NFL Stock Exchange: An NFL Draft Podcast - 248. Collab Mock Draft: NFLSE vs. Bootleg Football (Brett Kollman & EJ Snyder)

Episode Date: April 9, 2024

Trevor Sikkema and Connor Rogers are joined by their good pals Brett Kollman and EJ Snyder of Bootleg football for a brand new "what we would do" mock draft -- with a lot of trades (for picks and players) included.

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 NFL Stock Exchange podcast. In this episode, it's another edition of the Colab Mock Draft Series. This time, BJ Schneider and Brett Coleman of Bootleg Football. We are so excited for this one. We had these guys on last year and it was an absolute blast. This episode, no different. We get wild in this one. Crazy picks, crazy conversations,

and even crazy trades that I guarantee y'all have not thought about yet. I'm Trevor Sycamore with me as always. It's Connor Rogers. Let's ring the bell. Welcome to the opening bell of the nfl stock exchange podcast i am trevor sikama that is connor rogers join you on a collab mock draft series episode that i'm excited to get into immediately but connor i gotta ask you first and foremost how you doing my friend i am a good man i'm excited for this one this is the uh people's mock draft. They've been begging for it. I think we delivered. This is the Dwayne the Rock Johnson of collab mocks that we have here because these other two very handsome gentlemen that we have on the screen with us,

it's the infamous. It is the renowned. It is the dynamic duo of bootleg football themselves. It's E.J. Schneider and Brett Coleman. Fellas, how you guys doing thank you so much for joining us again we had so much fun doing the mock draft with you last year we obviously had to get you back and like Connor said by popular demand so I'm excited to do this year with you I'm ready to fight EJ are you ready to fight I I don't know do we have to fight them

do we get to fight each other more like who do we have to fight because i'm ready to fight but i do if you if you say ania's ania smith at 32 i'm gonna fucking i gotta say we're all in a we're on a you know twitter x dm chat whatever you want to call it and there were some names being thrown around for early picks today everybody was just egging everybody on. Go ahead, do it. I dare you. I'm so excited for this mock draft specifically because I know all the four of us have like our guys and we're doing a two round mock draft here on this show because a first round mock draft wouldn't have done this collab justice. We got to get into that second round just to see who at the end of the second round is like, all right, I'm throwing this guy in there.

Sure, why not? Caping for the last two months. But look, that's what the people are going to want. So you guys have watched these Colab Mock Draft videos for a while now. If you watched them last year, if you watched them this year, the series is already going. The drill is Connor and I are going to team up. It's 2v2. And then Brett and EJ are going to team up.

We'll alternate odds and evens. EJ and Brett are going to start with the odds because Connor and I did the odds last week. So we're going to alternate here. And look, trades are allowed. It's a what we would do mock drafts. We're putting our own flavor here. But of course, the conversations that we'll have, we'll talk about what we think is going to happen as well. And if you gentlemen are ready, I'm going to fire up the PFF Mock Draft Simulator.

I'm getting right into it. And you guys are on the clock with number one overall. We taking Aniyah Smith at one? Or are you going to wait till nine? I'm just wondering at what level he won't swing at me to take Aniyah Smith. We'll see how far we can push it into the second round now i think we're probably all set at one i don't think we're gonna go

super crazy here yeah because everybody's in agreement drake mays qb1 right no of course yeah uh no uh it's it's caleb it has to be caleb if anybody says it's not Caleb at this point, we're not friends. That's what it is. Look, I was saying before we recorded, and I'm not super serious, but also not entirely lying. I'm sure that Bears fans at this point, they're still the people who wanted Justin Fields so bad that they're almost like, okay, well, what if we trade for Justin?

And it's a pick that's less than the one that we traded him for. So now we get Justin back for plus value. You can take Marv at one. You can trade down for one. I am sure there are people that are out there that actually still believe that. If you're one of them, this is a support group for you. Not entirely, but we'd love to hear it in the comments because I'd love to know if you guys exist. All right, so we're taking you.

Can you stop him? I was going to say, he's just trying to get people to show their ass in the comment section. That's literally all he's fishing for right now. It's cool. I know what, I know what happens with the YouTube algorithm is cruel behavior. What you're doing.

All right. We're taking, we're taking Caleb Williams. The number one overall, the correct choice, by the way, Connor, there is a debate now.

Number two, is there for us? Probably not. No, I is a debate now at number two. Is there? For us, probably not. No, I don't think there is for us. I mean, in the actual draft, yes, this is maybe the hottest debate right now. I was going to say, we had Bengal on the show last week, and we made him kind of squirm over this one a little bit. Good for you guys, by the way. You're like Led Zeppelin coming on after an acoustic set after Bengal.

I mean, really, just like the crowd is like, oh, OK. Now, like you come on the stage and everybody's like chugging beer and like doing shots. So I have to get my digs at Bengal because we all know it's in good fun. I love it. Oh, it's true. It's true. Guys, they made it because obviously like Bengal is a what's his New York affiliations? He's a he's a Jersey fan and a yankees fan

giants yankees fan that lives in texas they those two made it over an hour before bengal said something and then connor was like hell yeah baby here comes the black snooker i held it really well he called he called taylor ham pork roll and i said this has been a bad show and that was it did it end right there i didn't i didn't watch all the way here no i actually really pissed them off in good fun and then i said you know it's funny like a yankees fan in texas and man they don't like that they're all over the globe so it was uh yeah yeah so So you do know what the YouTube algorithm does. Of course, yes. So, all right, Connor, you're right.

I think that you're correct. This isn't really a debate for us. Both of us have Drake May, I don't want to 100% speak for you, but firmly QB2 in this class, correct? Is that correct to say? Yeah, I have a little gap. You know, Caleb is QB1 for me, Drake May is QB2, and then I see Drake in his own tier there.

There's not a debate for me between him and others to be the second guy. I would agree with you. I would love to hear, Brett and EJ, what you guys think. Yeah, me too. Obviously, this is a transition. We're going to take Drake May because we believe that he's QB2 in this class. And Washington should take him at number two. It's a transition into you guys picking here at number three.

What's the QB order for you guys? Like, is it close between Jayden? Is he really in this conversation? Is he so close that it's like, yeah, now you got to take him at three if you're New England or, you know, take me down kind of how you guys have, have ordered this quarterback class here this year. So this is interesting because EJ and I typically don't show each other our rankings until basically the week of the draft. So I don't and i typically don't show each other our rankings until basically the week of the draft so i don't know i don't know how i didn't know that's fine no that's what makes it great is like what's awesome we get into draft week and i'll see him throw a name at like five or six and i'm and i throw a name at like five and we were both like, what the fuck? Like, that's amazing.

I didn't I didn't even know that. Like, yeah, we for the most part. I mean, sometimes, look, we have lots of conversations about right position groups and generally tears. And I think tears. This is a great conversation to have in short here is for us. Tears are more important than the ranking within the tiers it's blocks and houses or however you want to make that analogy and it is more important which tier a guy is in rather than where he is in that tier because typically there's only anywhere between

two and four guys in a top tier before you get down like the wide receiver class is obviously going to have some that are really stacked this year because there's just so many guys but typically in like our quarterback class where you're talking about you know six or seven players you're really interested in you might have three or four tiers and it's much more important where a guy lands in a tier than it is where he is within that tier so where are yeah well i was gonna say and this that's the point of the yeah that's exactly the point of it you know so yeah i have may and and Jaden in a tier. Do you have May and Jaden in the same tier?

I actually don't right now. Okay, so if you had a QB2, who is your QB2? I have Jaden as QB2. This is good. And not in a tier with Drake. No i i i think caleb's really in his own tier and again that's the most important thing is he's he's just by himself and we all agree on that so you get down to the second tier and where i get in there is like i like drake a lot but there are things that i worry about there are things i worry about with jayden too

but i think about again all the things I worry about with Jaden too, but I think about, again, all the things you think about when you're ranking guys, how successful he's going to be initially, where he might go. Obviously, I think he's a better fit in Washington given who their OC is in terms of what would be a better landing spot for him. So for me, combined with a running ability,

he really is his own tier, his second. And then the third tier is where it gets really interesting because Drake leads off that tier for me. But there are other guys in that tier who we'll talk about probably as we get down to the ranking, sir. For me, I have a tier two of May and then Jaden, but they're within the same tier. So our common denominator is Jaden in tier two. So why don't we just go with Jaden? Yeah, it's more about New England in terms of, you know, should New England trade down? This is what we do, though.

And I have trouble with New England without a quarterback this year. I know there's the argument to build the team around before you get the quarterback so that you can maximize that window. But I'm like, so what are you going to do this year? Because if you don't take one so what are you gonna do this year because if you don't take one what are you left with and and how do you sell tickets for that all right i'm down i'm down for jayden okay okay so we're going jayden daniels then at number three so we're going quarterback quarterback quarterback as you guys can see on my rankings I have Jaden a little bit further down so Connor now that starts the question of what are we gonna do at number four overall which way are you leaning here in this situation with three quarterbacks off the board quite often we've opened up the door for somebody to come into this pick and get a quarterback and you know Arizona we saw how much

they were able to how pliable they were last year at the top of the draft. I think though this year... That video of Monty just working the phones, baby. Just like double phones crossed wires. I'm so jazzed for it this year. I'm so jazzed for part two. It's going to be a thing. I think in this scenario, Trevor, I'm

okay with taking the best player in the draft, and that's Marvin Harrison Jr. I mean, they've made their decision to roll forward with Kyler which I don't disagree with at all. If you bring Marvin to the fold here and you're still picking I feel you know I guess we can get to this later or the guys can. I actually love the idea of Arizona coming up from pick 27 and getting another player in that top tier of this draft. And the, you know, cause I see a gap when he gets like player 21, 22, as most drafts have,

I'll bet at four, it'll depend what the offers are coming in, but you just feel good sitting in this spot because of the caliber of receiver you're getting. I have no issues sitting here at number four and objectively taking Marvin Harrison jr. I think I would say that if a team outside of the top 10 is offering you a crazy quarterback price,

obviously you've got to think about it. I look at the Giants, though, at number six. Sure. And I wonder if this really is best-case scenario. But that's if they love McCarthy, right? And we're also picking for the Giants at six. It's not that big of a jump. But I'm not taking McCarthy in the top six, though.

Then, yeah, then okay. Then we probably aren't having this conversation. Because, Brad and EJ, you guys are picking for Minnesota, who pick odds. They pick both 11 and 23. I don't know if this is like, if we're picking up the phone, if we're going Monty Austin Ford style, and you're like, yo, would you guys want to move up to four in a what we would do mock draft,

would you guys entertain something like that or not? We're still down at the food court we're we're not coming up for jj mccarthy we're grabbing a bite to eat we'll catch you guys in 20 minutes that's how we're looking at it okay all right all right see you like jj but this is this we're kind of with you guys we wouldn't do that you know right you like picking twice in the first round over that right right and i think there's some there's obviously going to be some people who are watching this video who go like man this isn't going to be realistic kind of a thing but there are predictive mock drafts and then there are like okay but this is what we would do if

we were in the seat and the more i think about it for arizona sure i would love a ton of different draft picks but at the same time I don't really know if I'd move past six just because you're guaranteed to get one of Romo, Dunzay, or Malik neighbors then at that point. So you add a little bit of extra draft capital. You move down a little bit, still get a good wide receiver. And then at that point, you've got to be comfortable taking Marv. So if you're comfortable with the Connor,

we take Marvin Harrison Jr. Right here. Let's do it. Take it. Number four. All right, we're doing it. Y'all are on the clock with the Los Angeles chargers at number five, another pivotal trade spot.

Well, EJ and I didn't want to come up to four for JJ. Do you want to come up to five? From 12? I particularly don't for the most part, but this is where I know we announced at the top it is a what we would do mock draft. But considering that we have Minnesota at 11

and we also have the Chargers at five, we might call ourselves here because I'm thinking of Kevin O'Donnell, right? Again, they don't have a quarterback right now. Like, not one they want to start. Sam Dold uh slander hey jet's legend jet's legend i'm a panthers legend as a guy that really liked sam darnold in the draft i'm happy to flip over do the heel turn we said this was the rock the people's mock draft i'll be final boss on sam darnold and say not sorry like i i have given up the ghost on that one so can they get by with i'm sure but he gave steve darnold's elbow

that's right i'm happy to do it at this point i wasn't when he came out i was hot on sam darnold but we've you know the league shows you what you were wrong about. So I think at this point, if we believe that Kevin O'Connell wants JJ, this would be the spot to do it. Because if you wait, I think the Giants are certainly a threat to just stick a pick, take him there. And it's not a crazy jump. I mean, it's big in terms of draft capital. But other than that, you're just starting Sam Darn.

Well, if we get both Vikings picks, is that even value? If it's just straight. Trevor can take a look here. If we propose a trade with Minnesota coming up to five, what do we have to pay for it to make it work? 11, 23, five. Ooh, 38% chance. Which is interesting.

Because on the Rich Hill chart, it's overvalue, which I know like there's none of this perfect science, but I know. Oh, yeah. Wait, wait, wait. It's saying that the Vikings are over are over value here yeah yeah so okay but i mean the chargers would do this yeah we said the charges would reject it that's i mean that's the that's the value that we have here now obviously look we know that a quarterback tax is something that's unquantifiable, it feels like. But right now, just the value of getting 11 and 23 for five, it's saying that –

because I'm clicking an extra pick for Minnesota, and it's taking it the wrong direction. Yeah. So it's basically saying that the Chargers would be the team. So take off 23, leave 11 and five on there, and then add other picks from Minnesota to see if we can make it work. All right. What do you want? I mean, you're, you're, you also have to realize that you're bidding against you. So what do you think? First two, first two for quarterback tax, we give them the first two rounders. You can do that. And we get our quarterback. I mean, I know it's lopsided. I think that's an easy way to just.

Yeah. Yeah. To get it. All right. So you want to do it? Yeah, I think so. Okay. So now, I mean, y'all are still up.

And this is more of what Kevin O'Connell would do than what we would do necessarily. And that's fine. At the same time. You got to blend it. Boy, if you're in Minnesota, what do you have? It's tough to say, oh, Justin Jefferson, hang out, play with Sam Darnold for a year. We'll have something for you in a year. That's not the way NFL teams or players think.

Right. And I genuinely am with you. Like, JJ is a good developmental quarterback, I think. Y'all are taking him off the board board so you can give your thoughts if you want but like i would not love jj starting week one in the nfl but you draft him here sam donald gets start for you you know you're not going to be catastrophically terrible or at least hopefully and you give him a little bit of time so i think that year two year three is a slingshot years anyways. So I still like this. I understand it. I do want to say for full transparency,

if it was just me and I was a totalitarian dictator, I, I would, and this maybe it sounds crazy to you guys. I would have just taken Bo Nix at 11. Is that as crazy as it sounds? If I'm slowly running the room I'm thinking the same thing as you Brett I just I would take Penix but I'm thinking the same thing

as you where like your next quarterback right I'm obviously very high on Michael Penix that's you know it's been that way for a really long time that's that would be my strategy so I don't think we're that far off the same trail okay I'm I'm with Connor I it would if I was gonna stay at 11 and take a quarterback it would be Penix over Nick all right well hold on this is so realistic though because this is a trade that happens even though nobody wants to make the trade which is exactly what happens in the NFLfl i will trade the picks back i will do it if you guys actually want to do that because we just had the conversation we fulfilled our obligation but i think it's set it sets the draft up in a fair manner in a realistic way yeah yeah like and i i also think the other side of this

we're not talking about is the Chargers are thrilled with this. Like the Chargers get what they want. They want to get out of five. They're still going to get what they want in terms of a top tier tackle and something else. So they're jumping up and down next to Brett. Like they're just like, yeah, we got what we wanted. I think for the sake of realism, this is fine. All right, let's do it.

All right, JJ at five, Minnesota, which, I mean, it is funny that we talk. We're all very – it seems as though, like we just said, people love the idea of McCarthy in Minnesota. People love the idea of the Chargers getting to trade down from five. It's just the, Oh, is he worth all these picks? Kind of a thing that really throws a wrench in it. So we make it happen.

Obviously we think that both teams are happy outside of the draft value, but Connor Whopper, number six now Malik. Yeah. Malik. Yeah. It's gotta be, it's gotta be Malik.

Wider Shearer. Wider Shearer too, baby. Giants do really well here with all the quarterbacks going in front of them and I know you can make the argument. Well, they also need one for the future but this team has desperately needed a number one wide receiver for a very very long time. Yeah. So, Malik neighbors. Or Bo Nix is six. okay all right don't throw michael pratt in there with bone x don't do that keaton slovis do not do this to me titans are up at number seven y'all are up it's gotta be all right at this point you get your pick of tackles i don't know why you wouldn't

pick joel if you're sitting there like staring you in the face you didn't think you were necessarily going to get him there's a really good chance you thought he was probably going to go to los angeles yeah i i would run that pickup pretty quickly i i will say this uh because i know titans fans have gotten kind of shafted throughout draft season because they are so easy and they, and they come to these mock drafts and they're like, I want substantive, substantive analysis about my team and everybody's mock drafts on all of our channels are just constantly like,

I mean, yeah, Joel, like, but, and we never actually like talk about the Titans. They have to though. They,

they really have to to and that line is so bad it's so bad and if you just gil and i i'm stunned that i'm saying this um considering where we're at with him last year give will levis two and a half seconds to cook and he's shown he can cook right you got a number one receiver i think the interior trio is is hell of a lot better than it was last year uh you just you literally just need a left tackle and all of a sudden that offense dare i say not just competent but fun to watch maybe right right like we we can have the quick Tennessee Titans breakdown for you. Okay. You spent all the money on Calvin Ridley.

You draft the trail and Burke's pretty high. You spent the money on DeAndre Hopkins. You have the trio of receivers. Chica Cuonquo is a good tight end. You have Will Levis, who's a young quarterback to invest in. You signed Tony Pollard. Tajay Spears looks good as well. Defensive line, obviously it's centered around Jeffrey Simmons and Harold Landry,

but there's some other decent players that are there as well. Linebackers, eh, okay, but you're not really thinking about that at seven overall anyways. You brought in LeJerry Sneed. You've got Roger McCreary to play the nickel. You've got Imani Hooker. You've got Elijah Molden. You signed Shadobi Awuzie. Your cards are basically on the table for

every other area of your team other than offensive line being very bad at offensive tackle. There's a breakdown. Makes sense. Joel. Done. All right. Titans fans can't complain anymore.

We talked about them. There you go. We love you Titans fans. We really do. But this one is about as streamlined as it possibly gets. Right. You signed Calvin Ridley. They traded for LeJarrius Sneed.

That was about it. All right. Speaking of defensive players, as it possibly gets. They signed Calvin Ridley. They traded for LeJarrius Sneed. That was about it. All right. Speaking of defensive players, I mean, I don't know how good of a transition that was. I only mentioned one of them, LeJarrius Sneed, but we're going to roll with it. It's very silky.

The Atlanta Falcons. Thank you. Yeah, they call me Trevor Silkema, actually. There you go. The Atlanta Falcons. Oh, boy oh boy at number eight pass rusher or corner here connor what do you think i i lean pass rusher and obviously there's some really good corners in this draft but i just come back to the combo between Johnny Newton or one of the top edge guys in this spot for me. I think now I will be very transparent.

I think Atlanta is going to have the phones ringing here because I'm very curious how teams will want to get in front of the Bears and the Jets for Roma Dunze making this a profitable non quarterback move up spot. Don't you fucking dare yeah but okay i i like this but let's quick think about it who moves up the chargers now only the people that want to die man the chargers going for monty the chargers going full Monty's is actually pretty fun right like I'm because I'm trying to think about a receiver with Harbaugh let's go it's the what we would do I understand I understand yeah oh man and then you look at to me I'd still like to see another capable wide receiver in jacksonville i know the

steelers just knocked this this one's getting a lot of play so uh one of my colleagues over wendy city good iron uh works in jacksonville uh for 10 10 xl in jacksonville and she brought this up um she was like there's a lot of you know there's a lot of rumble about jacksonville getting up to get a dunesay and it was really with the bears it was the next spot not this one but still same thing would polls give up a shot at a dunesay for multiple picks you know because the bears have this huge gap between nine and 75 right um and you know all of us were like yeah the picks are nice but oh we'd hate that so no we're not considering it. Right.

Trevor, I have no problem just taking Johnny Newton here, by the way. Yeah, I don't either. I've never really seriously thought about the Chargers at 11 popping back up going full Monty, which I don't know if you ever want to go full Monty if you're not Monty himself. And I mean, you know, Jacksonville. They don't have to that's the thing if we're looking at the Chargers the Chargers can sit at 11 and get what they wanted at five which is a top tackle yeah they can they can get a great tackle so yeah Jacksonville is

very interesting yeah Jacksonville I think is more I I don't want to say it's more realistic but I would definitely say it's more interesting. I think it's more realistic for sure. What's the difference in trade in value? It's 1,400 on the draft chart to 950. Yeah, you got to make a move. They're down their ways. You're basically giving up your second round pick.

So you're giving your first and your second round pick so you're given like your first and your second to get up with atlanta that should be the cost i don't know all right now if you're atlanta and you want a top pass rusher uh jacksonville's pick is true 17 17. um yeah you'd be you'd be basically pivoting for a quarterback or a cornerback. Yeah, or hey, maybe if the rusher you want, interior or edge, is there at 17. And there's a possibility because, again, we're going to see some more tackles go off the board. Probably going to see more wide receivers go off the board. Yeah.

So you could say, theoretically, hey, we're still going to have a bunch bunch of players to choose from which is the ideal way to trade down in the draft you don't just want to be trying to snipe one guy because then if you trade down it doesn't work you're just now what do we do so well y'all pick for 17 that's yeah that's the hang up here would you well all right so so we're atlanta we're calling you you give us your first 17, and you give us your second, and you can come up and get Odunze. Connor, are you signing off on that or no? For Atlanta, absolutely. I get 17 at 48.

Yeah, that's the price. That's the price. But it's up to the guys. Right. I'm just going to raise the conflict of interest flag. No way. I can't sign off on it, but go ahead. What's your argument?

I want to hear it. My argument is this Jags team has missed on a lot of draft picks. They've tried to buy their way out of it. They need cheap talent. I don't think they can afford to give up picks at this point. I really don't think they can. I would agree with you given the draft history, recent draft history of poorly spent high draft picks, especially.

They have not turned a profit on high draft capital lately. And so doing so and saying, no, no, trust us. We're going to go all in. We're going to, we're going to go all in. We're going to dump a bunch of extra picks in this one. This one's going to hit. Now we all, I think, think Odunze is going to hit and is one of the safer bets in this draft. But again, high round pick hit rates for wide receivers. Not as good as you might think if you go back through recent

drafts so it's a they just need so much position yeah it's a tough position for jacksonville to say no no trust us we're gonna do it right this time all right yeah i i think we'll let you guys stick at eight and you can take whoever you want you all right connor you thinking lotto over newton i or sorry newton over lotto I would be good with either one. I am. I just want to raise one last thing. Okay. Are we just completely like ignorantly discounting that Atlanta could also

take Roma do and say, and that would be fine. There's no way they do that. I wouldn't go. No way. No way either. I'm with Connor here. I think there is a slight chance.

I think it is not a likely thing to happen. I agree. But at the same time, if they did it, everybody's going to kind of turn at that moment and go, huh, I kind of like that. Is he playing both ways? Like Ronnie Bass, remember the Titans? Was he playing edge rusher and wide receiver?

He can't do it. I think it comes down to this. Every single year, when we look at the Atlanta Falcons, the franchise is all about one thing at this point, and that is how can we find new and creative ways to not give Kyle Pitts the ball? I think drafting Rome accomplishes that mission, which makes it a fairly realistic point.

You know you're fighting against yourself taking Rome off the board one before Chicago, right? Very true, but it would be funny. Yes, it would be funny. We'll take Johnny Newton. We're taking Johnny Newton. But a good conversation there, which makes the conversation extremely easy.

Folks, that is what it looks like when GMs call each other. That is exactly what it looks like. It is long-winded, That's that folks. That is what it looks like when GMs call each other. That is exactly what it looks like. It is long winded, disorganized. They don't care about time. Okay. Hold on.

Don't they still use fax machines? To be fair. That's probably what it looks like in the VIP area of prime at the combine. We're actually starting these conversations. There we go whiskey on the rocks right never wrong just early right when it's draft season or when the draft rolls around you're on the phone for two seconds you're acting like you're you got a roaming charge it's about to happen you got to hang up the phone as quickly as possible okay I did not have roaming

charge on my draft bingo card but there we go there it is all right you guys well speaking of doing things quickly ej if you want to put on your track shoes you're gonna sprint this one in dude i don't know what you're talking about that card is already up yeah like bring me wrong fax machine or not i've raced the impulse down the phone line and beat it like it's it's there all right there it is romo dunze off the board at number nine to the chicago bears jets could you use them connor yeah it could have helped remember what i said earlier today our goal was to piss off connor that's all we wanted to do today mantra accomplished nice uh yeah we actually have the screenshots to show that that is exactly what the draft plan was

at this point and it did very well okay so what are we doing at 10 you tell me i mean you and i have been unified that in this scenario troy fatanu should would be our pick i think it's more likely that jets would take one of brock bowers or talisa fuanga but this is the what we would do. Do you want to try to talk me into something else, Trev, since you and I have been so unified on Fatanu? I mean,

if Jets fans would like to see a mock draft where Brock Bowers goes 10, obviously I think that Brock eats in this offense, right? I mean, he's, he's, he's essentially wide receiver too in the offense, if they draft him,

which is great. But again, if either of your very old offensive tackles go down, you're in the same spot you were last year. And if you draft Fataanu, and we've talked about this on this show so many times, he starts at left guard immediately. If he needs to kick out to left tackle at any point, you sign John Simpson to bring him in to do exactly that exactly if you need so if if um Morgan Moses goes down at right tackle Elijah

Vera Tucker goes out to right tackle you slide in John Simpson to be able to play right guard like it's just it's it's something where it's not like you're drafting a backup you're drafting a absolute starter in the trenches, and then if one of your guys happens to go down, you have enough flexibility. That's right. I just did the opposite of what you wanted me to do. No, I think you reinforced.

You reinforced why you and I have been driving this ship while everybody else is going the other direction. It's an 18-wheeler at this point. We're going Troy Fontana with 10 to the New York Jets. So you guys are up with the Chargers at 11. First of all, EJ, I'll ask you, do you want to pick here? Oh, you know,

we just were talking to a mutual friend who said the Chargers might want to, you know, go down again here in terms of adding even more picks but i very ravens of them yeah yeah it certainly could be i think if the phone rings and they get a pretty good offer fine if not i also think they're much happier sitting here than they would have been at five because they already have the extra picks and they can

accomplish their goal which again the absolute steady drumbeat out of the Chargers organization is we want to get tougher. We want to establish the run. We want to be more physical. We want to be tough to break. There are players available here that can do that. I'm raising my hand. I'm raising my hand to be called upon.

All right. Can I be called upon? Yeah. What about the Bengles trading up to this spot that's exactly who i was going to suggest because you jump the broncos for bowers right you also well it depends on what they're going for here uh you also jump new orleans for a tackle For a tackle. You take Fawanga, right? Right. It's really, it's your jump on that whole pack of death in the middle of the first round.

They have an extra third round pick for the comp pick too. So like you can... It's just all those teams in front of them need all the same stuff they need, right? Right. So it's, if you want your pick of the litter ej would you listen to go to 18 oh i would certainly listen because i still think i can get what i want right if i'm i think so too like i i'm not putting myself outside the range again

in a lot of drafts if i needed a top tackle 18 is getting pretty ticklish for whether or not one of those guys is still going to be there and it is possible that a big run happens and you like the look of that a lot less but the chargers are not a team that needs only one thing either so i think they can still look at their draft board and say we can get a top talent in one of our top two needs and we can get extra picks and who knows if you know the brock bowers of the world inhabit this land uh we still might get a top tackle right and if not we're probably staring at a corner we like a lot and that doesn't hurt our feelings either so what's your price to come up from 18 not not super high i'll take what you're gonna give me at this point because again you're not

putting me out as a team like my risk as a team draft wise is not super high i'm pretty happy with the player i get there because i have needed tackle i've needed corner we've got top talent still available both positions we're we're not on the the value number difference is i think 350 it's like 350 which the bangles second round pick is 410 but i don't think they part with their second round pick like the bangles just do not do that yeah we're threes uh two threes i think would be over we could throw you back maybe no actually no it wouldn't be you give you give them both threes yeah 80 and 97 and then the charges would have three third round picks yeah which i feel like ortiz would love. Yeah, I would do that in a heartbeat because, again, I'm not going to leave the first round without a player that I really like.

And if, again, Cincinnati, to you all's point, wants to hop above that sort of valley of knives and get the player they want, they won't picket a litter. This is not a terribly expensive way to do it. And if they're locked in with the player again if they believe that you know bowers is going to take over tyler boyd's role and and keep that offense humming go for it all right so um bangles trading up i mean i guess this is us connor right yep 1880 and 97 for 11 for 11 okay made Okay, made it happen. Are you taking a tackle at 11 or you want powers?

I would take Fawanga, I think. You think? Yeah. Even with Brown there and even with Boyd not there and even with T. Higgins on the franchise tag? I mean, you still got T. and Jamar. I think I'd take powers. Okay.

Honestly. Now, it gets a little tricky, right? Because I just traded a first round pick in two third round picks for a tight end so it's like right i yeah and i mean how many games is trent brown playing a full season at right tackle or are we all right you know are we going to be back here's the other one this is the classic draft game right would you rather take let's just say receiver, because we'll call Bowers a receiver because that's his primary strength.

Do you want a receiver here up high or a tackle? And you said Fwaga. So, and okay, flip it to what you're going to get in the second round. Who's the tackle you're going to get in the second round? Who's the receiver you're going to get in the second round? Which pair do you like better? that's why you keep 49 because if you keep 40 if you keep 49 you're getting a damn good receiver right all right is the level of the tackle as good at 49 as it would be no way it's not no close then it's a jarring, jarring for the receiver next. All right, Fulonga it is then.

You're okay? Yeah. No, it's brother. Brother. All right. Brother. We made the trade, and then we debated who to take. Usually goes the opposite way.

Always love it. All right, what do we do now? We made the move. No, we got up. Yeah, but for what? We made it up there. Wait, I thought you wanted. Wait, I thought you wanted. No, I thought you wanted.

Oh, boy. All right, Juanga at 11. Well, the Bengals have three scouts, so that could actually happen. And no GM. You listening to this podcast, you are a freelance scout for the Cincinnati Bears. All right, so you guys are up at 12 for the Broncos. Good luck. I will say, the first week I ever met EJ was at the 2020 Senior Bowl.

And I won't say who we were with, but we were at a coffee shop that was like down the street from the hotel. We saw, you know, Bengal Scouts walking down the street. And I pointed out, I was like, oh, it's a couple of Bengal Scouts. And the guy that was with us was like, no, no, no, that's the scouting department. That's all of them. That's all of them. That's all of them. That's all of them, guys. Like, if you throw a blanket over those guys and put them in a truck,

they're completely helpless. Like, that's it. You've crippled the organization. Oh, man. Kidnapping the front office. Easier than in most places in Cincinnati by the way Trevor we're on the clock oh we are oh yeah we have evens no we played ourselves

okay so I love that you're like good luck I'm like look how about that I'm not going into next season with Jared Siddham I mean no no franchise should you know that I'm not going into next season with Jared Siddham. I mean, no,

no franchise should, you know, that I'm higher on Bo Nix than you are. You're higher on Michael Pennix than I am. I'll get, I'll give you this one. Cause you gave in, you let me take Pennix.

The last time we picked around here, we picked for the Raiders. Bo Nix baby. All right. A very Sean Payton. Bo Nix baby. Feel. It's absolutely happening.

Yeah. Look, I, and I, and I like this for Sean Payton specifically. Right. I mean, like keep the offense on rhythm. Oh, like are all the pieces there? Obviously not. They were very clearly moving on from Russell Wilson. It felt like the second that Sean Payton was there and Sean Payton,

she's going to want to get his guys entirely in there. Nix, to me, is a Sean Payton type. In more ways than one. And I think the important one is, can you take it? Because Sean Payton is going to be hard on a young quarterback. And Nix has a lot of experience. You know, his dad played the game. He's been doing this since an early age.

He's going to understand hard coaching. He might not like it, but he's had a lot of experience. That's, you know, a point that's been played out. I was going to say, but like, I think that I feel like that's in his blood, right? Like that's just, that's who he is. It feels, I've obviously never interviewed him or whatever. He's going to be able to withstand it. I think if you're talking about a player that has, you know,

we've had players very recently in draft that have had, you know, 13 starts, 20 starts total at the college level. You throw that guy to Sean Payton. Like, I'm not sure. Right. There's going to be a lot of formation happening there. I'm not going to, not going to be sure it's all good. So Nick, Nick, I worry a lot less about that.

He keeps things on rhythm, man. He is an on-rhythm type of a passer. Give me the offense. Allow me to orchestrate it. I can get the ball in the hands of my playmakers. And I don't say that as like a discount to his talent. I really do think that there's a world where him and Sean Payton are a perfect match. So y'all are up now at 13 with the Raiders.

This crushes me because I have Knixon mccarthy in the same tier and i would have loved for him to be there uh crap okay um all right the question is do we go panics you like him more than me i do i like him a lot i'm with i'm with connor on this one i really like sell the pick i look michael pennix it's so funny to me that people pound the table draft folks pound the table and say we want somebody that can stand in the pocket go through progressions deliver the ball down the field with accuracy like you get all those things michael pennix is that to a t like and they're like well i'm not sure he can run like wait when they can run you say you want a pocket passer like i mean he can't run he can absolutely run he just got

his pro day the gasp at the UW pro day when he ran. Like, I was looking down when he ran, and I looked up, and our buddy Alex Kassim was next to me. I said, who was that? He goes, Mike, which was the tenor of the room. Holy crap, he was cooking. Got to go back to that Indiana tape, baby. Well, again, Indiana tape, not necessarily the same after all the injury,

but he can still run. But more importantly, I think that when you really dig into Pennix, one of the things that's most important is there's a stat that is much debated, which is the pressure percentage converted to sacks. And obviously you want that to be lower as a quarterback. And Pennix is one of the lowest in this class. So his movement within the pocket, highly underrated skill that we do not talk about enough. Yes, if you can flush him out of the pocket or you can hit him, which is true with most quarterbacks, his efficiency declines.

But his ability to stay in the pocket and deliver and avoid pressure and keep that from becoming sacks within the pocket. It's one of the best in this class, not to mention he can absolutely sling it. The accuracy is there. Everybody's like, well, he's going to be playing with lesser receivers. Well, that's pretty much true wherever he goes. He's playing with three NFL guys, right? His three guys are going to get drafted in the top 60 in this draft. I was going to say, unless Chicago takes him at one and then drafts Rome at nine, he's pretty much like downgrading wherever he goes.

Yeah, pretty much so. You know, I like him more. Again, do you think that he is an upgrade again with high draft capital here? We're only at 13, right? It's a little rich for my blood, but what else are you going to get? Is there somebody with all the quarterbacks who've already gone off the board that you're like, oh, we can wait until two and get blank? Doesn't feel like it. I don't think so. Again, it's way early for me in terms of value for the player,

but if we're looking at the situation. Yes. Again, it's way early for me in terms of value for the player, but if we're looking at the situation, every move that the Raiders have made, that doesn't feel like the posture of a team that's willing to wait. It feels like they're trying to put together a ball club that can compete right now. At least try to make a run at a seven seed and just not be embarrassing. They don't have a quarterback on the roster right now

that I think accommodates that posture. So Panics would probably start for them. I think they'd be a more fun offense with him. And at the end of the day, if the goal of the draft is to just get better at key positions, they would be getting better at a key position. Is it like ideal value? No, but it's better than what they got.

And this is not a team that feels like they're trying to tear it down and rebuild. It feels like they're trying to compete. So this is probably the best move to compete. So are we doing it? Yeah, I think we'll do it. If it was pure player value value we would pick the top corner because they also have a need at corner and i think the value is better at corner but corner doesn't swing the game as much as quarterback does and if you you know we like

aiden we interviewed him we think he's a great dude if you don't think pennix is an upgrade over aiden you're not watching the same film right Right. I agree. All right. Michael Penix. That's five quarterbacks in the top 13, baby. Oh, love to see it. All right. We got to kick it into gear to finish that round one so we can get in round two. Saints at number 14. Olu?

It's Olu or Latham. It's pretty much a coin flip for me. They're 18 and 19 on my board. So if you're much higher on Olu, we should go Olu here. Yeah, it would a coin flip for me they're 18 and 19 on my board so if you're much higher on olu we should go here yeah it would be olu for me i don't think you can go into next season thinking sunshine and rainbows with ryan ramchick at right tackle who might not be healthy enough to play after this year and trevor penning who just has not been a consistently liable offensive tackle so it's like you you've got to go get an offensive tackle here it's one of those two guys i think yeah i'd roll with olu all right so we're going

to olu at 14 for the saints obviously they could do a couple of different positions but to us it's very obvious that that offensive tackle is the pick y'all are up at uh 15 with indy quinnion yes i was like okay if you don't suggest like if we're going to debate which corner it's definitely corner and i you know i could be swayed for terry but like if you say quinion quinion is my top corner indianapolis is extremely happy that he falls into their lap here he's a great player it's great fit he's he's going to start from day one. Do it. Overbowers? Did you say it?

Oh, yes. Yeah, but mainly because we got some other, like the degenerates we are. We have some tight ends in our back pocket. Love that. Can't wait for that. Okay, Quinn Young to the Colts at 15 then. Connor, 16.

I'm fascinated. This is where I get the popcorn out this particular pick is where i'm getting the popcorn out to see how your guys's brains are attacking this one i think it's i think it's one of two players all right if you ask if you ask me humbly okay i'm curious if we have the same idea is that possible i'll ask you humbly i hope not because, because that's not, I can't do it. JC Latham. Yep, that was my idea, and I would play him at guard. Probably play guard, and then if Abe Lucas isn't able to go, obviously right tackle, you get an easy slide out,

just like the similar situation with the New York Jets. And the other one is Laatu Latu, just because he's the best pass rusher in the draft. Yeah, I would take Latham and play him at guard and see what happens with your right tackle situation. Okay. So were those your two players? And that's Reed Lean? Latham was my player with the idea he plays guard,

because he's not my top tackle available. But I like his transition to guard. Oh, wait. Who do you have over Latham that's left? Mims. Oh, right. Right. Right. Right. Right.

Right. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Let's go Latham. I like that plan that we, that we outlined. I think that that's a genuinely a really good one for, for Seattle. Unless they just believe like, Oh,

we're drafting Mims and we're going to start him right away. It's no question about it. I think you can get a better five out there if you get Latham. Y'all are up with the Jags at 17? Okay. I'm between a couple different things here. Okay. I understand corner.

We're looking at corner. I like Tyson Campbell. I don't trust Ronald Darby to be my starter right now. So I understand we're looking at corner two. I also understand we're looking at potentially edge. But A.D. Mitchell's staring me in the face. And they spent money on Game Davis. I don't care.

They have Zay Jones there who's reliable, but i don't care they have zay jones there who's reliable but i don't care that much as odd as it sounds even though everybody you know made fun of how much they paid at the time christian kirk like is their most reliable receiver and that's all well and good but i don't want to go into a make or break year on a cheap rookie Trevor Lawrence contract where it's like we are falling behind in the division. We are falling behind fast. I am not going into this make or break year with Christian Kirk as not just my number one, but far and away my number one. Can I interest you in A.D. Mitchell for that reason? No.

You can interest me in a wide receiver, but it's Brian Thomas. EJ, we are like the same person. Yeah. It's so funny because I think Brett and I see this class very similarly with a lot of the debatable prospects like Knicks versus Pennix, Brian Thomas Jr. versus A.D. Mitchell. like debatable prospects like nicks versus pennix um brian thomas jr versus ad mitchell like there have just been i've are i can already tell there have been a couple of instances where it's like i align with brett very well here connor aligns with ej very well which is the no for me though

brett put on the speech of his life and he was like nope and i And I know that's going to open the podcast and people are going to be like, wow, what the hell? No, I like A.D. Mitchell. I don't love him. I see the upside. I get everybody's arguments. I just don't see him that way. I was on Jacksonville Radio last week and we were talking about this particular thing.

Like, what do we do at one? For me, it's really probably Brian Thomas. If you're going to go wide receiver. And I absolutely understand. You set up the argument really well about how you're going into the year as Jacksonville. And are you, you know, trailing in the division? And I think if you just stay at wide receiver, yeah. But again, depth of this wide receiver class.

Can you get a guy later on down? And look, do you take Terry on on here because he's in my corner my board he's above ad mitchell as a player like i don't think it's any sort of consolation prize like oh we have to take corner so we're getting a lesser player like we need corner we need wide receiver i'm doing the same flip thing if we get terry on here and a wide receiver or their next pick i'm okay with that you're probably still going to get a good wide receiver so um for me that's probably the way i would go if we were sticking and picking a wide receiver we can go fisticuffs over you know ad versus brian thomas for me it's brian thomas for you it's ad i mean flip a coin it doesn't matter um but just you know player value look again we just said it corner doesn't tilt the

field as much but if we're just going player value terry on's a better player than either one of those wide receivers probably i have okay this is gonna possibly be the most unhinged proposal you guys have had let's go okay one team needs a receiver really bad they also have a decent amount of money that they can spend on it but they also need a corner and they have a really good edge player that we really really like that they haven't paid yet ej EJ, hear me out. I'm listening. Josh Allen for T. Higgins,

and then we draft Dallas Turner. I like the first part. I think the second part is so risky because it's Jacksonville. I like Dallas Turner going to a lot of other developmental spots. I think Dallas Turner, I love his traits but like he needs to continue to develop he is not one of those like hey we're talking about better than one developmental pass rusher is two developmental pass rushers they already got one who haven't worked out um see what happens wow i love the first part the first part is really cool uh the second part i i think it

would be a harder sell okay well then would you do a lot of potential i if i was honestly for we talked about a unique spot i'm so invested in it okay well let's call up the people that have the 18th pick you know let's bring back the three guys that work in the cincinnati front office that are here in the call with us would you guys be willing to take the blanket off and hand him a phone will you agree to this what do you guys Josh Allen for T Higgins straight swap we each pay each other's player I wouldn't Trevor for which side we are getting Joshosh allen we are sending t higgins see here's the thing i think that i would lean no yeah but i would also lean no under the assumption that like i would want to hold on to t higgins i don't know if cincinnati is doing that

like the way that they it feels like the timeline of how they've handled Tee Higgins and everything, I don't think they're going to hold on to him. I almost want to do this just to see. To see if you get something that you want to hold on to? Essentially.

Again, I'm with you. If we were truly running the Bengals, I would have handled this Tee Higgins situation differently anyways, and I think that I would have made him a Bengal for a long time. But I don't think that they're doing that. So this is a fun way where they maybe get out of this, and it's sort of a win-win because

Josh Allen and Trey Hendrickson is sick. I mean, that's an incredible duo to get after the quarterback. Right, but we did move up for Fuanga. Yeah, I was going to say now we really got to get that wide receiver in. Yeah, we've totally thinned

out our pass catcher room while overbolstering. But you said you can get a good wide receiver at 49. Yeah, that can play with Higgins and Chase this year. Yeah, but he might be able to just play with Chase. They use three wide receivers in this offense. I guess. I don't think we're coming out good in that deal at all

because are the Bengals going to pay Josh Allen top edge rusher money? No. No, they're not. Well, they have the money to do it. They don't. Like, look at the structure of their deals. Even when they landed Trey Hendrickson, which was a great deal for them,

that deal was like, everyone was like, oh, there was no guarantees deep into this deal, and he ended up outplaying the deal. But, like, this is a, we're in a spot where we almost can't win, which is the issue, because of the organization, in my opinion. And how they've handled, I mean, to Trey's point,

like how they've handled Higgins to this point. Yeah, we're probably too far in. I almost just want to do it because I think the T thing is. I would want to pick. I wouldn't want to play her because the organization won't pay the player. So I need the pick. I need the cost-controlled asset. Yeah, I need the pick. I need the cost controlled asset. Yeah.

I would, I bet that that's fair. All right. That's the issue with it. Like we're getting a player. We can't. All right. That was extreme.

That was extremely fun though. I would love to hear people. It's phenomenal. And I would love to hear people's opinions. So Brett, I see the wheels turning. You're going to trade the pick for T Higgins. Jackson was not going to have the money then for Higgins and Allen.

Like you're letting one of them walk and it's not going to be the guy that you're about to trade. Unless somebody else wants to pay an edge. Damn. That sounds very NBA. Well, I'm looking at kind of. Yeah.

I mean, how about this? Another team in the evens. Let's get a little menage a trois going on here. Tampa Bay. You want to pay Josh Allen? Trevor? Oh, man.

He does want to. Okay, so what's the trade here? The trade is we trade our one to Cincinnati. We get T. We pay T. We trade Josh to Tampa. We get Tampa's one. Tampa's one is Cincinnati. We get T. We pay T. We trade Josh to Tampa. We get Tampa's one. Tampa's one is just Josh Allen for Tampa.

26, Josh Allen. You got to pay him. But if you got the money, like it's, you know, you know what you're getting. Yeah. At that point, which is you're reducing the risk

because again, top round edge rushers the hit rate is it's not 50 especially not in the late 20s the problem is they have to sign winfield junior long term and they have to sign tristan Wirth long term. Sounds like broke people problems to me, man. They're basically... They're basically letting Chris Godwin walk. This is a guarantee that you're letting Chris Godwin walk after this season. Which is fine at that

point, right? Goddamn, that'd be sick. You got him. I love it. I love it it just think josh allen and kalaji can't see running stunts next to each other oh my goodness and you're talking about paying a 29 year old godwin at that point whose body has not been all right let's do it cooperating with him all. I'm an agent of chaos at this point, so I just want to see it. No, you just wish you were an agent, because there are a lot of agents going to get paid out of that deal.

Okay, so yeah, 100%. Okay, so Josh Allen is, where's Ed Rusher? Okay, Josh Allen's going to the Bucks for 26, okay? Yes. All right, so Force that trade. Trade again. 17 is going to Cincy. Jacksonville's giving 17 to Cincy for T.

Where are the Bengals? They're giving 17 and T Higgins. Just straight up. Just straight up, right? Just straight up. Okay, so the Bengals are now on the clock. It's all you. Oh.

Oh. All right, what are we doing, Connor? Brock Bowers? We can take Brock Bowers. I think you can take Brock Bowers. You're having a case and you're eating it too, fellas. Because here's the thing. If you just drafted Talisa Fuanga, right?

So you got the offensive line. You got the offensive tackle situation already figured out, okay? You moved on from T. Higgins. If you just put Brock Bowers in there, Brock Bowers can be your pseudo wide receiver two option thing while maybe you're drafting another wide receiver at some point in this draft. Exactly. You could still get a wide receiver. You could still get a wide receiver. And thing while maybe you're drafting another wide receiver at some point in this exactly you could still get it you can still get a wide receiver and here's the thing you can get good wide receivers every year every year they become available via trade via free agency or via

the draft you draft brock bowers here at 18 and you you absolutely feast yeah and they'll get a good wide receiver at 49 we still have that pick right Right. Yeah, I'm taking Brock Bowers here. This is quite the... Oh, I've never felt that alive. We have multiple bars around the country in three different areas going absolutely bananas for different reasons. Are you not entertained? Everybody's eating at this point. This is why you subscribe to both channels simultaneously at the same time. The title of this is How the Bengals stole the draft.

And it's our faces are like. I swear, if you're Bengals fans, you don't smash retweet on this draft. You don't like anything nice ever again. OK, 18. Now, this is hilarious because we'll give your scouts back. We will return them. All right. So, 18.

That's the Los Angeles Chargers. Technically, it's not us because you guys are picking at 5. Then you're picking at 11. Now you're picking at 18. I will remind you that Amarius Mims isn't on the board. And if they somehow traded back twice and still got Amarius Mims, I'd freak the hell out. But you guys are up, so you get to make the pick here at 19. It's all on you.

I'm between Mims and Arnold. I had a feeling Arnold would creep into this. Who else is left to tackle besides Mims? Because Mims is awesome. Interesting. Just Graham Barton, Tyler Guyton, Jordan Morgan. Yeah. If we're getting on that that train it's got to be now and we got to hope for like you also take it 23 oh shit you're right yeah hold on yeah hold that phone i was like we're not getting we're not getting mims at 23 because

we got the rams the steelers no you're not no no. If we want Mims, we have to take him first. And then we still have other corner options that we like that I would consider first-round corners. We could come out of this. It might not be Cincinnati that steals the draft. It might be the Chargers by trading down a bunch. Let's do that. Okay.

So you're going Mims? I'm going Mims. I like that. Rams at 19. I feel like this one's well i guess it's not pretty easy i was gonna say law too but byron murphy also an option yeah so those are the top two needs that i have uh and to be perfectly transparent i am cribbing jordan's notes here jordan rodriguez um she had it as edge, DT, wide receiver, and running back. I don't think anybody's got a better pulse on the Rams than she does. So those are

the top two needs, edge and DT. I'm trying to think about depth. I'm trying to think about depth. I would probably go edge. Show me the edge rankings of who's left because they're still well it's there i mean oh no we're odd yeah it's all i was thinking i think they were picking oh and nobody's still there so it's really between do you want to go with the polish of lots of your write-off and having contributor you want

the potential of turner with just all those gifts and needing some more polish but lots of things you can't teach so I I lean Dallas personally okay I you're I'm I'm fine with you this is not going to be like our wide receiver discussion where we fight this is going to be like hey either one's right so what five-way trade can we cook up and around this. I don't know. Wait until the second round. Then we pull out the four-way trades. Yeah, no, I'm fine with Dallas pair for the Rams. I think that'd be a lot of fun. If you put any of those edges next to Kobe, stuff dies. So I'm fine with any of them, but I just-

And I'm also fine with defensive tackle depth later in this draft that the Rams can go back to. I feel better about defensive tackle depth farther on down than I do about edge depth. So if you want premium edge talent, you go edge first, get a DT later. I think there's lots of options there that I like. Dallas it is. Dallas at 19. Connor Wolfe with the Steelers at 20.

Noted CB1 Cooper Dijon is still here. Two players on my mind right now for this pick is him and Brian Thomas Jr. Yeah. I'd probably lean Dijon because I still think they'll be fine getting a wide receiver on day two. I would agree.

I would agree. And think about like just the amount of roles the gene could play for the back end of this defense is perfection be pretty sick i i'm with you here i'm i'm taking to gene over any of the wide receivers that are there is that wide receiver depth so cooper gene uh number 20 to the pittsburgh sealers y'all are back on the clock with the Dolphins at 21. Johnny? I've got interior offensive line. I asked our good friend with the Dolphins what

his three top needs are. We're prioritized. He said interior offensive line, wide receiver, and then three tech. So three tech on the list for sure. Johnny, probably the highest rated prospect. If we're saying all three of those needs are roughly equal he's gone he's gone he went eighth overall he went eight right so I mean

we'd be used to that we'd be Byron uh if we went DT and certainly an extremely highly rated player but you've also got to pick a litter for you know JPJ Barton. Like, you could pick your center to, like, come on. Because, you know, their center's not going to start the season healthy. So, that would be rough. I'd probably lean JPJ just because I think he could play any of them. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, again, like we've laid out.

So, it's either JPJ or murphy and it just comes down to 19 or 24 like he's also played dt before so you know just throw him out there spin him around both sides of the ball that'd be awesome uh and he'd he'd be fine with it he's yeah he's something else um yeah yeah i'd be fine with that. Powers Johnson? Yep. All right. JPJ off the board at number 21.

Eagles are on the clock at 22. Terry and Arnold. Probably Arnold. Yeah. I feel like we're doing this as putting our boards as consensus together. So Arnold. As much as I'm a little higher on Wiggins. I like Wiggins a lot, man.

I'm just worried about the tackling. Yeah, the weight overall, the play strength. Yeah, I'm just really worried about it. We'll go Arnold here, and it's very fitting for the Eagles. Yeah, so, okay. Yeah, you're right. The Alabama connection, the Howie Roseman-Alabama connection. Oh, an SEC corner on the state? Right, right.

Oh, shocking. Wow. No way. So weird. They'd take Kool-Aid if Tyrion was off the board. So, all right. Arnold, 22. Y'all are up at 23.

We got to pick it up if we're going to finish round one. Don't think we're going to have time for a second round, obviously because of all the trade talk that we did to keep the time. But, you know, we'll talk about that at the end of the pod. So, okay. You guys are up at 23, though we gotta we gotta high step it here uh we can make chargers fans very happy with either btj or ad vigil here and we're coming out of this with a tackle and a receiver i i'm all about thomas here and I could pick a corner too,

but I really like the Brian Thomas fit. It's tough with Roman being there. I mean, I just love him with Herbert. I want to see that connection occur. I just don't know how often I'm going to get to in that offense. For Roman Wilson, you're saying? For Greg Roman. No, for Greg Roman. Not Roman. When you said Roman, I was like, you could pick Roman Wilson you're saying for Greg Roman oh for Greg Roman not when you said Roman I was like

no no 23 he's such a he's such a wet blanket for me on like all these really fun wide receiver picks that can go to Los Angeles because I typically he uses one and a tight end now maybe he's changed but it's hard for me to imagine that. Again, what would I do? Brian Thomas Jr. right here and be happy. All right. Yeah. Sounds like Brett was good with that.

Yeah. Yeah. Again, even if I have 80 graded slightly higher, we're talking about the same neighborhood, couple of houses down the street, right? So BTJ works. All right. Brian Thomas Jr., the incredible vertical ability, it slightly higher we're talking about the same neighborhood couple house down the street right so all right uh brian thomas jr the incredible vertical ability getting to pair with justin herbert's uh cannon of an arm which you love that cowboys are 24. um man could they pick a lot too? Or I was kind of wondering,

like, did you just go easy as Graham Barton? Did you just go total beast mode on the pass rush? Because how old is Demarcus Lawrence? He's 31. Sam Williams on the roster behind him. Yeah, but Sam Williams. I know it's not going to stop you from taking a round one edge. Yeah, right. yeah but sam williams i know it's not gonna stop you from taking a round one edge yeah right uh

okay it looks like there's another year for lawrence but it might be a void year hold please yeah yeah yeah 2025 2025 is a void year for him so lot to inverse a really nice value in this spot i know man yeah i'd go i'd go a lot too okay i genuinely yeah i'd go with a lot too it'd be a lot of it'd be a lot of fun throwing him into this pass rush rotation because kind of like kind of kind of like to talk a lot too much thanks i hate it um that you guys were having before you like edge rusher value here more than waiting for a potential edge addition i guess you maybe wouldn't be making one later in the draft

but i just think a lot too is a better player than Graham Barton. Draft ain't about pigeonholing yourself. It's about picking good players. I'm going Latu for Dallas at 24. All right. Yeah, and there's center depth later. There's a lot. Oh, yeah. That's one of the sneakier positions in this draft.

Started off thinking that it was going to be really thin. The more I got into it, the more I started digging. I was like, no, there's five. No, there's six. No, there might be seven. Totally agree. Yeah. Y'all are up with Packers at 25.

Hey, just to keep things going, we could just forfeit the pick. I'm just saying. He gets it. EJ, let's be realistic. He's always on the band. There's a Midwestern DB that runs 4-4-3 in this class. We know what team Cooper DeGene's going to. He's off the board.

He's off the board. When did you take DeGene? Steelers at 20. Steelers at 20. Oh, I didn't know. I missed that. You got to pay attention, man. You do.

You got to pay attention. This would have been very easy for them. You're right. It could have matched up very nicely but the weird thing about and this is why i love doing these exercises so thank you for having us on is that you get to go through all the teams and really kind of sort it down and and like green bay's needs are really odd if you're ordering them like in terms of priority it's like safety inside linebacker, like backup tackle.

Not a lot of premium positions. So what do you do up high? Like, I don't know, maybe, you know, maybe they decide they want to trade the pick because they can get all those positions further on down. You know, but if you're just sticking and picking in terms of like value, which, you know, Green Bay has done a decent job of, certainly like there's been this serious run on tackles.

I don't think you're picking a safety or an inside linebacker in the first round. So what are you doing here? This is what I get for looking at over-the-cap information while they were picking for the Steelers. This cripples me because I had Cooper basically penciled for them. Yeah, this is what happens in the draft. Tear the notes up. Whatever it's worth, Packers fans love Graham Barton.

And of course they would. A guy that's like completely multiple on the offensive line, a great athlete. Like, yeah, sure. For the sake of just drafting good players it's like hey let's let's let's hit a double in the gap and and sleep well at night let's do grant barton ej are you amenable to that i you know fits a profile for sure and a good one one they've had success with um I hate it because they always have a bunch of guys on the offensive line.

It's like, oh, this guy went down. It's like, oh, no, Packers can do that. Not other teams can't do that. Oh, we'll just pick him from over here. We'll put him over here. He'll play great. Like that's not real life. But the Packers have that all the time.

So I, you know, they'll be thrilled. He'll fit anywhere, literally. So, yeah. Yeah. Connor, we have a wild luxury here with the Jacks. I know. Because they trade for Tee Higgins, they get 26, so they get out of having to pay Josh Allen a lot of money, and Jared Verse is still on the board.

Kind of writes itself, right? Ding board kind of right itself ding ding ding ding i mean right this truly couldn't have worked out better if you like verse and i like verse a lot more than picking him 26th overall the other thing is he goes from florida state to jacksonville which on this podcast we call low moving costs, baby. Let's sell some jerseys. Let's go. Jared Burse to the Jags at 26. What a wild ride that was for them.

Y'all are up with the Cardinals. Can I just ask you a question though? Yes. If you were the Bucs with the 26 pick, would you have rather had Jared Bur verse instead of spending it on josh allen um pretty dangerous trail to walk though like hey i'm gonna hang out till 26 and verse will still be there probably right but like again like i just like that part of it's not realistic to me i know we went through it like oh we, we're picking who we would pick, all this kinds of stuff.

And I think in reality, it's like, yeah, would you rather take verse at 26 with a fifth year option on a rookie contract the whole time? Yeah, probably. But it doesn't diminish what Josh Allen would be as a solidified, expected, very impact pass rusher for them. So, yeah, I'd rather i'd rather take verse at 26 to be honest with you but it's tough to live in in in hindsight when you make moves

like that so anyways cardinals are up at 27 all right cardinals are picking four was marv did we yeah we picked marv before okay so you've got edge and i think the edge we just hit the ledges tapped now yeah yeah we just hit the legend edge so corners next on their uh hierarchy of needs and you know we got a couple of really good corners here i would pick kool-aid if i pick between kool-aid and nate wiggins um but over by murphy uh again I I've reached out to folks with the Cardinals and said hey how would you stack your needs and interior offensive line although Murphy is a tremendous value that might just be a hey throw out the rest of this we need a really good player and and Murphy's that for us um but, I actually like the depth of defensive tackle down the board.

Are you getting Murphy? No, you're not. But can you get some semblance of Murphy in the third or even in the fourth? You can, right, depending on which qualities you're looking for out of this. There's some sneaky depth in this defensive tackle class, whereas top flight corners, I like the corner depth as well but come on not as much yeah not as much so i would pick kool-aid here if it was me uh i would i would too okay too okay all right cool mckintry at 27 connor we're up to 28

god with byron here it's a little bit a conversation just because he's so damn good. Yeah. Who's playing wide receiver? That's kind of where the issue lies. Who's playing wide receiver for this team? And then there's a big debate, right? Because I like Troy Franklin better than Mitchell. Oh. So you're just kind of opening a door here.

Okay, you just got your thumbnail, which is Brett's reaction to that particular tip. Yeah. Yeah, but I feel like if we're being realistic, Mitchell will be a first-rounder. Yeah. You know, he falls into our lap here. You know I like Mitchell a lot,

so us picking Mitchell here wouldn't necessarily be against our team. I mean, listen, they need a big-bodied outside receiver that can win down the field. They do indeed. Let's not get around this. They do indeed. I like Murphyphy i'm not like sitting here like oh my god how can i pass on byron murphy all right so i'm comfortable if you want to just take the receiver here all right let's do it that puts you all up at 29 who i i don't know if byron Murphy goes to here either to be honest with you it'd be fun but yeah I don't see

it it's this is where board value and need are not necessarily aligned and they're sitting around going hey we didn't think that Byron Murphy would be here at the end of the first round do we just take him on value my other thing is does Nate W wiggins fit on a dan campbell team like he's got i don't think so physically he doesn't like mentally i think he tries to play like that i really do i'm not like questioning his effort but i i don't think they're gonna have a great grade on him uh a good grade sure but a great grade so do they go with murphy or what else they have for needs again into your offensive line in just to future-proof themselves they got a couple of very old starters on the inside of their offensive line um or edge but again we

already hit our our ledge at edge so i don't know this one's i'm personally between a few different guys and you can tell me how sure go for it um this is i'm between xavier laguette kairi jackson you love laguette i do love laguette um either it's either laggette kairi jackson or just saying god has given us a gift byron murphy you are a detroit lion i'm actually not sad with any of those players as fits for this team murphy just on value alone i i think they could use him and he's good certainly the highest rated player out of these three that we're talking about leggett the same way i think he would fit the mentality of this team and give them something they need and i love the kairi jackson fit uh at corner because of how he's built and how he plays

like those two things don't always line up with the player with jackson it does he is a big long smothering physical guy like and that I'm sure Dan Campbell would love that so I'm not going to be sad if we're going on pure value it is in that order it's Murphy Leggett Jackson just on stack in your board uh and then you just sprinkle positional value on it and do what you want why don't we go with uh Leggett then just because they're about to spend a lot of money at the receiver position and I think they just need more cheap guys to balance out the truckload that Amon Ra is going to get. Motterdale by the way. And there's some guys in the corner ranks who also can be

Kyrie Jackson by proxy in the third round. Yeah. All right. So we'll get it at 29. Kyrie Jackson by proxy. Yeah. Yeah. All right. We'll get it at 29.

So we're up with the Ravens at 30. God. Byron Murphy. I know you want to do it. I know you want to do it. This is the Ravens though? I mean, this is. Think about it. I know.

This is so Ravens. I know, but they just paid Justin Matt to be gay. Have two of them. Have two of them. Put them up next year. They do this every single year. And at the end of the draft, we go, how did they get him? We're going to say, how did Baltimore get Byron? Brent Urban is 32.

They have Travis Jones. But like, I think, dude, I think they'd take, I think they'd take Byron Murphy. I think Eric DaCosta takes one look at this board and goes, well, they gave it to us again. We might as well take it. Full BPA. Yeah.

He's just too good for us to not take him here. Like, we're going to pick up the dollars we find on the ground. Like, they always do it every year. We're doing it. We're doing it. We're doing it. Byron Murphy, you are a Baltimore Raven. Last pick for you guys. 31, San Francisco 49ers.

Oh, man. Needs-wise, I've got OT, corner, and then wide receiver. So wide receiver is more about future-proofing because you know at some point you're going to lose. I mean, OT kind of is, too, because Trent, I don't know how many more years Trent has in him, right? Right. And do you really, do you love McKibbitz at right tackle? Can I interest you in a Kingsley Sumataya? Could do a lot worse.

Hang out. You like him over Guyton? For as long as he stays. Yeah, Guyton or Sumataya, either way. Even Jordan Morgan, I'd be okay with. I would say if I had to order those three, boy, I like the idea of Kingsley hanging out with Trent. I like the idea of Tyler Guyton, too. It's the same thing.

Yeah, exactly. How competitive those dudes are. That's how I feel, yeah. Competitive and super athletic. I don't know. I don't think there's a loss there on two of those i'd probably lean guyton okay and just and just trust him to to get the most out of him long term all right i'm fine with it yep it is 32 connor file what are you doing i mean could go wide receiver here there's plenty of good ones you're kind of kicking off in a way the second round wide receiver run just doing it with the

last pick of the first i would if i was the chiefs in this spot right mitchell's gone brian thomas is gone if you want a big out so you want to not big. He's not big, but a tall outside guy with speed. I go Franklin. If I want like a glass chewing, I'm going to catch everything in the middle of the field. I would go with Polk or Pearsall or McConkie. So it's a matter of like what kind of receiver you want if you don't want to take a tackle. Because I also like jordan morgan in this spot i think they might like jordan morgan and they're they're it's weird that how

little it's discussed like nationwide because we talk about receiver for this team so much yeah when you look at this offensive line on paper yeah tackle not interior a tackle you're like left tackle for sure is my second second biggest need for them right after wide receiver so i think i'd probably take jordan morgan i would i would too because it goes back to the combo what can i get now versus what i can get later all right i agree with you i agree with that thought process and again you can get wide receiver at any time so how many tackles went in that first round boy yeah a lot how many did we get one two three four five six uh seven eight that's eight tackles yeah that sounds right that's gonna happen boy like people should get ready it's gonna happen if you get down to it people are going to be

looking at wide receiver depth and as as much of a boon as that is people's going to happen. If you get down to it, people are going to be looking at wide receiver depth. And as much of a boon as that is, people are going to use that to say, hey, I'll do that later if I don't get a – and it doesn't matter what it is right now. If I don't get an edge, if I don't get a tackle, if I don't get a whatever, I'm not going to get them later on. But, oh, wide receiver. I still have Pearsall and all the guys we were just talking about. Yes.

The depth later on down. People are going to hang. And, you know, edges are going to go to a point, then they're going to stop. Tackles are going to go to a point, then they're going to stop. And then people are going to pick it up with filling in with those – with what is a great wide receiver class in the middle part of the draft. There's no doubt about it.

There's a ton of good wide receivers through so many different rounds of this NFL draft. All right, I know that we said at the top of the the show there was going to be a two-round mock draft but we went on an absolute journey and i knew that we would when it came to the discussions of teams and trades and all that kinds of stuff we were having too much fun we didn't want to speed that up and be disingenuous in this way so we're giving you a first round mock draft. I'm just saying this, no obligation, but we'll talk to these guys. Hey, maybe we'll fire this back up

and give you guys a part two at some point if we feel like the schedules can line up. And if you guys want it, let us know in the comment section. Let us know about all the conversations that we had, all the picks, anything that stood out to you. Best way to do that, youtube.com backslash at NFL Stock Exchange.

You can hit myself and Connor up on Twitter and Instagram as well, at Tampa May tray at connor j rogers please go follow these guys and all the incredible content that they do on all the social media platforms but especially the bootleg football youtube channel they have phenomenal videos that it's it's not just the cookie cutter way to cover the nfl draft and you guys listen to this over the last hour and a half you can hear that from these dudes, but whether it's the draft jams on offense and defensive side of the ball, or like they were saying,

like holding their rankings from one another until a week before the draft. I mean, like that stuff, that's so much fun to follow a channel that has this kind of knowledge, this kind of entertainment loves to connect with their fans the way that they do. These guys are two of the best Brett EJ. We cannot thank you enough for joining us once again this year.

This was a ton of fun, fellas. Thank you so much. I mean, first of all, thank you for having us on again. Second of all, I just want to say sports media is a very tough business. There's a lot of people that have unfortunately lost their gigs over the last few months uh and i tell those people all the time uh building something yourself is the most important thing you can do uh to to work and survive in this business you guys have done that over 25 000 subscribers on this channel right now you guys are building a fucking juggernaut i could not be prouder and happier for you guys

uh you're doing the best in the business, not just in terms of what you do, but the people that you guys are. I am so, so, so happy that you guys are building this thing. It couldn't happen to two better people. And, you know, I consider it a privilege that we get invited on here. And I know EJ does too. And I hope to come back. Yeah. On vibes alone, you guys are crushing it. You know, not to mention all the metrics. They're there as well. And I think those come secondarily.

They follow what you guys have made for feel. And it's luckily, you know, knowing you both in person, it's the same thing you get. Like, there isn't a difference. Some people you turn on a camera and things change. Not with you get. Like there isn't a difference. Some people you turn on a camera and things change. Not with you guys. We, we have these same conversations when we meet each other and, you know, quarters, the combine or whatever else, uh, or over a beer. And I love being able to share that. And, you know, we will always make time for this. It's a privilege and we enjoy the hell out of it. Well, guys, thank you for the time words. Yeah, truly. You guys are the best, really.

Truly. We really appreciate it. It means a lot. This is one of our favorite episodes that we do every single year. Like we said, maybe this is a part one, but whatever. Whatever it is, it was an incredible first round that we got to do with you guys. We would love to hear from y'all who are watching and listening. Please let us know what you thought of the episode, everything.

Let us know in the comments section. For Brett and EJ, I'm Trevor. That is Connor Connor thank you guys so much for watching and listening to the NFL Stock Exchange Podcast we'll see you next time.