NFL Stock Exchange: An NFL Draft Podcast - 75. Summer Scouting: Top 5 Safeties for 2023 NFL Draft

Episode Date: August 18, 2022

Hosts Trevor Sikkema and Connor Rogers wrap up their Summer Scouting Series with the safety position. The two give you their preseason Top 5 SAFs for the 2023 NFL Draft with background info, PFF stats and film notes for each. Plus talk plenty of other safeties in the class who are just outside their Top 5s going into the season.

This episode is brought to you by our good friends at NFL Sunday Ticket on YouTube TV. I'm sure by now you've all got back into your Sunday routines, but they could be even better. With NFL Sunday Ticket and YouTube TV, you get the most live NFL games all in one place, every game, every Sunday. And you can even watch up to four different games at once with MultiView, one of my favorite inventions of this decade. It's exactly what you need to catch all the action. Make your Sundays more magical. And also, YouTube TV is great. I got it this year.

It's awesome. Sign up now at youtube.com slash BS, device and content restrictions apply. Local and national games on YouTube TV NFL Sunday ticket for out-of-market games excludes digital only games welcome to the NFL Stock Exchange podcast in this episode it is the final chapter the final position of the summer scouting series we've got the safety position the safety class for the 2023 NFL draft we're going to give you guys our top fives going from five all the way down to number one We're going to give you guys our top fives, going from five all the way down to number one.

We're going to talk about what we've seen on tape from these guys already, what we want to see from them in the 2022 college football season. Shoot, what could make these guys top 100 picks, top 50 picks, maybe even some first rounders in there as well. I'm Trevor Sycamore. With me, as always, is Connor Rogers. Let's ring the bell. Welcome to the opening bell of the NFL Stock Exchange podcast. I'm Trevor Sycamore. That

is Connor Rogers. Thursday edition of the podcast, which means it is a summer scouting edition. But Connor, it's the last one, my friend. This is it. This is the final ride for summer scouting. Today, we are going after the safety position, giving you our top fives for the preseason 2023 NFL draft going into college football and the NFL seasons. Buddy, we've made it to the end here.

It feels bittersweet because I am excited to get to the big board. But no more summer scouting after this. Then we get to the NFL seasons. Buddy, we've made it to the end here. It feels bittersweet because I am excited to get to the big board. But no more summer scouting after this. Then we get to the real thing. Bittersweet is a good way to put it. I will miss doing this because I don't know if it felt this way for you. I'm sure it did. It started to become one of the rare staples of my summer schedule. Summer, for anybody that works in football, things are different.

There's no actual football going on. You's not you're not react you're not working weekends like you usually are all those things working is a hilarious way to put it but in all seriousness mondays tuesdays and wednesday mornings were a a ton of tape time on next year's draft class and i think you me maybe a handful of people in the industry are doing like there's not a lot of people doing that so it was a unique experience uh really unique experience i i know you it was the same for you trev that you got introduced to so many players in next year's class or we're expecting them to be in next year's class that are really really exciting and i will say this for today's show this was a good group to finish with there's a lot of talent in this group

i know we've been riding the roller coaster some groups have been underwhelming some groups are just developmental players at the moment this group has a lot of talent so i am excited to do our last position group because then we get to the real fun of it and that's making the big board yeah i mean there's ups and downs with every single draft class but it is good it is fun to end on a high note there have been a couple of years where i get to safeties at the very end and and it's just like oh boy do i gotta do i gotta watch these guys but that wasn't the case this year we had a couple of guys that i was really excited to get to and then uh honestly two other players who i was really excited and and really refreshed to see some of their highlights that we get to talk about today so excited for that

excited for the big board uh before we get into it. Cause we also have some preseason takes. I want to give you guys some preseason takes because we have not done that a ton yet this off season. I mean, when you just have two episodes a week, it's kind of hard because we're trying to give you guys exactly what we, what we want in every episode, but we're going to talk a little bit about some preseason performances,

some rookies and some guys who are playing really well. We want to give shout outs to who we're looking forward to seeing the rest of training camp and how they're going to perform. But before we get to that, got to read everybody's favorite ad read. Gentlemen, talking to the gentlemen out there. All men, they strive for gold in their life, right? That's the standard. Gold medals, gold watches, gold everything. However, I'm telling you that there is a certain type of man who goes the

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Connor, which teams hit the Platinum Package in the 2022 NFL draft with some early rookie performances. Who do you want to shout out here first? How about the big uglies, right? That new tackle duo in Seattle. I watched, yeah,

I watched Seattle's coaching film. I tried to get through as much of the coaching film for the rookies that I could. And man, not just Charles cross who we obviously loved. and he had one run blocking play that I screen grabbed um that was a wipeout block but Abe Lucas a guy that I really didn't love I thought he had a lot of questions I thought it was all there the athleticism the body it was all there that with the right coaching he could be a starter at the next level. But it felt like he had a lot of holes in his game.

And he had a great debut, Trevor. Really what stood out to me was how nasty he was as a run blocker because I know what kind of athlete he is and the skills he possessed as a pass protector. So he looked stronger to me. It looked like he took his weight room work very seriously since the draft process. And watching Seattle,

a team that is going to run, run, and then run some more, whether it's Drew Locke, Geno Smith, it doesn't matter who the quarterback is. I know Kenneth Walker, unfortunately, underwent surgery on the day we are recording this podcast, so we'll see when he is back. But Charles Cross and Abe Lucas, Seattle's been one of those franchises for a while that they've never been able to put an entire unit together on that offensive line.

This is a great start for those two guys, the bookends and tackles. Yeah, played really well, man. I was really surprised by how well Gabe Lucas, or Abraham Lucas, sorry, played in this game, especially in the run blocking portion of it. You mentioned it. He's coming from a Pac-12 style of offensive line in which we have seen guys just not have that physical profile to really translate to the NFL.

Lucas did a great job. The debut was fantastic. Obviously, it was a long way to go. You've got to certainly do it in the regular season, but it was awesome to see them be able to shine as an offensive tackle duo to think that the Seattle Seahawks, a team that desperately needed offensive line upgrades, may have two that they might be able to get there 52 snaps Trevor he played it right tackle that's a big workload for we know it is

preseason 100 100 look I would I I wouldn't be me if I didn't bring up George he's doing it I would I wouldn't be me if I didn't bring up George Pickens I'm taking the victory lap I'm counting it the scouting win is already in the books uh but bring up George Pickens. I'm taking the victory lap. I'm counting it. The scouting win is already in the books. But no, seriously, George Pickens has been awesome throughout this preseason. You know, you look at what the Pittsburgh Steelers have been dealing with, with their quarterback position. Okay. Who's starting a quarterback. Who's going to be the backup. What is going to be the order between Mason Rudolph, Mitchell Trubisky and Kenny Pickett reasons for all of them to have hope that they're going to be the guy there in Pittsburgh with Rudolph having the experience,

Kenny Pickett being a first-round pick, Mitch Trubisky coming off a really nice year as a backup with the Buffalo Bills. It looks like it's going to be Trubisky, but Connor, no matter who is playing quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers, they're going to lean on George Pickens. I mean, there is no easing into this process.

This guy's going to get targets. He's going to get catches. He's going to get yards. He's going to get catches. He's going to get yards. He's going to get touchdowns. When he was a true freshman at Georgia, George Pickens stepped on the field as an 18-year-old right out of high school and led the Bulldogs in receiving yards. He is showing that kind of ability to step on the field

at an even better level of competition and hold his own, look like he belongs. And everybody who listened to this podcast knows how big of a fan i am of george pickens and to see this right away for him to really be able to take hold show off those wide receiver one traits it's freaking awesome i love to see it and i hope it's just the beginning for george pickens because this is going to be a fun talented player to watch it's got to be funny for you. I go through, I find myself going through this and I never talk about it. And I know you don't either, or we don't interject on Twitter, but

we go through the draft process and there's always a handful of players that you really love. And they're not first round players. They're, they're players that are overlooked for various reasons. And then you get to this time of year and I'm not, I don't blame anyone. It's just the timeline of people's jobs. The fantasy community is holding them up like the Lion King. And you're just watching it all happen. And you're like, you sit there and some people sit there and smile. Some people sit there and like the angry meme and they're like, I was first. And like, none of that really matters.

It's just funny when you watch that player that you saw as a college player that was overlooked and Pickens was a big name, but you really stood on the table for him with, you know, people questioning the lack of tape, whether it was the injuries or all those things. I know he was somebody you loved. Somebody that I loved in the same mold, I guess, was Danny Gray, who, you know, Danny Gray, to me, I look at a dude from Dallas that was a track superstar in high school that made explosive play after explosive play for SMU. On top of that, there was a lot of plays left on the field where the quarterback could not

get him the ball. We know this guy can run like the wind. Then he goes to the Niners. Yes. An offense that finds a way to get the ball in guys' hands and let them do what they do after the catch. Danny Gray looked good, good trev and he looked good with trey lance that's what you he had the big touchdown catch from trey lance he had i was

gonna say that was that was danny gray right on the big touchdown that was danny gray um and he had another big catch i believe with the second unit so listen they're a little busy that team iuk's had a good summer and we know debo is debo kidittle, but Danny Gray speed is going to play in that offense. And I don't know if it's as a rookie, but seeing it in week one of the preseason, it just goes to show you how much speed plays at the NFL level. And a guy like that, that went to the right offense for him. He was drafted late. So there's not these kinds of expectations. I felt like you with pickings when I saw Danny Gray make that touchdown catch. So I, I, the next guy that I want to shout out is, is Christian Fulton and he's not a rookie. He was drafted in the 2020 NFL draft,

but I liked Christian Fulton a lot. Cornerback coming out of LSU. Now he's with the Tennessee Titans. And I really do. I feel like this is going to be a huge year for him. I feel like he is going to take that CB1 title in Tennessee, and he is just going to make it his own. I'm watching clips of the Tennessee Titans and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in joint practices this week as we are recording this episode. And Fulton is locking dudes down. And he looks fantastic doing it.

He looks so confident out there. And I always felt like he had the ability to be a shutdown man coverage kind of a corner and i feel like now we are really starting to see it sometimes it takes time for corners and i feel like yeah a lot of time certainly if he has a really good year this year which i hope he does he will be a another example of the fact that you can't just judge these guys immediately, especially for the positions that are difficult to adjust to. And I would argue corner is one of the most difficult positions to adjust college to the pro level. There's so much being thrown at you.

There's so much that you've got to adjust to. There's so much that you've got to elevate your game with because when you were playing corner and you were guarding somebody else, the smallest false move gets you burned. up a reception lets up yards could let let up scores and then everybody just points to those things you put on highlight reels so they just get played over and over and over again it can mess with your head it can mess with your confidence all that kind of stuff i'd love to see christian fulton continue this it seems like it's a great training camp for him i really hope that he takes full control of that cb label in Tennessee so I just wanted to give him a shout out because I'm watching some

awesome clips of a guy who I know a lot of people had some high hopes for yeah I certainly did I kind of forgot about him to be honest with you until you you do forget about players quickly because you move on to the next draft class and then the rookie class and then the class you did a year ago is kind of out the brain at least in in our processes. So I'm glad you got a guy like that in that we're expecting some big things from in year number two. My last one, I'll do one from each team in Jets-Eagles. Cam Juergens looked phenomenal playing center for the Eagles with the backups, his athleticism,

his ability to get out in front on screens, on outside runs, down the field, climbing the linebackers. He looked really, really good. And I know, go ahead. I was just going to say, I'm glad that you brought him up. Because if you remember, he was the guy who was blocking Jordan Davis on the highlight. Which is ridiculous.

That everybody kept sharing around camp. And everybody was like, oh, guess Cam Juergens can't hang in the NFL. Because he was a lighter guy. Remember? Like, that was his whole scouting profile. Oh, yeah, sub 300. Oh, is he too fin can't hang in the NFL. Because he was a lighter guy, remember? Like, that was his whole scouting profile. Oh, yeah, sub-300. Oh, is he too finessed to play in the NFL? And then Jordan Davis bullrushes him,

and people go like, oh, guess Cam Juergens can't play. No, stop. Stop it. Have some context for the training camp clip. Come on. I'm glad you're shouting him out. Bro, that was ridiculous. Everyone was like, oh, wow, this is a red flag on Cam Juergens. I'm like, do you really think this they're gonna ask cam jurgens to do this a million times in a game that's not what the the eagles listen fbr did the draft jason with jason kelsey and

jason kelsey because we thought when they picked jurgens he'd be like you know who knows what he'd be like and he was so excited because it turns out he was part of the process of scouting him and he was like i want to help this dude be the next me and they're built very simple very same lighter centers athletic centers and jergens in a full game setting was as advertised um on the jet side of things you know obviously sauce garter played like nine snaps and no targets came his way so not much going there but i thought thought Garrett Wilson looked really good, man. I thought Garrett Wilson on his reps, he had a couple catches for 25 yards, but one time Zach Wilson missed them when he got open out of the slot.

They're going to play him on the inside and outside, so Garrett Wilson looked really good. Where it felt like a lot of the first-round wide receivers were very quiet in their debuts, while the later-round guys got a lot of shine, which is always interesting because of who they're playing against, but that was something that i did want to give a nod to last guy i'm gonna shout out again it's not a rookie but it's sort of a rookie because we got robbed of a full year for him last year and that's jc horn i want to shout out jc horn man because i think that this comeback year for him is going to be awesome if we get a fully healthy year from jc

horn he's going to remind you guys about why he was a top 10 pick. He was picked over Patrick Sertan, and I wouldn't have gone that far. I would have picked Patrick Sertan over J.C. Horn, but it's close, man. These are two elite wide receivers from that 2021, or elite cornerbacks from that 2021 class. So I'm just, I'm really looking forward to what he's going to put on tape this year. That's another guy who I continue to read over and over again jc horn fantastic day today jc horn another interception on one-on-ones like all this kinds of stuff i hope that he snowballs that into

a lot of confidence uh going into last year because we got robbed i gotta i gotta say we got robbed of what could have been a really nice rookie season from jc horn so uh wanted to give him the shout out as well before we get into our safeties because we are going to talk safeties for most of this show our top five preseason safeties for the 2023 nfl draft i'm going to talk to you about our friends over at draft kings football fans join the next generation of fantasy football with rainmakers football that's what it's called. Their first ever NFT fantasy game from DraftKings. I know, I know, I know. That's a lot of buzzwords right there,

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nft fantasy franchise with rainmakers football it's promo code pff build play win only over at draft kings contest entries dependent on type and number of NFTs. You hold eligibility restrictions apply. Void where prohibited. See DraftKings.com for details. Kind of where we're starting. I'm worried you're going to leave this show to become a professional ad voiceover person or like movies.

I'm not going to leave the show, but if somebody wants voiceover person or like movies i'm not gonna leave the show but if somebody wants to pay me a little quiche on the side at least you'll fit it into the schedule there there is a uh some kind of business model that you can advertise your voice to do that so somebody i'm just playing agent here that's what i do number five for me here give me a safety give me all the prices right first do the prices right one first and then we'll get the i i swear before i when I stopped tweeting, I had a lead. And I'm not going to reveal it, but somebody did reach out to me that had a really good lead.

I need to connect with them right after this show. I thought I was really close, like early July. I'm not kidding. That's why I stopped tweeting, and then I forgot. I got to get back in the game. I got to start watching the Price is Right I've got to get back in the game. I've got to start watching it. My mashed potato summer brain. Got to start watching the Price is Right tape.

Got to get back to it. Yeah, you better grind the tape. Number five for me, Brandon Joseph. The safety that will play for the Irish this year, but transferred from Northwestern. So when you're watching the tape, you're seeing him with a lot of action for Northwestern. 6'1", 196.

Let's start with some of the good here. Moves and plays like a traditional roaming back end of the defense safety. I think a lot of the conversation on today's show, you are going to hear some guys that are going to live in the box. You're going to hear some guys that have only played in the slot. They've played unique roles in their defense. With Brandon Joseph, Trevor, I've seen him play traditional last line of defense roaming safety, and I've seen him do it in coverage at a

high level. I think that there's legit ball skills. I thought he has fluid hips, and he can track the ball. He can really get on his horse and backtrack and find the football down the field, whether it's interceptions or disrupting players in contested catch scenarios. So I think when you're looking for a guy that's going to thrive, whether you're asking him to be probably a two shell kind of guy that can run deep, he can do it. And I'm really excited to see the steps he can take with Marcus Freeman's program this year, because there are very important aspects of his game that he needs to work on. And that's why he's number five, not in the top three. Right now, Trevor, he is a liability against the run as a tackler, as the last line of defense, and that scares me because, yes,

it's something he can improve on, but he missed 17 tackles in the run game in 2021, so you go back and you watch those 17 missed tackles, right? And it's two things. Angles, which that's not good, number one. Number two, just overall strength. He got trucked in the hole a lot. I don't know how else to say it. He got truck-sticked a lot. And it wasn't truck-sticked where it was like, I got ran over, but I got the guy down and he got three yards over me. It's truck-sticked, I'm on the ground and he's going for a big, he was liable for a lot of big gains. And sure, you'd love the front to make those plays. You'd like the linebackers to make those plays.

But I noticed sometimes teams funneling the run towards him where he wasn't blocked and had to make a tackle. And a lot of times he didn't do it. So I'm very conflicted on him because honestly, there aren't a lot of guys at this moment right now that show that traditional coverage fluidity and movement right going deep like him in this safety class but if you can't walk before you run tackling last line of defense that's a little scary so a huge thing i'm watching for him if he cleans that up at notre dame this year uh he's gonna be a you know easily a round three round two kind of

pick but but once again there are some holes in his game that are very vital yeah I was very curious to where you were gonna have Joseph in your top five because you I also have him at five and I thought I was I thought I was unique right I thought I was I thought I was gonna be low on it because every everybody talks about Brandon Joseph, right? And I think the reason why they talk about him is they look at the ball production, right? Nine interceptions over the last two seasons. He had three last year, and then he had six the year before. But if you go watch all those interceptions, about half of them are opportunistic, right?

Tip passes. It's kind of tip passes, right place, right time. Now, he is still putting himself in the area in which the ball would be going which i think is important and when we talk about his strengths and weaknesses the biggest strengths i have about brandon joseph's game are sees the field very very well also reads quarterback's eyes very well so he's consistently around where the ball is going but Connor I think he's a physically limited football player I think you mentioned the strength there for tackling I didn't think it was going to be that bad he's he's definitely got to get stronger and and sometimes

he kind of goes in for arm tackles and he just some guys can bring players down with those arm tackles they can get away with it Joseph's definitely not that kind of a guy he if he's not squaring you up between the shoulders he whoever the ball carrier is probably breaking the tackle just because he doesn't bring a lot of strength to his game in that regard the pursuit angles was the thing that shocked me the most about his game because he is so good at evaluating space when he is in coverage. But when it's, it's so funny because we're going to talk a handful of safeties. I know it for sure. In this episode that we're going to say coming downhill,

how confident they are, how comfortable they are coming downhill as a football player. They're not as comfortable backing up or with their back to the ball. Brandon Joseph is more comfortable shuffling side to side or retreating backwards than he is moving forward when he's moving forward. It's, it's so shocking to me how bad of pursuit angles he had at times. I'm like,

man, you, you are so good at evaluating space. You've put yourself in such great positions to get takeaways and get plays on the ball down the field and all that stuff. And right now, it does not translate to pursuit angles to ball carriers, run defense towards the line of scrimmage. So those are two big areas that I have a lot of concern with.

And then overall, kind of as I watched his total tape, I don't know if he's the athlete everybody thinks well i don't think he is that's an issue and when you are a free safety type okay so he's playing more towards the field they're playing him as the free safety most of the time if they're playing two high shells and one safety is rotating down it is most likely not going to be j. He is going to be that deep safety in cover three, sometimes in cover one, depending on what they're playing. He knows how to position himself well enough, but he does not have the athleticism, I think,

to be a consistent guy to make impacts on the ball when it comes to sideline play. Malik Hooker was one of the best that I have scouted while he was at Ohio State of getting from the middle of the field to the sideline. He knew how to time things really well. He had the athleticism to get over there. I just don't think Joseph has that athleticism. And I think that shows up glaringly when he tries to go get ball carriers is

that he's just, he's, he, he's not as fast as he thinks he is. And when it comes to pursuit, I think that that shows up a lot. So with him being, I agree with you totally. He is one of the few coverage type of safeties that we have that are notable enough for us to watch in summer scouting going into this season. But I just think he is a liability with his athleticism to the point where i don't even know how much i could take that as a strength uh i i

think that he would probably be somebody who's better suited to play as a strong safety but he doesn't defend the run well enough yeah he can't play in the box forever he cannot it it's tough and i'm interested to to hear kind of what we talk about at the end of the podcast with some guys who just missed the list because there are players that I almost wanted to put over Joseph, but I just could not in all good conscience because they're also missing things from their game. But, yeah, I was very curious to where you were going to have Joseph

because I know a lot of people are really high on him. He's a notable name going into the season, but I just wasn't his biggest fan. And it sounds like you are not either. I am fascinated that we had identical reports on him. So that it just makes him the classic, at least for you and I, maybe not for everyone else out there. Clearly not for everyone else. I've seen him ranked very high. He was the guy of this group that i walked away disappointed and there's always one because we live in the draft world i see people tweeting talking posting this that this um and i do think he's going to a program that he has a chance to greatly improve because of how well

the leader how much i uh respect and and really like the leader of that program and Marcus Freeman and the defensive staff they have. But what he is today, as we do this in summer, you and I saw eye to eye. So whoever your fourth guy is, whoever your fourth player is, we might have the same exact top five, or it might be different. It depends on what you're doing here at number four.

We might have the same top three. I think number four, I did go off the rails because this player has only started five games. He's played a lot, but he's only started five games at safety, and that's RJ Moten from Michigan at number four. Oh, I know who's in my top five who you don't have. You coward. Coward?

You coward. I don't know if you do. I don't know. It might not be what you're thinking anyway RJ Moen man maybe my favorite background story of the safeties he was a legit baseball prospect in high school in this great lovely state of New Jersey and when I say legit I mean this dude hit weight as a junior in 2018. He was getting a hit more than half the time in his at-bats. He hit with power. He can run. I believe he pitched. He won a championship in high school where he was so good in high school that I'm of the belief

of what I've read that for those that aren't baseball fans in 2020 because of the pandemic, when the MLB draft is usually like 40 rounds long for that year, they condensed it to five rounds, completely changed the script of trajectory, leaves a lot of guys, a lot more guys going to play college baseball, all those things where a dude like this, when your draft goes from, you know, 35, 40 rounds to five, you might not get drafted anymore. And so his, after all that, he chose, one of the reasons he chose to go to Michigan, it sounds like Harbaugh was very excited about the idea of him being a dual sport athlete, playing on Michigan's baseball team, a good program and playing for the football team.

I don't know what happened after that, but he's not playing baseball. He is committed to being a full-time football player. He's an impact safety for this Michigan team. And boy, is he a house. Six foot, 223 pounds. This dude is muscle. Large. Large. I posted a clip on my Twitter feed

of him coming downhill. He starts off not even in the field of vision. And a tight end thinks he's going to block him. And he sends this tight end in the field of vision and a tight end thinks he's going to block him and he sends this tight end to the moon and then makes the tackle wait okay now now i'm going i'm literally going to twitter right now i freeze framed it to show when he comes into the screen and who he is and what he he sends this tight end like 10 yards backwards and then makes the tackle on the running back so rj moten uh plays with an edge he has no problem mixing it up and run support yeah welcome to the rj moten experience

it was pretty wild dude tight end dude launched this poor tight end came to wisconsin thought he was about to beef up and just be an absolute house as an inline player and number six comes in from the outside of the screen and basically puts him off scholarship with this hit yeah it was wild it was pretty wild to see and you know obviously michigan's had a lot of talent in that db room where him starting five games and playing a lot of special teams and playing a lot of different roles can't stop and scare me RJ basically told this guy to go play in the pack 12 after this hit it kind of made me laugh because when you look at the angle he took

downhill he could have kind of been greasy like around him he could have slid around him and made the tackle but absolutely not instead he just he ended his life and then made the tackle so awesome play and he this is how he plays he he comes downhill with force he moves really well for a near 225 pounder and coverage to me he's this hybrid player that the nfl loves that can cover him in a pinch when you need him to up the seam can play nasty in the box can easily carry 225 pounds of just pure, once again, whey protein muscle. And I'm a big fan. I think he fits that brand of Michigan football,

of what we've seen from their prospects recently. So he was my guy that is my biggest projection going into this year. And I have big expectations. I didn't watch him. I didn't get to him. Outside of watching the one highlight which is all i need to redo my rankings number one all right so who i have at number four this is a little this i don't know if this is why you hung up i don't know if this

is spicy or not i don't know if this is spicy or not. I don't know if this is spicy. Here it goes. I have Jordan Battle at four. Yeah, it's low for me. Okay. I don't think you need to be put in prison at this moment. Thank you. I appreciate it. I'm not calling the feds right now.

Okay. All right. So Jordan Battle, Alabama safetyama safety six foot one 210 pounds all right it's been starting for a while if you go back a little bit further some background information i'm on i'm four star safety from fort lauderdale florida played at the saint thomas aquinas high school one of the best football programs in the country was originally committed to ohio state did not know this before flipping his commitment over to alabama contributed a little bit as a freshman and then earned a starting role as he's starting strong safety as a sophomore

something else that i that i learned about him just from doing research and i was watching him at sec media days because he was one of the players that nick savin chose to bring to sec media days this year he seems to have an awesome personality man it seems like all the players who talk about jordan Battle love him, that he's got a super outgoing personality. He's a guy who's always trying to crack jokes, always trying to make people smile. They said he's a big dancer in the locker room,

so he's just like a confident dude, and he's a fun-loving dude no matter what. But when he puts on the helmet when you watch him on the field, I mean, he's a bad man, man. He can hit you, and he can absolutely bring the wood at what he is doing. Some PFF stats. bad man man like he can hit you and he can absolutely bring the wood that what he is doing some pff stats on over 1,335 career coverage snaps so he's got a lot going into this season he has allowed a grand total of just 474 yards with five picks and eight pass breakups 88 overall defensive grade in 2021 and connor we talked about this before we hit the record button you finished his eval last year yeah and i would have done the same thing if i was doing it as early as you were because i'd have told you jordan battles absolutely going to the nfl and here he is back uh back with

alabama you know i wonder i i read the quotes of him at SEC Media Days, and he's like, yeah, I came back because I want to win a national title, I want to bring the national championship back to Alabama before I leave. And that is a good answer. Obviously, if you're a Tide fan, that's something you want to hear, and it's cool to hear. I wonder if he did not get the grade that he wanted to get from the NFL draft advisory board.

I should have asked somebody. I should have texted some people about this before this show, because I had a round two grade on him, be transparent i had jordan bell going second round i would have as well i think he's a really good power profile strong safety i do and i think that if you if you're looking for him to be like a robber zone defender or cover some bigger tight ends out of the slot he can do that oh yeah i don't i do not think that he's going to be a free safety type for you but if i just kind of go off his strength and weaknesses here that i have strong safety type of player who is great when he can keep things in front of him very confident when that is the case

excellent feel for baiting quarterbacks as a robber coming out of two high shells someplace that he is also most comfortable with i think he's really great off the blitz when attacking the line of scrimmage either as a delayed blitz up the middle between the tackles or sometimes coming around the edge as well. Weakness, not as disciplined or relentless as a tackler, as you would want to see. Like sometimes he could definitely lay the boom, but there were a couple of times where I was watching him and there was a little bit of a gang tackle in front of him and he's like letting up and he's

like, like, well, just letting the gang tackle kind of do their thing. And it's like, okay, well some safetieseties they're like hungry for that physicality right they want to finish the play they want to get in on that tackle sometimes i saw jordan battle not exactly get in on that uh he's held um oh shoot uh what's my place here missed tackles are not egregious but he could definitely clean that up i don't want him as a free safety you want more of a strong safety type and just when I looked at his profile, I don't know how much more Jordan Battle is going to do this year that's really going to help his stock outside of if he gets,

I'm hesitant to use the word lucky because I don't want to make it seem like it's all luck. But if he gets lucky and gets a handful of interceptions this year, then all of a sudden he gets this ball hawk label, right place, right time kind of a a thing getting that kind of production for takeaways maybe that could vault him into the back end of the first round we might end up seeing that from him but honestly i thought he was a really great prospect last year i would have loved to pick him at the early part a portion of day two last year and so i wonder how much is left in the tank and

how much higher he could go in the NFL draft with another year at Alabama. I liked him a lot. I'll get to him in a little bit and I'll be a little bit brief because I thought you highlighted the player really, really well. And I do wonder what the advisory board had to say about him because, yeah, I thought he was going to be playing preseason games this time of year. And I thought he was going to be playing preseason games this time of year. That's what I thought. I thought he was going to be starting. I looked at him and said, you know, him and Brisker, who had a, by the way, got to shout him out. He had a game-wrecking debut for the Chicago Bears. It's good to see him healthy and wreaking havoc at the safety position again. I thought him and Brisker were those day two safeties last year

that could come in and play a lot of roles for you. So I'll get to him in a little bit uh number three for me is somebody that i talked a lot about this time last year i remember doing radio down down for arkansas um watching this guy early in the year and circling him with a red pen like this a player you got to watch week after week and unfortunately he had a season-ending injury and some ups and downs because he was so good, so good as a redshirt freshman two years ago. And that's Jalen Catalan. Okay, this is the player that I thought you weren't going to have in your top five.

Oh, no, absolutely not. I freaking love Jalen Catalan. So there's a player in my top two. I told you you wouldn't get it. Because I also have Jalen Catalan at number three. Okay, wow. Same as he's on both five and three. How about that? The player that I think I have at number two you don't havealan at number three. Okay. Wow. Samesies on both five and three. How about that?

The player that I think I have at number two, you don't have in your top five. Probably. And I watched him. But... All right. Okay. So Catalan is just compact, like just shrunk down. He's awesome, dude.

And just flies around. He is a go-kart with a jet pack on it i mean this dude flies around he can make plays on the ball he can make plays against the run he can wipe out blockers on screens i don't care that he's probably honestly five nine let's be real he's probably five nine he's probably not five ten i don't know if he'll play at 200 pounds but he's got like a goddamn". He's probably not 5'10". I don't know if he'll play at 200 pounds. He's got like a goddamn locomotive, so I don't care what the height says. He is that compact boxer,

and the production that 2020 redshirt freshman season says it all. I mean, nine starts at strong safety, about 100 tackles, three interceptions, broke up another four passes, forced two fumbles, recovered a fumble, played special teams. He just, you know, and they have a note in his bio that he's the first SEC freshman since Tennessee's Eric Berry

to post at least 86 tackles with three picks. And that's the vibe on the field that he gives you. When he's healthy, I know he had a tough one last year, but when, when you really think back to that version of Eric Berry, you would turn on the TV and you'd watch a safe. You'd go, who is the safety that I can't take my eyes off of and is forcing his way

onto the broadcast film all the time. And that's Catalan. That's what he, he just forces his way into the spotlight of games. The speed he plays at the the intensity he plays at, the recognition skills. Man, I felt that way at times about guys like Buda Baker, Antoine Winfield Jr., and that's how I feel about Catalan,

where it's just, to me, I have no questions about the talent. I think he can play a little in the slot for you. I think he can play a little free, strong, a lot of different roles for you to do at the NFL level. I just need him to be healthy, Trevor. I'd have Jalen Catalan number two in this class if it would not be for the injury history. Because the injury history goes beyond just him missing games last year. It's his play style. Let's be honest. So this is a guy who plays violently, right? And he is a player who makes a name off of physicality,

meeting you at the catch point, meeting you in the hole, meeting you in the flat, and just imposing his will, using momentum to his advantage, and using his body almost as a wrecking ball to stop you on every single play. Knowing that, you'll love to watch that on the tape, but if you were a team drafting Jalen Catalan, he tore his ACL in his senior season in high school.

He had shoulder surgery his redshirt freshman year. He had a broken hand last year, and he had a torn labrum last year. It's like Bob Sanders at that point. You know what I mean? We are four years in for Jalen Catalan right now, and he's got serious wear and tear he already has a major knee injury he's got two shoulder surgeries the broken hand i don't really care about the broken hand is it's a broken hand the bone will heal that's fine i don't really

care about we've all broken our hands but i care the most about the knee injury even though it happened a couple of years ago it still happened and the shoulder surgeries most notably tearing his labor on last season that's tough for a player who makes his name off of physicality and i i love this dude he is one of my favorite players to watch in this class he was one of my favorite players going into last year's i'm with you dude fully healthy jail and cattle on year and we're talking about a top 50 player, I think. That's the type of athlete, that's the caliber player that we're talking about.

Just an impact dude. Strength and weakness is real quick on him. You hit it, you hit on a lot of them. Very good downhill athlete. When he triggers the ball carriers, he does it with both speed and power. Excellent run defender, is not afraid to do the dirty work, throwing his body into

blockers in order to set up free tacklers or guys who were just coming to the ball carrier at other angles. Playmaking ball skills, legit playmaking ball skills when he meets the ball at the catch point in the air. The weakness is he's got the free safety label. So some people might think, well, he could bring in that free safety ability. That's not really how Arkansas plays. Arkansas played more than half of their defensive snaps in single high alignment, either in cover one or cover three. They played more cover three. But they really had Catalan as that single high free safety,

not to be that last line of coverage defense, but more of to allow him to truly see the entire field knowing how quickly he can gain ground to meet a pass at the catch point or to meet a ball carrier not too far from when they're past the line of scrimmage and that's really that kind of free safety label that he played so it wasn't that true rangy coverage free safety was more of a this guy's going to be on the back end of our defense we're going to let him we're going to play him super deep and we're going to let him trigger everything downhill. Injury history, last note I have, injury history is just bad, man.

It's tough. It's really tough. This would be my number two safety in this class. It's a player that I've liked for a long time. But the injury history was there for him the year before. And certainly now it's kind of at the forefront as well. So it's a damn shame. Rooting for a big bounce back year.

And that whole timeline you just read just reminded me of like the NFL career of Bob Sanders. A guy that was 5'8", probably played around 200 pounds. You could not miss him on the screen. Everybody's favorite player. Everybody's favorite player. But man, the laundry list of injuries just got the best of him. And Catalan's going through that in college right now. Not on that extent.

I don't want to be that like that much hyperbole but i don't remember i don't remember bob sanders injury history going into the nfl that's a good point uh but his play style matched what happened all right so number two and i'll be brief here because i want to get to your number two and you already you already went over this guy jordan battle somebody that i liked last year um tough and tested in coverage with very good eyes, I thought on the back end, he did have 38 see that premium free safety athlete, right? Like I think he's going to run in the four fives kind of player, like mid four fives kind of player, uh, strong tackler. You mentioned it didn't, it missed a few here and there, but pretty reliable overall tackling. Uh, I thought he was a strong tackler both after the catch and against the run.

So he had no problem breaking down against running backs or diagnosing where the ball is going in the pass play and getting there and making the tackle, stopping the play competes at the catch point. And there's a couple of times where I saw him really diagnosed where the quarterback was going pre-snap where he didn't get there off of athleticism. He got there off of intelligence. And I go back to scouting Xavier McKinney for Alabama, they ask so much of their DBs on the back end that handle the workload that a guy like Battle handled that they are about as mentally sharp as any defensive player coming into the NFL that you can ask for. So I'm with you that Battle might not really have a ceiling to tap into at this point. I kind of think he just is who he is, but he's a really good player that I project as a starter that can get by at free safety in a pinch at the NFL level,

but you do like him in more of a traditional strong safety hybrid slot kind of role. I probably did not give enough credit to how smart of a player Jordan Battle is because I remember watching him just as a sophomore and how he was able to read and react to what was going on around the line of scrimmage and be very disciplined in his run lanes and where he needed to be to help out the team,

especially when coming downhill and playing the way that he does best. And that is just as much of a mental ace of his game as physicality is. So I wanted to make sure that I highlighted that there as well, because that's something that I've always liked about Jordan Battle. Number two on my list is his teammate. And it's somebody who you don't have in your top five. It's Brian branch who is a safety, but also just this versatile defensive piece, six feet tall, 190 pounds. Dude, we've talked about pound for pound strongest guy before,

as we've kind of going through some of these classes holy smokes this dude is he brings that to the table man about as reliable of a tackler as they come i'll read his background because i think that the background's definitely important for him four-star safety from fayetteville georgia played safety and wide receiver special teams for sandy creek high school when he he was at that level as a junior, he was an all County player. And as a senior, he was the Georgia five, a iron man of the year, which is given to the least top two way player.

The guy who plays both on offense and defense shows Alabama over UGA and LSU dude, they had him playing everywhere he played every single position in alabama secondary last year which to think about think about how reliable how disciplined how smart you have to be to play all five positions in nick saban's backfield like Nick Saban ain't putting up with shit if you miss an assignment you're off the field like not that he doesn't allow guys to grow but if you are missing assignments you're not gonna play and this guy not only continued to diversify the positions that he was able to play he gained the trust and the reliability and the discipline to be able to play all of them or at least it certainly seemed that with the way that he was uh that he was able to play he gained the trust and the reliability and the discipline to be able to play all of them or at least it certainly seemed that with the way that he was

uh that he was deployed through the first several games of last year he and malachi more rotated between that star which is that nickel position or the money backer which is that uh that dime position when they go into um when they go into nickel and dime look so it's that kind of that that player who's playing in the secondary but he's towards the line of scrimmage he could do a lot of different things for you let him play in space you let him be a playmaker um late in the season he definitely took over branch played a lot more as the team's nickel corner so that's kind of where he found his home which is why it was weird okay we're doing brian branch in the corner episode safety episode so i just had him for the safety episode here he said he models his game after Tyron Matthew and Troy Palomalo.

And I get the Troy Palomalo part because this dude does not miss tackles, man. He does not. He has one missed tackle in his college career. One. He had zero missed tackles last year. He played 427 snaps from the slot, 128 as a strong safety, 23 as a boundary corner, and then 50 snaps as a free safety. Playing all of those positions, he got himself an 88-point run

run defense grade. Just nuts. This guy is as reliable as they come in that area. Strength and weaknesses for him. Screen pass destroyer. Okay, that is why they love this guy near the line of scrimmage because the team that they're going up against, if they're playing quick game at all whatsoever,

Brian Branch is messing you up. He is throwing a wrench in that entire thing, either in the backfield or at the line of scrimmage once they get to the sideline. He is strong as an ox. Pound for pound might be the strongest player in this class. Very effective as a blitzer, both off the edge and delayed up the middle. Smart defensive back with a wealth of experience at many different spots,

but as reliable as they're going to come as a tackler. Weaknesses, and this is where I could understand the argument of jack-of-all-trades, master of none none worried about what position he might be in because he's played the most from the slot but he might not have cornerback explosiveness he might not have that cornerback athleticism to be able to play full-time as a slot defender which would be really great for him when he's asked to play in coverage out of the slot he's often lined up way off the line of scrimmage with outside leverage to kind of funnel guys more towards the play towards where the safeties are towards where the linebackers are i think that is for a reason and i think it's because he he is best when he has help in that regard not as confident in his

back pedal with his back to the ball as he is when he's coming downhill and so there are a handful of things that i think he certainly needs to work on in his game when it comes to being more comfortable with his back to the ball I don't know how much he can work on his athleticism maybe that's something that I'm looking a little bit too much into maybe that's the alignment maybe that's the technique they would be playing him in anyways maybe just kind of need to see it more but i do have a little bit of athletic concerns with branch playing as a full-time safety slash nickel defender hybrid player if you want him to play in the slot it only gets more difficult when you get to the nfl so those are my overall thoughts but overall man gotta praise the guy for having the discipline having the intelligence all

of that to be able to play all five positions on an Alabama defense. That's incredibly difficult to do. So I think he's the only one in your top five that didn't make my top five. And I just, I really, Trevor, I really struggled with him basically being a linebacker playing corner. And maybe I need to believe in a more creative DC or believe in this guy's development which i could easily you know watch him in an expanded role this year he had four about 400

snaps in the slot last year so you you nailed it like we didn't know this guy on the corner show is this guy on the safety show it makes sense to have him on the safety show because the second thing in my notes after the snap count in the slot was he has the demeanor of a 90 safety that's like that's what he plays like like he needs he just he needs the neck roll we gotta get this dude playing with a neck roll he he loves to come flying downhill against the runner as a blitzer and it's what he's best at he really is i don't know if he can cover as a corner i really and i i really don't. And some of the things that scared me were got beat down the field against Miami for a long touchdown,

got devoured by Texas A&M in coverage, specifically on a long touchdown, but a couple of plays. And there's one coverage play in the slot against Auburn where he basically tried to tackle the wide receiver and the guy still caught the ball for a touchdown and it's when I look at that I know it's probably wrong to pick on three coverage plays but I looked at those things and go man he blitzes and hits like a truck and he flies downhill he's so good against the run like you said he's a great tackler i i don't know and now i believe he's six foot about 193 so he's not small maybe he just needs to be a true

traditional strong safety i think that the bad reps and coverage in the slot is when alabama did what you know you hinted at a lot of him passing off, and you're 100% right. When they asked him to go one-on-one and run down the field or across the field with somebody, it got kind of scary. So I take away, I just don't think he's a corner. I don't think he's a corner, and they played him like a corner. I don't think he can cover like a corner. And obviously, like, I brought that up as well, so I do agree with you in a lot of that.

But, like, the Miami play that you brought up where he gets beat for a touchdown, he's basically right there with the dude he just kind of misses the ball and so it totally it was those it was those reps where and there's another one i can't remember if it was against harkinsar auburn where he sees a play and he's able to put his foot in the ground he's able to cut in on it and he gets the pass broke broken up but like it almost could have been a pick six but it's like it's it's the it is those plays that kind of wrote me back in because when i watched film originally i i'm with you and i brought it up as well like i'm i'm worried a little bit about the overall athleticism but then there are those things where it's like okay is it right there for him like is there something still left in the tank

can we get a little bit of that? And I think this year, certainly with a microscope on him as a draft eligible prospect, we're going to see a lot more of that. And we're either going to get the questions answered in a good way or a bad way. So item number two, basically out of respect for how versatile this guy is in his saving defense. But go ahead, introduce who I'm pretty damn confident

we both have number one here on this list we have a stud in this safety class um i mean a guy that just wrecks the game looks the part walks the walk talks the talk he's got it all in antonio johnson from tess a&m i mean i don't know what there is to say because you don't even need to watch a lot of them. He's 6'3", 190. He's got arms down to the ground. He's got that Justin Simmons, you know, long body build for coverage. 581 snaps in the slot, 126 in the box in 2021. It sounds like A&M, since he's one of the best players in the country, honestly, right now on the defensive side of the ball, is open to playing him as an actual safety a little more this year

than just a slot guy. So I read that as well. And then I went and I listened to an interview that he did actually yesterday. So it was a brand new interview that he put out. He was a guest on a podcast and somebody asked him that very question. And I think it was just like and uh i think i think it was just like uh texas aggies i think it was just like the texas aggies podcast and he said that they'll play him in plenty of different spots but he's like i'm still i'm gonna play nickel like i'm

still gonna play as a nickel defender so i was tripped up because after i read that from the spring i saw from an a&m reporter and i apologize i don't remember the name off the top of my head reporting from practice that week that he was in the slot yeah so he's gonna play mostly in the slot either way this dude is awesome on the football field slot safety box doesn't matter uh long frame he covers a ton of ground. He gets to places at a different pace than your traditional DB with these long galloping strides. Trevor, he devours screens. He will run through blockers. He will get there before the ball gets there. He gets there when the ball gets there, makes the tackle for a massive hit. Ultra fast trigger on throws in the flats or quick outs. And he doesn't come with, you know, let me

break down and wrap up. And he's there so fast that he demoralizes targets. He just destroys them. I've seen him injure guys and it's nothing dirty. He just plays so fast and so hard. And he's there before the ball gets there that he times up these hits, he's a legit defensive back wherever you want to play him. Because I didn't see a weakness in his game right now. He can tackle, he can run, he can cover, he can diagnose. You know, it sounds, I even had somebody, it sounds like that, boots on the ground, tweeted me right away when I tweeted a clip of him,

like, oh, he's a great kid too. Like, just, this is the total package of this safety class, this guy. And he has all the makings of a first round pick at the position the only thing really standing in his way that's kind of missing on his profile is ball production that's about it he's got one interception in his college career and it's look if you're if you're playing as a shutdown player sometimes you just don't get a lot of opportunities to go get interceptions so there's a lot more and there's a lot more that you want to base on the tape and the reps than simply looking at the lack of ball production but i would i'd love to see him get himself three

interceptions this upcoming year right we get three interceptions from antonio johnson he's gonna be he's gonna be a first round pick you can wrap it up it's over you know i think that people probably just want to check that box with the ball skills because i do think he has good ball skills that one interception think he has good ball skills. That one interception is a really nice interception. And there was another dropped one that he had. Was it the Missouri game? I think it was the Missouri game. He did drop one that he had at the end of drop one,

but he missed time to jump. And you could say like, he almost, he was, he would put himself right in position. He just missed time, his own jump. And it just kind of, it floated a little bit more on him and that's why he wasn't able to haul it in. But you're right. I mean, the build alone puts him in a rare category. And he's fantastic to watch. Earned a 87.4 overall grade last year.

Limited his 62 targets last season to a grand total of just 228 yards given up. That comes out to only 3.7 yards per target when he is in coverage, which is really really impressive especially seeing as how you got to judge him mainly as a nickel defender not just as a safety kind of a guy elite build at six foot three six foot four 195 pounds he can match up against the bigger tight ends and wide receivers with his size but he can also keep up with smaller wide receivers due to his athleticism didn't play a ton of press man coverage, but I liked what I saw from the reps. It was mainly goal line stuff.

Like when I filtered the tape, because we could do this on Ultimate Humblebrag, when I filtered the tape to- It's sick. It is sick. To just his press reps, a lot of it came on the goal line. Like you could tell they didn't want to do this with a lot of their players

across the board on a regular basis but when he played off the line scrimmage i thought he was good that he was patient i thought he reacted to things really well in a limited amount of space and so i liked what i saw there strong reliable player who's good in run defense the only real negative i have is the obvious natural one. Sometimes when he's flipping his hips, he's just got a lot of hips to flip. He's six foot three, six foot four. So he's a bigger defensive back. So it's a little bit slower

than it would be some other players that doesn't show up nearly as much when he's going up against tight ends in the slot. But if you've got smaller slot wide receivers or the offense is just trying to mess with you a little bit, maybe send a running back out of the backfield, he's got a little bit more shiftingness to him yeah i can kind of show up that he's a little bit lacking with flipping his hips but he makes up for it when that foot goes in the ground man when his hips get pointed in the right direction i was

shocked at how explosive this dude was coming out of his stance when he can, when he can put that foot in the ground and go towards the ball carrier, the catch point or whatever it is. Antonio Johnson's awesome. He was one of the highest graded defensive backs that we had in college football at PFF. And for good reason, I think he's got the grades. I think he's got the, the talent really. Let's just get some ball production, man. And we're going to see this dude in the first round.

Yeah. I mean, there's really nothing some ball production, man, and we're going to see this dude in the first round. Yeah. I mean, there's really nothing else to say. When I turned on his film, I'll be honest. Maybe I'm naive. I didn't know we had this kind of player in this year's safety class. I knew about B. John Robinson at running back. I knew about the top dogs at wide receiver and even some of the O-line guys and Jalen Carter. Trevor, when we sat down a couple days in advance

to do all the tape study for these groups, I always knew when there was a dude. I didn't know he was this good. And I watched a ton of A&M's defense because they have a million NFL players, but it was a reminder of just how different he is compared to the rest of them. Who else do you want to give a shout out to before we get out of here?

Oh, there were a couple. Well, you went over Branch, who could easily have been number five for me. He's a really good football player. I just really struggle with what he is at the moment right now. There's a couple other guys I watched that I wanted to get to. I watched JL Skinner from boise state yes i saw him as well i think that might be the only other guy that i watched dude six foot four 220 pounds he has that like isaiah simmons out there look wants to hurt people yeah yeah i thought he

played with a little more edge man comes down with reckless abandon all right little background on him he's boise state safety three-star safety from san diego california weighed just 190 pounds as a recruit when he went to boise state now about 40 pounds heavier weighs about 220 pounds he's played nearly every defensive position throughout his football career started playing defensive end this is back when he was in like middle school high school played defensive end then he played linebacker now he plays safety um also played receiver and running back at high school as well so the dude's just he's played so much football he's played so many different positions this is a quote from him which is just going to be hilarious because it's exactly how he

plays cam chancellor that's my favorite safety of all time i'm a really big fan of his so ideal i've always been uh so i really try i really try to take aspects of chancellor's game like his physicality the way he played the way he used to always come down field into the box and i uh try to take it all from the best in cam chancellor uh devin jackson did the interview for that so i want to give a shout out to devin devin does a great great job. Devin does an awesome job. And go read his work. He put out a big feature on Skinner, which was awesome to read. But that's where I got that quote from.

I wrote this in his scouting report. You ready for this? Zero is the number on his jersey that represents the amount of, then the F word, that he gives or the amount of prisoners that he takes on any given play because that is so perfect i have that in the scouting report i had to because it just it uh it it talks about how he plays so much so obviously just this big physical dude can cover a lot of ground really really sets the tone with with with how he hits people and and how physical he wants to be when he's coming downhill the d Dylan Gabriel hit at the goal line is the one that just stands out to me

as like, holy cow, like this dude is about the game of football. And the physical violence that it takes to play it at a really high level. Weaknesses, misses tackles way too often, man. Way too often. I mean, he is setting up for the massive hit every time. And you get ball carriers who put one foot in the ground and give him a little one cut. And sometimes he's just swinging it there.

But he just loses too much technique. He needs to be a lot more disciplined when he's going into ball carries. It's not always just about knocking a guy senseless. Sometimes you just got to get him on the ground. So I think that's the biggest area of his game that I think that he's got to clean up before we get him potentially into that top five category. But there's a lot to like about him with the size and the mentality that he plays with yeah so with skinner i've heard that um he's even gotten

some bigger preseason grades for the senior class than jordan battle so there's um a couple things with him so he's gotten some bigger grades than a household name like battle he's a verified six four and an eighth so so he's gigantic. It is not a fake height. He's legitimately over 6'4 tall. He weighs about 210, 215, and he's expected to run around a 4'4, 40. So this dude is pretty freakish, honestly, for a guy that was a former three-star.

That's some verified stuff for NFL scouting database purposes. So, I mean, man man long arms too he's somebody that i love that he loves cam chancellor because that's who he should be molding his game after 100 yes he's in the right direction he's looking in the right direction no doubt about it all right there we go that's safeties that's dude that's like that's a 2023 draft summer scouting in the books brother we're done we could do the draft today if we wanted to that's true

yeah yeah five players you know what's gonna be really funny and I love to do this every single year those way too early those way too early mock drafts that you see

and then you look back at like how close they actually like kind of were a year later to what actually happened and how much changed so we're gonna have we're gonna have our our mock draft that we're going to do on this show before

week one of the regular season. And we will keep it. We will archive it and we will look back and see how just perfectly right. All 32 of those selections were when it comes to draft night, but this has been fun, man, really enjoy summer scouting. It's truly an awesome part of the football calendar it's where we get into the nitty-gritty of what we all love with football in the draft big shout out to all you guys who listen to us during the summer i i know that yeah summer's a good time to get away sometimes you're not nearly as much into your podcast routine sometimes you're

looking to step away from the from from football a little bit, but to everybody who listened to us throughout the summer, whether it was the mock draft Mondays, whether it was the summer scouting, thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. It's a brand new podcast that we're getting off the ground and to just have the interaction that we did with so many people throughout this summer scouting series, like, Hey, love that you gave this guy a shout out. out hey watch this guy too he's fantastic getting to do that and hear those things all summer is what makes this project so much fun so i wanted to give a shout out to everybody who rocked with us all summer long during summer scouting because it's been a blast for us dude well said it really is it's it's

notable when you have people that are just as dedicated to the engagement and investment with the show in June, July, early August, as they are in November or March and those things. So we notice. We can't thank you enough. It has been a blast. This has been totally new for me. I've never podcasted about, but I haven't podcasted to this extent about players in a draft class this early. We

dabbled in it on my old show, BR, but this was, I think we went, honestly, I really think we went above and beyond with our outline of this class and we'll see what it looks like with the top 50. And dude, the Twitter account that posts our top fives every week, the college football fans that might not even listen to the show that engage it's unbelievable people are reacting to top five linebackers with like a million comments so it's it's super cool man it's super cool when we started this podcast we hope that it would be a great way to bring people together who love the draft love college football love the nfl and uh you guys you you uh you og sex addict addicts are really setting the table

for what is a really good family member of this podcast and everybody else who hopefully joins it because I'd love to make the family as big as possible. Monday. Monday, we doing the big board? You want to do it on Monday? We're doing the big board Monday. On Monday.

I'm going to have, now that we have every single position of Summer Scouting in the books, we have our rankings. I'm going to come to the table with my big board. Connor's going to come to the table with his. We won't go through every pick of each of our big boards, but you'll learn plenty about it as we build the show's big board. So we will build NFL SE's top 50 draft prospects going into the 2022 NFL and college football season.

I'm looking forward to it. It's going to be a blast. I've never done anything like that before. It's going to be a bit of a mess in a good way. Oh, it's going to be beautifully chaotic. It's probably the best way to put it there. I'm looking forward to it. Thanks, guys, so much for listening.

I'm Trevor Sikma. That is Connor Rogers. We'll see you guys on Monday. Thanks for listening to the NFL Stock Exchange Podcast. Bye.