NFL Stock Exchange: An NFL Draft Podcast - Early 2026 NFL Draft LB Rankings
Episode Date: February 4, 2026Subscribe to our channel! It helps us out a bunch. Join our discord to connect with us and fellow addicts! https://discord.gg/WMJFjz4DQP https://discord.gg/PxSFVtWEwW?feature=description timestamps: 0...:00:00 Intro 0:10:24 4-8 Rankings 0:13:31 Kyle Louis, Pittsburgh 0:20:57 Jacob Rodriguez, Texas Tech 0:27:39 Taurean York, Texas A&M 0:35:17 Anthony Hill Jr., Texas 0:42:11 Jake Golday, Cincinnati 0:49:45 Josiah Trotter, Missouri 0:56:57 Draft Kings 0:59:51 1-3 Rankings 1:00:44 C.J. Allen, Georgia 1:11:20 Sonny Styles, Ohio State 1:21:01 Western and Southern Financial Group 1:22:33 Arvell Reese, Ohio State 1:32:52 Rankings Recap 1:34:07 Honorable Mentions 1:35:44 NFLSE Schedule Update 1:37:00 NFLSE Hat Update 1:39:05 Outro Follow us on X: https://x.com/NFLSEshow https://x.com/TampaBayTre https://x.com/ConnorJRogers PFF's Mock Draft Simulator! https://www.pff.com/draft/nfl-mock-draft-simulator Help the show by going to subscribe.pff.com and using the code: nflse25 You get 25% off an annual subscription at checkout AND you help the show out a ton! We appreciate each and every one of you ADDICTS :) Download the DraftKings Sportsbook app and use code PFF. That’s code PFF to unlock Ghost Leg — the promotion that makes one bad leg disappear and pays you out in real cash. Ghost your losses. Get your payout. In partnership with DraftKings Sportsbook. The Crown Is Yours. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-Gambler. In New York, call 877-8HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369). In Connecticut, Help is available for problem gambling. Call 888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org. Please play responsibly. On behalf of Boot Hill Casino & Resort (Kansas). Fees may apply in Illinois. Twenty-one plus age and eligibility varies by jurisdiction. Void in Ontario. Opt-in for single-use token. Minimum 3+ legs and -500 odds per leg. Max bet varies. If only 1 leg of the bet loses, bet will settle as if only the winning legs were placed and pays out in cash based on odds when the bet was placed. See terms at sportsbook.draftkings.com/PFF Thanks to Western and Southern Financial Group and Draft Kings Pick 6 for sponsoring today's episode. For business or other inquiries, reach us at nflseshow@gmail.com Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Transcript
Discussion (0)
That's picking number two today.
I think the favorite would be R. Velvries.
I've been watching a linebacker tape a lot recently.
He's got really powerful hands to set an edge to take on tackles and pullers.
That's a guy that's worthy of being the number two selection.
I am going to take...
David Bailey here.
Hold on. You just pulled the meat.
You just pulled the meat.
I was literally about to ask you a follow up about Arvel Reese.
I did the whole thing.
And then I take someone totally different.
The NFL stock exchange podcast.
Trevor Sink of McCona Rogers here with you guys in the middle of Super Bowl media week.
Connor's on the road.
He's hoteled up, but that's not going to stop the positional ranking series.
Today, we got linebackers for you guys.
Linebacker always a very in-depth conversation because there's so many different ways to play the offball linebacker position.
We're going to give you our top eights today.
We're going to run through exactly with the strength and weaknesses are.
Some scheme fits of all of these guys.
the ceiling, some round grades, some player comps, all of that good stuff.
Connor, how is you and your man on the street TikTok, Mike, doing over there?
You like this little guy hooked up to the top of my protein shaker?
I mean, this is absolute, like, survival instincts at this point.
I was going to hold it, and you guys were like absolutely not.
So way too close, way too far.
I almost wanted you to start the show like that so you could just be like overblowing the sound for the first.
Yeah, hi, guys. How are we doing?
With my little microphone.
Oh, my God.
By the, by the way, the chat has pivoted from making fun of you standing up to now saying I'm three shaker cups tall.
Oh, thank God.
Yeah, the height jokes have now pivoted.
Thank God.
I'm not getting out of this.
I needed, I needed a break, man.
It was, it was tough out here.
Pine-sized pavia from people in the chat.
I mean, like, that's just, that's gone too far.
But look, your protein shaker obviously coming in handy.
You know we stay strapped with this one over here.
So everybody's got the cup.
The show is.
Every man has the cup.
The show is absolutely on brand.
Yeah.
And yeah, the sick thing about this cup is that, you know, I had like, I got, I'm battling
a little bit of a little bit of a cold here.
So like there's, there's this kick ass immune medicine that my wife got me into that you just
like pour a little bit of it in water and it does a trick.
I had that in there in the morning.
We've had protein in here.
throughout the day. Now we got water. It's universal. It's universal. Every person has to have a good
cup. And for a lot of times, not the stereotype here, but for a lot of, a lot of young men between
the ages of I would say 16. That's right. And 38. A lot of times it's a plastic protein cup that
will never let die, which I'm proud of. That gets washed like, at a when it's just water,
almost never. Not nearly enough. That's not nearly enough. Not nearly enough.
way the hygiene of the water cup not the best by those 16 year old demo this is actually
the perfect prospect position ranking to be talking about this because you know damn well
I mean there are linebackers that we're going to talk about here on this show that are like
yeah man I played uh yeah I played running back in high school and then I packed on 40 pounds guess
how they packed on 40 pounds the little Caesar's hot and ready diet and this bad
boy right here.
That's how they did.
That's how they did it.
We have pulled the switch.
You are back in your lovely home studio.
I am.
I am now in the hotel.
Thankfully.
Yeah, I bet you feel good.
That return to home studio show after being away is like a slice of heaven.
My flight on Sunday, getting back to Charlotte because the weather was so bad, got canceled in the morning.
and I was so numb to travel at that point.
I just went, all right.
Yeah, all right.
We'll just.
This is my life.
Yeah, let's just, we'll look up another flight, I guess.
Like, I wasn't mad.
I wasn't panicking.
I wasn't anything.
You just, yeah, all right, cool.
Yep.
Find another one, I guess.
I'm happy to be home.
How Super Bowl me do you, we've been there?
Today was the first full day for you guys.
Yesterday.
Okay.
We do get out here very early every year.
I get in on Sunday every year.
And Monday's very quiet at Radio Row,
but Tuesday it starts to really, really pick up.
Sims and I had Joe Milton today.
And Joe Milton right now can throw a football 87 yards, I believe he told us.
Which is just, and of course, I believe him.
I mean, this is why he has no reason to lie.
We've seen him come close to doing this all the time.
It's on video.
It's on video.
At least 80 yards is on video that we've seen.
Absolutely on the over on 80.
So definitely picking up here today.
It's been a lot of fun, man.
The energy is really, really good.
But it's cool to see it.
And I didn't make it to the senior bowl.
So it's cool to see people that I missed out there.
Everybody asked for you.
And I'm like, you didn't want to be here.
No, I tell everybody.
No, I kind of honestly, after Shrine and Senior Bowl Week in the travel, that's actually,
I would have loved.
I would have loved to be there if I could snap my fingers and be there.
And then snap my fingers again and be in my home bed.
But I just said never heard of them.
Yeah, that's actually.
Yeah, that's the correct response.
Yeah, when people ask for you at the senior ball, I was like,
nope, he's done.
We actually had a really, really bad falling out.
The podcast is over.
No, I'm kidding.
Obviously, it's alive and well.
We're here to talk linebackers.
We're to talk top eight linebackers like we have for all the early positions.
Obviously, we'll kind of go through these as we get more time to watch even more guys over the next couple of months.
We'll have the combine.
We'll have free agency.
We'll have the pro days, all that good stuff.
So we'll revisit this, of course.
But we wanted to give you guys a little bit of a primer on this class because, you know, Connor,
there are years that go by where linebacker is, I'll just say, like, not really alluring.
It's not one of those premium positions, as you would say.
There's a lot of, there's a lot of times where you can find serviceable linebacker play,
depending on what your scheme asks of these guys.
But if your scheme is more of, hey, we like our linebackers to keep their eyes in the backfield.
It's more of an attacking style.
You can kind of find a lot of those guys every single year.
So the positional importance, how much you would value it into the first round,
it's not often we get like a good linebacker class.
But this year I do think, I do think that there are.
I do stink.
I do absolutely after a full day of podcasting, but that's neither here nor there.
I do think that there are some guys at the top that are really intriguing.
And then the depth of this class, specifically a lot of the guys who could be going in the third of the fourth round,
there's a handful of linebackers that are really exciting.
So unless you have any other general scouting linebacker thoughts,
we can get right into the topic.
We've talked about it a lot, you know,
that this position has kind of evolved in different ways over the years,
the speed you're asked to play with.
And naturally, because of that speed that's required,
the way the size of the linebacker has changed.
But I'll say this.
I watched nine for this episode,
less than I would have liked because of the travel
and the busyness of the week itself.
I have a lot of work left to do because there's a lot of players I know that are talented.
I still need to watch.
But really impressed as a whole with this class.
It feels multiple tiers above.
I can't remember the last time we had an offball class this talented.
It just felt in a totally unique class of its own for the nine players I watched in comparison
of just how highly they should be valued.
It's also really this class specifically is going to be a great.
great litmus test for linebacker overall because for most of the linebackers in this group,
I think one of the first kind of sentences that I talked about in my scouting report,
because I'll mention, you know, how overall height, weight, length, things like that.
A lot of them are small.
A lot of them are really undersized for the linebacker position the way that it has been built
over the last, I would say, shoot, I mean, I guess for as long as pro football has existed,
to be honest with you.
But now we are getting into a world.
where speed is so prioritized.
Yeah, you got to have it.
As the great Bill Parcell is used to say,
the NFL can only take what the college game is giving them.
So if in college, you're seeing a lot of these teams gravitate towards
and give starting experience to linebackers that are smaller,
but more explosive and quicker,
guess what's going to happen in the NFL?
You're going to start to see that a little bit more in the NFL as well.
So it's going to bring up a lot of interesting conversation.
here. Nick had a really good note in the chat early on here. People need to stop calling this a
week class. It's just not a premium class. That's right. I have not really heard it said like that
before, but I think I agree with what Nick is saying there that, okay, it might not have the
surplus at premium positions that some drafts do, but it is a pretty deep class in a lot of ways.
And I think linebacker is one of them. So, Connor, let's go. I believe,
Our producer, Tyler the chef, has it 8 to 4, like we have been doing in the past.
Yes, 8 to 4.
So let's reveal your 8 to 4.
We'll reveal my 8 to 4.
And then we'll kind of bounce around and talk about what we're, what we honestly want to talk about most here in these rankings.
And to the chat, over in the chats, I'm drinking a course light on the show.
Yo, he's drinking a course light.
Hold on.
Wait a second.
I don't know if this is a San Francisco thing or what.
This is what all the water comes in.
out here i haven't seen a plastic bottle no brother that's i i know a silver bullet
i just yeah the disguise that's a massive silver bullet
vibes yeah the mountains look blue mountains there it dude you can't fool me you cannot fool me
they may have changed the logo for their california brand but you can't fool me i see your
game i see right through it all right let's go eight to four i want to see that ridiculous animation
always makes me laugh.
I just can't express how much I love the chef.
Number eight,
senior bowl standout, beyond belief.
Kyle Lewis from Pittsburgh,
and I'll get into the reason why he made my top eight,
which might surprise some people over, you know,
names that,
the name that's behind him on my rankings.
But I got to look at,
besides the nine I watch,
I got a light look at about three others
and didn't feel like they had a chance to go over him.
So we'll get to him.
Seven, Jacob Rodriguez from Texas,
tech a fan favorite. His tape is a lot of fun to watch because he's just makes so many plays
on the ball that changed the game with his knack for turnovers and the tenacity that he plays with.
Six Anthony Hill Jr. from Texas, which kind of speaks to how good this class is that you have
a player of Anthony Hill's caliber as the sixth ranked linebacker. I would put him in a tier with Jake
Galday, the linebacker from Cincinnati. I would really group them together as these guys with
these long strides and range.
To watch them when they can really build up and run is pretty special.
And then one of the last guys I watched in Josiah Trotter,
who just feels like a hammer on a nail the way he plays.
It's like I'm coming downhill and I'm a little throwback style with, you know,
the beefy build.
And I can run right through you and play a little downhill thumper style game.
And I believe he's a redshirt sophomore.
So I think, I don't think, I would imagine he got some pretty good feedback to leave for the draft early.
And after watching the tape, that doesn't surprise me.
Yeah, I actually am a little surprised that Trotter was in this class.
But I wonder if feedback like you mentioned is the reason why.
So let's go my eight to four.
And then we'll start the conversation there.
Love the animation.
Anthony Hill Jr. from Texas.
You mentioned him.
You've got him at six.
I have him at eight.
A little bit lighter.
of a linebacker, more of a will linebacker, if you ask me, somebody that I like the idea of
him playing a little bit more in space, a little bit more in coverage. We'll have a deeper
conversation on him in a second. Tori in York from Texas A&M. I've got him at number seven.
I thought he stood out during Shrine Bowl practices. Undersized guy, which is, I think, the theme of
this class, but somebody who, somebody whose game I really like, and I just can't quit how smart
he is and his recognition and all that. Number six, I've got.
got Jacob Rodriguez right here. You have him at number seven. I have him at number six.
I imagine that we probably see him similarly as we'll have his conversation. You having Kyle
Lewis at number eight. That's no shock to me because I've got him at number five.
There it is. Well, we know what he's really good at. And I think that his, his projection is very,
very interesting. Maybe we start the conversation and start talking about Kyle Lewis because
I don't know if he's your traditional linebacker, but I do know he's one hell of a football player.
And then finally at number four, I just had Jake Golda, which you have him in number five.
So we'll get to him at some point.
But Kyle threw up, sorry, Tyler threw up the graphic.
Let's just start with Kyle Lewis here.
So Kyle Lewis, you see the snaps played.
He's got over 1,500 snaps played.
Redshirt Jr. at Pittsburgh listed and official measurements here, because this is from the senior bowl,
5 foot 11 and a half.
and just 225 pounds for an offball linebacker that is fifth percentile in height,
fifth percentile in weight, but he does have longer arms to him.
I didn't write down the arm length percentiles,
but I believe he's got 32 inch arms,
which are really long considering he's sub-6 feet.
Redshirted his first year when he was at Pitt started in two games the following season,
and then he has been a full-time starter for them the last two years.
You see some of those numbers when it comes.
do coverage grade, certainly in the box and in the slot.
He is good at both of those things.
Really good run defender, despite his overall size,
had six interceptions over the last two years and two forced fumbles.
Connor, I actually, I'm cheating a little bit here,
but I wanted to talk about Kyle Lewis,
but I actually kind of think he's a nickel defender.
I mean, I think he's one of those hybrid players that's sort of like,
you know what Cameron Curl is at times, what Kyler Gordon is at times, what Derwin James is, what
Jalen Petrie is.
And I think that because he's a linebacker playing in that spot, it's a little bit different
than those corners that I mentioned who are more slot defenders.
But Pittsburgh will play him in that overhang apex defender slot role where he's in space,
but he's not really in space like a will linebacker is.
truly like an overhang type of a slot defender because of how explosive he is, because
how well he can defend the run if there's any sort of outside runs or quick screens or
anything like that.
I think that he is tenacious when it comes to taking on blocks, doing the dirty work, and
yet that change of direction, explosiveness, and fluidity, the true drop coverage, because
we'll talk about this throughout the episode.
Sometimes you have linebackers that, sure, they have coverage grades, but coverage is a little
bit different for them.
Some guys are just, you know, backpedal a couple of feet and keep everything in front of them,
and they're only really asked to cover shorter, maybe swing passes out of the backfield
into the flat.
Maybe it's just mesh routes over the middle.
Kyle Lewis, I mean, this guy is flipping the hips.
He is shuffling.
He is going side to side.
He is totally changing direction in how he covers.
fantastic in that regard. I think he's got good recognition for both run plays and past plays as well.
As you'd expect for a guy who's 225, a lot of his weaknesses, Connor, come from
if I'm going to ask him to play between the tackles. Right. He's not super dense when it comes
to the hitting power, even though he'll give it as all with as much momentum as he can.
He's not the best at taking on blocks because he's smaller. But that athleticism is so good.
I mean, dude, I don't know if.
you got a chance to watch all of the running back linebacker one-on-one coverage drills from the
scene.
I did.
Yeah.
His body of work throughout the week in that drill was as good as any linebacker I have ever seen.
He had two interceptions in that drill.
Which is like ridiculous.
Who gets interceptions in that drill?
That is totally catered towards the running back.
hooking your ass at all times.
And he was so good, he had such great explosion, such great recognition, and such good
ball skills.
He ended up having a couple of past breakups and interceptions as well.
So I have him as LB4 because I wanted to talk about him on this list.
If you're going to list him anywhere as a linebacker, I think it's as a will linebacker,
more in space.
But to be honest with you, I like him as just more of that big nickel chess piece, nickel
defender type of a player. So I am a huge fan. Although it is a projection, I'm a huge fan of Kyle Lewis,
the football player. Me too. The reason he made it in my rankings is linebacker 8 was because I know what
he's good at. And that's as a coverage backer, a sub package backer, call him a dimebacker. If you're
playing a team that's all of a sudden in a heavy pass script or it's a third and long,
this is somebody on the field that's going to give you not only that kind of speed and range,
but his ability to match movements and his like route anticipation in the short area really,
really stands out.
I mean, he's going to erase those checkdowns really quickly to running backs.
And, you know, like you said, playing kind of an overhang spot.
Do I see a world for him where he's going to be this three down like true linebacker,
even as a willbacker?
It might be a little bit more of a long shot right now.
But the reason he made my rank is because I know exactly.
what he's good at. And if you put him in a defense where you feel like you have the big bodies up
front to let him kind of run and chase a little bit, you know, then he's got a real shot. So it's just
when you have that kind of calling card and skill and a skill set that is highly desirable in the league,
it's going to go a long way. And I think he showed everybody that in Mobile and or I would say
reminded everybody that Mobile because the coverage tape on the coverage skills on tape for now two years
have really, really stood out to be.
Yes, I agree with you completely.
And I also agree with your assessment.
Like, if you want him to sort of just be a linebacker,
like even a will linebacker,
he's probably a little bit lower on my rankings.
But I'm really hoping he goes to a creative defensive coordinator
who will let him basically be a will linebacker for you at times
or a nickel for you at times.
And if you do that, I think you're getting the best of what Kyle
Lewis has to offer, which is a hell of a football player, a hell of a competitor,
somebody who's not afraid to do the dirty work, somebody who'll come up and hit you,
he's got those extra long arms, he's got those coverage instincts.
I am a big fan of what he could be in his potential at the NFL level.
Connor, I'll give you the floor to pick whichever running back you want to talk about next,
but before we do that, guys, if you have enjoyed this content or any content that we have done
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And I also see a lot of the super chats.
As always, guys,
we will save the super chats for the end and we will run through all the super chat.
Most of the super chats.
Sometimes if they're topical,
we'll get them in the show really quickly.
But we'll save most of them for the end just to not disrupt the total flow of the show there.
So, Conor, who's the next linebacker that you want to talk about here?
Let's jump around here in the rankings.
Lewis was eight for me.
I do want to get to you having York in the rankings as well.
But let's talk about Jacob Rodriguez, because we clearly, him and Anthony Hill, we have very, you know, similar spots here.
Yeah.
Rodriguez is a guy that simply all of the, you know, how early will he go is going to be based on if he even runs a 40.
and if teams think the foot speed is good enough.
But man, the tape is the tape with this guy.
And he's not small at 6-1-235.
Like that's the thing is that if he had questionable foot speed combined with the size,
then you'd look at it and you'd be like,
okay, I just don't know if the projection or the, you know,
the transition at the next level is going to be a smooth one.
But he's played a ton of football because of his instincts.
he's constantly made plays.
I mean, you just look at the numbers this year.
There was a reason why he was in the Heisman conversation,
let alone, you know, the level of talent just as a defender.
Dude, he's got 10 force fumbles and five interceptions over the last two years.
That's where I was just going to.
That's insane.
And he got so much even better from last year to this year,
where he forced seven this year and four interceptions.
He just, he has a nose for the ball that really can't be quantified.
That's how I would kind of disclosures.
I think you and I have discussed on this show that when he was at Virginia back in 2021,
he kind of had this weird quarterback role and he caught some passes and he ran the ball
and they tried to do a little bit of everything with him.
And then as soon as he got to Texas Tech after that 2021 season at Virginia,
it was like, okay, you're just a linebacker now.
And I think you can see some of that awareness and IQ of an offensive skill player,
like the development of the play go with him as he moved to linebacker.
He just has such a good feel for how plays develop.
And I just once again,
I don't think that can be quantified.
And I don't think he's slow to the point of where it's like just not an NFL player.
I don't see that.
He's fast enough.
Is he going to run like some of the guys we're going to talk about after him?
Absolutely not.
But he's tough.
He's physical.
I love how active his hands are.
and passing lanes.
And when he sees a quarterback staring down a throw or screen,
he can jump all over that.
He just has such a high IQ that the production is not a fluke at all.
It's truly because of his sixth sense of understanding play development,
both against the run and when in coverage.
I just think he's just such a high football IQ type of a player.
You talked about how, okay, we don't think that he's going to be
the fastest, but he also doesn't look slow on tape.
And when I was watching him as Senior Bowl, he doesn't look slow at the Senior Bowl either.
And I think a big reason for that is because his first steps always immediate and it's in
the right direction.
Always.
Right.
Always.
The guy's never fooled.
He's always going where he's supposed to be.
And so if he's not meeting the ball carrier exactly at the line of scrimmage, he's
close and around it.
The big play mentality to force the turnovers, reading the quarterback's eyes, having that
quarterback background is so big for him.
And, you know, I think the lack of size goes into him having a little bit higher of a
miss tackle percentage throughout his career just because his lengths aren't as long.
Right, right.
The overall length and the overall weight that he's playing with.
So he's got length limitations.
And like you said, the first or the overall speed might be a little bit less.
But there is so much good with what this player does.
And I feel as though the instinct.
that he has are top of the class, truly.
I mean, he is right there with,
we'll get to Sonny Stiles,
so I think it's unbelievable.
But like,
he,
he is right there sort of with Sunny styles
and how he anticipates the game.
The difference is just that
Sonny's a better athlete and he's a bigger athlete,
but,
again, we'll get to that a little bit later in the show.
I think Rodriguez is awesome.
I have a,
I have a third round grade on Rodriguez.
I can't wait to see how he tests
because he's a little bit better of an athlete
than I think he is.
even if it's just sort of in testing, then I go, okay, now I have, I have more faith that maybe
this guy could be a second round type of a linebacker. It's tough when you're undersized to be
around the top 50 when you're an undersized linebacker, but he's such a playmaker. It's hard for me
to think that he's going to get out of the top 100. So right now I would project him as a third
round pick type of a guy, but we'll certainly see how he tests when he's at the combine,
because I know that he's going to get an invite. Yep, without a doubt. And I'm looking forward
to that. It always helps with this position.
So it's just such an easy player to love watch and play ball because he's just so incredibly
sharp and tough and, you know, helps his teammates by his play, his ability to diagnose plays.
And, you know, obviously somebody that if he just meets a threshold with a 40 time,
I think teams will be able to talk themselves into him pretty easily.
Yeah, somebody noted in the chat. He's got a better slot coverage grade than
Kyle Big Nickel Lewis slightly.
I mean like whatever it was like 69.6 for Kyle Lewis versus, you know, 74.1.
Obviously, I just think that Rodriguez's instincts and coverage are so, so great.
That it's close enough.
It's not like I'd say that Rodriguez would be better in the slot than Lewis.
I think they're totally different players in that regard.
But I think both of those guys are really good in their coverage roles.
And obviously both of them showcase.
really good coverage grades as box defenders as
true linebackers as well.
All right, who's next?
Who's next on the list?
Who do we got?
Well, probably good time to go to,
actually, before we get to Anthony Hill Jr.,
I want to hear you talk about Tori and York.
So I mentioned the three guys that I've seen some of
outside of the nine I watched for this show.
Torian York was one.
Owen Heineke from Oklahoma was one
because he just found out.
He's not going to get the extra eligibility
because of his lacrosse season at Ohio State.
Yep.
And then Petcher, Bryce Becher from Oregon, who was a senior bowl character, to say the least.
He is part of the CCU is what the chat let me know last episode, which is the Caucasian collision unit with him and Dylan Fineman at Oregon.
Okay.
Yeah.
Look out.
And there's merch, actually.
I've seen the merch of the CCU.
I think I saw that too.
I just wasn't really fully cultured or.
ingrained on it yet.
I'm excited to hear you talk about York
because there's a player that I really wanted to like
more of. I just, I just
he's just small.
The margin for error at that size is
always so difficult. No, I mean, there's
there's no question. I had
touring York as my LB1
going into this season because
he just plays the game
at such a high football
IQ level. Like
who, excuse me. Bless.
From the Lord above. Thank you.
It's more than Mackay Lemon got.
Imagine he steezes and he looks up and goes,
not even,
not even a bless you.
Love Mikhail Evan.
So,
you know that clip that was,
that would go around on like Instagram or TikTok or whatever?
And it was Lou Kekley basically like calling out plays like before snap.
He's like,
hey, outside run,
outside run.
And he's like moving the entire team.
And then before the ball even snaps.
He's like running to exactly where the spot's going to be.
And of course, he stops to play by himself.
That's basically Tori and York.
He's just not built like Luke Keekely.
And I wish he was because he'd be LB1 in this class if he was.
But he's not.
And that's part of the scouting evaluation.
But that's why I loved him so much when we were going into this season.
So he's just a true junior coming out of Texas A&M listed from the Shrine Bowl,
5 foot 10 and a half,
230 pounds.
So the height and the length,
again, I didn't write down the arm length,
but I believe the height and length,
both like first percentile,
very much outlier.
I think actually,
now that I'm remembering it,
the height is first percentile,
the arm length is second percentile.
So that's the tough one, man.
Like if you're compact,
you're compact.
Right.
Like short linebackers or somehow,
but it's just all about the arm length.
That's an issue.
And so you're talking about an outlier in height and length.
the weight at 230 is 14th percentile.
So yeah, he's smaller, but he is pretty compact and he is pretty dense,
obviously with him being a little bit smaller and having the weight that he does.
He ran track when he was in high school.
He ran the 200 meter and he ran the 100 meter.
He started every single game as a true freshman for Texas A&M in 2023.
He had then obviously started all 13 games the following year,
and he started all 15 games.
past season. Mike Elko, who is a great defensive mind and he's the head coach at Texas A&M.
He said this about Tori and York. From a preparation standpoint, he's unlike anybody that I've ever
been around. He's as good as I've ever seen in terms of film study, his quality of preparation,
his ability to watch tape and process through, here's a call, here's my reads, here's what I'm
seeing, as opposed to just watching tape. Sometimes a lot of kids are just watching it, not really
getting a ton out of it. I think he's really, really effective with what he gets out of film study
and he puts a lot of time into his film study. That is absolutely so much of what I have heard
from anybody who was around the Texas A&M program, the type of leader that this dude is,
certainly to be a starter at a linebacker position as a true freshman. You mentioned the lack of
length that he has. He still, I don't have his tackle percentage up here, but his mistackle
percentage is low.
Like single digits, both of the last two seasons.
Like he does not miss tackles because he's so in control.
Now, it gets more difficult at the NFL level and you have to think about that when
you're projecting guys from college to the pros.
It's not going to be the same.
But he is, his recognition is unbelievable.
His communication to the rest of the defense is fantastic.
He's been a leader and a starter in the middle of that defense for the last three years.
He's got this jitterbug type of high energy, high competitiveness play style to him.
He is a fiery competitor.
He is not shy to contact.
If you watched any of the practice film from the Shrine Bowl, he was absolutely demolishing
running backs in the pass protection drills because he's just so tenacious at how he goes after
the football.
The big issues with him is he's just not big.
if Tori and York was 6 foot 3
240 pounds
he'd be LB 1 in this class
I think but
because that is R. Bell Rees
because it was basically sunny styles
to be honest with you but right you're right because the way they play
but the the coverage
ability that he has despite being his size
how he can retreat and
shuffle and flip his hips from true, like,
mugged up looks, because that's another thing.
Like, there's a lot of times where with a lot of defenses nowadays in the NFL,
you get a lot of defense coordinators that want these mugged looks and these simulated pressures, right?
And not every linebacker is comfortable being at the line of scrimmage,
acting like they might blitz, and then the second the ball is snapped,
you're immediately flipping your hips and you are shuffling back as fast as possible
to drop to a deeper part of coverage.
Not every linebacker is good at that.
Tori and York has that movement skills to be that kind of player.
The shorter length impacts, it can impact tackling,
it can impact how he gets his hand on a football.
It can impact the stride length that he has
from getting from point A to point B,
even though he looks super fast,
like those legs are churning incredibly fast,
he's not covering the same ground that Sonny Stiles is,
Arville Reese is, Jake Golda, is.
It's just the fact.
Right.
So I can't,
I just can't give up on a player with this much football IQ.
I just can't do it.
At a position where we've seen undrafted linebackers,
undersized linebackers, get starting roles,
be somewhat of inkpacked players or at least contributing players,
it's hard for me to totally give up on Tori and York
despite the facts that his measurables probably tell me that I should.
So if I get burned for this, so be it.
He just approaches the game with such a high football IQ.
you, it's hard for me to put him any lower than this on this list.
Yeah, I get it.
I mean, once again, the tape stands out with him.
There's years of it.
So it's not even like there's a lot of variance in this game because of the intelligent game he plays.
It's just limited.
It's just physical limitations, which is a shame.
But, you know, because you go through the history of the position recently.
And there's a guy or two like this every single year.
And they hang around rosters.
they play special teams.
They're good to sub-packaged players.
But it's just harder to be that guy with those limitations.
There's no doubt.
And Jason in the chat, I think, brings up a good point.
Logan Wilson's got great instincts,
but he can't get to the sideline before the bulk carrier gets upfield.
If Tori and York does not prove to have the athleticism to be able to do that,
yes, then I think that that's sort of your calling card of like,
okay, now this is a major issue for you at the NFL level.
But we will see.
I kind of lean on the track background a little bit,
and I think, hey, maybe he's got more juice than even I might think that he has.
So I might just be blissfully optimistic about him,
but it's just I just enjoy so much of how he plays the game.
It's hard for me to give up, but I'm there.
Want to talk about Anthony Hill Jr?
Sure.
He's probably, if I have a feel for our audience like I do,
the surprise of the rankings, people say,
seeing me have him sixth and you have him eighth.
Yep.
When he's probably, and there's a lot to like about Anthony Hill,
Jr. that we'll get to in a second.
A little bit of this is the product of being in a great class.
But I think when I watch this group,
he was the guy that I did want a little bit more from, admittedly.
Listen, let's get to the very obvious is that he is 6.3.
He's probably going to come into the combine at at least 240.
he carries that really, really well.
And being that size, he runs really, really well.
Like, it's just great athlete.
Great athlete can open up and cover, kind of take away the corner.
Like, he'll, it's hard to beat him to the edge.
It really, really is.
He, we've talked about this before, but he's mastered that, you know, that peanut punch
to knock the ball out over the last two years.
He's four, seven fumbles.
And he has this tackling style that typically.
you'd be nervous about with the player, that it's like, it's like upright and he wraps and he has
this, but he has this wrestling grip strength that he never just falls off of people. He kind of
tackles high and wrestles them high to the ground rather than kind of driving through the hips,
but it, I can't knock it because it's entirely effective for him at the college level against high end
talent. It's not a problem. Like he, if you want the positive of that,
it's not really a lot of instances of him ducking his head and whiffing because he he tackled so high.
The problem I had with him, Trevor, and why I was left wanting a little bit more was I just felt like he looks like he could be physical,
but he just doesn't run through blocks or work through traffic at the rate you'd expect a top linebacker to.
It's like he's got the size of a masher and he's got.
great speed, but his game is predicated on just opening up and running.
And honestly, in coverage, while he's fat, he's a good athlete, I don't really think he had
any instincts in coverage that I expected.
I expected at least more ability in space.
So he's kind of a project.
Like what I expect, and you see he's 20 years old, in three or four years, Anthony Hill ends up
being the second round pick that blossomed into a high end starter.
I wouldn't be surprised at all.
I just think he's he is very very green right now.
I agree with you based on basically everything that you said with him.
I.
The lack of lack of physicality sounds much harsher than it really.
Yeah, he's not like a slot receiver playing.
No, no, no, no.
He's not like shying away from contact.
But kick my ass.
I thought, of course, right.
That's it understood.
With one hand.
But like,
I, again, like, I thought he'd be a little bit stronger between the tackles.
And I felt like he got pushed around by blockers.
I thought he got sealed off and displaced in the run game more than you would want somebody who's going to play in the box full time.
I have him listed as a will linebacker because I think the best of what he does is truly in space.
I want him to be covering.
But like you said, I also wrote down that I feel like he has a, excuse me, a lack of,
good feel for when receivers are sort of like behind him.
And I kind of need the coverage instincts to be a little bit better.
And I think that can get a lot better.
You see his age, I don't know what he's going to be.
I think he's 20 right now.
I don't know when he turns 21.
I don't know his birthday off the top of my head or in my notes.
But I just agree with everything that you said.
I think he's a really good athlete.
I think he's built really well.
I think he's got long arms.
He's got the height.
He can put on some.
extra weight to play at the NFL level. He could play, I think somewhere between 240, 245.
I just think he's got to get a little bit stronger if he's going to play that full-time
will linebacker roll. Yeah, so I looked up as he'll turn 21 this month. So he'll play his
entire rookie season as a 21-year-old. Yeah. So yeah, he's just kind of like really,
really impressive traits. He was a former, he was a former track guy too. I believe it. Yeah, he
he was in the 4x400 relay team that finished second in the Texas 5A state championships.
So the Duke can run.
He's, I think he's just a little bit more of a athlete playing linebacker than I thought that I was going to see.
I thought I was going to see a little bit more of a polished linebacker.
And I think that that's still a little bit of a work in progress for him there.
What Rhodes in the comments at Tremaine Edmunds?
And that's like that's that's the pathway here.
Right.
20 year old prospect.
Really great builds can open up and run.
But a very raw middle backer right now.
And you know, there's just a lot of there's of course a lot of risk with that in a class that I think has prospects with less risk.
Yeah.
So I see him very similarly do the way that you do.
He's a young player.
He's a good athlete.
he just needs some development still.
And I think he'll, there are times when he just, I think he plays too light.
He plays a little bit out of control.
He's really quick to run to where the ball is.
But then he gets some times to be over aggressive to it.
I think that leads to a little bit higher of a mistackle rate for him.
If he's running in there at full speed, he's not as patient.
He has some reps where he sees it.
And because of his athleticism, boom, he's right there to make the play.
But he also, even with his experience over the last two years,
I felt like I saw too many reps probably where it's almost like he was guessing.
And he guessed wrong.
And he ran himself completely out of like where the play was actually going.
So, you know, any RPO's, any misdirection, anything like that at the NFL level,
the game just gets a lot faster and you got to be a lot more on your toes.
So we're judging a player in his current state, but he is a young linebacker who I can very easily see.
I gave him a third round grade, but I can.
very easily see a team drafting him in the second round.
I think so.
As a really good athlete type of offball linebacker that they know they're going to be able
to develop.
All right.
So that was Anthony Hill.
Trevor Adam eight,
item sixth.
We have pretty similar players across this part.
And another one would be Jake Golda,
who I had at five.
You had at four.
Yes.
Trevor, I thought he was one of those guys that you watch on tape.
and there was so many instances of him just standing out.
Yep.
Because partially because of the usage,
I had written this down,
he's played 488 snaps in the slot over the last two years.
I,
the way that Cincinnati played him pissed me off.
It was quite obnoxious.
I mean,
they're playing Jake Golday.
the same way that Pittsburgh played Kyle Lewis.
Kyle Lewis is 5 foot 11, 225 pounds.
Jake Golda is 6.4.240.
He's hosting the pod.
He's coming on next week.
No, he's not.
And he's never leaving.
I, but okay,
for as much as people heard me talk about how much I liked Kyle Lewis,
I like Jake Golda, man.
He's the dude.
Well, obviously, we have the same top three.
It kind of just isn't matter of like where are they.
And I really do believe that the tier one of this linebacker group is pretty solidified.
It's the names that we're going to talk about in a few minutes here on the show.
But after those three, this is the guy I want because he doesn't.
He doesn't quite anticipate things as a true in between the tackles, box defender, the way that
you would maybe want him to right now.
But there's a reason for that.
He was at Central Arkansas.
Central Arkansas.
He also played defensive end and linebacker in high school.
He also played wide receiver and tight end.
So he's been kind of this like off ball, on ball type of a linebacker.
And then he gets to Cincinnati.
They finally kind of move him to a home base as a linebacker spot.
And they don't even play him there.
They play him as this like overhang defender that's just playing in space.
But the reason why they're playing him there, Connor, is because the dude can move.
He, when he puts his foot in the ground.
Now again, sometimes it's a tick slow.
Sometimes he's a tick slow to see it because I just think that he doesn't necessarily have the high level,
as many high level reps as you would want him to at this point in time from a true linebacker spot.
But when he sees it, that foot goes in the ground.
and this dude moves.
He was on Bruce Feldman's freak list this past season.
Feldman said this about him.
The 6'4.5-240-pounder has him elite testing numbers.
He ran a 4-24 shuttle time,
which would have been faster than any linebacker in the 2025 combine.
He broad jumped 10 feet 7 inches,
which would have been second best among all linebackers there.
His 36-inch vertical and 1.54 second 10-yard split also stood out,
and he did 24 reps of 225 on the bench press.
He's got a max bench of 365, of course, can relate.
And he hit 22.16 miles per hour during practice.
Give me this guy next.
Of all of the linebackers in this class,
after those top three that we're going to talk about,
this is the dude that I would want to invest with.
I was talking with John Leddered a little bit about some of the linebackers in this class
because he's going through linebackers as well.
and I told him that I really like Jake Golda.
I was a Jake Golda guy.
And he reminded me he's like,
that makes sense because I remember you had Peyton Wilson as LB1.
I don't remember if you had Peyton Wilson,
LB1 in that class two years ago.
But Wilson was kind of that same player.
Bigger, longer, a little bit skinnier,
a little bit leaner of a linebacker,
but he played this overhang in space position
rather than like a true Mike linebacker role.
and I still loved him as a player
because I saw all the athletic and playmaking potential
that he could have brought to the table.
I see the same type of things,
type of potential, I probably should say,
with Golda.
I think that Wilson was further along with anticipation
and football IQ and linebacker IQ at that point,
but I think that Golda brings that same ceiling to the table.
Yeah, man, I was laughing when you were talking about the usage,
talking about how they play them.
It's like they looked at him.
We're like, hey, you look like Cooper Dijin.
You're going to play like Cooper Degine.
It's like, wait a second.
No, I'm not Cooper Dijin.
They do, man.
There'll be like a tiny slot receiver who's in the slot.
And then there's just Jake Golda.
And then there's just Jake Golda's giant ass three yards in front of him.
And I'm like, what are we doing here?
Get somebody else in the field.
Kick Golde inside.
Come on.
It is wild.
And you're right.
The frustrating part of it is, is that,
It's fun watching him play on the inside because he's got these gazelle-like strides, sideline to sideline.
He's tall. He's got plus range. His strides cover so much turf.
You know, you look at reliable open field tackler.
He understands when he's dropping the timing of a checkdown.
And he attacks the checkdown with just a tenacious mindset.
It's like I'm going to trigger and fire downhill and make sure this checkdown does not gain an extra yard beyond what the intentions were.
I think that naturally him being so tall, there's a lot of times where blockers, especially lead blockers and pullers, they get under him.
And the contact balance is still a work in progress.
Like there's a couple of times he gets dumped just because he's not the low man.
And he's so tall that it's easier for those more compact lead blockers that have a 10-yard head start.
And he didn't see him to kind of hit him in the chest.
And he goes down or gets a little bit off balance.
As a pass rusher, he doesn't really have a lot of skill as a blitzer.
It's kind of just his speed.
He's got a nice dip and rip move.
But that's about.
Right.
Yeah.
Right.
Like with his hands.
Yes.
Yeah.
Yeah, when it's time to take on blockers.
But just the athlete is, the athlete is so impressive.
And the fact that he's played every linebacker spot and he's played the slot.
And you could ask a lot of different things of him in space really just makes him such a projectable player.
Yep.
Very easy to like this player.
And I think he's probably going to go in the top 50 because of that.
I was going to say, I think there's a good chance that he ends up being a top 50 player.
and I gave him, I think, a second round grade.
And that's even building in, like, I think that he could get even better.
You get him with a good linebackers coach.
And I think that you're talking about somebody who could be absolutely a difference-making football player.
So I am a, I'm a Jake Golda guy.
I definitely am.
As am I, linebacker four for you, five for me.
And then that would lead just Josiah Trotter?
Yes. So Trotter was nine for me. So he just missed my list. And then you have him that number four. I think a lot of the things that you're about to say about him that you like, I also agree that I like. There's just some deficiencies with him. And I think that him being a young football player probably goes into it. But let's talk about Josiah Trotter. No, and I think that's totally fair. Another player that, you know, you can argue like Anthony Hill in some ways because he's 20.
there's going to be some green aspects, but they are totally different players.
Trotter, I said, he's just a masher.
Man, you watch this dude stick his feet in the ground and fire downhill, his ability to stack and shed.
He also, for a young player, what was really impressive to me was he had a good understanding
of when to stack and shed versus when to slip a block.
and I noticed blockers became a little frustrated with that
because they really didn't know how to attack him all the time
because if you do try to build up the force to take him on
because he has so much pound for pound compact strength,
you really, really need to put, like you need to land on him
or else he's going to plow right through you or stack and shed easily.
But sometimes when they tried to overfire,
he was really savvy on kind of slipping under them.
or swiping by them or climbing over them or kind of swimming over them.
I just thought he's such a gifted run defender.
He's competent in what he sees.
He's so physical.
He kind of brings an energy to the front seven that is hard to match, man.
It kind of feeds off and rubs off on everybody.
So I think I really, I love what this guy is as a run defender right now.
I think he has some growing to do in terms of.
hovering in space and being this dynamic three down kind of player.
But if you want a tough guy for the middle of your defense, I loved what I saw at his age.
So to answer everybody in the chat, yes, he is Jeremiah Trotter Sr.'s son.
And he is the younger brother of Jeremiah Trotter Jr.
Somebody in the class was like, oh, he's going to be a Philadelphia Eagle.
Well, that would mean that both he and his brother then would be members of the Philadelphia Eagles,
which I mean, we'd kind of be cool.
I would like that.
You talked a little bit about his background.
He was at West Virginia initially, missed all of his first season with a knee injury,
and he redshirted.
Then he started at West Virginia in 2024, transferred to Missouri in 2025,
and then started again from Missouri this past season.
From a physicality standpoint, I think he's ready for the league.
I think that he has the body-dense.
the strength, the willingness,
the ability to just win with power,
all of that I think is there for him.
I wish he would have stayed another year
because I just,
I don't really feel like he is reliable in coverage at all.
He's not.
It's not a you feel like that.
That's the deficiency on the tape.
And the problem is,
is that if I think the team that's going to draft him,
Like right now I kind of think
I don't know if this is
overly harsh. Right now I kind of
think he's Devin White.
Good athlete, powerful player,
basically just a downhill only guy.
And Devin White, I don't remember how many
tackles he got this past year, but like
if you want a linebacker that is
just strictly a downhill
football player who you do
not want to retreat and play coverage
at all whatsoever, this is your
guy. But there's a reason why Devin
White has bounced around the league a lot
And that's because teams kind of try to upgrade that position if you don't give them coverage ability.
In an age where defenses or I would say offenses and then defenses reacting to this don't want a lot of linebackers on the field,
the ones that are on the field have to be able to cover.
Like we don't have a lot of teams and schemes that just go, yeah, okay, you're a downhill thumper.
by the way, somebody said how many times
we're going to get thumper in the analysis of Josiah Trider.
There's one.
This is our downhill thumper type of a player.
How many times is that player getting on the field
if they're a really bad liability in coverage?
That's what's worried.
That's what kind of worries me a little bit.
So I think he'll get drafted to a team
that wants that kind of player.
But if he's going to play right away,
you're basically going to either expose the cover,
coverage weakness or not really ask him to do it at all.
And then you're not really getting him to improve in that area where I feel like if he
could have gone back to college, he might have.
Like he might have been a little bit because I do think he's a pretty good
athlete.
He's just basically just a good downhill athlete right now.
He is not very comfortable when he is retreating.
There are times when I was watching him in coverage where there's not really a lot of
good feel.
And I'm watching his head like turn left and right.
to like try to find where the receiver is.
And if you're in spot drop zone coverage
and you don't have your eyes on the quarterback,
you're going to get manipulated.
Like there's going to be a wide receiver
or a tight end or a receiving option,
whatever it is that's going to run straight through your zone
that you're just not going to be able to keep up with.
So I do agree with you.
He hits like a Mack truck.
Physically he is an NFL player right now.
But I worry that what he is right now
might be all he is
throughout his NFL career because he's coming out at a point where if the league doesn't develop
him earlier, if he doesn't really get to sit, or if he goes to a defense that doesn't really
develop him as a coverage player, I get worried that he's just going to be a bounce around the
league type of a guy for you. So that's why I was a little bit more skeptical of him than other people
are. Definitely a bigger projection with Trotter. You don't see a lot of redshirt sophomores
at this position declare. And, you know, it's very easy to believe in the run defense.
and the brand of football he plays
and how hard he can hit and take on contact.
It's just everything else is going to have to grow over time.
Andrew in the chat said,
don't bring your thump and linebacker to a pound and fight.
It's good.
Like that.
Cole said,
for all my aviation nerds out there,
Trotters the AC130s of Mike Evans.
I'm not going to lie.
I don't know anything about planes.
Well,
I only know what an AC130.
is obviously from Call of Duty.
Oh, okay.
You know what I'm saying?
Yeah, yeah.
Yes.
Look, look, we, you know,
precision strike.
You've attacked helicopter.
You've called one in before.
Yeah, precision strike, attack helicopter, AC130.
That's the, that's the, that's the kill streak that we had in prime modern warfare three.
Uh, okay.
You want to go to our top threes?
I do, but before I do that.
Yes.
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gambling opportunity there's my favorite avatar uh friend of
mine was like yeah I'm down 88 units this year it was like sounds like you're just one bed
I was like sounds like you just one bed away from being even that's don't do that
nobody out there do that that is not advice Peter don't do that do not opportunity
oh sickening all right who you got uh I guess we're going we're just revealing him
three to we should do the double reveal the double whammy bang and bang there it is
There was a little part of me that hadn't ruled you out having Sunny number one.
Yeah, I kind of, Reese and Stiles are completely different players, to be honest.
That's the problem with it that even if one of us did, and I was like,
there's a world where you do that.
It's like watching two totally different projections.
Correct.
I guess we start with C.J. Allen before we get to the Ohio State guys,
who I thought might be the easiest projection in some ways.
You think C.J. Allen is?
I mean, Sunny Stiles probably in terms of just like what he does now is what he'll do at the NFL.
Arvel, there's a different combo.
But C.J. Allen, I think what I loved about C.J. Allen, the junior linebacker out of Georgia,
is just that what they ask him to do and how he operates is like in NFL.
FL player at middle linebacker.
I mean, the thing that you'll notice the first game you watch at this guy,
he's getting everyone lined up and in place pre-snap all the way down to the play clock.
It's wild.
He's running up to D-Linman.
He's shouting out to players around him.
Like, this is the guy in Kirby's defense.
And it's not something that'll show up on any kind of metric.
But it's absolutely something you have to write down on the scouting report.
And it's not a surprise then when you watch him play, Trev, that he's got exceptional play speed.
I think he has that tenacity.
I think for a young player, the instincts are in a really, really good place.
He understands run development.
He can work through around blockers.
He arrives with force.
Like, there's just so much to like about his ability playing in the box.
Now, I think to nitpick here, two things that I did write down that I had to call out.
He, he, his movement, he's fast, but he can be stiff at times.
Now the one thing that.
But not always.
I know.
I know.
Did you watch the Auburn game?
Yes.
So you're, so you know what I'm talking about, the one rep that he has where he covers like a, a three breaking route where you go, that's the best coverage.
rep of I've seen of any linebacker in the class.
It is. And it's not even close.
You look at him do that and you're like,
that's like what like a Fred Warner would have to do.
It was stupid.
I watched that and I was just like,
what did I just watch?
It's one of the craziest all 22 plays for this entire draft class.
Yeah.
But what I was going to say is,
so he comes back from the meniscus injury.
And he misses one game and I think he had a minor surgery on the meniscus.
I need to get confirmation of that.
If it was a surgery or just rest,
but I'd seen in some place written down a surgery.
So then they play Georgia Tech, Alabama, and Ole Miss,
and there's no way he was healthy.
There's no way.
Like watching the first 80% of his season,
I'm like, God, this guy's going at the end of the first round,
maybe in the middle of the first round.
I mean, he still might.
And it still might.
You watch those three games.
He was just not as competent, not the same athlete.
and it felt like he,
but he might have been compensating because of that
knee, so the ability to drive
through contact at times. So I
kind of threw that out the window. Those games
just felt so different than the actual player he
is. Yeah.
You remember Curtis Lofton?
Absolutely. He reminds me
a lot of Curtis Lofton.
That's a poll. A smaller,
stacked, explosive
middle linebacker type of a player.
I felt like he reminded me a ton of
just Curtis Lofton. Somebody in the chat asked this,
They were like, hold on a second.
Why is Jacob Rodriguez, you know, too small and a little bit less of an athlete?
I didn't think he was too small.
I just want to like, I want to hammer that home.
The first thing I said about Jacob Rodriguez is I don't think he's too small and I don't like that narrative.
I don't think he's as fast as C.J. Allen.
No, no, no, no, no.
I agree.
I agree.
I agree.
I agree.
I think Rodriguez is a little undersized.
Just like I think that Allen is a little undersized.
but like why I have Rodriguez
were to have him.
Six, something like that.
Right around there.
I mean, it's like, I can't help yourself.
You can't help yourself.
What did I say?
Six, seven.
I didn't say seven.
Well, I didn't say seven.
I didn't say seven.
I said seven.
I said six.
I thought I chat.
Help me chat.
Okay.
I thought you, I thought.
We're going to VAR technology.
Yeah.
I did not say this.
I did.
I have thrown the challenge flag.
Yeah.
Oh, okay.
M.
Kadoza said you said six twice.
Six?
No, but then.
Six?
The chef is saying seven.
I didn't say seven.
I did not say seven.
Man.
The audience just erupted as I threw the red flag on the aisle.
Connor is gaslighting.
You're gaslighting me.
I mean, you are a frequent culprit.
I've called him.
VAR.
Yeah, we got a, we got a system sucks.
VAR technology.
We've got a good goal.
They just flip a coin.
They don't do anything.
Call that.
It's a guy in the back office for a coffee.
They're just watching TikToks in there.
Yeah.
They're just watching TikToks in there.
Dude, speaking of really quick.
The trailer for the Odyssey is on in there.
I saw somewhere.
I saw.
Matt Damon's in this?
I don't even remember.
I don't even remember if I saw this specifically on Facebook Marketplace or I saw somebody post this from Facebook Marketplace.
But somebody was selling an official, like old, giant NFL replay machine that the refs like you like would go, like, would go up to and they get under the tarp.
Yes, yes, yes.
Someone was selling that on Facebook Marketplace.
I mean, I'm not even going to say anything.
There's just times right.
If I'm going to not speak.
I hope I hope that I saw that on the timeline instead of me seeing it in real life.
Because if I saw it in real life, I'm kind of mad that I didn't, that I didn't get it.
You got to bring that home.
100%.
How do you explain that to your significant other though?
Like it's purpose.
Whenever you got to buy something big for the house.
Oh, I wouldn't say anything.
I'd get it delivered when Alyssa was gone.
Just put it something.
Yeah, I'd get it.
I'd get it delivered.
It'd be in the office.
before Alyssa would come home.
She didn't come in here.
I would have to do the same thing.
My wife never comes into my office.
Right, exactly, exactly.
We'd be good to go.
And then anytime the chat was wild and out,
I'd walk over to the replay booth and I'd make sure that we saw the replay that
whether or not, you know.
If you and I ever do this show, like we build a studio.
Jeff says, or best offer, no low balling.
That is great.
Scooby says write it off as a business expense.
That's where I'm going.
That's where I'm going.
If we ever build a studio for this show to do it in person every week,
that would be a prop for the studio,
which is a business expense.
100% it is.
Studio prop expense.
I mean, there's just,
there's no way our business could operate without it.
I have to have this.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And we would make sure that.
the IRS would know that.
They'll understand.
Yeah, I mean, our IRS agent would be like,
hell yeah, brothers, that's sick, that's sick.
Use that as a write-off.
Push the stamp of approval on it.
You guys are good to go.
They go through all your write-offs and apprentices.
Hell yeah, brother.
I'll double its worth on your taxes.
Oh, man.
Dudes are rock.
Dudes do rock.
C.J. Allen.
Good football player.
I think you're right.
You know, it starts with the run defense.
Over the last two years, two years sample size forum in which he has been a starter,
I believe, for full time each of the last two seasons.
Well, he started 12 or 14 games the previous season,
but he was a full time start of this season.
So for all intensive purposes, yes.
It starts with the run defense grade, an elite 91.6 run defense grade for him there.
11.3 solo run stop percentage.
That obviously means you don't have any help, right?
there's not another linebacker or a defense to tackle.
It's you and the ball carrier.
How often are you bringing them down when you have those chances?
That's 88th percentile for C.J. Allen,
that he is able to be a solo run-stopping type of a player.
Multi-sport athlete when he was in high school.
First of all, he played linebacker and running back.
Average more than 135 rushing yards per game as a running back.
If you play running back and linebacker, you're a psychopath.
100%.
You just love punishment.
You just love getting hit.
You live for it.
You're zero fear.
You want to be in the car crash every play.
Your parents, before you get home from the game,
where they're driving you home from the game,
they're stopping at the gas station
and getting those giant bags of ice
just to dump into the tub that you have
in the guest bathroom at the house,
and you're just laying in those bags of ice.
That is after every single Friday night,
and you want that if you're signing up
to play running back and lineback.
also played basketball and ran track in high school.
So this dude's a true athlete, but he's also extremely powerful.
He can defend the run really well.
His eyes are always on the ball.
I think he's got great eyes.
He's got the strength to work through blockers.
The measurables and the lack of arm length makes it a little bit harder for him to get off
of blocks per se, but he attacks them with a lot of fire, a lot of passion, a lot of pride.
So he's going up against these offensive linemen the way that you would want a middle
lineback or two.
And, you know, we've spent the show talking about, well, this guy's, you know, he's kind of a will linebacker.
Well, he's an overhang.
He kind of plays in space.
C.J. Allen is a middle line backer.
Right.
He is a middle linebacker.
And from the very first snap, you have no doubts about it.
I think he's a hell of a football player.
And I do think that you're right.
The coverage grades that he got this past season, I think are not indicative of who he has the potential to be.
Was that the result that he got maybe from the knee injury that he was dealing with?
with, yes, but I think he has much more potential as a box coverage defender than that
37.3 grade here in this past season. CJ Allen's demand, I think he is a late first,
early, second round type of a linebacker player, and I think that he's somebody who could be a
multi-contract player for you. With you all the way. I think he'll be highly coveted in this great
class. Speaking of that. Indeed, Sony Styles, you just want to talk about styles next? Yeah,
sure. So you want me to kick us off? Yeah, let's go ahead. Go ahead. Okay. I mean,
Tony Stiles is just, this is like a prototype kind of build.
The numbers I have from the spring are 6.4 and 3 eighths, 237 pounds, 33 and a quarter inch arms, 10 inch hands.
He was made in a lab.
Made in a lab.
And then you factor in that with how big he is, he's tall, he's starting to fill out, he's got huge hands and
long arms. Oh, he also runs like a safety because he started at safety two years ago.
Yeah, he was on, um, he was on Feldman's freak list, wasn't he?
Yes, he was. If he wasn't, I think he was number 10.
It makes, I mean, this dude is, it's wild. Let's see. He was number 10 on Bruce Feldman's
freak list, uh, Lord. So he says he's up to 243.
So that's obviously fantastic.
And this is this is past summer.
He broad jumped 11 feet.
Yeesh.
My God.
Vertical jumped 40 inches.
Squats 675 pounds.
So he also hit 23 miles an hour in practice?
I mean, that's like, that's out of this world.
Holy smokes.
Yeah.
That's, yeah.
So insane athlete.
crazy build.
But, Connor, I want to hear you continue to talk about him.
But like, the play recognition?
Oh, man.
Brother, that Indiana game is the best game that I've ever seen from any prospect in this class.
I've watched a lot of tape on a lot of guys this season.
His Indiana game is the best of any position of any player that I have seen in the 2026 NFL
draft.
He knew the plays before the ball was snapped.
that was that was that's a crazy performance from him yeah i mean with sunny what's so interesting
is when you have guys like this that are have perfect measurables and are elite athletes
like blue tier level athletes the 90th percentile above size and athleticism and they converted
from another position throughout college the talking point is always that they're
It doesn't even feel like he's developing anymore.
He's so good at everything.
He's just a great prospect at linebacker because, well, let's get into the background.
His dad Lorenzo was a third round pick for the Falcons in 1995.
So he's, you know, his father obviously played linebacker in the NFL.
He has grown into the linebacker position at Ohio State.
Like I said, he started at safety in 2003, where he made 12 starts there.
And in the last two years, he's been incredibly productive at the linebacker position.
He's got almost 100 solo tackles over the last two years, seven total sacks, broke up eight passes.
I mean, almost 20 tackles for a loss.
Like, he's just, you look at the, he's tall, long arms, big hands, he doesn't miss tackles,
2.2% mistackle rate.
It's crazy because watching his tape, Trevor, he didn't have a tackle attempt broke.
until the national title game.
Yeah.
I believe Mark Fletcher did truck him once.
Yeah.
And it was like once again, Rocky 4, Drago starts bleeding and you just can't believe this
guy's vulnerable to anything.
When Fletcher ran through him, I'm like, I've watched this guy's whole season.
Yeah.
We had the Big Ten coverage.
You watch the tape of him.
I never see him look human.
And he finally looked human for once because he missed a tackle or two against Miami.
He's got insane range.
he's got legitimate coverage skills because he's got long arms and he's fast so if he's anywhere near matching the route
he can not only disrupt the pass but break up the pass he's already started for three years for
Ohio State but he's only 21 years old and he's not turning 22 until November so he's young
he's played a ton of college football at an elite program at two different positions he's an elite
athlete. He's been highly productive. He has instincts. He's smart. He has on the ball production.
I mean, there's just not a lot missing with this guy.
I think the only part of his game that I have any substantial subtractions from when it comes to
film evaluation is he's not really a deep zone dropping.
coverage player. He is a attacking coverage player, and I think he has the athleticism to match up
against tight ends in man coverage. Right. But asking him to, because again, there are some defenses
in the NFL that will ask you to sort of be towards the line of scrimmage, and then it's like some
sort of simulated pressure or mugged look or whatever it is. And then you, you drop from that,
you flip the hips, you shuffle back, and then you flip the hips again, and you shuffle over,
depending on kind of how you're getting to your spot.
He just doesn't do that a lot.
And he's not nearly as fluid of an athlete in that kind of drop coverage,
the way that he is either in man coverage or keeping things in front of him
and flying to the football.
So I think that that's a little bit lacking in his game.
And if you're a defense that asks their linebackers to do a lot of those kinds of
drops in coverage, okay, I could see maybe he's not the perfect.
fit for you. But brother, everything else that this guy does, he does at a NFL level.
Like I'll just say that. The recognition's unbelievable. Even beyond just that Indiana game.
He is exactly where he needs to be. He takes on pullers with pride. He takes on offensive linemen
with all. There are, I can't tell you how many tackles I saw this year where he is making
contact with the offensive linemen, jolting them back from their momentum, and then with the
other arm tackling the running back. There are so many plays where he is doing that, because
he's got the explosiveness, the speed to power, and the length to be able to make those kinds
of plays by himself. He is fantastic between the tackles. He is fantastic to the sidelines.
He sees things so fast. You mentioned the low missed tackle percentage this past year.
I see people in the chat that are saying,
what's the difference between Sunny Stiles and Isaiah Simmons?
And it's a, I can understand why the question would be asked.
Right.
Because both of these guys are former like hybrid linebacker safeties,
both of them right around 6.4, 6.5, both of them right around, you know,
2.30 to 240 kind of depending on where Isaiah Simmons was sort of in his football journey.
The biggest difference is that Sonny Stiles likes to hit.
He has the dog in him.
That's the answer.
He wants to hit.
Isaiah Simmons could not play physically in between the tackles.
And that's where we've talked about this term before here on this show,
the difference between being versatile and being homeless.
And unfortunately for Isaiah Simmons, he didn't have a home base.
He wasn't physical enough to play as a linebacker.
He wasn't fluid enough to play as a nickel defender,
and he didn't have the coverage instincts to play as a safety.
So you have this player who is a great overall athlete
who can theoretically play in a lot of these spots,
but he was lacking the prerequisites at each of them to play there.
There is no doubt in my mind that Sonny Stiles is a linebacker at the NFL level.
He relishes, needs,
feeds off of wanting to play physical in between the tackles.
So I don't think those players are similar at all whatsoever.
I think that Sonny Stiles also approaches and anticipates the game
at a much, much, much, much higher level than Isaiah Simmons did when he was coming out
at Clemson.
I think I gave him a first round grade.
Oh, easy.
And it's tough to get first round grades out of me for the linebacker position.
The only thing that holds him back from being a surefire top 10 prospect all pro type of a grade for me with Sonny Stiles is that if you are, again, one of these defenses that asks your linebackers to do these deep shuffling drops in coverage, he just didn't do a lot of it at Ohio State and he doesn't look as comfortable.
But if you put him in an attacking role where he gets to read and react, he can be as good as any linebacker in the NFL.
And I really mean that.
He's awesome.
Absolutely, man.
Before we get to Arvel Reese, really quickly,
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A truly brilliant mind is topical said in the chat.
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It might be something there.
Might be something there.
Talk to good people about Arvel Reese, who I think there's a lot of differing opinions on Arville Reese, what he is, how good he is, his NFL projection.
But at the end of the day, you and I both had him as the top linebacker of choice in this class.
Tell the good people why.
Yeah, man, this is a legit breakout player this year at 6-4, 243 pounds, and 20 years old.
20 years old on draft night, by the way,
not just 20 years old now.
Can't even have a beer.
Can't even have a beer?
He's never had beer before.
It's crazy.
Doesn't even know what it looks like.
No, no, no, no.
Certainly, you know, not the silver bowl
that you're carrying around.
No, just everywhere.
Anytime someone sees me,
at my home studio, I have an uncrustable
during our break.
On the hotel road, I just drink a silver bullet
throughout every show.
Oh, man.
R. Bell Reese.
I'll just read through all my notes
because I had a ton of them.
Yep.
Above average downhill speed and vision,
violent, powerful hands.
I mean, this is someone that he stacks up against pullers
that are in a much bigger weight class than him.
And it doesn't look like it.
It doesn't really, from a physics standpoint,
watching Arvel Reese doesn't really make a lot of sense
because it'll look like he's given up 70 pounds to some of these guys
and he's the one moving them or really dictating everything at the point of attack
when he plays stand-up outside linebacker, he sets a strong edge against the run, against
tackles, just has a knack for kind of understanding hand placement, which we know how good,
you know, front seven players are coached up at Ohio State to use their hands to control the
offense and get off of blocks.
Like I said, he's not even turning 21 years old until the end of his first training camp.
He's getting bigger and stronger.
I mean, he's 6-4-243.
The NFL level with an NFL weight program.
By the time he's 22, he's probably 250 pounds and carries it like nothing.
I mean, like absolutely nothing.
And that's why there's going to be a lot of conversation with teams.
Does this guy play full time on the edge like Jalen Walker was asked to do?
Is he going to do a little bit of everything where we like him as an inside backer that can kick out and rush a little bit?
And I'll kind of get to all that part of his game.
one last thing on the off ball stuff for a couple things.
Trevor, I love how in control he is when he's in pursuit and breaking down in space.
It's for his size, you watch jet sweeps and outside runs against him.
He, number one, doesn't ever lose the foot race, it feels like.
Never, never.
Whenever on an outside zone run or a jet sweep, the ball carrier thinks they can just kind of
flow back to give more space to beat them.
They don't. And then when they try to cut in, he never over pursues.
He's in, like, his ability to gear down so comfortably and come to balance is so wildly
impressive.
And it probably backs up why you only had a 6% mistackle rate.
That's 91st percentile in 2025.
Great spatial awareness.
He understands when the quarterback's going to check it down.
He's got good closing speed.
You watch him in coverage against tight ends up the scene.
You know, this is somebody that can really flip his hips and work backwards.
He, this is a league full of athletic quarterbacks.
This is the best spy I've watched.
You have him, nobody gets away from him.
Nobody.
And you're looking at the NFL and you're like, damn, we got to worry about freaking
Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson and Jaden Daniels and all these guys that, you know,
even the up-and-comers now, like,
Jackson Dart, the way they can really just kind of beat you.
Drake May, of course, beat you on the ground.
Arbel Reese, his ability as a spy, changes those backyard plays.
When he blitzes and arrives against a running back,
he knows he's the bigger guy and arrives with so much force.
And the last thing for me, he's very green as a pass rusher.
And we can have that combo and a bigger, broader combo.
But I do like Trevor that he tries to work inside and out.
Like not everything is outside speed, outside speed.
He tries to keep tackles a little off balance to have a different kind of plan.
He's just done so little of it over a course of time.
I think this player's potential is so high.
And I feel like when you and I do our rankings every year,
I feel like we're just as a duo and as a show and as analysts,
always a little bit more wary of the like, oh, just draft this guy and like he'll be,
you know, like he'll be all of these things.
Because we've seen it fail.
Right, exactly.
And so I feel like we're more, we're more skeptical than, than other draft analysts might be.
But I think right now, right now I think Arville Reese is Edger and Cooper.
And then he's got the ability to be more than that.
Like, I think Edron Cooper is an incredible linebacker,
does so many things for the Packers.
You talk about a guy who the second he gives himself the green light and triggers downhill,
he probably closes as fast as any linebacker in the entire league does.
And I think that you pointing that out about Alarville-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R-Rase,
I think is really important.
There are so few athletes that can play at high-of-speed at the high-speed that he does,
yet also still be in control.
Right.
He is truly rare in that regard.
I think Edgerman Cooper is rare in that regard.
I think Edgern Cooper is an all-pro talent type of a linebacker.
You know, does he ever get recognized officially as an all-pro?
I think that, of course, like, there's only so many spots every single year.
But I really do think that even right now, Arvill Reese, to me, is Edgerman Cooper as an off-ball linebacker.
And what he can be as a QB spy, as somebody who keeps his eyes in front of him, a downhill-triggering
linebacker and attacking linebacker.
And then I think he'll give you.
a little bit more as a pass rusher than Edger and Cooper will.
And I think that there's a world where he can become an even better like zone dropping second level
defender than Edger and Cooper is.
And oh, by the way, he's also doing this while being bigger than Edger and Cooper is.
Right.
So I saw somebody in the chat say this and I've seen this before.
A lot of people want to know the comp and that's why I say right now my comp for him is Edger and Cooper.
I just think that he's got more potential to him even beyond that.
which is kind of incredible to say.
Some people go, well, he's Michael Parsons.
I don't think he's Micah.
I think Micah's different.
Micah's bigger.
He's thicker.
I think Micah's a better pass rusher
than Arvill Reese is ever going to be.
I think that Arvill Reese is more of a linebacker
who rushes the passer as opposed to like
an edge rusher who maybe will sort of do
some offball linebacker stuff for you.
So I don't really see him the same
way that I see or even saw Michael Parsons when he was coming out of Penn State.
I don't think he's, I don't think Arvill Reese is going to turn into a full-time
on-ball linebacker, edge rusher at the NFL level.
I think he's going to stay as an off ball, but I think what he can do for you as a
read and chase type of a player, there's just,
there's not many people that can play as fast as he does and as strong as he does.
and yet as in control as he does.
And it's kind of scary how he puts it all together like that.
So a different type of linebacker than the one that we just mentioned was Sonny Stiles.
Like Sunny Stiles, I think, is a Mike.
I think he is through and through, whether you're playing an odd front defense,
whether you're playing a four three, even front defense,
whether you like to stunt a lot up front,
whether you like static rushes with four guys, whatever.
I think the Sunny Stiles can be your do-it-all type of Mike linebacker.
R. Belrice, I think, is just like an apex pretext.
predator. Like I think that you just, you kind of put him on the field in more of that will linebacker
role in space and you let him hunt. You just let him read and chase. And I think that he will be
a very, very impactful player for you in that regard. So I love Reese. I think he's,
I think he is a game changing type of a second level defender. Yeah, the fact that you're seeing
his name thrown around to be the number two overall pick in the draft speaks volumes of, of the kind of
different caliber prospect he is at this position.
Yeah. R.W.
is saying he's a Sam because of what he can do on the line.
I kind of think he, I think he's a Sam and a Will.
Like I take, I think he could do both.
I think I tech, I categorized him as a Sam because I categorized the linebackers at all
three levels.
So I categorized him as a Sam because of what he can do on the line of scrimmage and
he's got over 300 snaps on the defensive line.
But there are times that I watch.
and when I go, okay, well, you're also an overhang defender.
You're also a will linebacker.
You do all these kinds of things.
And I think that naturally, I see people in the chat talking about this.
Having this sort of amoeba position can make you worried about picking a guy like this in the top five.
I think specifically, you know, a lot of people will talk about there's talk of him going at number two to the Jets.
Right.
But I just simply think that he is one of the most talented football.
players in this class. I don't think that he is this positionless guy that can't have an impact
in one way or another. I really do see him as much more of a versatile player than what we talked
about a little bit with Isaiah Simmons, where he is homeless and doesn't have a position where he
actually makes an impact. I think he's much more of a football player physicality first than a lot
of these players that we typically like to talk about as versatile guys.
All right, want to recap our rankings and then we'll knock out a ton of super chats we got
do it.
Let's get to it.
All right.
So eight for me was Kyle Lewis, the linebacker at a pit.
Seven was Jacob Rodriguez at Texas Tech.
Six, Anthony Hill Jr. from Texas.
Five, Jake Galdi, Cincinnati.
Four, Josiah Trotter from Missouri.
Three, C.J. Allen from Georgia.
Two Sunny Styles from Ohio State and one, his teammate, R.V.L. Reese.
Number eight, I got Anthony Hill Jr. from Texas.
Number seven, the guy that I just can't quit, Tori and York from Texas A&M.
Six, Jacob Rodriguez from Texas Tech.
Five, Kyle Lewis, who I have at linebacker here.
because I wanted to talk about him,
but C.M. Morris, just an overall nickel defender.
Jake Golda, I have a number four, C.J. Allen at number three.
Sunny Stiles and number two, and R. Velryse at number one.
Really quick, though, Connor, I think there's a world where we get three linebackers in the first round.
I would bet that today.
I think there's even a not too distant world.
Where could we get four?
That would, the number would be set at three and a half by if the,
if the book's no ball.
I don't know if they're awoken to that yet.
But by the time the draft circles around,
it would be three and a half.
Really quick, some people in the chat are asking about Harold Perkins,
Deonté Lawson.
Deontay Lawson was, I think 10 for me, 10 on my list.
He was nine for me.
So I like a lot of what Deontay Lawson brings to the table.
I think he's a really smart linebacker.
I think he's a good coverage backer.
I think he is somebody that can do a lot.
of those mug drop coverage looks for you.
He's just a little small.
And I don't think that he's the best straight line athlete too.
So a little undersized, plays a little light, not a great straight line athlete.
Kind of tough to be anything more than a day three pick at linebacker in that regard.
And then, Connor, I don't know if you watch Cheryl Perkins Jr.
But I watched him again.
I just don't know what to do with him.
I just don't think that he's going to start at linebacker at the NFL level.
I think he could be a core special teams player for you.
I think it could be a depth athlete for you who could play maybe a little bit on the edge,
maybe a little bit at linebacker if you need like some sort of sub-packaged player
here and there throughout the game.
But he can't cover the way you need to, a linebacker to cover.
He doesn't move laterally the way you need him to.
He doesn't have the instincts as a Mike and he's not big enough to be a Sam.
So it's just it.
I love Harold Perkins.
I love watching him at LSU.
I hope he has a long career as a depth linebacker.
and is a special teams guy,
but it's hard for me to see him
in a starting role at the NFL level.
You basically just said he needs to be Barquevius Mingo in the NFL,
a guy that just undersized different version of linebacker,
but just played special teams forever at a high level at the NFL
after not living up to his draft billing.
Right, right.
All right.
We're going to get to your super chats here in a second
for the after the episode portion of the program.
We would love to hear what you guys thought of our linebacker rankings
and sort of the conversation that we had,
how we view linebackers.
We would love to hear,
excuse me, how you guys view linebackers.
Best way to do that, of course, in the comment section
or in the NFL-O-S-Discor which you can join
with the link that is in the description of the show.
You can also follow the show on TikTok,
on Instagram, on Twitter, at NFL-S-C show.
Connor is at Connor J. Rogers.
He's doing a great job covering everything over the Super Bowl,
so make sure you guys follow him on all of the social media platforms.
I am at Tampa Bay Trey.
I, Conner's, you know, he's too famous for us, guys.
No, he's going to be all over media row.
He's going to, you know, he's pulling in a lot of different directions.
Everybody's got to have Connor on the shows and everything.
So, um, this everyone's sidekick.
I'm just fine.
I'm very content in that life.
I'm your sidekick.
I, uh, Matthew Barry's sidekick.
That is not true.
That first one is not true at all.
Yes, I am.
Yes, I am going to do another episode.
I think I'm just going to do a wheel and mock draft episode at some point.
Nice.
We're maybe going to do that.
tomorrow.
So probably same time.
I think we'll do that on Wednesday so you guys can be on the lookout for that.
Hats.
So we will be giving away some NFL-S-E hats because we did that on the last wheel
mock draft episode that we did last week.
But just full transparency because we always want to be transparent with you guys.
We've got the Super Bowl stuff that we're doing this week.
I'm in Cincinnati for a watch-along video of the Super Bowl on Sunday,
so I'm out of town a little bit this weekend.
And I'm taking a little bit of PTO in between Super Bowl and Combine.
So I'm not going to have the ability to send out the hats.
So what I don't want to have happen, I think I said this on the last episode is what I don't want to have happen is I don't want to open up and replenish the Shopify store, have you guys buy hats.
And then I can't send them out for three weeks.
I know a lot of you guys who are diehards at the show will obviously totally understand.
but anybody who might be more of a casual listener to the show
might be like, okay, I gave these people my money three weeks ago
and I still don't have a hat.
Like, I just don't want to do that to people who want to support the show.
So in all likelihood, we're probably going to replenish the hats
maybe right before the combine or right after the combine.
It's either going to be at the end of February or the early part of March.
I know that sucks.
I'm sorry, guys.
I want you guys to have a hat.
just as much as you guys do.
But trying to work through a very busy schedule.
So we always, this show is for you guys.
We always want to be as transparent as possible with it.
So that is where the hat situation is.
It's coming soon.
But me being aerotine engineering with sending the hats out,
we've just got to be a little bit flexible with it.
That is us at the moment.
We hope to grow into a full trading firm.
But right now we are just the shed in the back.
backyard with the paint sign.
We hope the hats one day have both civilian and military.
What does he say?
Benefits.
Applications.
That's probably the word.
Connor, anything else before we get out of here?
No, man.
Like you said, it's going to be a little bit of a crazy schedule.
Not too wild, but I know you're going to be back on our feed.
We do have at least something planned before you step out for a week.
And then we're finally going to be together at the NFL Com.
And it's from there on, it's a sprint.
I feel like all we do is make content from the NFL combine and on.
So it's going to be fun to not only keep it rolling,
but kind of crank things up a notch or two.
Yeah, very excited for that.
If you're watching live,
hang out a little bit as we run through all of the super chats
in the after the episode portion of the show.
And if you miss it,
obviously we will be posting these as a one-off at the end of the week.
For the chef, Tyler Cook, behind the scenes,
making sure that this show runs as smoothly as it does.
For Connor Rogers, I'm Trevor Sikkimus saying,
thank you guys so much for watching.
another episode of the NFL Stock Exchange podcast.
We'll see you guys next time.
