NFL Stock Exchange: An NFL Draft Podcast - 249. TOP 30 WRs FOR THE 2024 NFL DRAFT

Episode Date: April 12, 2024

Trevor Sikkema and Connor Rogers give you their top 30 wide receiver rankings for the 2024 NFL Draft. They talk about the sleepers, the guys to stay away from, the guys to bet on, the future fantasy league winners and the franchise changers

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It's awesome. Sign up now at youtube.com slash BS, device and content restrictions apply. Local and national games on YouTube TV. NFL Sunday ticket for out-of-market games excludes digital-only games. Welcome to the NFL Stock Exchange podcast. In this episode, we're making history, baby. The most players ranked on a single position here on this show. We're doing 30 wide receivers for the 2024 NFL Draft. I got my 30. Connor's got his 30. Neither of us have seen the rankings before.

We did wide receivers about three months ago, but you guys know so much has changed by then. So much more tape. So much more to evaluate. It's going to be fun. I'm Trevor Sycamore. With me, as always, is Connor Rogers. Let's ring the bell.

Welcome to the opening bell of the NFL Stock Exchange Podcast. I'm Trevor Sikama, that is Connor Rogers. Coming to you guys for another position ranking episode of the podcast. And this one, this one's a doozy. Connor, we're making history on this episode because this is the first ranking we've ever done where we're giving you our top, not 10, not 15, not 20, 30. We are giving you our top 30 wide receivers for the 2024 NFL draft. And dude, I feel like we've talked so much about how great and how deep this wide receiver class is. We had to give the people what they wanted most, which was the deepest wide receiver episode we've ever done here on the show to fit that. How you doing, my friend? This one is for the freaks, my friend, the true freaky addicts out here. I'm doing great. This is one of the best episodes we do of the entire year.

Our final wide receiver rankings, because traditionally in this era, wide receiver is not only one of the stronger groups year after year, but it's the group that you could almost guarantee there will be a player taken on day three that absolutely blows up. And that's going to break the rookie record again. Yeah. That's going to have a historic season that we haven't seen in like a hundred years. Yeah.

So you're guaranteed for that. Good luck figuring out who it is. I am sure you have gotten this question when you have gone on shows over the last like month and a half. People go like, hey, who's the next Puka Nakua? There is none. Who's going to get drafted? And I'm like, and I always kind of like want to say to people, I understand what you're asking. Right.

Like it's a fun question, but can you at least think about what you're asking me? Which day three receiver do I think is going to break the rookie receiving record? Like, if he was going to do that, they wouldn't be going day three. So. Dude, the best part is with that record. I can't remember if it was the receptions or the yards, but one of them was, okay, the, okay, no, I had it wrong. But one of them was a record from like 65 years ago.

Like it's not even like a record that like it changes all the time in the modern passing era. Right. One of those two records, I remember we were going through it on Fantasy Football Happy Hour, was, yeah, okay, the total receiving yards, 1960, Bill Grohman. Yeah, there you go. I mean, that's just, I can't believe it. It's so funny that Stroud had the year he had,

because Puka would have slept walk to Offensive Rookie of the Year without that. Truly. Like, truly slept walk. Yes, yes. yes no it's true it's true no but it's so i don't know i'll all joking aside there are a lot of really fun receivers that we'll talk about even on the uh back end of the top 30 you know obviously so we listen to you guys to feedback we read the comments we promise we do we don't just respond but we also kind of like taking this feedback to always make the show better. When we, when we did our top 20 edge rusher episode, we spent a lot of time on the guys

that we hadn't really brought up on the show or hadn't brought up on mock drafts. So like 20 through 11. And then, cause we were crunched for time a little bit, we sort of glossed over some of the guys who were like 10 to five. And we noticed that that's a lot of the questions that you guys had. Cause you were like, wait, we hear about the guys in the top five all the time. What do you think about that second tier of guys, midday two kind of thing? And that is fair. So in this receiver episode, we'll give you some thoughts on 30 through 20. We'll give you a little bit of thoughts on some of those guys, maybe some of the pros and cons that we like. But I hope the majority of our show is spent 20 through 5, and honestly, like 15 through 5,

giving you our thoughts and our rankings on those guys who, okay, maybe we don't hear about in first-round mock drafts too often, but we still think that they can be contributing players. So, Connor, I think that that's a good way to do it as we go through these top 30s here. I think so, too, as well. And I'm guilty of forgetting that not everybody is legitimately an addict where they've been listening to us talk about some of these guys since summer,

where when we sit down and record and Leatu Latu comes up, it's like you've probably, if you listen to this show every week and we have a special appreciation for you, you've heard us talk about Latu the player, I mean, maybe 80 times by now but there are a lot of people this time of year that tune into us to learn about the draft in the month of april and we don't want to cheat those people either and and obviously with our not just time constraints but um you know how we did the edge episode we we did miss a couple breakdowns

on those so we'll do our best to at least give one liners today on every single player but we like you said trev the depth of the analysis will be heavily in the top 15 so with that being said 30 wide receivers there's a lot to get to my friend let's dig into it i i would love to hear give me your 30 through 26 and i'll maybe give you know like a follow-up on it you know we'll talk a little bit about those guys but then we'll kind of move on pretty quickly before we get into that top 20, but 30 through 26, who you got.

So 30 for me is Ryan Flournoy from Southeast Missouri state size speed receiver. That was at the senior bowl, Taj Washington, a shrine guy, a smaller slot receiver and returner from USC. I want to make sure that I didn't, yeah, I didn't miss anybody here. This gets real off the rails.

28, Jaquan Jackson from Tulane. I didn't watch him. Another senior bowl vertical guy. Yeah, one guy I did not watch. Yeah, we'll talk about him briefly. 27, Cornelius Johnson from Michigan, that classic Michigan perimeter receiver, big perimeter receiver on the outside. And then 26 Johnny Wilson from Florida State, who you and I have discussed since summer, literally summer scouting.

Yes. Yeah. You're too low on Johnny Wilson. We'll get to that in a little bit. But OK, talk to me about Jackson just a little bit. Give me the overview because people won't hear my thoughts on him. He's somebody that I'm trying to get to as we're finishing out the draft guide, but I did not get to him yet. Interesting player. So my quick, quick hitter on him, he's five, nine and one eighth, one 88 speedster. He's the nephew of Ed Reed. And he, you know, obviously played receiver instead of safety. Didn't follow his uncle on that road to use them. Hold on. Hold on. We got, we got two Ed Reed family members in this draft. You know that, right?

Who's the other one? Trey Taylor, the safety from Air Force, is Ed Reed's cousin. Wow. Interesting. I did not know that we've got multiple connections to Ed Reed here in this draft. I had no idea about that one. I still have to watch him in the safety group. That's crazy. So, yeah, nephew of Ed Reed. I had no idea about that one. I still have to watch him in the safety group. That's crazy.

So yeah, nephew of Ed Reed. Listen, Tulane used him all over the field. Runner, receiver, dynamic kick and punt returner. An ankle injury limited his production in 2023. I thought he got healthy in time to show off his speed during senior bowl practices. He lacks size and strength to play on the outside, but is a true vertical threat from the slot with a ton of upside on special teams okay all right um who was oh flornoy so okay you know what's interesting about him i did watch him a little bit he's not

my top 30 when i watched him i wondered if he was like he was he was a good enough athlete for the competition level that he was playing against but i wondered if it was like really decisive to where okay this guy is for sure gonna fit in with the NFL I was a little bit worried about that but then he tested really well at the combine so I guess I have to quell those a little bit but for him I just wondered if Flournoy was just gonna kind of get caught in the shuffle lost in the shuffle it's probably a better way to say it when it came to the NFL because I wasn't sure he was much of a difference maker there. But yeah, he did. He did not make my top 30.

He was just outside of it. Right. And he's somebody that he's going to be 25 in October of his rookie season, which is it's always an uphill climb. But he was a big time tester. I thought the hands were really, really good the way he can catch the ball away from his body so I think when you have that kind of size and athleticism teams like to put you on the back end of their roster or the practice squad to see hey can you become a gunner and maybe a guy that we can use his depth on the outside down the line he'll have a shot okay so my 30 through 26, I've got Jalen Coker from Holy Cross at number 30,

the extremely productive player, was a former zero-star recruit, and then led the FBS, or no, led Holy Cross all time in receiving yards and receiving touchdowns. How could he not? A super productive player for them, especially over the last two years uh 29 i have tavian robinson from kentucky is he in your top 30 no he is somebody that i did not watch throughout this process i saw i coker was like right at 32 for me i didn't get to robinson yet dude tavian robinson is very polarizing because you watch a couple of snaps of this guy and you go, okay, you could play in the NFL. You're very clearly athletic enough. He's a slot receiver.

He's a smaller guy. He's a slot receiver, but he's really explosive. He looks like his frame is filled out really well, so he's got some strength to him, but he's so inconsistent. He just doesn't have a good feel for his own coverages. He drops the football. He is like overaggressive all the time. And so it's just, he's just so inconsistent of a player. He, I just really could not depend on him, even though I really like his athleticism. And I remember people in the preseason were super high on this dude going into the year.

And I can see it if you're just looking at the athlete. But there's so much nuance of the position that he just does not have a good enough handle with. And when you're a redshirt senior and that's the case, it's tough for me to think you're going to get way better at that in the NFL. So anyways, got him at 29. Taj Washington, I have at 28. Cornelius Johnson from Michigan, I have at 27. You highlighted those guys pretty well two shrine bowl receivers two guys i liked watching in person washington was right there i

think with malik washington at the shrine bowl is the top consistent separator day to day when it come to the when it came to those shrine bowl practices and then cornelius johnson honestly i was really impressed by him at the Shrine Bowl and going back watching his tape all that good stuff the bottom line kind of takeaway I have for his scouting report is Johnson seems like a more talented player than his production suggests I agree with that I think he'll be you know if anything a wide receiver four wide receiver five of the NFL level I don't think he's going to be necessarily more than that. But I think he's more talented than how little I felt like he was used at Michigan.

And then 26 for me, this speaks to how good I think this wide receiver class is. I have Luke McCaffrey as at 26. Do you, where do you, do you have him in your top 30? Yeah. I haven't met 24.

Okay. All right. So you got him sort of close, but McCaffrey is somebody who I like man me too a lot of catches everything dude he catches everything so he's Ed McCaffrey's son he's Christian McCaffrey's brother he's not as explosive as Christian is he's not as big as his dad was in fact Luke played wide receiver his first two years of high school. Then he played quarterback his second two years of high school. Actually went to Nebraska out of high school

as a quarterback. Quarterbacked Nebraska for three years. Transfers over to Rice. Ends up moving to wide receiver. Played wide receiver the last two years for Rice. And he's still, you could just tell that he's grown up around the game of football very nuanced very soft hands very reliable hands i just don't think he's ever going to be like an elite vertical type of player for you even though he's not the biggest dude in the world i feel like his style is that of like a big slot or a power slot type of receiver so i do really like luke mccaffrey who i think again good route runner high football iq dude really reliable hands but i still because of how good this wide receiver class is i got him I do really like Luke McCaffrey, who I think, again, good route runner, high football IQ dude, really reliable hands. But I still, because of how good this wide receiver class is,

I got him at wide receiver 26. Yeah, I think we saw him very similar. I think that, you know, power slot traits. I think he is still learning how to get off the line of scrimmage, which is my number one thing. It just feels like if you get hands on him, he's still learning how to kind of vary that release package. And it's tough too because he's not going to threaten you vertically right no if there's not a big fear for vert for a vertical threat it's a lot easier to be more aggressive and confident and press because even if you get beat like if you punch and they block your hand away or whatever you know that you could just kind of recover on him and you can catch up so i think that goes into it too. Do you want to talk about Johnny Wilson now or when you get to him?

Um, where do I have Wilson? I think I have the top 20. So. Okay. We got Johnny Wilson top 20. So we'll, we'll wait on him.

We'll wait on him. Okay. So give me 25 through 21. 25. Jacob Cowling. Aling a you know a player that we've been you know on the radar for a while slot receiver out of arizona 24 like i said luke mccaffrey out of rice 23 was jaylen mcmillan out of washington 22 anaya smith from te Texas A&M. Or as Brett said on the show, didn't he say if EJ takes him at 32, he'll deck him? He did. Unbelievable. 21, Brendan Rice, big perimeter target from USC.

And of course, son of Jerry. Okay. I have a lot of the same names. So I have at 25, I have Isaiah Williams from Illinois. Is he your top 30? He's not my top 30. I'd actually really like to hear you talk about him because he was a conflicting watch for me.

Is it because of just like the size? Yeah. But like all the little dudes in my top 30, I was like, man, they are really, really tough to stop. He plays such a weird style. It was tough to leave him out. He was the one where him and Coker, I was like, oh man, I really would like to talk about them today, but I just don't have them in my top 30. So Isaiah Williams, productive wide receiver from Illinois. He is barely above 5'9", and 182 pounds. And he has 30 and an eighth inch arms.

So that is eighth percentile in height, 11th percentile in weight, ninth percentile in arm length. There's so many guys like that in this class. I know, dude. And you know what the problem is, Connor? They all produce. They all were really, really good college football players.

They were really freaking good college football players freaking productive and you sit here and you go yeah but tank dell yeah i said i know conversation like eight times this draft class and then he got broken in half at some point of the season right which is, which is not part of the problem. And I have cowling in my next group of players. Who's really small to me. Like cowling is that like I, I wrestled with the tank Dell,

Jacob cowling thing because I watched cowling and I just go, dude, you're too small. And then I, and I, I think about tank Dell and I don't think that cowling is the caliber of receiver that Dell is. But in a similar light, it's hard for me to just discount guys that get open that much. He's always open.

So we'll have the cowling discussion in a second. But Isaiah Williams, it is a transition because he is pretty similar. You know, like here's the strengths for him. Releases are tempoed and precise knows how to very quickly stop start and create that separation after defense even after defenders can get hands on him which doesn't always happen with smaller receivers which is why i like him enough to have him in my top 25 great body control for acrobatic catches in air with in-air adjustments very quick acceleration and And you see that in the 82nd percentile vertical jump.

He had a 62nd percentile, excuse me, broad jump. And then the dude's lightning quick, 83rd percentile three-cone drill. And I think you see that in all of his routes that he's setting up. So to me, it's kind of the classic, this is just a smaller receiver, but he just gets open 95th percentile and separation percentage overall 76th percentile and separation versus

single coverage. Obviously he's like going to struggle with contested catches and with blocking and with getting off the line of scrimmage, if guys can really get hands on him, but there's just so many things that he does really well. He is one of the best route runners in the class because of his precision. And again, because of how I think he tempos his releases. He's not just this, okay, the ball was hiked. I got to get a field. And some guys are, and that's not necessarily the worst thing in the world.

But I noticed that Isaiah Williams will sometimes give you a speed release and dip the shoulder and get right by you but other times he'll he'll do that thing where the ball be hiked and he'll like walk step like two or three steps and the corner you could tell it's just like all right buddy where you going like let's see and he's just like makes him panic a little bit and then boom he shimmies the shoulders and the feet you know chop a little bit and he kind of gets by him and he gets a little bit of a free release that he gets to get to create that way. So I, I seem to, I seem to like Isaiah Williams a little bit more than other people do in this class. So yeah, I got him at 25.

Did the 40 worry you at all? No, I mean, he, it was, I'm very shocked that he ran. I didn't match the film slow, right? But I do have in here... Hold on. I do have in here that he's not the best vertical player. He's not going to absolutely burn you down the sideline. So he can create that separation, especially when he wins with quickness off the line of scrimmage.

But I didn't expect for him to be like a four, three guy, four, six, three was much slower than I thought it was going to be for Isaiah Williams, but that's also not really his game. Yeah.

It's tricky. I struggle with a guy that is going to be one of the smallest players that is positioned in the league. And then also somehow timed is the one of the slowest but you're right it doesn't doesn't equate to the film the three cone is really good he has great agility it's definitely a tricky one he would be an outlier if he hits and that's why we're talking about 20 through 30 not top 15 so i have i have him at 25. I have an I.S. Smith at 24. So thankfully, EJ didn't take him in the first round of the mock draft that we did.

I have Brandon Rice at 23. We were real close on this group. We were. We were. Here's where we get a little bit different. I have Jamari Thrash at 22. Okay. I like him a little better than you. I jacob cowling at 21 just because i

can't quit the young man no um to 90th percentile separation overall 86th percentile separation versus single coverage yeah he's he's a nightmare to deal with if you're stuck with him in the slot so the two-way go you know what's funny about jacob cowling too i was i was i was watching a couple of plays of him you know earlier this morning as i was kind of getting ready for this show and um i'm watching a couple plays and yeah he's he's cooking people with his routes he's doing double moves and these guys got no prayer and then he was running he was running like a corner route to the to the uh to the front pylon and the quarterback sees it late the safety's coming down on him the corner it was able to drop a little bit and the safety still tried to squeeze it in there and it's like you see

exactly what works with Jacob Cowling one play and exactly what doesn't the other because the play before he had a beautiful move where he just absolutely shook somebody, created that separation, got a first down catch. This one, the quarterback was late, so he didn't hit that space, and it was instead a jump ball to Cowling, and he didn't have a prayer to come down with this football. So it's just kind of what you see is what you get there.

So, yeah, that's my 25 through 21. Okay, Shuey, you want to talk about anyone else or you want to keep moving? Where'd you have McMillan? I have McMillan a little bit higher. I have McMillan 17. Okay, so my view on thrash is you're McMillan. I have thrash at 17.

All right, so we can talk about both of those guys right here before we do the next five. So talk to me about McMillan. You've thrash at 17. All right. So we can talk about both of those guys right here before we do the next five. So talk to me about McMillan. You got him a little bit lower. You got him at 23. Yeah. McMillan's a solid player. Obviously, we talked a lot about him over summer scouting as well and had bigger expectations for him. He's just the kind of guy to me that he doesn't separate himself from the pack with size or athleticism. He's just middle of the pack in both. The play strength really concerns me. Like when things get physical, he just does not have balance.

It feels like Augusta wind is going to kind of move them over. So if you're playing in an offense that can, you know, kind of create space for him, I don't worry about McMillan getting the job done as a slot receiver in that kind of offense, but yeah, I didn't see him as I saw him very underwhelming from a physicality

standpoint. And then he's just a fine athlete. And that's kind of when you get lost in the shuffle of being a jag rather than a difference maker. Yeah. I think I understand the concerns that you have with McMillan that you're bringing up there. He's definitely not the densest wide receiver, right? If you get good hands on him, if you're bumping him in the contact window, you can really kind of get him off of his route. He's not going to break a ton of tackles for you. So I understand that. But I think what puts him higher for me is I think he's really smart. He is. For exactly what he's going to be in the NFL. To your point, if somebody wants this guy to be constantly on the line of scrimmage or running, I'll say, I'll say like in a vertical offense,

if you want Jalen McMillan in a vertical offense, he's probably going to disappoint you because you're going to want, you're going to put him in like bump and run situations. You're going to put him in press situations. He doesn't have a ton of great long speed anyways. So in that instance, yes, it's going to be tough for him to produce, but if you put him in on an offense where, and I think Washington did a really good job of this. You can get him in manufactured stuff, you know, short crosser, shallow crossers, you know, curls, hooks, like in between zone coverages.

Like he's really smart at sitting down exactly where he needs to, tempoing his routes to timing things out really well. And he does have good yards after catch despite not being the strongest guy in the world because normally you're kind of sacrificing one or the other. You're either a high average depth of target player and a low yards after catch player, or you're a low average depth of target player and a high yards after catch player, right? There's not often where you get guys who are both. Those are the players that are special

that can really produce for you. Jalen McMillan was 53rd percentile in average depth of target and 58th percentile in yards after catch per reception. So to me, that's a good indication of versatile usage and just him getting open with his IQ. You know, being in these advantageous situations, it also doesn't get lost on me that in an offense that also contained

Romo Dunze and Jalen Polk, he had a 69th percentile yards per route run. So they wanted to get this guy the ball. And I have to believe it's because he is a really smart wide receiver so that's I I definitely see some of the physical limitations they definitely exist with him I just felt like that uh that route running IQ is still going to allow him to produce at the NFL level and by the way a lot of the arguments that I made against McMillan you could sit here and throw right back at me with Jamari Thrash that's the funny thing about this like Thrash in the same mold does not separate himself from the pack with size or testing times I thought he played really really fast though Thrash and I mean

we even saw him at the senior bowl be a guy that can win over the top yeah good competition like I he's just somebody that kept impressing me as the months went on throughout the season into the all-star process yeah thrash man you know when i read when i read kind of my overall view of thrash it feels like a crime for him to be wide receiver 22 in this class but again like i just like so many of these players. Really good separation scores. Again, another player who very high yards per route run, high average step to target, high yards after catch per reception. Now, a lot of that kind of comes vertically because to me, McMillan was an underneath receiver. Thrash was more of a vertical receiver. And you and I noted this when we talked about the senior bowl show it's not that thrash naturally creates a ton of separation but he creates a little bit of it

kind of through those subtleties of like you know a little bit of a push off a little bit of timing exactly when he breaks to look over the shoulder and that allowed him to be a really nice vertical receiver throughout all three days i thought of the senior bowl so sort of similar players but i feel as though mcmillan's is more replicable than thrash's without that elite athleticism because thrash had won a lot vertically so that's just kind of how i came to that conclusion one quick note on brendan rice because he was in this category for both of us. There are high moments of Brendan Rice,

especially what he did to Kyrie Jackson at the senior bowl. Like there are moments with him that you, you go, wow, this guy looks like a number one wide receiver. He's six, two, he's over 200 pounds.

He's got 33 inch arms. He ran a four or five. He could jump. I just thought the play speed is totally unpredictable on the field. That's the word, man. Like I, I have no idea what kind of play speed I'm getting on any given rep.

Dude, I watched his tape before the senior bowl and I said, okay, good acceleration, pretty good route runner, pretty consistent separation. Real red zone threat. I was like, I guess he's kind of just like a speed guy, you know, like maybe he'll just be like a little bit of a speed guy.

And he shows to the senior bowl and kind of felt like he couldn't separate for shit. But then all of a sudden he's just a contested catch monster. Yeah, very odd player okay i just i and you just saying the unpredictable athleticism because sometimes you see it and then sometimes you just do not and you can look at that one of two ways right you can look at it as as oh i've seen both so i know he's capable of both let me make him a top 15 receiver in this class or it sounds like both of us are on the opposite side of the coin where it's like man I don't know what I'm getting still with you in

the NFL and maybe it's special but maybe it's completely replaceable I'm not really sure 20 to 16. yes let's do it okay 20 to 16 Anthony Gould from Oregon State. Somebody that in 2022 was a first team all returner. Great, great, great punt returner. 19, Malik Washington from Virginia. Kind of maybe the poster boy in this draft of the, hey, he's really small, but holy shit, does he make plays all the time? Yeah. 18, Jermaine Burton from Alabama. 17, I already gave away Jamari Thrash.

16, the most underappreciated wide receiver in this draft, Javon Baker from UCF. Oh, man. I thought you were going to throw somebody out that I didn't have in my top 30. No, no, no, no, no, no. Baker doesn't get enough love. I thought we were Mo Kamara all over again over again no i wouldn't i i wasn't gonna do that you wouldn't

do that to me no again not not with that or would i oh man yeah you're gonna have so you're gonna have somebody in the top 10 then i don't have my top 30 and it's just gonna be absolutely new and you're gonna be like all right show's over we can we can have a couple of those conversations because i have a lot of those guys again again, kind of in that same bucket. Malik Washington for me is 20. So, you know, right there with you about the same. Johnny Wilson from Florida State is 19. I won't quit him, man.

I won't do it. I can't do it. Top 20 of our achievements in this class. I have Javon Baker at 18. I have Jalen McMillan at 17. This one breaks my heart to tell you who is 16. Because in the first wide receiver episode that we did in December, I made a case for him to be a top five wide receiver in this class.

Boy, did you jump off the ship with your hands tied behind your back and your legs with ankle weights. This is. I can't wait to hear who this is. This is Tez Walker. Yeah. This is Tez Walker, man.

He's 15 for me. And it breaks my heart because I watched the Kent State tape and I was like, we've got something here, folks. I thought he was physical. I thought he was athletic. I thought he knew how to get vertical, how to separate. Even though it wasn't super nuanced yet, I thought everything that you would want as an athlete was there.

I saw some tough catches, some contested catches, and I get that this past year wasn't exactly an ideal situation of how he was even getting on the field, but i felt like he was way more inconsistent at unc and that's with drake may as his quarterback and then the senior bowl was tough man he just the the concentration drops it was bad it was just it was bad it was bad and now i now i don't i don't know what to believe because the kent state tape now we're're well over a year removed from that. And instead we have two different instances of you putting on the helmet and pads for UNC and at the Senior Bowl, and I did not love what I was seeing.

And so if we get more of the difference maker that I felt like I was watching at Kent State, I'll come back and look at this 15, 16 ranking for me and be like, yeah, you coward. But it's hard for me in a really good wide receiver class to bet on his inconsistencies, especially when it comes to catching the football, because that is job number one of a wide receiver. I didn't have the hard sleep out of the top 15, but I absolutely made him number 15. And, you know, for me, I don't even dislike the unc tape i just think there are limitations i thought that you see him make adjustments he understands the short route game he understands coverages i mean i don't like i've said this on the last episode we had him

registered with five drops the five drops are just like the best receivers in football would struggle to make the catches that were registered for drops, but the stop and start in routes is clunky and there is no creativity with the ball in his hands. And then to get down to mobile where his strides cover so much turf that he can run away from good corners, but to not finish plays over and over again everybody can have a bad week but it was really disappointing I mean there was some throws from

Penix to him where I was like dude like that's what an NFL ball is gonna look like you gotta catch it and he did yeah yeah no and it's and it's I think this is obviously a very harsh drop for me you weren't as high on him earlier on so it's not as far of a drop even for you. But now we're in the same category with him because, like you said, love the long speed. And he can be a vertical receiver at the NFL level. But there's times when I've watched him and thought about him at the senior bowl, and I'm like, damn, is this just, I mean, is this just Jalen Hyatt? Right.

And like, I thought Jalen Hyatt was extremely limited coming in from last year's class. I was like, this guy's just a speed player. And a lot of the other like strength parts of the game and getting off press and running precise routes. Like there really wasn't that. It was just vertical routes. And that's kind of how I feel like with Tez Walker right now. I still think I like Tez more than I like Tyett, but we're in the similar conversations of basically,

if this guy's going to have value at the NFL level, it's going to be how I saw Tyett having value at the NFL level. And it's just as a vertical guy. And I wish it was more because I felt like it could have been more watching the Kent State tape. Let's talk about Javon Baker. Yeah, let's talk about Javon Baker. Yeah, let's talk about Javon Baker. What do you like about him?

Let me pull up my notes on good old Javon Baker here. I wrote, number one, I gave him a third-round grade, and he's my 16th wide receiver. So if you're wondering how talented this class is. Yeah, I also have a third-round grade on him. Consistent deep threat, exploded in 2023 with over 1,100 receiving yards receiving yards seven touchdowns 30 catches of 15 plus yards baker simply knows how to win down the field with sharp routes body control and

tracking skills in contested situations baker positions himself well and is a big leaper to high point the ball his experience playing both inside and outside will bring versatility to an nfl offense there are too many instances on tape of him dropping a layup or stabbing at throws he works back to. His playmaking ability down the field gives us a real shot, though, to be a high upside number three receiver at the next level. Yeah, I mean, I pretty much see him similarly. I really do.

Like, I have his comp as Josh Palmer. I like that. That's nice. That's the way that I feel like he plays. I mean, he is a – I just feel like he's good at everything. He's not terrible at anything. I don't think he's – I don't know if I would say he's elite, but I like the competitiveness.

I like the long speed. I like the agility. I like the Christmas in the routes. He's competitive at the catch point. There's so many just things to like. I'm a little worried about him not having that Trump card. Right. That's why I think we see him similarly as this is somebody who I think

could be a good wide receiver three at the next level. Don't know if it's ever going to be a wide receiver two because of the lack of kind of Trump cards for him. But I just think this is a really solid future difference making wide receiver so that's how i saw him too and i had him at 18 i compared him to romeo dobbs okay all right yeah so i'll try to get better at saying my comparisons yeah if you got i mean i don't have all my all my comparisons there um speaking of comparisons less determined plex coberts is what i'm calling him johnny wilson i got him at 19. did you say less determined yeah yeah less determined that's really good

i gotta throw i gotta throw in just like the you know different ways to be more creative like shades of you know plaques on mass gainer i mean he got to outweigh Plax, no? Dude, Plaxco Burris was huge. He was 6'6". Yeah, you're right. Wow, 6'6", 231 was his combine measurement. And that's pretty similar to... Why did I feel like he was so skinny by the time he got to the Jets?

Maybe it was post-gunshot Plax like a little thinner. I couldn't tell you man yeah but i you think what plaques you forget is that he was six foot six yes like i mean one of the freakier it felt like he had the longest arms i'd ever seen on a wide receiver in person 33 it's no not 33 i'll find his arm length wow johnny wilson johnny wilson measured in at 231 i didn't realize that it's the same exact way it's the same exact height it's the same exact way look i don't know if you were about to say this if you were i apologize because you're still my friend and i respect you plaques had almost 34 inch arms well what was dude wilson are longer I believe it Johnny Wilson looks a lot bigger just

like visually Johnny Wilson's arms are 35 and three-eighths god she played pass right she'd be a pass rusher all right go off sorry here's the thing anybody that's saying that Johnny Wilson should be a tight end is not watching the film. Right. Watch the film, okay? Like, there are things to not like about Johnny Wilson. I'm not trying to say he's a perfect prospect. I have him 19th. But those issues are not, like, movement issues.

His releases are varied. I mean, he could do all sorts of stuff off the line scrimmage. I'm super impressed with how fast he gets off the line scrimmage, how fast his footwork is off the line scrimmage, how he gets off of press, how he can speed release, how he can swim move these guys, how he can use his hands to swipe them away and get up the field. Yeah. Okay. Vertically. Sure. I mean, he's not as fast as some of these other dudes, but his stride length is giant. So at least that helps him when he's getting vertical up the field he's also way more fluid in his routes than he gets credit for it seems when people are just like ah yeah moving the tight end you're only saying moving the tight end because of his because of his size like he's

not even i mean he is an imposing blocker when it comes to much smaller cornerbacks but it's not like he's this mean cuss of a blocker of, oh yeah, we got to put this guy in line. You put Johnny Wilson in line and you're taking away the best parts of what he is as a receiver. To me, the frustrating parts about Wilson are mainly just his hands. I wish he was way more consistent. And here's the thing, there are too many times when he's a body catcher but i've also seen him fully extend for catches right and it's beautiful because nobody else had 35 and three eighths inch arms so genuinely he's got great releases he's got good

work off a press and line scrimmage his first step is impressive His flexibility and his agility is way better than it should be for 6'6", 231 pounds. It's just, he's got to get, he has to be that bonus athlete, but also be that big, strong, reliable, big-bodied player that he is in the measurables. And if you get that, genuinely, I think he could be a wide receiver too at the NFL level. But until he gets more consistent, and again, going back to the Tez Walker thing, catching the football is priority number one for a wide receiver. You got to be able to do that. I need him to get stronger. I need him to get more determined. And if he can do that, like I said, I'm sitting here saying that he's the only wide receiver

two in the league. All right. Fight the fight for Johnny Wilson. I like it. I will. You did. That was a good rant. I i'm gonna actually literally watch him again after this whenever you have somebody in a totally different tier than me i usually go back and watch them within 48 hours of a same same because i feel like i just can't remember who there was somebody that i i moved like

one spot difference on the position rankings where I was like yeah I I need to go back to that one there we go all right want to do 15 to 11 uh yes 15 through 11 let's do it Devontae Walker I said already at 15 14 this is what's called this guy being at 14 is a sin of just a great wide receiver class malachi corley at 14 okay it's just one of those are like why is he at 14 he's so he's such a good player yep we'll talk about malachi corley first because i gotta i gotta kind of like a point of view i have to bring up about corley okay 13 xavier laguette okay 12 roman wilson 11 drum roll Corley. Okay. 13, Xavier Leggett. Okay. 12, Roman Wilson. 11, drum

roll. Xavier Worthy. Oh! He's good. He's number 11, though. Okay. Alright. He's fast. Did you know that? I did know that he's fast. I was gonna wonder if either of us were gonna

have keon coleman outside of the top 10 he's 10 okay i had it was close with him and worthy but i there's something about keon coleman that i can't quit it's like i know i it's like a bad habit it's like oh i love it but i know it's so bad yeah it's like a you know it's like a cigarette at night out at the casino it's like it's like every time i log on to check our show and read our comments my algorithm's like five of the sickest catches you ever see from keon coleman in 2023 and i'm like yeah i'll watch this i mean you have to it's just i mean that's that's just good content right yes okay we'll have we're gonna have some conversations here okay okay 15 for me is jermaine burton and yeah i had him at 18 and it's it's not because of talent dude so anybody who i mean shoot we're not updating the board

until next week so you can go on pff. and you can check out the big board right now. I've got Jermaine Burton at like 52 overall. Right. I love the dude's tape. He's genuinely, to me, a wide receiver two at the NFL level. I gave him a second round grade based off of film. But I have just heard way too many inconsistent off the field. He might not be on some teams boards and it's just,

it's, it's too much smoke now for me to believe that there wouldn't be fire there. So I've got to, I, I, I have to bring him down in my rankings. I had him either nine or 10 kind of before all of that stuff kind of started to come out from him.

And it's like, if, if this dude stays motivated and wants to be as good as he possibly can be at the NFL level, he will be. And I think that he will be a contributing NFL player because he is that talented to do so. But there's just, again, there's too much smoke for there to not be fire. Xavier Worthy is 14 for me. Did you think he was going to be higher? I didn't know. never i never truly know

with you i usually have a good i usually have a good read like you i knew you never bought into like oh wow he broke the record he's top five i knew he wasn't gonna be in your top five yeah i thought he would be fringy i thought like 10 he's just not my cup of tea. I mean, listen, I get it. He is skinny. He struggles through the strength portions of the game. And play strength. And that's at the college level, right? The elite speed is there.

And I think he's more than just a straight line athlete. Like, again, I take Xavier Worthy over Jalen Hyatt from last year. But it's just struggles to get off of press coverage, gets locked up against good press corners, doesn't use his hands to fight off defenders because he doesn't have the strength to do it. Consistent strength at the catch point is a major issue. You're not going to be able to get anything from this guy blocking. It's basically at this point, Xavier Worthy is, can we scheme up a shot play for you deep down the field, or can we give you a screen that maybe you take to the house?

That's way too limited in my opinion. Can you get drafted by Mike McDaniel? That's way too limited in my opinion in this wide receiver class, even for as fast as he is, for me to put him over some of these other really talented wide receivers that I think have more all-around game and that have the strength and the size to be able to play at the NFL level. So I have Worthy at 14.

I have Malachi Corley at 13, so pretty much the same. I have Xavier Leguette at 12. And then I got your boy Jalen Polk at number 11. Okay. So I didn't want to keep you from talking about worthy or burton or any of those other guys so did you have anything you wanted to hit on them before we got into either eye to eye on the burton situation that the tape tells a different story i think from the you know uh unpredictable nature of of where he'll go and how he's viewed and you know

obviously coachability kind of things. We should probably talk about like, get you at him in this group, right? 12, 12. I had him 13. Okay.

We should probably talk about like, get, because I think people see like, get and, and back to worthy real quick. Like you, what you're saying, like he almost has to be Deshaun Jackson,

but I thought at Deshaun Jackson's weight, Jackson had this weird, like dog in him where he did play really tough and you can't just look at a guy that's really fast and really skinny and go, well, he could be Deshaun Jackson. Yep. Deshaun Jackson was a different breed. Preach brother. Like he was a different dude. How quickly people forget. So I'm just not comfortable saying worthy can be deshaun jackson i hope so i think he's a fine weapon in the nfl but the dudes ahead of him there's a lot of them have the whole package so laguette laguette's a weird balance right because he's a really late breakout he was very good this year he can go up and get the football he's got an excellent

frame he can he's an acrobatic player with like explosive leaping he's very tough to tackle when you scheme him up because of the frame he has and he can build up his speed yeah he's just not agile at all where if you're like hey xavier, look at go be our X receiver and constantly separate and be this superhuman player all the time. So he's a good player. I think he's a possession number two that you could do some fun, creative, manufactured touches to as well. But combined with the late breakout, it was hard for him to crack the top 10 receivers in a great class for me. I like Xavier Leguette a lot. Obviously with him being 12 and in a really good wide receiver class, I mean, what did I give him? A late second, early third round grade because he's got just such a

great size speed combination that not other players even in the NFL have, man. I think that he is going to be able to win with both of those things at the next level. The issues with him are, and I mean, you're correct, his best plays. And I think South Carolina did this on purpose, you know, partly because this is Leggett's talent, but also out of necessity. Most of his production comes from crossers, either drag routes, either dig routes, either deep crossers over the middle, or it's just him going in motion and basically running almost like a wheel just straight up the sideline, or him just running a vertical route and just trying to get open and you're throwing it deep to him at the sideline or, you know, him just running a vertical route and just trying to get open and you're throwing a deep to him at the sideline. He is a momentum route runner. And when you ask him to really change direction, you're not getting the most out of his talents. So there are

a lot of unique physical things about him that would make it tough for me to say, yeah, don't draft this guy. Like I, like I wouldn't be interested in him in a third. No, I'd absolutely. Great special teamer. Yes. Great special teamer.

Ton of experience there as well. I just don't know if there's more for him. Like, I kind of think this is what we're going to get with xavier laguette and that's not a bad thing i don't think that again i'm saying i would take this because i think even what he is right now in his current state that plays at the nfl level i just think it probably plays more of a wide receiver three than it's going to like a two or some people even like him as much as a potential wide receiver one. I just, I don't really know if he's going to develop much more

nuance as a route runner than what we kind of have right now. And I, again, I don't, I, I hate saying that like guys can't be better, but just his physical profile overall, I don't know if there's a lot left in the tank for him to be more flexible and have more stop on a dime and, you know, get more wiggle in his routes and things like that. I think it's kind of just what you see is what you get, which is fine. But that's why I end up having him just outside of my top 10 in a really talented wide receiver class. And that's the key. I mean, he's my 61st overall player on the board so he's not even in the top 10 wide receivers but he's you know qualifying as a player that should easily go in the first two rounds so

malachi corley so i'm gonna be honest with you i have malachi corley like wide receiver 21 before this week. I was of the camp of he's just, I mean, he's not, this is extremely harsh, but it's like he's not a real receiver yet, right? It's kind of weird to say it. I mean, there's just not a lot of crispness or precision in his footwork, in his routes, in his tempo in his tempo things like that he is just very clearly a throw me the damn football and get out of my way i will make it happen for

you after that and you know i watched him at the senior bowl and i've talked about this before on this show you know they were going through the wide receiver drills and you like running around the cones and things like that and he had to stop and like redo the drill like a couple of times because he didn't have his footwork right. Right. Like he was trying to plant with his right. And at that point, like you were needing to plant with your left and turn. And so you could just tell, like even the footwork is still something that he's working on as a former, was he the one who came in as a corner and then as a running back? I feel like he was. I think you're right. Yes. He was a two-star cornerback recruit,

came in as a corner, switched positions, played running back for Western Kentucky before now moving to wide receiver full-time. Which kind of makes sense. Which, and that obviously gives great context to it. And the more I thought about it, especially earlier this week, the more I kind of went back and watched Corley. And before I was sort of brushing off of those incredible yards after catch plays, because I said to myself, it's not going to happen as much in the NFL level. And I need him to win as more as a traditional wide receiver. Here's the thing.

I don't think I do. I genuinely don't think I do. I genuinely don't think I do. And me and you see him pretty similarly when it comes to the rankings, because at this point, I go almost like Leggett. If you don't get any better as a route runner, I'm still getting you on the field in the NFL because of what you do after the catch. And that was sort of the realization that I had is like, you got to stop being so hard on the fact that he can't run routes better than some of these guys that are kind of around him in the rankings. Because I'll tell you, there's basically nobody in this class that runs harder after the catch with better balance, better broken tackle ability ability better force missed tackles better

acceleration all of that than than malachi corley and i wasn't weighing that enough to where i am now where i've got to have him top 15 in this class yeah you just have to i mean you look at the way the game has gone the spacing created in the nfl field this this dude is going to go somewhere where they're going to know i mean think about think about it like this, and I know he's a very, very different player, but how Todd Munkin tried so hard to get Zay Flowers involved last year. The right offensive coordinator is going to look at Malachi Corley

and think the same way, where I don't need his average depth of target to be insane. I just need to find the quickest pathway to get him the football and see what happens. Yep. So he'd also be a really fun player

for the new kick return rule. Oh, dude. Yeah. I mean, it's perfect for him. He would be awesome. It'd be a nightmare to deal with. Truly would be.

All right, we're going to get into our top 10 in a second. But tell everybody out there, if you've got a family, you've got to give them term life insurance to protect them. It is as simple as that.

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now would be a great time to get one. 30MDS gets you 30% off. You can get the draft guide. You can get the fully unlocked mock draft simulator. Basically everything that you would want from PFF. And you can get it for 30% off using the promo code 30MDS. I have Jalen Polk at number 11. I know you're going to have him in your top 10, so we can talk about him in a second.

Connor, who you got 10 through. Do we want to do four? Just because that's like where the debate is, right? Or do we want to do. Oh, no, no no no we got oh i know what you're saying go yeah yeah yeah ten to four you're right you're right or do we or do we leave it ten through six and then there's this suspense of two guys left who's why let's do that okay all right ten through six ten three we got good producing we got there we got there eventually really good producing. Ten, Keon Coleman. Just can't quit the fella.

Nine, Adonai Mitchell. I was painted as a villain in the last show. You are. I don't dislike Adonai Mitchell. I just don't think he's Terrell Owens. Dude, you're the Joker. Alright, fine. I'll own the role. You're Thanos

right now. Great great they called me a madman and we'll get there by the way all right eight i'm all screwed up lad mcconkie it hurts that lad mcconkie eighth because i will put my savings account on lad mcconkie being a good nfl player i know and and it's so funny because you are and this is not a bad thing you are Mr. Draft uh Marvin Harrison Jr. just like wherever because he's just because he's gonna be don't be stupid right oh man reminds me when when uh you'll love this when the Jets were on the clock in 2020. And I was like, Oh,

it's Tristan works. Hmm. Like it's, you can't miss with Tristan works and you need to rebuild the whole line. Anyway, thank you for your service. Thank you. Good for the bucks.

Seven. Ricky Pierce. Oh, let's go. Is that high or low? You haven't said his name yet. No, no, no, no. Like, I've got him top 10, but, you know.

Okay. You got him higher than me. I'm proud of you. Well, I think the difference is that I have Pierce all over McConkie. That's definitely not consensus. And it's weird to go, oh, I have Pierce all over McConkie. Let me pull up my board and see. I have.

Like two spots apart. No, Pierce all 37th, McConkie 38th. Yeah, that's funny. Just pathetic fence sitting. You absolutely coward. Pathetic fence sitting, hiding under my own sheets. And then,

okay, so he was seven. Pearsall seven. Pearsall is seven. And then who's six? Well, we're going to leave six. Cause we want to leave six.

Yeah, we're going to, we're going to, we're going to leave six. Yeah, yeah. That's what you drew up. It was a good plan. I don't, I don't to leave six. Oh, do you want to leave six? Yeah, we're going to. Yeah, yeah. That's what you drew up. It was a good plan. I don't.

Stick with it. Sure. Brother, I don't know what day it is. Okay. So just for a reminder, Jalen Polk is 11, but we're still not talking about Jalen Polk yet. He's wide receiver number two. Because you haven't said his name. I have not. 10 i have uh slick

rick himself ricky pierce hall yeah nine i have roman wilson where was roman for you he was 12 okay okay all right he fits a little bit of them not as much but he fits the mcconkie like he's gonna be a good player that's why i got him here yeah and that's and that's why i got a little i got a little bit of a buffer because i got keon coleman eight. And then I got Ladd McConkie at seven. So it's kind of like similar profiles, but there's no doubt about it. I do like Ladd McConkie better, although him and Roman Wilson are close. I think that Ricky Pearsall, just to have an overview conversation about these guys, because we can dive into them individually.

I think Ricky gets comped with McConkie a lot, just because they're like slot receivers that win in that regard. And Roman Wilson's a little bit more of a vertical receiver. He's played a little bit more on the outside. Although McConkie's played a good amount on the outside too. I just feel as though Pearsall and McConkie are linked often. They're good football players, but Roman doesn't get that same kind of love, I feel, universally the way that those smaller receivers do.

So shout him out here. So I got him at nine. I got Keenan Coleman at eight. I got Lavin Konky at seven. And then we're stopping for the next three. Almost the same players. Who do you want to just share some thoughts on with Ricky Pearsall, Roman Wilson, Keon Coleman, Lavin Conkey?

So I think we also have to talk about Keon, right? Sure. Because it's clear that both of us have not quit him. There was a time where I think he was thought as a top, no-brainer top five receiver in this class, and we don't have him there anymore. Right. But we are both still holding on hope as's like a top of second round ish he's he's one of the strangest

players i've ever watched sam just because on a play-by-play basis feels like he's stiff feels like he doesn't have nuance feels like he's not going to ever become a separator just just doesn't do the little things well to separate and i'll go man okay i think you're maybe just a limited explosive kind of straight line athlete and that's just kind of like what you are and you'll probably just be only a contested catch guy and then i'll watch him get a screenplay and he'll turn into a backyard football player and he'll just make four guys miss and i'm like where is that when we're running the route take the foot dude i don't care hold an imaginary ball high and tight when you're running your route and just like do those little

things be more fluid be that athlete that we know you can be this guy's so this guy's such a good athlete such a diverse athlete he tried to play basketball michigan state he has a he has a uniform he actually has a uniform yeah right while also playing d1 football so do you take that into account though with his unrefined nature like imagine being on Michigan State's basketball team and also trying to play wide receiver in college no sure and and I guess I I could see that a little bit I I would hope that since then because it's been a while since he was trying to do both sports like he would have gotten better some things and look there's no doubt about it that it worries me that i i just don't know how much better of a route run that he's going to get because

he he has the ability to i've literally seen it i just don't see it consistently from him it's like it's like the 40 yard dash time what do What do you run? A 4.65? Like a 4.63. 4.61. 4.61. Which is what percentile? 17th. He runs a 4.61, Connor. And we go, yo, that's got to be like the worst time that Keon Coleman could possibly run.

And then his pro day is like two weeks later, and he doesn't run. That's just his time. What? At some point, that's just his time what what at some point that's just your time you're standing on a 17th percentile time when you are boasted as this incredibly athletic linearly explosive type of a player then he does the gauntlet drill with the combine and apparently he ran the fastest gauntlet drill of any of the wide receivers and people are just going at play speed over over straight lines i just he is so confusing but even with that being the case again sort of like xavier leggett if what i am seeing in keon coleman is all i'm getting from him in the pros that still plays

like that's still athletic enough to be a wide receiver three a red zone option like something like that you're you're hanging on to this guy he's gonna play on your roster so he's frustrating he's probably the most frustrating player in this class because I think he should be better than he is but you kind of got to take what he is at this point over the last two years in Michigan State and Florida State. Man, it's just tough. Just tough. Somebody who just does not separate well,

does not have nuance in what he does, but he's a great after-the-catch kind of an athlete. They use him in punt return, for goodness sake, because of the type of fluid athlete that he is. Yeah. It's just mind-boggling, man. Tough one to quit, for sure. Yeah.

I think with, you know,ccarthy and pierce all they just separate their they have varied release packages they're athletic they are fast they catch everything i mean at the end of the day and they play inside and outside and they do it well at the end of the day like they are both going to get open. They are going to catch the football. They can stretch the field. They can play underneath. Are they going to catch the ball and run through five people like, you know, AJ Brown?

No, right. The floor with those two is so absurd. It's just it's just hard to. Not stack them appropriately with their skill sets. I kind of think the same with their own Roman Wilson, manson man yeah he's that he's like the same mold just like a notch down i like him a lot and i mean he's faster than both of those guys like he's got track speed um his mom ran track he ran track in high school i mean like he's just got that in his DNA. We have those stable and unstable metrics at PFF. And one of the stable metrics that we like to use is separation percentage. So separation percentage overall, and then versus single coverage, Roman Wilson,

95th percentile separation against just overall. And then single coverage 93rd. Like this dude is just clearly running away from people in how he runs his routes. A lot of it is vertical because he's got a 79th percentile average to have the target, but he's stronger at the catch point than his frame, I think, gives him credit for because he's a little bit smaller. He's got a little bit shorter of arms. He will block his ass off for you very similarly to that of Lad M McConkie. So pound for pound, you know, you're getting everything you want out of that dude. And then Pearsall as well. Yeah. Just to touch on him, man. I think that Pearsall is even, I think Pearsall is even

more tempoed in the nuance of his routes and his breaks and his releases than the other two that I mentioned. I just think the other two are a little bit more athletic when it comes to getting down the field. That's why I had them both over Pearsall. But yeah, like you said, big board rankings. I mean, all three of these dudes are players that you can rely upon. They're efficient and they also have some explosive ability to them as well. Really good hands from all these guys, pound for pound, really strong players. And just because they're a little bit smaller doesn't mean you have to limit them to the slot right i think that was a big boasting point of mcconkey um but it's also the same thing with roman wilson and with ricky pierce also i i see all those guys as top 10 receivers in this class all right the big drum

roll uh we're just doing six through three or are we doing we can you want to do six through one we can do six through three i mean the three we we know who the top three just do just do six through one let's just do six all right six for me is jaylen polk okay five is troy franklin okay four is brian thomas jr three is roma dunzey two is Malik Neighbors 1 is Marvin Harrison Jr. Coward I mean I'm just kidding I'm Jalen Polk in my top 6 I'm kidding no no I remember we got a couple of

comments of people who were like put Malik over Marvin yeah I know you're at the wrong show folks can't do it can't do it we're just you know this is the truth telling show and if you wanted us to lie you you know, you got to go elsewhere. That's all I'm saying. So six for me, Troy Franklin.

Five for me, Brian Thomas Jr. Wow, he really did it. Four for me, I got to stick to who I am as a person, Connor. That's fine. You haven't liked him forever. I can't go away from it. You liked him before he ever a person, Connor. That's fine. You haven't liked him forever. I can't go away from it. Forever. You liked him before he ever wore a Texas uniform.

It's true. It's true. I am in his top five wide receiver going into the season. I can't quit him. I've got to keep the flag. This is my boy, AD Mitchell wide receiver four in this class. Roma Dunze is three. Malik Neighbors is two.

Marvin Harrison Jr. is number one. Can we talk? We got to talk about Paul. Actually, I got to let you talk about Jalen Polk. I like him. I think he's, I think he is a good wide receiver,

but you got him at six. I had him at 11. That might be the biggest discrepancy that we have. So I would love to hear you talk about Jalen Polk and how much you like him in this class. So with Polk, clearly Gracie wants to talk about Polk as well. If you hear her just,

just barking. She's just, she's just pumping Jalen Polk, clearly Gracie wants to talk about Polk as well. If you hear her just barking like hell in the background. She's just pumping Jalen Polk up right now. She's like, this is my take. Don't steal my thunder. With Polk, I think, number one, I think he's bigger than people realize. I mean, he's over 6'1". He's over 200 pounds. He's got big hands.

He's got almost 10-inch hands. The concentration is out of this world i mean the tracking the concentration the adjustments he can make catches while sliding yeah i think that the 10 yard split which was a 76th percentile metric like that's why he gets open so much he knows how to get off the line of scrimmage. He's explosive into his routes. His feet are quick. Really quick feet, really good route runner. And he will do the things that a lot of guys don't want to do. He has no fear of car crashes in the middle of the field, to work the middle of the field, to work through contact. Pound for pound, one of the strongest players in this wide receiver class. I've said this before. He reminds me of Chris Godwin. He reminds me so much of Chris Godwin. And I know that is borderline hyperbole praise,

but I think that's the easiest way for me to explain to people. Cause you take it in stride, Trevor. You're like, you really like Polk. Like, tell me why sometimes people are like, why do you have Jalen Polk over this guy, this guy, this guy, this guy? The easiest way to relate it to people is I think this dude is a very Chris Godwin-esque player. Yeah, and look, if you see any wide receiver like Chris Godwin, you can't help but have him in the top 10 of any wide receiver class. There's no question about it. I mean, just as somebody who has watched a lot of Chris Godwin football since he has been drafted into the NFL, again, the things that you talk about with Polk are attributes that have made Chris Godwin one of the most reliable wide receivers in the NFL. Right.

Whether it was a dirt cutter offense, whether it was the Bruce Arians offense, you know, whether it was what we've had this past year with, oh my gosh, who was the offensive coordinator who just took the head coaching job with? Canales? Yes, Dave Canales offense, whatever it was. When they need a tough catch for a first down over the middle, you know what they're doing. It's the guy. They're running a dagger concept, somebody's running a vert, and Chris Godwin's coming over the middle with the dig route. I mean, it's just that is what is happening, and they're going to be reliable. He's going to be able to sit in between the linebackers and the safeties.

He's smart. He'll bounce off tackles. He'll block for you. He'll do everything. And so if you see any receiver that is like that, now I do see a lot of those characteristics with Jalen Polk. I don't think he's quite the athlete to be Chris Godwin but heck man maybe I'm underselling it because yeah the contested catches the acrobatic catches the strength just the like everything man a lot of that stuff is there for him and you have it a little bit higher for him just in what you see for him overall but we do see him

pretty similarly so the fact that if you're believing in that high end i get it i do get it all right so talk me into adenai mitchell okay so you have him over my love child and brian thomas jr yeah so here's here's the thing i think i'll describe ad mitchell while also describing troy franklin and b and Brian Thomas a little bit. Troy Franklin comes in at a much skinnier size, right? I mean, when you just watch the tape, you could tell, okay, this guy's going to be a lower weight percentile. He was 176, which was, I'm just looking at it right now, which was fifth percentile in the NFL. So you see on his tape that he is a smaller player, but he has such a playmakers mentality. He's smooth. He's got a

feel for where the open space is. When he gets the ball, he's not just trying to go down immediately. Like he's trying to get those yards after catch. He's just such a smooth player. I don't think he's the most explosive vertically, despite having a lot of vertical production in Oregon's offense. It's not like I'm watching him, boom, get off the line of scrimmage, beat press, and just sprint up the field like Brian Thomas Jr. does. He's not that caliber of an athlete. He's more of a smooth vertical receiver and a playmaker than he is this super explosive one. Brian Thomas Jr. is, to me, less nuanced, less of a playmaker when it comes to those yards after catch, unless it's just a straight sprint to the end zone. But man, can this dude get off the line of scrimmage. His first step is unbelievable. He can get even and beyond defenders extremely easily, and that's why he's one of the best deep threat wide receivers in college football this past year. And I think it's going to translate to the NFL.

I think A.D. Mitchell is a blend of both of those players. Like, I don't know if, like pound for pound, I don't know if he's as explosive as Brian Thomas Jr. I'd probably still give the nod to Brian Thomas Jr. in that regard. But A.D. Mitchell. Now, here's the thing. When he is on, okay, and I get it. That's a caveat that we have to get to in a second. When he is on, he's got some of the best plays of any wide receiver in this class. The way that he gets off the line of scrimmage, the nuance that he has in his routes, the wiggle that he has for his size, how he can get vertical,

the contested catches. I mean, he gave Kool-Aid McKintry fits when Texas played Alabama, and he was doing that at Georgia when he was healthy as well. He could be a great red zone threat. He's got a knack for the end zone. He showed the explosiveness of the combine to where he could be used basically everywhere. Now, look, the blocking is super inconsistent. I hate how inconsistent the blocking is. And that goes back to what I said, the prepositional phrase that I use, I think it's a prepositional phrase, when he is on. When A.D. Mitchell is sort of not going at 100%, it's extremely frustrating because he's easier to cover. He's easier to plan for. And a lot of times it shows up as blocking plays. If I can get this dude to even buy in for like 90%, like 85, 90% of the game, I am getting a wide receiver one caliber player. He is wide receiver one talent at

an NFL level, but it's just going to be a matter of how much the dude wants it. And to me, talent wise, he's wide receiver four in this class, but for him, it's all about how he is interviewing with teams, what he can convince them for when they throw on his tape and they go, what is this? What is this play? Show me this play. And then they will probably be able to go to another play in that same game and go, okay, what is this? And he's got an answer for that because the good parts, the highlight reel is it's easy to buy into. If we can get the best of A.D. Mitchell more often, more than a third of the time, I'm in. It's going to be good enough to be wide receiver one level talent

at the NFL level. So that's kind of how I see each of those guys. I like all three of these receivers, but to me, A.D. Mitchell at his best is a blend of what I like a lot from Brian Thomas Jr. and Troy Franklin. And it's in one receiver and it's been extremely productive when he's been on. Listen, I get it. I know people get frustrated when we have guys ranked differently, but we often paint the picture the same way. But this is absolutely one of those where we see it the same way you are just taking the gamble

and i have been way more reserved i have them as i said nine i have them as my wide receiver eight eight nine you had it right nine i can count so that's really bad. Wide receiver nine. Still have them in my top 4540 ish. The summary I wrote up was Mitchell is one of the more high variance prospect in this talented wide receiver class. He has the length, speed and explosiveness to be a dynamic number one target in any offense. His lack of consistent intensity and aggression on a snap by snap basis will always leave you wanting more. Sure. I think the last thing that drove me insane is something you touched on.

I cannot fathom. Like he just let people go by him in the run game. I almost couldn't believe what I was watching. It's some reps are bad, man. And there's no excuse for it. I don't know how you go back to the sideline and look at your running back in your linemen and your coaches. And they're like,

yeah, like we know you're going to get one in the red zone. So that's okay. Football is such a intense dna sport it's so hard to turn off for a second like being around you've covered an nfl team trevor you know this more than anybody it is intense borderline terrifying being on the sideline of an nfl field like that's the speed, the collisions, the contact.

Like it is a totally different beast than any other sport, any other professional athlete. If he brings that side of him to the NFL, it's just not going to work. Like it's just you, he might be, and he's a great red zone threat. His guy can catch 10 touchdowns in his sleep.

It is unbelievable how dynamic he is in the red zone. He has all the talent in the world to be phenomenal in between the 20s. But like, he also hits cruise control on routes. He does. Like cruise control. Like, eh, I don't think I'm the first or second read on this one.

Like, I don't really gotta sell it. And I'm like, really? Like, really? And there's times where he's thrown the ball on some of those routes. And you're like, well, I've seen you do it. There are a couple of times when he's running like what – and it's kind of crazy because throttle down for him is still good enough to separate and like get a catch.

But you can tell it's not as good as it could down for him is still good enough to separate and get a catch, but you can tell it's not as good as it could be for him, and they will still throw him the football. And again, I think I'm just a sucker for it because I go, you're getting targeted with less than your best. I know. And look, I'm with you, man. And normally I am on your side of the debate. Normally I am on the side of. I'm with you, man. And normally I am on your side of the debate. Normally I am on the side of, I'm glad you're not.

I can't deal with a player who's not going to give me 100% all the time. But if there's a position where you can get away with that, it's wide receiver. If he goes to the Chiefss i'll be visibly angry like visibly angry so baby so i said it the best if he goes to the chiefs i won't even wait for the training camp clip i'll take the victory lap and we can move on to the next draft cycle right then and there will be infuriuriating because it's just like, yeah, he caught 10 touchdowns for

Patrick Mahomes. He took 30% of the plays off, but it didn't matter at all. It didn't matter. There he is streaking down the field, 60 yards, 10 yards ahead of the closest defender. He does some little things really impressively. The lower body control, the toe taps,

the feet draft. It's nuts. the toe taps beat drag it's really pretty it's really pretty i've never i've never been this frustrated with a player i think uh in this entire class like there are that that houston that houston game specifically where he puts a little double move on the corner into the red zone and the corners, like on the other side of the Milky Way galaxy, he burns them so bad. And it's just like, it's dudes who are as big as he is. Shouldn't be that fluid. And it's just, it's so hard for me to quit a player who has that sort of natural talent and ability. Did you want to hit a little bit more on Brian Thomas jr. And Troy Franklin, before we just kind of talk about the big three. Yeah. I'll drop my comp for Brian Thomas Jr.

He reminded me of Christian Watson, like for good and bad. Okay. Where you're like, oh man, you're basically the best athlete in whatever room you walk into at all times. The length, the speed, the leaping, and you just need to play the position more. And that was Christian Watson watson coming at fcs there was times where you were like man he's that big in contested situations he should be better and then you see when he's healthy and on the field for green bay like the offense is just

totally different with him and i think with brian thomas jr he has that kind of athleticism that kind of build i have said this i don't care't care that Brian Thomas Jr. will drop some layups and doesn't have a massive route tree. He's just so gifted vertically and in the red area that he's that kind of impact player. When you look at Troy Franklin, there is a lot more risk with this one. He is my fifth wide receiver, but don't i have a first round grade just on the on the first four just marv neighbors rome and thomas the second round grades start

with franklin of course the weight um i think he's a really good route runner and because he's fast he doesn't get credit for that with franklin franklin yeah i like his first step off the line of scrimmage allows him to dictate the rep against coverage trying to mirror him in ways that just not a lot of guys can get into the route that quick at that like he's lengthy he's not small he's skinny right he's got length so he was someone it's weird with franklin 2023 he had drops that didn't exist in 2022 like layup drops where i'm like you didn't drop those in 2022 2022 film was great he had almost a thousand yards and this year he was more productive but he had more drops uh tempo can play fast in the short area it's just he's a guy that needs to

get stronger there's just no way around it. And the hands, he has smaller hands, and they were not consistent this year, and that was a red flag to me. Does he have smaller hands? Yeah, they're under nine inches. Oh. Which is weird for a guy that tall. Yeah, that is strange.

Eight and three quarter, ninth percentile hands, but he's six foot two. Interesting. Yeah. No, that might explain a little bit. Look, I like Franklin. I think he's a very natural athlete. Like I said, the thing that I like the most about him is we talk about

him as a vertical threat receiver, but he wins more vertically just because he understands how to win at the position. He's a good athlete. I wouldn't say that he's an elite athlete. He's not AD Mitchell. He's not Brian Thomas jr. He's not Roman Wilson. He's not these other guys who can get vertical pretty easily, but he still gets very open and is able to be productive down the field because of how he wins off the line scrimmage. I mean, he's winning with his footwork first. He's creating that separation. He's keeping that separation. He just is. He's somebody, the reason why I had him at six, and I've made a case for him as wide receiver before, before I think that he should definitely be in this conversation for guys that can be really productive at the nfl level here in this like tier two of wide receivers um but it's just

kind of the lower weight profile gets me uh and the fact that he's not just a super explosive athlete like the other two guys ahead of him happen to be so that's kind of how i see franklin can we just give troy franklin some love for actually doing the three cone. Yeah. Yeah. Cause nobody else did. Right. I feel like nobody else did. Yeah. Yeah. It's yeah.

And he's a taller receiver and he had six, nine. That's good for that size. Yeah. 63rd percentile. It is pretty good. So the, the, the, uh, the top fellas, the big dogs, the top 10 picks. Yeah. I mean, and they are that they're all three top 10

i still think there's a gap from marvin neighbors to rome and i love you too it's like it's it's not weird to me because rome there's so much love about roma dunce he is brilliant he is all world work ethic he is phenomenal in congested situations he is a master of his craft i love the timing the late hands he just and i know he tested like a freak show but when you watch neighbors it's like true like rocket status like just it's like what is this dude is like literally a spaceship taking off he's got a jetpack. He's got a jetpack. And it's just something that it's just something that you're born with that neighbors has. Of these three guys, and when we've talked about this before on this podcast, all three of them have a case to be wide receiver one in most other draft classes.

I would agree. Last year, they literally get up out of bed looking like shit, and they're the top wide receiver by like 15 spots. Yeah, without question. That's how good they are compared to typical years. I think Rome's a future wide receiver one at the NFL level, and it's so weird that we have to talk about him in a downplaying mood because he does everything so well you know he gets off the line of scrimmage great really the only the only issue that i had

with him going into the year was his contested catches which are fickle anyways like it's a fickle stat anyways but i just didn't think that he was reliably strong enough or competitive enough at the catch point from the 2022 tape it wasn't the fact that he wasn't hauling them. It's the style in which he wasn't hauling them in that I was kind of like, okay, you know what? I'm going to note this. This year, much more aggressive, much more confident at the catch point with guys hanging all over him. And when you combine that with really nice agility and speed

when it comes to his size, it's just hard to find an area of this guy's game that you don't like. The issue is, like you mentioned, he's going up against two guys who have elite traits to stand out. Malik Nabors' movement skills are elite, even for the NFL level. And that's why I think you've got to give him the bump over Odunze because as incredible as Odunze is and how well-rounded he is, Neighbors gets him on that elite movement skills, elite change of direction, elite acceleration. And then Marvin Harrison Jr. is just, he's already, he's just such a master of the craft, man. He's so much of what I said about Romo Dunze, the varied releases, the tempo in his routes, hitting blind spots, attacking different leverage, being great in contest to

catch situations, a red zone beast. There weren't a lot of yards after catch opportunities for him in 2022. They schemed those up for him this year. And guess what? He was incredible at those and very, very productive at those as well. So it it's just there's a total mastery of the position that we just do not see very often from one of those players my comps for all three of these guys and i can i can just read those off these these will be in the draft guide um for marvin harrison jr i have taller davante adams uh as kind of my comp for Malik neighbors. I have shades of Antonio Brown. Oh,

that's fine. For Romo Dunze. I have a supersized Chris Olave. That is, those are the, those are the, the, the three comps that I have for those.

So I went with Keenan Allen for Roma Dunze. I know it's been pretty popular. I mean, go, I said this last summer, and I haven't moved off it for Neighbors DJ Moore. And then, Marvin Harrison Jr., definitely

a trickier one. Kind of reminds me on tape of AJ Green. Oh, okay. That same style that they have the build-up vertical speed, they can go up with these long arms and kind of snag the ball. Defenders can kind of hang on them and it doesn't really bother them.

While they're also just great route runners at the size, right? Like you wouldn't the guys that big. It's so hard to be a natural route runner. Yes. And A.J. Green and Marvin Harrison. And Green was that, you know, Green's going back a little bit. I wasn't ranking players like this when Green came out to the draft, but I obviously remember him when he was on the Bengals.

Just a very, very similar profile, in my opinion, to Marv and very similar play style. And I think they will win the same way at the next level. And man, if AJ Green doesn't get hurt, he probably has three more big years left in the tank on him. He just had a career taken away too early. Yeah, I mean, you look at his production before that injury. Oh, it's nuts. It's five straight thousand yard seasons to start his career.

The only reason why he didn't have six and seven is because he missed uh six games have a season basically in 2016 and he still only missed it by 36 yards that's what's crazy with how good he was i mean look i could totally see that as well i think the aj green comp definitely makes sense for for marvin harrison jr especially for for um for how talented both of those dudes are all right there we go i think i mean anything else to hit on with those with those play i feel like we talk about the top three so much when we do mock drafts that we didn't really need to dive too much into those top three guys we talk about these players all the time i mean i think today we dropped player comps that was good to add on to it oh yeah let me see if i had any other player comps next week, by the way, folks, next week's

the big player comp week for me. I'm like taking my time to throw all those into the draft guide for the final, for the final version of it. So I'll be able to sit down and do a lot of those. Oh, so for AD Mitchell, um, I had T Higgins kind of as a placeholder. I'm not sure if I changed that, but I had T. Higgins originally. Brian Thomas Jr., how about this one? Martavis Bryant is my comp for him. Yeah. I mean, I see it. Hall, vertical receivers.

Yep. Hang time. Hang time is ridiculous. So that was my comp for him trying to see if i like anybody else uh you know who's gonna be the toughest player to come up with a comp for who corley so i know everybody calls him debo samuel no so i mean the placeholder that i had for him again like when i was a lot lower on him and I, I would take this away. I think I'm going to,

I'm going to try to stew on this and find a better one. But like, I was worried that he was going to be more LaVisca Chenault. Right. And like Chenault, kind of this player who is a pseudo quarterback, running back, wide receiver coming out of Colorado and his tapes fun as hell.

I mean, he's great after the catch, great contact balance, great for, for a missed tackles force, but just can't find a home at the NFL level. Just can't really find a way to get on the field and impact in a consistent way. I worry about that with Corley. Everybody just goes to Debo, but here's the thing. If you got a unique style of a player and everybody just goes to one name because only one name has worked

out that way a lot more players haven't so you gotta be honest you've got to be honest with the situation i try to be that with corley but i do think the yards after catch is just it's too good to deny and keep him out of the top 50 of this draft so yeah he is he's gonna be interesting one i'll obviously keep the uh keep the keep the pod noted maybe we could do it like a i don't know how comfortable you would be with this but like uh an episode maybe like a shorter episode next week where we give our like a favorite comps yeah like top 10 yeah that's a good just write down your 10 favorite comps you came up with throughout the process and just go down the list i feel like maybe that's it maybe that's the thursday episode

that we could do i like that that. So yeah, this is probably the end of our position previews. Well, rankings, not previews. Might have one more. Depends. Depends what we do for the Thursday episode. You guys can determine it, OK?

Yeah, there you go. Let us know. One, we want to know what you think wide receivers. And obviously we know you guys got takes on wide receivers. So please give us

your wide receiver rankings, whether it's five guys, whether it's 10, whether it's 20, whether it's 30, whether you're an absolute sicko and you've got like 50. We would love to see the list. We would love to start discussions in here about wide receivers. We know you guys got takes on the best way to do that. YouTube.com backslash NFL Stock Exchange.

Give us your takes on our takes as well, and then tell us what you want to see for the last collab mock draft that we have coming next week and then also the last thursday episode we'll be flexible we'll listen to you guys and if you guys you know overwhelmingly have it's like hey you got to get this person on the show all that we will try to make it happen no guarantee is obviously with schedules and everything a lot of people who are doing content right now are super busy, but we will try to make it happen. So,

uh, Connor, anything else before we get out of here? Our last collab mock draft, we should have two people on that know nothing about the NFL draft and have them open the simulator with us. And they make picks. Damn.

That actually be pretty funny. It would be really funny. I maybe not enough people would appreciate it this time as are really really starving for real draft content we have done enough mock drafts you and i that we're looking to laugh right i don't know if anyone else would agree maybe it's an idea for next fall get like two people who cover the nba full time yeah and they're and it's like the ania smith at 32 thing like we're sitting there like, oh my God, he really did take Keaton Slovis at 20 to the Steelers. How the hell did this happen?

Off of name alone. And then PFF just makes the graphic, but doesn't say like, latest mock draft from NFL Stock Exchange. Yeah. Thanks, Zach. Appreciate it. Thanks.

Thanks. Thanks. Just absolutely cool. All right. Let us know. Let us know. Let us know what you guys want to see for next week's content. The week after that, we're going to try to give you,

you know, everything that we possibly can. Our final big board episodes. We will have a final mock draft episode for you. Depending on the timing of things, we might have another episode before the NFL draft, but we will also let you know next week, exactly what we're doing for the draft.

Just to let you guys know, we aren't doing a live stream for NFL SE. We absolutely won't be doing that because I will be on the desk. With jobs. Yeah, Beth's show. Yeah. You will be covering things for NBC. Yeah. So we want to try to give you as much analysis as we possibly can.

We'll get you with our final schedule next week. But for those of you who are like, oh, love a live stream we would too but it's just it it can't happen it's not gonna happen so want to let you guys know that off the top but plenty of great content coming forward um let us know what you want to see next week i'm trevor sycamore that is connor rogers thank you guys so much for watching and listening to the nfl podcast see you guys next week. Bye.