will be on Saturday and then a big group of people on Friday. It's pretty awesome. OK, I'm going to I'm going to pull a little bit of a veteran move here, because when Ben and I used to do these kinds of back and forth drafts, we were doing locked on NFL draft. There are some players in these categories that you're cheating a little bit because the NFL might label them as defensive linemen.

They might actually be a little bit more towards linebackers. That's the case with 40-yard dash. I'm going defensive line. I'm going Nick Benito. Nick Benito is one of the smaller defensive linemen that are going to be here that's going to be categorized there. And I think just because he's a smaller dude and he's got to win off speed, he's going to fly.

So I'll go Nick Bonito. I know there's a couple of edge rushers that actually could have some really great 40-yard dash times, but I'll go Nick Bonito for my 40-yard dash guy. I like it. I'll stick with the edge rushers then to keep that theme going. And we'll look at the three cone here. And I'm going to go Aiden Hutchinson. And we know about the hyped up three cone.

I think there's some challengers, including his own teammate and David Ajabo. But man, I got to get some Aiden Hutchinson stock in this competition right now. I want to see if that sub 6'6", even if he goes sub 6'8", obviously on the three cone, it would be pretty crazy around here. I'm going to stick on defensive line, too, because I want to get Travis Jones on my team for the bench. I think this dude's strong as an absolute ox.

And I think that he's going to throw up some serious weight. We haven't gotten to bench press drills yet, which is one of my favorite portions of the combine, just sitting there and watching these dudes throw up this weight like it's absolutely nothing. I think Travis Jones is going to be one of those guys who puts on a display there. So for my bench group, I'm going to go Travis Jones, the defensive tackle from UConn. I think he'll put his strength that we see on tape on display

when he gets on the bench. Oh, I really like that one. Get a big bully there early on the bench. All right. Look, you stole Leo Chanel from me, so I had to do something. I had to react. I had to respond.

I mean, I have to get bench press stock here. And Chanel is the most hyped up bencher at the entire combine. All right, looking at DB, you knew this was coming. And it's not going to be for the 40 because you got Kalen Barnes. He should smoke the field out of the DBs with the 40. So I will look at the vertical here, and I'll take Kyle Hamilton. I think Kyle Hamilton should be an absolute freak athlete. I think he's very explosive on tape.

I think that vertical is going to shine. I be this is an athletic safety group there's no doubt about that but the guy the unicorn that everyone likes to say is hamilton so let's let's try to uh make back those three points you're getting on barnes and go hamilton with the vert oh do i want to stick with db no i think I can wait a little bit here. I think I can wait a little bit. Okay, I'm going to go with, we're going to go 40-yard dash for linebacker. So you're the only one who's picked a linebacker right now in any of the categories. I'm going to pick Brandon Smith, the linebacker out of Penn State, to have the best vertical jump.

I'm going to go vertical here for Brandon Smith. I could have gone 40-yard dash, but there's somebody else that I'm eyeing here with 40. So I'm going to go Brandon Smith. I think he's going to test through the roof. Obviously, we mentioned his name last podcast, I believe. You know, Penn State's just got a freakish weightlifting program, right? I mean, they turn these dudes, any athleticism they have,

they stretch it, they get the most out of it. Brandon Smith, I think he's that hybrid linebacker safety kind of a player. So I'm going to go with Brandon Smith for the vertical jump, and I think that's a good part of my strategy that we're going to see a little bit later. But I do think that he's going to be one of the most athletic guys here for sure. I'll piggyback off that and take him in the 40, honestly. He could walk away with multiple victories here. And this isn't a pretty athletic linebacker group like obviously a lot of people

listening right now are probably thinking you know when does do when do you guys take Devin Lloyd when do you uh you know I like N'Kobe Dean I actually think he has better instincts than athleticism he's not a bad athlete it's just I think he's so instinctual uh Chad Mumma can even run a little bit but Smith like you said he doesn't have the tape that any of those guys have. But this is where he makes his money in the testing. And you nailed it. That Penn State program, their training is unbelievable for this event. I'm going to give the big boys some love.

And I'm going to flip over to the offensive line for my next pick here. 40-yard dash. I'm going former tight end Bernard Ryman here, the Central Michigan offensive tackle. I think he moves super well, and the reason why is because he's got that tight end background. He hasn't even been playing offensive line for too long, and so I think that he is going to be very comfortable

running a straight line. He's going to be one of the absolute blazers, and by blazers, I mean he's going to run like a 4.94 or something. But I think that he is going to be the fastest among the offensive linemen. He's got a lot of athleticism. That is the plus in his scouting report. And I think that we're absolutely going to get that confirmed here with the athletic testing when we see him line up for the 40.

So I'll go Bernard Ryman there for the 40-yard dash. All right, we'll keep it with the offensive line here. And I'll look at the vert here. and I'm going to take Charles Cross. Obviously, Evan Neal is not testing. When Trevor and I sat down to plan this chaotic show, that's something that's going to play in here. Some guys are only going to do certain things. We don't know all of the specifics of that yet.

The only guys that they really got to talk to today are wide receivers, quarterbacks not on this show, and obviously tight ends. But I will go with Charles Cross in the vertical. I think he is the athlete of the offensive line group, and I think he's going to – I mean, he could walk once again. It's like the Brandon Smiths with linebacker. He could walk away with multiple category winners. I'm going to stick with O-line, and I'm going to go with the guy

who I think is going to do really well on the bench press darian canard darian canard i think has that offensive tackle offensive guard versatility to him and a lot of people wonder okay where's his best position going to be in the nfl and that's because i think that he plays with plus athleticism that you see when he's an offensive tackle but a lot of people believe he is built physically best as a guard. And he's got that mean nastiness to him, that kind of mentality. So I don't think he's not the longest offensive lineman out there. We know that arm length means a lot when it comes to throwing up as many reps on the bench press as possible.

So there's a little bit of physics there that we have to take into account. But I just think he's a super strong dude. He plays like a bull. He plays like an ox. And so we'll go Darian Kennard here for the bench press for the offensive line. All right. And then I'll round out our offensive line talk. We all have to still fill in our contenders against each other. But now we have at least one for every category.

Oh, you're going three cone? You're going three cone? Three cone. I was stuck here between two guys. Now, I'm not going to tell you the runner up because I don't want to. I don't want to give you that in case you're not going to use him smart man i'm gonna go with that quanu here i think he's so explosive in the short area i think that he's gonna have challengers here especially guys that weigh less than him because he's so he has so so much girth but i think at

quanu is so explosive we know how hard he's training uh i really like him in the three cone honestly i almost took him as your challenger for the training uh i really like him in the three cone honestly i almost took him as your challenger for the 40 but i have someone else in mind oh man do i want to go wide receiver yet maybe i'll get a little we stayed away mostly from why no i know you you pick calvin austin i think that like he's clearly the guy that everyone wants to bet on with a 40 yard dash because i don't really think that anybody's going to challenge calvin austin in it for the wide receiver group that is um i'm gonna go three cone i'm gonna go wide receiver and i'm gonna give a shout out to the shrine bowl i'm gonna go with kyle phillips the wide

receive the slot wide receiver from ucla and i just i don't know obviously like i haven't watched all of these guys that are at the combine so maybe there's some short area blazers that I'm totally missing. But the guy that I've seen in person, Kyle Phillips, I felt like played as well as you would want. He's got great footwork. He's clearly got really great body control, short area burst. He was putting on a show at the Shrine Bowl, so I'll give a salute to the Shrine Bowl,

and I'll take Kyle Phillips here as my three-cone guy at the wide receiver position. All right, I'll look at the vertical then, and I'm going to roll with Garrett Wilson. I think that, you know, this is something I saw he was vocal about today, which was pretty cool. He's like, I'm a guy that plays bigger than my size. I can go win the football.

And he's not lying. I mean, lie detector test, turn on the film. The guy can go up and win the football, the athleticism. It's not straight line speed athleticism. It's lower body explosiveness athleticism that'll translate to the vert for wilson i'm i'm i'm checking wide receiver to see if i think that there is somebody with super small arms who's just absolutely going to crank them out that's the hardest part for benches i don't guys i don't think that's the case so

i i think i'm gonna go with trailing burks for the bench great call that was gonna be my pick you sniped me sniped me i love it good good so yeah i think i'm gonna go i'm gonna go true you could go with trailing burks basically for any of these numbers which which is which just speaks to how athletic this dude is how coveted he's going to be and how much we think he's gonna absolutely put on a show on thursday so a lot of these results, as you guys are listening to this podcast, whether you're listening to it the day it comes out or the next day after that, I mean, like, we're going to figure out just how athletic this dude is. But, Connor, I was told that he was running somewhere close to the 4.3s

and the 40-yard dash. And if he does that at whatever he is, 6'3", 6'4", 225 pounds, like, that's insane. That is truly insane. However, I think he's going to be also the strongest wide receiver so i'll go with him for the bench press so we'll go trail and berks here uh as my bench guy yeah i've heard four four under that for a while with him and you know you take those things with a grain of salt because it's you know training numbers and uh college testing times but i think it's i think it's on there with tape at that size.

And he could tailor his body for this event. He said he's going to play around 228, but if he comes in, you know, 222 for this and sheds a couple pounds and wants to run fast, I think it's real. I think that speed is very, very real. I felt like, obviously, like he's a dense dude. He's a big dude. I'm not trying to say he's small in any way, shape, or form, but leaner. He looked a little leaner, I thought, today

than what we see him at a playing waiting pad. So my guy might really be trying to hit those four threes. Might be the case. All right, I'm going to look at running backs here, and I'm going to take an eye at the three cone, which is usually not only an important event for running backs, but one where they do shine. And it's never always the guys that you expect.

They're not the big workhorse backs of the change of direction. I am going to look at James Cook in this one. Now, I will admit, I will admit, this is my first Hail Mary, in a sense. I mean, I've obviously watched a ton of him. I do think his change of direction as well. Three cones can surprise you. All the other picks I made, it's like,

okay, we're expecting those guys to be top guys. I think this running back group, I loved your forward pick for the 40-yard dash. It's a little bit harder to digest with testing. So I'll go James Cook, a little bit of a Hail Mary here for the three cone. Okay, so you got, that's, but I think that's a really good pick for the three cone. I was looking at James Cook and I was like, okay,

I think that this is who I might settle on here for this three cone. Man, that's, okay. I sniped you for Berks. Yeah, or even. You sniped me here. That's a little bit of revenge here. Hey, before we keep going, because we're going to fill out all these, and then we're going to give you guys a big recap at the end.

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We're probably a little less than halfway through. But how do you feel, Connor, with the names that you got on your list? Are you confident? Are you happy? Did I really steal somebody from you that you were hoping to get your eyes on? It's like when you're drafted in fantasy. You're at round 10, and the optimism is flowing. You're like, this is the year I'm winning the championship. I feel great right now.

The second half is where there's going to be panic picks. There's going to be meltdowns on camera. The anxiety is going to flow. Let's start the disaster part right now. Okay. All right. So I'm going to go back to defensive back, hopefully not to start a panic pick,

but a guy that I'm actually pretty confident in here, Daxton Hill, the safety from Michigan. I think he is going to put on a show this week in the athletic testing and i think that you know if you are not already thinking that daxton hill could be a potential first rounder that is some buzz that we have been hearing here at the combine i think that that's only going to get louder once he's able to display just how athletic he is and that's going to go a long way into people seeing what they like of him on tape and then just going okay think of that and then just you could believe in the athleticism even more of the bright spots that you see as a secondary player i'm gonna go with daxton hill i could go

with him in a lot of different ways i've already got kaylin barnes at the 40 yard dash i'm gonna have him with a vertical jump so i think daxton hill is going to uh i think he's going to jump out of the gym as the kids say so i'll have him as my vertical guy here all right i'm looking for at the vert as well on defense only d line i can't believe it took me this long to say this guy's name on the show it's cave on tibido time baby cave on tibido for the vert jump out of the gym um you know man i thought about i thought about taking him for anything i have left 40 vert bench no because you got to go with the D tackles. But, yeah, Kayvon Thibodeau for the vert, baby. Let's get it done.

Oh, man. That's a good one. That's a really good one. I'm looking at the edge rush list now because you got yourself Aiden Hutchinson and Kayvon Thibodeau. I can pick those guys. I just can't pick them for the drills that you already picked them for, which are, well, the best drills.

So, I don't know what I'm going to do. I guess I'll go David Ojabo. I've got to throw David Ojabo in there somewhere. I haven't picked a three-cone guy yet. I think this is going to be a really nice drill for him. You mentioned when you picked Aiden Hutchinson, that David Ojabo could also be right there in terms of one of the best performers for that agility and change direction kind of drill.

So I'll go David Ojabo. I'll stick with the defensive line. And that'll give me, wow, Nick Bonito I got at the 40-yard dash. I got David Ojabo at the three cone. I got Travis Jones at the bench press. I'm big chilling, man. I'm feeling good about this draft so far. All right.

We're starting to get into the territory of like, what do I do, what do I do, what do I do? So defensive back, three three cone i'm going with kyler gordon i love the kind of athlete kyler gordon is yeah snipes uh yep snipe sally kyler gordon with the three cone i i almost was like oh my god did we already pick three cone for dbs but no we did that for edge rushers so we we're clean. Kyler Gordon, three cone. Man, I almost took him for the 40 as well. But I'm not even wasting my time because you took Kalen Barnes already at the 40.

Dude, this is my next pick. This is my next pick. You know what? I stuck with David Ojabo because I was kind of like in the moment. We were talking about defensive line. I was like, oh, yeah, I'll fill the need right here. And I have like Kyler Gordon in my queue, if you will. And that should have been my pick.

I'm an idiot. I left the door open. I think Kyler Gordon's going to perform really, really well at the three cone. That is, and, and, and his, his film matches it, right? I mean, like so much of what you love about Kyler Gordon's film is his ability to stop and start to be able to change direction and be able to hit that acceleration really fast. And so, man, that is is a that's a fantastic choice i just uh i just closed out on the uh the google sheet that we have all these documents on like an absolute idiot so now as i'm saying this back

up i'm tab chasing i'm going to my doc i'm going to feldenstreet's i'm going to our doc is i told you the second half goes off the rails. Everybody's panicking, melting down. I guess we are. I guess we are. I guess we're heavy panicking here. Okay. I need a 40-yard dash guy for the wide receiver spot. I've heard that Jahan Dotson's going to run really well.

Yeah, that's the one. I don't think anybody's beating Calvin Austin, so I'm not sure it matters anyways, but I'll take Chris Olave, and I'll take Chris Olave just to give Olave the shout-out because I think he's going to run really well. I think he's going to have a really good week athletically, and I think he's going to remind people, including myself.

I've been in this camp before. Instead of this fringe first-rounder, I think that he could solidify himself as a guy who deserves to go in the first round. So I'm going to go with Chris Olave. I'll go with Chris Olave. Although, since we both pick wide receivers, 40-yard dash, nobody can pick this one anymore.

I don't know if you saw this, but George Pickens, wide receiver at Georgia. Oh, yeah. He said that he was going to run four threes, four fours. Dude, he was already my number two wide receiver going into this week. If he does that kind of stuff athletically, I am going to be doing backflips off the table. I'm going to be so happy about that.

But I'm not going to pick him for the 40. I think that Chris Olave is going to be a tick faster. I think it's more likely that Chris Olave could run in the four threes than George Pickens. So I'll go Olave for my 40-yard dash. So I tried to get real cheeky here with it, and I was looking to take a fullback to bench. And you can't because they are technically working out

with the tight ends, it looks like, in that group. So I tried to cheat. You absolutely love to see it. Yeah, I bet i i really tried to cheat uh i will still stick with running back benching and i will go with abram smith who used to play linebacker and man listen when you were a dude in college that lifted with the linebackers for a couple years and then you make that jump over to the offensive side of the room you're like this ain't shit right over here so abramam Smith, man, go crazy on the bench.

Well, if you didn't pick Abram Smith, I was going to pick Abram Smith. And I figured that for the bench press, whoever didn't get Abram Smith was going to get Tyler Algier because that's who I'm picking because it's literally the same exact thing. Abram Smith played with the linebackers, although I think Abram Smith played a linebacker longer than Tyler Algier did. They're cut from the same cloth, if you will. So I'll go Tyler Algier for my

bench press guy, just so we can go a little back and forth there. Man, this is getting kind of crazy. This made me realize how unpredictable this running back group really is when you look at it. It's really nuts to me. So for the vertical here, I'm going gonna go with breese hall

i i think this is this is my second hail mary pick ironically in the running back group again i said that about james cook breese is just such a good athlete on the field and he's not gonna have that breakaway 4-3 speed so i stayed away from the 40 but i think once again that leg drive that short area explosive range the change of direction i think breeze hall should do at least okay in the vertical where i like i like the landing spot and the value here i'm gonna stick with the same exact category and i probably should be doing other category i think we have like one more open linebacker so like it would have been smart for me to do that. But other than that, I think we're wide open.

And I'm going to stick with the same. I'm going to stick with the same category here. Vertical jump. I'm going to go with Devante Price from FIU. He was a guy who I thought about picking in the 40-yard dash because I think he is absolutely going to fly. But I also think his athleticism is going to show up in the vertical as well. So there's a lot of potential candidates, I think, for both the vertical and the three-cone with the running back group. But I'll go with a guy who I thought might have been explosive enough

to be my very first choice at 40-yard dash. I'll stick with that theme. I'm going to go with Devontae Price from FIU. I like that. He looks athletic on tape. All right, so going to linebacker, this is one of the last categories. You and I have not picked a guy yet. It's the three cone.

I'll take Devin Lloyd. I think he's obviously a top-tier athlete in this group. He is bigger. He has more height than somebody like N'Kobe Dean, where you wonder how the change of direction truly in drills will affect that. In pads, it's fine. When drills, are there guys that'll gain an edge on you in shorts? But I will bet on Devin Lloyd to be a very solid performer

all around at linebacker. I get him for the three-cone. Okay, all right. For the bench press, which is the bench press of the defensive backs, this is the last group or the last category that we have not filled that is wide open i'm going with a little bit of a sleeper here are you ready for this let's hear ready for it i'm going with colby harvell peel the safety from oklahoma state okay it's got some pythons attached to his shoulders my guy is yoked so i have no idea if this is going to translate to the bench.

I don't know exactly how long his arms are, so I can't factor that in. But I saw his name here. I remember scouting him even last year because he was draft eligible. And I'm like, okay, this dude moves decently well. He's a little bit stiff, but he can hit. He's got some range. So I don't know. I'll take a Hail Mary here.

I'll go Colby Harvell Peel for the bench press here for the defensive backs. Man, I like that. I think you're looking at somebody that is going to come in heavier like you said it looks like he's carrying good weight on him whoo buddy we are in the official yeah he's he's one of the heavier overall safeties db bench is tough i'm looking at the yeah this is just my original heights and weights but there are not a lot of those guys that are in between like you know like last year we had a couple of them. Man, I'm going to wait on that one then.

I was just going to backfill. But I think we're almost covered here. There's a lot of speed guys. Yeah, we're almost covered here. All right, so you took Traylon Burks for the bench at wide receiver. Man, there's a big part of me that wants to go David Bell here. I got to make sure. I don't know his arm length which makes this really interesting the arm length is what always scares you on the bench you get these little dudes come in and throw up mega mega reps you know what i'll roll i'll roll with david bell on the bench hopefully i don't

look like a fool for that one i think he's a tough player i think obviously the work ethic is there there's no denying that we'll go david bell on the bench you had trailing burks wide receiver bench is gonna be a pretty interesting toss up here it i think it's gonna be close i'm checking somebody's weight really quick before i pick them because i think that we're i think we were in the right category yeah yeah yeah okay okay the combine has trey william, the edge rusher from Arkansas, listed as a linebacker baby. So we're talking 6'2", 255, bringing the beef. I'm taking him for the bench. You got Leo Chanel.

So I don't think I'm winning. But this is at least a little Hail Mary for me. This one gives me a chance. I'll go Trey Williams. And I'm kind of doing the same thing right here. You took Kalen Barnes for the 40-yard dash out of the dbs i'll take maryland's nick cross who i know has a track background and can fly so that you know you're kind of just praying here i'm not hoping for anything bad to happen to kaylin barnes that's not what i'm saying but can nick cross at least

make me look somewhat respectable in this category dude okay so you pick Nick Cross you've got Kyle Hamilton at the vert and you got Kyler Gordon at the three cone all fantastic picks I'm not saying that the picks are bad but I've got Kalen Barnes as my 40-yard dash I've already got Daxon Hill as my vertical if I don't pick if I don't pick Tariq Woolen as my three cone guy that means none of us will have had Tariq Woolen, and I feel like that's a crime. Yeah, he could win anything. But, I mean, he's so long. That was my fear.

He's so tall. Is three-cone even the right spot for him? I don't know. I feel like it's not. I feel like I can't take him. Yeah. Yeah, I stayed away from him because i think his on-field speed is fine this it's just no i'll track man i'll tell you i'll tell you what i'm going with we're going

husky versus husky you pick kyler gordon i'm picking trent mcduffie let's make it happen head of teammate versus teammate for the three cone that rounds out my defensive back group so i'm gonna go trent mcduffie you know and You know, and we hyped him up a bit, but we stayed away from him in the DBs. Joshua Williams, neither of us took him for anything. I mean, both him and Tariq Woolen were like, they're right there on my list, and I just happened to not pick them. Man, I'm struggling with DB bench right here.

Like, truly, because these guys are long and rangy. The heavier guys, they're all like six two which is not does not usually bode well for the i'm looking for like a very compact player on here that can come in what's smoke monday way let's see what's leon o'neill or leon o'neill way leon o'neill was the person i've just been staring at he's the other one i'm like okay smoke monday six three two hundred okay he's a little bit longer that was my problem so That was – Leon O'Neal was the person I've just been staring at. He's the other one I'm – okay, Smoke Monday, 6'3", 200. Okay, he's a little bit longer. That was my problem.

He's the length. Yeah. Leon O'Neal, what's his weight? This might – I just had O'Neal brought up. This might happen out here. 6'1", 210. Okay, now we're getting a little bit higher up there.

That one might be the – that might be the play here for you. I think it's going to have to be. I think it's going to have to be. I think it's going to have to be Leon O'Neal just because of the body type. All right, we're rolling with it. Leon O'Neal, that rounds out our DBs. Our DB picks are done. All right, I'm going linebacker next. I'm going 40-yard dash, and I'm going Channing Tindall

because there are two or three plays that I watched him have at Georgia where he just goes zero to 60 in a manner that humans shouldn't be able to do. So I don't know if that's going to translate to him getting in the like track stance. You know, like some people are always very awkward, like getting down in the stance and having the hand go back and having to come through and getting off the line. So I don't know if that's going to translate there, but I think that you can absolutely fly when he's got the pads on so i will go i'll go channing tendle here to win the straight line speed that's a good call this georgia group as a whole should just be absolutely insane right right right right yeah when you look

at them as a whole they should be they should be insane okay i'm gonna throw another dart here a true hail mary for the vertical i'm gonna going to take Montana State's Troy Anderson, a former quarterback. Look at you. Running back, super athlete, obviously senior bowl guy. So we're going to go Troy Anderson for the vertical, and that rounds out my linebacker group as well. Yep, yep. I will close out the linebacker group by taking Chad Mumma for my three-cone.

Former safety. I think the dude can move really well, can flip hips I think I got this one man I thought I felt like I could have picked Chad Mooma for the 40 yard dash the vertical or the three cone I like how it kind of played out here with me taking Channing Tindall at the 40 Brandon Smith vertical and then Mooma here for the three cone so that'll lock out the linebackers as well all right so you took david ajabo for the d-line three cone i will take david ajabo for the d-line 40 yard dash i have a job okay i mean you're just taking the big board man literally top 15 picks top 15 picks man so what's the i have one defensive line category left. Yeah, you have vertical. Vertical. Who's going to jump hot?

Tyreek Smith from Ohio State, maybe. That's Ohio State, guys. Carl Loftus will not test, right? That's official. Majin Sanders? I didn't see that he was officially not testing. You're breaking that news to me. I think it's up in the air, last I heard, which is concerning.

Arnold Ebikete, he's got that first step explosiveness. I'm going with Arnold Ebikete. That's what I'm doing. I got to do that for the vertical. All right. I'm looking for a bowling ball right now out of the edge group. I'm trying to find a bowling ball. That's what we're always trying to do. No, I'll go straight to tackle.

Is Markel McCall? That's what I wanted, but didn't he not? always trying to do um now i'll go straight to tackle wait he's mark is markel mccall i that's what i wanted but didn't he didn't he not why did i think he didn't get a combine invite am i no he's here he's on the list okay good he did i was thinking a big sauce taylon humphrey from shrine game did not get a combine invite uh when your name is big sauce i mean jordan davis is also on the list i thought about jordan davis but the whole like he him coming off the field a lot scared me on the bench like is he gonna get tired and he's like i'm gigantic i don't need to bench for you people what do you want from me i'm godzilla i weigh 800 pounds i'm six foot nine i don't need to bench for you people so i don't want to i don't want to risk the he's not gonna do it i've been very conflicted about this bench.

And then, oh, man. I low-key really like Federe and Mathis. Not going to take them. Oh, man, okay. I thought you were. I was going to be hyped. I was going to be hyped about it. Devontae Wyatt might come in and make some noise on the bench. Oh, man.

This is, I've never been so torn. This is so tough. I'll go with Wyatt for the bench. Devontae Wyatt. We know those Georgia boys. They are, they can lift. Listen, I hope you can throw him up there. That would only help.

I love your Travis Jones pick, man. Dude, I had to do it. He's the baddest dude in the room at all times. Right, right. I had to get it out of the way, man. That had to be an early pick for me. Okay, vertical. Vertical.

I think I might go with Kellen Deesh just because he's a lighter offensive lineman. I wonder if he can get up there. Let's go with it. Let's go with Kellen Deesh, the offensive tackle from Arizona State. I know he's got shorter arms, but I don't know, man. I just feel like he's a lighter weight. Get up there. Float up like a butterfly, if you will.

I don't love it, but I gotta go with it. For the 40 on O-line, you had Bernard Ryman. I'm gonna go Tyler Linderbaum. I'm not gonna go with it for the 40 on O-line, you had Bernard Ryman I'm gonna go Tyler Linderbaum I'm not gonna really try to reinvent the wheel on that one wow, I would love that, if Tyler Linderbaum runs the fastest 40, I'd be pumped

yeah, I'd be nuts, he's only like 290 so I'm hoping he runs really well who do, uh I'm checking somebody's weight really quick before I make my pick for three cone offensive line what did he come in at? I'm checking somebody's weight really quick before I make my pick for three cone offensive line. What did he come in at? Ooh, I'm gonna go Max Mitchell.

I'm gonna go Max Mitchell here. He might come in sub 300, dude. He might come in like 299. I know Louisiana's got him listed at 299. It was either him or Charles Cross, but I'm gonna go with Max Mitchell. So that's my, I got my whole offensive line set. Oh man, you are set. I am down to the bench. You're down to the bench. I'm down to go with Max Mitchell. So that's my whole offensive line set. Oh, man, you are set. I am down to the bench.

I'm down to the bench. And this man, he's really tall, which scared me away from it a little bit, but I'm still going to roll with it. I'm going to go Tyler Smith from Tulsa. I mean, you have to just based off the film, right? Yeah, the grip strength is unbelievable. So we're going to roll with Tyler Smith. Maybe he comes in a little shorter than his listed height.

You know, the Tulsa, you never know, might lose an inch or two. True. And we know he's going to be really heavy. He's as wide as a doorframe. So you had Kennard. I'll go Tyler Smith on the bench. I'm so torn here for running back because I only have three cone left, and there's a player that I want to make sure that i get in here that like i want to pick pierre strong i feel like pierre strong is a really nice pick i thought about that yeah i think he could i think he could be really well but max borghi is also in this group

and i feel like if you call max borghi is going to play in the nfl at all whatsoever he is going to have to destroy the three-cone. So I'm going to go with Borgi. I remember, look, old Lockdown NFL draft listeners will remember that I was a big fan of Max Borgi like two years ago. He's still here. Right, he is in fact still here. So I've got to do this for myself even.

And I'll go Max Borgi from Washington State. All right. Keeping it moving. I was very torn here. I'm looking at wide receiver three cone. It was down to Sky Moore and Chris Alave. You had Alave for the 40. I'm going to take Alave for the three cone.

I think he's going to be ready to go. I don't expect him to win the three cone out of wide receivers, but I think he could put up something in the top five. And you had Kyle Phillips. I'm down to... This is my last position that I have to fill. Are you done? Is that it for you? I have running back 40.

Which I... Jesus, dude. After you're on four and I'm like, whatever. You have one left. I have vertical for the wide receiver group, and there's two wide receivers that I'm looking at to. You have one left. I have vertical for the wide receiver group. And there's two wide receivers that I'm looking at to potentially fill this one. I know that Wanda Robinson trained with Rondell Moore back when they were in high school. And I heard the stories about them going back and forth in athletic testing.

But I don't think it was in like vertical like explosive stuff i think it was just more in like speed stuff like he was saying that like he beat rondale in a straight line a couple of times i don't think it was the vert so i don't know how great he is at the vert if he kills it i'm just gonna absolutely kick myself but i'm actually gonna go with alec pierce alec pierce the wide receiver from cincinnati was a guy who was on bruce feldman's freak list f Feldman said that he had a 40 inch vertical. He said that he had an 11 inch broad jump, 11 foot broad jump. So clearly this guy has the explosiveness. Even if it's just short of those things,

it gives me a shot to maybe win this category. You picking Garrett Wilson. So I'll go Alec Pierce here as my final pick for the wide receiver vertical. All right. Last pick of the entire draft. I have running back 40. You took Jerome Ford. I absolutely love that pick. I'm going to go with a little bit of a surprise here. You had him in the bench press category. Tyler Algier, who is about 220 pounds.

We're going to roll with him in the 40 trim. I'll give you a little sneak peek. My comp for Tyler Algier, Rashard Mendenhall, who ran a 4-4-1 at 225 pounds i think they are very similar players uh we'll roll it out here in the 40 and that is our combine draft my friend that was that was pretty wild honestly that was that was i'm i'm i'm physically sweating i need to show i'm wearing a black shirt right now and i did that strategically because i knew that we were going to be drenched in sweat after this exercise all right i'm gonna try to run through it really quick before we get out of here to remind

people of our picks. For wide receiver, 40-yard dash, I had Chris Olave. Vertical, I had Alec Pierce. Three-cone, I had Kyle Phillips. Bench, I got Traylon Burks. Running back, 40, I went Jerome Ford. Vertical, Devontae Price. Three-cone, Max Borghi. Bench press, Tyler Algier. 40-yard dash for offensive line, I had Bernard Ryman. Kellen Deese for the vertical, Max Mitchell for the three-cone, Darian Kennard for the bench. Defensive line, I've got Nick Bonito, stolen Nick Bonito with a 40-yard dash. I got Arnold Ibikete for the vertical, which now that I think about it more and more, I actually like a lot. David Ujabo for the three-cone and Travis Jones for the bench.

40-yard dash for linebacker, Channing Tindall. Vertical, Brandon Smith, Chad Mooma on the three-cone, Trey Williams at the bench, and then finally defensive back, I got Kalen Barnes with the absolute, I'm just, I'm penciling in three points right now for me there with Kalen Barnes from Baylor. The vertical, I had Daxon Hill, three-cone Trent McDuffie, and then in the bench, I had Colby Harvell-Peel. You want to read your team off?

Yeah, let's fire away. Wide receiver, 40-yard dash, Calvin Austin. Vertical, Garrett Wilson, three-cone, Chris Alave. Bench press, David Bell. Running back, 40-yard dash, Tyler Algier. For the vertical, Brees Hall. Three-cone, James Cook. Bench press, former linebacker, Abram Smith.

Offensive line, 40-yard dash, Tyler Linderbaum. Vertical, Charles Cross. He's going to fly through the roof. Three-cone, Iki Akwanu. Bench press, Tyler Smith. Defensive line, 40-yard dash, David Ajabu. Vertical, Kayvon Thibodeau. fly through the roof three cone ikki akwanu bench press tyler smith defensive line 40 yard dash david ajabu for vertical cave on tibido three cone aiden hutchinson bench press davante wyatt from georgia linebackers 40 yard dash brandon smith troy anderson for the vertical former

quarterback running back three cone devin lloyd bench press leo chanel the leo the legend on the bench press dbs 40 yard dash my hail mary bench press. DBs, 40-yard dash. My Hail Mary to take down Trevor's lock. Nick Cross from Maryland. Vertical Kyle Hamilton. Three-cone Kyler Gordon. Bench press to round it all out. Leon O'Neal.

I have no idea what he's going to do on the bench. Let's get it done. I love doing these exercises just because it gives me and you an added reason to root for some of these guys out of nowhere. Like when Neil gets up to the bench, you are going to be screaming for him to put up more. We might go live. If I'm there, I'm going to be, I will be there with you. DBs are last.

You are going to be there. I'll be there for days before that happens. We'll go live on Instagram just screaming at Leon O'Neill if they'll'll let us in that was fun man that was a blast i hope you guys salts you're gonna put c you're gonna put c4 into his uh into whatever his water container is beforehand substance just just so you could win this game you get him you get him popped and disqualified okay that's uh hope you know that's not going to happen, but we are going to see how these guys test out this week. Man, I'm so excited about this. I'm so excited for the drills to get underway on Thursday, which is, of course, when this podcast is coming out.

I'm excited to see you, buddy. You're getting in on Thursday as well. So we're not planning on having any podcast episodes for sure while we're in person, but I think we're going to do a lot of bonus content stuff. I mean, whether it's on TikTok or Instagram or whatever, we're going to be talking about what we think of the guys, how they're testing everything. We're going to give you our reaction to a lot of these things.

As Connor said in the moment, maybe go on IG Live or something like that when some of these guys step up to the line or the bench. But, man, I'm excited. Safe travels before you get here, man. We got a lot of great content to do, so make sure you get here in one piece. Thanks, brother. Can't wait. It's going to be a blast, dude.

All right, y'all. Appreciate you guys listening to this episode. If you enjoyed the draft format here, let us know on Twitter, at Tampa Bay Trey, at Connor J. Rogers, because if you liked it, we'll try to be creative and do a lot more of these. We'll make sure we keep score. We'll be back on Monday morning after the combine's over. We'll tell you who won between my team and Connors. Plus, we're going to have a brand new mock draft for you on Monday. We'll see you guys then. Thank you.