Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - CBS Sports draft analyst Chris Trapasso breaks down Malik Willis, Kenny Pickett and Desmond Ridder's big week at the Combine

Episode Date: March 5, 2022

Matthew Coller and CBS Sports draft analyst Chris Trapasso analyze the performances of three quarterbacks at the NFL Combine that have separated themselves. Why Malik Willis has won the Combine with a tremendous showing. Kenny Pickett and Desmond Ridder are far more athletic than expected. Sam Howell threw the ball well. Wait, wasn't this supposed to be a weak QB draft? We look at a mock with 5 QBs in the first round and what would need to go right for them to succeed. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hello and welcome to another episode of Purple Insider. And this time, I promise, I promise we will get into hardcore NFL combine breakdowns. And to keep me on track so I don't just rant about the weak quarterback class is Chris Trapasso of CBS Sports. You want to talk about how weak the quarterback class is, Chris? Because I have a mock draft here on my computer from CBS Sports that has five first round quarterbacks. It's pretty weak, I guess. Yeah, it's not weak. And we kind of hinted at that, that quarterbacks will always get pushed up. And once the combine rolled around, a lot of people would start to change the reputation for guys like Malik Willis, even Kenny Pickett. I've thrown Desmond Ritter inside my first rounds for the past couple months.

Got some criticism on Twitter for it. Didn't really care because they're just mock drafts. But Desmond Ritter has, like I have said, a little bit of the athleticism the arm talent and he's a quote-unquote winner that played multiple seasons uh not at a power five school but got that non-power five school to the college football playoff or was at least the quarterback on a really good team uh and i think what was interesting to me about the quarterbacks at the combine was that there seemed to be a very positive chorus about sam howell from North Carolina, that PFF moved him up to their number one quarterback in the draft.

Just watching the quarterbacks last night on Thursday night, Daniel Jeremiah, Peter Schrager, all really talking him up that it was really just the skill position talent leaving him, and that's why his production dropped. So I don't think Sam Howell being a first round pick is out of the question like you're saying with that mock draft five quarterbacks going in the first round is not out of the realm of possibility especially if maybe it's not Kirk Cousins and for your sake hopefully not this veteran quarterback market doesn't feature as much movement as maybe I thought leading into the combine. Well, and what do you think of just how everybody has performed so far? I mean, Malik Willis helped his draft stock by helping another

human being on the street and having somebody videotape it, which is maybe unexpected. But then, you know, Malik Willis goes out in front of everyone and just puts on the laser show. And it seems that he has moved up to number one in everyone's hearts, but that doesn't necessarily mean that he's going to be the first guy off the board because the numbers on the combine events for Desmond Ritter and Kenny Pickett are really fantastic. I mean, with Kenny Pickett, I didn't know what kind of athlete he is and really Desmond Ritter either, because when you play for Cincinnati, okay, I think that against most of

the competition, you can look pretty athletic, but that doesn't mean that you're really a great athlete. And actually it turns out that both of these guys are where Desmond Ritter ran a tremendous 40, but also all the other stuff. I mean, the vertical, the broad. I mean, his stat sheet on this looks like a wide receiver almost that I did not realize because he doesn't really play in a more running fashion that he had that sort of athleticism. And then Kenny Pickett also did really well for a guy of his size, being 6'3 and 217 to be able to run underneath a 4'7 is really impressive. I mean, I feel like these guys really helped themselves solidify themselves as potential top draft picks

with putting those numbers up. Yeah. And to our initial point, kind of joking about the fact that it's a quote unquote weak quarterback class. And now we realize it might not be. This was a perfect opportunity for this quarterback class because the expectations were set so low. And even if Kenny Pickett and Desmond Ritter didn't test as well as they did, people would be like, okay, you know, they're not really that great. But the fact that they went out there and like you mentioned, Desmond Ritter looks like a wide receiver. I think to compare him to other top tier quarterbacks athletically, he's right up there. And then the show that Malik Willis put on with his arm, I'm not going to say he has a Patrick Mahomes or Josh Allen arm,

but the team that ultimately selects Malik Willis probably feels like they're getting a top 10 arm in the NFL as a rookie. And I think people were like, kind of to your point earlier about Desmond Ritter Malik Willis okay he's throwing fastballs throwing it deep like can he do that against you know non-liberty competition well we saw he was throwing the ball 75 yards down the field dropping it in the bucket last night so I think maybe this class has less of a chance than other recent quarterback classes to have like two or three franchise guys

but what I always go back to when I've I've said it probably on this podcast and in radio spots last year's draft class was incredibly hyped and Trevor Lawrence was terrible Zach Wilson who was the draft darling that that rose up boards terrible Justin Fields was injured but not really that good either Mac Jones I think had a very overrated rookie season and was just in a great environment in terms of big time throws just didn't really see it from him so maybe this could be a draft class ultimately similar to 2017 that I think you've mentioned that had Patrick Mahomes and Sean Watson and Mitch Trubisky and no one was really too high on Watson or Patrick Mahomes.

When the Chiefs traded up with the Bills, it was kind of like, man, they're really rolling the dice. This could turn out horrible for them, and it ultimately changed the landscape at the quarterback position. So let's not write off this quarterback class too early. Loved Malik Willis from the get-go, but I think Kenny Pickett and Desmond Ritter have those new age, uh, ad-libbing traits, arm talent traits to be potential franchise quarterbacks in the NFL.

And when I said that, uh, Desmond Ritter did wide receiver things, I just mean with his size and his 40 time and his other times are actually numbers that you would see from wide receivers. I'm not doing Lamar Jackson thing for him, which someone tweeted out the other day. Someone tweeted out just to show you how crazy this is. All the questions that were asked to Lamar Jackson when he was at the podium in 2018 about potentially working out as a wide receiver. And it wasn't just like one. It was a barrage of questions. Are you sure that you know you won't do this or have teams asked you to do that and all these different questions and the guy almost instantly became a franchise quarterback but tell me if you have because i i'm having

these type of vibes like 2015 draft vibes where there were a lot of good prospects but there wasn't any andrew luck type of there wasn't any Andrew Luck type of level or Trevor Lawrence type of level. 2015 would be Teddy Bridgewater, Jimmy Garoppolo, Derek Carr, and of course, Johnny Manziel was mixed in there as well. There's no Johnny Manziel in this draft that's going to be that controversial. And then I think it was Blake Bortles was the top pick, which once again shows you the NFL's ability to evaluate quarterbacks.

But it feels that way. It feels like there's a lot of, there's a lot of seven out of tens that are going to go high here. And I'll, I'll read off the teams that the CBS sports, one of your teammates did that are expected to draft quarterbacks in that mock draft. But that that's kind of how I feel about it is there's a lot of guys who have Jimmy G or Derek Carr type of profiles as a prospect, which is certainly not a mega star, like unbelievable ceiling. But those guys have had success. Yeah, it does feel similar to that group. And to have a draft class in the first two rounds have three or four, you know, at least middle of the road to above average starters that have been in the league for a while, I think is pretty good.

And that class besides Johnny Manziel, or even if you want to count Johnny Manziel as the most hyped prospect, Teddy Bridgewater was the last pick in the first round, like was not someone that was really turning a lot of heads as potentially being a super early pick. And ultimately he's been on a bunch of teams, is a pretty viable starter, not a high-end guy. It does feel like that.

A lot of 7 out of 10s. I think some teams might view Malik Willis as a 4 out of 10, and some teams might view him as a 9 out of 10 because of the athleticism, rawness, discrepancy to his game. So I really do think that a lot of it will be due to a situation as we all know. And the funny thing about the Derek Carr mentioned that you just made, I see a lot of that with Sam Howell, that Derek Carr, when he was coming out of Fresno State, had Devonta Adams, of course, which certainly helped him like to throw the football down the field. Wasn't the best under pressure.

And his last year, his accuracy deep wasn't as good as it was earlier in his career at Fresno state. That's kind of the book on Sam Howell and Derek Carr has kind of been a rollercoaster and they might trade him this off season, the Raiders, but he's started a playoff game now. And I think the last couple of years,

he's been really good in that kind of unique system that has not asked him to be too aggressive and as we've seen him get more aggressive he's been good now in his you know sixth or seventh year in the NFL that could ultimately be a route that Sam Howell takes as a second rounder who slowly very gradually becomes a good starter in the NFL all right so I want to go through these teams that have the, the mocked quarterbacks. And then what I want you to tell me is what you think this quarterback needs to succeed is we'll just go through the guys that are now expected to be

first round picks. And then I suppose the listener can connect the dots of whether the Vikings could provide these things or whether it makes sense. So I, in this mock, Kenny Pickett is going to Carolina. So automatically he's in trouble. Sorry, you get Matt Rule. That's your problem. He'll probably fire your offensive coordinator by eight weeks in. But sorry, I just the Carolina just has earned no respect. So until they do, we'll keep taking shots. But what does Kenny Pickett need to do to succeed in the NFL? Kenny Pickett, it's tough because I think his week one ability

to start that early I think is the best in this class. What Kenny Pickett probably needs to do is shore up his ball placement a little bit. Someone that I think because the fact he's a four-year starter at Pitt, people just automatically think that he's laser accurate. I don't really think that's the case. That's where I kind of stopped short of Kenny Pickett being the next Joe Burrow. The fact that he's older, the one breakout season, the improvisation. Now we know he's a

better athlete than joe burrow if i'm not mistaken i don't remember joe burrow having a crazy did even work out i don't i don't even think he worked out um he can do those things but the accuracy intermediate and down the field there's a little bit left to be desired to be like you know a number six overall selection in a draft class. I've seen some Daniel Jones comparisons. I think he's better than that takes better care of the football than Daniel Jones did and all the interceptions and fumbles that he's had with the Giants. We saw those when he was at Duke, that's not Kenny Pickett's game, especially in this final season. So improve his accuracy. And that seems like something that uh old school scouts

would say just can't change and maybe josh allen is an outlier but i think with today's nfl so many high percentage throws uh you can get him to a respectable level where it's not a huge problem that's kind of nitpicking with kenny pickett it's hard to find a clear-cut flaw to his game although his ceiling, because he's older and there's only the one breakout season might not be very high. Yeah. With Kenny Pickett, I was watching somebody's film breakdown when they sort of went, you know, play by play showing some of the different things that he does. He kind of, now that I know what his real athleticism is per the numbers kind of reminds me a little of Teddy

Bridgewater. And I'm promise you, it's not just because of the gloves but it's because when he releases the ball it doesn't have that juice on it where you go whoa man I mean with Malik it's that way it's just like that thing explodes it's not like that with him even Howell has that when he really like lets loose but it kind of floats on him a little bit but he's accurate enough and in the pocket he can make some plays and he can escape but he also has mistakes inside the pocket and he'll take sacks because of it and things like that so if if it's like a more athletic teddy bridgewater i think that's good for you if that's what you end up with and i mean early teddy 2015 i don't mean post knee falls apart teddy because that's just a

different player uh let's go to malik willis and this mock draft has him going to the denver broncos which seems very realistic if the broncos can't find a quarterback to trade for i don't think it's hard to imagine what the scenario is that malik willis becomes a very good player. It's the ceiling is reached and then he can become a superstar. But if it's not, it might not work at all. So what's your take on Malik Willis after seeing him be able to throw and then have a very good week of impressing teams and things like that reportedly? Yeah, Malik Willis just has to get better at reading coverages, and I don't think that's a huge problem to his game.

People see the three interceptions or four interceptions against Ole Miss and think, oh, he just cannot read a coverage. I think he was pressing in that game. I've said it a bunch of times, hopefully not too many times on this podcast, but definitely on radio spots. Very similar to watching Josh Allen play against Iowa in 2017 and Josh Allen play against Oregon. Supreme athlete, NFL caliber athlete trying to press

when everyone else at every other position is completely overmatched physically. That's what it felt like Malik Willis had problems with in that Ole Miss game. But he is coming from kind of an RPO-based offense that's not asking him to make full field reads again I think the accuracy is fine when he's in a clean pocket he's going to make good throws and again it's back to the Josh Allen comparison there are some times when Malik Willis does a little bit of that hero ball stuff where he's rolling right and like jumps like he's Derek Jeter like throwing a ball to first base in the hole.

And he got away with it in most occasions against the lesser competition. So just working on being in the film room, understanding, all right, this is going to be zone, I need to go here, and just being able to process a little bit faster to just, not only because he didn't start a crazy amount of games, but the lesser competition, the offense was pretty elementary, so to speak, and just dialing back some of that hero ball stuff early in his career so he can keep his job and he's not benched for making too many dumb decisions.

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Plus, the hockey and basketball teams are both actually exciting this year. And SodaStick has you covered there as well go to soda stick that.com that is s-o-t-a-s-t-i-c-k.com and use the code purple insider for 15 off yeah i i think he is a guy that just screams sit on the bench for the first year behind some sort of filler quarterback or bridge quarterback until he can get a sense for how fast the league is, how to play in the NFL. Because I was watching JTO Sullivan's QB school, which is amazing, by the way, on YouTube, where he does these super detailed breakdowns. And he was praising Malik Wills for this one throw where he could have taken off and maybe got five, seven yards and instead did exactly what you're talking about, this jump pass to a guy in the flat.

And he's like, wow, that is an insane throw. And it was an insane throw, but it's also an insane throw that could have been a pick six if the corner is paying attention at all. And it just was one of those things where you go, okay, you're going to have to calm it down. And I think Zach Wilson struggled with this a little bit too, where it's like at BYU

Zach Wilson just let loose and threw the ball wherever he wanted to and it takes a while I think and that's the biggest thing for me is Malik Willis I think requires more patience than maybe some of the other guys but that's okay like because usually patience is required anyway for any rookie quarterback that you take yeah that, that's a great point. I've been thinking about this a lot with Malik Willis and the week one readiness to start. Outside of, I'm trying to think, Cam Newton, who had those, what, back-to-back 400-yard games when he started his career. Almost all these quarterbacks that have come into the league, I guess you can maybe keep Patrick Mahomes out of it because he did sit for that entire first season or just played in the season finale as a rookie. Even

the quarterbacks that have become this new wave of the best quarterbacks in the league, they all took time either on the bench or they look terrible right away and then slowly flashed later in their rookie season. So if that's what the Denver Broncos have to do or whatever team that picks Malik Willis, that's fine. I mean, you're not drafting him or any of these quarterbacks in the first round to get really good play in September and October of their rookie season.

It's all about the 10 to 15 to maybe even 20 year investment at the game's most vital position. Saying 20 years sounds ridiculous, but I mean- But it's not. No, some of these quarterbacks have literally played for that long. Okay. So Desmond Ritter is the next on the list going to football team.

And it sounds like football team. No, wait, commanders. What am I doing? Sorry, commanders. I prefer football team. Yeah. Sharks. Is sharks not better?

That's what we were calling him. Sharks was better. And I like first, I mean, I think like everyone hated football team but like i really liked it and so many my articles mock drafts i like writing wft i think just saying football team sounds cool and now it's like we're forcing commanders like it sounds like a cheesy football movie name uh not ready for it yet you are exactly right that's exactly it is that every opposing team in every fictional movie about football the other team is called the commanders it's ridiculous who picked that i mean that was funny because i just went with sharks because i thought it sounded like

the silliest thing they could possibly go with and they beat me with commanders so the washington commanders anyway so they're calling seattle who should probably trade Russell Wilson to that. I think so too. Yeah. Yeah. So that remains possible, but if not, if they can't acquire anybody else and there's also teams are calling about their car, like, do you mean Washington? They're calling everyone, maybe everyone except for the Vikings about Kirk cousins.

And still though, as at this moment a very reasonable team to put a quarterback with and so this mock draft has Desmond Ritter to the commanders with Ritter uh he's the one I have I think the least amount of feel for because the only time I saw him play and I haven't watched JTO Sullivan yet um so usually I feel better about it after that but what was the game against uhama? And that's just not fair. This is not, it's just, there's not a fair fight. And it looked to me like, oh, I don't know if he's going to be fast enough and quick enough to move and get

away from these big guys. And then he shows that the combine that he actually is. So it looks, if there's a guy who comes in and plays right away decently, I feel like it's him. Yeah. Desmond Ritter. I was a big fan of and i probably

said this on this podcast but anyone first time listening to this not that there's any first time listeners out there for purple insider except with lots of them lately honestly well lately for the draft but i just figure you have the biggest audience every single minnesota vikings fan is listening to us but anyway the first time listener of the Chris Trapasso draft show, if we're calling it that, I always do my quarterback evaluations before anything else, almost right as the bowl games get done. Because I know that stocks are going to just artificially inflate and go down. And Baker Mayfield is going to go from a consensus second rounder to the number one overall pick. And Daniel Jones is all of a sudden going to be the number six overall selection I had Desmond Ritter inside my top five before anyone really kind of knew had a feel for the position the one gripe that I've seen from

other analysts that I actually respect is that he's not that accurate I did not see that on film I thought from a clean pocket he does not have any ball placement issues, and I actually liked his accuracy. The Notre Dame I will say on Ritter that for as enamored as we can be about his athletic profile from the combine, I don't think he plays to that level of athleticism on the field. Like you can watch or you can look at those numbers and go, oh, this guy is as good of a runner as Malik Willis. He's not, he's a little bit more awkward. He's someone that I would say last year about Zach Wilson, that he was such a natural improviser.

That's not really how Desmond Ritter is. I think he's a little bit robotic when he's back there, but you do see glimpses when he does roll out on a design bootleg that he can make those big- time throws while on the run and occasionally make a defender miss. But he's someone that I think can start and be serviceable as a rookie because he has so much experience, did not turn the football over very often, but it's a little bit of fool's gold with looking at his athleticism because I don't think he plays to that level as you know a runner his explosiveness he's not really a much of a threat with his legs well

and that's not super uncommon among quarterbacks to have a great athletic profile but then not actually be able to use it there are a handful of guys I'm just calling up the list here who if I told you they were among the best all-time athletes ever At the Combine You would be shocked How about this for a comp For a Desmond Ritter comp Chad Pennington

Chad Pennington is on this list as being one of the best Athletes at quarterback In terms of relative athletic scores Is where I got this from I mean you would not have expected Chad Pennington But like I don't know what his 40 was or anything like that. I don't have that listed right here. I'll try to look.

But somebody who just did not really use it, they didn't take off and run all the time, and I think that that's kind of Ritter. Yeah, that's kind of how he feels. I think, though, that there is some improvisation ability. You're not getting to use another 90s quarterback. You're not getting Drew Bledsoe. But I just don't think, you know, the 4-5-40, the big vertical, the broad jump,

I don't think he's that type. But I do think if we are now in this new era at the quarterback spot where the standard of athleticism has been raised, I think he would meet or slightly exceed those new standards. And in terms of the Chad Pennington comp, I know you were just talking about the athleticism. I think Desmond Ritter's got a pretty strong arm. We saw that on Thursday night that he and Malik Willis and Carson Strong, to me, looked like the quarterbacks that could really let it rip the furthest down the field, that the ball really exploded out of their hands, even a little bit

more than Kenny Pickett. I think Sam Howell's in there too. And as we're talking about these quarterbacks, it kind of goes back to our original point that this is not that bad of a quarterback class. When you're talking about traits, Sam Howell has a good arm. Desmond Ritter has a good arm. They can both run.

There's Malik Willis. There's the week one starter in Kenny Pickett. It's not that bad of a quarterback class. And I just think Desmond ritter does a lot of things very well again even if his ceiling is maybe not a top 10 quarterback in the next couple years yeah yeah i don't i don't love the comp but i'm trying because i you know pennington was bigger in terms of height and he ran a 4-8 at 230 pounds which is actually kind of amazing yeah that's pretty serious and he uh it's so fun to go

through these numbers he had almost a 34 inch vertical jump chad pennington who would have thought not me i feel like i mean maybe i watched late career pennington more than anything else but i felt like he did not have a strong arm he was all accuracy right i mean from what i remember no ridder is not gonnaitter's not going to have a top 10 arm in the league, but I think it's not like, oh, it's an average arm. I think it's a little bit above average in terms of arm talent being able to throw on the run. I haven't landed on a comparison for Desmond Ritter yet, but I was, and I hate being the I was first, but I was one of the first to say, hey, I think this guy has a first-round profile in terms of his experience, the accuracy when he's kept clean.

We know from PFF study that clean pocket play translates year over year more than under pressure play. He just didn't make a lot of mistakes on a good team, wasn't putting the ball in dangerous situations very often and that's going to check a lot of boxes for teams that might not be able to draft Malik Willis earlier in round one I'm thinking Alex Smith maybe for this that's a good one yeah that's a good one um okay so let's let's move on though uh Matt Corral is in this mock going to the Pittsburgh Steelers with the 20th overall pick. So this has the Vikings drafting Derek Stingley, going with the cornerback and building on the defense. But Matt Corral is the mystery man here because he got injured, so he can't really show off here.

How badly is Matt Corral's stock being hurt by the fact that he couldn't be at the Senior Bowl and he couldn't be here? A lot. The fact that he was not able at the senior bowl and he couldn't be here a lot the fact that he was not able to do anything um as we're mentioning we're saying hey look everyone's kind of realizing desmond ritter's are probably a first rounder sam howell kind of got a raw deal in his final year and was so tough and resilient malik willis shows off can he pick it despite the small hands threw the ball pretty well last night or on Thursday night. Yeah, he's hurt a lot. I will say I was lower on Matt Corral during this January evaluation of the quarterbacks.

I think his ball placement is not very good, especially if we're going to call him a first-round pick. The athleticism, the design run game stuff that people will be kind of intrigued by based on, again, all these quarterbacks today, that's definitely there with him. I don't think he's to that upper echelon of the elite athletes at the quarterback spot. But I think there's more functional athleticism to his game than even Desmond

Ritter has on the field. I just didn't like his accuracy and talk about Malik Willis coming from an RPO system. The Ole Miss offense with Lane Kiffin, RPO slant, RPO post, RPO goalball. Like there was really nothing else that he needed to read besides if a linebacker was flying downhill or staying home. Like that was almost the entire offense. So we think SEC, Ole Miss, Lane Kiffin, oh, he's ready to go. But I don't really think he's someone you

want to start in week one but similar to malik willis maybe you're saying hey we don't care about that we like your athleticism we like the arm talent the fact that you got better turn the ball over less in your final season we want you you know for 2023 and beyond that's kind of how i feel about matt corral and maybe after combine, he'll ultimately fall down the pecking order of these quarterbacks and go late round one or early round two. Yeah. And maybe that's good for whoever gets them and the expectations become lower. If you're taking sixth overall, then it's get right in there, be a star right away.

And if you're taking in the back end, people are more patient with you. I also wanted to know, and I don't think we know, or are going to get to know how big Matt Corral actually is because he's listed at 6'2", 205, which is not very big for a quarterback. That's I think smaller than Kirk Cousins. And I looked at him playing and didn't think he was even that. I thought he was maybe, maybe 6'1", 200 or a little less. Now I'm not saying I can guess from TV, exact heights and weights and hand sizes. I just, when I looked at him, I didn't think that this was a very big guy. So I was interested like, Oh, if he comes to the combine, we'll get his exact height and weight and then see what he does athletically compared to that. But I mean, I don't know,

maybe it doesn't make a huge difference, but I think it does sometimes. I don't think it does when it's Kyler Murray and the talent is through the freaking roof. But I think when a guy is a little smaller, you know, there's, there might be something there. I don't know. I don't know if that's a big deal or not. No, I think it is, especially with Matt Corral. Like he had games where he had like almost 200 yards rushing.

I think he had a game where he had 27 carries and it felt like about 20 of them were in the designed run game like he was like Lane Kiffin thought he had Josh Allen or prime Cam Newton if he's six foot 205 pounds the team that drafts him they have to kind of knock that down on their strengths board for Matt Corral that he's not going to be able to translate as a designed running game quarterback if he's that little I mean Russell Wilson like you mentioned Kyler Murray obviously Matt Corral is not the type of athlete than Kyler Murray was or Russell Wilson that's different like you mentioned but Matt Corral that's like if he's selling himself to teams this week in Indy he's probably

mentioning you know look at how much running productivity that I had and how good I am reading my blocks. I'm like a running back. Well, if he's not that big, I don't think teams are going to think that he can take that punishment in the NFL. And realistically, if a guy is really only six foot and he's being listed at 6'2", there are disadvantages when the defensive linemen are 6'5", 6'6", if you're just an okay prospect.

Because you see the bigger quarterbacks, your Phillip Rivers, your Ben Roethlisberger, 6'5". They just tower over everybody and can see the entire field. I think there are disadvantages there, and even the successful shorter quarterbacks have had to be great movers, not just okay movers. So anyway, all right, the last one, Sam Howell, going to the Detroit lions with the 32nd

pick, which I think would be a great idea for the lions. Don't use that first pick on a quarterback, not in this draft, use the last pick in the draft or in the first round on a quarterback and take whichever guy that everybody else decides isn't the guy because the fifth quarterback off the board has worked. Sometimes it's not that unusual to see the fifth quarterback off the board has worked sometimes it's not that unusual to see the fifth quarterback off the board turn out to be quite good so um howell i liked some of the stuff i saw at the senior bowl but i also when you talk about that running part dude had a ton of running yards he won't in the nfl i just don't see that type of athletic ability and i wonder if he didn't do the events because of that like Kenny

Pickett and Desmond Ritter their agents probably ran them a couple events and went okay let's go and Sam Howells went well let's not yeah that's a really good point in that to transition from Matt Corral to Sam Howell Sam Howell was another designed run game quarterback where even in the ACC, it kind of looked forced. Like this is not a high caliber athlete. Hats off to Sam Howell for taking a bunch of hits and trying to like truck linebackers. Sometimes he was successful in doing that, but that is definitely not going to be his game at the next level. And I think that is the one thing that will steepen his learning curve once he gets to the NFL, because I thought Sam Howell's pocket presence was terrible,

even this past season or even in 2020 when he was really productive and had Daz Newsome and Dimey Brown and the running backs in the backfield, and that he would look to his first read most often and then if he didn't like what he would see he would take off and run like there was no pocket drifting or it's very rare to see him do that I think certainly in 2021 he probably leaned on that a little bit more he's not going to be able to do that in the NFL and I think you're right his agent probably said look we don't need you running four, eight or four, nine and having a, you know, 28 inch vertical or something very low compared to some of these other quarterbacks that are bigger and just

clearly more athletic. But I do think again, if we're just trying to aim for this new level of quarterbacks, the arm talent is definitely there. Don't, I mean, even though he's like six foot, six, one, he has a very strong arm. Not Malik Willis caliber, but probably the second best in this class. A little bit better than Desmond Ritter if we want to be really specific. Very good arm, can push it down the field. I don't think his downfield accuracy is that great. Because of his arm, because of the experience and the fact that he flashed

as a freshman and is still very young team like the lions picking him at 32 makes sense but he's someone that because of those flaws to his game right now even though he's played a lot is not a week one rookie year starter you just bank on hey maybe he can calm down inside the pocket and we can accentuate the arm talent later in his career. Okay. So the quarterbacks have just been so fascinating that you can't blame me or anybody else for talking about them and what they've put on display here, because this is really the last time they'll have pro days and they'll have a chance to solidify their status then. But this is the last look that the NFL really gets at them at large and that we get at them unless you're, I don't know,

they televise pro days sometimes maybe. But it's like the last look for everybody to solidify their boards and say this is how we rank the quarterbacks, this is what type of prospects we think they are, is when they get those up close looks at them at the NFL combine. And then we wait and then we hear reports and who's trading up and who's trying to,

you know, get this guy or that guy. And then there's all the, the smoke screening and so forth. So I wanted to ask you though, what else you've seen so far in terms of the workouts that has stood out to you? Because as we speak, the fat guys are still running and they are obsessed with one dude bringing beef jerky, which I mean, I totally respect.

But the amount of airtime that's been given to this fella bringing beef jerky to the combine. Also, I mean, none for the media room, which was not great. Like, I think that it's very worth putting a red flag on a guy that if he wasn't going to bring some, at least to the podium and hand it out, that's a big problem.

Yeah. That's okay. That was, what is his name? Cam Juergens, Juergens, Juergens from Nebraska. Yeah.

Okay. So, well, okay. Knock them down your board for not giving me any jerky but I mean I just couldn't believe the amount they were talking about it but uh as usual though wide receivers and offensive linemen when they get on those 40s everyone goes oh my gosh so what stood out to you well certainly the wide receivers I think at this point in the combine

festivities on the field that's the biggest takeaway but i will go a step further in that the the receiver class ran really fast but i would warn people to all of a sudden think that all the guys that ran sub 4-4 are like really good prospects like uh a bunch of players that i was not expecting to run as fast as they did. Ran, you know, 4-4-3 or 4-3-3. Danny Gray from SMU, Alec Pierce ran 4-4-1 from Cincinnati. It's like we get so enamored with the event, the spectacle that the combine is. We see the fast times and then all of a sudden we hear on NFL Network,

see it on TV, hear it on Twitter that, oh, this guy's a first round pick now. Calvin Austin from Memphis, he's going to go top 20. Like the combine matters. And I will always say that. But we have to realize that film matters more than anything else. And a lot of these players, like we were expecting Chris Olave at 6'1 and under 190 pounds to run really fast. At that size and height combination, he should run somewhere below 4'4". Same with Garrett Wilson.

So besides those two, a lot of the really, really fast wide receivers, Bo Mountain from Rutgers, another one, solid prospects. But let's not move them all into the second round because they ran sub 4'4". It sounds Debbie Downer, but I just had to say that. No, what's that be down there. But I just had to say that. No, no, that's right. No, you're exactly right. And that's kind of how teams even get, um, you know, entranced by these guys, but there were, there were some really crazy ones, man. I mean, Christian Watson's was absolutely nuts. Six foot four and running a four, three, six is totally wild. Um, and I guess I was wondering from a Vikings perspective,

I don't know that they would take a receiver here. I would be impressed if they did in the first round. But as far as the second round receivers, I feel like in recent history, the second round has been a nice little place to get some wide receivers. Yeah, that's a great point. And actually, I was, I'll say yesterday, uh, Bill's radio, WGR, your former employer. And they asked me like, what's the best case scenario for the bills at 25? Like which receiver, who is it? And I almost said like, all right, I said, not really a receiver in the first round, like day two, second round specifically. Cause I think they were going to fly off the board there, that's where the best value is. That if you need an interior defensive lineman,

maybe at that point you need an edge rusher, pick it in the first round because round two is going to be rife with players that aren't Chris Olave or Garrett Wilson, but are still really good prospects that will be hitting the ground running once they get to the NFL and can be good pros. Like you mentioned, a bunch of second rounders last three or four years have been like the best wide receivers in those draft classes. So your, uh, your group of CBS sports draft analysts, uh, what are you guys debating? That is not quarterbacks. Like, what are you talking about?

Are you talking about, uh, the top of the draft and how that's going to play out? And if anything has changed, because I mean, so far we haven't seen the defensive ends do their thing as we speak. And once that happens, I'm sure people will be mind blown by those guys too. We haven't seen the corners run at the combine yet. So we don't know what's up there, but what are you guys talking about? Because for me, my entire life is the quarterback situation. Yeah, I certainly don't blame you for that.

It's not the top of the draft. It's probably the cornerback position, which I know is somewhat high on the Vikings priority list this offseason and in the draft. We're all over the map with that. I'm a little lower on Ahmad Garner, Sauce Garner, than most people. I still have him distinctly in my first round, but I really like Derek Stingley. I love Andrew Booth from Clemson. I love the twitchiness that he plays with the ball skills. I love Roger McCreary too from Auburn and that Ryan Wilson, Josh Edwards, the other two NFL draft analysts here at CBS Sports. Like we just see it differently. They like Trent McDuffie from

Washington. I like Kyler Gordon, his teammate. teammate I think he's gonna test better and just a better athlete higher ceiling so the cornerback spot for us and I think in general for NFL teams is kind of all over the map they're Stingley there's Ahmad Garner that are usually one and two but after that I mean once you get to the third or fourth corner which the Vikings may have to be picking or that could be on the board when they are ready to pick, it's all over the map. It depends on if you want zone, if you want twitchiness, if you want ball skills. So there's been the most debate in our slack room probably about the cornerback class at the top, those first round types. And that is very much on the board for the Vikings. And once we understand

what's going on with the quarterback situation for the Vikings, then I think that's something we'll break down much more in depth. It's always weird because once you get done with the combine, you're like, all right, draft, draft, draft. Oh, wait, the draft isn't forever. Like free agency is coming. There's all these decisions that are coming. So I want them to draft tomorrow and figure it out. But there's a long way to go here. All right. Before we wrap up, we played the game where i had you guess the top five most athletic quarterbacks according to relative athletic scores since 2010 i want you to tell me the five most athletic or combine destroyers at the wide receiver position to make one pro bowl. So, I mean, there's guys that no one's ever heard of here,

but top five most athletic receivers to make a pro bowl since 2010. And trust me, you know all these guys. 2010, the most athletic to make a pro bowl. Since 2010, yep. Top five. Okay, so let's do Julio Jones. Number one. Number one by actually kind of a lot.

And if you've ever seen Julio Jones in person, oh my gosh. It looks like Michael Parsons. Have you ever seen? I mean, yeah, you know Michael Parsons. But I mean, like I saw Michael Parsons play against the Vikings and he just towers over everyone. That's what Julio Jones looks like. Okay, so that's number one.

Okay, Julio Jones. I'm trying to think of draft classes. Mike Evans. Mike Evans is a good guess, but not quite. Not top 10. Odell Beckham Jr. is in there. He has to be. Let me see where he is.

Because he had a crazy three cone and a crazy short shuttle. He's a little outside. Well, I was only asking for the top five. So he's a little outside the top 10. yeah i mean yes very good but not quite of the level of the top five one of them uh aj brown is another great guess and you're like in the same ballpark right below odell beckham for like 12th or 13th there i'm so great guesses. You are right in the ballpark. Don't look too far away from the podcast you're on. Oh, okay. Justin Jefferson. Justin Jefferson is third, which makes it so insane that Henry Ruggs was the first guy taken when Justin Jefferson had the best

athletic profile of any guy in that draft. Also don't look too far away from Justin Jefferson, I would say. How about Stefan Diggs? Not Stefan Diggs. His is actually stunningly not all that good. He's like a 60th percentile. Actually, yeah, he said something after that he kind of was like it was a business decision, like he didn't really go as hard as he needed to or something at his combine. Wait, hold on. Give me a second. Okay. Adam needed to or something at his combine um wait hold on give

me a second okay is it animal feeling was not the combine was he no no no i mean don't think too far collegiately away from justin jefferson okay um jamar chase jamar chase is right he's second think about that joe burrow and two of the best athletes to come out the draft of the last 10 years and shockingly joe brady figured out how to help them win at lsu i don't know how he did it probably because he's a genius uh the next one is uh think olympics for the next one olympics marquis goodwin uh that's a good guess he didn't make a Pro Bowl, but he is up there. Oh, DK Metcalf. It's DK Metcalf, yes.

DK Metcalf is fourth. And once again, the overthinking. The overthinking. Come on, NFL. DK Metcalf was a freak. He didn't do three-cone fast enough. There's one more that I think you won't guess. This guy. is he bigger

because most of these guys are bigger thicker that tested through the roof is this guy like that like a julio dk he's not that big uh but he did win a super bowl recently not this year he's you actually named a teammate of his what the and he made a pro godwin it's chris godwin oh that's a good one yeah yeah yeah i don't think people think of him as being a freak and then tyra kills f5 yep he ran sub 4-5 and had like a three cone that was really good i remember that now and i also see michael thomas's name up here i wonder if vikings fans are still sad about that whole thing uh all right well chris we're gonna have a lot more well they got it back with justin jefferson i mean to to miss that goal lacron treadwell over michael

thomas and then justin jefferson to get gift rep justin jefferson was a nice little gift from the football gods could have used michael thomas 2017. Maybe that would have been helpful. Yeah, probably. Well, Chris, great stuff as always, and we will be doing it every week, breaking things down. So we'll have a chance to react next week to some of the other things that came out, defensive ends, corners, and the buzz and changes, whatever it might be when we talk again yeah one last thing

that i want to ask you and that oh sure your listeners with this what are the chances right now just because we're coming off the quarterback workouts that the vikings would trade up for malik willis with this new regime or is it impossible to know at this point because of the new regime that's a great question and i don't because i think he's going to be within striking distance for them i don't know if he's going to get outside the top 10 there's just too many teams but if you only have to move up three four or five picks you're not going to have to go most likely from like 13 to two or it's not going to be that big of a jump so if they yeah if they talk with kirk cousins about trying to lower his cap hit he tells them to go jump in a lake and they're thinking malik willis really blew us away in the meetings and really showed off the

arm and we're super sold on him i think they they would highly consider it, especially if Washington hasn't solved their quarterback situation yet. And you're trying to jump up, but then Washington could also trade up. So I don't know. I don't know. It's really hard to get a finger on the pulse of how they really feel about this draft class. And are your listeners and your readers of purple insider, are they all in on, they want Malik Willis more than anyone else? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, Malik Willis is by far. Yeah, by far. Well, because the thing is that, you know, if you've been watching Kirk cousins and then you see that level of athlete, you're like, ah, yes, yes, that is what we've been searching for. And also I think for a little older fans who watched Dante Culpepper, there's just a lot of similarities there.

I mean, Culpepper was a house. He was larger than Malik Willis. But Justin Jefferson, Malik Willis, throw the ball down the field like crazy. I mean, there's just, you know, we've seen this movie before, and it's a good movie. And so it's no guarantees with anybody. But if there's one guy that has that Moss Culpepper type of look, it's Malik Willis. So, yeah, I think they're sold on him for sure. So follow Chris on Twitter at ChrisTrapasso.

CBSSports.com will continue to break down the draft every single week. I appreciate you, Chris. Thanks, Matt.