NFL Stock Exchange: An NFL Draft Podcast - 277. Building Midseason All-2025 NFL Draft Teams

Episode Date: October 19, 2024

Trevor Sikkema and Connor Rogers draft against one another their Midseason All-2025 NFL Draft teams against one another. The two give shoutouts to some of the best and most noteworthy draft eligible players and how they have preformed this season

Welcome to the NFL Stock Exchange podcast. In this episode, we are drafting against one another all mid-season draft teams for the 2025 NFL Draft. There's a couple of ways that you could do this. You could pick some studs that you already knew were going to be great, who are playing great this year, or like we do a couple of times in this episode, we pick some players that have been massive risers

that deserve that recognition. It's a fun exercise. We go through all the offensive and defensive positions. 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, joining you for a late-week edition of the show. A rare late-week edition of NFL Stock Exchange here in the season. We appreciate everybody being patient with us, getting the second episode out a little bit later this week. But we have a treat for you. We're going to make it up to you.

It's one that everybody is going to care about because we are truly like rechecking so much of what we thought during summer scouting and what we have seen through the first half of college football season by giving you our dueling draft against one another mid-season all drafts at 2025 NFL draft teams boy that's a mouthful now that I said it out loud Connor how you doing my friend I'm good dude this is uh a really good exercise to prepare for because, you know, you have your blue chip guys or guys that even if they've been just OK this year, you're not going to overreact too much. But then you find players that are rising or players that weren't even a part of summer scouting and they make the board. So this is a good exercise to kind of see where things stand as we're about halfway through the season. Yeah.

So there's a lot of different ways that we could have possibly done this. And so I'll sort of set up some of the ground rules, which maybe we'll set up some of them here as we're talking at the beginning of the show, playing the show on the show, as we often do here. It's not necessarily, okay, this guy is going to be number one on my board for the position. Like, it's a little bit of recognition for 2025 as well. Like Connor said, there's going to be some guys that, okay, these are the studs. And if they're just playing well this season, okay, they're probably going to be

in this list because it isn't all draft team. But at least I'm going to give my list a little bit of wiggle room for players who have played really well this year and are rising up the board. Like that is something that I want to give these guys some recognition at least midway through the year. So you're going to hear some new names on this show. It's going to be a little bit of a stock watch because I'll get some new names in here, but players that I just wanted to give shout-outs to as well.

The way that we're going to set it up is, so here's the teams that we are drafting against one another. Two quarterbacksbacks two running backs three wide receivers one tight end five offensive linemen although we will try to keep it as structured as two tackles and the interior guys but selfishly there's a lot of tackles that i want to talk about so i might draft three tackles you know what so sue me then on the defensive side of the ball two defensive tackles two edge rushers two linebackers three corners and two safeties and the way that we're going to do it is in the past we have done free drafts

where it's like hey you could draft any position you want at any point in time and we're just going back and forth we've gotten some feedback that's certainly for y'all who are audio only that's tough to follow so we're going to try to go in order and we're going to switch who picks first and snake drafts and all that kinds of stuff. But let us know what you guys think. If you really promises next time that this, you might just have to fire up YouTube and watch it. Right.

Right. If we get an overwhelming amount of people who are like, no, no, no. We love the free draft strategy of like, Ooh, who do I take first? Do you go for defensive tackle? Cause it's scarce. Or do you go for the quarterback or whatever? There's a lot of fun strategy that goes in there but we want to be conscious of audio only people as well so truly this is a big time feedback episode let us know what you think

of this format and the one that would be the most entertaining and the most fun for you guys to watch and listen to in the future does that all sound good connor did i did i appropriately explain that correctly yeah absolutely and the way way we, right before the show, kind of came to that conclusion is right now, this is a better way to highlight the mid-season guys. I think at the end of the year, if we want to have a little bit more of a competitive format, we could do that free flowing draft where you could take any position whenever you want. You're just trying to build the best team because maybe things are a little bit more solidified maybe it's less about what somebody's done for the last two months and more about where they stand

going into the process of the draft the senior bowl the combine right and the actual workouts and all of those things as well so yeah i think it's it serves everyone the best right now and in the future we might opt going back to the way we used to do it all right so we'll start at quarterback and we will work our way down i think we should still do the snake draft format though like if i go first for this position yes you get the back-to-back and then i pick at the end but then we'll flip for running back like running back you can get first and then i'll have the snake so there will be a little bit of a strategy there as well as we kind of talk through all these positions.

Do you want to start with quarterback? Do you want to start? So you're deferring to the second half. Yes, I'm absolutely kicking. Okay. All right. So I will, I will start things off now. And I think that that,

that does make things interesting because there are three very strong candidates and you will of course get two of them now as the uh the snake draftee but i mean it's not really like a wild advantage either way as i look at it because we i think we differ enough here we differ enough right now that the order of the draft won't be too crazy maybe things will change if we did this after the year where things are a little bit more solidified i'm this might be a shock to you okay for a mid-season all-draft team i'm gonna take cam ward at one oh my god that's why i gave you the pick i was like you're not gonna take to take Cam Ward. I'm going to take Cam Ward. Is he your top quarterback? No, he's not. This is ridiculous. But, but, but. No.

He's the number one pick. For what Cam Ward was going into the season versus what he has actually become, I want to give him the recognition of getting that first nod for quarterback there. I think Jalen Milrow obviously has done an incredible job as well. I have Jalen Milrow, and what I'm projecting for the future of him is an NFL quarterback at number one, but Ward's having the better season. Like Ward's having the best season,

better quarterback. Okay. All right. I didn't say that. Don't you put words in my mouth, man. No, you put that on me.

I can't believe I cannot believe this right now. One pick in and they exercise a disaster. Cam Ward, he's my first pick there because of the year that he's happened. So now, instead of picking first for running back, I pick twice here? That's how this goes? You will get both. No, no, no. Oh, okay.

I got you. So we'll not only switch off picks, but we'll also switch off positions. Okay. That makes a ton of sense so this is tricky i cam is far and away my favorite quarterback in the draft right now then i kind of have a giant cluster of like what i do now so you can't get mad at me he's your he's he's your number one guy so you shouldn't have given you the pick i should not have given you the pick uh i fully regret it and now i going to end up with two players that I'm like,

I have a cluster right now. When I made this board, I have four more guys on the board. And I'm not going to go the Trevor strategy and go, well, this guy's done the most. Otherwise, I would take like Garrett Nussmeyer right now here, which, by the way, he was on my board, but not in play here. The Nussbuss. I'm going to take both Shadur Sanders and Quinn Ewers.

Okay. And I think you would have taken Milrow if you had back-to-back picks. Or Cam Ward and Milrow, from what I gather, listening to you. Although I could be wrong, because I didn't think in a million years you were taking Cam Ward first either, so I have no idea. Well, wake up. Wake up, buddy. Wake up.

You played me the whole time uh loved it love to see that uh no okay so if you would have taken cam ward at one i would have taken shidur and jaylen milrow okay that makes sense yeah i well we'll start with shidur who has made some really insanely impressive throws this year i like the way he operates from the pocket i think that he plays pretty fearlessly when he has to push the ball down the field. I think he sees the field pretty well. He's not overly creative. I don't think his speed is going to play at the NFL level.

Sometimes he tries to run away from players at the college level that he can't run away from, and he takes some really awful sacks. He's got to clean that up but his ball placement his mechanics I think make him the next guy really side by side for me with Quinn I think there's more variance with Milrow like Milrow could do enough in the next two months that he passes both these guys very easily I just don't think the consistency is still there yet, but I like his upside with Quinn, like Shadur in a way Quinn, when he was healthy, he was just so in control of the offense. And I thought the accuracy was significantly improved from last year. I think he's somebody that understands how to get the ball out of his hands. He's not holding

the ball forever and doing a lot of the dumb stuff that he did early on in his career. And he's another guy like Shadur that I think sees the field really well. And both of them have a release that I really like and a release point that I really like. So I think there's a gap. Cam Ward, for me, is inching his way towards being a legit first-round quarterback where I haven't thought of any quarterback in this class like that. But day two developmental guys that I really like,

I like both Shadur and Quinn in that bracket of day two. Now, a lot of people won't agree with me. They'll be like, Shadur's a first-round pick. Maybe Quinn's a first-round pick. Milrow's a first-round pick. And with the way the NFL teams need quarterbacks, the demand for quarterbacks, and the way they take them, that wouldn't shock me at all.

I'm just saying if I had to actually put a grade on them from a front office perspective, I think there's enough still in their game or lack of high-end traits sometimes that i think they're more day two guys but that would be the duo i draft here i think i'm gonna i think i'm gonna land on at least at this point in time now i haven't done like full scouting reports watching every single snap on all these guys but i think cam ward shooter sanders and jaylen milrow would all

get like late first early second round grades okay shooter might be like a second round guy but i think those first two milrow and ward i'm i'm putting late first early second now obviously the nfl they could very well go in the top 10 because if you don't have a quarterback you better draft one but i think i'm a little bit higher on the quarterback class than you just you definitely are yeah an idea of sort of where we're at here. My quarterback, since you took Quinn Ewers, I will take Jalen Milrow, who is my QB1 at this point in time. So that gives me Cam Ward and Jalen Milrow.

You have Shadur Sanders and Quinn Ewers. Quinn definitely played well to the early parts of the season. Since he's come back from injury, it's been a little shaky. Obviously, a huge test against Georgia. If he plays really well against Georgia, then then you're right we're probably having this conversation about is he that first round type of a caliber quarterback we'll see though because they have a tough schedule and they got a lot of great games i think they're going to play throughout the rest of this season just for fun the next three on my list would have been drew aller okay

garrett nussmeyer yep and. And Kyle McCord's the other guy I would throw in there. Again, this isn't like exactly what my quarterback rankings are, but it's those three guys and what they have been this season deserves sort of that shout out and recognition as like a mid season all draft team, because I never thought of McCord as a real draftable quarterback last year when I was watching him in Ohio State. Very different type of a player now. He's been a lot of fun to watch.

I think he has the most big-time throws in college football. Does he have more than Ward? Hold on, I have it up here. I thought Cam has more than him. No. Shadur doesn't either? Wow. No, you're right.

It is McCord. McCord's got 21 big-time this year. It's just insane. Now, he also has 11 turn of worthy plays. So I think he's number one in both categories for the quarterbacks that we've been talking about here. But those would be the other three that I would shout out. So now you are up with running back and you are up first. And this one is zero debate. Yeah, it's Ashton Gentry.

He's amazing. I love everything about this player. I love this running back class, by the way. I have a total 180 from the group we just did where there's guys with traits in the quarterback class like Ward and Milrow. And there's guys that I think played the position well, but don't have high end traits like Sanders, Ewers and Nussmeier. And that kind of has them round out into this giant pool of, you know, and like I said, I'm a little higher on cam than the rest of the pack, but running back,

I think this class is borderline elite, I think. And listen, there might not be, I don't know. You can't even say that because Gentry is just playing at such a high level right now. Historic dude,

historic level. He has a plus vision, a plus contact balance. I just love his demeanor. He's like leaning into this michael myers thing lately have you seen it's like really insane and i think you have to be where he's just standing there yes thing lee before the ball is snapped yes i've seen that it's and i just think it's it's so funny to me how people are they just scream about the kids schedule i understand the

game was on at like 10 30 he ran for 192 yards against oregon he averaged almost eight yards of carry against oregon what are we doing here that we're talking about his schedule and if you watched ashen genti last year he was phenomenal there was a reason was he your top running back trevor from summer i can't remember yeah i can't remember when we did the running back episode he wasn't i had him i i had the combination of quinshawn judkins then omari hampton and then it was actually but when we were on the podcast we were on that show i was like it's basically a coin flip between all three of those guys and then after watching more of them going into the season i was

like i don't care i'm putting jenty number one so going into the year he was but when we recorded the episode he was not that's what i thought when we recorded the episode, he was not. That's what I thought. When we recorded the episode, I had him as RB2, and he's twitchy. He's so skilled when things get really tight and congested. Dominant short yardage player. I was saying this over summer, and I still see it now. He just has pre-snap awareness that a lot of running backs don't have.

He always knows where the sticks are. He always the how the defense is kind of trying to read their keys and flow to him i think he's got good hands i'm a massive fan of the player and he's a first round running back to me i understand that combo is a little bit more convoluted than how we're going to talk about things today and we'll have that combo for plenty of months leading up to the draft with genti specifically but this is about as no-brainer at a position group as you can get yeah i i agree with you 100 like he is he is absolutely a first round running back and and we need to talk about him appropriately um so you're taking gentee I think the next two backs that I would take, one of them is Iowa's Caleb Johnson. Oh, okay. I'm surprised.

Again, I've got to give him that recognition for how well he has been playing. And hold on, let me, I got to pull up my rankings. Where was he? Because I just redid my RB rankings and he is RB3. So he was RB3 for me now in this class. And I remember when we were going through sort of the episode of like, okay, there's a new guy we're bringing to the

table. I've talked about how, you know, he's running behind Iowa's offensive line. So Iowa's offensive line really blocks very, very well for him. But the last two weeks specifically in between when that episode happened and now there have been more opportunities in my opinion for him to win individually and he absolutely has 0.37 missed tackles force per attempt average is a really high metric that's a really good score uh by the way genti's at 0.45 which is again just stupid gent you realize that genti has a 98.5 rushing grade this year i mean why is it 99 8.5 what does he have to do to get to 99 essentially just like house every carry which he's close to doing that that's why he is so he's a 98 but yeah i mean he is

he has been absolutely fantastic and then i i think if we're going about this the way that i want to arm omari and hampton would be next for me from UNC. I had him as RB2 going into the season. I still have him as RB2 after re-watching a lot of these running backs. He is just such an incredible combination of size and speed and power and elusiveness and all of that, man.

His statistics aren't as good because very clearly at UNC, they're just keying in on him. But i still think he's a fantastic running back so i had some other ones that i wanted to shout out because you mentioned this is a really really good running back class and i'm very curious who you're gonna have now as your uh as your second running back on the list so i didn't think i'd get him here and i'll tell you who i thought i was gonna end up with i'm gonna take quinch Quint Sean Judkins. Okay. Who has been slow start early. He's been good lately.

But he has been good lately. And now he unfortunately, he underwent a hand procedure this week, but he's not expected to miss any game time, but something to keep an eye on. That just came down today as we sit here and record. But Judkins has been really good still. He's someone that just has that big frame. He runs hard.

He's got a lot of bursts. He's really versatile in terms of zone and gap scheme ability. What I thought was going to happen was I thought after I took Jenty, you were going to take Judkins and Hampton, and I have no problem with the Caleb pick. So my fourth player on my board was actually Jonah Coleman of Washington. He was also on my list. Yeah, that was my, I thought it was going to go.

I get gentee. You get Judkins and Hampton. I have no problem with the Caleb pick once again. And then I was going to take Jonah Coleman. I can't pass on Judkins because I love his talent and he's been plenty productive. Like I have no issues with what he's done this year in an offense that spreads the ball around a lot. Jonah Coleman. Well, I want to talk about him as he's a newer productive. I have no issues with what he's done this year in an offense that spreads the ball around a lot. Jonah Coleman, why I want to talk about him

is he's a newer name on this show. He went with Jed Fish from Arizona to Washington. He's built like a bowling ball. He runs hard. He breaks a ton of tackles. He stiff arms DBs. He's got really quick feet in short areas. I got to interview him at Big Ten Media Day,

and he's a really interesting kid that was just overlooked throughout the recruiting process and took that personal, and he's a really interesting kid that like was just overlooked throughout the recruiting process and took that personal and he's worked his ass off and he was phenomenal for Arizona and was overlooked when now that he came with Chet Fish to Washington and he's on Washington he's not overlooked anymore if he's a one and done he'll be one of the first couple backs taken in this draft I just don't know if he'll actually be a one and done at that program yeah i i did not love the i would say like lack of a looseness i felt was in his game when he was at arizona and he is i feel like much more fluid much more balanced he's very confident this year 0.40

yards or missed tackles force per attempt which is a fantastic number once again. I also 5.4 yards after contact. That's a big number. Yeah, that shows not only do you have the elusiveness with some of the force missed tackles, but that balance is better from him overall as a bigger back. So love the footwork from him as well. He's got that quick footwork that you don't have to see with those bigger running backs.

Sort of 30 pounds. Right, right. One other guy that I would bring to the table, footwork that's um that you don't have to see with those bigger running backs i think 130 pounds right right uh one other guy that i would bring to the table dj giddens from kansas state who is a big time riser in my new running back rankings i put giddens rb6 man because when you look at the great year that he is having here for k State, and then you pair it with the other two previous seasons of really good production. Now you're just talking about one of the most productive packs in college football over the last three years. And I think his confidence is huge.

John Leiter and I were talking about this on the rookie review show for PFF, but we were highlighting Tyrone Tracy. I know, man, after your own heart. Yeah. And what Tyrone tracy does so well and it's the fact that he can he can wait till the last second to set up blocks especially in between the tackles and then boom foot's in the ground i'm going the other direction there's the daylight i immediately am exploding in the other direction that's all over gidden's

tape this year all over it so that has been super impressive to me and something that really stood out so i think he also deserved a shout out from the running back group and if there's nobody else that you want to shout out i will move on to wide receiver yeah let's do it you got the first pick buddy and i i have a feeling where you're going with this one yeah it's tetra mcmillan and nobody else the young mike evans the next coming. Dude, he's awesome. I know his wide receiver grades aren't as high as it is for some of these other players that we'll probably get a little bit later in the list,

but rare, rare player. Super productive as well this year, like he has been in years past. And they just don't make him like Tetra O. McMillan. I mean, the size, the fluidity, the route running ability, the fact that he's always fully extending the arms to catch the football, that huge catch radius, the yards after catch, which you really do not see often with these big wide receivers.

And he moves so well that he's not just an outside of the numbers type of X wide receiver. Like you could put him in the slot. You could have a lot of success in that area. Cause Oh my goodness. It's just a nightmare when they would line this guy up in the slot. tetra mcmillan from arizona he is my wide receiver one he's a top three prospect in this class for me uh he's awesome yeah he is he would have been my number one choice as well my next pick is going to start with a mecca bucca who has quietly been very good this year i was wondering if i'd get him on the turn. No shot. Good pick. Thank you, sir.

But you were thinking that because nobody talks about Emeka Ibuka anymore. No. He's been phenomenal this year. Phenomenal. Exactly what we thought we were getting with Emeka. Out of that great 2022 into 2023, we are getting in 2024, where he is somebody that he's playing a lot in the slot and he looks really good out of the slot right now and he's someone to me that is just

very very reliable i love the route running his ability to move the chains he's got 26 first downs in just six games this year i mean that's that's absolutely ridiculous. So think about it. 26 of his 40 catches have gone for a first down. He's consistent, man. Like his worst week in quotes is against Akron where he had 51 yards. And that's because they probably pulled them earlier than, than most of the snaps he would get compared to, you know, you're looking at him against Michigan state, 96 yards, Iowa, 71 yards, Oregon, 93 yards. He, in his last four games, Trevor, has caught six touchdowns. Six. So I love Ibuka, and I think he's kind of rounding back full circle into the prospect we once thought he was during 2022 summer scouting.

Yep. It just, you know, happens this year. So Ibuka, yeah. There was talk of him being a future wide receiver one in certain classes and i just love that he is back and healthy and playing well because uh he has he's gone under the radar once again which i feel like he unfortunately has throughout his career at ohio state just because of who else has been there and um you know jack smith the jigba and marvin harrison jr and all those kinds of guys and book has been fantastic as well i

think he's a first round wide wide receiver. So great pick. Yeah. So I'm probably not going to take him, but I do want to ask this. Are we going to treat Travis Hunter that he could be drafted in both positions or he can only be drafted once? Like in fantasy baseball, you could take Otani hitter and Otani pitcher. Is Travis Hunter you could take the corner and the wide receiver version? Yes.

Okay. Yes. And I only say that because I was going to. Yeah. And if you get two, if you get two Travis Hunters, I'm going to be pissed. That's so,

I know now that I'm looking at it, I actually might, I might try to do that. It's weird because normally this pick would be luther burden and we've had this discussion a lot it's just not been a good year in our eyes for luther bird it's been slower than we thought slower than you thought and this mid-season team while we're still taking some guys that aren't necessarily stock driven it's nice to highlight guys that are stock driven on this i said this going back to summer scouting. I like Travis Hunter better at wide receiver

than I do at corner. Now I actually think he's made a lot of the strides at corner that I was hoping already this year. So I want to make sure that's clear. But I think I am going to take Travis Hunter here as my second wide receiver. And it wasn't that easy. I want to make that clear.

I still believe in Luther Burden's talent. I love what Isaiah Bond has done this year, especially from a traits perspective just the way he can move i think jayden higgins on iowa state has been amazing this year yeah amazing about picking him higgins i almost took higgins here higgins if you want the hyperbole comp i think it's good to emphasize like Like if you want my exaggerated, ridiculous comp, when I watch Iowa state use Higgins in the slot, I think of what the Falcons are doing with Drake London this year right now. So I love Higgins. Jalen Royals for Utah state has been amazing.

So there's a lot of guys worthy of the selection. I am going to take Hunter. So I have Hunter and a Buka, but man, I Jaden Higgins is on the rise right now, man. And his teammate is really good too, by the way.

Noel, Noel. Yes. He's great. I just started diving into more of his tape. Cause I use Taken's on a stock watch show. Some people DM me like, Hey,

watch the other receiver. And yeah, they're, they're both pop. I mean, you just list off a bunch of wide receivers. I'm giving you a stud either way, right?

I can only pick, I can only pick two of these guys. Yeah, I'm going to make out okay here. I'm going to pick Isaiah Bond for sure. Yeah. Isaiah Bond's my next pick. Doesn't it feel like Bond in the NFL, there's a little more meat on the bone with him at the end? Totally.

Right? 100%. Totally. Yes. little more meat on the bone. Totally. Right? 100%. Totally. Yes. I say a Bond already on the Chiefs, even though they just took Xavier Worthy. Don't do that to the rest of the league, please. He's actually a dolphin. Again?

Him and Jalen Waddle just staring at each other. It's a Spider-Man meme if that happens. I know. With no one to throw them the ball right now. I'm going to take Isaiah Bond. You can't teach the speed as they often say and then my next wide receiver you know what i'm gonna do it i'm gonna take jayden higgins yeah i don't blame you i'm taking jayden higgins just such a great year from Jaden Higgins. He's got a top five receiving grade in all of college football. That includes every single wide receiver, every single tight end,

every single fullback, running back, whatever you want to say. He has a top five receiving grade, 89.6. He's got over 500 yards this year. You mentioned the versatility that he has as well. His threat percentage has got to be through the roof. He has 32.4%, which means that Iowa State clearly emphasizes this guy in the passing game every single week. So Isaiah Bond is one of my selections.

And then Jaden Higgins, who is having a phenomenal year just to respect the midseason exercise that we're doing here, I'm giving it to Jaden Higgins. I feel like as much as I really want to take Jalen Royals, I can't let Luther Burden not get picked. He's been better as of late. He has. Last two games, I feel like.

And he's still Luther Burden. I mean, I know he got hurt now, but it is the midseason all draft team. Luther Burden is going to be a first-round pick, I think. So I'll take Burden and round out my wide receiver group as Travis Hunter, Emeka Buka, Luther Burden is going to be a first-round pick, I think. So I'll take Burden and round out my wide receiver group as Travis Hunter, Emeka Buka, Luther Burden. Okay, so we're only doing one tight end here. Yeah, this one's probably really boring, unfortunately,

because I think there's two guys that are head and shoulders above the rest, personally. I don't, well, I think from an NFL draft, like overall perspective. Yes. But in terms of like, Oh no, I know what you're going to say. Yeah. I know what you're going to say with that.

Yeah. Uh, did you, I pick first. So you get the first pick here. So this is easy for you. I think it is. Although I have to say,

or I really, I really liked Tyler Warren a lot. I don't, I don't want to make like... Brother, I thought that was the easy pick. Yeah, no, I think it's between him and Colson Loveland. Loveland's been good as well. But he's not the complete player Warren is to me.

That's the argument. So, I mean, you look at what Penn State does with Tyler Warren. It's insane. Like, he has his own wildcat package. That's how talented he is so i i'm gonna take warren because i think that he's number one he's six foot six 260 pounds i could have him play on the line of scrimmage at the next level when i need him to he's he's a little bit of a unicorn though the different things he could do in terms of a ball carrier pass catcher and going back to last year i said on summer

scouting i did the whole money ball rant like billy this is tyler warren he could block he could run through you he's huge he's awesome the only problem is he just doesn't always catch the football gets six drops last year on 49 targets. And some of the drops were like, he was on by himself and just didn't catch the ball this year. He's not dropping the ball. He's just not dropping the ball. So he is close to that near, not perfect tight end prospect,

but as good as it gets. So yeah, Tyler Warren, but I don't think I thought, I think Colson Loveland is still a really good player. Thank you. My dog agrees. As you can, as you can. I made the right pick. This is tough, man. Thank you, Marvel. My dog agrees. Thank you, Marvel.

As you can obviously. I made the right pick. This is tough, man. I'm actually pissed that we only have one tight end here because I want to give a nod to a bunch of different guys.

Well, take your player and then give the nod. All right. Let me painfully think about this one. Let me painfully think about it. So many guys I would love to give a nod to i thought you were just gonna run the coast and loveland card in a lot

and love and like loveland's good but well he doesn't get it dude harold harold fannin jr from bowling greens having an insane season an insane season Loveland's being hurt by his situation, though. No doubt. I mean, like going from J.J. McCarthy to their current situation has devoured him. I also think that Gunnar Helm is having a great year at Texas. I recently watched him and he is great as well. If this were like an All-American team, I think Harold Fanny Jr. gets the spot here. But because it is like a mid-season,

all 2025 NFL draft team, I don't think I can not pick Colson Loveland because I still think that he is... I think him and Tyler Warren are those one-two tight ends. Warren's a little bit bigger. He can play on the line of scrimmage a little bit more reliably. And Loveland will give you just fantastic movement skills

as a tight end. And he is still good. I went back and I watched the film this week he is still good even though Michigan's passing attack is struggling so I am going to go with Colson Loveland here as my tight end but Mason Taylor from LSU is another one who I watched and I was like yeah he's really good and then the guy that I brought up a couple weeks ago Eli Stowers the tight end from Vanderbilt genuinely having an unreal that talk about a guy who went from it felt like a no name right to somebody that's going to be an actual big time draft name I don't know where he's going to end up getting picked but you're going to hear all sorts of people talking

about Eli Stauer so he deserves a shout out as well but I can't pick him over Loveland so uh you get to kick off uh offensive line okay so I will do that in a second first we got to talk about our friends over at DraftKings best part of football season guys it's always checking out the postgame stats right which wide outscored more than two touchdowns which quarterbacks drew for less than 350 yards if you think that you could pick what's going to happen for kickoff you got to play pick six by draft kings and official daily fantasy partner of the nfl down the draft kings pick six app now select between two to six players and you choose whether they will have more or less than a single stat. It is that simple.

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or visit ccpg.org in Connecticut. Must be 18 plus. Agent eligibility varies by jurisdiction. Pick 6 is not available everywhere including New York and Ontario void where prohibited one per new customer non-withdrawable pick six credits do expire in six months limited time offer see terms at pick six dot draft kings dot com slash promos all right offensive line yes Line? Yes. Stuff, brother. I think you kind of know what you're going to do with the first pick.

I texted you this morning. I watched offensive tackles. Did my rechecks. Good ones. I think I'm higher on this offensive tackle class. Everybody's like, oh, it's down offensive tackle class. I don't understand that thought at all. Compared to last year. I think this offensive tackle class is good, man.

Maybe not as polished, I should say. Talented, though. Very talented. I'm going with Will Campbell. Yeah, I figured that. He's still having a really good year. Oh, yeah. Some other guys are bigger risers.

But when we said at the top of the show, hey, sometimes it's just a player that we knew was going to be good who, guess what, is good. That's Will Campbell. Played very, very well, I think, against South Carolina's defensive line specifically, which I think is the best defensive line in the country. Held up very well, and he's held up well against most of his tests that he has faced this year. So he's my top-rated offensive tackle, and I will take him number one here for the offensive line position.

So that puts you on the clock with back-to-back. This is where it gets a little fun, right? I mean... We've been having fun because you get, I'm taking Kelvin Banks, number one, like that was a no brainer to me. Dude, I rewatched him this morning. He's been awesome. The movement is so good.

Just so rare for a player to move the way that he does. He's been awesome. Yes. I'm almost confused why, I feel like the buzz died down about him out of nowhere and it's only because the buzz for the guy on the other side is yeah but i don't he i don't like him but like i don't i still don't think it means we just write off kelvin banks no no no no i'm not there at all i'm not there at all either i just you know how people are they like i know give me the new yeah're right. So I don't know if this will surprise you because I think not that long ago you said to me,

like, oh, this dude's playing really well. Wyatt Milliam on West Virginia. Yeah. God! Suck it. You get a bookie and now you got the guy. Come on. I'm grinding the tape.

Oh, I thought you didn't know ball. And unfortunately you do. I, in fact, did homework this uh this is the most rechecks i've done in a week though full transparency since the season started between the ever lasting chaos that is the jets and mets fantasy five days a week and then obviously we still do our show for stock watch this week i was like man i gotta get through every position group and make sure like nobody fell off a cliff william's getting better week after week like way better week after week he might be one of the best zone blockers in the entire country no if not the dude and this guy and this

guy's got i mean he is he is an o-linesman's o-line man oh yeah west virginia zach fraser was like that grip strength the power the displacement the demeanor the finishing mentality like he's he's got genuinely he was he was a big catalyst is why i was like dude if we don't if we don't pick him an offensive tackle for this exercise like if we don't bring his name up we failed like we've got that's no we failed as as people so it's funny i had him as tackle seven and summer scouting. No, maybe six because I didn't watch Ursary for that episode.

And then when I did watch Ursary, Ursary was six. So I had him six. And I was like, man, I like there's something here with him. And this year I think he's better than half the guys I had ahead of him.

When I look at it, he's phenomenal. So yeah, I'll, I'll go to war with Banks and Milliam. That's my picks here. I think he's given up zero sacks this year, too. He's barely given up a pressure, it feels like.

Right, like barely given up any pressure. I'll tell you right now what at least PFF has charged him with. Nothing. Nothing. Big old goose egg. That's insane. Hot glazed donut from Krispy Kreme. Zero, brother. It's insane. Hot glazed donut from Krispy Kreme. Zero, brother.

That's insane. Donut. He's made himself a lot of money this year. All right, so now I got a back-to-back for offensive line. I am going to cheat here because, once again, I am going to give a nod to some really good offensive tackles in this class. We jokingly kind of tongue-in-cheek talked about the guy on the other side of the line of scrimmage from Kelvin Meigs Jr.

That is Cam Williams, and Cam Williams is incredibly talented. He's bigger in size and in length than Kelvin Meigs Jr. is. He's a little bit slower, but man, the feet chop fast. He's got good balance. Too many penalties this year. He's green. This is his first year as a starter, so there's no guarantee that he even comes out this year.

But I genuinely think that if he does, he's getting drafted in the first round. He has the tools that you just do not pass up at the NFL level. And there are too many offensive line coaches that are going to look at him and say, give me that dude. So Cam Williams from Texas is my next pick here. And then Ariante Ursary from Minnesota is going to be my back-to-back pick. The offensive tackle, the left tackle from minnesota he he is another player who i think he's just getting forgotten like he's just getting not talked about enough ariante ursery actually you know what

do i take ursery incredible transition to nobody's talking about this guy actually fuck this i don't want like what well i just got completely derailed because my boy is still on the board here josh simmons is still here and like josh simmons is probably my tackle three maybe tackle two in this class okay the way that he was playing this year but he just he's out for the season now with injury so it's sort of like okay what do you do with that necessarily now uh you know all due respect to ariana teresor who i was just giving so much praise for and i think he's a really good player and should probably be considered as a first round pick uh i am going to take josh shimmons because simmons has been having a a great rise this season

and i was people who listen to the offensive tackle episode in summer scouting i had him as ot5 coming into the year and i was really excited to continue to watch him he was playing even better than he did last year that progression was there he was making that case for not just being a first round pick but how high in the first round he could go. So I've actually, I'm going to take Simmons here. I'm going to take Cam Williams and Simmons here. So you can take Ursery if you want. It's up to you.

I was thinking about it. You might actually be surprised the two guys I'm going to take here. Oh, no, maybe not. It's weird because we're doing 5-0 line. we're not doing like three interior two tackles i think ursary had a slow start but he's really turned the corner and he's just so gifted i will take ursary okay but i'm more interested in talking about my next pick because we've talked so much about ursary like 6'6 you know 315 320 he's got great feet there's times where he gets beat in pass pro but he's so athletically and physically gifted and well built that I think you just keep refining his game like his hand placement and getting into

his pass sets that he's he's still a first round tackle the more interesting pick for me because we don't talk a lot about him i think i had him as a stock up once but logan jones the center on iowa i had him on my list i was wondering if you're gonna take him yeah i love him logan jones is just if you've watched in iowa offensive lineman before like you you get it with logan jones he will throw you out of the club he moves well in the run game he fights in pass pro. He's a, just an alien athlete. We've talked about his Feldman freaks numbers.

I mean, he's supposed to, and listen, nothing's guaranteed as we know, but he is, he has a shot to challenge like Jason Kelsey's at agilities. That's what we're talking about here with Logan Jones. He's,

he's going to be a 99th percentile tester at center. I think when all said and done, but now the tape is tape is sick. Yeah. I mean, tape is sick. So I had to get him on my mid season team because I didn't even watch him this summer. And all I do is watch this Iowa run game every single week.

So for my back to back here, I will go. Luke Andrews is going to be one of them. He's my dude from Cincinnati. He's just a big, powerful throwback interior offensive lineman guard type. He's just a pure guard. He's not going to flex out the tackle for you. I don't think he's going to play center for you. He's just playing offensive guard, but I think he plays it damn well.

Had really good PFF grades last season. He's got really solid PFF grades this season as well. So I wanted to get him on this list. And now I'm sort of torn between who I want to sort of give the nod to next because there's a couple of guys like Donovan Jackson or Tate Ratledge. These are guys that are sort of the staples that we have talked about here in this class. But there are two players, two centers even. Jake Slaughter and Connor Tolison.

I was wondering if you were going to bring up Tolison. He was who I would have taken at center if I didn't take Jones. So then, you know what? I'll take – I'm going to draft Tolison here. And I think there's still like overall like power limitations with tolson but he just he does play the position with a very high football iq and and i again like i don't know if he's going to check a lot of the athletic or strength boxes that you need for the nfl level we'll see when we get to final scouting reports but i do think that the success level that he has

had the limited amount of pressures and sacks the high pff grades overall to me i think that the success level that he has had, the limited amount of pressures and sacks, the high PFF grades overall, to me, I think that he probably just deserves the nod here as my fifth offensive lineman on this list. So I wanted to get a center on here and Tolleson somebody that I think should get a shout out. I'm with you all the way. So I love, obviously, Donovan Jackson.

He was my... we did guard rank he was my second ranked guard in summer scouting up three for you yeah he was number two but i'm gonna take tate ratledge i thought ratledge is coming back from tightrope surgery right now but if you watch the tape in the first three games he played this season i mean mean, a six, six, three 20, he's nearly flawless and pass bro. And he's a big body in the run game. I, I think Rattlage is going to be a really, really good pro. And I, he's one of the guys I've written down that I'm so excited to get him back on the field this year. I'm watching play. I am as well. All right. So, uh, flipping over to the defensive side of the football, before we get to those defensive tackles, which is where we were starting. This show is sponsored by our friends over at BetterHelp.

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Visit betterhelp.com slash NFLSE to get 10% off your first month. That is betterhelp, H-E-L-P dot com slash NFLSE. So I picked first for offensive line. You now pick first for defensive tackle. Who you got? Oh, man, I wonder what I'm going to do's uh i'm gonna take mason graham fun fact he's still awesome he's still kicking everyone's ass he's still an alien he can play up and down the line of scrimmage mason graham is a top five pick in this draft and he is my number one pick

for my d tackles yeah a little bit of a slow start for i think sure just michigan overall but you look at i agree yeah overall grades here over the last couple of weeks, and they have really pumped those numbers back up. I mean, he is one of – I think people thought that Michigan would kind of come out of the gate and be a little bit stronger. And I think when they didn't exactly see the backfield production from Graham or from Kenneth Grant, they probably said to themselves, like, oh, take a step back, kind of one-year wonder players.

They're figuring it out, folks. I think they're going to end the year. Mason Graham, I think, is an 86.5 overall PFF grade, which is close to the even higher grade that he had last year. So give him a little bit of time. He's figuring it out, and he always was. He's just unbelievably talented as a football player. There's a couple of ways that you could do defensive tackle

in the shout outs here. Mason Graham was, I think the obvious one, one pick for this position. I, I think I have to just say that Derek Harmon is, is my pick here. He's been tremendous because he's been awesome.

I, I, I still sort of wonder, I still sort of wonder exactly what his best role at the NFL level is, but in terms of a guy who has had a total rise this year, man, he has played really well. And he was a little bit heavier last year, and he was a really good run defender.

And this year he's a much better pass rusher, and it's because he's lost a little bit of weight. And there are times when I see him, okay, now that you don't have the weight on you, I see that you're struggling a little bit to sort of hold that point of attack, hold against double teams, but he is giving you a lot of impactful play in the backfield because he has lost that weight because he has become better with his hands. And if you find maybe a little bit, even if it's just like five or 10 pounds, getting a little bit more of that strength back, you're talking about what could be a well

rounded defensive tackle. So for how well he has played this year and how much he has jumped in sort of those defensive tackle power rankings, I think Derek Harmon from Oregon has to get the nod here. And then the other player that I will give the nod to is TJ Sanders. Sanders is somebody that I really liked coming into the season, and he is still playing really well along South Carolina's monster of a defensive line I don't think Sanders gets talked about enough I said it in the summer I'm saying it here again now he is somebody who is to me one of the more talented explosive interior defensive

linemen in the class and so I'll go Derek Harmon with my first pick and uh and TJ Sanders South Carolina is my next one two guys have just been tremendous this year there's no way around it so obviously kenneth grant's still on the board tyreek williams has had a really good year he's still on the board i just think he's such a good run defender that you feel so good about his floor and he's so quick man i can't remember which is really good i can't remember which interior offensive lineman i was watching who was it but they were going up against tyreek williams whoever it was and the second they like got their weight a little too far on their toes tyreek was like whoop swim move like i'm immediately over you i'm in the backfield you are grasping at air and i was

like damn all right ty league's balling out here so uh yeah he's he is fantastic at that swim move as well he's getting better at it i wish he was a little quicker as a pass rusher it's the one thing like he's just not i just wish that to me i see i see he's got pass rush moves but it's like if he doesn't win immediately it's over it's over yeah yeah but he's he's an elite run defender elite i'm gonna take walter nolan who has shocked the hell nice nice good pick good pick walter nolan is now living up to that five star it's weird because nolan let me just pull up summer notes here because i want to do this exercise carefully. Dude, I felt like he didn't know what he was doing. I felt like he was way too out of control,

bowling a china shop type of a dude. Same. Bouncing around everywhere. At A&M? At A&M, yes. So for those that don't stick with us all year with summer scouting, Nolan, number one overall recruit in 2000. Yeah, I don't know what you're doing.

Number one overall recruit in 2000. Yeah. No, no, what you're doing. Number one, overall recruit in 2022 class. A lot of people wondered why you and I didn't really talk about him over summer scouting. We both talked privately. We didn't really love his tape last year. Although some people were like, Hey,

he's a former number one, overall recruit. That was flashes last year. Yes, there were, but you and I just, we watched over summer and we were like, he doesn't,

he's not in the conversation as Mason Graham, Dion Walker, Tyleek Williams, Kenneth Grant, Shamar Turner, Howard Cross, all those guys, the godfather. He's played his ass off this year, Walter Nolan, and is now taking the five star traits and turning them into an impactful player. So and it's against that he's made a lot of disruptive plays against the run he is creating some havoc as a pass rusher he's starting to figure it out at Ole Miss and deserves to be on this mid-season team uh did you did you pick first on that one did I pick first I picked first because I took Mason Graham you pick first okay oh man so as I'm just I'm just letting everybody know just letting everybody know all right don't freak out about this i'm not taking my edge one i'm not taking my edge two i'm not taking my edge

three for edge rusher specifically i wanted to highlight some dudes who are really climbing up the board this year yeah i i have one that we haven't talked about yet that i'm definitely gonna go with eventually i wanna i just wonder which one are you gonna steal which one are you gonna steal from me um he wasn't ready i'll you know what uh fine i'll take josiah stewart the edge rusher from, from Michigan. Um, he's been great. You brought him up.

I believe as a, didn't, didn't you bring up Josiah Stewart? I think either the new name or a guy that could potentially be a top 50 guy. Possibly. We've done like seven of those shows already. The other day I was trying to scroll, skim through all of them to make sure I have every name in the doc.

Like you don't want to repeat. I don't want to use somebody you use. right i stewart's been unbelievable no 93 93.1 pass rush grade his win rate is over 30 dude it it is crazy how much and and 87.8 run defense grade now that's very interesting for for stewart because he is a smaller player he's six foot one 245 pounds but he uses that natural leverage really really well i wonder if he just because of the lack of length will he be more of a designated pass rusher type of a player at the nfl level because i love the explosiveness i love the motor i love the hand quickness i love the violence i love the way he plays the game of football, but there are some just physical limitations with length that are often you need to really help you out at the NFL level when it

comes to edge rush play that he will probably be lacking in when we get those official measurements. But even if that's the case, this is a football player that you want on your team. And I want to just give a nod to the 93.9 overall defensive grade this year that is just that is one of the highest marks that we have in all of college football so to me josiah stewart had to be the topic here top pick i like it you know who's this isn't my pick but you know what i was going through all the data who's who's having a good year in what feels like year 10. ste Linton on Baylor. He's still there?

He was on Syracuse for four years. He was at Texas Tech last year, and now he's at Baylor. I think he's played over 40 games in college. It's just so funny to me. The Bo Nicks of edge rushers. Kind of feels that way. Man, was one of no i can't ask you because you still got to pick i don't want to be that guy

you can't no it's not dude i got my rank i got my ranking you know so you didn't take you didn't take stewart no i did take all that you did take stew Stewart after all that. Yes. Okay. I want to make sure. Um, I know we're going with little. Great guy. This guy actually is phenomenal. 9.3 on IMDB. This is just no way.

I'm not taking Steve Linton. I'm going to take an obvious one first. And then I'm going to take a very not obvious one. And the obvious one is because I do think he's made strides now as a full-time edge is Abdul Carter. Okay. We've talked a lot about him on this show, so this could be brief. I mean, Carter has a pass rush win percentage over 17% now. I get he's not a perfect pass rusher yet but he is so explosive and i'm seeing moves now spin moves swipes i think he's really figuring it out as the weeks go by my next guy is more

interesting because carter was okay he's a first round athlete will he be a first round player and he's starting to tap into the player part my next guy we haven't talked about at all is mike green at marshall oh nice he's a demon he's nice he's grading really well yeah he's he's popping out in our grades obviously in a regular box score he has eight sacks already this year he um now people that do know mike green probably watched him against Ohio State because that was where he really jumped off in a big matchup Green moves differently to me he's somebody that he can he's kind of got that ability to kind of slip under blocks with his shoulder and he when I watched him I thought of Hassan Redick right away in terms of the body type

and the way he moves around blockers and the way he plays the stand-up edge position. Right away, because I was looking at Mike Green and he's listed. I want to make sure I have his list right. So he's listed at 6'4", 248. I would imagine he's about 6'2 1⁄2", 6'2 3⁄4", and right around that weight. He's well built, like 245, Mike Green. But he can hit you with the ghost move, the spin move, and he carries over that pass rush ability to stay off blocks against the run.

That's what makes him such a good prospect, is that he knows how to read the run and play heavy against the run when he needs to. He's not just this undersized pass rusher. Cause he's really not, he's totally adequate size, but the pass rush production for Mike green this year is through the roof. He's been a dominant force weekend and week out. So one to give him a shout on this mid season team.

No, I think that that's a really good shout out. I'm going to take Donovan as Raku, the edge rusher from Boston college as my second edge rusher, somebody who I brought up when we talked about a guy who could potentially go from day three to top 50. He's one of my favorite edge rushers in this class, man. He just understands how to win.

If you give him a wide one-on-one, he'll be able to attack both outside and inside shoulder well. He knows how to counter and react to the hand flashes that offensive linemen are giving him. He's patient enough to be able to wait for it, but he has the pass rush bag to be able to set the tone as well he's a really good run defender despite having a little bit of lack of weight to him he's around 245 and he's listed at 247 but he's somewhere around there so a little bit less of weight but i think he can really hold the line of scrimmage well due to that

natural leverage and those long arms so as a rock who is somebody who i think is having one hell of a year as well and somebody we need to talk about in this NFL draft class. Didn't bring up Jack Sawyer, who I also think could have been an obvious pick here. It's playing really well. Having a second very strong year in a row, so anybody out there who's like, where's Jack Sawyer, could have very well been on this list.

Somebody that I do want to shout out, I think for the first time here on this show, Quindarius Robinson, the fifth year redshirt senior edge rusher from Alabama. Not a lot of hype about this dude coming into the season. Connor, he is explosive. He is strong. He might have the best long arm move in college football. He's fantastic when it comes to that natural ability to have a push pull to truly stack with full extension with super long arms and then yank these guys over their toes off balance. He's got a 23.2 pass or swing percentage.

He's not on the field all the time for Alabama, but he is somebody who is really standing out to me as well, who if we're talking about true out of nowhere risers, he is somebody that I wanted to bring up for the to me as well, who if we're talking about true, out of nowhere risers, he is somebody that I wanted to bring up for the good people as well. That's a great call out. I got to dive into the tape of him because that is, you know, like you said, fifth year redshirt senior having a breakout. Those are the guys that always kind of surprise you the most.

Yep. Xavier Leggett was like that, I feel like. Okay, so I pick first at linebacker. Yes, you do indeed. I'm going to take Jay Higgins. Yeah, you got to do it. I'm just going to beg the world to care about Jay Higgins being a great player. And I get it.

He's six feet tall. He's 230 pounds. He's not the most explosive athlete in the world but you just sit there and go how many years does Jay Higgins need to be a great linebacker in the middle of Iowa's defense to get recognized he was phenomenal last year and nobody cared and this year he's carried that over he's so smart and savvy and reliable I think in coverage in terms of where he is i think he's somebody that makes his teammates better around him and i just he just needs to be highlighted more i he's he is such a fun football player he is going to be when people get around the tape jay

higgins they're just gonna be like i don't care just wins the linebacker you know five pick him pick him in the mid-round. He'll be the core of your football team. He'll go in like the fourth to sixth round. Honestly, he will. And Jay Higgins will start in the NFL. Guaranteed. Wow.

There it is. My two linebackers that I'll pick here, some notable names, some names that we've talked about here on the show before, who here in 2024, I think are playing their best ball. Deontay Lawson from Alabama is one of them. And Smael Mondin Jr. from Georgia is the other one I uh I have been a critic of Smael Mondin Jr. for the last I think two years he's been draft eligible and a lot of people have talked about him and what he could do with his athletic ability and to me he just looked lost I mean the lack of size overall I felt like he struggled in run defense

and then he didn't exactly give you the coverage, the plus ability and the plus plays in coverage that you would want from a guy who moves as well as he does. And certainly like if that's your calling card, I did not see that those great, that great feel and those instincts in coverage this year. It's, it's the best yet. I think it is the best version of smile Monda Jr. That we have seen yet. And I had to give

him that shout out there because it's a linebacker class where really just pick your preference there's not a lot of solidified stuff at the very top even with like danny stutzman you know like i think that some people are gonna look at him and be like okay well he's not a perfect linebacker so linebacker rankings are gonna be all over the place monday jr could be a big riser there i think deontay lawson as well another player who I just felt did not have those killer instincts when I watched his tape from last year. And this year he feels much more in control. It feels like he is directing things more. It looks like he is kind of the guy in charge in the middle of that defense. And I feel like he is putting himself in position to make

plays more this year than he has in the past. So those are two players that, you know, two high recruiting profile players, I believe both of them five-star linebackers who haven't exactly lived up to that label before this season, but I feel like are right now and are putting their best foot forward when it comes to an NFL draft angle. So Deontay Lawson, Smile Monda Jr., those are my two linebackers that I'm going with.

This is a weird group, right? Because you have guys that you, you know, Stutzman, you brought up, he's been fine. Almonda Jr. Those are my two linebackers that I'm going with. This is a weird group, right? Because you have guys that you, you know, Stutzman, you brought up. He's been fine. Jalen Walker, I just don't think he's an off-ball guy every time I watch him. I think he's an edge rusher, man. He's an edge rusher. Yeah. And it goes both ways.

It's not, sometimes you look at players and go, I just think he's too good to not play edge. But with Jalen Walker, I don't really think he's been good at off the ball, but when I watch his pass rush reps, he's awesome. So he's so athletic that I'm sure people are going to keep trying to use him everywhere. And I know Georgia plays him at multiple linebacker spots,

but, um, you know, Lander Barton is somebody we talked a lot about over the summer. I kind of want to go back to, and I believe this player was, wasn't Eric Gentry a stock up for you? Yeah,

yeah, he was. What are you? What a unique dude. He had no idea. I'm going to be honest with you. I have no idea what the hell to do with Eric Gentry, but he is doing his best football.

So me either. And I know he's, uh, unfortunately I want to give him a shout out, but I do want to come with a caveat. This is probably the last time we're going to talk about Gentry in this class. He just took a red shirt because of concussions, which is really, really sad. You know, it's you know, hopefully he can get right and come back next year and build upon the start he had this year.

Yeah, it was very surprising that just came out two days ago so he's had some concussions but i want to give him the shout here because you you highlighted him first trevor at 6 6 2 15 he's a weird linebacker but he was making plays in the run man a game man he was just finding the ball he had a nose for the ball he was making plays uh he's gonna be down for the rest of the year but i thought the way the season started for him in big games michigan you know wisconsin like these were big games yeah he was standing out so i'll give eric gentry a little shout out here man that's that is such a bummer disappointing yeah really disappointing okay well hopefully he gets

right obviously concussions are uh no joke obviously i hope he gets healthy first and foremost football or not because that's you know it's tough so um hope he gets right. Obviously concussions are no joke. Obviously I hope he gets healthy first and foremost football or not. Cause that's, you know, that's tough. So hope he gets healthy, but he was having a hell of a year. Hope he gets to hit the ground run next year.

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You post your job for free at linkedin.com slash stock. That is linkedin.com slash stock to post your job for free. Terms and conditions do apply. All right. Oh, how the turntables with travis hunter because i have the top pick you just gotta have him here for cornerback and you damn right i'm picking travis hunter uh dude's an alien uh obviously what he could do on both sides of the ball is fantastic but uh i'm i'm on

record you like him the most wide receiver i'm on record saying I would draft him as a corner because I just think that what he brings to the corner position are so rare. The length, the size, the strength, the speed, the fluidity, the ball skills in particular. I mean, it's just rare stuff all around for the cornerback position. So to start this corner selection, we're taking three of them here. I'm going to go with Travis Hunter because I have to. Yeah, it's no, I don't blame you at all.

I know he's banged up right now, but I'm still going to take Will Johnson. Right. I mean, it's it's Will Johnson. He was one of our favorite players from summer scouting. He's got two pick sixes. He's got two pick sixes. He could change the game on any moment. I think he play inside and outside.

It's I mean, johnson has to be one of these picks it's and this is where it gets kind of weird right where a lot of preference for corner at this point it really is i mean i love what little tape we got of savon revel before he went down for the year i do too this season that i'm probably just going to take him because he's big long and explosive with ball skills. Like, I don't know what else to say, right? And yeah, he's out for the year, but he'll be ready to play next year.

Savonarvel is still going to be drafted, I think, pretty early in next year's draft and all things are said and done. So while it was a small sample size, I thought he built off of a great 2023. I'll gladly stack this thing with Will Johnson and Savon Revell. Look, I would love to pick Revell. And I don't think that you're wrong by just giving him the nod as saying,

hey, this is somebody who was playing fantastic before injury. And he was. And I think that that is a good shout out by you, even if we don't get to see him the rest of the season I'll still allow I think that this is I think this is still a good pick for you for the first of my back-to-back I'm gonna go with Jadae Barron from Texas and this is somebody who I was very intrigued on what he was going to be in 2024 because he was a he was sort of a safety and how he got on the field two years ago with texas and then last year he was kind of this hybrid slot defender safety slot like nickel corner

and now they're playing him out wide so he could do so many different things and it looks like a good decision right i mean he's really good coverage grades dude he has given up let me let me see this he has played 174 snaps in coverage he has only given up 14 receptions for just 78 yards all season yeah he's been very reliable for them he's got an interception he's got two forcing completions i think jadae baron is playing fantastic um i would love the picture mod mccoy from from tennessee but he's not draft eligible he's only true sophomore but i think his film has also been very very fun my last guy um i don't think this is a homer pick okay oh is he gonna be jason marshall it is gonna be jason yeah he's had his best year this and it's

not gonna be a homer pick because anybody who's followed the podcast over the last two years knows that like i have not been kind to jason marshall no you didn't like him at all and he's no doubting last year i didn't like him this year for summer sc, you didn't like him at all in any summer scouting. Last year, I didn't like him. This year for summer scouting, I didn't like him. And he's having his best year, man. He's able to mirror guys a little bit better. He was always the type of player who I think people looked at the size, speed combination, the high recruiting label.

And they said, okay, this is somebody who could really shut people down and make coverage and be sticky in coverage. He just wasn't. And for whatever reason, whether it was he just didn't anticipate well or what, he's so much more confident this year it was a great decision for him to come back and i agree with you i think he is playing his best right now so he is getting an odd here on my uh mid-season all draft team too so jason marshall jr the cornerback from uh from from the university of florida so when we did this i kind of thought i had to take someone that plays the slot initially.

So my board is shaped a little bit differently after I got my two outside corners already in Will Johnson and Savan Revell. And I was going to go with another Iowa guy that kind of gets underappreciated in Sebastian Castro. So, yeah, I mean, when you look at Castro, he's a modern day slot in the way that he can come down and tackle and rip the ball out and play heavy in the box when he needs to. But he also can match the movements of slots, especially I think will be better against bigger slots at the next level. So that's the way I set it up.

I wasn't just going to take that top three corners. I wanted somebody that specifically lives in the slot. And I'm going to pull up his snap count just to kind of show this here. He just, yeah, he just, he plays literally all of his snaps in the slot or in the box. Dude,

there are other, there are other corners. I haven't watched him yet, but he grades out like insane. Incredibly well. Yes. So he might be somebody that we are talking about here on future shows very quickly. So yes, be somebody that we are talking about here on future shows very quickly.

Yes, Harris is playing, I believe, more wide corner for them. I just want to confirm. Yeah, he played 274 of his snaps at wide corner, and he'll dabble a little bit in the box, but that's just the Iowa defense. So yeah, he's stepped into that, you know, Cooper to Jean kind of spot, and he's been phenomenal for them. Safety. You're up first for safety.

What do we got? One of my most excited spots, and I'm really glad I ended up with number one. I didn't plan it this way. I'm taking Xavier Watts in Notre Dame. Hell yeah, brother. I mean, Xavier Watts is a playmaker, man. What he can do in coverage. This was one of my favorite, favorite like newer or like checks that i

did this week where i watched i was like oh this guy's awesome because let's be real this class lost some juice this year when kevin winston went down for the season malachi starks has been okay like he's been fine he's been fine he's still if if if one of us wanted to pick him here and he's on my board i'm not gonna pick him right the other two guys i'm i'm i want to give more of a nod to right and people might yell at us when they see this listen like who's malachi starkson on here and obviously like he's been good but these other players have stood out a little bit more than malachi has in my opinion i don't think billy bowen's been very good for oklahoma even compared to what we thought coming in I thought the safety class had a lot of juice with those top guys and

I don't think they've met expectations Watts has been awesome for Notre Dame and he's been specifically awesome in coverage where he can be a true free safety for you. Yeah, like a legitimate roaming free safety. Now, it's funny. He's coming off a year in 2023 where he had seven picks, but then he played the slot. He played free safety in the box, almost even across the board. And this year, you're getting a little bit more of that. 105 snaps in the box, 181 at free, 66 in the slot.

Watts is a true free safety in a league that is just starving for guys that could play on the backend. Like him. He, he was one of the players I was most excited to be able to select. So there is another player. You mentioned Billy Bowman, Robert Spears,

Jenning from Oklahoma, full transparency. I have not watched him yet. I watched a little bit of him cause he was jumping out in our system and it's unfortunate he just had his worst game like just had his worst game i'm looking at his grades and they're much lower now than they were when i checked not too long ago yeah he fought he had a really rough game recently and so that's why when i saw that i was like oh man like and then yeah he ended up not being on my board but was in consideration okay so the back-to-back safeties and I'm gonna go with

Kamari Ramsey from US from USC he's just somebody I really like now his grades aren't as good as some of these other safeties that I could select but I think he is so smart certainly that LSU game he was able to showcase that I just love the potential what I saw in the fact that that LSU game he was able to showcase that I just love the potential what I saw in the fact that that LSU tape for him even exists makes me think okay you could be a really good NFL safety he was doing everything he could come from depth he could play a strong safety role I think he was in a slot as well like he was doing so many different things he was a reliable run defender in that game it's been shaky for him since but I he's such a smart safety I'm a really big fan of his and then my other safety I'm gonna give a nod to this guy, Andrew Makuba. Okay. This is somebody that we talked

about two years ago here on this show when he was still at Clemson and what he was going to be when he was coming back from injury. And that last year that he was at Clemson, he just was not impactful. He really wasn't. And in Texas, he's flying around, he's playing free. He's getting in on, on tackles. He's getting in on throwing windows. Uh, he is, he much more of a presence there on the back end and somebody who we were really excited about two years ago who didn't necessarily live up to that whole billing i feel like he's playing the best ball that we've seen since he he really burst onto the scene as a true freshman uh and after that i feel like it was quiet for him this year is his best year since that season so. So giving a nod to Andrew Makuba as well as my second safety here. Who's your last safety for the draft?

Antoine Peek Jr., a box safety. Really cool story. His dad is in Cincinnati's Athletics Hall of Fame. He's one of the best defensive players in Bearcats history. Jr. had to walk on at Cincinnati. He was not handed anything, and he went from walk on reserve to starter in 2024

where he's just making things happen against the run. He's just blowing up plays. He's big, 6'2", looks around 215, 210, so he can handle box duty rolls. I love what I've seen from him in the Cincinnati defense, and he definitely deserved a shout. Love it.

I love that as the last pick. Really good way to wrap everything up. I am not going to read off all of these names for you guys. If you are audio only and you want to see all the names, go on YouTube, smash like and subscribe. We appreciate it. That's also the best way to get in on the show, youtube.com backslash at NFL Stock Exchange.

We would love to hear from you guys, your thoughts on our thoughts thoughts our teams uh the fact that my team would absolutely whoop condors teams candy ass all the way up and down the field for four straight quarters but we would love to hear from you guys as well we would love to hear some shout outs of hey we think this really this player really deserves to be considered they're having a great season you guys watch college football you guys are super into the draft. You've got great eyes for this. We would love to hear from you. We always do.

If you're audio only, let us know what you thought of the show at Tampa Bay Trey, at Connor J. Rogers on Twitter and Instagram. Like we said at the beginning, if you like this format, if it was fine for you, please let us know because we do.

We change how we kind of plan these shows to give you guys the exact type of content that you want to hear. So if you wanted more of that competitive spirit of having a free draft, let us know if it was something that you felt like was really missing from this episode. We can try to do more of those moving forward, Connor,

anything else other than go Mets before we get out of here. That's all we got. Let's survive another day. Maybe they haven't by the time you're listening to this who knows we'll see but a fun format and not the last time we do this so if you want it changed or you want to hear it again let us know and at the end of the college season we'll do this again let's go mets baby i'm trevor sycamore that's connor rogers thank you guys so much for watching and listening to the nfl stock exchange podcast we will see you guys next week.