NFL Stock Exchange: An NFL Draft Podcast - Our 10 Favorite Day-3 Prospects in the 2025 NFL Draft

Episode Date: March 28, 2025

Trevor Sikkema and Connor Rogers give you their list of 5 (10 in total) day three prospects who they would be pounding the table for on day three of the 2025 NFL Draft.

Welcome to the opening bell of the NFL stock exchange podcast. Trevor Sickle, McConnell Rogers here with you guys for a fun little exercise. We've been talking about different sorts of mock drafts, different sorts of draft strategies the teams could have post free agency. Well, today, we're digging a little bit deeper. We're getting into why you guys love this channel so much, going all the way back to summer scouting, the depth of how many guys that we have on our position

ranking episode, we're going to talk about some of our favorite day three targets for the 2025 NFL draft. So we'll use the PFF big board, but we'll also use just the overall consensus big board to sort of identify who these players are outside of the top 100 that we want to take a look at and highlight whether it's around four, five, six, seven, maybe even a guy who we're like, Hey, I might even go on draft and maybe it's a combine snub, somebody like that. I'm excited to bring this to the table for you guys.

We're going to do five each. Connor, how are you doing my friend? I'm good man. Who cares about how I'm doing? Big week for you. It's true. There's a little something going on, right? I'm good man. Who cares about how I'm doing? Big week for you. Something happen? It's true. There's a little something going on.

Right? There is a little something going on. Could be happening while some people are watching or listening to this. Yeah, we're pre-recording this episode because tomorrow I am flying to what will be my wedding destination. I'm getting married at the end of the week.

Connor and I will be together. We will not be recording a podcast. No, that wouldn't go over well. I don't think, content would be phenomenal. Although if we did record an episode, maybe I could just write it off on my taxes, the whole wedding. Be like, oh, it was a, we went down that strip.

It's a business trip. It's just a business trip. A production. Something we should have thought about early on. You're right, you're right, you're right, class. I am so excited, by the way. Like I am genuinely, I have genuinely thought about this every day for a very, very long time,

and I'm not getting married. This is gonna be awesome, so everybody, please send your congratulations to Trevor and Alyssa in any format you can. Twitter's probably the easiest way to do that, or in the comments section below. Let's see the best wedding comments you can. Twitter is probably the easiest way to do that. Or in the comments section below. Let's see the best wedding comments you got. I know people have some creativity to share.

And if any of you out there are married, I will take all the great wedding advice that you have. It's been really, it's been, yeah. Yeah, literally. Yeah, just trial and error. Just try to survive every morning, brother. It's truly, you know, the survival of the fittest. Just make sure you beat your partner downstairs

so you can have those five minutes of peace and damn quiet every day. No, I'm kidding. I would love to hear from you guys. It's been really cool over the last couple of months you're hearing from family and friends and people who are just sort of giving you a little bit of advice.

I know a lot of people have talked to me sort of about the day of. I know you can give advice actually for that because everybody I've talked to is like, hey, you know, whether you're dancing with your mom or it's the first dance or whatever, like just try to take a breath and to take it all in. So I will try to do that as best as I possibly can.

And for anybody that has well wishes in the comments, I will try to say thank you to as many as I can in the comment section, but appreciate all you guys watching and listening to the reach out about that. So thank you guys. Dude. It's going to be awesome. My only bit of advice is it is about you guys and everything else falls under that and everybody there because you guys are so loved will do everything they can to make sure that it is your day.

So there's nothing to worry about, it's gonna be phenomenal. Can't wait. I, the only story I have is, because everyone's like, oh man, the night before, and I slept so good the night before. I slept in the hotel,

and I got a clean eight hours, closed the bar with my brother-in-law at the hotel, got a real nice sleep, and I woke up the next day and I'm like, you know, mandering around the hotel. I was gonna go out and pick up a ton of bagels for the wedding party with my dad, and my dad has this face of horror in the lobby,

and I'm like, what's up, dad? And he's like, I just dropped your mother off at the suite where all the girls are getting ready. Kristen didn't sleep last night. She never slept. Like she never fell asleep. Like my wife, my wife on our wedding day could not fall asleep the night before. And she just powered through for however many hours. And you never know to her credit, you never know. I had no idea. I was there. I was at the event.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I would have never known. Kristen didn't sleep the night before. Wow. I was like, yeah, she'll be fine. I really didn't like, I wasn't really that worried. Everybody else was having a panic attack about it. So you never know what you're going to get on your wedding day. It is wild. I plan on sleeping great. You'll sleep great.

I plan on probably doing what you said before where we're out pretty late. You know couple of couple of adult beverages Yeah, maybe a couple of good cigars cuz I know they do that pretty well down there as well So I plan on sleeping pretty great than I you'll be more than fine and so will listen. It'll all work out great It'll be lovely and I can't wait and here we are somehow still Pouring out content for the lovely addicts that we could not miss a show for during this time of year. It's because we love you guys. It really is.

The only thing that I care about other than making sure that I'm there on time for the wedding is I purposefully just want everybody out there to know this because we've made jokes about you know like anabolic steroids or pain and gain in the movie or like whatever it is, jokes. I have worked my lifting schedule around the fact that I am hitting chest and arms the morning of the wedding. A plus. I mean, I planned this bad boy out a month in advance. That you'll feel so alive when you get into that tux.

You're just gonna be like, oh. I'm gonna rip the sleeves off. I'm gonna go full sleeveless. They didn't measure you with the chest and arm pump. It could happen. It could happen. You might have the sleeveless tux. Not often seen, but should be executed more.

Yeah, yeah, Yeah. I'm gonna I'm gonna I'm gonna be late for the wedding and Alyssa's gonna be like, what are you doing? I'm gonna say we got it Alyssa. We got to go to the vet She's gonna be like why and I'll be like cuz I got a couple of sick pythons in here and I'm just gonna be flexing I can already see this face of disgust the face of disgust Lifting jokes really play well with wives, I'll tell you that. Yeah, no, they love it. They love it. That's good marriage advice right there.

I'm gonna be like the LeBron meme of him with the flip phone, like taking pictures. At everything. At everything. I'm excited. I'm very excited, man. I'm honestly, like genuinely, not to just transition to the show, but excited to talk about this as well. Excited to sort of do this show here for the Addicts, to make sure that we give you guys the two episodes

that we promise you every single week leading up to the NFL Draft. And I think this is a really fun one, right? Again, the whole reason why I think a lot of people really gravitate towards this show is the depth that we have for a lot of these prospects. And look, for the diehard Addicts, we might have a couple of names in here where you go, ah, that's not deep enough. But hey, you know, we're trying to give sort of, okay, maybe there's these fringe mid-round guys.

Maybe it's a mid-day three guy. But it's somebody that we like for one way or another that will identify some strengths and weaknesses, right? There's a real reason why they're day three type of players. But we're also gonna tell you why we think they can not only make a roster, but maybe even have a shot at being a contributing football player. So, buddy, I will give you the floor first.

We're going to five each year. Who's the first guy that you're bringing to the table here as a favorite day? Three guys. So I was right out this list. I did my best to try to bring some names to the table that I don't find myself talking about a lot. So, you know, like like Jacob Parrish and Jamari Caldwell are two of my guys. I wasn't going to put them on this, and honestly I hope both of them go day two.

But the first guy, because I got around to him late, because you and I watched like 20 edge players, and then you go, oh my god, there's so many more in this class to get through, was Oluwafemi Oladejo, the edge, and thank you UCLA for the recorded pronunciation from the man himself. Ten out of ten on your school page. No surprise, a prestigious university like UCLA had that there.

Ola Dejo late convert from linebacker to edge pass rusher. That's the story with him is that really late conversion, senior of old guy. And it feels like Trevor to me, despite some of the shortcomings at edge this year, like here's the basics of this guy. 6'3 1⁄4, he's about 260 pounds, 33 3⁄8 arms, 36 1⁄2 vertical, 10 broad. That's what he's done throughout the process so far, besides the measurements. He only had a 10.7% pass rush win rate this year on 310 pass rush reps. So they really got him activated as a pass rusher this year rather than playing off the ball,

which is what he did in the past. There are long stretches of him running cold, but you have to account for this is so new to him. And the glimpses that you see of wins are like, oh, those are NFL wins. Powerful hands, active hands throughout the rush. He rushes as a standup guy, but they also put his hand in the dirt,

which it's, you know, it's a tougher for a guy that was an off-ball linebacker. Now I'm going, you know, head up against a guard or a big tackle. But he's got this nasty cross shot that you see in the Arsenal as well. And like when it hits, you're like, oh man, like that's an NFL kind of win. When you watch him against the run as an edge player, rather than playing at more

depth and having to read his keys and react as an edge player, it's like crash hard on the edge, play violent, push the tight end of the pocket, shoot the gap and blow up the play. It feels like it's simplified the run game for him. So I liked that aspect. I see upside with him. Day three upside, like I still think he's stuck on blocks too often and he'll run himself out of the rush

a little bit too much. And I don't think the change of direction is top-notch. He's more of a violent explosive power player. But if I was taking a day three edge and he's on the board, I'm like, I want to see if I can get more out of this guy because the glimpses in a short sample size are Promising to me all the day Joe definitely has some promise here And it seems like a super super hard-working high character guy as well that you could even buy into him a little bit more Yeah, I like these guys that are converted off-ball linebackers to on-ball linebackers because they just physicality

It's just part of how they play right? I think that you look at some of the and a lot of times when you are going from being an on-ball, sorry, an off-ball linebacker to an on-ball outside linebacker becoming an edge player is basically what we're saying there. You're a little bit lighter in weight, right? I mean, when you think about off-ball linebackers, these guys who play Mike and inside linebacker, you're like, you know, to anywhere from 225 to 240 pounds and 240 pounds is decently light for an edge rusher. And that's like the high end of playing as a off ball linebacker. So a lot of times these guys are a little bit smaller and because of it, they don't really play as physical as you, as you want them to, or it's not,

it's not always a guarantee when edge rushers who are listed at that same weight, I should say, play with that physicality. But these off ball linebackers, I mean, that's a bread and butter. They grew up tackling. That's their whole thing. You need to make contact every single play. Your job is to see the ball, chase the ball, tackle the ball carrier. Like that's again, so physicality, they never even think about it. It's why I had a lot of faith in Abdul Carter. You know, I was obviously wary of like, okay,

how many pass rush moves is he going to get down this this year with him being a full time Ed Scherzer? But in terms of that, that physicality, you know, the reason why I had him ranked above James Pierce Jr. before the season is because I looked at James Pierce Jr. and this is before 2024. I said to myself, okay, well, he sometimes shies away from being physical the way that you need to. Although Carter doesn't do that.

Odejo doesn't either. And I think that's just a really good characteristic of him making the transition for being an off-ball linebacker to an on-ball linebacker and an edge player. The arm length, what did you say it was? It's like 33. 30 and 3.8s, I believe.

Oh, it's only 30 and 3.8s? 33, sorry, 33. Okay, no, no, no, no, no, that's my bad. Okay, okay. A very important difference. I was gonna say, I was gonna say like, that's a calling card of his, and if you were about to- No, he's got good length, yep.

Rip the rug out from underneath me, that was gonna be tough, but no, he has really good arm length. You mentioned it, when he wins, he wins very cleanly. And I think those are the things that you could say, okay, I'll probably take him in round four because he lacks a little bit of nuance here, but it's those clean wins that cleanly. And I think those are the things that you could say, okay, I'll probably take it in round four because he lacks a little bit of nuance here, but it's those clean wins that you love.

I mean, this is a defensive line that was replacing the Murphy twins and Leato Latu last year. So they had a lot of pass rush snaps that they really had to get somewhere and they took Lola Dejo and they clearly saw a lot of promise in what he was able to do as an edge rusher.

So I like this call out because I think that you're not going to be alone and him being an early day three favorite. Yeah, man, it's just there's there's reason to buy into him. And I think he's big enough and tough enough and explosive enough to play on special teams while trying to develop into just a strictly rusher. Like the violence. Yeah, it's just it's just an easy, easy day three guy to buy into is that kind of dart throw.

Who jumped out to you? So I'm gonna start on the defensive line as well. And this is somebody who embodies a characteristic that's gonna be a theme for most of my players in here. And it's that their give a shit meter is like all the way to a 10. And when you talk about guys who are getting drafted on day three, sometimes they're sort of hybrid, like, okay, this core special teamers or reserve

guys or whatever. But whenever they're getting snaps, whether it is special team or whether it is in reserve capacities, you want them to be going all out. Savion Jones, the edge rusher from LSU goes all out at all times. One, I love the frame. Six foot five, 280 pounds, legit NFL defensive lineman. He is somebody who can rush from a two point stance. I mean, LSU sometimes got flexible enough to put him in those two point stance alignment, but were you really going to play him at the NFL level, I think he's excellent projecting into that three, four defensive end roll where he's got the long arms. He's got the six foot five height, he's got the 280 pound frame

to be able to play as a four eye. You could play him as a five technique as well. I think he can be a strong side defensive end for you, somebody that can really hold up against offensive tackles and tight ends, combo blocking you if there's a tight end of the strong side of the line of scrimmage. I think he's got really good hands, violent hands,

fast hands, strong hands, and it's always working to get clean. Now, four and a half sacks, that was his career high. He had that as a sophomore. He had that as a senior. His pastors win percentage a little bit lower. Eight tackles for loss is the high in his career. I don't think he's ever going to be a big time backfield guy. And I think that that's probably why he's going to be a day three pick despite having some pretty ideal measureables. But it's the motor. It's that relentlessness.

It's that ability to be physical. He's a little high cut. And when I say that, I mean he's a little leggy. His legs are long. His hips are a little higher. And anytime that's the case, it's always a little bit tougher to change direction, to bend, to sort of stop on a diamond for edge rusher corner around off into tackles.

He's just not super flexible in that regard. So again, I don't know how much he's ever going to really get to the quarterback and give you a lot of sack production, but to me he's somebody that you like because of the relentlessness in which he protects the line of scrimmage. So Savion Jones, not necessarily somebody who I think is going gonna be a sack master in the NFL, but as a depth defensive lineman and somebody who's got some good versatility to you to play anywhere from a 4-I all the way to a wide 7, like I think this guy's got good experience, good strength, he's got a multi-sport background too. I got in front of me, he was a three-sport dude,

football, basketball, and track and field. He threw the discus, he was in the high jump, he was also an all-dist threw the discus, he was in the high jump. He was also that an all district basketball players who wouldn't just somebody who just happened to play basketball for his high school team. Like there's a pretty good athlete for a guy that brings a lot of legit size in the NFL position. So Savion Jones to me is somebody to be targeted in that fourth round.

It's a really good call out. I got to the LSU guys later in the process and that was a mistake. I watched him in Swinson and they are, I think it's fully caught up on Braden Swinson. And like that one corrected itself, he's gonna go. But these guys are really good. And with Savion, you know, you mentioned all those things

in the NFL body, it's hard to believe that he's still only gonna be 21 on draft night. Like he turned- Is he really? I didn't find his age. Yeah, he turns 22 right before his first training camp. So, I mean, he's gotten plenty of play time the last two years at LSU.

And even a little bit before that, he was just a younger guy and kind of growing into that big frame. And like you said, those guys that are projected as three, four ends on day three, it's not the sexiest thing, but every NFL team needs them to play some really, really rugged reps.

And it's really, and you don't want to have to go pay for that in free agency. You'd rather find value in it later in a draft. So. Man, if he's only 21, I wonder if he does sneak into that third round there. I wonder if I'm cheating a little bit here on this one, but he is, he's the one who I think would get drafted

the highest of the players that I have on my list. So even, even if he sneaks in there, I, I feel good about it. I feel like I'm not cheating the exercise too much here. This might be that guy. The next one might be that guy for me, where he could sneak into the third round and I wouldn't be floored. But running backs just fall, man. And Bayshall Tooten is the speed demon is the speed demon

lost in a great running back class. Right. And of course, his size plays a little into that. He's five, nine and a quarter, 206 pounds, not small, like not light and slender, but just, you know, you look at some of these other guys that are in this class that legitimately play at 220 or 225 and can get downhill. Obviously this dude could fly. The one four nine 10 yard split,

the four three two 40 speaks for itself. 40 and a half inch vertical and a 10 10 broad. Like he's explosive and fast and instant acceleration. The 4401 shuttle surprises me a little bit because I think he's got better agility than that indicates. The thing with Tootin for me is, because we've watched a lot of this guy and this is probably the guy on my list

that we've talked about the most, but not a ton, especially since the combine. And we did running back rankings before the combine, so we'll probably redo those at some point. With him, Trevor, it was really weird. 2023, he had 39 targets, and he's listed as five drops, but you watch the throws, and some of them are just,

like the quarterback is just like throwing it 100 miles an hour at his face or like above his head. Like there's some, there's some, but he also doesn't look natural adjusting to the ball. And then this year, as marvelous as he was as a runner, his targets go down to 26. He catches 22 passes for 80 yards, which tells you like these are just check downs and dump offs.

He doesn't drop any passes, but literally like the usage in the pass game is just like, there's nothing there. It's like, why wouldn't you want this guy in space? Yeah, he's 14th in yards per route run, like 14th percentile, I should say, over the last two years. And then I watched him specifically

in senior bowl pass game drills. The routes are smooth, the transitions are very smooth. I mean, he's a damn good athlete. Yeah, and the adjustments of catching the ball into runner, and these are one-on-ones, look really natural. Where I'm like, maybe it just clicked late, or maybe it wasn't a big focal point of their offense.

We know what he can do as a runner. If you're running some outside zone and you want explosive acceleration, stick your foot in the ground, cut up field, I mean, Mistackles for us, 2023.39 per attempt, 0.34 in 2024, like he creates on his own a lot. There's shake, wiggle, makes people miss, very difficult to come to balance against a guy

that's five foot nine, 206 with that kind of speed. Usually the balance for a low to the ground runner like that is on the higher end and is for him. But what makes him a guy like even more Trevor is like if there is anything for him to add in the pass game, him in space, it totally changes the dynamic of the player to me and somebody that if he was there in the fourth round, he should be one of the first running backs off the board on day three. I think he is going to be a like a fourth, fifth round type of running back. Yeah, I think that there are some things. Obviously, the stuff that you love about Bay Schultz, and is is easy like it's all the speed stuff. It's all the athleticism stuff. I mean, going back to his high school

recruiting background, he was the as a senior, he was the South Jersey Times football offensive player of the year. He also ran track in high school where he had the eighth fastest 60 meter time in South Jersey history in 2021 at a 7.03 committed to North Carolina A&T. I mean, it's hard to not bring up the Tariq Cohen parallels because they're so very similar. They both played at North Carolina A&T. And so it's hard to not sort of make that correlation there, but there is so much to love about him as an athlete.

He also has some kick and punt return experience to him. And so you're probably drafting him thinking that he could give you that as well. The big issues that I had for him is just his feel sometimes in vision as a runner was inconsistent in my opinion. His fumbles, he has nine fumbles over the last two years. The fumbles are a huge like written red ink thing

in my report. Like you gotta keep the ball off the ground. But, and so like ball security issues might be a reason why he's drafted a little bit lower, but what he brings as an athlete makes it so, fifth round's his floor, right? I mean, like they just, like he is just so unbelievably gifted as an athlete.

Somebody's gonna take a chance on this guy and they're just gonna try to tell him like, do not put the football on the ground. Like do the high school football thing, right? When you show up to the facility, you get out of your car and you're carrying it. And everybody everywhere is trying to punch the football out from you.

You know, you have to eat in the cafeteria with one hand. You know, you have to go through all of your weightlifting exercises with one hand, you know? And just like, you're going through your meeting. If you're holding the ball and you're right-handed, you're right-handed to take notes, you better learn how to right left-handed because that ball is not coming out. So he does need that. That's sort of my path there for Basial Tutin, who I think is a really good player.

I also think he's got a phenomenal name for a home run hitting back. Bachel Tutin. I remember there was a game. I can't remember. That's obviously an easy one right there. I can't remember which game it was, but I think it was Matt Berry,

not the Matt Berry that you work with, the one who works at ESPN as a host and a play-by-play guy. He was doing one of the Virginia Tech games and Tooten broke off like a 60-yard run and you just hear Matt Berry, he just is like, Bay Shaw Tooten! And it's like, there's so much emphasis that you can put on Tooten as he is getting into the end zone. So having a home run hitting name really matters. All right, look, the reason why the Buccaneers drafted Carnell Williams above Aaron Rodgers is because his nickname was Cadillac.

You can't convince me otherwise. John Gruden wanted to say that his rushing attack was run through a Cadillac. That's what he wanted Cadillac Williams What better than that? I nothing Cadillac Williams, dude It was the first it was the first jersey that I ever bought like on my own Like my dad had bought me, you know, a Derek Brooks Jersey John like a Mike All-Stars Jersey because me, you know, a Derek Brooks jersey, a John, like a Mike All-Stuy jersey, because those were, you know, the legends or whatever. Cadillac

Williams was the first Bucks jersey that I ever was like, I gotta buy. Classic. So yeah. So I don't, does Bashall Tooten have a nickname? Maybe he doesn't even need it. He can't hide Bashall or Tooten. That's true. What are you gonna get rid of? You can't hide. Bashall or tootin. That's true. What are you going to get rid of? You can't get rid of either. Bashall tootin. Bashall tootin. It's right there. I'll stick with running back for my next one. Brichard Smith, the running back from SMU.

Shout out to Dalton Washmann who I do the PFF NFL show with who was really early on this guy. I love his background. I love who he could be as a running back. The numbers really showed that this past season, his path and who he is as a player, I almost feel bad a little bit because I'm going to talk about him like you talked about Tyrone Tracy last year. And I'm almost like, damn, I feel like Conor should talk about this guy because he was so much like Tyrone Tracy and Tyrone Tracy was your boy last year.

But Richard Smith, who's coming out of SMU, he's played there the last two years, but he was at Miami the previous three seasons. Now he played wide receiver, mostly just like Tyrone Tracy did when he was at Miami, although his first year, they kind of used him everywhere, sort of out of the backfield as a wide receiver, as a kick returner. Uh, the next two years that he was at Miami, he was mainly used as a slot receiver. And the first year that he was at SMU, they used him a little bit as a running back, but again, most of his snaps came as a slot receiver.

And then it wasn't until this past season that they really gave him the reins as a running back and he was moved to that full-time running back spot. Now, as you would expect, a lot like Tyrone Tracy is very natural out of the backfield when it comes to running routes and being able to set line running routes and, and, and being able to set linebackers and safety up, safety's up.

He's got some pretty natural hands to him. So there's built in third down ability there, but man, I just that wide receiver background and, and these guys that used to play wide receiver that go into running back, there's always pros and cons, right? And I think when you, when you look at Rashad Smith, he is somebody who I would say the mundane carries that you get from a running back. He's not going to give you a lot of plus stuff. Like there's not a lot of yards above expectation on a consistent basis.

You know, he's, he's not like somebody who's going to turn a lot of yards after contact for you and things like that. Like if he's not able to put his foot in the ground and sort of like make you miss in the hole or in the phone booth, like he'll get tackled pretty easily. And so like those mundane runs, he doesn't always give you a lot of extra in that regard. But then there are other runs where he sees the blocking scheme appropriately. He times it well. He puts his foot in the ground and this dude could just be like one cut, boom, boom, boom. And like all of a sudden it's like, okay,

you just made two dudes miss out of nowhere and you're off to the races. He's got that type of short area explosiveness. And to me that comes from that route running background. When you're a, especially a slot receiver You've got to cut on a dime You've got to be able to make the most out of those two-way goes that you get you've got to be able to set cornerbacks up who have inside or outside leverage against you and you got to be able to put your foot in the ground by not Giving anything away beforehand and change direction on a dime and create that separation

beforehand and change direction on a dime and create that separation. You can take those skills into being a ball carrier and you see that with Breshard Smith. So you just even his one year as a full-time running back this past year, I loved those plays. Give me those plays. Let him be this RB three for you in his rookie season. Let him be sort of that rotational. Maybe he's a, you know, an out of the backfield type of a receiving back for you in his rookie season, let him be sort of that rotational. Maybe he's a, you know, an out of the backfield type of a receiving back for you. Maybe even a spotlight slot receiver for you if you need him to be. And then maybe year two, he's moving up and he's fully into that running back

rotation. He becomes that third down back. He becomes that scat back part of a, of a running back duo. I think that that's well within the realm of possibility for this dude. And so this is another guy who I think just the running back class and how good it is in general, probably pushing Rashard Smith to that fourth round range and Tyrone Tracy himself was picked in the fourth round last year. So I think that's kind of the appropriate range for him, but man, a skill set to love. And I think that this is somebody who you take a chance on in this running back class on day three. I love this call out and I agree with you the Tyrone Tracy comparison.

Speed, his running style is aesthetically pleasing. It's very fun to watch. He's like these big leg pumps and sometimes guys that run a little high at times even, it looks cool even though you know it's like, hey, be careful with that. He has a cool running style and when he gets loose, it's like, oh, look out. He can beat you to the angle. He can out angle the final line of defense,

the cuts against the linebackers. But like you said, Trevor, what he could do in the receiving game is really, really gonna be one of the most important parts for him as well and that's where he'll be valued. But the athleticism that he has, these running backs that were wide receivers and run like wide receivers, there are pros to that.

It's just the- Oh, a hundred percent. Like there's just the way they cut is a little bit different. You won't always ask them to get these dirty yards on 24 carries, but some of the explosive plays you can create and have them rip off really, really stand out. So for Shard Smith, another guy like to and just lost in a really, really deep running back class and in the right situation can find something.

This next one for me, I don't know where he's going to go. This is not a good or deep center class. We've talked about Jared Wilson a lot from Georgia because the kind of athlete he is and then we've talked about the good players that can kick to center like Gray Zabel and you know Marcus Bo if you need him to. We haven't talked about Jake Majors from Texas very much and I'm going to be honest in the in a polite way Majors is a pretty boring. And I think that's good for him. He is 6'3 and 3'8, 306 with 30 and 3 1⁄8 inch arms. So he's light and he is sawed off. Like that is really, really short arm length. Pretty good athlete.

I know his pro day has actually been going on today, the day we're recording. And I think the results are looking solid for him. But this is a four year starter at center for Texas. Four year, like you look at that line, Kelvin Banks started all three years he was there at left tackle. Majors has started four years at center.

He was in charge of calling out protections, making adjustments. Like they asked a lot of him mentally. He's a technician. That's the thing with Majors. He's not gonna wow you with his physical presence or these splash plays of dominance, but the hand placement is calculated, it's precise,

and he knows with that 306 pound frame how to drop his hips to take on power and really kind of sink his base with his precise hands to get the most momentum stalling power out of his body that he can generate. Because that size, if you're off, especially playing in, you know, he played obviously both in the Big 12 and the SEC, you're going to get knocked back into the pocket. It's just like you're giving up length, you're giving up weight, you're giving up strength,

but he does such a good job as a technician making sure that that lower half is in sync with the upper half, dropping his hips to unlock some power, and he plays with good leverage in the run game. He knows how to get the hand placement, carries over in pass protection to the run game to generate leverage. Let's be real, like second percentile arm length, not gonna be easy for recovery.

When a guy knows how to counter and he's got majors in a one-on-one, he's probably gonna win. Not gonna be easy for reach blocks. Bigger how to counter and he's got majors in a one-on-one, he's probably gonna win. Not gonna be easy for reach blocks. Bigger defensive tackles are gonna push him back into the pocket. In outside zone, it's gonna limit his radius, once again, with the lack of length and stuff.

But you give me a four-year starter that's technically sound, moves well in both pass pro and the run game, upper half and lower half are in sync, plays with good leverage, has a lot going on between the ears and calling out protections and making adjustments. You're telling me I can get that kind of reliability as my backup center on day three of the draft

that honestly can probably start for me in the future if I feel good about the mass and girth of the guards next to him. In a bad center class, majors might be of value. He has been active on game day for 57 games in his five year career. That's unbelievable. He has started 56 of them. There's only one game that he was not active

and it was his freshman season. I believe it was his red shirt freshman season. There was only one game that he was active on game day that he did not start for the Longhorns. Every other game, every single season, there was only one game that he was active on game day that he did not start for the Longhorns every other game every single season. He was a starter. So 56 starts in five years is a ton of starts. It's a ton of experience. And you mentioned the intangible parts of it, man, how he recognizes fronts, making

adjustment protections. I know that the people of Texas talked about how great he was for Queen Ewers because he was able to help Queen Ewers sort of identify defenses and fronts and blitzes over the last couple of years and help him in that regard. His measurables make him pretty much a zone only type of asset.

Yeah, without a doubt. Because he's not really that big of a help in combo block situations. I think he's good as a puller, but you, you want him as a zone blocking center because he's a pretty good athlete. He knows how to get on the hoof. He knows where his aiming points are and he knows how to at least wall defenders off to make up for not having imposing strength. So again, just going back to what you said, if you give this guy an opportunity

to maximize the things that he does well, so it's being a little bit fleet of foot, it's the intangibles, it's understanding the geometry of playing offensive line, get him in a zone blocking scheme and this dude can absolutely be a starter for you. I love this call out. I think in a center class where we're sort of throwing

our hands up outside of Jared Wilson from Georgia and maybe know, maybe Graze Abel if you view him as a safety instead of a guard or center instead of a guard outside of those two dudes, I think everybody's just sort of throwing their hands up and going like, well, guess we don't have any centers, you know, like we're not just I mean, the center class sucks. Jake Majors is a dude who I think should be looked at on day three, especially if you are a zone blocking team. So excellent call up by you. Love this one. I'm going to go with wide receiver Deontay Thornton Jr. from Tennessee as the next guy that he look, I'll say I'll start with the bad with him. He runs like four total routes. He runs like two, like, like three or four total routes.

I mean, it's nine routes, it's skinny posts, it's comebacks and it, you know, slants. That's basically it. There's not a lot of diversity to what he is doing. He's basically just running those four routes and a lot of them are, are just the more vertical routes that you are getting from him. He is a vertical type of receiver, but for him being a vertical receiver, if you are in an offense that likes to on to the ball a little bit longer, let

their guys get a little bit deeper down the field and you like to take shots. This dude's for you. He's just a shade under six foot five, 205 pounds. So he's got legit height, legit length to him. He had a 430 40 yard dash 33 inch for 10 foot six inch broad. He is somebody who's saying testing by the way, insane. Yeah. I mean, he is a really good athlete. Um, he played two seasons at Oregon before transferring over to Tennessee. This past year he led Tennessee in receiving yards with 661 and

averaged 25.4 yards per catch. This is somebody who, despite him clearly being able to win with speed, he also has some good strength in his game. He knows how to hand fight off the line of scrimmage. He can sort of get, he can really get into it with guys who are matching him in press coverage. He can fight at the catch point.

He can go up for contest to catch opportunities. Another Tennessee volunteer a couple of years ago in Jalen Hyatt, who I felt like we were lower on on this podcast just because we looked at him in his profile and we said, OK, yeah, I mean, you're a fast wide receiver, but they don't put you on the line of scrimmage because you're not strong. So they really try to protect you

in those stacked alignments. And you're not really a contested catch guy down the field. You're basically either winning in a nine or a post route or you're not winning at all. And he won quite a bit in the scheme because they scored a ton of points and he won the Balitnikov award for the production that he had. But when he was projected to the NFL, I remember we were like, I mean, there's just not a lot that he gets outside of running straight.

I think Deontay Thornton even gives you more than Jalen Hyatt gave you from this exact program, almost from this, I don't want to say exact role because they put Thornton on the line of scrimmage a little bit more, but you know, he's just not going to be a, he's not, versatility is not something that you would use to describe Deontay Thornton. He's not going to run a lot of different routes for you. He's not a big yards after catch guy. So if you're going up against a team that's playing a lot of cap coverage against you, playing a lot of bracket coverage, playing a lot of just too high shells in general that are really just trying to limit a lot of those deep shots, he's probably not going to have a super productive day. But if you're playing single high and you forget about him,

this dude could have two or three catches that make all the difference in the world on Sunday. So not going to be a high volume guy, but somebody who, if you run a vertical offense, if you are okay holding onto the football a little bit longer and letting these guys eat down the field, Deontay Thornton, in my opinion, is a legit wide receiver for wide receiver five for you. And he, I could make the difference in some games if they just if they do not account for him because of how well he can get open deep down the field. So Thornton is somebody who I was really impressed with when I watched him at the Shrine Bowl.

I watched a little bit more of his tape and got into his bio. Obviously he had a really good combine as well and that's the way that I see this wide receiver somebody who again as a wide receiver for for a vertical pressing team. I think he could be very valuable in day three. Somebody that I have to write up but I've watched a little bit of him to get the idea of the athlete he is and just hearing the way you described him like while that might make him team specific. If you have that kind of size and can simply get over the top of a defense you're going

to be valued. It's as simple as that like you're going to have value in the league even, you're gonna be valued. It's as simple as that. You're gonna have value in the league, even if you're the number four on a depth chart. I don't think he has a special teams background, which would have really, really helped him, because then you're looking at a guy that, a lot of teams like guys like this that could be a gunner and a vertical number five on the roster,

but he just might have the talent that it's like, you're the number four on the roster, we're gonna might have the talent that it's like, you're the number four on the roster. We're going to send you out there when we go empty or we go four wide receivers and just get over the top and give us some, open up some space in the middle of the field. I'm trying. I didn't have in front have his track number, is he a junior here? 2019. So what class was he in? I think he was in the 2021 class. So as a sophomore, he ran almost an 11 flat in the 100 meter, which is pretty fast. It's not like crazy fast, but it's pretty fast. 22 feet in the long jump, 42 feet in the long jump, forty two feet in the triple jump, six foot, two inch high jump.

So, yeah, I mean, like this guy was a was attracted through and through when he was in high school. So somebody again, again, sort of limited in what he does. But I think that that role holds a lot of value at the NFL. So I wanted to shout out Deontay Thornton there. All right. Who was number four for you? All right. I'm going to go to a wide receiver here as well to kind of keep that moving.

And I'll shout out Pat Bryant, the big wide receiver from Illinois, who I like the way you started, you know, with Thornton, like, hey, here's here's why this guy isn't talked about as going higher than day three with Bryant. And we saw some of this at the senior bowl, and he runs a four, six, one, 40, he's not gonna run away from a ton of people on the outside. He's not gonna be this guy that is generating

this high end speed to constantly separate. What Bryant does have is enough size, he is six, two and a quarter. He weighed in 204 at the combine and probably to run that 4'6. When I interviewed him at Big Ten Media, he looks bigger than a guy that, like I think he doesn't play at 204.

I think he plays at 210, 212. 31 and an eighth inch arm. So pretty average there in terms of that. 37 and a half inch vertical though, and a 10-4 broad. Like this. Great, yeah. He has explosive leaping ability, and you do see that on the tape with Bryant. He's somebody to me though,

you like when you watch the tape that he was able to play inside and outside for them. He's not just a slot merchant, and he's not just a guy that they put on the perimeter and say like, okay, cause you're big, so you have to play there. He got a lot better over his years there. He's one of the leaders of the team. I think he's somebody that can be a perimeter blocker for you. And to me,

he's trustworthy. If you put him out there, like what B Lema had a lot of trust in this guy because he just, he knew he'd do the right thing wherever they'd line them up, whether it was that running the right route, being a big blocker on the outside, which will probably be something teams really like about him is his physicality on the perimeter to open up the run game. And just as a possession receiving threat.

I mean, he understands how to attack spacing and zone. I feel like he, yeah, very reliable hands. I was gonna say, something that really jumped out to me on tape is like, you just don't see him drop the ball. He had one drop this year on 78 targets. Like you could argue he has some of the best hands in this wide receiver class. 94th percentile in catch percentage,

overall catch percentage this past year, 84th percentile if you take a two year sample size over the last two years. So that's still really good for him. And contested catch percentage, 94th percentile on a two year sample size, 96th percentile this past season. That's the key.

It's almost- The young man's got mitts. It's almost, he does. It's almost surprising to me that he's not like a legit 6'3 with even longer arms because he- That's the thing. If he was just a little bit bigger like that, we would talk about Pat Bryant a little differently in my opinion.

I agree because he plays a very physical brand of football at the catch point, which like it's, you have to love that because at the NFL, every corner has longer arms. They're faster, they're stronger, that if you're just getting eaten up in congested areas and traffic, it's gonna be hard for you.

You're not guaranteed to go to an offense that they're just gonna drop all this space for you to play seven on seven. I think Brian is one of those receivers with like excellent, excellent hands and excellent at the catch point that he'll go to the tough areas of the field to make plays that, do I care that he doesn't run away

from a ton of people? Yeah, a little bit, but I don't write him off in that regard. And I think he's pretty physical with the ball in his hands. Not creative, but like get up field, run through somebody, give me some extra yards. So I like Pat Bryant, I think he's tough. I think he's the kind of number four possession receiver

you want on your roster that if you deal with an injury, can he be a number three for me that I could trust on the outside? I could flex to the inside. I know he's gonna block. I know he's gonna catch everything thrown his way. Like, let's be real. I'm looking at my latest wide receiver rankings right now.

Brian for me is hovering around 16, which is deep in this class. But I like the player a lot because I think I know exactly what I'm getting from him. Yeah, he's also one of the few like exes, right? Yeah, that you can actually play on the line of scrimmage because how many true exes do we have in this class? And I'm scrolling up and it's like, you have Tet. I mean, Jayden Higgins. Yeah. Even though he did play slot as well.

Right. It's, it's like you, you have Tet sort of Jack Bash, but he's better in the slot. I mean, like he can block and he's got good size, so you could technically put him as an X, but you like it better as a slot. Jayden Higgins the same way. I think Jayden Higgins could play X, but he also plays a lot in the slot. Elkay O'Meaner is a legit X in my opinion.

Yeah. What about Trey Harris? What do you think of Trey Harris? Trey Harris I think is a legitimate X. Yep, I think Jalen Royals can play X, but he's- They don't use him in the slot. It's like he has to get open on the outside, yeah. Did they play?

I feel like in my head they played him more in the slot, but I have him in here as an X. Yeah, I think he's an X. Okay, so in my rankings. But like, that's the point, like if you need depth at the X spot, your options are gonna severely lift. And then it's Pat Bryant.

And then it's Pat Bryant. Pat Bryant's the next guy for me. Yeah. It's like him or Tory Horton, sort of how you feel about those guys. I think almost side by side. Probably back to back, right? They have the exact same film grade for me.

Now they're different players. Obviously the categories aren't exactly the same, but they have the exact same final film results. That's funny. No, Pat Bryant, very good call out there from you. I like that one. Okay, so I got two DBs left. Let's go with Mac McWilliams first,

the cornerback from UCF. McWilliams played at the senior bowl. We got to see him a little bit at the senior bowl. And there were some concerns. People were like, okay, well, is he going to play corner? Is he going to play on the slides? Is he going to play safety? Like, what's he going to play? Like, what's the home base for him? He's five foot 10, 190 pounds, less than 30 inch arms and small hands, less than nine inch hands as well. So he just comes in a smaller size of the defensive back. He played outside quarterback a lot for UCF this past season. He played at UAB for the previous four seasons before transferring over to UCF that last year was that he was at

UAB. He was a full time starter. He was a team captain, all that kinds of stuff. He has Connor, the measurables are why he is not going to get picked in the first three rounds. He's just not. And there are things that sort of go into it. It's not just the numbers of the measurables that are on the page. I think he's a good athlete, but I think that he is, I saw Lance Zerline use this, use this adjective to describe him, low cut, which I think about, I don't think

about actually. You don't hear a lot of low cut. No, we hear high cut and we talk about guys who are leggy, who have those long legs to them, but it's perfect. When I read that from Lance, I was like, that's perfect. That's just a really good word for it because his hips are a little bit lower and with that his legs are a little bit shorter. So when you watch Mac McWilliams this dude's legs are churning

They are pistons in an engine. He is going as hard as he can at all times. The thing is He doesn't have very big strides. So we don't have that when you don't have those long legs I try to you'll correlate it to this The reason why Usain Bolt is the greatest sprinter of all time isn't just because he's athletically gifted and he is fast. It's because he's that and he's taller than everybody else. Usain Bolt's legs are so long. So even though they're all equal types of elite athletes, Usain Bolt is covering

more ground than the guys who are next to him because he is taller because he is bigger because his strides are longer. So you think about that at the NFL level as well. When these guys are running, we talk about that with running backs. We talk about that with wide receivers and here with Mac McWilliams, his stride lengths, although he's, although he is churning and he is a good explosive athlete, he just doesn't have the great stride length to give you a lot of that recovery

speed that you would want to play on the outside. I think he is much more of a slot receiver or sorry, a slot corner at the next level or a safety because what he does very well is he can stop on a dime. This guy's got really great short area, body control, short area, agility, short area, explosiveness. And the other thing that I love about it and why I put him in the slot, he will tackle. He loves to come up and tackle.

Now he's a corner. He's 190 pounds. So he's not mad and hit sticking you every single time. And so you can look at him as some of these tackles are a little bit at the ankles, but even the ankle tackles for him, it's not like he's diving and swiping at ankles. He's trying to hit you right around, you know, the middle of your thigh, maybe even a little bit lower, maybe your shins, but he's trying to wrap up. He is still trying to be fundamental of what he does.

And because of that, pretty low miss tackle percentage for him over the last couple of years. So somebody who's very feisty, loves to get in your face, loves to be physical when it comes to playing the physical aspects of the cornerback position. And I really, really like him as, again, going back to what I talked about Savion Jones, the give a shit meter. Yeah.

Matt McWilliams is somebody whose motor is running hot. He is relentless. He is feisty. He is tenacious. And I want that in my corner back room. That is, I think of just because I know this example well, Christian is he in for the Buccaneers undrafted free agent week one, he's starting at slot corner because in training camp he was like, you're going to have to take this job for me. I guarantee it. And like Mac McWilliams is a player who I could see having that same sort of

mentality to be like, I don't care if I'm getting drafted in the fifth round. I don't care what you say about my combine or my long speed or whatever. You're going to have to take a starting spot away from me. Somebody's gonna have to earn it above me. And I just, I love that attitude of a competitive defensive back. So Mack McWilliams, there's a little bit of limitations athletically and just the build that he has. He's just a smaller guy with a lot of smaller measurables to him, but he certainly got the dog to make up for it inside. So I'm a big fan of his. You got me excited to watch him. I am churning through day three prospect tape right now. Like it's, you know, breakfast, lunch and dinner.

And he is on my list as somebody to absolutely watch soon. So. Sold, I mean, right there. And this is this is the process of evaluating these guys. They're in day three for a reason, especially when they were damn good college football players. There is some kind of physical limitation or could be a processing limitation or whatever it may be that you have to ask yourself, will this hamper them enough

that they won't have success at the NFL level or is there a way for them to overcome this? And that's the perfect outline for somebody like him who I'm definitely looking forward to watching. So that was, we've each gone through four, right? Yeah, your last guy here. Last guy, this is somebody I have talked about a lot, but it's a good time to just like officially,

like I'm not leaving, like I'll never give up on this guy. Who is this? Kyle Menon guy. Oh, okay, good, I'm glad. I'm glad that this guy I'll never give up on this guy. Who is this? Kyle Menunggai just. Oh, okay, good, I'm glad. I'm glad that this guy's making the list here. He made the list because he wins my annual Honda Civic of the 2025 running back class. Last year was Ray Davis, right?

That was last year? Ray Davis was. That was last year. Ray Davis was my Honda Civic of last year's running back class. Kyle Menunggai is that this year. People will look right away and go 4'6 40", 34 and a half inch vertical. The 1'5 4' 10 yard splits actually close to a 70th percentile metric, which I care more about that for running back than the 40.

But Menunggai is just classic cliche, trust what the tape keeps telling you over and over and over again. It's not like he ran a four eight. It's not like he's not a, he's not a bad athlete, but he is clearly not on par with all of these freakish running backs in this class. Manungai, five eight and a quarter,

fire hydrant kind of build muscles growing on muscles. He came in at 211 at the combine. He definitely plays heavier than that. He is somebody the five. But five. Yeah. Five. Five. Eight. 211 is like good luck. You're stacked. Good luck. You will get your end. You're stacked. You. Yeah.

Yes. Cretean is dripping out of your eyeballs at that point. 100%. Which is awesome. Monunguy, in terms of why you trust the tape, 670 career carries never fumbled the football. Never fumbled the football. Pass protection, not just doing the job, but trying to literally take your head off the body.

He'll obliterate you in Pass Pro. He will embarrass you in Pass Protection. And the fact is- You're banished to the Shadow Realm if you go up to the Shadow. Yes. Yeah, you go to the Gulag right away. Yeah, you're just straight in the group. One second you're Pass Protection, if you're a linebacker, you're trying to come around

the edge and you're like, oh, I got him. And then all of a sudden it like The the lights go dark on you and you know I got a scene of it's no it's yeah That scene of you just getting dragged into the gulag and it's the gulag music and then you're waiting to make sure you go Down there to the ceiling rocks at your friends. Yeah, that's what you're doing That is what happens if you go up against Kyle monogai when he is in pass pro Yes 100% and then you look at since 2023,

this is a great PFF stat, 139 missed tackles forced. He's just running through everyone's face over and over again. Don't care about the testing, which was good enough. And I've gotten to interview Kyle twice. He is like just this all the time. Is never too high, never too low. There was a unit at that Rutgers program

that their work ethic is out of this world. They really, really got the most out of their physical ability and he fits that kind of mold where he's gonna outwork everybody. He's a coach's dream. That's what I'm trying to say is this guy, he protects his quarterbacks, he's smart, he's strong, he's tough, he never fumbles the football and when it's time to lower his shoulder

through anyone, any size, he's there to meet the challenge. So Kyle Menunggai, probably not gonna be taken in the first 10 running backs in this class. I bet he'll be getting NFL carries eight years from now. So my bottom line for Kyle Monungai is Monungai runs like defenders personally insulted his loved ones before the game. He does not want to run around you.

He wants to run straight for you. That makes for some eye popping plays, but his lack of overall athleticism and agility and long speed give him a somewhat limited ceiling. Parents are also from Cameroon. So I mean, he's got a really good story to him. Grow playing soccer. He didn't start playing football until his brother, Kevin, an unguy who nine and a half years older than him, by the way, actually played the FCS level with, with Villanova played a lot as well.

He got a call for the Philadelphia Eagle. So he Eagles. So he sort of made it in the league, but I think that Kyle's got a better chance to make a long NFL career. You're right, just not an overall great athlete, but somebody that you want on your football team, man. I think Kyle Van Oen is going to be a fan favorite wherever he gets drafted and he'll be RB3, RB4. He might be a practice squad running back his first year.

I don't know, depending on where he ends up getting drafted, but fans are gonna love this guy especially again those past pro reps once they once he gets drafted and once that fan base really sees what he's able to do there. So I love the fumble stat too just to reliability at the running back position is your RB3 and RB4 is is what teams gravitate towards in my opinion. So take us home. The all right last guy that I'm bringing to the table. Some of our day three fits here for the 2025 NFL draft.

I'm gonna go with safety RJ Mickens from Clint. Hell yeah. Lines up at about six feet tall, 199 pounds. So just shaded under 200. 200 is probably what you could say just for all intents and purposes. 32 and a fourth inch arms, so long arms for the safety position.

He's got small hands below nine inch hands, but man, those long arms really play into what he does very well. He's the son of former Texas A&M All-American Defense Back Ray Mickens, who was a third round pick in the 1996 draft by the New York Jets, your New York Jets, where he played for eight seasons. And who did he play with? Who was he in a tandem with? I would assume Aaron Glenn. That is correct. Yeah, I would assume Aaron Glenn

because wouldn't Glenn drafted in 96 as well? I believe so. He was on two really, really bad Jets teams before Parcells came in and flipped it. So Glenn was a rookie, I love that it takes me to his coaching. I thought it was 96. I think it was too. cause they were bad for,

no 94, that's right. Oh, so he was there for those two years, okay. Yeah, two god awful years. Yeah, and then 96 was when, you know, he started to become a great player and they started to figure it out. So he is the son of, you know, a former NFL player. so he's got the NFL bloodline to him. RJ, which I assume stands for Ray Jr., played running back, wide receiver, and defense back.

Yeah, yeah. Take that, people who discovered the cylindrical things underneath the pyramids. I figured out that RJ MickJ. Mickens name is probably Ray Jr. So you tell me which one is more of an alien. You guys thought you'd crack the code and try this. Me. No, the pyramid stuff is absolutely terrifying. I'm not trying to think about it. I promise I'm not. So he played receiver running back and safety in high school. Started 30 out of 60 games that he played in his Clemson career that kind of used them all over the place. So here's here's the reason why I really like this player Well, actually let's do what we've done before I don't think he'll be picked in the first three rounds because I don't know if he has the overall

Athleticism and fluidity to be able to play in like coverage situations consistently I think he'll have to go to a team that plays a lot of too high coverage shell stuff. He'll be listed as their strong safety and I'll get to why in a second. You don't really want him in single high situations. You don't want him to test the range and to really test that turn and run ability, flipping his hips and really trying to hit it

into top gear. I just, I don't think that that is NFL level. However, what he can be as a apex slot defender as a box safety, love it. Love the long arms, really high forcing completion percentage this past season. He's got eight interceptions in his career because of it. Loves to come downhill and tackle,

really relishes in the physical parts of the game. Low missed tackle percentage over the last couple of years. Pretty good downhill speed to him as well. And it's just, you know, I think that who he is when he is lined up against tight ends in the slot really has the ability to frame the overall athleticism to neutralize those guys. I watched him, I think it was that Wake Forest game specifically where they're using their tight end in the slot and they're trying to run a lot of slot fade stuff on him. And he had the ability to flip the hips and stay really in the hip pocket of those tight ends running those routes.

And sometimes those are really tough to defend. And Mickens was certainly able to show that bump and run coverage and play those things very well. You know, do you want him against Lad McConkey in the slot? No, you don't want that. But in those certain packages where you know teams like to use tight ends out in the slot, I think it could be very valuable for you as sort of that chess piece defender. So you're not going to want him in those single high situations, overall coverage athleticism,

when it comes to retreating and the true deep coverage responsibilities, I think might be a reason why he ends up being a day three type of a player, but a lot of experience to him. He's got the NFL background, really good size, love the long arms, low miss tackle percentage, and somebody who knows how to match up against tight ends and be a pretty good force for you as a slot defender

to either blitz, hold the line of scrimmage on running plays, make tackles in the backfield towards the sideline, things like that. So RJ Mickens, I think he's a good football player that's getting forgot about in this class. Dude, with you all the way on this one, I have him graded as more of a third round player. I don't think he's going to go in the first three rounds of this draft.

I see NFL starter for Mickens. Obviously you like the size bigger than dad. He's like a good three to four inches and heavier than. Wow. Yeah. His dad was very small corner. RJ is built like a real safety and he's got long arms, that sub four or five speed, the 41 and a half inch vert.

I mean, listen, just the snap counts alone. Well, over the last three seasons, when you've given a team over 600, it snaps in the box, 300 in the slot, 850 at free. Like you've done it, you've seen everything at that point. And he's a great tackler, which is so important. What are you doing with those opportunities? Trevor, did you mention the stat

that he was the only 10th player in Clemson history to play 60 games? No, didn't know that. He's only the 10th player in Clemson history to play 60 games for the program. So he's obviously played a ton of football. Yeah, I love the length, high football IQ, clear that dad played DB for a long time at the NFL.

You see the eye discipline. Mickens is definitely a favorite for me. I don't see any talk about him ever. And I see a starter. I like that you define the role because it's not like a Malachi where you look at it and go, God, the way Malachi moves, he could just do anything back there.

But that's majority of the saf is in the NFL, man. Like your role defined because it's just it's a lot of streamlined stuff. It's a lot of that's the perfect way to put it. So Mickens, definitely a fave on day three. I think we'll go in the fourth round. I think it'll be a starter pretty early. There we go. Those are 10 of our favorite day three players that we have for the 2025 NFL draft. We would obviously love to hear from the addicts as well.

This is your place to let your voice be heard, whether it's from your favorite college football team or whether you're just a big draft fan and this guy is not getting enough love. Somebody who's going to be a day three gem fire off in the comments. Let us know who you're trying to cape for and leave a comment and be able to go back to it a year from now, two years from now and be like, see, I told you day three gems. This is the place to do it. We would love to hear from you. youtube.com backslash at NFL stock exchange. The best way to do that. You could also follow the show

on Twitter, on Instagram, on tick tock at NFL SC show. If you want to follow Connor and I, it's at Tampa Bay, Trey at Connor J Rogers. Um, shoot, what else was I going to say? We're back next week. We're not going to be off for a week. We're back next week. No, yes, we're back next week. We're powering through. My blood is going to be half my ties at that point,

but we are going to have another edition of the Colab Mock Trap series for you guys, and it's going to be a lot of fun. We're still working with scheduling. It's one of two guests, edition of the Colab Mock Trap series for you guys. And it's going to be a lot of fun. We're still, we're still working with scheduling. It's, it's one of two guests, which we are very excited about, but we don't know which one we're going to do next two for next Tuesday's episode. Oh, by the way, while I'm here, like I said, in the previous episodes, we're trying to be more consistent here on this show and on this channel,

Tuesdays and Thursdays at 10 PM. That is what we were trying to do more consistent here on this show and on this channel, Tuesdays and Thursdays at 10 PM. That is what we were trying to do moving forward, basically for the entire time that we were doing the show. We were trying to pick a time where, well, well, whether it's, but in the summer we go down to one episode a week, but Thursday at 10 PM is going to be, so we're still going to do Thursday at 10 PM. But we wanted to try to pick a time that whether it was during football season, during draft season, or during the summer, we could be consistent with it because we want you guys to be able to, uh, um, make sure you

can be on the lookout for all these episodes. Cause we really appreciate just the way that you guys have sort of built this, this community up to this point. And it's, it's been, you guys deserve a little bit more consistency and organization from us. So we're trying, we're trying to make it happen for you guys. So Connor, anything else before we get out of here? No, man. I echo everything you said, we're doing our best. This time of year is a little funky

because we are booking other people and asking a lot of their time, which they've all been really, really gracious with. But I'm excited, dude. Let's keep it. It's crazy that we're a month away from the NFL draft. I feel like we just started summer scouting in this class. I don't know where the years are going.

I don't feel like we just started summer scouting, but I do, when we started to make the calendar for this last month, there are more things that I want to do than there are like days left. That's how to actually cover things. That's how it feels. Yeah, I know. I know. It's time. You're getting married in the middle of it all. I know. Really smart, really smart stuff. Good stuff. Improving our planning. Yeah. Gonna plan the wedding out the wedding. Yeah, I appreciate everybody watching and listening. What do we say next? I do.

You idiot. Yeah. They'll walk you through it. It'll be fine. Line, appreciate everybody watching and listening to the NFL Stock Exchange podcast. We will still see you next week. We'll see you guys then. Thanks for watching!