NFL Stock Exchange: An NFL Draft Podcast - 308. FIELD YATES' NEW MOCK DRAFT

Episode Date: February 14, 2025

Trevor Sikkema and Connor Rogers go through Field Yates' new mock draft from ESPN

Welcome to the opening bell of the NFL Stock Exchange podcast. Connor Rogers, Trevor Sycamore here with you guys for another Mock Draft Madness episode. We've done our own mock drafts here on this channel. We've reviewed some and we're going back to the review pool on this one. One of our favorite dudes in the entire industry, Field Yates of ESPN. Noted draft guru now, Field Yates. We see you.

Obviously, Field's done a ton of stuff. He's done a lot of hosting for ESPN. He's done a lot of fantasy football stuff, but he's picked up more draft things as of late. Welcome to hell, Field. We love to see it. Misery loves company, my friend. Love that he's getting in the consistent mock draft

rotation here and we're going to review his latest mock draft here now obviously you know this mock drafts over espn.com it's within espn plus subscription so unlike some of the other mock drafts that we've reviewed here like daniel jeremias for example we'll go through every single pick we're not going to do that with fields out of respect for obviously the place he works for and that being behind a paywall so go go support Field, Jordan, Matt, everybody over there at ESPN that does a fantastic job covering the NFL draft. But go get an ESPN Plus subscription so you can see the rest of that and all the blurbs, his explanations, that good stuff. But we are going to take five picks each from the mock draft. We are going to talk about it because, boy, did Field put out a heater.

Connor, how are we doing, my friend? I'm good, man. two things off the top i like that you said my name first to ensure the pod just to keep the people on their toes yeah yeah that was that was a really really good like easter egg and then number two after last week just ruining all kinds of great cinema and tv shows we are now ultimately respecting spoilers to the highest degree by not revealing fields and mock drafts just a couple picks we would never spoil anything on this show I have a high degree of respect I don't know why people would think that why would you think that we would spoil anything not on crafts movies

premium for example Shawshank Redemption an all-time classic somebody asked me this week um it was a really good question they said say you were put on a question was the question where do you get off or how dare you no it was before the pod. It was, say you were put on a spaceship to Mars, basically like knowing it could be the end. Okay. And you can watch three movies on the way or basically bring three movies with you. It's a little different from what are your favorite three movies of all time

because they have to have like some stay power and like meaning. Yep. What would your three movies be? I thought it was a really interesting question because it's a different spin on meaning yeah what would your three movies be i thought it was a really interesting question because it's a different spin on like what are your favorite three movies i think it's really one of the most three impactful movies to you not easy i don't know this is it this is your last ride brother i don't know but wait wait hold on i'm i'm going to mars and then like what's happening after that am i living you don't know like you're assuming okay so so i'm watching the martian for one oh so you're you're taking

this literal like you're getting in the mood to go to you asked me that's fine this is your three movies i'm gonna watch going to mars and awful choice but absolutely your choice who knows what could happen when you get to mars and who better than matt damon's character i don't even remember his name in the martian to tell you how to survive on mars for over a year if shit hits the fan so the martian's gonna be one of them i had a huge problem with the martian fine movie like very fine oh here we go i had a big problem with it because Matt Damon played such a villain. Douchebag in interstellar right before the Martian that I could not at first watch the movie and not think of interstellar Matt Damon, who is a monster. But then when I watched the Martian, like many years after it came out, I enjoyed it more.

But that was just a me issue. OK, so you're bringing the Martian. He needed the pub the pub you know like he needed the good publicity space guy now like big space guy right i feel like a comedy's got to be in there right like wedding crashers stepbrothers yeah those are bad rock solid choices you know what i'm saying like i feel like we got to have at least one comedy in there so i'm going the martian so i'm going research with one of them i think super bad is the best comedy of all time so i think super bad is probably in there hard to argue i don't know what the third one would be i'd have to think about it do i want an action movie i don't know have to think about it what did you have an answer for him do you come over here i did what's your three give me your three mine were one no surprise interstellar two i guess i followed

your pathway like the space yeah i was gonna say hold on hold on wait a second i got i got immense pushback on mine and you literally did the going to mars thing you know which one i wouldn't watch you watch ad astra no brad so brad pitt stars in that one and it's just like it's not like super it's not like a scary movie at all whatsoever it's just really suspenseful all right and like again like it's a space movie and it stuff hits the fan and it's just it's extreme i wouldn't want to watch a i say a stressful space movie and the martians like kind of stressful but it's more like it's got a happy ending you know so you feel good about it especially if you've seen it already yeah yeah yeah it's i wouldn't want to watch a super stressful space movie like what's the other gravity gravity is the one that

like is super stressful interstellar is pretty stressful that's what i'm saying so i don't even know if i would want to watch that so okay interstellar is one i went with like the three movies that i think had the biggest impact for me that at least made me think a lot which was interstellar and these are movies that especially this next one i like to watch alone uh apocalypse now which is a very old movie but i mean if you have not seen apocalypse now it is like very very deep thinking Vietnam, but more horror spin on war rather than like this is combat. And then Shawshank Redemption, because I just it's like one of those movies where when it's on TV, it doesn't matter what part of the movie it's in. You just kind of leave it on. So not I don't think anything surprising about those three choices.

But yeah, that's what that's what I went with. Yeah. I feel like if one of us doesn't pick Wolf of wall street, the addicts are going to be mad at us just because of how much we referenced it on that show on this show. It's, it is, it's a cult classic to me at this point. Like it's maybe the most memeable movie of all time,

which matters. All right. Martians. One of them super bad. The other, uh, Avengers infinity war is my third one i was gonna say it's like i feel like that's so part of your my dog's name is morris yeah exactly it's like part of your persona okay so there we go you and i did watch 300 exactly four times

it was just always on at the hotel people people are zero percent surprised that when we were in uh what was this was that that was mobile right yeah when we were in mobile and we were just sitting around and i turned the tv on and it was like 300 we both were kind of like oh 300 is on and like nobody reached for the remote nobody was going to change it we were just in for the ride no i sat down in silence like i've been waiting all week for this this is why i came to the senior bowl we would love to hear from you guys i'd love to hear what your three uh movies would be if you were on a trip to mars and uh you didn't know what was going to happen didn't know if you're coming back is the three movies you can't change them so you only got three movies downloaded uh i would

love to hear what the movies are and what the reasoning is. And for everybody who complains in the comments about when the football starts, 7.42 in the show. There you go. I timestamped it for you. Jackasses. Okay, so let's get to this mock draft madness. I do really love doing these reviews

because it's a lot of fun. You and I naturally just doing a podcast together. I wouldn't say that we like totally form group think, but we can see where each other are coming from. And so when we do mocks, even here on this show, sometimes it can be a little bit repetitive because you guys have sort of heard our logic of how we get the situations. And obviously if we think that it's logical, we're probably going to repeat it here and there. So I love looking outside this show and really seeing what other people are thinking, not just how they evaluate prospects, but also what they are hearing from around the league.

So, I'll try to stay relatively in order here. But we are going to bounce around it a little bit. Connor, I'm going to ask you, when you took a look at Fields' mock draft, what was the first pick that you want to go, whoa, okay, that was significant. We got to talk about it one way or another. Maybe the, so that of the five I picked, maybe this is the least whoa whoa moment but one I want to discuss is Cam Ward at three to the Giants because the larger talking point to me Trevor is I think the Giants are maybe the most interesting team in football this offseason because you know we had Malik neighbors at Radio Row and we straight up

asked them about his tweet that was a riddledle, you know, the nine and ten. And, you know, it seemed like some kind of reference to the Rams. So now there's going to be a lot of chatter around the future of Matthew Stafford and all kinds of that. I'm just fascinated by what direction the Giants go. Do they go get a surefire answer at the veteran spot. Because if they did that, it would kind of tell you, I think, at least what one quarterback needy team thinks of this draft class. And then number two, in this scenario that Fields has,

this is probably the closest thing to a dream for the Giants that who I think is the best quarterback in the draft, who you think is the best quarterback in the draft, falls to them at three without them having to use any assets to go up to one or two. And rather than sitting there and going, okay, Cam Ward's gone, we didn't get a veteran because there wasn't a lot of options. And I'm not saying they feel this way,

but let's talk ourselves into Shadur Sanders at three, which I think is a little early, all things considered, although there's never too early to take a quarterback. Yeah. But I just am fascinated by the game of poker the Giants are going to play, whether they're going to say, you know what, we can't take any chances. We have to do something in the veteran market, whether that's Russell Wilson,

whether that is a bigger move for Matthew Stafford, whether that's a pursuit of Sam Darnold, or they sit here and they really believe in this quarterback class, despite not having the full control of the situation. You're picking at three. You're not picking at one or two. So this is the situation that makes it easy for the Giants, but I don't know if it ultimately will be that simple for the Giants.

That's just, hey, they got the best quarterback in the draft in Cam Ward, and we'd have to move and let's go to Ward. I mean it's the ultimate get out of jail free card when we as draft analysts say well we got a way for free agency you know we got to see how that plays out but it's kind of true here with the Giants and Field notes that as well and the explanation that he gives for these picks and by the way it's not just like Fields making these picks and then you sort of going on to the next one he does a great job explaining kind of how he got here and his thought process to it so again more reason for you guys to go on to the next one. He does a great job explaining kind of how he got here and his thought process to it. So again, more reason for you guys to go get that ESPN Plus subscription and support his great work.

When I'm looking at this situation, though, it feels as though we're doing mock drafts as if the Giants are so desperate. If the Giants are so desperate for a quarterback, isn't that almost maybe a little bit of evidence that they wouldn't draft one of these two guys because of how much of a quote unquote reach it probably is like even to them, even a team that's very desperate. So I do think the Matthew Stafford or the Gino Smith or like, you know, Sam Darnold element of bringing in a veteran who you feel like you can truly hit the ground running with actually is a lot better for this team if you're going to go the route of saying well Joe Shane and Brian Dable can't waste any time here you know they've got to be able to win next year or it's going to be over right as much as I can buy into the ceiling of a cam ward or maybe can understand why a team would be all in on Shador Sanders and want to

invest things in him how successful do you think you're going to be and maybe they look at the situation with the commanders and they go look what Jaden Daniels was able to do you go okay sure I mean if that's the way if that's what you want to tell yourself by taking one of these QBs sure but I just think it's a really interesting note that you brought up there with the giants potentially looking at the veteran quarterback market field notes that as well it's we we are hearing little whispers of that and that really to me is the major domino of this entire draft of what the giants specifically are going to do at quarterback Because look at the two teams that draft above them. And we'll get to the Titans in a second and who they're selecting.

But I said no spoilers, but kind of a spoiler. They're not taking a quarterback at the top. They're not taking Kim Moore. They're not taking Shadur Sanders in this mock draft. Those two teams need a quarterback. So if these quarterbacks were thought of that highly, they'd be going one or two. And they're not in this mock.

So I don't know. The veteran component of the new york giants to me is very intriguing because i think there's a world where the titans or the cleveland browns say now we'll pass we're thinking about all this more long term anyways and if the giants have a veteran quarterback and they pass on one of these two quarterbacks. We might only get one in the top 10, maybe even one in the first round. It's a great situation. Great point that this that this draft has us in. What if the Giants I just like talking through scenarios this time of year because I think and I'm guilty of this. You get it in your mind like you write so many mock drafts. You do so many podcast mock

drafts that you just start to look at the falcons last year perfect example how many times did we have the falcons taking i don't know a pass rusher or some kind of position that wasn't a quarterback right and you just never even considered the idea of them drafting michael pennix or a quarterback in that spot there There's a world where, and I talked about this with the Giants last year, I found it fascinating, and the draft didn't go how it would be beneficial to them. I was like, you could take Malik Neighbors, and then can you trade up from the top around two and try to grab Penix, Nix, McCarthy? And we blinked, and six quarterbacks went in the top 12. It was just a crazy year.

But in this class, you could legitimately say, can can the Giants take say Cam Ward does go number one overall and say Abdul Carter goes number two overall or just say the Giants have a chance to take one of Abdul Carter Travis Hunter and then they take pick 34 and they get Jackson Dart Jalenalen Milrow, whoever, right? Because they did go out and get a veteran quarterback that they think can win games now and be a stabilizing force for a young guy to sit. We don't know what the Giants believe. Do the Giants feel like, yeah, we need the savior

and we have to take Cam or Shadur at three and if Cam's gone, we have to take Shadur and he's going to play and that's that. Or is Brian Dable and Joe Shane looking at it and going, let's try to win games with Sam Darnold, Russell Wilson, Matthew Stafford, name your veteran, Gino Smith, whatever it may be. And then we're going to get a premium player because our roster kind of sucks at three, like we did last year when we got Malik neighbors. And then at 34, we're going to be a little bit more flexible for a developmental

guy. That's a scenario we have not talked through yet. Not a lot of people talk through yet, but I think is, is viable for the New York giants. When you look at the timeline, those guys are on. Yeah. So ultimately cam ward goes three here in this mock, but I think that it was a worthwhile conversation, even just from the little explanation that field had in there and sort of what we got to have with that back and forth there. I'm going to jump back to number one for the first pick that I want to take a look at, and that's with Travis Hunter going number one overall. And I think a lot of mock drafts right now, a lot of people are going to have either Cam

Ward to the Tennessee Titans at number one or Abdul Carter, the edge rusher from Penn State at number one. Here, Field has them going with Travis Hunter and I love this pick because I think it's a lot closer than mock drafts are indicating Travis Hunter and Abdul Carter like I for the very top of this class for prospect number one who would you rather have you're taking any prospect in this class I think a lot of mock drafts just gravitate towards the edge rusher because Abdul Carter I mean he is absolutely fantastic and I get it. He'd be a great addition for the Tennessee Titans, but Travis Hunter is total franchise star power. So you're number one player right now. He is my number one. Me too.

Yeah. And I feel like that's not cool anymore. Yeah. I don't know. However you want to say, I think Travis Hunter is the best football player in this class. Me too. I just think he is just the natural gifts that he has, not only athletically, but also his football IQ. I mean, he is just an unbelievable football player. You don't get to succeed at wide receiver and corner the way that he has just by being a good athlete. Good athletes come through college football and the NFL draft all the time. Great athletes, good athletes come through college football in the nfl draft

all the time great athletes elite athletes come through all the time there's still not many travis hunters and it's a combination of not just how athletic he is not just a great build that he has for college football and the pros but it's also because i think he has elite instincts for the sport not just the position so I, I wanted to point him out because again, like, like you said, he's my number one overall player. He's your number one overall player. I think a lot of people have Abdul Carter and I'm not fighting that. Right. I mean, like he's Abdul Carter is right there as well as one of the limited blue chippers that we have in this class, but I just don't think Hunter's getting as much mock draft love as he

deserves and if he goes to if you're not taking a quarterback and you're the tennessee titans this dude basically becomes the face of your franchise yes right yes and i think that is part of this now abdul carter phenomenal football player is he going to be like a face of the franchise type of a player for you? Maybe. I mean, cause we've seen that a little bit with Michael Parsons, who's sort of his example on the field, but could be off the field as well. Like Parsons is involved in all this stuff when it comes to like, um, like YouTube streaming and having a podcast and doing all these appearances and like being almost an ambassador for the team and everything like that. And that's

really cool for Parsons. I'm not saying that that's a prerequisite and that you have to have that to be worth number one overall. But Travis Hunter has been in the limelight. He's been in front of the microphone. He's been in front of the cameras. He would literally be the Titan's face of their franchise if they draft him at one. So I think that that part of the conversation

is also worth having and worth noting because he has already been that way since Jackson State, since he was the number one overall recruit in 2022 and since winning the Heisman Trophy this past year. So, yeah. I'm with you. I mean, it's funny how quickly we get away from something that is logical, right? Like Travis Hunter is an incredible football player. He can improve your team in so many different ways.

Like you said, trevor he does have star power and i think at times that does matter so it'll be fascinating and it's it's just kind of good to revisit like hey this guy could be the the number one pick in this draft uh who's the next guy do you want to point out from here in this mock i hate that i have to do this but i have to talk about the jets at seven oh here we go yeah i know it's it's and listen i really didn't want to do this i actually never want to do this i try not to pick for them when we do mock drafts but man and i don't even blame field for this it's just something where you got to wonder like is this just how the nfl feels and what you won't i won't see eye to eye to it with it and that's

that i had michael williams at edge nine in our edge episode edge nine not player nine edge nine and he's the seventh overall pick in this mock draft with the likes of tat mcmillan on the board kelvin banks tyler warren mike green walter nolan Mike Green, Walter Nolan, Armand Membu, Will Johnson. I just, man, like, this isn't a shot at field because tons of people think Michael Williams could be a top 10 to 15 pick in this draft. Oh, yeah, yeah. It is just such a tough sell for me, man.

And it's not that the Jets don't need any help at edge. Jermaine Johnson's coming off an Achilles. Will McDonald's coming off a really big year too. But you can't assume Jermaine's going to be 100% out of the gate. So they will need a third edge on this roster at some point. But they have no defensive tackle next to Quinn and Williams. Javon Kinlaw was a disaster last year, and they have no depth behind him. That's why I brought up Walter Nolan's name.

Mason Graham's off the board here, not to spoil it. But they have, Devonta Adams isn't going to be back now that Rogers isn't back so it's Garrett Wilson and no one else at wide receiver they're going to cut Alan Lazard so that's why Tett McMillan would be in play here Tyler Conklin's a free agent they have no tight end that's why Tyler Warren would be in play here Morgan Moses is a free agent they have no right tackle that's why Armand Membu or Kelvin Banks would be in play here. It's I don't really like I'm not one of those guys like you can't make this pick because they need this.

That's not really the point. The point is, and Fields is not alone in this. I think it's more consensus. Mikel Williams being a top 10 pick in this draft will have me smash my head through a wall with how many more productive, great players there are that have traits. The argument for him is he has traits. Walter Nolan has traits, and he had production this year. Shamar Stewart, to me, is a better prospect than Mikel Williams,

and he didn't have huge production. But I'm more infatuated with his unique size and movement skills. I just, I don't know, man. Like, it just feels, I think you felt this way two years ago about Tyree. And when the Raiders took him, you were kind of like, man, he's big and strong and he can be this great player. But I just, I'm a little concerned like this early

for a player that is out. Can we find that switch? Yeah. That's going to be my argument for Mikel Williams. If you take him in the first round, duh, he has traits. I totally get it,

but you're really hoping is something going to that green light going to turn on. Do you need to do that with a top eight pick? I personally don't. It's a little bit of an extension of the conversation that we had for the interior defensive line episode, where you and I were kind of talking about some of those players. And there's a lot of guys where you go, well, we think a lot of guys where you go well we think about what he could be you know think about what he could be think about what he could become and I'm more hesitant now than I've

been in the past at just assuming that that's going to be the case and Mikel he was still a top five edge rusher for me I remember when we were going through the early edge rush episode we'll see if he ends up top five for me when it's all said and done. But I remember where we were going through it. He was four for me, four or five. And I said, you know, I liked Mike hell more than I thought I was going to. I love the run defense floor that he gives. Oh yeah. But the pass rushing is still something that you see flashes of it. And, and field notes that in his analysis, like you see flashes of it. And he says that Mike Cal has got more pass rush juice than his production indicates. And I it's, it's hard to not think that that's the case when you do watch

him play, but I just want to know the answer to you played Mike Cal Williams as a four-eye defensive end in 2023 most of the season and so you could sort of write off okay well he never really had the opportunity to pin his years back as a pass rusher because he was playing you know inside funny enough similarly to kind of how like Will McDonald was used when he was at Iowa State yeah and then that last game of the year that bowl game against Florida State last year, they put Mikel at edge. They put him at stand-up outside linebacker edge. And he had his most productive pass rushing game of his career to that point.

And Georgia, from what we had heard, was like, yeah, that's really where Mikel is going to play in 2024 and in the NFL. We just kind of had him on the D-line really had a necessity because he's a great run defender and then this past and then this year came up and he played back at four eye defensive end and i know that jalen walker kind of emerged as that player who could be that stand-up outside linebacker rusher for them so that sort of goes into it but you just say to, did they try you at outside linebacker over the summer and didn't like what they saw? I don't know. Who knows? I don't know, but it's an interesting part of his evaluation because I think he's a good football player. Yes. He gives you a high floor and he's a good NFL player.

But does he give you the pass rush ceiling to be a top 10 overall pick? That's the combo like i know what michael williams can do and he is going to play in the nfl for a long time and he is big long can stop the run he's strong i don't think he's very explosive off the ball he has not been productive yet there are other players in this draft that i would just feel better about projecting with the seventh overall pick the eighth overall pick the ninth overall pick the tenth overall pick and you brought up Will McDonald's and that's a good callback because he was thrown to a four-eye and everybody's like why

are they doing this but Will McDonald finished with the most sacks in Big 12 history tied with Von Miller like him and Von Miller are the all-time Big 12 leaders with 33 no that's a great point it's like point it's like, yeah, you know, I'm, I'm going to ask this guy to play somewhere that he didn't his last year of college a lot, but he also was the most productive past rusher and big 12 history alongside bond Miller.

So yeah, it's just tough for me. I just, I won't see eye to eye on this one. I know Mike hell's probably going to be a top 15 pick and I, yeah, it was just, it's just a tough one for me. I like the the floor i like the player enough for what he is but i think the combo like last year when we were talking

about jaylex hunt that was the combo of man like what could this guy be and he goes in the third round and goes to the best place to develop in the world and the philadelphia eagles right but i don't know why sometimes we have these combos of a guy of hey what could this guy be let's put him in the top 12 in every mock draft and the reason they're in the mock drafts is because that's when they're going to be picked but and i we've we've we had this combo just recently it's like i've seen this enough to know it could work but history tells us it it most likely won't hit the ceiling we're hoping for at this slide i think and again you you've reiterated we've hit the ceiling we're hoping for at this slot. I think, and again, you've reiterated it. We've reiterated it.

We're not necessarily, we're not going after field for this. Again, one, it's a mock draft versus rankings. So like field is absolutely doing this mock draft like Daniel Jeremiah does it with his ears. You do a lot of things with what you're hearing. And it's a combination of kind of how you see the players as well. So it's not a field thing, but I think the conversation is worth it because it's not that Mike Cal can't be a great pro.

It's not only are you sort of making a risk thinking that he is going to be a better passer than anything that we saw at the college level in the top 10 top eight even but you're also I think you did a very good job you are looking over other positions where there are stars to potentially pick in this draft at number seven over a guy like a Mike L. Williams. So I just think that that's a, it's an interesting part of the conversation because I think you're going to see Mike L's name all around the top 12 in mock drafts as we move forward. All right. The next pick that I want to talk about, not too far down,

we're only going two picks down. It's New Orleans Saints. And you know, this is, this is, I'm going to shout out field for this one. This is a great one. I know that when we do these mock draft reviews,

we're often looking at picks that we didn't like. This is a pick that I had never thought of before, that the more I thought about it, I was like, huh, I could actually see it. The New Orleans Saints taking Tett McMillan, the wide receiver from Arizona, at number nine. Now, if your immediate reaction watching and listening to the show is, absolutely not. That was also my reaction the second I saw this one from Field. at number nine. Now, if your immediate reaction watching and listening to the show is absolutely

not, that was also my reaction. The second I saw this one from field, I was like, Oh, field is in his bag with this one. What is he doing? And then, you know, you read his analysis for it and you think more about it and you go, all right, well, hold on here. If there's not a trench player that they feel is worth it, you know, if they don't love one of these tackles that's there, if they still are committed to giving Trevor Penning that right tackle spot and Talisa Fuonga's got the left tackle spot, they've signed Cesar Ruiz long-term, they have Eric McCoy, okay, maybe they think the offensive line is fine.

They can sign some sort of interior offensive lineman in free agency to make sure they're good to go there. And if you look at the defensive line, you think, all right, no, it hasn't budded yet, but we've got some younger players in that defensive line, and we don't want to reach on any of the defensive linemen. Then you look at wide receiver, you look at other positions, you sort of open your mind to Oaks, so what could be for the Saints?

And you look at receiver and you go, Chris Olave suffered four or five, I can't remember exactly, four or five concussions already in his NFL career. Two of them came last year, and they were ugly, man. You felt awful for him watching. Rashid Shahid is coming off a knee injury. Yeah, serious injury. And Marquez Valdez-Gantling, who is hilarious,

like every time he touched the ball, it was a touchdown for them at one point in time. He's a free agent upcoming. So you're basically worried about all three of your top wide receivers on this team. There is reason to be concerned. And Teterow McMillan immediately comes in and he's your wide receiver one. And I think that obviously Chris Olave could be your wide receiver one as well. I'm not trying to say that as a slight to Chris Olave,

but you've got to be conscious of his concussions because concussions are unlike any other injury where, yes, wear and tear can sometimes get to you. But, you know, if you break your leg, you can heal your leg, right? And maybe you'll never break it again. You know, the same thing could even happen with an ankle. I know there's like more complications and things like that, but you can suffer an injury to most of the rest of your body. And there's a chance that you never hurt that again. When you get, when you get multiple

concussions, they tend to get more severe and they tend to get worse and they tend to happen more often. So that's why, like, I, I didn't think that this was a possibility, but the more I thought about it, the more it's like, man, the saints are kind of skating on thin ice with the current wide receivers. They have, if all those of all, if their current wide receivers are fully healthy, I love the room. It's explosive. It's dynamic. It's something that can make for a pretty potent passing attack, but you gotta be realistic with where you're at with your roster. And I wonder if Kellen Moore, the new head coach, who is obviously a guy who's got an offensive background is going to want to

shore up that receiving core. So I hadn't thought about this one, but Ted McMillan did the saints at number nine. I think it's a worth exploring or worth thinking about. I agree. One that we haven't seen a lot of, but it also gives, even if things work out in the best way possible and a lave is healthy and Rashid Shahid comes back healthy, McMillan gives that pass catching room something different. It gives them a little size and physicality and above the rim ball skills.

And this is a team that I know he plays tight end technically but joan johnson's going to be a free agent so you're looking to add that pass catcher with size as well so i like that as well it's a good shout out and you know i think mcmillan is oddly enough a player with a wide range of outcomes like there's a world where you look at and go hey man ted mcmillan can go forward to the Patriots. Ted McMillan can go all the way down. There's a world where, hey, maybe he's at the Steelers at 21, and I wouldn't be floored. I wouldn't be absolutely floored. I think he's a better player than that,

but wide-range outcomes. It is pretty crazy because I think he's a phenomenal football player. I like him a lot. We had him and Jenty. I talked about Jenty already, but we also had Ted the same day on Radio row and like another 10 out of 10 dude really just obsessed with football and proving himself and humble but so confident and really cares about his teammates like he talked about how he's caught a touchdown from fafita eight years in a row which is that's pretty awesome since eighth grade every year he's caught a touchdown from Noah Fafita

that's pretty it just meant a lot to him he's somebody that I think he'll come into the NFL with the right attitude of how to get better and be a pro and which is very impressive for how accomplished he already is so yeah I'm with you I think he'll have a really good combine in the interview room with teams and a team will be like okay this guy this guy fits our identity on offense all right who's the next pick what are we talking about next let's drop all the way down to the steelers at 21 because you have to talk about this one like there's no no matter what you think of it we just have to talk about the steelers taking jackson dart at 21 mixed emotions here because i personally haven't thought of dart as a first

round quarterback yet I felt like when we did the quarterback show which feels like years ago when I had him at QB4 it was like whoa like QB4 and then all of a sudden we we jumped ahead after the senior bowl where darts now in the first round after Cam Ward and Shadir and yeah put your hand your face in your hands because i i can't get behind that it's uh but i mean field let's also make this clear field knows a lot of people he is we always talk about with dj's mock drafts and all these different mock drafts that people plugged in fields at the same events we're at field and fields also a legit insider man like he's got great connections. Phenomenal contacts where this isn't just him throwing shit at the wall.

I wonder if we're just at the point, Trevor, and I'm not there yet, but I'm at least now contemplating. Are we at the point where Dart is going to be in the back end of the first round in every mock draft, you know, and then the combine always resets things because teams talk to the player, they get them on the board, right? People are leaky, they'll be like, you know, dart might actually go in the first round, and then it builds up. But he's not the first mock drafter to have dart in the first round. But this is the earliest I've seen him. The Steelers. So we had we had and I know I keep referencing these radio interviews, but there is really good information that comes out. And then we had Jay Glazer on one day, and I asked him.

I was like, dude, what about Russ and Fields? And he was kind of not that confident that those reunions are going to happen. And I'm sitting there like, well, what are the Steelers going to do? And it's not saying there's a 0% chance, but it just seemed more unlikely than not throughout that conversation that the Steelers are bringing back fields and Russ and I know people have kicked around Roger's name although I don't see that one like are the Steelers going to go into the draft and needing a quarterback and they just don't care what anyone else thinks

and they take the next guy at 21 I wouldn't recommend that by the way i don't think i don't think the steelers are gonna go into the draft with no quarterback you just can't like you can't do that i think you're either you're you're like bringing back russ or you're signing jamis winston or like you don't want to say like you're doing something where you have at least something to believe in, but that also doesn't take quarterback off the table for them or one of these other teams, you know, field notes this in,

in his blurb about this where he goes into a more in-depth sort of explaining this, but he says, he's like, this is quite the rise up the board for where I have dart ranked. So that to me signals very clearly, maybe it's not exactly a I've heard about the Pittsburgh Steelers specifically with Jackson Dart, but it is a, I've heard enough to put Jackson Dart at number 21, or at least it feels like,

it feels like, uh, I've heard enough to where I need to find a spot for him in the first round. Very good call out. So we're kind of, we're kind of fighting the fight here, keeping him out of these mock drafts. Uh,

cause we don't think that he should be in the first round but the closer we get to april the more we do our own mock drafts here on this show of what we think is going to happen yeah it might just be a hey i don't love the player like this but clearly the nfl does if every other in you know like in tune or, or the things that we hear on ESPN or NFL network or wherever is telling us that this is going to happen. This is by far the earliest that I have seen Jackson dart in a, in a mock draft that wasn't sort of like an experimental mock draft. So who they did this with Kenny Pickett though, by the way,

like they took Pickett 20th. I got to see what he was on the consensus board that year. I believe I know I had Pickett in the 30s, and that's not like a hot take. I had him lower. Yeah, I remember you did. And he was my QB once. I had no quarterback.

QB was a whirlwind. What year was that? It was 2022, right? 2022. Hold on. I can look it up. I got it right now. So he was, I believe, 32nd now. So he was I believe 32nd on

the consensus board. He was 32nd on the consensus? Yeah, 32nd on the consensus. He was 33rd for evaluators, but forecasters had him 24th and he went obviously 20th. Okay, so that was a little bit closer there. Hold on. I'm looking at my rankings right now. I'm pulling up

2022. Where was Pickett? I'm curious of the same thing now. So he was 32nd on the consensus board. He was 56th for me. He was 56th. 56th, okay. Yeah.

Yeah, so you were definitely on the lower end. Who was the first QB? I i had him 32nd which was the exact consensus right nice yeah qb1 for me was desmond ritter yikes uh had him 43rd had malik willis 47th had sam howell 50th and then i had kenny pickett 56th yeah but the point is nobody loved the quarterbacks that you know no no no like we just. Like, we didn't have one in the top 30. But it didn't matter. And I think Pickett's a very different prospect, or Jackson Dart's a very different prospect than Pickett.

And I'm not saying for better or for worse, just very different. But it's like, I'm not saying the Steelers are above that. They could very well do this. Man, yeah, interesting. A could very well do this. Man. Yeah. Interesting. A lot of offseason left. All right. So what do you got next?

Who do I have next? Oh, I'm going to pop back up to number 12. He has the Cowboys taking Will Johnson. So here we have, there's two talking points here with this one. One, this is another mock draft that has Will Johnson outside of the top 10, which I think is very interesting because if you look at how Will Johnson plays, I think he's a stud. I think that his tape, especially last season when he was fully healthy,

this is a potential CB1 type of a player. Now, does he have the lowest 40-yard dash time in the world? Does he have the best top speed? No, and I can understand some hesitancy to draft the corner really high if you have concerns about their top speed. I do, but especially when you let this guy play a little bit off coverage, play in space, manipulate that space between the wide receiver and the quarterback, keep his eyes on what the quarterback is doing. You get somebody who can get plenty of interceptions and even a couple of pick sixes like we've seen over the

last couple of years i just feel with shutdown corners being such a rarity it's hard for me to look at will johnson and and think that he wouldn't be a top 10 player in this class but we haven't done cornerback final evals yet so i have that as a uh again like a get out of jail free card for myself and i think the other part of the conversation here that's very interesting is he notes that Trayvon Diggs is recovering from a knee injury. Deron Bland is about to enter the last year of his rookie deal. And Jordan Lewis is about to be a free agent for them. So the cornerback room, where it's not the most pressing need for the Dallas Cowboys, could be a little bit of a, hey, we're going to get ahead of things here. And maybe you don't bring back Daron Bland

and maybe you just have Will Johnson, Trayvon Diggs, you're starting outside corners moving forward. Or maybe if you go, ah, man, knee injury for Trayvon Diggs, not great. We'll resign Daron Bland, but then we'll get a stud rookie corner so that maybe you're moving on from Trayvon Diggs a little bit earlier. It's just one of those scenarios where much like the New Orleans Saints, I'm giving props to field here because I had not thought of this before. And initially the shock value, the sticker value of it, you go, Whoa, Whoa, Whoa, Whoa. That's crazy. And then you think about it more and you go, all right, is it the first strategy that I'd have for the Cowboys? Maybe not, but it is something

that makes sense logically when you could get there. So this is one that I had not thought of before, uh, that I think was worth talking about. Yeah, no, I agree on this one completely. I think it's a value that we're seeing become more popular. Will Johnson was a player that if you looked at a lot of summer boards, he was a top five player probably on almost all of them. And he wasn't healthy this year, as you noted. When he was, he's put out top flight film.

What he runs, obviously, is top flight film what he runs obviously is going to be what a lot of people have their eyes on but you can't teach the instincts and ball skills that this guy has to turn the game at any moment and for the cowboys at 12 we have been kind of pumped with the idea that this is ashton genti every time so it's nice to see a pick that's not ashton genti every time right right right and matt eberflus defensive coordinator now with the dallas cowboys so he is very like zone scheme type of a defensive coordinator as field notes in here so that's really good context and that's kind of the great context that he's bringing when he's giving you these blurbs

all right before we get on to our uh next couple of picks we got four more that we want to get to hear from field yates Mock Draft. Got a question for everybody out there. What does your child's success look like to you? Maybe it is a job that they are very passionate about. Maybe it's having the opportunity to travel the world. Or maybe it's just a situation where their day-to-day, they're just so happy and comfortable. Whatever their journey is, you can make it easier for them to achieve with a kid's investment account from Fabric by Gerber Life. By making a contribution to your child's future today, you can help give them the means to pursue their dreams, both big and small. Fabric by Gerber Life was designed by parents for parents to make it easy

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All investing is subject to risk. Learn more at neatfabric.com. All right, where are you going next? What's your next pick here that we're analyzing? I would like to give Field props for a 10 out of 10 selection, and that, to me, is the commanders taking a Mecca Buka who I'm just at the point where I'll either see a Mecca Buka thrown into the end of the first round or not in the first round of mock draft after mock draft. And I don't think that's unreasonable,

but I am convinced that in three years we will all be sitting here and going, why did nobody care about Emeka Ibuka in that draft class over and over again he has everything you want to help your pass game and your run game yep he is a dynamic physical blocker and he is a calculated route runner that changes tempo that catches the ball in traffic that diagnoses and eats up zone tell me if you've heard this about ohio statewide receivers before it's just that he's not six five and doesn't run a four three so everybody's kind of bored with him but the commanders this is the exact kind of player that would just be tremendous added into their offense you already got terry

mclaurin jayaden Daniels looks amazing. Cliff Kingsbury has constructed the perfect offense for these guys. Yes, they need offensive line help. They have a ton of cap space. I think they can go buy some offensive line help and draft it. It doesn't have to be the first round pick, although that would help. But you get Emeka Ibuka at 29, and you have a legitimate number two that jayden can lean on and it's

nothing against you know zakias or diami brown that and zacher it's that tried to fill that number two pass catching role throughout this year but a mecca buka gives you the surefire answer so and those guys still exist and those guys still exist in this in roles that are more equipped 100 yeah so this is just a 10 out of 10 selection these are with the mega buka and terry mclaurin those are your two wide receivers that are on the field at all times and then if you want to go in 11 personnel and have a little bit more quickness little yards after the catch stuff you put all the major kias in there if you want to be if we want to have your you're running more of a vertical concept,

you're running a 9-8-9, throw, throw Jamie Brown in there, right? I mean, like, I think the same can be said with Ben Sennett as well. When you go four wide receivers, throw Ben Sennett in there, right? I mean, it's just so, I think that Mekhi Buka becomes one of your every single down wide receivers. And I like this as well. Certainly with getting him at 29 back end of the first round, it just feels like that's where he's going to go. And I agree with you, man. He feels like one of these prospects that we're going to look back and we're just going to go, yep, what a pick.

What great value to get him at that point. And how many other teams in the NFL would have loved to get him a little bit earlier in the draft. So especially getting there to that spot for the commanders. I love that. Love that there. So I'm going to pop up back into the top 15 for the next one that I want to talk about here.

And it's, it's again, a little bit of a multifaceted conversation here with this pick. So Fields got Tyler Booker, the offensive lineman from Alabama going to the Miami Dolphins here at number 13. One, totally understand the idea of giving them an the offensive lineman from Alabama, going to the Miami Dolphins here at number 13. One, totally understand the idea of giving them an interior offensive lineman. The Dolphins, it feels like, have deprioritized the interior offensive line. I know they signed Aaron Brewer, but I think just as a whole, they've kind of deprioritized investments along the interior offensive line and just the offensive line in general saying ah you know we can we can make it work well we'll have kind of like a patchwork offensive line because the idea is we're getting

the ball out of to his hands so quickly anyway so we're going to mitigate any long-term blocking that's needed from higher priced higher profile offensive linemen that we would have to go get and kind of backfired this year you know even for as fast the offense wanted to be, even when it was going according to plan, the offensive line was still an issue. So I definitely understand the idea of wanting to get them an interior offensive lineman. I also think it's very interesting that not long after DJ, Daniel Jeremiah, put Tyler Booker 10th overall

to the Chicago Bears field also has him now in the top 15. So I think we can kind of start to talk about Tyler Booker 10th overall to the Chicago Bears field also has him now in the top 15. So I think we can kind of start to talk about Tyler Booker as a player who I've got him ranked 45th overall on my board. And even though I'd be more comfortable drafting him anywhere from like 20 to 45, somewhere around that range, it feels as light as though if you want Tyler Booker, you might have to draft him a little bit higher so I think that goes into it the pushback I'll have so so I want to give you know field credit and his kudos there for those two points the pushback I would give him for the Dolphins specifically is Booker in my opinion is more of a man gap scheme blocking type of an offensive lineman.

Now, he can get out as a puller. He can run, but he's not the most athletic dude. He's really going to win for you in a phone booth, duo blocks, things between the tackles where he could be a little bit more powerful. The Miami Dolphins had this number up. Did I get rid of it? No, it's right here okay the Miami Dolphins ran outside zone 43 percent of the time last year that was seventh most in the NFL and they only ran inside zone 13 percent of the time but that was also their second highest so their two highest blocking concept run plays were both inside and outside

zone. Specifically, outside zone is what they ran a ton of. I don't think that Tyler Booker can't do it. It's just asking him to not have his strengths shine on a regular basis when you are primarily an outside zone blocking team. So that's where I would push back. I understand the logic. I understand wanting to get them into interior offensive linemen and field makes a great point of why they would prioritize a player at that position. I just don't love the Tyler Booker fit specifically because I think he's more of a phone booth blocker than he is a zone blocking player. I agree. I think it would signal a change in scheme from McDaniel or at least tendencies, I would say. Right.

And maybe if they want to become more of a power running team, right? Yep. Then now I think that this pick could definitely make some sense here but um if they want to still try to beat you to the sideline and try to run outside zone the majority of the time um i would have a little bit of pushback from booker exactly here in the spot for them i i would kind of counter and say like and i know he's heavy but i think he moves really well maybe membu would be

a little bit of a better i think membu yeah i think membu would move move better than booker would yeah at guard all right my last one was membu on the board still yes he was okay i won't tell you where no no no we can't we never never never spoil anything yeah never spoil anything. Yeah, never spoil anything. No. Certainly not a movie. Again, again. TV? Nope, never. My last one, 30 of the Buffalo Bills got Kenneth Grant, the hulking nose tackle from Michigan.

The Bills, I just want to see them become a beefier, more disruptive front. And Kenneth Grant at 30 is just what the doctor ordered in that scenario that gives you a guy that could two gap if you need him to he could play true nose because that's what he does but he's got light feet to rush the passer from the interior which I think is a I think it's going to be a mission of the Bills this offseason I think they want to find a way to become more disruptive on their front and it's not that their front's bad. It's not.

But just a front that can really disrupt. And Kenneth Grant can do a couple different things for you. He can eat more space and take on more blockers that opens up matchups for other guys. Or he can just be disruptive in his own way and one-on-ones with quick feet and hands. So I think the Bills getting Grant at 30 was another one of those top flight value picks in this mock draft. Yeah, I agree with you, man. Kenneth Grant, we talked about this on the interior defensive line episode. You guys can go back and listen to that.

Connor had Kenneth Grant at number three on his overall interior defensive line rankings. I had him at number two. There are times when I watch Kenneth Grant and I was judging him through a harsher lens. And I was like, man, like I am kind of like dinging your grades a little bit here. But the more that I watched, the more I realized I was doing that. And it was like, it's not because I'm comparing you to your peers or what you should be at the NFL level. I'm actually being harsher on you because I've seen the incredible plays from you. I just wish I saw a little bit more of them. So that you can note that in a scouting report, but damn, does Grant

bring some fun plays to the table at six foot, uh, at six foot three, 200, sorry, 340 pounds. I mean, he's just a, he's a beast. He really is. So he, I think he'd be perfect for Buffalo. I also love him because Grant and sort of his unique quickness and unique size would also be fun with Greg Rousseau as well who sort of gives you a ton they're not built the same I'm not saying that they're the same player but they're both very versatile like because of how quick Kenneth Grant's hands and feet are I mean you can get away with playing him the way that the Kansas City Chiefs play Chris Jones. Right, I agree.

And he's obviously a lot bigger than Chris Jones, so he's not going to be as athletic. But you could play Kenneth Grant at left end or right end sometimes and just really screw with the offensive tackle and not really know how to handle somebody like that. So you could do the same thing with Greg Rousseau where you move him all along the defensive line. I just like the creativity that that creates.

So this is a big shout out. Love this pick here from Field. Makes a ton of sense. The last one that I'm bringing to the table is another one that I haven't seen a lot of, but it's funny because if I talk about the places where I think Ashton Gentry could land, I don't really feel like we have him landing with the Denver Broncos at number 20 very often.

No. But Field does here. And if I were to say in a vacuum, like, all right, what are some landing spots for Ashton Gentry that you love? I'd go, okay, well, we probably start the conversation at six. But are you really going to draft a running back at number six if you're the Raiders probably not although I do like that spot you go a little bit further you go okay Dallas at 12 I think definitely makes sense uh and then shoot now that I'm scrolling through it 20 is the next spot 20 is the next spot with Denver and then of course we talk about the Chargers at number 22 but if Ashton Gentry gets past the Dallas Cowboys at number 12

good chance he could end up at Denver Bronco and the Broncos for as much as they have some names in their backfield and in their running back room they haven't exactly had the consistent production that they have wanted and I think this is something that, you know, Ashton Gentry's comp for a lot of people, myself included, is Alvin Kamara. Sean Payton knows Alvin Kamara pretty well. I mean, makes it obviously just, when you look at the history of Sean Payton, right? Like, check this out.

So Sean Payton became uh head coach of the saints in 2006 so from just 2006 on the saints drafted reggie bush second overall in 2006 damn reggie did go too huh he went too yes um and then i'm not going to name all the running backs they took while peyton was there but just to show the investment in 2011 they took mark ingram 28th overall and then they took alvin camara they traded up for alvin camara at the top of round three in 2017. so like when sean payton sees a difference maker at the position and i think he was very doing a fantasy football show five days a week this year i watched a lot of sean payton press conferences on his running back room it's like ingrained in my brain like a war story he never and this is part of him as a whole but he never really i thought had confidence

in one guy he was very coy all the time especially with javante williams it played out like that you know it played out like that there was the jaleel McLaughlin touches, obviously Audrick Estime. He wouldn't even ride the hot hand. He would just, I don't know, he would be all over the place. So when you look at a guy like Jente coming into that program, you go, that's it. Sean Payton is just going to run the hell out of the ball, but a special, special player. And all the things we asked Bo Nix to do this year now become even easier with the threat of Genting in the backfield

so I yeah this is this is definitely one where I'm like I could see it you look at the history of him and where their team stands and it's a it's a very Sean Payton pick and I think it would be a hell of an ad for this offense it's you know it's a different age obviously um that we're talking about here in the NFL from some of the statistics that I'm looking at now 2017 2018 um scrolling through where's 2019 2019 but I mean Payton has always the little bit of pushback that I have from this is, is not that I don't think Sean Peyton would love Ashton Shetty. I think he would.

2017, when they drafted Alvin Kamara, 2018, 2019, whether it was Mark Ingram, Latavius Murray, I'm looking at here in 2019, it was always pretty like by committee.

Like it was a running back. Yeah, that's fair. So I do i i wonder like would he not draft genti in the first round because he goes well this running back class is stacked like i'll get one a little bit later and then like either in in next year's draft the year after then i'll draft another running back somewhere in the second or third round and boom there we go or shoot maybe it's i believe in one

of these guys i believe in one of giovante williams or auger guesstime or jaleel mclaughlin but i believe in them if they were a duo with asha genti so that's fair too there's just there's there's a couple of different ways to think about it that's where my mind went immediately is like when i remember you know alvin kamara and what he was with the Saints I always remember it was a one-two punch whether it was more with Mark Ingram those two years or or Latavius Murray so just sort of a thought there but I know Broncos fans um I can't remember if it was a mock draft exercise that we had done before or if it was us reviewing a mock draft where um we had the Broncos passing over Ashton Gentry and Broncos fans were like, if this happens, I will cry. So here it doesn't.

For everybody else that we didn't talk about the picks, please check out Field Yates' mock draft. Make sure you go sign up for an ESPN Plus account. Go read all of his great work. But Matt, Jordan, again, Mel, the godfather, they're doing great stuff covering the draft over there. So go check that out and read the rest of his mock draft and read the rest of their work throughout the rest of this draft season. But Matt, Jordan, again, Mel, the godfather, they're doing great stuff covering the draft over there. So go check that out and read the rest of his mock draft and read the rest of their work throughout the rest of this draft season.

We would love to hear your thoughts on Field Yates' mock, on our analysis of some of these picks here. Best way to do that, youtube.com backslash at NFL Stock Exchange. You can also hit us up on Twitter at TampaBayTrey at ConnorJRogers. You can hit up the show and follow the show at NFL se show on Twitter, on Instagram and a tick talk as well. We're trying to be better about those shorts and getting those things out to you there.

So we can infiltrate your feeds in as many ways as possible. But yeah, Connor got anything else before we get out of here? No, I think these are just really good extra. Like we kind of found something with this exercise. We've done it in the past, but it's just a you're right, Trev. It gets us out of our bubble.

And I think that's always something we try to do on this show. We love that everybody is so into our ideas and thoughts and inside jokes and all the nonsense, but also the analysis as well. But also it's good to look at things and go, man, I never thought of that. I would never put that guy with that team. Here's my take on it. So if you're enjoying this series, let us know. We'll keep rolling through them now that we've done, obviously, DJ's mock, Fields' mock.

I'm sure we have a couple more in the tank before we start getting people on here to do mock drafts with us, which is another way to kind of do this exercise just in a more um engaging way as well so it's it's been a lot of fun man man i can't wait for the uh the collab mock draft series to come up we've already talked about some of the people that we've had names coming in before we got some new names coming in we talked to some people that you guys have loved before here on this channel that you love when we did collab mocks with them so we're gonna try to get all

those guys uh as many as we possibly can because those episodes are a lot of fun for us and hopefully uh you guys enjoy them as well appreciate everybody watching and listening shout out the field yates king we love it we love that he's here uh in the in the thick of the draft here with us so it was really cool to evaluate his mock draft for connor rogers i'm trevor sycamore saying thank you guys so much for watching and listening to the nfl stock exchange podcast see you guys next time Bye.