NFL Stock Exchange: An NFL Draft Podcast - 87. 2023 NFL Draft Stock Up, Stock Down: Week 3

Episode Date: September 20, 2022

Hosts Trevor Sikkema and Connor Rogers highlight some of the best performances from Week 3 of college football and talk about what they could mean for the 2023 NFL Draft class.

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 getting back to some stock up stock down updates in the world of college football and for the 2023 NFL draft Connor and I are going to bring you a handful of guys that we watched from this past weekend or maybe the last couple of weekends that we want to bring to the table. Make sure you guys

know if you haven't watched them yet, if you haven't really sat down to get to know these players, they could be making some noise in the draft. It's not just guys that are going to be in the first round either. We're trying to make sure that we get through the meat and cheese of the draft class. Some of the guys who are going to be round two, round three picks, maybe those guys are going to be mid-round picks, players that are going to fill out your NFL team, and guys that we know you might be some fan favorites of I'm Trevor Sycamore with me as always is Connor Rogers let's ring that bell welcome to the opening bell of the NFL Stock Exchange podcast.

I'm Trevor Sikma. That is Connor Rogers. Joining you guys on a Tuesday edition of the pod, which means it's time for a little Stock Watch update. We're talking stock up, stock down for some prospects around college football following week three. Technically, it's week four because week zero counts, but week three is what we are coming off of. Some guys that we get to evaluate some of their performances here in the early parts of the season connor how we're feeling

today my friend good favorite show of the week favorite show baby love this show i love that when i get to dive into i know it's the same for you trevor get into uh to dive into the college tape on that point of monday it's kind of like the storm has passed right it's you know Saturday all the games are on you don't do your stock watch just from watching the games here there can help it's a nice foundation but the tape always tells all Sunday the NFL storm is just absolute mayhem you and I record into the wee hours of the night to do the recap and if you're not listening to that every Monday morning you have a recap or what's most important from every game.

Monday is really crazy. And then in the afternoon you get to sit down and watch tape and do the stock up, stock down, and we do this show. And it's like, okay, I can breathe now. I'm caught up on the draft. The draft is a slow burn for us. Like we obviously really dive in the summer. But we're just like a

little bits and scoops here and there right now before december it's going to be full throttle so this is this is a really nice time no we're obviously trying to keep the the draft element of the show because as you guys know it's a draft podcast at heart but we're like everybody else right we we love nfl football we love the fact that it's back we want to talk about it as much as possible so in the first couple of months of the season, obviously there's a lot more NFL talk and the percentage will switch a little bit more towards draft talk. Once we get into the appropriate time to do some mock drafts, to update the big boards, all of that. But, you know, you mentioned it on Saturday is what I do is I'll watch the games and I'll write down names. You

know, I'll write down names of players that are in highlights when i'm watching these games and i'm flipping back and forth or if i've got multiple screens guys who are just popping out and then on monday is really when i get to go back and check out these guys on some all 22 and kind of confirm either the highlights were sporadic or whether they were a telling tale of a fantastic game that they had all around so we'll give you a handful of stock up guys as we have every Tuesday this week Connor I'll start with you who do you want to bring to the table as somebody that caught your eye in college football from an NFL draft perspective this week I'll start with somebody that has earned it for three weeks of performances and I'll sneak that in time to time my other two guys today are true just like

this is what I saw this weekend wow amazing performances this guy it's all three games and honestly I searched his name on my handle before doing this because I was like I thought I watched him and could have declared last year and it's a Zakari Franklin the wide receiver from UTSA. And I did, I remember last September watching him, he had really stood out and he returned to school, which is probably a good move as a junior. There's no rush to come out, but on the season right now, Trevor, he has 26 catches for 306 yards, three touchdowns. And when you hear UTSA, you go, okay, like he's averaging over, you know, over a hundred yards a game, but who has has he played against and he's played against Houston Army in Texas so he's seen fine programs fine defenses he's got juice he's got wiggle they use him in the middle of the field a lot he's a slender kind

of guy he looks like he's about six feet tall plays around 180 pounds um and I just think he knows how to get open they use him underneath a, but he caught a long ball against Texas where the tracking was really, really impressive. So this is somebody that I've had my eye on for the draft for going back to the 2022 class. And you know, I wasn't assumed that he would declare when you have a guy coming down to UTSA that might want that extra year. But now I've had my eye on him for this is the second year and I just love the juice he plays with before without the ball and after the catch with the ball in this offense they know how to deliver to him at all three levels of the field and he's somebody that if you're looking for one of those round three to five kind of wide

receivers this guy is going to be in the mix well I'm one of those people that you are educating right now because I have not been able I have not studied him you're forgiven for not watching utsa okay thank you i appreciate it and you i'm curious how much you watched him last year just because like was there when you watched him last year were you kind of like yeah this guy needs another year he should probably stay in school or do you remember what your thoughts were over yeah so i just put because you forget and i i didn't go back to my doc i so when i do my player docs if a guy goes back to school i just delete them from the doc and because i don't want the clutter and all that so it's not like i can refer back to my notes in my 2022 doc if i was a very organized much more intelligent human i would transfer

everything to the next year's doc and get ahead but i don't always do that especially for guys that aren't at like these crazy programs but the i do have the tweet and what the tweet was was that i was impressed with him it was september 8th 2021 converted multiple third and longs in a win against illinois and that was the first time where I was like man third down this guy is in one-on-ones against man coverage and he is just constantly finding ways to gain separation uh in the middle of the field on the outside of the field um and I saw that so it popped to me when I watched him against Texas this week I was like I remember Franklin and I remember that he was somebody going back to school

that could shine again this year. And he's just somebody that moves the chain so consistently. And I really do like, I don't want to be the guy that's always like, play him in the slot, play him in the slot. Like, he, to me, is a true slot option because of that wiggle, the two-way go, the secure the catch and get up field kind of movement.

So I really like him. And I think that nobody, he hasn't really, you know, nobody's really talked about him last year and I haven't seen a ton of shine from this year, but to put up those kinds of numbers now against Houston army in Texas, everybody's going to be on them pretty soon.

All right. I'll stick with wide receiver for my first stock up. I'll go down to Florida state. I want to talk about Johnny Wilson. Johnny Wilson put on an absolute show this weekend as, as Florida state defeated Louisville. He's a, he's a third year player. talk about johnny wilson johnny wilson put on an absolute show this weekend as uh as florida state defeated louisville he's a he's a third year player i don't know if he's a technically a redshirt sophomore or a junior it doesn't really matter he's draft eligible but with the covid

year i can never tell with players because it used to be even more organized on school's websites like oh this is clearly a redshirt year and now it's like okay is he taking the redshirt year for covid or is he not? So they don't really specify. Either way, third-year player, so he is draft eligible. But he's still new, especially to really standing out the way that he did this past weekend. He had seven catches, 149 yards, and two touchdowns in a massive game for them. And it wasn't always at Florida State.

This was a transfer player from Arizona State, spent the first two years arizona state entering that louisville game which was career highs for him in a lot of different categories wilson had just 18 receptions for 253 yards and a touchdown across both of his seasons with the sun devils so he just was not being utilized for whatever reason i'm not sure if it was coaching staff or um if he felt like he just couldn't crack the depth chart reason why he moved on from florida state clearly because the opportunity was there for him to really stand out and the dude absolutely does i probably should have mentioned this at the very top when i introed him but six foot six 235 pounds that's what florida state's got this dude listed as and he's not like a pseudo tight end like we're playing outside wide receiver here for johnny um the something that i also learned while i was researching this florida state has not had a 400 yard receiver in a season since tamori and terry in 2019 400 400 400 i i This is what I read.

A 400- I mean, I kind of believe it. I mean- The program has not been good. That is so- But that's nuts. Bro, that's like two games for Jackson, Smith, and Jigba. I mean, what?

Now I got to make this sure. Now I got to make sure. You're making me make sure. Three quarters for Jordan Addison with Lincoln Riley. riley okay all right 2021 sure enough 382 receiving yards no ontario wilson was number one there 2020 abbreviated covet season sure enough not a 400 yard receiver what an insane what an insane stat that is so hopefully johnny wilson can uh can get them to that level he was really impressive man i was really impressed with how he was able to play against louisville um it was a two quarterback

game for florida state jordan travis is the guy that everybody's been very excited about but he got hurt in that game tay roadmaker was the guy who came in. And it just seemed like no matter who was throwing in the ball, really, Johnny Wilson was going to be a star in that game. He had the fifth highest receiving grade in the country this past week, 91.9 average. And his threat percentage, which if you'll hear us talk about that on this show, that's a PFF stat where when you are on the field as a receiver,

when you are on the field as a receiver when you are on the field and you are running a route when you have a receiving snap how often do they target you in the offense wilson had a 40.9 threat percentage if you have 30 that's really impressive i was going to say 30 is the number we use for nfl fantasy to be like whoa right like this guy's getting volume and and wilson had 40.9 they went to this guy as often as they possibly could and he absolutely delivered when it comes to things beyond the stats beyond the analytics i think that he moves really well for a big band now six foot six 235 pounds he's not calvin johnson so as you would expect he's not going to be a master of separation that's just not going to be his game but i really like the wide base that he has when

he's in his stance at the line of scrimmage how there's no wasted steps how he is blasting off that back foot the second the ball was hiked he is getting into top speed very quickly for a player of his size and i also like the fact that he can flip the hips pretty fast you know he's putting his foot in the ground and he's turning a go around to a post and he's trying to fool that defender man he does it he sells it with the shoulders he goes okay I'm going to the outside just kidding I'm putting my foot in the ground boom now I'm going over the middle of the field he does that well and there's just not a lot of players who have that size of a frame who I think are able to sell their routes that it seems like the way Johnny Wilson can,

or at least the way that he did against Louisville. So this is somebody that I'm going to have my eye on a lot going through this season because already he's got the unique size, right? You already checked that box and you go, okay, this guy's very interesting, but I feel as though the way he moves, how explosive he was, I wouldn't say twitched up. I don't, I wouldn't say that he's a twitched up player, but he moves how explosive he was i wouldn't say twitched up i don't i wouldn't say that he's a twitched up player but he is still explosive i think and and so this is somebody i'm

going to be watching as an outside receiver i want to see how he can do in contested catch situations because he didn't have a ton of those against louisville and it's obvious that his bread and butter not just in college football but in the nfl when guys get bigger faster stronger than he goes up against he's gonna have to become a contested catch guy so that's what i'm looking forward look at moving forward with wilson but really cool to watch his film this past weekend to see all the success he had um at his size the way you describe him and looking at his size profile the closest player i could think of is chase claypool like that's the closest i can think of a lot a lot of guys carry that kind of weight and size at the wide receiver

position right and claypool is an alien right i mean like claypool if you go if you go look up chase claypool's mock draftable chart it is pretty insane how well this guy tested i don't know if wilson's that caliber of an athlete okay but but man now all right let me look up chase claypool hold on chase claypool mock draftable because i want to be reminded of what this is insane uh four four four two 40 yard dash i don't think wilson's that fast 40 inch vertical jump that's really impressive 126 inch broad jump also very very impressive at six foot four 238 pounds so travis i guess has a couple more inches on him he's about six foot six so weight's probably about the same that 235 level so i mean we'll see man if he tests

like claypool then we're talking about a really impressive player would not i'm not entirely sold that he's that caliber of an athlete yet not many are that is a decent thing to keep in the back of your your mind as you watch wilson this year so i like the chase claypool call out at least even if we're not fully committing to the chase claypool comp yet now whenever you describe a player you know especially when you go you really went in depth there which is great i. I always try to act like they would in a draft meeting, that you've been on the road, you've gone to his games. I haven't watched enough of him that I would know to paint the picture. That's a sign of good scouting.

When the person you are, for those listening at home, whether you're younger and you want to get into scouting or you just like the pullback of the curtain, the sign of good scouting which is an example really well done by you is that the the audience you can paint the picture in their head of the player you're describing and to me that was the player that came to mind uh and it's also hard but how many wide receivers in the league are 6'6 and carry 235 around right there's just not a lot of guys that do but uh that i that's one thing i like about this exercise being so early in the season is that i'm gonna bring guys to the

table that you haven't watched you're gonna bring guys to the table that i haven't watched and you know you and i haven't really had the luxury of doing that a lot over our careers we've we've done this solo so often that it's um it makes it a lot of fun so yeah yeah i was just gonna say we always want to try to make you know i'm i'm texting connor yesterday and today saying like hey i'm watching these guys connor yes i'm watching these guys because for as much as we can probably come up with the same number of players right we're all watching college football we want to give you guys as many as as many new names as as we can give you on these pods because uh that's what it's all about, right? We're trying to build the database of guys that are going to be in the

draft pool in 2023. So didn't mean to cut you off. We got, no, no, no, you're good. You're good.

No, there's, I kind of have a trend going like one guy I bring to this show. We've, we've never talked about totally random. The other guy might be somebody that we're watching closely. And then the other guy might be someone that like people forgot about, or as an older day,

three prospects. So number two for me, I think Franklin's a guy that a lot of people will not be familiar with number two for me is somebody people know very well and that's bj ojalary the edge from lsu and okay i mean for me i have to come clean right now and i'm happy to do this before october hits uh i didn't have him in my top five edges when we did that over the summer i just think that was a massive mistake i i watch him play, and he's got everything you could ask for as an edge rusher. Sure, the consistency game by game might not be perfect yet, but the film he put out against Mississippi State this weekend,

we'll start with the numbers first. He had two sacks, three more quarterback hits. He had six total pressures. But, Trevor, they moved him all along the defensive line as a stand-up rusher he won on an inside rush with a you know he kind of countered in I believe in the a-gap with a swim move and finished for the sack and the rusher next to him that rushed wide did a really good job forcing the quarterback to step up and Ojolari won so fast that when the quarterback stepped up,

he stepped up right into a clean sack. Now, what I really liked was his ability then, as a wide rusher on the outside, to dip and bend with bursts. There was a couple times where the offensive tackle could not get their hands on him with his ability to dip, turn the corner, and close in on the pocket. And he had a couple quarterback hits that were, you know, effective quarterback hits in a sense of the quarterback felt him coming

and dumped it down to the running back. And dumped it down even with a linebacker on the running back. He just had to get rid of the ball or else he would have took a sack. Ogilari has shown that, number one, he's wearing number 18 at LSU. Like, that's a really good sign. Number two, obviously there's NFL bloodlines. We know all about Aziz. Number three, he can wearing number 18 at LSU. Like, that's a really good sign. Number two, obviously there's NFL bloodlines. We know all about Aziz. Number three, he can just flat out play.

I think he's actually a more creative rusher than his brother was at Georgia. I think that he really knows how to win inside, outside, with speed, with power, finesse rusher, you know, strength. I really love watching him play because every single snap, it feels like he's, he's got juice. He really sets up offensive linemen and keeps them guessing. And I think that I regret not having him as a top five edge this summer because there's just no way he doesn't finish in this class as a top five edge, man.

That's high praise. Yeah. He's high praise there for him, but I love to hear it, man. I love to hear it. I wasn't, I just wasn't super impressed with him. I felt like he had a speed component to his game when we watched

this summer but i didn't think he had like overall game so i gotta watch man i have i'm gonna be honest much improved have not watched a ton of lsu this year outside of oh who they play in that first game that that brian kelly had the embarrassing oh when when booty didn't bootay didn't do like no I think it's I think it's booty now I think I think it's booty Florida State they play Florida State right wouldn't it yes when Jared first went oh yeah absolutely went off that game yeah I mean maybe we'll look back on that game and be like hey these are two edge rushers that were featured in this game that we weren't even paying enough attention to at the time so I love that you're giving

Ozilari the shout out I feel like the ability has always been there for him there's been a lot of people who are who have been trying to make ojolari a thing people were not happy after that edge rusher show we did what that he wasn't in there that he wasn't you know i just again like i i just didn't i just didn't think he put it all out on tape yet i just didn't i didn't think his 2021 season was that impressive. I didn't either. And I, you know, even against Florida State, he was, he was good, but against Mississippi State,

turn that on when you can because he was great. Okay. He took, he took over the game. He took over the game. And that's what I want to see from an edge in the SEC. Okay. Love to hear it. I'll give you my second guy right after I talk to you about our friends

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Download the app, create a free account, and the promo code NFLSC. Get that free stock valued up to $150 and compete against the NFL Stock Exchange Podcast this season on Symbol. All right, my next guy I want to bring to the table. Rasheed Rice. I'm going to stick with receivers. I'll stick with receivers here.

The SMU wide receiver. Senior, all right? Veteran. Knows the game. Ready to dominate. And boy, did he come out of the gate hot this season. 6'2", 200 pounds. Outside wide receiver.

Where's number 11? Beautiful wide receiver number. I must say, fantastic. Oh, so clean. Last three games, Connor, eight catches, buck 66 and a touchdown. Nine catches, 132 yards and two touchdowns. And then this past week, 11 catches, 193 yards.

Didn't catch a touchdown, but holy cow, were they incredible. 90.3 pass catching grades so far this season through three games for Rasheed Rice. Incredible contested catchability, man. I mean, this dude knows how to set up corners knows how to get even with him and when that ball is up in the air he has got the ability to track it he's got the ability to concentrate on it he's got the strong hands to bring it down and corral that catch he is good he is so good i think on the outside on a vertical plane so when he's threatening vertically either a comeback or a post or a go route or whatever it is just throw up the ball to this guy and it feels like he is going to reward you he also

pretty nice when he's attacking soft spots in the zones you know he'll do these deep over routes these dig routes where he's coming across the line of scrimmage but he's doing so at the right tempo and i think that really shows the savviness and the awareness that he has as a senior as an upperclassman because look you know we all love the underclassmen guys right the guys that we can't wait to get their hands on because their raw athletic ability the ceilings that they have just show out as young players those are the guys that often get talked about as headliners of a draft class but really the meat and cheese the bones if you will of draft classes often comes with the upperclassmen.

Are there any upperclassmen who, talent-wise, could have maybe declared the year before, but they just wanted to refine their game, round out their game a little bit, and now they're becoming really great prospects? I feel like that's the case with Rasheed, man. You just throw him the ball, and I feel like he is a guaranteed catch for you. That's what it seems like it is at SMU this year he feels like man he feels a little AJ Brown like with how powerful he plays as a wide receiver I don't want to go on that full comp yet but as I was watching him style yeah this dude yeah I feel

like he's a bully when that ball was in the air he comes down with it plays with a lot of strength so really enjoyed getting to watch Rasheed Rice we've got him very highly graded over at PFF they're going to him early, often, and always, and he continues to deliver for him. So really like the confidence he's playing with. And he is showing that he feels like he's open even when he's not. And that's because he's coming down with that ball

more often than not. So I love to see the reliable hands from him. Now I love to see the rounded out game of how he is attacking the field, how he is attacking coverages. You could just see that that experience is right there for him. So a lot of combinations of a lot of really great skills for Rasheed Rice and wanted to definitely shout him out here three weeks in.

He's playing well. It's fun when you start to dive into the different receivers of a draft class because it's just such a, it's always obviously one of the deeper groups year after year. You can find starters or role players on day two. And it's fun when we get to this show and we talk about guys like him. You know, I brought up Franklin. You know, there's so many different players.

It's the group that every year, Trevor, I find myself it takes the longest to get through because these guys are really productive. They're going to systems that they throw the ball all over the place. you got to dissect uh you know their traits and see how that production translates and how do you stack up you know you might have 30 wide receivers drafted in a year how do you stack them all and it's i think it's something that's become a really with how pass happy the nfl is i think it's a trickle effect of something that's really fun during the draft draft process i agree i agree man and there's so many different shapes and sizes of wide receivers you know It's a trickle effect of something that's really fun during the draft process. I agree. I agree, man. And there's so many different shapes and sizes of wide receivers.

If you love watching slot receivers, you're going to find plenty that you're going to get to evaluate. If you love watching those big, giant, contested catch dudes on the outside, there's going to be plenty of those that are coming through. There's just such a diversification of wide receiver weapons that we have in today's football, which makes evaluating wide receivers, I think, a lot lot of fun no matter which kind you like to watch the most you're going to have a lot of examples of that in a single draft class and how about freaking

smu they just keep doing this over and over again yeah we're always watching wide receivers from smu so you know think of courtland sutton and on and on and on from there it's it's cool to hear about rashid rice and they know how to find those guys that could be physical it feels like they always So, you know, think of Cortland Sutton and on and on and on from there. It's cool to hear about Rasheed Rice. And they know how to find those guys that could be physical. It feels like they always have a track guy as well. A school that we're consistently looking at NFL talent at the position. All right, my last stock up before one stock down. Man, I feel like I've been watching him at the college level for a long time.

Had the injury bump. And he just looked so, so good against colorado this week and i don't care that he's 24 years old as a prospect if you study into this guy's road he can play he's and he can do a lot of things a lot of different things really well it's it's mo ibrahim oh okay from minnesota yeah you know i feel like he's somebody that could have easily been in the draft two years ago we all know he had he's had a season-ending injury before he looked so good against colorado 23 carries 202 yards three rushing touchdowns had 12 first downs and four six missed tackles what i love about mo is he's so shifty as soon as he gets the ball if

somebody beats their man's the line of scrimmage but he also at the second level the field when he gets downhill runs with so much violent power and there was one play I believe it was like a third and 20 or something where they hand him the ball and when he got outside he balanced himself along the sideline for about 10 yards so Ibrahim is somebody that any draft fan any college football fan especially in the big 10 it's a name they're very very familiar with but he kind of fell off the planet because of the injury and the fact that he's been in school for a while the fact that he turned 24 last week you know september 8th is birthday

but man if we're gonna get into the age game nobody drafts running backs with the thought of paying them and keeping them for eight years right you draft a running back to get four great years out of them right away this dude is pro ready he's got good vision he breaks tackles i'm such a fan and i know he's not going in the first three rounds probably because of the age because the history but he's somebody that in the first three rounds probably because of the age, because of the history. But he's somebody that we're going to blink and we're going to look and go, man, he was good in college for a long time. And he has all the traits to be a good NFL rusher. And I just like that he understands he can win with power or he can win because he's got good feet.

He's got very, very sharp feet. And I think he can execute in his own scheme. But I think he's got the downhill ability to be in a gap scheme. So Mo Ibrahim, I just haven't seen anybody in the draft world seem to care about him anymore and i understand that we get bored of players when they hang around for a long time but trevor he is really really good and i thought against colorado and i know it's colorado that's the best i've seen him look in a very long time yeah it's i mean it's just it's obviously tough for him because you would have said what's the what's the thing holding him back it's probably top tier athletic ability top tier explosiveness yeah not breakaway speed yeah exactly that kinds of stuff and then the

injury that he has is an achilles injury right exactly running back death blow tough we've talked about that on this podcast it's some injuries are easier to stomach at certain positions than others it's really hard to be a skilled position player a stop and start player uh guy who demands explosiveness in that way with an achilles injury and that's really hard but i mean look when you look at the good with ibrahim 12 games in a row that he has rushed for over 100 yards mo has not mo has not had less than 100 yards rushing in a game that he has played since 2019 it's all he does it's 2019 last game of the 2019 season they played against auburn in that bowl game had 100 yards rushing he played one two three four five six seven games in 2020 abbreviated season all over 100 yards rushing against ohio

state he had 30 carries 163 yards and two touchdowns before he got hurt in the third quarter okay the third quarter man had 30 carries and this this year so far 21 carries 132 yards 23 carries 130 yards 23 carries 202. The man's just been producing. What do people want from him? He's going to be older. He's got the Achilles injury. And there's going to be questions about top-tier athleticism. He's my day three running back.

I'll say it right now. I was going to say, I think that that's probably going to push him to a day three. Oh, yeah, sure. But do tell a productive man. He's going to get a chance on an NFL team. There's no doubt about it. And really, I think there's an act to that. The way that he sees the field, the way that he constantly produces.

Year in, year out. The offensive line changes around him, but some things stay the same. And it's that Ibrahim's going to rush for over 100 yards. All right, I want to flip over to the defensive side of the the football i've got two that i want to shout out here on defense um one is michael jones linebacker from syracuse i don't know have you watched him at all you watched michael jones i watched a lot of syracuse you can't miss him because he's the guy with a with a with an arm and i've seen plenty of him yes he wears nine arm bands per arm so he's the guy in the middle he's a red shirt junior six foot one 225 pounds three year starter here for

this syracuse team he's a team captain was a first team all acc player last year pro football focus also had him in their first team all acc as well the dude's all over the field he is a downhill machine if whatever is in front of him this dude is flying to it 92.6 pass rush grade this season and he's not an outside linebacker he's not this is not like an edge player he's coming up the middle these are like a gap blitzes delayed blitzes like all of that kinds of stuff sometimes he's coming in on stunts you know i guess he has come around the edge on occasion. I've seen him do it, but he is just attacking the pocket

from a true off-ball linebacker spot, and he's grading really well doing it. If you keep things in front of him, man, he's fun. He knows how to rip off blocks. He knows how to take on blocks when it's his responsibility and run fits and run defense.

He pursues to the sideline. He's got that kind got that kind of speed coverage he's not as comfortable with it you clearly see that when he gets to move towards the line of scrimmage how aggressive he is because of how confident he is in his abilities his strength his speed his technique is everything he does that at a very very high level the coverage especially in zone when he's backpedaling he's guessing a little bit you know he's trying to exactly get a feel for what's around him and where he needs to be and where he needs to squeeze what zones he needs to occupy how he's watching the quarterback size but i will say i watched a couple of reps too where he was lined up against tight ends that were coming off the line of scrimmage from an inline position trying to go up the seam he was

able to keep up with him well in man coverage because I think that he has that athletic ability so it's a little bit of a work in progress when it comes to the most valuable part of playing linebacker for Michael Jones but man I just love what kind of a downhill player this guy is even if the coverage doesn't get better for the rest of the year he's okay enough at it to where we could have ourselves a really nice mid-round linebacker maybe even better depending on how productive he can be this year because so far he's really killing it i i like michael jones a lot he's a player who brings good athleticism for to the position and he's a player that when he is attacking the pocket he really does feel like that extra fifth rusher even if he has a even if he's got an interior offensive lineman

in front of him man he knows how to get by him knows the pass rush moves keeps the hands moving knows how to swipe knows how to get around him and that's uh that's very valuable i think that's valuable even without the coverage point right now and this was a big land for syracuse getting him from img academy i mean he was a legitimate recruit coming out of florida obviously a tough place for syracuse to compete in recruiting wise. Trevor, what's great, you know, what's really impressive to me, everything you said is as a player is so great. And then the fact you layer in that he was a captain his third year with the program.

Right. So he played a lot. He played a good amount his freshman year. He appeared in all 12 of their games in 2019. And he was a team captain by his, God, you're right, the COVID thing. It's just the way they list it. Syracuse lists him as a sophomore twice. Like, just as a sophomore twice. Sophomore in 2020, 2021.

So technically his third year with the program. That's how we'll say it. Team captain, first team all ACC. And then now he's showing out this year, his fourth year with the program, like you said, and you cannot miss him with the 85 million armbands. I think we can, I think we can improve on that. I think you, there's gotta be something else there, some kind of other aesthetic, but he is really good in Syracuse.

Syracuse has, has NFL talent on both sides of the ball this year. We've talked about Garrett Williams a lot. We've talked about Garrett Williams a lot. We've talked about Sean Tucker a lot. Really good highlight for Mikel Jones, who I believe, assuming he's going to, you know, a fourth-year graduate, he'll be All-Star Game eligible, which is really, really big for a player like him and makes this process that much more fun. So do you want to hit stock down?

I got one more. You got one more? I thought you had one more. I got one more fun. So do you want to hit stock down or? I got one more. You got one more. I thought you had one more. I got one more guy. Ojomo is how you say his name. Ojomo. Defensive lineman from Texas.

I first noticed him. I've seen him. Two weeks ago when Texas was really putting a hurtin' on Alabama's offensive lineman, making life absolute hell for Bryce Young. And Ojimo was one of those guys who was right in the thick of it. He's a fifth-year player. He's a redshirt senior. Played in 38 career games at Texas.

Got 25 starts. So a lot of experience, but you might say to yourself, okay, fifth year, big program like Texas. If he's good, why is he still there? Well, Texas hasn't been great. And I do think that a lot of that experience is actually showing up very well in Ojemo's game right now. Six foot three, 285 pounds.

He's a bit of a tweener because they'll play him anywhere from a three technique defensive tackle to a five tech as an edge player. I mean, I certainly don't mind at the college level him playing any of those spots and anything in between. The lineup is a four eye if they go into tight formation and I think that he has the awareness the experience and also the overall strength to be playing in a lot of different leverages and alignments along the offensive line I think he's a really powerful player does not lose the point

of attack often the very first play that I watched of him once i kind of got in this morning and i was like hey i want to get a couple of more games of him in before i talk about him they were going i think it was utsa was the game that i was watching this past game they're going for a duo block against this guy and the ball is snapped the interior offensive lineman goes straight at him it's the center and the guard and ojimo doesn't give them a single yard not a single yard he fights and continues to hold that point of attack and i was just like whoa this guy's got some strength you sure this guy's only 285 pounds because that would be crazy you know he's one-on-one against these interior offensive linemen i really like how aggressive he is with his club rip move.

He gets straight to that. If he's coming around the edge, he loves, as you would expect from a power player, he likes to get his hands up in there to bull rush, use his leverage against you, and then also very quick to go to that push-pull technique to really be able to get guys moving, get their backs arched, and then rip them through as they kind of get into the pocket and where the quarterback is. He's not a super twitched-up player,

but I wouldn't say that he's not completely explosive. I do think that he has some explosive traits to him, but he's not going to be this guy that's crossing your face really quick and crossing you up and really bursting off the snap and bending around the edge. No, he's more of a power player, but for as versatile as he is on Texas defensive line, if that weight is correct at 285, he is as strong as an ox at 285.

And I love the way that he plays run defense. Even if he's not going to be this big speed power, speed rusher, love the power play that he has. So Ojima wanted to shout him out guy along Texas defensive line, who I think is playing some really nice football and listen i'll tell you right now nfl coaches fall in love with guys like that they fall in love with guys that they can trust because of their weight and strength in there it you know as scouts and draft fans we always fall in love with the player that can

you know bend and burst his way into 15 sacks but obviously the hit rate on guys like that is so low for coaches they love the guy that on first and second down that could stick his butt right there and hand in the dirt and say do not get moved anywhere let my linebackers behind you run around and make plays so it's easy to overlook those guys and then when they go in the fourth fourth round they rotate in for two years then they start for another six and you blink and you go god those are the guys that i find all the time that are getting drafted on day three and have long careers really good depth player i think as a as a floor i think that this guy could be a really nice depth player

in the nfl okay some maybe less of stock, maybe more of just updates on, uh, yeah, it's, it's almost like a, it's unfortunate, but we do have to do this as we, our goal of this show, especially the draft portion is to, you know, really tell the story of every draft class. And you can't tell the story without the draft class, without the guys with huge expectations that don't necessarily end up in that draft class and i think that's kind of what today is we each have one player to bring to that go ahead all the way huh he was my safety three over summer and and unfortunately jaylen catalan season is over he had uh yet another shoulder injury he is is having season-ending shoulder surgery.

We love Jalen Catalan on this podcast. We were very, very honest in our summary valuations that injuries are what's holding him back from being a potential top 50 pick. And we thought if he bounced back and had a healthy season, you know, it kind of reminds me of what Antoine Winfield went through early in his career and then he had a great final season and he went in the second round he really should have

went in the first because he was a little undersized and had an injury history he went in the second round he's turned into a great NFL player unfortunately Catalan season has not gone that way now it's over really before it ever began uh I am looking forward to him being back on the field next year where he will be a redshirt senior, and I hope that he could stay healthy. I hope that they get that shoulder right, and I hope that he can play his way into being taken in the first three rounds of the 2024 NFL Draft.

Trevor, I would personally be very surprised if he gets the surgery, rehabs, and declares anyway. I don't like speaking to what makes sense for a guy's future, but I'm assuming Catalan will be back with Arkansas next year. We'll be back healthy and be looking forward to reestablish his stock.

I have no idea what Catalan's going to do. One of the best defensive players in the country when he's healthy. I think he's an absolute impact player. You're right, you can't miss him. He's making an impact at all times. I think he's a game-changing. You're right. You can't miss him. He's making an impact at all times. I think he's a game-changing safety. But the injury history, man, you brought it up before the podcast,

before we started recording. We're getting Bob Sanders vibes now. And obviously Bob did it a long time. And Bob's problems were also during his NFL career. Like Catalan, we don't know if he's going to make it there yet. And that sucks for him because Catalan, we discussed this during summer scouting, tore his ACL in high school,

had a torn labrum when he got to Arkansas, I believe that first year that he played. Last year, he had a broken hand and shoulder surgery that he had to have. And now he's having shoulder surgery again. So I don't know if all three of these surgeries are on one shoulder uh i don't know if it's one or the other but either way any defensive position that is asking you to tackle as often as safety does and the

play style of jalen catalan does he's got three surgeries now that sucks man and that that sucks for him and I'm not questioning his toughness I'm not questioning how much pain he could play through I'm not questioning any of that what I'm what what sucks to kind of bring to reality is is how much more can your body take even if Jalen and that's why I don't know what he's gonna do I don't know what he's going to do. I don't know what his decision is going to be because it's a good point. Even if he's preserved himself for NFL money, right?

Even if his mind tells himself, I will play through anything, cut off my damn arm. I'll play through it. So I feel like the way the jail, Jalen Catalan plays, it feels like he would have that kind of response to something, but eventually.

And unfortunately for some of these guys the body betrays you and it doesn't matter how much you want to play if you can't play and for for catalan i would love to see him come back next year i would love to see him have a fully fully healthy year because i think he's the first round talent but with this many surgeries now does he take the chance does he go get some money in the league and does he say okay if i'm gonna rehab and i'm gonna play i might as well be getting some money out of it hopefully have two healthy seasons in the nfl three healthy seasons in the nfl maybe you can try to get a contract done early right try to try to kickstart it that way so i i don't know i don't

know i'm not a i i don't want to be a financial advisor or a life advisor for him i i just hope that we certainly get to see him on the field again because he's a lot of fun to watch i agree the reality is it's going to come down to what his medical records show and because he he's going to be going to the jaylen catalan will be invited to the combine if he declares this year. That's how talented he is. And because NFL teams will want to do a medical check on him. And, I mean, we don't play doctor on the show. We just read what we can.

I just play one on TV. Yeah, exactly. Nice. And it is what it is. It's obvious they're going to see stuff there that makes them nervous. They know that. So I agree with you. He has a decision to make where does he want to make it worse by going back and playing college ball where we're so used to saying for free, yes, there's the NIL. But brother, if you're on an NFL roster collecting game checks, it's a different ball game for 99% of these guys. And, and we'll stay on top of this story,

but unfortunately we are not going to get to talk about Jalen Catalan, the player for these next couple of months. Yeah. So I have two guys that want to bring to the table. One I'm just going to mention. And then the other one is, is actually a little bit of a stock down, something that I'm going to look at kind of as the year goes on here. The first one we've talked about a re Gilbert, the tight end of Georgia three times now for this podcast episode.

I'm pretty sure he's been in this section of the episode now three weeks in a row. He didn't make the trip to South Carolina when Georgia played South Carolina. If you were holding out hope for Ari Gilbert to be something this year, he needed to not only make the trip to South Carolina, but you knew that Georgia was going to beat the tar out of him of him and he needed to play he needed to play in an sec game and actually be able

to show something he didn't even travel with the team um he really should barely even be on nfl draft radars at this point maybe the second half of the season looks night and day completely to what we've seen to start but as of right now he we we shouldn't be talking about him from an NFL draft perspective and that's obviously like coming from me who had him as tight end one you know I bet on a lot of the ceiling that he had and the potential that he had and I was hoping that he'd get to Georgia and boy they couldn't get as many they couldn't have too many tight ends on the field because of how diverse that offensive skill set was there for that room but he just he's not playing enough it sure seems like

the best course of action for him is the 2024 nfl draft at the very least so i wanted to bring him up there the uh the other player that i think is a little bit of a stock down i'm gonna go with tyler van dyke the quarterback from miami you know van dyke and it's it's nothing to what his overall ceiling and ability could be. Van Dyke was an absolute gunslinger last year in the last, what was it, six or seven games for Miami. Put on a show, led the ACC in passing in that time frame. But there was a lot of unorthodox, I'll just say,

technique in how he was going about playing quarterback. The feet weren't always set. The hips were open. Sometimes the shoulders weren't pointed where they needed to go. But heck, Van Dyke was letting his sling because nobody else in Miami was going to let his sling. And that's what they needed to get some wins to close out the year. They go to Texas A&M and they're playing Texas A&M this past weekend. And I think those accuracy concerns, those consistency concerns really reared its ugly head. Now I know some people are going to say, oh, it's a Mario Cristobal offense.

Look what he did to Justin Herbert. He's doing the same thing to Tyler Van Dyke. I don't know too deep of the details there, so I still need to kind of analyze that situation as a whole with coaching involved. But I'll tell you from a throw-by-throw basis, Tyler Van Dyke individually needs to get a lot better. I agree.

He needs to be a lot more consistent, man. When he had a 48.6 completion percentage just a raw completion percentage yep and only a 63.2 adjusted completion percentage yeah it's not gonna do a passing grade this past week and you know if some of you were looking for okay well like what's the goal 60 passing it's not too bad adjust it if you have an adjusted completion percentage which goes into things that are kind of outside your control mainly drops from the wide receiver on catchable passes most quarterbacks want to be around 75 you want three fourths of your passes if they are you just want you want three four at least three fourths of your passes to be going especially in college. For a guy that, admittedly, I was excited about his touch and anticipation.

And he has it, right? I watched that Texas A&M game. That was the calling card. And there were a couple of throws that were really nice. Yeah. The issue with Van Dyke is they're not consistent. He doesn't have the mechanics. He doesn't have the discipline.

He doesn't have, I don't think, the footwork right now. And just the operating procedure. that's what i noticed of how he throws the football to where he knows that ball is going exactly where it needs to go if he if him and his wide receivers are running a certain route combination 10 times out of 10 he knows how to put it exactly where it needs to be on rhythm right to the wide receiver and i just don't think we get that. We just don't have enough consistency with him right now. So still a high ceiling for Van Dyke. He's still a fun quarterback to watch, but in terms of an NFL prospect,

the accuracy has got to be better with him during the rest of the season. If we're going to consider him one of those top prospects in this class. I'm with you. When you texted me his name, I watched his throws this week right away because you know, that's he's a, he's a big name in this class, right? He's, you know, we talk about Bryce Young and C.J. Stroud. And then very often, if we don't do it, somebody will remind us to.

You know, you have Anthony Richardson, Will Levis, Tyler Van Dyke, Tanner McKee. Like these guys that are, you know, a bit raw and we want to see more of that are trying to fight to go in the first round. And a lot of them have had their struggles. And with Van Dyke, you know, I saw the two turnover worthy plays where it's just, he's kind of airing it out into coverage, really dangerous throws that A&M defenders weren't able to secure the ball, but they, it's a lot of defenders in the country that would on those throws. So he could have easily walked away with this game with an interception or two, no passing touchdowns. And I agree, Trevor resetting his feet in the pocket was a problem in this game that led to inaccuracies and late footballs.

And, you know, we, we believe he could bounce back, but this was a performance where you could kind of see all of the flaws in his game that need to be worked on. They were all very evident in this one. Hey,

Van Dyke was a lot of fun last year because he felt like a backyard quarterback that just came in and won Miami some games, right? And it was just like, damn, this dude is getting the ball deep down the field. Right, exactly, exactly. And everything looks tight now. This year, he's still, he's a little bit too much of an unorthodox quarterback, and he's just got to hone in a little bit. We got to get the most out of that talent.

So there you go. That's a little bit of a, I'll say, stock update. We don't have to say stock down on some of these guys yeah we don't have to be yeah thanks to watch yeah yeah that's a good way to put it that's a very politically correct way to put it i appreciate that a very friendly nfl stock exchange before we get out of here no house advantage is changing the game by offering the most dynamic fantasy sports platform available today. Play in Pick'Em Contest versus other people for a shot at winning $250,000 plus cash prizes. Download the app.

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you have families dinner work whatever you have to do try to make an effort screw your family yeah forget them we're your we're your family we're your family and we're all we're always gonna be here for you 6 45 eastern time uh at night of course pre. And we're not just talking about the Thursday night game. We're previewing the weekend. We have a lot of fun. We do mailbag questions. So jump in on that. Get in the chat.

It's been a unique show for us that we're really enjoying. Thursdays are awesome, man. Ending the show with like 30 minutes of mailbag questions, never knowing what questions people are going to ask. Insanity. It's my favorite way to end this podcast for the week and get us ready for the weekend like connor said if you haven't hung out with us yet on thursday night it's on pff's youtube we do a lot of course it you could

still watch it afterwards just like you watch these episodes you can still listen to them on podcast but join the live chat man it's a lot of fun we're having a good time get in on the show with some ask me anything questions i am tre Trevor Sikma. That is Connor Rogers. Thank you guys so much for listening to the NFL Stock Exchange Podcast. We will see you in the chat on Thursday. See you guys then. Thank you.