Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - ESPN's Courtney Cronin talks about her favorite storylines going into the NFL Draft

Episode Date: April 27, 2022

ESPN's Courtney Cronin joins the show to talk about the first flub of the Chicago Bears offseason in a bizarre arrest and she breaks down her favorite NFL Draft storylines heading into Thursday night. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

all right as the final countdown to the nfl draft begins uh matthew collar along with espn's courtney cronin here and i guess i'll just sing twice uh it's another episode of what is up with the bears what is up with the bears are they rebuilding do they just suck what's up courtney hey how are you i'm excited can you tell yeah i like that you went with a jazz interlude version though that's always like a really like nice way to get into this on a monday instead of the really aggressive um metal version of what's going on with the bears although i wouldn't mind hearing that at some point i like well maybe when we get to the third fourth fifth round whenever the bears have their first pick then we'll bring it out what's up with the bears so that we know, go from there. But so because the Bears, this is the new us. So the new us is not going to talk about the Bears all the time

because you do national radio often. And so I think we should discuss what's going on in the NFL. Plus, no one cares what's up with the Bears in the NFL draft because they don't have a pick. So we're going to go through the things in the first round. We're going to go through things that we are most excited about for the NFL draft. And I guess I wanted to ask you first though, because there is a what's up with the Bears update. Have you ever done donuts with your car? You ever done that? No. I've only driven SUVs

because I like to sit up high and I don't think that would be safe. I think the car actually would tip over if I did donuts. I don't have a Hellcat if that's what you're asking. What is a Hellcat? Okay. So it's a Dodge Challenger car. It's the name of the car. It's an SRT Hellcat. So what you're referring to for people who are listening and like, why are you talking about doing donuts? On Sunday, my night got railroaded because Bears receiver Byron Pringle, TMZ came out with a report that he had been arrested on Saturday in Pasco County, Florida for doing donuts on a public road with a suspended license. So reckless driving plus suspended license with a child, juvenile male child in the backseat. Not a great look. And it just, it's, you know, I feel for Ryan Poles. I really do. This off season has been

brutal to him. Like they have swung and missed. And I wonder on, you know, how much of that can you put on, put the blame on the bears for maybe not doing their homework as much as they should have? How much of that can you just put on bad luck i think there's certainly a mixture of it but in reading the police report from the florida highway patrol that i obtained yesterday byron pringle the wide receiver that they just signed for a one-year deal like sizable money for a one-year deal like you know just north of 4 million with like 3.9 guaranteed. That's pretty good for somebody who is a mid to lower tier receiver on the second contract came from Kansas city. So that's how Ryan poles knew him, but he was doing donuts in this 2016 Dodge challenger SRT Hellcat, which is a sports car and has a very, very high horsepower. Like it's a race car.

Effectively, it's a street legal race car. And actually, you do see a lot of police officers, as I found out in Googling, what is a Hellcat yesterday? A lot of police departments, because you can't outrun these things because they're so fast. A lot of police departments deploy these on the roads for their police officers, like as their vehicles that they use on a regular basis. So, yeah, what's going on with the Bears is that they are dealing with this mess coming off of their voluntary mini camp last week, where there were some ups, there were some downs, the offense you can expect at this time of year doesn't look great uh because there's a you know a whole new system a young quarterback some overreaction i think from people where you know justin field threw an interception in practice last week it's april

um yeah is that a concern no but it's is it alarming i don't know it depends what your version of what your definition of alarming is but he's got a one receiver who finds himself in some legal trouble right now, which, you know, I don't, I don't feel like the bears can cut Byron Pringle because they don't have anyone else really behind Darnell Mooney. So does it either way they were going to draft and they are going to draft somebody in, in of these first you know three rounds so we think so far so it'll be interesting to see kind of what happens from here on out but just like the litany of errors this team has just like committed this offseason from larry ogan jobe's failed physical to this is just oh my gosh it's just it's crazy you know i think that if you're going to do donuts,

you shouldn't do them on a road. You should do them in a parking lot. Traditionally, I thought that that's what you do. It's not on a road where the police could be driving at any given time. And also I've read your police report. You tweeted it out. So I thought, well, there might be some gold in here. And there was.

It was like he was creating so much smoke that it was like literally it turned the visibility on the road to zero that's what the police report said no one will notice me doing this like what and then here's another thing too suspended license and okay all right that's all must be he drives the hellcat too fast right no he just had tickets that he didn't pay and that's what happened within like the last two months i wonder how you're in the nfl and you can't pay your tickets like you can get whatever lawyer you want to make those go away one time i according to the police i do not admit to doing this uh what did not come to a full stop and was ticketed for that that is their claim again deny it but i just asked a lawyer like can you help me

out here and we got it changed to a parking ticket because i had no other driving issues it wasn't that hard to do and it was like 200 bucks uh this was like years ago so if you're an NFL player, like, is that hard to get taken care of? Also, is he trying, is it like his kid that he's trying to like, hey, watch the Hellcat. It's crazy, man.

Like I have so many questions. When you go to this press conference, I need to hear all the details of why you were doing this. And if they don't name an offense, the Hellcat offense in Chicago, they're making a big mistake. Oh man, the Dodge Char the hellcat offense in chicago my god they're making a big mistake oh man the dodge charger hellcat offense of the chicago bears what a name honestly like and then you know like

we're we're putting brands branding on nba jerseys pretty soon it'll be nfl jerseys might as well be offenses too at this rate fast offense i mean the jokes will write themselves thank god no one was hurt i mean that's the thing here like in looking at the situation i don't know when you're doing donuts it's a burnout effectively like i i know that they do this after nascar races and i guess he thinks he's a nascar driver um for doing this on a public road like find a parking lot do it in your he's from i believe he's from florida because he has a florida issued license do it in your front yard if you have to suspended license suspended license yeah now um but just like it burns rubber so it makes a ton of noise and it smells like hell

like the smell of burning rubber is not pleasant. You can smell it from a mile away. On top of the fact that he was creating so much smoke that the police officer was just driving down the road doing his job saw it. And, oh, my gosh. Like the accountability factor here, because we have Ryan Poles' pre-draft press conference coming up this week. And I'm curious to what he's going to say about something like this because, you know, it's, these are, I hate to say that they're not isolated incidences. Like I'm pretty sure Byron Pringle was an undrafted free agent in 2018 because there were some red flags, like some of those quote unquote character concerns on him coming out of college.

And obviously the Chiefs took a chance on it and it paid out but you know the chicago bears now are they are they kicking themselves saying like you know we knew that stuff was there and it just you know bit us effectively because it's it's a stain on the offseason like thank god no one got hurt thank god it was nothing worse than like you know reckless driving driving the suspended license i mean yeah kid in the back seat not a good look whatsoever um who knows what'll happen but i mean i don't know i don't think it's gonna have much of an effect on what they're gonna do in the draft by any means i mean like justin fields was doing this and then it's like oops but still like this team is um they've got their own way of staying interesting. And a lot of it's just been by these just face palm type moves

that have happened this offseason. But you could say that they're going in circles. Yes. So I had a buick century and if anyone has ever when i was in high school if anyone has ever driven a buick century yes this is the one that your grandparents have but i had one and it is the heaviest car but also has a wild engine i mean engine, anybody who's driven one of these knows. The thing has jump. So because it was so heavy and because it had a really hot engine,

you could easily, all you had to do is punch it and it would just be like big, massive squeals and whatever. So I did that a handful of times. I didn't go in circles though. I didn't do donuts. I more of did burnouts, I think.

Now, I heard recently that there's another name for this in Minnesota. So dangerous. Just like you have to be a professional to know how to do this. I mean, granted, he's driving a sports car that I think retails upwards of like $85,000 if you have it completely souped up. It's an expensive car. But in your Cutlass Supreme or whatever the heck it was. I don't think that that would have been the smartest play for you to mimic

that. It's the Buick century because you have to be a century old to drive one. Yeah. Anyway. So let me ask you this about the draft. Are you excited about the number one overall pick? And there's ways to be excited about it and ways not to. The ways not to are Jaguars is the way not to. But also if they pick Trayvon Walker, when all the numbers kind of

point to don't pick Trayvon Walker just based on an NFL combine, that would kind of be super Jaguarsy or I guess they always have a chance to totally surprise us with something that they might do. So I guess I was wondering like, as we talk about things you're excited for, is that on your list? It is. And it isn't because I always like seeing the draft order switched up and,

you know, weird things happening. I think for me um you know what would really make that even more exciting I mean granted I don't know if they need it but it would what would really draw intrigue is if they go with an offensive lineman with the first pick in the draft but I think the consensus here is either Aiden Hutchinson or Trayvon Walker from Georgia. You know, just kind of what we've heard so far with like what, you know, the production from Aiden Hutchinson is proven and that Trayvon Walker is that higher ceiling player. I feel like it's one of those things where 10 years from now

we'll be able to judge whether they got it right or they got it wrong. Right now, it doesn't look to judge whether they got it right or they got it wrong. Right now, it doesn't look like you can go wrong with either one because there does seem to be a gap. Like the last couple of weeks, there's been a gap created with Trayvon Walker, Aiden Hutchinson, and then below that, like considerably, like a couple of picks below that's probably Kayvon Thibodeau, the defensive end from Oregon. So I would love to see, I was talking to somebody about this last night. I almost forget it's draft week from time to time, like this year because it's been so quiet and we've been recycling and

regurgitating the same storylines about quarterbacks and about the top picks for the last month or so. Like it was almost like free agency was so much in trade agency is what I'm going to start referring to it as that it was kind of like all right we need a breather the draft can be boring this year because free agency trade agency was just like a cluster it was some new explosion going off every single day so when it comes to the draft this week I wouldn't I would really love to see Jacksonville do something completely out of the blue which I think really love to see Jacksonville do something completely

out of the blue which I think would be to draft an offensive lineman I don't think they will I guess I would settle below that with them taking Trayvon Walker even though like just from like the combine perspective the measurable perspective the production perspective Aiden Hutchinson feels more like he would be that guy but you know that's at least for like the overall number one pick because if they do that I'm sure Detroit's thrilled and by that I mean them drafting Trayvon Walker Detroit would be thrilled get the hometown kid from Michigan in at number two but I've been saying this on this show and on radio for like weeks now, I want to see Detroit just like light a fire to the rest of the draft board by taking Malik Willis to overall.

I know that that's like, I don't know how much steam that has right now. I know that like, it's been talked about a lot. That's what I really want to see. Cause it feels like they're taking a quarterback at some point at 32, probably if they don't do it too, but man,

I want to see that happen we beat with the same football heart because we're just talking with our friend chad graff earlier today like uh in our spicy takes is what we were doing and that's exactly mine is like if they take malik willis i would think it's really smart for them to do and it will absolutely throw a wrench in everybody else's plans. And by pick two, it'll be complete madness. And that's what we're looking for. I do think that this draft leading up to it lacks a hot debate

because when everybody kind of knows, all right, Malik Willis, maybe he were shocked and he's not the first quarterback picked, but everyone sort of decided that he will be. All right, so there's not really a debate there. It's not like the Justin Fields, Mac Jones, that whole deal that we had last year. And nobody cares about the teams at the top. So that makes it like Detroit and Houston and New York. Like that just makes it really tough for anybody to be like, oh, this team gets to change their franchise because.

They're all going to be drafting linemen. And that's freaking boring. I'm sorry. That's really boring really boring like i don't care about ecky aquanoo like it's probably a great guy and a great prospect do i care if he's going five no i don't like that's not sexy that's not fun and yeah every once in a while acquinton nelson goes high and gets like gets drafted high and is like an absolute stud awesome but i'm talking about draft night i'm talking about day one madness that's not madness that's boring poor ikea kwan or like he did nothing to deserve that you know he's a great he's a great guy like and i'm sure he's a high character upstanding individual considering he's

probably a top 10 pick i have nothing against him i just do not want i don't care like offensive linemen defensive linemen i mean sometimes edge rushers i mean like we think back to like was it 2019 when the raiders like all of a sudden just like pick cleland farrell like um fourth i believe that year like just like what the what the hell like what i remember we were sitting next to each other in the media room like what just happened um or was that 2020 either way i remember like talking to you like wtf and that was weird um but like i just don't feel like you can truly truly have excitement in the first round, especially with the top five,

top six picks when it goes, you know, you know, when it goes, when it goes lineman, lineman, whether it's like from like the defensive side of the offensive side. Well,

here's what I think would throw a wrench in all of this and really change the entire draft night. And before I would have said this is impossible, but it becomes possible with how crazy everything has been and that is player traits that usually you remember this oh they could trade kyle rudolph today and it's like i don't know remember when there was talk could they get a second rounder for kyle rudolph and just like how preposterous that was and we're trying to move him during that draft that's the crazy part about it but every year there's guys that are trying to be moved

and teams never pull the trigger this year i think that it could so last year we thought hey maybe aaron rogers gets trained like it feels like maybe i've brought this up on the show before but there's the political concept of the october surprise during an election year where there's something in october that always changes the election and i just wonder about like the the wednesday surprise or the thursday morning surprise that comes out with the the 49ers are trading debo or somebody that we've heard no rumors about whatsoever and then all of a sudden oh my gosh this team is trading because they got an offer for two Texans first round picks or something.

That's the one way I think that everything could be completely shaken up. Yeah. And you bring up a good point because the Texans do have so many picks in this draft. They've got, I think they're projected to take alignment, whether it's like Evan Neal or whether it is Eki Aquanwu. I think I'm saying his name right.

You know, they're going to take some offensive lineman at three. And then they've got another pick at 13. I'm just looking at their board right now. Like, that would make sense. I think, you know, Philly also has. They've got multiple picks this year as well. Is that right? Yep.

In the first round. There's plenty of teams who could be in play for something like that on top of the news and you know with with the wide receiver market right now of guys not showing up to voluntary campies they're trying to send a message and the steam that's picking up with debo samuel aj brown even i mean terry mclaurin's been kind of that's been kind of like the third one it's kind of quiet and i don't know maybe that's the sleeper one. If he gets moved, I don't feel like they would because he is their offense. But like, that would be, I think, the fun thing to watch where we actually see players

get moved on draft night. And it actually made me think about the Minnesota Vikings. You know, I saw the report the other day that they're not picking up his fifth year option. That's not a surprise to anybody. And I'd be curious, like if they tried to package something and like, I mean, this is, you got to remember, this is not Rick Spielman's MO anymore. This is not going to be the same strategy that they follow of what they've known since 2012, when he started taking over the draft, like, how is that going to be the same strategy that they follow of what they've known since 2012 when he started taking over the draft. Like, how is that going to be different?

I feel like Minnesota honestly may have one of the more interesting drafts because we're so used to seeing what Spielman did every single year without fail. Trading back, a lot of seventh rounders, you know, stockpiling draft capital, not being that aggressive at least the last couple of years and moving up. And, you know, if they draft a cornerback or a wide receiver in the first round at 12, then great. But like, can they do anything to potentially move Garrett Bradbury during the draft? Like that would be, you know, trying to keep it local here. Like that would be the one that I think would be really intriguing. it's just who is right who's making the deal like who's buying that would be part of it although you know there's always teams that have no clue and so i guess there is that like oh we scouted them coming out and you know

so forth and uh those pff grades they don't mean nothing. Like there's, yeah, there's always those type of teams. I guess I was thinking bigger. I was thinking like, okay, the Debo idea sounds very, very unlikely for the Minnesota Vikings, but, but Kwesi Adafal-Mensah said something at the owners meetings where he was like on an NFL network appearance. He's like, well, you know, competitive rebuild. It sort of means that like with draft picks, we're not going to trade them for players. And I thought, Ooh, a smoke street,

a smoke screen. Like, could it be like, I don't know. Right. What he comes out and says, we're not trading them for players. Could that mean they're trading them for players?

Like it's that type of season, season, season to try to look way too much into these things. And if, if let's say they were doing it, like, let's say they were trying to trade for a player. Like what would they, what they want? Like what player would they be trying to get?

Does it have to be a receiver, a defensive player? Like, I don't even, I don't even know what they would trade 12 for if we assume that the Debo thing is pretty much not realistic for the Vikings. I mean, unless there's another receiver that they feel like they could throw into the mix there. I mean, receiver makes it intriguing because you would have, without question, I think a top five offense at that point.

Right now, they probably have a top 10, top 12 offense, and we're assuming that Irv Smith is healthy and going to stay healthy. We're assuming that Adam Thielen is able to come back off of the ankle injury and be, you know, look like himself again, which I, you know, I do worry about at this point of his career and his age and things like that. And it's assuming that Kevin O'Connell has the magic sauce here with the offensive, you know, the offensive game plan for Kirk Cousins and being able to unlock whatever potential he thinks is still there more than just, you know, this guy has hit a ceiling, which I think a lot of people agree with. But, like, that would be the one that if they end up trading

for a different player, because I don't feel like they could. I feel like if you want a corner, you take Trent McDuffie or whoever's probably going to be there at 12, because isn't Sauce Gardner, like, he's. That's the thing that's weird about the cornerbacks this year. Like there's three and then there's such a drop off and we don't know who the consensus number four is. So it's either McDuffie, Derek Stingley jr. Or, um, sauce Gardner. And I think sauce is probably going to the giants at five. Cause I, you know, I, I heard that they really liked him there. Um,

he, you know, he's in for a visit last week like they need cornerbacks and they also need you know an offensive lineman so they could do that at five and seven but that being said with the Vikings you know Debo Samuel doesn't have any leverage right now he really doesn't does AJ Brown it feels like a different situation than what's going on in San Francisco. Cause the 49ers are trying to pay reportedly trying to pay Debo. We're not necessarily hearing the same thing with AJ Brown. So if he can force his way out and get his way to Minnesota, my goodness, that's a really, really scary looking offense right there.

If you've got three of them, plus, you know, throw Kate throwing KJ Osborne in the mix too. Like you'd be i would i would pull it i would you know definitely pull the strings on that if i were quacey well the other guy is dk metcalf too and as i was googling draft rumors or whatever draft trade rumors that was the name that kept coming up for everybody proposing these trades um let's see what would it take i mean is a first is 12th overall enough? I'm not sure that it is for DK or AJ Brown, because you're talking about another elite wide receiver. You know,

the one thing that you just love for Vikings fans for us, you know, whatever, but for fans is one exciting thing to happen in the off season just one give these people a crazy draft day trade that brings you a receiver and then all of a sudden we could say oh there's no rebuild this is just competitive but they're going for it and they're and they're actually trying to push all the chips into the middle of the table on kirk's last couple of years so i could get behind it all of the sudden if they were to do something like that i also think too if you're the vikings and you hear hey the packers are like making phone calls to seattle about trading number 20 whatever they have 27 28 about to get dk would you do 12 i mean i think

that's really interesting like if they were willing to do that and just sort of say, remember that rebuild part of the competitive rebuild, bleep it. We could get DK Metcalf. We're going for it. I would support it just on the basis of going for another three deep. Because you're trying to run this thing back. Like that's what their moves, like with the money and all their moves that they've made this year that's what that mirrors in reality but then you say something like oh competitive rebuild

and that's kind of like it doesn't seem you know it doesn't add up right so this would be the bleep it we're going all in while still trying to like to like retool some parts of the roster by being really really good one aspect of this roster which would be the passing game because if you bring DK Metcalf here and I know that the Jets were rumored for a while to be a landing spot because they missed out on Tyreek Hill and you know they've got two picks in the top 10 like I'm sure that one of those probably number four is going to be a wide receiver and that's that would be great but if they could be you know if you get a proven talent like someone like DK Metcalf and you don't want him to like just you're kind of calling Seattle's

bluff here that he'd be sitting out there and rotting like I don't think you need to give up nearly as much as you know you might expect if he was on a team that was like actually going for it when we know that they are very very well like behind the eight ball here in seattle yeah i mean for seattle if they're not i mean they just even if they draft a quarterback like what's your case for paying dk when you can't be competitive for several years i don't really understand anything that they've done like why do you even keep p car? I mean, you're not winning. That is one of the toughest divisions. Drew Locke is your quarterback.

Even if you draft Desmond Ritter, he's not going to be ready. Kenny Pickett, he's not going to be ready. And you're wasting the final primes of someone like Tyler Lockett. Moving on from Russell Wilson is really the end of your run, and now it's a complete rebuild for them. So I kind of don't understand why they would sit on their hands here and pay or even to pay DK Metcalf a huge contract. When like,

what are you going to use him for over the next few years? When's the next time he's going to matter. And if we're doing this, when everything or when nothing like the NBA style in the NFL, they should be looking to move them. And I think that, you know, there's probably teams that just are better in cap situations and things

like that, or draft capital to make the move. But there's also a part of me that's just like, come on, come on, come on Vikings. Come on, like do something.

This is you. This is your history. You do crazy stuff. This is their chance to, to like completely shift gears from the past like be a complete departure from what you were previously under rick spielman where yeah there were instances of them trading up trading back into the first round and i don't know if you call that like super aggressive like i mean you can think of like what happened with

christian ponder you can think of them going back in to get Teddy. Like those were, those were moves that were made. Was it like this splash type move? I'm not so certain. So like they need to find somebody too. And whether it's a draft pick or whether it's, you know, DK Metcalf or something else, like they've got a, you know, I found a stat. I saw somebody tweet this the other day. It have been eric eager anthony bar is the only first round pick that they've had in the last eight years that they signed to a second contract like isn't that crazy when you think about that that is crazy i didn't even realize that i didn't either and i was looking at their draft history a couple minutes ago and it's just it's this is the chance now for quacey and kevin o'connell to

be like this is ours so this is truly their first chance because like let's be realistic some of the moves that were done in free agency were probably predetermined before those two even got a chance to like put their thinking caps on and put their heads together about what do we want to do now is their true chance to be like all all right, clean slate this thing. We know who the quarterback is. We know some of the pieces that we have on defense. We're happy with Z'Darrius Smith and Daniil Hunter in the fold, whatever. Now's our chance to really push and make this thing ours. Let's talk about some other stuff, though, from other teams.

The more interesting teams are kind of behind the vikings which makes it interesting for a trade down but uh why why don't you put the uh the money on where these quarterbacks go because now there's a report today as the smoke screen we need like is a smoke screen like a bat like a ballad smoke screens trying to get your quarterback drafted i think of um smoke that comes from wheels that are done cars are doing donuts that's that's what you don't see it you don't see what's through the smoke so like what is it is it is the quarterback behind that smoke is it just what we thought it would be all along is it player mystery player x like what is it behind the smoke screen created by the hellcat am i smoke screen uh that's more like uh

alts 90s sort of you know they had a lot of third eye blind five yes totally you're welcome uh okay what was i asking oh where where do you think about like quarterbacks and where they actually go and no i don't think that i don't think caroline is going to take one at six i don't you think it's a smoke screen that they've been thinking about malik willis yes i do because i think that they end up with baker mayfield here at some point because matt Rule knows that he's not going to win with a rookie quarterback. And that's the thing that we've been discussing a lot on radio are we certain that any of them can actually play this year are any of them starters this year I don't think so and that's scary and so of course when I'm thinking Carolina at six I'm not thinking a quarterback because of that very reason and

because all of a sudden the mutual disinterest between Baker Mayfield and the Carolina Panthers has now dissolved into okay we might like each other. That's what's probably going to happen. They'll either trade back and pick up quite a few picks in the process, but trading back is hard. And being able to, at that point, when you know that nobody probably wants to take a quarterback at six, there may not be a quarterback that goes in the top 10.

I still don't believe that there's not a quarterback going in the top 15, but I think top 10, that's realistic. And if you're Carolina and want to trade back, where are you going? Right. Because no one wants to trade up. Like Charles cross who, you know, they seem to really need some help up front. Like that's probably who you end up taking at six overall because you need an offensive lineman and like that's part of it's a safer play for them than picking up malik willis if this is not a trade-up draft i mean the the talent at

the very top seems to be similar to the talent in the middle uh smokes green what about the uh the steelers this whole thing and like needing to pick a quarterback at this point um also like if you're the steelers you have a good team why are maybe they've just played them enough times with baker or or even jimmy g like why are you not trading for those guys that's what i don't get you have a coach who's a win now coach you have a roster that has a lot of good pieces. You made the playoffs with the worst quarterback play maybe in the league last year. And Ben Roethlisberger is just getting sacked every other play. Like what, what's the argument there against getting a veteran as opposed to trying to get Kenny Pickett? I don't know. And it's been weird because we've heard a smoke screen probably that Kenny Pickett's the only quarterback they're

interested in I don't believe that I think I mean certainly they've done their research they've been the team that's been spotted every single pro day they've gotten all these guys in their building they've taken everybody out to dinner they've run the gamut doing their research and that's great but the smoke screen that they will only take Kenny Pickett I just don't believe it they're like I don't know if they I don't know if they're going to take a quarterback at 20. I really don't and I think that Garoppolo is still in play somewhere other than San Francisco like it just doesn't make sense right now for teams to be like chomping at the bit to get him obviously the shoulder surgery is not going to be throwing soon.

I wouldn't imagine. And the price probably San Francisco holds the leverage right now. Like they can wait a little bit. So I think the situation that they find themselves in, in Pittsburgh is that if they waited and they waited till later in the first round, if they decided to trade back from 20, which again, very hard to trade back, but you also have another pick there in the second round.

Like you don't have to at 20, you could go and address the offensive line. If you want to, you can go defensive line, wide receiver. Like they have a lot of other needs. And I, you know, like, and the reason I say that too, there's a team that's picking, I believe, two spots before them at 18 in New Orleans Saints. Might take Kenny Pickett, your guy, if that really is your guy

and not just a smokescreen that he's the only one they like. If he's off the board there, you do not need to make a knee-jerk reaction and take somebody that is not ready to play when there's good quarterbacks available via trade i don't know why you wouldn't try to trade for them like if you if you're pittsburgh and you have to trade a 2023 second for jimmy g or a 2023 fourth for baker mayfield that seems so much better baker mayfield seems like a total jerk and uh played horrendously last year and no one likes him that's the way it seems however if you're the steelers and you can you know bring him in oh we wanted to bring you in here and all that and you're talking about one year for 18

million dollars on the cap it becomes like if he plays even like he did in 2020, you get a lot out of that and you are right in the mix. The AFC is Pittsburgh, but if you don't have a decent quarterback there, like the teams in the AFC are just good and you're going to get stomped. Do you really think that Cleveland would trade him in the division? To me, the whole thing with Carolina seems a lot more realistic because you get him, you know,

into a different conference out of sight, out of mind. He's not your problem anymore. Instead of having to face him twice a year, like that to me, it seems like a no brainer. Yeah, no, that's a good point that they might not trade him in the division. If they think that he could be even halfway dangerous as a quarterback, but the Jimmy G idea might be better. Uh, let me, let's wrap on this on this. I want you to make one blazing hot prediction for the draft. And then I want to talk about some of our takes from draft nights and the three days that have not exactly worked out the way we expected. I don't know if this is like a super, super flaming hot take, but I keep thinking about David Ajabo, the linebacker from Michigan.

And I've seen where he's been mocked into the first round, even though he ruptured his Achilles. And I remember when that pro day video came out where he's just like laying there writhing in pain, you think, oh my goodness, this guy's draft stock just plummeted. I saw a mock draft this morning. I think it was a CBS Sports one that they're going to, like that they've got him going 23rd overall to Arizona. I could absolutely see it. So that one I would say is like sizzling. But for me, like the hottest take is that at least the hottest one right now

is that the Green Bay Packers go offensive line at 22 and don't do what they should do and take a wide receiver at that because they're all of a sudden they're fine they've got sammy watkins mr nine games like they're cool with it and i think that that would be the one that like makes packers fans heads explode yes even though the second round is a great spot and there's you know double digit receivers projected off of most people's boards in the first and second rounds that's fine but like digit receivers projected off of most people's boards in the first and second rounds. That's fine. But like this is the most no brainer thing in the world for the green bit

Packers to do. And they will probably end up like following course of what they've done, done the last two decades and not take a receiver in the first round. And just a corner outside linebacker or something. Yeah. And then Aaron Rogers, maybe his head just implodes um all right so yeah i mean i let's just talk about draft night here before we wrap up um because i've given every spicy take that i could come up with at this point and we just need the draft to happen but i mean it's funny because we had the virtual draft in 2020 so we weren't kind of out there picks i just thought about that

the other night and having ptsd from that because i believe the draft was right now it wasn't later in the month of april it was right now um that's i remember like leaving day two on that friday night after we're talking to the needle danzlerler when Cameron Dantzler like let us know about his nickname and that he's skinny. So he's a needle. And I remember sitting at the kitchen table at my mom's house because we were all like on lockdown at that point being like. What the F Rick?

13 or 12 picks, whatever it ended up being on day three, like in half these guys at one point where it's like, just like who, like who are you taking the sixth and seventh round? Like it just, it became such a comical draft because of how many picks they had. It was just absurd. And then some of them didn't even make it to the third week of camp.

Like Brian Cole got cut almost immediately. Brian it to the third week of camp like brian cole got cut almost immediately the brian cole the second son of a police officer police officer would probably pull somebody over for doing donuts on a public road i was gonna say well that's what he's gotta do now is follow the family business because he ain't playing in the nfl um but uh yes so day threes were classic i feel like there's a um maybe what do they call it like uh after it's been enough time where you can't get in trouble for it was us with the day three picks trying to force each other to use certain phrases and words um so i asked cam smith if he was a glass eater at one point um but you know i guess i was thinking along the lines of takes where you went hey maybe this guy

and then just totally blew up one of mine was rodney adams i thought you know i watched i watched a little rodney adams tape folks and let me tell you this guy's got some explosiveness and then it turned out again three weeks into camp the guy didn't like football at all and quit to try to be a youtuber and then try to make a comeback. And I don't even know. Yeah. I don't even know what happened after that. So what was the day three one that you were like this good pick folks. And it just, you know, I'm fine admitting this. I was wrong about Drew Samia as every single person was, because we all thought this guy was a multiple year starter. He had Kyler Murray that he was blocking for. He comes from Oklahoma.

He, you know, was a part of his own scheme. It's going to work out. He could potentially be a plug and play fit at guard day one, maybe day 40. None of that panned out. And I know I'm not the only one, but like that one was such a what the hell? Like the guy didn't even make it two years with the vikings i don't know where he is right now if he's even in the nfl or was on anybody's like you know got a futures dealer was on a practice squad that was one that i was like oh looking

back like i remember writing my drew samia draft capsule and just going like in depth like scheme fit love a scheme fit and that obviously did not pan out. Let's see who else. I interviewed his offensive line coach, like drew Samia. Cause we, cause everybody was in on the train. And I remember we got to the first preseason game and he was with the third team and it was like, Oh no, this is not good. I mean, I'm looking through the drafts now that we've covered here.

And just fun stories. I just remember Devontae Downs was in a grocery store because he was a seventh-round pick with his dad. And he was not expecting to get the call from the Vikings while he was out at a Kroger or something in California grocery shopping. And remember, he seemed really annoyed to be talking to us on the conference call because he was grocery shopping and And everybody seemed really annoyed to be talking to us on the conference call because he was grocery shopping and had just gotten drafted.

That was a fun story. Who else? Do you remember the conference call? It was unreal. He like told this whole story and he had played basketball and there was somebody famous who he had played against at AAU basketball or something. And his family was from Nigeria. And he gave this incredible conference call.

And we never saw him. I'm not sure he was a real person. Well, he tore his ACL in training camp, I want to say, and got an injury settlement. We never saw him again. Another pick that I remember during the covid draft was troy die we were all like oh man anthony bar part two this guy's gonna rush the passer he's what bar was early in his career maybe they don't even need bar anymore at this point and like the guy's body type i think like just i was so surprised to see like even two years in when he was drafted in 20 and then seeing him in 2021, he didn't look like what I thought that position would look like.

He looked so much bigger when he played at Oregon. And just the fact that he was never able to truly carve himself out a role in that defense last year. Maybe he will this year, but that was one. I remember we were really like, wow, that could be a really good pick for the Vikings. And then it's kind of been like, eh. And every once in a while,

there's somebody that PFF is higher on than everybody else. Cause of whatever data they have. And sometimes it works out, but it becomes usually a story like Maurice Hearst dropping. And he actually turned out to be a decent player in the NFL. But they had him like super high and he was in the fifth round because they thought his heart was going to explode. And that was so good. And it's draft season, everybody.

Like all these random things they find out about you during medical. It's like, oh my gosh, did you not know you've been living like your whole life without this like congenitive, like birth defect. Like what, how do they find these things? You didn't make them up. Like, because some of them just don't make any sense. I think that they try to smoke.

Primary care physician your entire life. And then all of a sudden you find out, wow, I have a heart murmur. Like my heart, like right. USC football. Can you help cam Smith?

Not die. All of a sudden. Amazing. The one was bucky hodges though that was the pff player that they had like a second round talent and uh from what my understanding was is that rick spielman really wanted him and so he went for it and other people warned him he did become legendary but for not the reasons that he thought correct i wasn't even here that draft but the bucking stories of like that draft and the conference call are still among my favorites oh man so this is why this is why we do it is uh not only because it's fun for the first couple of rounds but because it's ridiculous for the third and of course we'll have all your coverage here

on Purple Insider. So, well, I would say for you, Courtney, enjoy your first round, kick the heels back, have a diet Dr. P. I hear they're on tap there in Chicago. Not on tap, but there is a plentiful supply of Dr. Pepper products in the media room. It's going to be different,

like not having a first round pick. I'm not really sure how to feel because we're just going to go there and sit around. And if they so magically happen to trade into the first round, we'll hear from the general manager, but it's, it's just not, it feels so improbable that the bears would end up doing that given they've got six picks right now. I feel like six could turn into eight or nine by the end of this, given where they are in the second round and being able to trade back from either 39 or 48 and then they've got to pick at 71 and then not again until the fifth round so you feel like they want to probably strike a

little earlier on day three and what you can turn one of those second round picks into that pretty easily i would imagine right well enjoy your evening and thank you for your time here. And we'll get back together soon for more of What's Up with the Bears? Football!