NFL Stock Exchange: An NFL Draft Podcast - 6. Senior Bowl Stock Up & Stock Down, Players to Watch

Episode Date: February 3, 2022

Hosts Trevor Sikkema and Connor Rogers give their biggest takeaways so far from the 2022 Senior Bowl as they recap a couple days of fascinating action among future NFL stars. Trevor and Connor give their picks for stock up and stock down as the 2022 NFL Draft order starts to become more clear. 0:00 - Intro 3:45 - QBs 12:50 - RBs 17:35 - WRs/TEs 27:35 - OL 36:15 - DL 42:00 - LBs, CBs, Safeties

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I got it this year. It's awesome. Sign up now at youtube.com slash BS, device and content restrictions apply. Local and national games on YouTube TV. NFL Sunday ticket for out-of-market games excludes digital-only games. Welcome to the NFL Stock Exchange podcast. In this episode, we are recapping everything that we have seen down in Mobile for the 2022 Senior Bowl. We're going to give you some stock up, stock down for all these

prospects, both offense and defense. We're going to tell you how the Lions coaching staff and the Jets coaching staff have been using a lot of these guys in some unique ways. We've learned a lot. We've got some ups and downs in our positional rankings, a ton of stuff to tell you with what happened, not just on the practice field, but also what we've been hearing with scouts and coaches

that we have talked to all week long. I am Trevor Sycamore. With me is my co-host, Connor Rogers. Let's get after it. What's going on, everybody? Welcome to the opening bell of the NFL Stock Exchange Podcast. I am Trevor Sycamore. With me is Connor Rogers, here to give you all of our

practice notes our stock up our stock down our position reports everything from the 2022 senior bowl we got two days of practice in the books final day of practice is today connor my man how are you doing good man listen had to take the uh emergency red eye back in the middle of the night wednesday going into thursday with uh practice closed to most of the media trevor on on thursday and uh it sounded like delta was canceling my flight thursday so i did not want to be stuck in mobile without a hotel without a practice to go to but it was a great two days so make no mistake the trip was uh totally worth it man it's one of my favorite trips of the year. Definitely a genuine scouting trip, right? At the Combine, it's a lot more, you know, in a fun way, socializing,

and you're still watching the Combine broadcast. While the Senior Bowl, you're right there. You're right down in the action. You're getting to see everything. And while it was a monsoon the second day, they still went hard in practice. And, you know, I got to see people like you got to see a lot of great people over time so awesome trip and i can't wait to break down what we saw today we did get to see each other but you're right the weather permitting the schedule permitting i

mean we did not get to do the pod that we uh that we wanted to do actually together just because of the craziness with all the rain and everything and. And look, man, I'm just going to be honest. Like it wouldn't be mobile if there wasn't a practice that was ravaged by rain. Like that has been the senior bowl experience, basically every single year that I've been there. So unfortunately it bled over even into the fact that we couldn't do a live podcast together, but we did get to see each other in catch up, which was fantastic. And I really enjoyed that.

If you guys aren't seeing my set right now, I'm giving off like serial killer vibes here in a dark room. Like I apologize. I'm trying to make do. We're trying to make do here. I'm at the hotel that I'm staying at here in Mobile. And so that's kind of why if I turn the lights on overhead, I look like a zombie.

So I don't know. It's just, this is the lesser of two evils, if you will. So work with me here if you're watching this on YouTube. Apologies that the set isn't as lit as it normally is. But speaking of lit, God, that was a bad transition. Holy cow. We can't do that, man. That was too cheesy.

Don't stop his roll. Let's talk about some of these players. We're going to give you all kinds of stock up, stock down. If you guys didn't listen to the Senior Bowl preview episode, Connor and I give over an hour of our talk, breaking down every single position, some guys that we were really looking forward to going into this week. And now we got two full days of practice.

We got a lot of rumors and hearsay and catching up with scouts and GMs and head coaches and everything about this class about these guys that we want to share with you to give a little bit of update from what's been going on here in Mobile so let's start off with the quarterback position we got to do it this is the moneymaker this is the position that everybody cares about so Connor two practices in one of them not ideal conditions in the pouring rain cold rain little wind as well did anybody really stand out to you this week anybody get a stock up from you from the quarterback class what do you think I think you got to give it to Malik Willis right now I will

clarify with you know because everybody's just that's what they ask you the people that aren't there they're texting there how the quarterbacks look How do they look? And, I mean, I'm brutally honest, right? Like, they just weren't good. And now I can make excuses of why. Day one, they get there. They've never thrown to most of these guys, right? I know Desmond Ritter had one receiver there. But they haven't thrown to most of these guys.

You've got a lot going on. You're in a new environment. Maybe you're not comfortable yet. And then day two, Trevor, we're sitting there in a monsoon. Like, not comfortable yet and then day two Trevor we're sitting there in a monsoon like we were soaked through our clothes like it was great you had a rain jacket but like literally you could feel like the water through your jeans yes I can't imagine being out there gripping a ball now so those are the excuses but the problem is it just it wasn't very good overall and now if I have to give it to someone though you got to give it to Malik Willis because he got better from day one to day two and he showed the high ceiling ability

that you kind of want to gamble on in this draft if you're going to take a quarterback where it's number one he came in at 220 he has a great. He clearly has a bubbly personality that people gravitate to. Love his energy on the field, off the field. He's got a howitzer of an arm, and he moves really well. Now, mechanically, on plenty of his dropbacks where he air-meld passes, you see the lack of consistency, right? And he's not alone. There was a lot of bad throws throughout the two practices for each quarterback, two of their practices.

Now, but at least with Malik, the flashes were really big. They were really big where, and I've said this for a while, you know, the Lions who worked directly with him at the end of round one, maybe they feel like they have an environment and they're one of many teams. And I don't think Malik lasts as long as we once thought he did, where you can sit him behind a veteran starter and say, yeah, we know you have all the talent in the world, but we want to work with you to clean up the easy stuff, the drop back mechanics to throw the screen, to throw the intermediate throws, because we know you have a howitzer to throw down the field. We know when we get you on the move and cut the field in half, your mechanics kind of fall into place and

everything looks a lot better. And we know what you can do as a designed runner or an off-script runner. So really love what I saw from Malik Willis. But I have to be honest with you, Trevor. Concerns for Desmond Ritter and even Kenny Pickett to a degree were just magnified in my eyes. I didn't think that Ritter was very good day one. And then day two in the monsoon, the one thing I saw with Pickett was when everyone's worried about the hand sizes,

you know, instead of a thrower, he started to look like he was aiming it a little bit like a shot put where it's a wet ball and it's tough conditions. Guess what, brother? A lot of games in the NFL are played outside. I live in the Northeast. You know how crappy it is at MetLife Stadium where the Jets and Giants play 60% of the year. So I'm not killing those guys, but if they had concerns, those two guys, Ritter and Pickett, didn't do anything really to lift them in my eyes. Yeah. I don't know how much of a, I mean, maybe it's a stock down for the guys in the group. You know, I was, I was talking to some people and we and we even overheard from some scouts that, you know, the big winner from the week from the quarterback group was Matt Corral because he wasn't even here.

It's a great way to put it. You're watching the rest of these guys, you know, just not really come to life. And I think that it was kind of the worst fear of what people thought of this quarterback class, unfortunately. And look, man, you mentioned Malik Willis, and I totally totally agree with you if I've got to pick a winner from the quarterback group I am picking Malik Willis because day two was nice like day two you could go hey man look at how he was able to control the football really continue to push the ball down the field even with uh the wet ball and the conditions and everything and that's because he's got big hands he's got such

a great arm on him and so he was definitely able to stand out yesterday because that ball was still ripping through those weather conditions it didn't look different right you notice the difference with everyone else didn't look different with him he physically looked different so that part of his scouting report that we have been talking about for months came true without a doubt but the problem was connor malik was bad day one like you're spot on i didn't know the tweet but the tweets were praising his day one i didn't i didn't see it no everybody who is saying like through two days like anybody who is like man malik willis has had the best senior bowl so far you got to realize that's just day two stuff yes day one i've got

so many clips on tape that I was on the sideline watching where he's just like, like comebacks out routes, like quick stuff like that. He's sailing these things. Like it's not even close. The accuracy worries that we have with Malik Willis are absolutely on the tape for day one of practice. And so I think if we've got to have a stock up player from this quarterback group, I do agree that we've got to have Malik Willis. And I'm excited to see Malik Willis day three of practice, right? Day three of practice is, you mentioned it, you know, first day you show up, there's not a ton of confidence.

You're throwing to new guys. You got a new playbook. It's a new environment. So you expect some of the jitters and everything like that. Day two, you would have wanted to see kind of a step up from those guys. And I think you did from a confidence perspective from most of them but the weather conditions made it really tough to see those results outside of Willis this day three of practice is indoors and you hope it is the best day yet from all of these guys so we'll obviously kind of update you guys early next week when we do

the podcast next week to give our final thoughts on a lot of these players, but man, through two days, agree with you. I think Malik is the stock up guy, but it just, it's, it's just not looking like a great quarterback class, man. I, I mean, I heard, I don't know what you were able to hear with kind of the scuttlebutt of what some of the teams thought of this class. I mean, I, I found out that Bailey Zappi spent a lot of time with the, the new Orleans saints this week and the Pittsburgh Steelers are definitely looking at sense.

Yeah, I know. Pittsburgh Steelers are looking at a lot of these quarterbacks, especially Malik Willis. I was told that multiple times throughout the week that the Steelers seem to be very interested and intrigued on Malik, potentially even when they pick in the first round or maybe even sooner. But I don't know. That was some of the quarterback rumors that I heard there outside of what I saw on the field. Yeah, I mean, that's been the consistent theme. And you can kind of find guys with scheme fits, right?

Like you said, Zappy, who did not have a bad two days, honestly. It's just you know what his limitations are. The arm strength is drastically different compared to the other guys but the timing and accuracy is at least a little bit more consistent for the most part where you know and even Howell had moments like that as well where if Malik didn't have a couple of those big splash plays you probably would roll with Howell as the best guy here but the point is that doesn't didn't really mean anything for once like i've been down here and i know you have too trevor for weeks where we were highly anticipating the arrival of baker mayfield or carson wentz and they get down here and you're like yes like physically everything

is there and we're talking about practice right now okay so like a lot of people message me like oh my god what happened to this guy today and like, dude, these guys are practicing like you do have to give them that. But what you can evaluate at practice is physical ability, right? Like people always ask me and we'll get this for every position group of a quarterbacks. You can see the mechanics. You could see the accuracy. You could see how the ball comes out of their hand. You could see how they move and how they look.

Right. So and I think compared to other years where, you know, Josh Allen's been down here and he had accuracy problems, but you could see how they move and how they look, right? And I think compared to other years where Josh Allen's been down here and he had accuracy problems, but you could see the physical ability. Baker Mayfield, Carson Wentz, Dak Prescott, Jalen Hurts, on and on. I don't know, Trevor, just maybe going off years past, but also the bias I have. It's not a bias because it's a real film study. This quarterback class just doesn't do it for me,

and I do think you're right. Teams are are gonna look at them in the first round a handful of them but it's as risky as it's ever been no I I don't think there's any doubt about that and we're gonna see quarterbacks go in the first round that's just how the NFL draft works but I didn't see a day one starter out there amongst the senior bowl group I didn't I saw things to like, right? There are quarterbacks that you like to invest in. I think Malik Willis, a lot of people are going to love the tools. They're going to want to try to improve the mechanics, get the accuracy up.

And there's things that I think a lot of these other quarterbacks do as well. But I don't see a day one starter. I don't, at least not right now. I mean, when you look at their tape from what we had this past season and how they're doing in Mobile, you'd be hard pressed for me to say, yes, one of these guys in this quarterback class class you can start week one of next NFL season and they're going to be okay like they will be fine for an entire season I think if you're doing that you're going through a lot of growing pains with a lot of these guys and I think the senior bowl is kind of magnifying that a little bit what about the running back room anybody

really stand out from the running back group for you yeah Yeah, we see eye to eye on this one. And it's somebody that was the guy of our preview show. It's Damian Pierce. I mean, let's be and it was everything. It was the violent running style. It was the attitude and pass protection. It's the physical makeup. Once again, a guy that brings a different energy to practice. And that means something because it's the old ad.

It's cliche. But, you know, how you practice is typically how you're going to play and what you bring to a practice especially maybe one of the biggest job interviews of your life here he was somebody that just showed up every single day and looked the part of someone that you're going I need answers of why Florida's usage of this guy was limited this year because you and every Gator fan ever I mean he he just looks like he can go into an NFL camp today not six months from now or whatever it is today and fight for starting reps like that's really how he looked there's a this is what NFL coaches care about

with running backs they and I'll tell you what scouts care about coaches care about can I trust you on the field in pass pro and are you a good enough runner at least an average runner for what we give you and he checks those two boxes right away in my opinion more where coaches are going to be okay getting him on the field and scouts want to know can you do two of three things are you good enough runner are you good enough receiver are you good enough pass protector he's easily a very good runner and looked really good in pass pro so he already checks the the very old you know the traditional way of scouting running backs the baseline way uh Pierce had a great week he was noticeable both days yeah no he's dude that

last rep of practice right because at the end of the Lions practice every day, they have an offense versus defense one-on-one. And in the first day, it was Jermaine Johnson, the defensive end from Florida State, which we will talk about plenty, versus Darian Kennard, the offensive lineman from Kentucky. And it was just a straight one-on-one, and it was a best two out of three. Jermaine Johnson plowed right through him on the first rep. Defensive guys got all hyped up. And then Darian Kennard stoned him on the second rep and then third rep uh winner take all essentially darian canard again got the

best of him and the offense got to celebrate their day two of practice they switch it up a little bit they had a one-on-one damian pierce versus demarco jackson the linebacker from app state in pass protection that's why it wasn't even in coverage it was just in pass protection so a drill that is not very friendly to running backs right running backs get put on a lot of bad twitter highlights in this drill oh yeah and damian pierce just squared him up as he was coming in boom you hear the pop on the tape you hear you see him get his arms underneath the linebacker and he just stays right with him and stonewalls the shit out of the man. And it was just like, that is Damian Pierce. Every time he touches the ball, every time he's on the field even,

whenever there's anything that has to do with the game, whether it's pass protection, pass catching, running the football, lowering his shoulders, making a guy miss, Damian Pierce is going to give you 100 of his best every time that's a running back you want on your team and I gotta think that as we leave mobile here even no matter what happens in this third practice that's the guy for the running back group that everybody is going to be talking about yeah I think so I think in a class that lacked a lot of you know obvious short top fire things at the at the

very top of the class like you know Breeze Hall is very likable Isaiah Spiller who I everybody's mixed on I like Isaiah Spiller for what he is to be honest with you and we know all about Kenneth Walker I think Pierce found himself closer to that group now than anyone else has and maybe you know Kyron Williams is there for some people as well, but for Pierce, there was, there was this gap of all these senior bowl running backs who are just the classic day three,

day three guy, like, like Brian Robinson, Jr. Really like Tyler Beatty, but Pierce came in here and it was like, no, you guys should think twice about this.

Like I'm much closer to that top group. That is still day two. Uh, then people realize. And, and I think it's real. I think the NFL knows that now. I think it's real i think the nfl knows that now i think it's very very real it's not just us loving what we see i think it's everybody is

all over this guy as a day two player i don't i don't know exactly how my running back rankings are going to shake out and we'll get to an episode where we do that but i'm telling you man my my favorite two running backs in this class are going to be kyron williams and and damian pierce and i think you could throw kenneth walker in there as well, because I like Kenneth Walker and obviously what he does as a rusher, but just Kyron Williams and Damian Pierce, how they play with a hundred percent, 110% of their mentality, every single snap, man, those are the, those are the running backs that I'm absolutely going to gravitate towards in

this running back class. I think we got to see a lot of that with Damian Pierce this week. Let's move on to wide receivers and tight ends. We'll kind of lump them in here a little bit. Feel free to mention both of the guys you like here, or we could just do wide receivers and then quick hit on tight ends. Who's who are some players? Cause wide receiver was a bit of a question mark.

We talked about this going into the week in our preview episode that, Hey, there are some guys that we're looking forward to. The Khalil Shakir is the Jalen Tolbert, some plenty of players. Romeo dubs is on that list as well. Guys that we were looking looking forward to but here we are two practices in one practice to go who would you really like from this wide receiver group and then if you want to give a tight end shout out feel free to do so yeah this goes back to like what you can look for right especially when the ball's not getting there like I said it was not a great day for the now the good thing is I went back and watched this tape at the airport on my way home in the middle of the night was you grinder, you just grind, you absolutely grinder. There's

nothing else to do when you're at, you know, a TGI Fridays in Atlanta in the middle of the night. So, so it's, you know, don't give me that much respect, but it was nice that they did release drills as well. They really had them go up against corners and get off the line of scrimmage because, and they weren't even throwing to them. And it's you know it didn't really matter when they were throwing to them for the most part so uh for me Trevor the most consistent guy all week and I'm talking about from weigh-ins to media day and both practices is Christian Watson and I actually don't even think it's it's remotely close like you're looking at someone who came in, with those small school guys, and I don't even like calling North Dakota State a small school

because they're a powerhouse for the draft right now. Shout out to North Dakota State, one of my favorite college football programs. He came in really big. He came in 6'3", right? Jalen Tolbert lost a couple of inches. He came 6'4". 6'4".

I think Tolbert was listed at 6'4", and came in at six, one. So he comes in chiseled up great height and length moves extremely well. And when you, what you can look at, even if the ball is not getting there for quarterbacks is wide receivers, their feet, their routes, how smooth they are and their adjustments to the ball. And he did all of those things extremely, extremely well, where he's not just this, he has the size speed because he does have the speed,

but, and he has the physicality, but there was more polished to his game, Trevor that, and you could see it on tape. There's plenty of times you're like, okay, he's more polished.

But when you see it down there next to guys that are wide receivers at bigger programs, I don't know. It just, he, he just looked like... Okay, let me put it like this. If you put Christian Watson with an Ohio State helmet on

or an Alabama helmet on, some people might say, oh, he's easily a top 50 pick. That was my takeaway from it. So I just loved everything he did. And then my honorable mention of wide receivers, he's really small, but we talked about how fast he is, and it showed up on the field as Calvin Austin.

He has the burst in speed that if you could free him up from getting jammed at the line and just let him work in space, the speed is absolutely great. And I'll be a little longer on the tight end, so I'll kick back to you for your wide receivers. Okay, okay, all right, that's fair. I think that Watson definitely had the best week out of any of the wide receivers i think that told you know the conditions didn't make it great for them yesterday right and so that really hurt the

production and i think that day three of practice might give some guys some chances to shine man i was disappointed in the guys that we were looking forward to though you know like kalusha care like i like kalusha care i like his game but i think it was kind of uh magnified the long speed questions that i have about him uh and and i i think that he's super shifty i think he's very savvy he's such a smart route runner he is a good wide receiver but i do think that he just really struggled to threaten vertically and have that element to his game romeo dubs i thought was going to be a lot more electric in the speed component of it. And I don't know if he,

I don't know if he might be playing a little bit hurt or he's just not as confident to go full speed as he wants to in this senior bowl setting than what he was at Nevada. But I mean, he even has his quarterback, like Carson strong is throwing him the football. You mentioned Alec Pierce and Desmond Ritter being here and having that connection dubs and Carson strong. Strong still have that connection as well. And I'm just not seeing Dubs pop as much as I thought. Jalen Tolbert's another one who has flashed a little bit.

You know, he's had a couple of good moments. And he, right, he's been decent, but I think that Christian Watson is absolutely the best wide receiver that we have seen here. And I didn't get to watch his tape coming into this week. So this was a fresh look at Christian Watson. And I'm so glad that you said it the way you did this guy has an Alabama or an Ohio State or a USC helmet or

something on then we'd be talking about him like a like a top potential top 50 pick we really would because of how great he's been playing here this week and a lot of people I think would be nodding and agreeing at that so those are the kind of my overall thoughts. I like what Calvin Austin was able to do on day two, but just overall, again, kind of the same as the quarterback was not super impressed with this wide receiver group that we have here, little things to like, but Watson is definitely my standout guy from tight end. It's Trey McBride.

Like Trey McBride is the big time standout at tight end. I mean, there was a rep early on in, I think it was just an 11 on 11 period early on in practice on day two, where it's raining, man. Like it's windy. It's cold. Conditions are not ideal. Kenny Pickett goes and throws McBride kind of a 50,

50 ball with Jalen Petrie, the safety from Baylor all over him. And McBride just goes up and basically catches this bad boyalen Petrie, the safety from Baylor all over him. And McBride just goes up and basically catches this bad boy through Petrie, which is super impressive given how good Petrie has been all week, how good his coverage was on that play. And Trey McBride just went up and said, this is what I do. I catch the football in not ideal conditions. I'm going to be a quarterback security blanket. They even had him blocking a little bit. And there was a, there was a rep where Trey McBride erased Arnold DeBacchete from Penn state. And so, man, he just, I think the Trey Bride, Trey McBride came in here saying,

I am right now the number one tight end in this class projected. I want to solidify that and show people that I have the all around game to be that first tight end taken. And you know what, Connor, I think he did, man. I think he's going to be tight in one. And I don't really think that there's another tight end in this class that makes it particularly close for me. This guy gives me the highest floor out of any tight end in this group. And in the tight end class that of course, there's not like a Kyle Pitts guy. There's not even like an OJ Howard that I think is going to go top 20.

Give me McBride, man. We're seeing so many teams in the NFL play so much more heavy personnel, get creative with what they're doing with their tight ends. I feel like, I feel like Trey McBride could be used a lot like John O'Smith has been over the last couple of years, specifically when he was in Tennessee, using him in line, using him as a wing back, using him as a potential fullback, having him in the slot at times.

I think that the John O'Smith usage is kind of right in that line with how you can use Trey McBride. And so I like him, man. I like him a lot. And I thought he had a great week this week. Yeah, I think you're all over it. I mean, undisputed tight end one. He came into this week and had that title for many,

and he didn't do anything, forget losing it. He kind of ran away from it. He turned, you know, that third turn of the track with the ponies he just started to fly away by 100 yards and you know you look at McBride I wonder if internally I don't know if players think like this you're working with the Jets staff that clearly pounded the table to have you on the roster the Jets might have the worst tight end room in all of football they have picks 35 and 38 in this draft, and they have a chance to navigate into the back end around one or sit there and see how the chips fall to them. It felt like McBride and

Rucker, who were phenomenal this week in different ways. Rucker, it's a way bigger body than McBride, and I think that's going to translate in all areas of blocking. Where I look at McBride, and I like you bringing up Johnnie Smith, McBride's someone that you're going to want to use athletically as a blocker. You're going to want to move him around and use him more of a moving blocker where Ruckert, I think it's just everywhere. But McBride might have the best hands in the draft with some of the catches he can make. I mean, he just doesn't drop anything.

He just catches everything, but guys draped all over him. So it felt like for McBride and Rucker playing under the jet staff who felt you could tell the excitement with the jet staff with them a little different compared to every other group. Ron Middleton was the senior bowl head coach instead of Robert Sala and he's their tight ends coach. So there was a, there was something there for him where I had a bad tight end room last year. Now I'm working with an elite college version tight end room and we have a chance to draft with an elite college version, tight end room. And we have a chance to draft one or two of these guys.

Let's see what they got. And they passed every test. I mean, they were just phenomenal that McBride was a better wide receiver than any actual wide receiver besides Christian Watson. Like it's, and it's not even really close. Right.

So good, good week for the tight ends. Yep. Yep. Definitely. And it's not even really close. Right. So good week for the tight ends. Yep, yep, definitely. And man, I feel like we looked at Jeremy Rucker last year at Ohio State and we went, man, this guy could be good. I remember Jeremy Rucker's stock rising throughout the process.

Like, oh, this dude could be good. He could be good. And then he doesn't declare. Which is weird. And it's almost like we all like forgot about it. There are some people who had who had jeremy rucker i remember going in mock drafts in like the third round and being really happy about it shoot maybe even like reaching for him a little bit last year in the

second round and something like that and then to start the draft process i remember seeing jeremy rucker's name is like a fifth sixth round tight end and i'm like what what happened like what did he get did he get super fat over the summer like did he like did he i don't know i don't know what happened man so uh i think that the the discourse the narrative even with jeremy ruckert has been off and i think that we are getting back towards people reminded oh yeah this this guy's good so i always kind of felt like mid rounds is really nice for Jeremy Rucker and he's playing really well this week potentially uh solidifying himself shoot maybe as a third round pick maybe is that tight end too in this class and so I don't know we'll see but I

always thought it was so weird that his stock dropped this summer and he like there was no football being played it was just as if people were starting over their discovery of him again and now people are being uh reminded here O-line. O-line, there was a lot of hype around this O-line class going into Senior Bowl week. What'd you think of the group? Both sides, national team, American team. What did you think about this O-line group? Who do you want to highlight either in a stock down

or stock up format? Honestly, right in the middle, it was up and down for everyone. And even Zion, who I thought was the best one here, or the most like the high floor guy that you feel the most consistent about. Very up and down for everyone, and even Zion, who I thought was the best one here, the most high-floor guy that you feel the most consistent about. Very up and down for everyone, and I think Zion came in and passed the eye test with the lower half. He's just built like an absolute truck. I think you just play him at guard. I like how hard he's working at center.

I don't think that's what an NFL team should do with him. Just play him at guard, and you will get a high floor starter right away. There is a run blocker with power and reliable and pass protection on the inside. So I like what we saw from Zion and you and I kind of had very similar thoughts on the small school tackles. We like them, but they showed why they're in a different tier from needle at Kwanu and

cross. And we're talking about, you know, for me, Penning and Raymond. I know you have Mitchell in your notes as well. There's just technical things, and maybe they are also physical things. And shout out to Brandon. If you want like a crash course on what you missed with the line this week, if you couldn't make the trip to Mobile, Brandon Thorne on Twitter has just been playing playing so many great clips

and threading them you can go to his twitter and check them out and these are the flaws that i'm talking about it's a little bit of foot quickness and it's a little bit of them delaying when they shoot their hands where they're getting beat to the outside and then sometimes with penning i saw him get driven backwards a lot and we love that he's a bully we love that he's a tough guy and there's a reason why he has first round conversation but the overall anchor Trevor is just different going from that program to the guys you see here and and they weren't bad like Raymond and Penning they weren't bad but they got beat plenty and it's a drill that's set up for them to lose I want people to keep that in mind but there's once again there's a drill that's set up for them to lose i want people to keep that in

mind but there's once again there's a reason the foot quickness is not the same as those top three guys the raw power is not the same as those top three guys and even they're going to need really good coaching i think we need to start emphasizing that in offensive line scouting offensive line coaching in the nfl the range is very drastic across the board team to team but development matters and where these guys are coming from they show this week that they still need that development yeah competition level absolutely matters you know it's not the it's not the be all end all it's not like okay this guy comes from a smaller school or you know the FCS level or whatever it is and you say okay they can't play that's it that's not the

case but context is really important because for those three guys max mitchell trevor penning and bernard raymond though i i have to if i'm doing a stock up stock down kind of a thing you're even like in the middle i would say that all of them right now are stocked down players because now it's not drastic i'm not like dropping them like a hot potato or something. But when you looked at those three players, there was a lot of potential first-round hype around them, especially Bernard Raymond and Trevor Penning. And I think that you noticed, especially when you're talking about those two guys there,

and you could throw Max Mitchell in there as well, who I thought could have been a fringe first-rounder going into this week. They got their outside shoulder attacked often. A lot. And by a lot of these guys, a lot of different types of rushers are just bursting off the ball, attacking that outside shoulder and being able to corner Raymond and Penny because they just could not, they weren't used to it.

It's not like they're not athletic enough, but they weren't used to it. Bernard Raymond is a former tight end, man. I mean, like this dude's got athleticism. He's got it in him. He's just not used to kick sliding at the angle he needs to to cut some of these guys off he hasn't had the reps you mentioned he needs the coaching he also needs the reps man he's gonna need a lot of reps in training camp and his first season

maybe even going into his second season things like that before you really start to see these guys may be comfortable with the nfl. It's different for everybody adapting. So it could be on a much quicker timeline than that, especially if you like to bet on their physical gifts and how well they like to move. But that's what it's going to take. That was the big takeaway for me this week with this offensive line group is these small school guys who we projected to be potential first rounders to go not too far after guys like Iki Okwunu, Neal, and Charles Cross.

There is a clear line there now between those three guys and I think the rest of this offensive tackle class. And I think you're seeing it at the Senior Bowl. Not like everything's been bad. It hasn't. They've had some great reps, but there's no doubt about it. They're being exposed, especially from the speed element of some of these higher level competition levels. Because Darian Kennard,

I think has had a good week. It hasn't been this like incredible week. I thought he was great on day one. He struggled a little bit on day two. They were moving them around a little bit at guard and a tackle. I still think he's a guard, but the game never looked overwhelming for Darian Kennard. He's from the sec. He played at that competition level. That's what he has been molded by is that level of competition and so that's the thing where where canard might struggle

with hey i need you to take a different little angle here or i want you to to get your hand on an offensive lineman a little sooner or whatever it is his issues are more technical than they are athletically so it's all of that to say, I think it was an overall stock down for those three guys that I mentioned for penning for Raymond and Mitchell, just because it was a little bit disappointing. I were hoping that they were going to stand out a little bit more than they did, but I still like them. They're still good. It's just clear that we might need some time for all of these guys before

they really start to step in and be studs in the NFL guy that I did want to give a shout out to, Memphis interior offensive lineman, Dylan Parham. Awesome. I thought he was fantastic all week. Got to get him, got to know him a little bit more after practice, just chit-chatting with him a little bit. And it's funny because if you look on Memphis' website, he is weighed in at 285,

and he plays interior offensive line for him. 285. That ain't big enough to play interior offensive line. He shows up at the senior bowl and he's 315. So I had to ask him about it. I was like, did you play 285? And he kind of smiles and he's like, man, I haven't been 285 since like my sophomore

year. They just haven't updated. They haven't updated the website, which is obviously just very annoying for us. We're trying to gather information on these guys. But he actually said that he came into Memphis as a tight end, played one year a tight end. He was getting a lot of weight on him that redshirt freshman year. Then they flipped him over to defensive end,

actually for a season his sophomore year. And it wasn't until going into his junior year that they put him along the offensive line. And so, i mean it's been a lot it's been a long position journey for him to find his different spots but man this dude can get low he's really flexible in his hips his base is wide he's super powerful he's built the way he needs to with a lot of weight in his lower half he can anchor he can stop you he's got great hands I think he shifts really well with great balance and core strength I like Dylan Parham a lot man so if I was given a stock up this week for an offensive lineman Dylan Parham would get my stock up yeah he had he had a good week right and he had a like you said the transformation that he's had

kind of makes you wonder like maybe this is a guy that we should give more time because of that transformation that the trajectory is just so vertical right now with him and I wanted to get one point on Raymond before we move over to the defense where you you know once again you want to give him more time but Trevor he turns 25 in September so now you're at the point where you're just like you know Penny Sewell turned 21 in October and And I know that's not fair to bring up that comparison. But when you're talking round one versus day two, I put myself in the GM chair. And something for me as a GM,

personally, unless a guy was just the biggest outlier in the world, I would never draft a soon-to-be 25-year-old rookie in round one. I would never do it. That's just me. And a rookie that has serious question marks, it's just something that I think people need to be aware of when they keep putting him in round one. And I still think he might go there, but it's something that I'm struggling with internally. Well, especially with his issues, right?

Which is... That's what I'm saying. Like, is it going to get better? Time. That's what he needs. If he was 20 and needed time, needed time okay great you're 23 and now you're fully advanced if raymond needs time now when he's 27 before he hits his prime uh you better hope you're closer to andrew whitworth than somebody who's retiring at 28 you know what i'm saying it's one of one yeah that's right and that's kind of that that's definitely a good thing to keep in mind let's go to edge

uh who in the edge rushing group along the defensive line we'll we'll say edge and defensive line overall let's just go the front guys uh who's really been standing out for you this week well i mean the guy of the entire freaking senior bowl was jermaine jones i mean good i mean i just wrote in our show notes jermaine johnson jermaine johnson jermaine johnson good lord i need another coffee off this red eye. Jermaine Johnson. I literally just wrote Jermaine Johnson show. Wow. Round one.

And like what? I mean, what a what a road for him, right? You're talking Juco, the whole last chance you storyline. Georgia and was a player at Georgia. It's not like he just sat back and completely watched grad transfer, Florida state monster, monster year. And it's like,

okay, you love what you see on tape. You see some power. We know the effort. The toolbox is, is expanding the long arm, the ability to counter inside with quick, a quick enough first step.

And also the ability to win outside a little bit now he gets down here Trevor and he just opened up a can of whoop ass on everybody in front of him there's just no way around it like correct I mean he just whooped everyone's ass in front of him this dude plays with intensity he's got pop in his hands he's got good feet he gets off the line he can win outside he can win inside and he's just strong as you know what so what else can you say I mean this is the ultimate senior bowl storyline of a you know classic everyone's favorite round two edge stop doing it it's a pipe dream it's not happening anymore i'm wondering if he can get in the top 20 after this performance i dude i i think that i think that it's reality are we there

yeah we're there the best the best way that i can describe how jermaine johnson has played is that if i was his agent no way he'd play in the third practice. No way. Go home. I can't say I shouldn't say that. I'd be on a plane. All right. But it's true, man. I mean, like this guy has proven absolutely everything already. He dominated practice one. He dominated practice two.

We were talking in the sunshine in day one, in the rain in day two, whether it was tackles, whether it was interior offensive lineman, whether he's winning with speed, power, length, whatever. This dude is putting it all on display and he had it. And I think that people thought that, all right, maybe this is a fringe first round player. I know that I was certainly in that bucket. Maybe this is a fringe first round player.

I leaned more towards a day two kind of a guy going into the week. He's not getting out of the first round. He's not, he's not getting out of the first round. No way about it. I don't know if he goes top 20, who knows? It kind of depends what people think of him in this somewhat down draft class, but it's certainly possible, man. I mean, in a class where we're, I don't want to say reaching,

but we're talking about guys who it's like, okay, this is what he could be. This is what he could be. This is what Jermaine Johnson is. He showed us this week what he is, and that is a first-round player, a player who's going to be, I think, a really good pro. And so he's been absolutely fantastic. Two other guys that I wanted to give a shout-out to two perry on winfrey man i don't know if there was a more impressive player jermaine johnson included on day two than perry on winfrey the interior defensive

lineman from oklahoma he was working with the jets defensive line staff and i know you know the jets defensive line staff very well but but they're getting in. Screaming. Face from the second practice starts, man. They're getting in his face. Get off the effing ball. Come on. They're just yelling at him. And, like, you can't not get pumped up. Like, I'm standing next to these guys, and I'm like, hell, yeah, put me in.

Like, I'm going to, you know, the dummies are going to probably knock me over, but, like, put me in. Let's do it. And so I, man, it was just, you could tell that Winfrey was really replicating that energy. He was taking it into every single rep and he was a monster, man. You mentioned how good Zion Johnson has been this week. And I do think that he was, he has been good. Apparently Winfrey gave Zion Johnson his worst rep of camp.

No doubt about it. When he absolutely just went right into him gave him a spin move a little rip move boom all of a sudden he's in the quarterback he's pumped up he's yelling the defensive lineman are yelling as well so he was winning in a lot of different ways man not just in one-on-ones but on scrimmages too really like to see that going into the week he was a one gap penetrator kind of a guy he was a very quick I think three tech interior defensive lineman I worried how he could handle uh some other competition when it came to strength profile but thought he was well guy who wasn't lacking for strength profile though travis jones from yukon had to give him a shout out this dude has been we talked about the shrine bowl guys bully ball mccall but there's another bully here in mobile

and it's been travis jones dude six four 325 34 inch arms 82 inch wingspan over 10 inch hands to give you an idea of how big this dude is he has been rowing dudes all over the trenches man we got to get some more eyes on Travis Jones I certainly do after this week because he looked like coming from UConn ain't no strength deficiency with this dude he's ready to step in and take on some pros in the NFL in his first training camp and so he also has had a fantastic camp yeah he was kind of like a heavyweight boxer down there he would just kind of come off the line and throw a haymaker at you right he'd have that like inside club move he would really just push guys aside and I saw Renner tweet out this is what you know pop in the hands looks like right

and he was the every bit of the opposite of pillow hands. Somebody that just is going to throw a haymaker at you, and if you don't have the chin to eat it or reset, you're dead. You're absolutely dead. So really cool week for Travis Jones, who, you know, nobody, let's be real, hasn't been pretty for the UConn football program lately. And it's good to see a guy like that. Get the opportunity. Get down to Mobile.

And show out. Yep. Yep. We're going to move on to linebackers. Corners and safeties to round out this episode. Yeah we can probably combine them. But before we do that. Got to tell people that until February 14th.

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Let's get to the linebackers. Get the linebacker group. Not a ton of standouts for me, I'll be honest with you. I like Darian Beavers, the Cincinnati linebacker. I think he showed up a little bit when in run support, which is what I really wanted to see from him. Big special teams guy. He's got over 700 special teams snaps, which is pretty crazy. So I think I think that's gonna be how he kind of really sticks on a roster but I

liked him I thought that either were a couple of reps that they stood out but I'm gonna be honest man I just haven't had a lot of big takeaways from the linebacker group it's not a and I've been told for many years by many agents this it is not a good event for linebackers you are traditionally exposed in one-on-ones which isn't ultimately always fair and the contact plays that you traditionally do get praise for are a little bit you know you got uh what is it called speed bumps in the way because this is a practice oh right yeah yeah so traditionally I like to pray I preach caution to everybody reacting to the linebackers that I mean Devin Lloyd obviously like pulled out of this event it's just this isn't an event where it's it's easy to get those level

of guys I did think Chad Mooma was very good I will say that I think that Mooma just has the sideline to sideline speed and also understands run responsibility and can get downhill in a way that he's a very responsible. That could be the difference in today's game where are you a base player? Are you an early down player where we're just using you really in a lot of run looks or are we going to keep you on the field for three downs which is so hard in today's game at linebacker can we trust you to not be a constant liability really is the term and I think Mooma showed that that won't be an issue with him so I'm with you Trevor the linebacker group nah but Mooma I think he's going to go in the top 50 and start from day one.

Two corners that I really liked. I know that you like Kobe Bryant, so I'll leave the Kobe Bryant words to you. But two corners outside of Kobe that I wanted to mention. Joshua Williams, Fayetteville State corner. I knew nothing about him coming in. And let me tell you, fearless. Dude came in day one and didn't give a crap what logo was on his helmet or what logo was on their helmet probably is a better way to say it

he was going up against all these wide receivers he was pressing him good he was getting in their face he was ready to be physical he was using his arms and his hands when pressing man and I just felt like I was really impressed with how he was able to play. I was only to get a couple of glimpses from because I was focusing on offensive line and defensive line on day two. But I'm ready to go back to that group, that wide receiver corner group. Hopefully, I see more great plays from Joshua Williams because I really like them. A note on Roger McCreary as well. Played outside corner the entire first practice, basically.

They had him in the slot a little like one or two snaps but basically just played outside corner had him playing man coverage which is exactly what he played at auburn and when i say exactly i mean exclusively because on the second day they played him mostly if not entirely in the slot and they had him play zone and i talked to him after practice i was like hey man how was it he's like dude i've never played zone before screw this like he's not a zone corner at auburn they're either playing two man or they're playing cover one or cover zero or something man they're they are playing man coverage on the outside and that is what mccreary did for his entire time when he was a starter and it's going to be if you are if he gets drafted to a team even a man

coverage heavy team he's going to be playing more zone coverage as defenses switch it up than he ever has before at all there's a guy who's only been playing corner for four years and so that goes into roger mccree's projection just realizes people he's got like he is so green when it comes to the experience of playing zone coverage. He is. And that's just something that you got to put in his scouting report. He's very new to it. He said of the practice, he's like, man, I struggled doing it,

but he's like, it's just about reps. I don't know exactly where I need to be yet. I don't know exactly how to drop, where to feel the other guy next to me in coverage. And that's all stuff that I think will come for him. But think about that as you kind of put him in your notes as maybe potential landing spots. If it's a heavy zone coverage team,

thank you to draft Roger McCreary. I'm just letting you know, they're, they're probably not going to, it's going to be much more aggressive defenses to man coverage stuff. Not that he can't play in the slot doing that. I think that he can, but he'll bring you versatility.

It's just going to be a little bit of a, it's going to be a little bit of a journey with him in, in, in zone coverage. Yeah. No, I'm glad you highlighted that because he's going to be one of the most interesting guys to watch after the arm length and compared to what he did. It's kind of like trying to find the right way to use him puzzle piece wise. And everybody's, everybody's struggling with that.

Like you said, Kobe Bryant to me showed a lot of patience and control. And I think that really stands out in one-on-ones. A lot of guys react to every single move, right? And with Bryant, it was always, I'm going to sink my hips, and I'm going to react when I know the ball is coming, and when the route is stemming, and when I need to jump on the break. He never reacted too much off the line of scrimmage. He's very patient with his hands.

He's very patient with his feet. I do think there's times where he can find the ball a little bit quicker, but that would take him from a good player to a great player. So when you look at, and I think that's something that often with young corners does come in due time. So Kobe Bryant, for me, he's not going to be a lockdown like Jalen Ramsey kind of player, but he just looks like a number two corner that could start for an NFL, NFL defense for a long, long time. What about safety?

So let's, let's talk about safety before we get out of here. Our guy is one guy. It's the same guy. Yep. Jalen Petrie, man. I just,

my notes here were Jalen Petrie does it all physical, fast diagnosis, quickly love every aspect of his game. I just, this is someone who at Baylor, fast physical defense. I loved that defense this year. So many, and when you're watching

games, you see Petrie come downhill and blast people. He blitzes, he comes downhill against the run, he can sit underneath in coverage. When you watch the coaches tape and the senior bowl practice, you're like, no, this guy can cover. He can cover one-on-one. He can break over the top of the ball.

He can fight at the catch point. He can turn his hips and get downfield. Petrie is a Swiss Army knife by every definition. And when Brisker wasn't able to make this event and you know jordan battle went back to school this has been jalen petrie's you know rocket in the draft right now yep no i'm totally with you man stock up huge from jalen petrie when we talk about winners there are guys that we may have liked or names that we'd like to mention a little bit more than jalen petrie but when it comes to making money he's putting his name near the top of this

safety class man he really is i mean i'm not talking about like kyle hamilton right kyle hamilton going like top 10 or something like that but lewis seen like sure right that's here right like that's here yep yep no no doubt about it i think that he is right there in the conversation of safeties you would love to draft uh somewhere around the fringe top 50 range man i think that he's gonna be he's he has played himself into that day two range and um i think people are gonna be very happy with him the more tape that they get to get so there we go that's uh those are our overall thoughts from two days in for practice of the senior bowl connor's back at home unfortunately because of of weather issues and some things that were going on in mobile the The great escape is what it was, man.

I mean, basically, yeah, with some of the weather that's coming through, I don't blame you for it. I'm still here at practice, and, you know, Connor's talking about, you know, he gets his little media partners, get to go to the indoor facility. Before we get out of here, let's break it down what it is. Trevor rolls in from Vegas, and I hadn't even seen him yet, and I see him on the field.

Meanwhile, the rest of us peasants are in the bleachers. Now, the stadium is beautiful. The bleacher view was great. You are still – it's not like you're in the nosebleeds. But, yeah, I haven't seen Trevor in like two years at least, and that was the first time I seevor in like two years at least and that was uh that was the first time i see him so welcome welcome welcome to the show baby we gotta get you we gotta we gotta get you i said it i'm like i'm flying with you guys next time i was gonna say we gotta get

you the hybrid like br pff uh credentials so we can get you on the field next time we can do like a live pod literally from the field next time actually though yeah lesson learned yeah you learned the hard way so i'll be watching that practice tape today instead of being at practice uh for the last one while trevor you know got you guys know if you're listening right now get on his twitter feed he's gonna have the good clips the exclusive clips i i am i'm gonna be i'm gonna be pumping practice clips like ain't nobody's business from inside that uh practice facility so uh yeah we'll those updates will come we'll give you our final thoughts on the senior bowl and everything that we see from day three of practice as well as some things some thoughts on the game this

upcoming weekend and we will do it in mock draft form that is right we've got a brand new mock draft for you coming on monday i felt like it was unfair right the first mock draft we did on this show kind of was the timing of things. I had just written one, so we kind of broke down my latest mock draft a couple of weeks ago, but it's a two-man show here, and I got to get Connor in on the mock draft love. So what we're going to do, it's going

to be a back-and-forth mock draft, so it is a brand-new, exclusive, if you will, post-Senior Bowl mock draft show that we are going to have on Monday. Very, very excited for that. You guys enjoy the weekend. We will see you next time.