Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - An epic mock draft of the first 14 picks with CBS Sports's Chris Trapasso

Episode Date: April 5, 2021

In order to figure out who will be on the board when the Minnesota Vikings pick at No. 14, Matthew Coller and Chris Trapasso decide to mock the first 13 picks and things get very interesting as they debate the top three quarterbacks, break down why the Falcons need Kyle Pitts, how Dallas could surprisingly end up with an offensive lineman, why Mac Jones makes sense to Denver and then they debate whether the Vikings would take defensive end or offensive tackle with the 14th overall pick Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Go to VictoryHomeTeam.com. If you are listing your house, you're going to want to check them out. Chris, the draft season is absolutely on fire. And I want to keep a tracker now of how many players are supposedly immature. Because now we can add Penny Sewell to the list of allegedly immature players. And I have news for everyone that guys who are 20 years old might actually be immature. I don't know. It's shocking. But the other thing is, if I was an NFL executive who wanted Penesul, I would tell whatever reporter would go with just about anything, yeah, man, I don't know about that guy. Yeah, probably should drop him down

like four spots to us. Yeah, and this is, it's to the point where with Justin Fields and Alpene Sewell, this is just so obvious that this is exactly what you just pointed out. Not even just like, oh, it's lying season and you can never believe what you hear from, maybe if you're talking to a team executive or a scout it's just like blatantly like hey how can we throw them some mud on the name of this prospect to get him to fall to us and I think I or not ironically and and unsurprisingly Justin Fields and Penny Sewell the two of the marquee prospects that we'd already heard in February and March like could slip a little bit maybe

Rashawn Slater ahead of Penesuel or Justin Fields as the third or the fourth or fifth quarterback off the board like hey maybe there's a chance for one of these guys to fall so let's say he's immature he is the last guy in and the first one out that was the kind of the phrase that was used with Justin Fields of course got refuted by like every coach at Ohio State. But what's the Ohio State coach going to say? Like, he's not going to come out and say, yeah, yep, you're right, you know, pick him in the second round. So that's why I never get into that stuff. Watch the film. And I think more times than not, how good of a football player someone like Justin Fields is or Penny Sewell is, is going to matter more than anything else. It was funny to me, as someone who has been a journalist for a long time, so you have to manage sources and who tells you what,

and you have to have a BS meter that's pretty good to watch Dan Orlovsky, who is, and this is where you need to give him some leeway, who is not a trained journalist. He is really, this is kind of his first time in the limelight. And you see some of the issues there where you got to figure out who might be telling you something because they want you to say it on TV. And then on the other side, he comes out and when he says his kind of little apology video, he says, well, I talked to the guy who trains with Justin Fields, who says that stuff isn't

true. Like, dude, that's not a reputable source either. Like, man, you know, actually, you and I talked about this off air a while back. And I just, I really have a lot of respect for your approach of trying to avoid all of that noise. Because I think that there are certain journalists, Eric Edholm comes on the show, who does a great job of knowing who he can trust over many, many years to gather information about the job of knowing who he can trust over many many years to gather information about the draft and knowing who might be bsing him and and who's not and who's giving him the truth but if you're stepping away from all of that noise i think you get a clearer

picture of the prospects than you do if you have people in your ear who might have skin in the game and reasons to be telling you those things. So I almost, in a way, sympathized with Orlovsky because I know how hard that can be when you have people telling you stuff that you know might not be true. And so do I go with it? And what do I put out there? And I think that he stepped in a little bit of a bee's nest and probably won't again. And it's better for him to just not listen to those people and just say what he thinks. Yeah, that's exactly why I just completely stay away from it. I figure my evaluations in the long run will be better if I just completely ignore it. And what I think too, and this is being someone relatively young in this very niche field, that if you're hearing or reading a tweet or listening to someone that is relatively young in a certain industry like whether it be sports or political analysis or commentary they're not

getting crazy sources like no one's going to a 25 26 year old or even a 33 year old and saying like hey here's the legitimate stuff they know that young journalists or young writers are going to eat that stuff up and they're going to see which guys or girls are going to come out with stuff just regardless of let's check with a second source and a third source. I think Eric Edholm is a great dude. And he's been around forever. He's been covering the draft and covering the NFL since like the 90s he is someone that you know has legitimate relationships with scouts and guys that started as scouts and now they're GM so that is a perfect example of someone that's not like crazy big but you know what when Eric Edholm puts something out it's legit and the weird thing with Dan Arvlovsky he's like an analyst he's up there doing film

stuff like for him to jump into like the insider anonymous scout realm was so strange whether whatever side he got is really true with Justin Fields I think he like you said will be like hey I'm gonna stay away from that from now on and just give my opinions on what I see on film based on my time being a quarterback in the NFL it was just a weird situation last week yeah and and and what you see is, I think, a lot of people on the Internet, too, clout chasing. I talked to an NFL person who told me this. Well, when I was a first-year journalist, my first beat ever was in the American Hockey League,

and you know the team. Amherst. The Rochester Amherst, Rochester Americans. And there was a person who I'll just say was with a team that told me something about a player that was completely false because I was writing that that player was not doing as well as they expected as a top prospect. And he said, no, no, no, you're, you're way off and everything else. And I just like, man, I'm here at the arena and I see what I'm seeing. So I'm going to keep

going with that. And later I became friends with this person to where we'd have, you know, coffee or whatever. And he was like, yeah, I was kind of BS and you there just because it's a thing, right? Because you were a young journalist. They wanted to see if you would take the bait because they know young journalists feel like that is their way into being like the next Adam Schefter. Adam Schefter was cultivating sources in Denver in the early 90s when John Elway was like still in his prime. That's how he built it up. It wasn't just scouts and agents that, hey, I'm going to pick Chris Trapasso in his 20s

and just make him like, no, I've had scouts talk to me. I've had agents talk to me. And I never really fell for it because I was so like weirdly obsessed with myself getting the evaluations right. But I was able to tell relatively early on, like, why is this random guy who doesn't know me reached out to me to tell me why his client or why the prospect that his team wants to pick is the best prospect of all time. I should move him into the first round like it was just something that I never really got into and maybe if I wanted to break into the field of being like a breaking news reporter I would have been would have chased that a little bit more but it's definitely lying season and again I think just staying away from it to give

your listeners my listeners readers the best evaluations out there. Just don't listen to anyone talking to you. Right. So I'll get off the soapbox on this one, but I just think that it was, for fans, it becomes very confusing. And I would imagine even kind of frustrating to have so many people saying so many different things about these players. And I would just advise that you have to look really closely into who's putting stuff out there to make it seem like they're really dialed in.

Oh, I was talking to this guy. I was talking to that guy. And who's been doing it for a long time and has proven. And there are only a handful of people in that realm that I really trust and that I read to get my information. So anyway, just kind of be careful about any you hear the, I've been hearing that blank. Let's just, let's just watch them play and then we'll see what they have for skill sets. And then the rest will figure itself out. And I don't know how many times I've said it to you, but Mike Zimmer told me that you don't know if a guy can handle the NFL until about three or four weeks into their first NFL training camp. So all this other stuff doesn't matter. And you know

what the funny one is too. and because there's the black quarterback element that I think ESPN and guys like Dominique Foxworth did a good job of addressing, that these tropes about black quarterbacks. But I remember they said this about Geno Smith too, and Geno Smith has become a longtime journeyman backup quarterback, which says to me that he has exactly the character to stay in the league because he doesn't have the skill. And so they're not going to keep guys who don't know what they're doing and can't figure out the offense and don't work hard as journeyman backup. So that was completely wrong. So just throw, throw that stuff out the window, watch the guy, try to figure out if he's good or not and know who to trust. Okay. So we have something really fun though for this

show. And I'll stop ranting about that is we are going to pick the first 13 picks and then see where the vikings stand and decide what to do so my first question for you chris trapasso is is trevor lawrence the lock of the century for the number one overall pick or is there any chance it's anyone else i don't think there's any chance that anyone else is picked there. Calling him the lock of the century though, which I get that's just a phrase to use, I wouldn't call him that because I think how universally liked Zach Wilson is. And this is not a draft class that is not top heavy. It's very top heavy and it would be perfectly would be perfectly reasonable for trev for i was like want to just say trevor lawrence because i'm expecting him to go there if urban meyer would

have fallen in love with zach wilson and said hey i wasn't really scouting these guys until i got the job in jacksonville and i don't care what other people think i'm urban meyer i've won national titles i'm the man at the college level i like this Zach Wilson kid or the Ohio State connection with Justin Fields more Zach Wilson and Justin Fields are legitimate uh elite prospects they're not perfect neither is Trevor Lawrence um so I I don't know if it's the lock of the century like um trying to think of other years like I guess Andrew Luck would probably been pretty close people liked RG3 a lot but I think at the time with RG3 it was like spread offense big or big 12 not really playing defense is he going to take too many hits uh running around

so the only reason why I would say Trevor Lawrence is not the lock of the century is because the two quarterback prospects right behind him and in my opinion Zach Wilson and Justin Fields are legitimate however I do think there is a little bit of a sense of the Jaguars almost have to pick him almost from a PR standpoint too because Trevor Lawrence has been anointed as like the number one guy since that national title game against Alabama when he was a freshman. And for their new GM, who used to be a GM, Trent Balke and Urban Meyer, it would be this big, like, holy crap moment if they went with someone other than Trevor Lawrence. They're all really good prospects. And I do think Trevor Lawrence is, by a pretty significant margin, the best quarterback prospect in this

class so he's going number one overall okay explain why he is the best because now I've watched all of JTO Sullivan's breakdowns of the film on the prospects which I would highly advise that anyone do go to the QB school on YouTube and watch JT's breakdowns I mean journeyman quarterbacks know how to break down other quarterbacks. Yes, they do. They're so smart, and they're so well done, and he just goes into so many details on these guys. But Trevor Lawrence has absolutely every box to check.

The big arm, he's got the anticipation. The thing that really blows me away is how fast he gets rid of the football, and I don't think that their offense made it super easy for him this year. I know that some of the statistics were down a little bit, but watching Clemson, I didn't see the same level of wide open receivers like I did for Justin Fields. And to get his team into the final four like that, I thought said a lot about Trevor Lawrence and just how good he is. Then again, the only slight knock I have is that in terms of accuracy, he's just not perfect. I don't know if you need to be absolutely Drew Brees pinpoint

perfect to be a great NFL quarterback, but that's the only slight little knock I think everything else he's got. Yeah, I don't really see any major nitpicks that raise any red flags about him being a or not becoming a franchise quarterback my knock is kind of similar to yours that I think at times he tends to miss high like over the middle but I think I almost have it on like a scale that if you have a huge arm I think you can get away with not having pinpoint accuracy like you mentioned Drew Brees if you're Drew Brees if you're Mac Jones if you don't have a strong arm, you need to be able to literally fit it through that tight window. It needs to have pinpoint accuracy. If you are Josh Allen, if you're Patrick Mahomes, if you're any of these real Matt Stafford,

any of the strong arm quarterbacks, you can be a tick late. you don't have to be perfect but you can still fit throws in his processing I think is even when he was 18 and 19 years old as a freshman that's why a lot of the reason why he got so much hype to be the number one overall pick when he was 19 years old is because he was processing Nick Saban's defense and tearing it apart as a true freshman. Like that's why beyond the two years that he spent as being like the future number one overall pick, why he's like one of the best quarterback prospects, if not the best, and I think he is of all time. And then the last part, he's a crazy athlete. I think he's a better athlete than Zach Wilson in terms of like breaking off a long run like we saw in that Ohio State semifinal game two years ago. He can score like a 50-yard touchdown in the NFL. I think he's very

fast. He's sudden. He's unafraid as a runner. I think he can take a few too many hits than probably the Jags will want, but you're right. He checks all the boxes physically, arm talent, mentally, no off-field concerns. I mean, to kind of go back to what we were just talking about at the intro, no off-field concerns, no work ethic concerns. You're not going to hear anything like that. So, yeah, in a very, very good quarterback class at the top, Trevor Lawrence just checks the boxes more emphatically than the other two. Okay, so in our draft of taking the top 13 and then the Vikings,

Trevor Lawrence, easy number one pick for both of us. And then it gets interesting because Zach Wilson, everyone knows here that listens to the show how much I enjoyed watching Zach Wilson. Maybe a little too much, but we all needed things to do during this quarantine slash pandemic. But there are some issues. There are some concerns. You mentioned the athleticism that if you are a real good athlete in college at the quarterback position, you are not a great athlete at the NFL level

because Justin Fields is the great athlete at the NFL level. And, oh, by the way, there are defensive ends who run 4-4s and 4-5s. So if you're going to run away from them, you better be really fast. And his offensive line was unbelievable. who run four fours and four fives. So if you're going to run away from them, you better be really fast. And his offensive line was unbelievable. His quality of competition was not super high when they played against one really good team in coastal Carolina. It did not go as well for Zach Wilson, but also his supporting cast for receivers was not that impressive.

So there's a lot of things to mix and match here. But what I keep going back to Chris, why you would take Zach Wilson number two over Justin Fields, is just the guy has a creative element to him that is super rare. I can't think of too many players. There's the, like, oh, he runs around like Johnny Manziel or whatever. But then there's, like, truly creative and using his arm talent to its fullest extent. And I think that that's what Zach Wilson does.

He never seems like he's pressing. Like even when things get chaotic inside the pocket, or you could almost tell like he wasn't expecting a delayed blitz, he like doesn't panic. Like he's doing something on the field that watching it, if you're a BYU fan, you're oh my god this is a panicky situation but he just spins away from the linebacker who comes free through the a-gap and finds or looks into the flat for his running back he's covered and then he gets his second read as he's rolling left

and flicks it down the field 40 yards so I agree with you like he's not a perfect uh passing prospect but now that we're in this era of quarterbacks that are athletic and beyond being like cam newton or josh allen like physical freaks like patrick mahomes is not a ridiculous athlete that is like gonna ever run for a thousand yards in the season like lamar jackson but he is very naturally creative. And I think that's exactly what Zach Wilson is. So that's why he's slightly graded higher than Justin Fields. And why I, for me and why I think the Jets will ultimately pick him at number two overall.

Yeah. You mentioned Mahomes and Aaron Rogers like this too, where they are not the fastest. If you were to run a sprint against those guys, in fact, Mahomes kind of runs funny. He runs like his feet kind of hurt or something all the time, but it's being able to throw off platform.

It's being able to change your body angle when pressure comes to move yourself to an area where you can flick the wrist and make a throw that is downfield where you don't always have to check down if pressure comes right away. Or like you said, if you get a blitz and you have to roll away from it quickly, being able to flip his hips and just fire it in such a quick manner to like he doesn't have to bring the ball down to create a lot of velocity. He can get it out really quick. And he looks like he studied Aaron Rodgers throwing motion because there's similarities.

I'm not saying that he has Aaron Rodgers' arm because almost no one of all time does, but the throwing motion is so much alike that it's almost kind of weird to watch. It's like two pitchers who have the same windup. Yeah, one last thing I want to say about Zach Wilson. That's spot on too. It took me a while to figure out who does he throw like and the delivery, the quickness of it,

and just how they look throwing the football. Zach Wilson, very similar to Aaron Rodgers. What I like is, and usually when we say arm talent, we are saying like the ability to throw off platform. I like with Zach Wilson, and I almost kind of liken it to basketball when, or I guess to stay with football, a running back or a wide receiver changing speeds in their route to kind of lull a defender to sleep. You can watch a BYU game and like if it was again a great situation, the offensive line was good, they were kind of running like almost a Kyle Shanahan type offense, a lot of stretch runs and play action and bootlegs. You can watch the first quarter and see a lot of guys open and Zach Wilson is just like throwing the ball not a crazy amount of accuracy or velocity on a short pass and then

he lofts it down the field he can like change trajectories velocities when he needs to and I think there are some quarterbacks that the big arm guys, especially, and I do think Zach Wilson has a pretty strong arm, that those underneath throws, like they're running back and be turning around to catch the check down and a 75 mile per hour fastball is coming into their face and they drop it. And that's technically a drop for that player, but it's like the stronger arm quarterbacks. I know Josh Allen in his rookie season and even into year two had problems with like five yard passes because he had such a big arm. It was hard for him to harness it. I think Zach Wilson can crank it up when he needs to. He can loft it down the field almost like a Russell Wilson moon ball or he can just change those speeds with the football. I

think it's actually kind of a intricate thing that is very important for a modern day quarterback. Brett Favre was always great at the check down to the fullback. Dorsey Levins picked up a lot of yards off those little nice little accurate quick passes from Brett Favre. So the fit with the Jets for Zach Wilson, I mean, it makes sense for them to get kind of the flashy kid too, because it's New York. And I'm sure that they would say, oh, we don't factor that in. But come on. I mean, like he just seems like a perfect fit to be's New York and I'm sure that they would say oh we don't factor that in but come on I mean like he just seems like a perfect fit to be a New York quarterback are you concerned

at all that it's just Jets like I mean okay Robert Sala new coach new offensive coordinator they're going to be able to build around him but it still is the New York football Jets so I mean just them being the Jets in comparison to the next team that's going to pick on the list, I think you do wonder how it's going to work out because they've been such a bad franchise recently. Yeah, that is a very important point to put up because I think we always talk about years into the future, like, oh, well, the Sam Darnold situation wasn't really good. And if he had a better coach and there was better receivers and a better O-line, maybe he'd years into the future like oh well the you know Sam Darnold situation wasn't really good and if if he had a better coach and there was better receivers and a better line maybe he'd be good

well the Jets roster I know they made some splashy signings in free agency the Jets roster is still not very good I mean it's not a team Corey Davis they brought in in free agency Keelan Cole who I actually like quite a bit as kind of an under guy. But this is not a crazy receiving group. The offensive line has Mekhi Becton, not much else. So especially with Zach Wilson being an improvisation-based quarterback, let's say, it wouldn't shock me if he's going to be in for a little bit of a surprise early on. Like, hey, I'm under pressure a lot more than I was at BYU. And these corners are closing on the football a lot quicker than they did in the Mountain West

or even when we played a very good Coastal Carolina team. So yeah, I think the Jets just, they have not been able to put it together in terms of a coach and a GM that are putting the right pieces together. And I know they have a lot of early picks, but I do think beyond the Zach Wilson selection, and this is the case, any team picks a quarterback in the first round, they need to hit on those early selections. Right tackle, another receiver, a good tight end, like they need to help him out. Because although at BYU, he didn't have a bunch of-round wide receivers, the line and the scheme was very good, and I don't know if he's going to have,

or he's not going to have those advantages right away on the New York Jets. Yeah, I believe statistically he was the least pressured of all the top five quarterbacks, and so that's going to be quite an adjustment. I think he could be a guy that takes a little while after his first year to figure it out because the jump is so much now the San Francisco 49ers are by far the most controversial pick here and debated pick here because you have the quote insiders that we ranted about to start the show you have

them saying a lot of them oh they're going to take Mac Jones because Kyle Shanahan loves Kirk Cousins which I don't think adds up at all I mean I, I think in general, it's just like, oh, this team's going to take that guy because their coach liked or coached this guy like that. No, they usually take the guy who is the highest ranked prospect on their board. And when they traded up, I think the 49ers knew we're going to get Zach Wilson or Justin Field. So we want either one of those guys. That's my suspicion. Are we picking in our mock draft here,

Justin Fields to the San Francisco 49ers? I would vote for that. That's what I think is going to happen. That's what I think should happen. The only scenario that I could foresee that it's not one of those two quarterbacks, if truly the 49ers are like, let's ride it out with Jimmy Garoppolo in 2021. Let's pick Trey Lance and let him get a Patrick Mahomes type redshirt season.

He's still super young. He would be a great fit because of his mobility, because of the arm talent. But I think even one year removed from the Super Bowl, I think almost every team, and certainly the 49ers even not making the playoffs last year with all the injuries, I think teams are in win-now mode basically all the time now. I mean, unless you're clearly rebuilding, like you don't have two, three, four, five years to be bad. So I think Justin Fields fits the system. he's the most accurate of all the top five quarterbacks short intermediate and down the field he can run in the four fours or even low

four fives if you don't want to believe the pro day two years of starting experience at a major program played well against Clemson two years ago played very well against Clemson this past year and then even Alabama in that title game he makes the most sense if the 49ers stayed put at 12 maybe they could have picked Mac Jones there but they did not trade up for someone with Mac Jones's skill set I think Justin Fields should be the pick here yeah for a guy who uh allegedly lacks character or something he played pretty hard with a bunch of broken ribs in those games. And what I liked about how he played against Alabama is he never stopped fighting in that game. They were clearly overmatched by a lot.

Yes. And I didn't think he played bad. His offensive line got whipped. And that happens in the NFL, where your offensive line just gets destroyed and you have to keep playing and you have to keep fighting. And a lot of college quarterbacks will just kind of whimper off when that happens. And he didn't, especially when he was already already hurt so that one has been belabored so we'll just move on from it to number four which i think is uh second most interesting in this draft in terms of picks because atlanta

could go so many different directions here i'll tell you who my vote is for is for kyle pitts because i think he's the best non-quarterback prospect in the entire draft and I think that what Atlanta should plan on is either trading out of this to give somebody else a quarterback selection and then pick up whatever they can or just pick the best player in the draft but would you would you agree with that or would you go some other direction here other than Kyle Pitts Matt as usual as usual, I agree with you. You're a very smart guy. And even though Kyle Pitts is my number seven overall prospect in this class,

and I have the three wide receivers right in front of him, I'm not like a stickler when it comes to my rankings and then what happens, especially in the first round. If there's a team at four and they pick my number seven overall player, I don't consider that a reach. And the Titans, or the Titans, the Falcons need a tight end. Like they could use that. And if you want to call him a tight end, whatever. Julio Jones coming off an injury, he's 32 years old. Calvin Ridley is like a good 1B, so to speak, or a really good number two. And they've restructured Matt Ryan's contract recently. He's probably going to be the quarterback the next two seasons.

They hire Arthur Smith, who is an offensive-minded coach, got the best out of Ryan Tannehill, a very quarterback-friendly system. I think the Falcons, and it's easy to say, hey, they need defense, they need defense. It just aligns for them to not pick defense because there's not a defensive player to me, and it's really the consensus too, worthy of being the number four overall pick in this draft class. Pick Kyle Pitts and give Matt Ryan in the twilight of his career, Julio, Calvin, Ridley, and Kyle Pitts out there.

You could go from a team that hasn't been in the playoffs for a while to back to the playoffs. My favorite Falcons stat for any Falcons fan out there or anyone that wants to bet, the Falcons went two and eight in one score games last year. And that normally turns around. They played the Chiefs tough, that field goal that hit the uprights in week 16, week 17. They played a lot of tight games that they ultimately lost. Someone like Kyle Pitts could change that into six and six and one score games or whatever. And you're talking

about a team that is in legitimate playoff contention. So I'm all for that selection for a team that does need defense, but Kyle Pitts, you can't get anyone like him in the second or third round. So pick Kyle Pitts at four. That's why I was thinking Kyle Pitts with this too, is that there are good receivers all over the league. And I'm not saying receivers are replaceable. They're very, very valuable. But Kyle Pitts is so unique that there might only be two or three guys in the NFL that are like Kyle Pitts.

I think that he's much more of a deep threat than Travis Kelsey and even more of a threat than George Kittle. Darren Waller is the only guy who I could think of who is a legitimate deep threat the way that Pitts can be. And you don't have to line him up at tight end all the time. I mean, Chase Claypool, there was that debate. Is he a tight end? Is he a receiver?

And the answer is yes. Just put them wherever you need to put them to make plays. And this is a franchise that was helped quite a bit by Tony Gonzalez at one point. So, yeah, I'm going to go with Kyle Pitts there, and I think he's just going to be an instant impact player for them. Totally agree on the I'm not a gambler when it comes to football because I'm just wrong way too often when it comes to who's going to win games. But, you know, you're right about the Falcons,

that if they add someone like him, they've got a chance to take a big step forward. The Cincinnati Bengals, another lock of the century here, or do you think that they would go anywhere else except for Penesul? I don't think it's a lock of the century. I'm interested in your thoughts, obviously. I think it's almost a coin flip at this point, about three weeks out from the draft, Jamar Chase or Panay Sewell. Because we were just talking about how with Kyle Pitts, there's no tight end that's even like him in this class. Or really, like you're saying, in the NFL. And I agree about the vertical element to his game.

In this class, and so this is kind of similar with the Falcons. In this class, the elite wide receivers are way in their own category. They're miles ahead of even, I like Rashad Bateman. I really like Rondell Moore. I like Elijah Moore. But I think they are clearly like in tier two. And to me, Penny Sewell is very good. He's probably in his own class at the offensive tackle spot.

But there will be offensive tackles in round two. Alex Leatherwood could still be there for them. Samuel Cosme from Texas. One of the bigger names typically falls. If Tevin Jenkins is there in the top of round two, it wouldn't totally shock me. So I think the Bengals, they need offensive line, of course, but I think if they go Penn A. Sewell at five, they're really downgrading their offense in terms of they're

not getting nearly as good of a wide receiver prospect. And as we saw it as pro day, the Bengals have T. Higgins had a good rookie season. Tyler Boyd's a good player. They don't have a wide receiver on that roster that is to the talent level and the polish of Jamar Chase. So I think they could still get a good blocker in the early round two, but pick the elite playmaker.

That will move the needle more than picking Penesul and then a tier two wide receiver on day two. Hey everyone, we have a new special offer to tell you about with our friends at Symbol. If you go to symbol.app, that's S-I-M-B-U-L-L dot A-P-P, and sign up as a first-time user with a $20 deposit into Symbol using the promo code PURPLE, you will receive six months free of premium Purple Insider written content at purpleinsider.substack.com.

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even if they couldn't go anywhere after that. But we know how mediocre Andy Dalton is and having great weapons really raised up the level of play for him. And the fact that you can get someone like Tevin Jenkins, who I think is a very good offensive line prospect early in the second, that can help sort of, you know, have their cake and eat it too. So I like your argument there. The only way that I was looking at this is that you drafted Joe Burrow and he was under pressure a ton in his first year. And there have been other quarterbacks who were drafted high. Sam Darnold is one of them. Go even back to like David Carr, who took a lot of sacks early in their career,

and they never really fixed that offensive line for him. And he was kind of held on the ball a little too long. And you just end up with a guy's confidence being destroyed because he's getting killed all the time. And, you know, younger players still learning to process quickly and things like that. And then they get their tails whooped before they can ever really figure that out. So that would be my one case for Penny Sewell is let's say like, look,

these, there are playmakers all over. We have two good wide receivers already. We can get the best receiver in the top of the second round, get your Rondale more or something, but the offensive line, you added Riley reef. You have Jonah Williams there.

Like you're building the bones of something really good in front of bur, who, by the way, is coming off an injury. Yeah, my one last piece of my argument for Jamar Chase is just the obvious connection to Joe Burrow. Jamar Chase is not my number one wide receiver. Jalen Waddell is. So if I'm strictly going on my board that obviously is not a Bengals-centric board, it's just the whole draft class, I would say pick Jalen Waddell. But when you can say, Joe, we're going to give you the wide receiver that scored 20 touchdowns in that season that you won the national title and you went from obscure draft prospect to slam dunk number one overall pick, the connection there with RPOs and back shoulder throws and just the rapport that they already have I think that is built into it it's not just hey go wide receiver because uh weapons are important you

can bake that into it as well that training camp and early in the season those two should have still a pretty good connection together so that's why I'm like slightly like 55 or 60 percent leaning that they should go Jamar Chase and that they might actually pick him at number five overall. Okay. Let's go Jamar Chase for our mock purposes. And just to recap, it's Trevor Lawrence to the Jags, Zach Wilson to the Jets, Justin Fields to the 49ers, Kyle Pitts to the Falcons, Jamar Chase to the Bengals. And now the Miami Dolphins who are playing 5D chess with trading down and then trading back up, which is a little bit odd.

And I think that there's a very good case for them that they will trade back down again, that they wanted to get in a position where somebody will once again be desperate to trade up and get a quarterback here because we've still got quarterbacks on the board. But if we're not going to do a bunch of trades and totally just mind-bend everybody who's listening, do we think that they would go wide receiver here? I think it makes a lot of sense to go Jalen Waddell. I think so, too. And ironically, the same setup.

We have Tua Tungvaloa sitting there, and we have two Alabama wide receivers that I don't think anyone would criticize them for picking. Jalen Waddell, I think, moves differently than Devontae Smith, and Devontae Smith is probably like the silkiest, smoothest wide receiver prospect that we've seen in a very long time. Plays bigger than his 6-foot, 175-pound frame. Waddell is just twitchier. He, I think, has better vision and just capabilities after the catch and he plays much bigger than 5 10 and a half or 5 11 whatever he is because of his leaping ability and how well he tracks the football so you're giving your young quarterback who needs weapons uh a wide

receiver that he's familiar with he's probably thrown more passes to davante smith than jaylen waddle um so maybeua would lean toward more of a volume wide receiver that he had at Alabama. And I don't think offensive line would be out of the question here for the Dolphins, but they picked three offensive linemen in last year's draft, including a first round tackle, Austin Jackson, who I thought they picked way too early. But had they not done that, had one of their first round picks last year, not been an offensive tackle. I think Rashawn Slater would certainly be in the mix here.

I think it would be a little bit too early for him, but like in terms of who they could pick or who they may pick, offensive tackle would be in the equation. But I think after watching the nine games of Tua Tunga-Vailoa, it really wasn't a problem with the offensive line that still does need to improve. It was, he just needs more weapons to really play to the level that the Dolphins probably want him to play. Yeah, I agree. When you have Ryan Fitzpatrick in there, he's going to throw it up to somebody no matter what. And usually

rookies are not quite as confident in doing that. And that's what I saw a lot of Tua, where it was like, someone's not really open, which is what you saw a lot of Tua, where it was like, someone's not really open, which is what you had at it, you know, at Alabama all the time where guys were running wide open. And then it was kind of hesitating. Okay, do I do that? And so then they tried to bring it all in and run screens all the time, but everybody figured that out and just tackled the wide receivers. Cause you can't run an offense based around screens in the NFL,

like you could at Alabama. But I agree that a playmaker is necessary here because he's never going to be this guy who's launching the ball 40, 50, 60 yards down the field. He's going to have to get the ball into playmakers' hands, make them score touchdowns, run after catch, and things like that. Jalen Waddell could be tremendous. So let's go.

Miami Dolphins take Jalen Waddell at number six. And here we are with the Lions on the clock with lots of needs. But they could draft their future quarterback. They could draft a left tackle. They could take defense. They could go Devontae Smith. They could go corner. I mean, the world is Detroit's oyster, sort of.

So where do you think they go? I don't even know what my opinion on this one is. They have so many needs. They have, I think of all the teams in the top 10, they have the most needs, like even more than the Jaguars. Like the Jaguars need defense, but they have LaVisca Chanel,

they have DJ Shark. The Lions lost Kenny Galladay. They lost Marvin Jones. They lost Danny Amendola. That was kind of everyone was pointing to look at how many free agent wide receivers that they have and to not have any of them but then you bring in Jared Goff you trade a bunch to get Jared Goff and he really can't be cut until 2023 so he's your quarterback the next two years I think Trey Lance if we were in an era where teams

were cool with their first round picks like sitting for two seasons uh then Trey Lance would be an awesome selection here I think it would be a savvy selection for their new GM Brad Holmes and for their very unique head coach Dan Campbell but we can't like no one is going to deal no Lions fan is going to deal with Trey Lance being the number seven overall pick and then hey if we try to cut Jared Goff in 2022 it's a 30 million dollar cap hit and basically saves us nothing so if this were 10 or 15 years ago I think Trey Lance would be the easy selection I think they just have to go wide receiver because that room is barren right now. They could pick two or three wide receivers in this draft. They don't have a ton of picks,

actually. But I think Devontae Smith is just staring them in the face. There are concerns of the weight, but everything else he does on the field, he is a very polished wide receiver prospect. And Brad Holmes, having been in Los Angeles with Jared Goff similar to Andy Dalton knows like if he has Cooper Cupp and Brandon Cooks and Robert Woods and we get him in a good system he can be a pretty good quarterback at times but they don't have that right now so I think Devontae Smith the value and the knee just fit too well and yes they could go in different directions but I think Smith ahead of any of the other defensive players makes more sense for the Lions than anything else it feels

like they might be the team to go with a linebacker and then talk about how they have their centerpiece of their defense just because Lions but maybe Brad Holmes you're right is a little bit brighter than some of their previous general managers. It is funny, though, that Matt Millen used to get picked on all the time for drafting the wide receivers. Matt Millen was probably right. It's just he picked the wrong wide receivers, unfortunately, for him. I think it was Mike Williams that he picked after he didn't even play for a year or something. So they didn't pick the right guys. But picking wide receivers was not bad.

Also, quarterback, a bit of a problem when it came to the Detroit Lions. So here we are with the Carolina Panthers. This one seems like a lock for quarterback, does it not? It does, and I think this has to be Trey Lance. It's my favorite prospect in team pairing, probably up there with Jamar Chase and the Bengals because of Joe Burrow. But just because Trey Lance, to get that redshirt season behind Teddy Bridgewater, the opposite quarterback of him, I've kind of been on this narrative for a while, but it's just,

it's too perfect. Trey Lance is not ready to start. You have a middle of the road to slightly above average quarterback that in a good situation can be a nine or a 10 win quarterback in Teddy Bridgewater accuracy pre-snap reads post-snap reads that's his game and that is like those are the areas that Trey Lance needs to develop being so young being so green as a quarterback that we know they want quarterback they were in on Matthew Stafford they offered Teddy Bridgewater they pre all the off-field They were in on Matthew Stafford. They offered Teddy Bridgewater. They, pre all the off-field stuff, were in on Deshaun Watson as well.

So this is a team I think they would be ecstatic to get Trey Lance. I think, I mean, we're not doing any trades with this, but if the Broncos want, and we'll obviously get to the Broncos next at number nine, if they want Trey Lance, I think they have to move ahead of the Panthers because it's just too perfect of a fit.

Yep. And that's where if you're Detroit and you have needs all over the field, then you know, you could still get a wide receiver because your next two teams are going to probably draft quarterbacks. You can move yourself back. And also Carolina and Denver have pretty decent receivers. So they're probably not drafting Devon.

Yeah, good call there. So even if they didn't like the quarterbacks, they'd probably go Penny Sewell or somebody else in that situation. So I agree, Trey Lance is perfect for the Carolina Panthers for exactly what you laid out. Teddy is the perfect guy to bring him along and help be that Ryan Fitzpatrick bridge. And now here we are with the Broncos in the ninth pick. And this is where it gets controversial because Mac Jones is the one that we're all debating. These other prospects, I think, are very clearly top 10 level prospects based on their tools and their skill set and how modern of quarterbacks they are. Like, even if Justin Fields doesn't work out, his athleticism is so high, he'll still bring you quite a bit, I think, on the field.

And you can even say that for Trey Lance, that he's such a great runner that even if he's not a perfect passer, so these teams can take them on almost athleticism alone. Mac Jones has to have the stars aligned for him to be really good. However, Denver has this group of wide receivers that is absolutely terrific. Jerry Judy, they've got Cortland Sutton coming back. I mean, they drafted, what, K.J. Hamler last year. So, I mean, they've got all sorts of – and Noah Fant. They've got all sorts of weapons to hand somebody like Mac Jones who could be good right away.

And I have 0% belief that Drew Locke can be anything more than he was last year. Mac Jones to the Broncos makes a lot of sense for me, Chris. It does, actually. And I hadn't really thought about it and put it in a lot of mocks. I think the Patriots at 15, that's kind of been the trendy spot for him if he doesn't go number three overall to the 49ers. But for all the points that you just laid out I think would actually be a team that would give Mac Jones or could give Mac Jones a similar environment to what he had at Alabama lots of speed at wide receiver a pretty good offensive line seeing

that Garrett Bowles just miraculously turned it around after his first three seasons in the NFL last year. It's a great season at left tackle. They have Dalton Reisner at left guard that they still need a right tackle, but they could get one in this class. I mean, they could go the same route as the Bengals and say, we'll get one in round two. That could be an immediate starter. And I think the one other element that makes this pretty plausible when it's not being talked about too much is their offensive coordinator, Pat Shermer. He is a West Coast guy that I think is not the best fit for Drew Locke, that Drew Locke needs a quarterback like Bruce Arians. It's like, hey, let it rip. That season in 2017, I believe, at Missouri, when Drew Locke threw 40 touchdowns, that was an

air raid system. And his accuracy wasn't great he completed like 58 percent of his passes but he threw 40 touchdowns the next year they changed coordinators and they were asking him to like check it down and do bootlegs and throw it into the flat that's what he kind of had to do in Denver not a great fit I could see Pat Shermer being like hey Matt Jones in terms of running a system he is the guy so I could see and I could see their older head coach, Vic Fangio, kind of having some more of those old school priorities at the quarterback spot that Drew Locke is more of a new age quarterback when Mac Jones actually is someone that would have been highly sought after in like 2006 or something like that

because of the accuracy. So that does make a lot of sense as kind of a dark horse team. I'm fine with picking Mac Jones to the Broncos at nine. You make a great point about Pat Shermer, because when he got the most out of Case Keenum, they were running a lot of bootlegs, play actions, quick throws to tight ends and things like that, that, you know, Mac Jones,

and then you just had to hit the shots down the field that were wide open. And so we can do that. Right. And we're talking about with Kyleyle shanahan like oh all those same things like where he runs the bootlegs he creates the deep shots for wide open where all you have to do is be accurate and schirmer does the exact same thing and that is such a bad fit for drew lock um who you know i think that if drew lock played an offense sort of like matt Stafford, where he was throwing the ball, he could be like the poor man's Matt Stafford in a way. Which is not a great quarterback, but still is. Maybe it's Fitzpatrick-y.

I think there's my comp for Drew Locke is that if his personality was good enough, he could be Fitzpatrick-y. But I'm going to go with it here. I'm going to say that we see five out of the first nine picks go to quarterbacks, and Mac Jones goes to Denver. And now we are on the board with the Dallas Cowboys, who are looking at Penny Sewell, Rashawn Slater, Patrick Sertain, Christian Barmore, Christian Derrissaw. They have all sorts of great options here because of all those quarterbacks

being taken. It's almost like having a top five pick for Dallas. Yeah, this would be an almost dream scenario for them because we're talking about all these teams in the top nine, like, oh, they don't need defense, go wide receiver, go quarterback. There are some teams now that do need defense, and I think the Cowboys, of all the teams, maybe the top half of the first round,

they have the most blatant need on defense. We know what they have on offense with bringing Dak Prescott back, all the receivers that they drafted. They still have Michael Gallup in the final year of his rookie deal, who I think is a good number two, number three wide receiver. So I think it has to be someone on defense. But with Penny Sewell, yeah, Penny Sewell sitting there makes this very difficult because I don't love Patrick Sertan, and I'm a little bit worried myself

and just trying to think or get inside the mind of Stephen Jones. They drafted a tall press man corner from Alabama last year in Trevon Diggs who mostly got scorched before he was injured early in the season because it doesn't fit as well in the modern day league so do you think Penesul could be someone given the age of Tyron Smith and the injuries and Al Collins I think if we're just looking at value like long term if the if the Cowboys like we have our quarterback we have good quarterback we have good receivers some of which are very young cd lambs like 22 years old we want to be good for

a long time we expect to be good for a long time I actually think even though I just said it's got to be defense I think penne sewell if the board fell this way would actually be the smartest pick although I do think the Cowboys would actually lean defense just based on how bad the defense was in 2020. Hey, everyone. Anybody who listens to the show knows that Sam and I may not be scratch golfers, but we love to have a great time playing golf. And that's why we have partnered with Birdie Golf in Woodbury.

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And the fact of the matter is that when Dallas has drafted the best player on the board as an offensive lineman in recent years, it's worked out for them. You know, I think especially Zach Martin is just an unbelievable talent. He could move to right tackle last year and still be great at it. Like, wow, you don't see too many human beings that are able to do that. And so, you know, I think that when you look at their offensive line, too, you can move on from Tyron Smith eventually and move Sewell in there. But, you know, Pene Sewell is only, what, 20 years old and he just opted out for last year. So he's probably not ready to start at left tackle in the NFL right away anyway. anyway and I think it's okay if you draft a guy high who needs to wait and can be a future like you know a starter all you know pro bowler whatever if you have to wait for that that's

okay it's usually when you get desperate hoping someone solves your problem that very next year is when you make mistakes and I have a quick side rant about this I totally agree there's no shame in what you just said especially now this year with the opt-outs if they can't come in and be instant impact immediately that's fine one other thing if they do feel like or any team but in this case the Cowboys that Penesuel is ready to play it bugs me with draft like analysis that if someone has to play guard, that it's like a bad thing. Like it used to be, oh, he's not athletic enough,

he's not good enough to play tackle. Just put him at guard and, yeah, you can cover up some of those flaws. It is very valuable to have a really good guard, especially in today's NFL. It's not 1995 where there's two good edge rushers and all the D tackles are space eating guys that are Ted Washington. No disrespect to Ted Washington, but that are just space eaters that are great against the run and aren't huge pass rushers. You need good guards in the NFL. There would be no shame in Penny Sewell playing left or right guard as a rookie next to Lyle Collins or Tyron Smith,

the Cowboys would certainly get a lot of value out of that. You know eventually Penny Sewell can play tackle, and it would not be a bad thing if he started his career at guard. I think with how many good interior pass rushers there are in today's NFL, every team has one. Every team has at least one guy that really brings a lot of juice on the field as a pass pressure at D-tackle. Let Penny Sewell be your athletic, mauling left guard. He was 6'5", 331 pounds at his pro day. He's the size of a guard, technically, a bigger, taller guard. So in that scenario, I think on draft night, it'd be like, well, where's he going to play? He's got to play guard. Well, you got to have a good offensive lineman across the board

in today's NFL. So I could see that situation, like you mentioned, where Steven Jones says, hey, we were about to pick Johnny Manziel. We picked Zach Martin and everyone kind of laughed at this unsexy pick that was like the best pick they had made the last 10 years. Pick Pene Sewell here, then, you know, try to revamp and reload your defense later in this entire draft. Right. For a prospect of this caliber, playing guard for a year is not going to hold him back.

I think the thing we were concerned about with Ezra Cleveland is that he's not a Pene Sewell level caliber, you know, offensive lineman prospect. So he's got to have more things go right for him and be put in easier situations to succeed. But somebody like Sewell, put him in left guard, then bump him over in the future. That'll be fine.

Yeah, I think that you're right that they desperately need defense. But if someone that good is on the board, they take them. So now we're looking at the New York Giants. We're just a couple picks away from the Vikings here. And I mean, so much talent on the board. The Giants already have a pretty good defense, but those wide receivers are off the board already. And Kyle Pitts off the board already. Would they go another offensive lineman in the first round after drafting Andrew Thomas last year? Or would they just go best player here? they would they reach on another like

Rashad Bateman possibly what do you think what do you think here this is a tough this is tough this is this is a very tough and it's especially tough although again we're not doing trade downs but to try to talk through it Dave Gettleman's never traded down as a GM. So like you're throwing that, yeah, you're throwing that scenario out the window. I think based on just my own evaluations, especially of the corner class, and they brought in Adoree Jackson, James Bradbury's there, he's good. Jabril Peppers is a pretty good

kind of move around safety. So even if they did love a corner, I don't think they need one. I don't think any of the corners are good enough to go number 11 overall, especially after Caleb Farley's back injury that there's some uncertainty about. I could see this being Micah Parsons. I could see Dave Gettleman, especially with his Carolina roots,

thinking Luke Kuechly, although I don't think Parsons is anywhere as close to being as ready in coverage as Luke Keeley was. Micah Parsons is like 6'5", 240, really fast, brings it as a pass rusher, which I think is really interesting, like putting his hand in the dirt on the edge. But in coverage, you didn't see a lot of plays. I think he's a little bit green in that area. He was only a sophomore after the 2019 season, and then he opted out. I wouldn't hate the Micah Parsons pick. And after signing Kenny Galladay, I think that kind of stops them from reaching on a Rashad Bateman or a Rondell Moore. Had they not landed Galladay, I think that would have really been in play, and I would have even been okay with that, even if I don't have Rashad Bateman at number

11 overall on my big board or whatever but I think Daniel Jones does have a decent pass catching group without the receivers there I think Micah Parsons wouldn't be a bad selection and it's kind of what I think they'll ultimately do the one last thing I don't think they'll go offensive tackle they're another team picked three offensive linemen in last year's draft class, two of which were tackles. Andrew Thomas, who played well down the stretch. They picked Matt Pert from UConn in the third round. I really liked him.

Very long and athletic pass blocker. He's like better in pass protection than he is as a run blocker. And then Shane Lemieux, this kind of versatile interior offensive lineman from Oregon. So it would be a little surprising if they went Rashawn Slater. But then again, maybe Daniel Jones or maybe Dave Gettleman is like, hey, this is my last year to prove that I was right picking Daniel Jones at number six overall. So I think Micah Parsons or Rashawn Slater would really be the two best picks had the board fall this way for the Giants okay I'm going to go Parsons because I agree with you that Dave Gettleman will probably look at a linebacker and be like that's my guy I mean

yeah front seven defensive front seven if you're drafting running backs in the top you might as well draft linebackers too and stick to the bit so we're going to go Micah Parsons there Philadelphia and the Chargers still on the board before the vikings philadelphia seems like a lock right here to go with a corner certain jc horn um we don't have to talk a ton about this one because i think we're just not on the same page but who do you have higher and then we'll go with that one certain horn samuel like who's your top corner? Actually Caleb Farley from Virginia Tech but with the back injury I think he's almost bound to drop a little bit this is not speculation there's not someone trying to drop his stock he legitimately has an injury I think Patrick Sertain

just because the size the speed the bloodlines and he's not crazy in terms of how much he tries to beat you up at the line. He's very patient in press coverage. I think he might never be an all pro, but I think his floor is super high and the Eagles just need like high floor players in their secondary. So I think Patrick Chetan makes the most sense here. The Eagles might be in second place to the Lions for teams that have the most needs. Crazy amount. Yeah, corner is the most pressing for them. So now we are left one pick before the Minnesota Vikings, and we won't have to dive into this too much because I am going to talk

for tomorrow's show with Daniel Popper, who covers the Los Angeles Chargers. So we'll get deep into 13 because the Vikings now have interesting connections, being that their 17th game is against the Chargers, and the Chargers pick right in front of the Vikings now have interesting connections being that their 17th game is against the Chargers and the Chargers pick right in front of the Vikings but this one seems easy now with uh Slater right there's not you don't even hesitate for this one you just go to the board take Rashawn Slater I think uh I mean I like Christian Darasaw actually a little bit more but if we're going on like yeah I do I think he's long he's longer I thinkaw actually a little bit more, but if we're going on like, yeah, I do. I think he's longer.

I think he's a little bit better balanced. But if we're, this is not the Chris Trapasso entire draft, like I'm not running the entire draft. Slater is viewed higher by NFL people. So I think if you're the Chargers, they're probably one of the teams that are super high on Rashawn Slater. Gives you a little bit more versatility if you do need to play him at guard. And he is an opt-out. I don't know how teams will view that, but super athletic, very good balance too. A little bit lacking in the length department, but I think this is a pretty easy choice. They don't have a left tackle. They need a left tackle for Justin Herbert. Pick Rashawn Slater here and move

on. Okay, so now here's what we're left with. It took a while to get here, but I apologize for nothing because this has been really fun, Chris. We are at the 14th overall pick, Minnesota Vikings. I'm just going to read you some of the guys on the board. There is Christian Barmore, who seemed like he was going to be the fit for the Vikings until they picked up Dalvin Tomlinson, although I still argue that that's possible because it is Mike Zimmer and it is defense, and they still don't have – you mentioned interior rush. They don't have it.

Christian Derrissaw, who you really like. They signed Xavier Woods to a one-year deal. Trayvon Moirig is here. Rashad Bateman. Jeremiah Owusu-Koromoa, who is a really intriguing do-it-all player. You've got Greg Newsom, the long corner. I don't think that they would do that. But the pick for me, if it's not Derrissaw, would be Quidi Pei.

But there's lots of guys who are defensive ends on the board here. Quidi Pei, Jason Owe, Aziz Ojulare, Jalen Phillips. Tell me how you see this one because there are a ton of options for the Vikings. I think it's going to be Jalen Phillips. He checks, and you can certainly tell me if I'm wrong, but I think he checks the prototype defensive end for the Vikings more than Quidipe. And not that Quidipe didn't have a good pro day. He did. He was the number one freak on Bruce Feldman's list. I've said that a thousand times, but 6'2.5", 261, he ran 4.57,

vertical 30.5", broad jump just under 10 10 feet so he's like a high level athlete Jalen Phillips is bigger he 6 5 and a half 260 33 and feet five inches so I think he gives you actually more athletically and more size wise which that's what the Vikings like they like the size and the speed specimens and ask any draft analysts on any of your shows Matt like they will tell you that Jalen Phillips checks all the boxes like he plays to that level of athleticism. He's pretty bendy. He's flexible. He has pass rushing moves.

He's pretty strong. He's a good run defender, sets a strong edge, can dispatch blocks to wrap up ball carriers on those outside runs. So I think Quiddie Paye is a little bit more of maybe more of the Danell Hunter type. Maybe you could tap into more upside with him. But Jalen Phillips, I think heidipe is like a little bit more of like maybe more of the Donnell Hunter type. Like maybe you could tap into more upside with him. But Jalen Phillips, I think he's more NFL ready. And I think he, from a physical and athleticism standpoint, looks to me more like a Vikings pick than Quidipe.

Yeah, I have completely agreed with you. And every time I do a draft sim after dark, I think people are getting tired of me saying Jalen Phillips because it just, to me, connects all the dots with the size of the guy the athleticism of the guy and the fact that they really don't need a project right now if they're going to pick a defensive end which they have not generally picked these guys high but it might be time to buck that trend after the dj wanhams and so forth and jalen holmes's have not really paid off for them in recent years we'll see on DJ Wanham but I mean I think you want a higher caliber of prospect there to come in right away and unless they do something really drastic like get Jadavia and Clowney this week then they're

going to go into the draft saying we need to pressure the quarterback more and there are so many guys in here who fit that mold the only thing I see with Quiddy Paye is that they could look at him and say, there's a little bit of Everson Griffin there. But yes, I was just going to say that. Everson Griffin needed years to develop. So they might say, yeah, well, we can probably develop that guy into being a star based on how he's built. But how long is it going to take to develop him? Is it going to take four years like it did for Everson Griffin before he shot up and finally became a superstar? Because you remember, Griffin was mostly off the field type of stuff.

He had all the athletic traits and he wasn't quite tall, but he was just a monster when it came to his athleticism and then his motor and all those things. But I think if you're trying to play the odds a little bit more more you lean toward they have a type and Jalen Phillips is that type now can you compare him to Gregory Russo and Jason Owe because I'm not super high on the idea of the Vikings taking either one of those guys but they also have some things that the Vikings tend to like true I mean Gregory Russo being as tall and as long as he is a crazy wings, that's where it would meet the Vikings prototype. But as we saw at the Pro Day, like Jalen Phillips tested significantly better than Gregory Rousseau, like in every, in the 40, in the more important to the Vikings now? Drafting their size and athleticism prototype or trying to find the next Danell Hunter?

Because that could be Gregory Russo. I think it could be the same thing with Jason Owe. He looks like an NFL defensive end right now. He's chiseled. He's like 6'4", 257, very strong run defender. But the pass rushing moves aren't really there yet. I think he's decently bendy for being this big, like, sculpted edge rusher. Outside of a swipe move, he doesn't really have anything in his arsenal.

He can win with just athleticism alone in the Big Ten, and he did improve his production for his three years at Penn State. But if the Vikings are thinking long termterm, I would be fine with Jason Owe there. I'm really not that high on Gregory Rousseau at all to be a first-round pick. Owe, I could understand because of the Danell Hunter thing. I just think Jalen Phillips is clearly the better prospect, and not just because of his high floor. I think he has a high ceiling to it, that size, that athleticism, and that polish coming into the league. He doesn't have to take a year or two to learn the intricacies of the game. So I think he is clearly a better prospect than Owe or his teammate Gregory Rousseau. Okay, how about Jalen Phillips versus Christian Derrissaw, who I know you really like with

Christian Derrissaw. And unless, again, something vastly changes, the Vikings are going to go into this draft with offensive line needs. The thing about that is if they move Ezra Cleveland to tackle, then maybe you don't feel the need to draft a first-round tackle to put right in there. You've already drafted offensive linemen high in the last couple of years. You have not drafted defensive linemen super high in the last couple of years. You have not drafted defensive linemen super high in the last couple of years. So Mike Zimmer might be saying, let's even the score a

little bit here and get me a great prospect to work with because I'm tired of these fourth round guys. But there absolutely is a case to go with Christian Derrissaw. I just think it would be wiser, Chris, to say, Ezra Cleveland, play left tackle, or at least fight for a left tackle job in training camp, so we know if you are one or not. Get a sample size there, and if you're not, okay, well, then you play Rashad Hill for a year and then move on and draft somebody else or sign somebody else, but you've got to know first whether Ezra Cleveland can play left tackle, I think, and unfortunately, that leaves you with figuring out the guard position, but you could do that later in this draft. Yeah, that was what I was going to guard position, but you could do that later in this draft.

Yeah, that was what I was going to ask you. Like, what is the plan for Ezra Cleveland? And I liked him as a prospect. I really did. He had a crazy combine, and then he's playing guard in his rookie season. And I'm like, this guy needs weight onto his frame to even play tackle. Now you're going to move him in with squattier guys that are just leverage monsters that are 6'1", 3'10", 3'20", and he's someone that just

does not have the weight on his frame yet. Ezra Cleveland seemed like Brian O'Neal 2.0 to me, but let him play left tackle. The only super enticing thing, and I think to your point about, you know, Mike Zimmer wanting to even the score, so maybe this just completely takes offensive tackle off the board. But what's intriguing about Derrissaw is he would be such a good fit in this system for the Vikings. He is very athletic, 6'5", 320, stretching to the left or the right, reach blocks, getting to the second level. He is made for a zone blocking scheme.

So you would have to think that a lot of the Vikings offensive coaches would be like, hey, this is a guy that could really help unlock Delvin Cook and the play-action game and keep Kirk Cousins clean. But I do agree. I think defense, especially up front, because of Ezra Cleveland being there, unless they're set on him being a guard, is probably the way that they're going to go. Okay. I want you to break down one more name for me because this is what I would do if Rick Spielman called me. Ring, ring. Oh, it's Rick. Hey, Matt, we've been reading Purple Insider. Love it. Listen to the podcast we've been reading Purple Insider. Love it. Listen to the podcast, watching your little Purple Insider extra videos on YouTube.

Who do you think we should draft, Matt? I'd say, look, just take Rashad Bateman. You put him with these other guys, these wide receivers. Kirk is going to throw all over the football field because Rashad Bateman's got a little Stefan Diggs to him. Get Rashad Bateman. Break it down. Break it down. Break it down. And you and I have talked about that on the prospect, too,

that the value of the wide receiver position is going up, like, every single year. It's almost reaching where it's the second most important position on the field, that it's not offensive tackle anymore, that if you really are – that teams that are winning are passing efficiently and stopping the pass efficiently you lose to Fondegs you get Justin Jefferson Adam Thielen is getting up there in Asia and it's funny that the pre-draft process how things change so rapidly I feel like you and I on the prospect like two months ago talked about like hey maybe like Devante Smith would make sense like

we know Devante Smith is not going to be there at 14. And that I think on one of those early podcasts, I said, like, pick Devontae Smith. He would move the needle more than anyone else you could pick. You could get a defensive rookie of the year type season from a Quidipe or from a Jalen Phillips. But what a top tier wide receiver could do would just lead to more wins for your team. And Rashad Bateman, I love the top tier, and I know earlier I said that he's a clear tier two wide receiver. He might be the most well-rounded wide receiver in this class. And that's, you could say Devontae Smith can do it all, Jalen Waddell, Jamar Chase, but

Rashad Bateman is deceptively fast. He's good after the catch, wins in contested catch situations, runs good routes. I think he plays bigger. He was only like six foot 190 at his pro day, which was a little weird because he was listed much bigger than that. But I think he plays like he's like 6'2", 6'3". And so I think he is like the jack of all trades, master of none in this class. And to be someone that can win in a variety of ways, the Vikings know firsthand from Stephon Diggs and from Justin Jefferson, a guy that can get open, he's good after the catch, and he's good in contested catch situations on those deep balls off play action from Kirk Cousins. That can really

elevate your offense. That would be like the most fun pick for the Vikings. It doesn't seem super Vikings-y to do that in the first round, given their front office and their head coach. I would applaud that. I have Rashad Bateman, I think, graded somewhere in the 20s, but for the Vikings to get as much out of Kirk Cousins as possible, picking Rashad Bateman in a situation where he doesn't have to be the number one wide receiver. He would technically be the number three wide receiver on the Vikings. That would be a tremendous situation from them. They could roll 11 personnel out there all the time. It would help Delvin Cook. It would help everyone. I would love Rashad Bateman going to the Vikings

at 14. I love how excited you are for the wide receiver three train. You love it. Love it. Being in Buffalo, I love it. I'm on it. That's right. You can never have too many wide receivers for your quarterback that needs help. Chris Trapasso draft show here on Purple Insider presented by Victory Home Team.

Follow your podcast, which is the Prospect Podcast. Get that wherever you get your podcasts. And follow you on Twitter for terrific draft analysis at Chris Trapasso. And next week in the Chris Trapasso Draft Show, I want to talk about your article ranking all of the quarterback prospects ever and who you thought were the best ones because it was a great article. I wanted to get to it, but we've been having a lot of fun here, throwing footballs at each other. And, you know, next time also, I know that people want the top long snappers ranked as well.

So we've got to dive in. Okay. I got to do my research. You're going to have to. Are you not aware of Carter Cheeseman? I'm not joking. That is who the top prospect for long snappers is supposed to be, Carter Cheeseman. I watch so much film at this time of year and i'm writing articles and i have two young kids i i mean maybe this makes me a bad draft analyst but

i do not get into the long snapper stuff and when bill belichick when bill belichick drafts one in the fifth round and for cbs i could give it an f i don't want to hear any patriots fans upset with me uh but yeah there are legit long snapper rankings and i guess i found them carter cheeseman let's go all right thanks chris thanks matt