Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Mel Kiper Jr. has the Vikings taking who???

Episode Date: April 10, 2025

Matthew Coller is joined by CBS Sports Draft Analyst Chris Trapasso to react to Mel Kiper's latest mock that has them making a surprising choice at No. 24 overall.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hey everybody, welcome to another episode of Purple Insider. Matthew Coller here and it is another Chris Trapaso draft show with CBS Sports Draft Analyst Chris Trapaso, of course. And Chris, we have a very exciting show later. We are going to give our nineties, early two thousands and leaking into the 2010s comparisons for five ish players in this draft. We'll talk about probably some more than that, but I'm very proud of a couple of my,

maybe deep cuts for some comparisons to players available in this year's draft. Also, I've got an NFC North question for you, but I think a great place to begin is when the mock father Mel Kuyper drops a mock. It's great to talk about it. So Chris, how are you?

We're kind of in that, like, everybody's just mocking a bunch of times, and we're all waiting for something to happen here before the draft. Yeah, this is the calm before the storm, because like, the rumors, the weak of, like those are usually legit, and I don't know if like, cause I've been of the belief we've talked about it that I don't really think

too many insiders are just getting like teams draft boards. Like here's who we're gonna pick a month out, but it seems like week of Tuesday, Wednesday, day before the draft, that's when we get some juicy rumors. At this point though, you're right. Like I'm good, everything's great. Still working through these evaluations, but yeah, we're kind of in a weird lull, even though we're only like two weeks away from the draft.

So why don't we go through, uh, what Mel has to say and we'll do the, uh, make a noise game in a second, but I will start with the 24th overall pick where Mel Kuyper has the Minnesota Vikings taking Donovan Jackson, the guard from Ohio state. Now I like Donovan Jackson quite a bit. I think that he has some unique skillset as somebody who could kick out to tackle, but also was an exceptional guard. The 24th overall pick for Donovan Jackson though. And let me give you a couple of the picks that happened after him, including Malachi Starks.

Also, Maxwell Hairston was taken the first round in this. I feel like there are other players on this board that the Vikings, Luther Burden, Walter Nolan, as Azaria Thomas, like there's other players here that I think. Wow, actually, I didn't even realize this. He has Kenneth Grant going 43rd and Trey Amos. Yeah, there's a man going 44th. So there's five or six players here that I think I would have gone with

instead of Donovan Jackson. How do you feel about that? I'm not as surprised, but I just looked at my scouting gradebook. I do have Donovan Jackson graded in the 40s. So you're mentioning Kenneth Grant, um, Trey Amos, those feel like more late first round value types. And we've talked about it that yes, guard is a need position for the Vikings. This is not a team that has a bunch of needs, but it feels like if they were to pick Donovan Jackson, it would come, excuse me, after a trade back, as opposed to just staying put at 24, you rattled off

three or four players that seem to be better fits, better value, just better prospects overall at positions of a higher value, just in a vacuum that it feels like they would, they would lean toward even if Donovan Jackson was still on the board. And it feels like he probably will be at 24. Interestingly, here as well, both Siobhan Revelle and Tyler Booker. These are also guys that have been connected with the Vikings. I'm surprised he's got Booker at 47.

I think Booker is probably a better guard prospects than Donovan Jackson. I mean, Booker didn't have a very good NFL combine. That's absolutely true. But it seems that when you talk to anybody about his makeup and about some of his tape, his size is very hard to replace. I just did a podcast with a former Viking Guard, Jeremiah Searles, who's very, very high on the idea of Tyler Booker. This order is different. Now, of course, as you're a mock

draft artists like yourself or Mel Kuyper, you're not always going to just do it the exact way everybody else does. You should go on what you hear and what you think. But some of these are just surprising places to have some guys that have been connected to the Vikings in the back end of the first. Yeah. Can you read off some of like 24 through 30? Because if he doesn't have Kenneth Grant and Trey Amos and Azari Thomas going later, there have to be some quote unquote surprises going at the end of the first round. So he's got 23rd to the Packers is Michael Williams or is it Mike? I haven't looked

at outside linebackers. I think it's Mikel. Okay. Uh, Gray's Abel 22nd to the Chargers. 21st is Derek Harman. So there's kind of our, some of our darlings there. Uh, Ted McMillan going 20th to the Broncos. Uh, Nick Emanuari to the Tampa Bay Bucks at 19th, Kelvin Banks at 18th. I mean, what after the Vikings and right? Well, right after the Vikings is Josh Conner, Connerly from Oregon. Oregon again tackles haven't looked at them. Jackson dart to the Rams, which is interesting. And then Malachi starts to Baltimore, which is an odd one a little bit,

considering they have Kyle Hamilton there. So yeah, I mean, I think one of the things, which is an odd one a little bit considering they have Kyle Hamilton there. So yeah, I mean, I think one of the things that tells you by all the names we were able to rattle off is those trade down scenarios don't sound too bad because all of these prospects, I feel like you could make an argument for five or six guys there even over Donovan Jackson. And we said early in this process, and I mean, maybe it wasn't crazy early, maybe it was around the combine,

that this truly, and I'm trying to steer clear of any of the draft cliches, I said the whole, one last week that always bugs me of that, it's not a big difference between player 16 and player 70, say that every year, but what I really do believe this year, and I'm, I'm trying to think back over the last three or four years that we've even done this show together, there's more uncertainty from pick 16 to 32.

Like it's not surprising that Mel Kuypersmock and maybe Daniel Jeremiah's and mine and Mike runners and Sam Monson's will all look different on the back end that really there are like 30 different possibilities or 40 different possibilities of prospects to fit into those final 16 slots having said that like it kind of segues into what you just mentioned and what another drum that we've been beating this entire draft process trading back for the Vikings not only is it something they should just do from a draft capital standpoint, but it will behoove them to do so because there will be plenty of detackles, corners, safeties, and maybe some of those tackle guard converts,

and maybe even Tyler Booker or Donovan Jackson still available. So it's not like if they trade back, they're going to be missing out most likely on some big time prospects at need positions for Minnesota. So I think the way that the Vikings should approach this draft is if players that are projected to be in the top 15 and think about last year, everybody had Dallas Turner going in the top 10 and then all of a sudden he's available and the Vikings decided to go get him. I think they'll take the same approach here. When, when I look at some of the players that are ahead of the Vikings,

like a gray Zabel, a Derek Harmon, I think they're close to the, just take them. Uh, Emin Warre is probably in that ballpark too. And then you have some guys that are projected very high. Like I know we're a little different on John a Baron, but he's mostly in the top 15, Will Johnson is another guy he's mostly in the top 15. Will Johnson is another guy that's mostly in the top 15. One of these players on draft night will probably surprisingly fall just the way things work out with team needs and teams have different opinions.

But I think if I was there, let me read you those guys again that are also available and you can tell me which one you would pick and then I'll tell you which one I'd pick instead of Donovan Jackson, who by the way, I think is a good prospect and next to Christian Derrisaw would be good. Uh, Malachi Starks. Um, hold on, let me scroll. Maxwell Hairston also, uh, Oleg Buka is there as well. Wide receiver, Luther Burden, Walter Nolan, Azaria Thomas, and Kenneth Grant and Trey

Amos. So that's a lot of different guys that I think could be targets for the Vikings out of those. If you were sticking and picking at 24, who would you take? I think Walter Nolan, because to me, the defensive tackle position, it's not edge rusher, it's not offensive tackle or wide receiver, but it is a position that is seemingly growing in importance in the NFL.

And with Minnesota, it would play by the same book that we saw last year with bringing in Jonathan Grenard and Andrew Van Ginkle, and then trading up for Nolan Smith, understanding that he's young, he's explosive, and his best football, or sorry, Dallas Turner. I always confuse Nolan Smith, understanding that he's young, he's explosive, and his best football. Dallas Turner, I mean. Sorry, Dallas Turner. I always confuse Nolan Smith with Dallas Turner because they were so similar as prospects

to me, Georgia, Alabama, very interchangeable programs. Dallas Turner, it would be a same philosophy that we would see play out in that Nolan is young. He has a lot of upside because he's a great athlete and we saw the production in that final season at Ole Miss really shoot through the roof and that learning from those veterans up front I think would be so great for him and to not put too much on him in his rookie season. The only thing I wouldn't love about it is not directly impacting J.J. McCarthy and that's like another theme that we've had but with all those players available it would probably be Walter Nolan or maybe Malachi Starks

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Results vary based on studies of topical and oral minoxidil and finasteride. Prescription products require an online consultation with a healthcare provider who will determine if a prescription is appropriate. Restrictions apply. See the website for full details and important safety information. I was thinking about Melchiachi Starks is my answer. Of course, you know, Luther Burden is always going to be interesting to me. And I book as well.

Either one of those guys would make so many possibilities. Yeah. I mean, a heck of a wide receiver three. So if it's not them, Kenneth Grant is a really hard player to turn down at 24th overall, even though he is not the same type of Walter Nolan, get into the backfield to penetrate. He's just a rare beast. And you look at how desperate offensive lines are for, for any sort of talent,

how many undersized players end up kind of getting thrown into the mix throughout the year with injuries and so forth. I feel like if you got a guy who weighs 330 pounds and moves like that, I'll take my chances that I could develop a little bit more in the pass rush. It's just such a dominant force when you have that guy. And I don't feel that way about many of these defensive tackles and run stuffers, but he specifically to me stands out as someone that's more of a top 15 player

than someone who would be going in the 40th. So I have him graded outside of the first round, but everything that you just outlined makes a lot of sense for whichever team ultimately picks him. And I feel like he is gonna go in the first round. I mentioned a few weeks ago, and I'm gonna get into the weeds a little, but I know Purple Insider fans, Vikings fans, listeners are a smart group, and they understand relative athletic score and its ability to not just, you know, if you have a few weeks ago that his RAS was 7.17 and

you're thinking okay that's not that's not great but at 6.3 and 3.35 doing that is really impressive and I'm going to read a few others big body D tackles that they look really athletic and they're they have light feet they're dancing bears JJ Pegues from Ole Miss 4.81 Jamari Caldwell from Oregon and a day two guy that if the Vikings don't go defensive tackle early maybe even early day three you will see a lot of day two and day three mocks they'll have Jamari Caldwell from Oregon he's another six two three thirty his R 3.5. Cam Jackson from Florida, he's tall. He's like 6'4", 6'5", 3'40", 3'50". He's big. 3.88. Eric Gregory from Arkansas, another nose tackle build, 6.5. So with Kenneth Grant, even though he's

not like you're saying Walter Nolan or even Derek Harmon or TJ Sanders up the field, having an RAS above seven at 3 35 is really impressive. And for me, the cherry on top, he's only 21 years old. So he would certainly fit the bill for that long term or longer term. I don't think he's, you know, not going to only be good until his fourth season, but more of a developmental guy that you're really picking to hit the ground running in twenty twenty six after kind of getting a three hundred to five hundred snap red shirt season, so to speak as a rookie.

Yeah. And I think Brian Flores likes that. I mean, no matter who they pick on the defensive side, if they go defense, there's kind of some version of that. Unless it's Malachi starts. I mean, if they were to pick Trey Amos, then he probably I mean if he's really good, he beats out Isaiah Rogers in the first year, but he likely is part of a rotation in the first year. And then you're looking to develop him down the road.

Or if it's even Walter Nolan, you have Jonathan Allen there and Jayvon Hargrave. So he's not going to be playing 700 snaps right away. The same goes for Harrison Phillips, but Harrison Phillips isn't under contract for that much longer. So you develop a guy, you rotate, you mix and match depending on the situation.

And then you look to have that guy develop his pass rush skills through the future. I think that they do like to think that way. At the same time. If you're a person that wants the guard and you're totally fine with Donovan Jackson, I'm not going to fight you on it because like you said, anything that helps JJ McCarthy is probably going to get a high mark for me.

So say that the draft played out this way. What would you grade it as you're doing your post draft greats if it was Donovan Jackson? It would probably be a B to B plus, um, just because I have him graded a little lower, but your last sentence there that it would help out JJ McCarthy, that would give it a little boost. And I've said, I got to stick to my guns that Donovan Jackson is my highest rated, just pure guard in this class.

Like there's other ones that some teams will have Kelvin Banks attack. Others will have him at guard. It's hard to really tell in terms of just a plug and play NFL ready, instant impact, all of those phrases guard that to me, the best player in this class is Donovan Jackson. So there would be some increased value in getting that player at 24 that I think Kevin O'Connell and this offensive coaching staff would be like increased value in getting that player at 24 that I think Kevin O'Connell and this offensive coaching staff would be like, hey, we have our left guard. We have two studs next to him. We're going to get high quality play or it's going to, any rookie hiccups will be raised

because of Darasaw and Ryan Kelly next to him. So I have him graded lower, like I said, in the 40s and certainly give some range with those grades that it's not just like if he's the 38th pick that I think it's a terrible selection. But at 24 a little bit early, but six, four, 320 athletic Ohio state played tackle, but is a pure guard in the NFL. Yeah. The debate may be between. So in this scenario, Zabel is off the board. Yeah.

But the debate might be, do you want a guy that has better movement skill, which Jackson definitely does, or would you prefer somebody like Tyler Booker who is just lots of man, just a big old mountain of a human being? And I guess I would have to ask Chris Cooper, the Vikings office of line coach for the answer to that question. Uh, for me, I would have a little bit of concern about Tyler Booker and his ability to deal with some of the zone stuff at

the same time. The way that they've got it built right now. I don't think Will fries is a pure outside zone guy. I mean, he's more of a power guy. Ryan Kelly at this point in his career, same kind of deal and O'Neill and Darasaw could do just about anything you want them to do. So maybe it would fit to switch a little bit more on the power standpoint. If you have an offensive line that does it, plus they've

brought in somebody whose history as an online assistant is with the run game. And I think that they want to build their offensive line specifically to his vision in the run game. So all this is kind of fascinating because it comes down to what they think which guy might be a better fit if they are interested in taking a guard here. So why don't we take a look at the top of Mel Kuypers draft here? I mean, I think that's an ideal scenario for the Vikings to trade down unless they just love, love, love Donovan Jackson.

So let's play the make a noise game where I'm going to I'm going to read you down Mel Kuypers picks and then you make a noise when something stands out to you. Okay, so we got the Titans at number one taking Cam Ward. No surprise. Travis Hunter to the Browns Abdul Carter going to the Giants then at four. It's Will Campbell to the New England Patriots. I feel like this is very chalky. Nothing crazy. Yeah, really? four it's Will Campbell to the New England Patriots. I feel like this is very chalky. This is like the incident. Yeah, yeah, really. Yeah.

Mason Graham to the Jaguars, the most mocked pick probably in the history of mocking. Ashton Gentry to the Raiders. That's another common one. Yep. Armand Memboud to the Jets. We got Jaylen Walker, the outside linebacker going to the Carolina Panthers. Chalk city.

Is that annoying? No, it's just chalk city. outside linebacker going to the Carolina Panthers. Chalk. Well, is that a noise? No, it's just chalk city. Like that's literally the consensus board right there. Okay. No noise. No noise. All right. All right.

Number nine, Cheddar Sanders. No. Yeah, that's chalky too. I mean, I feel like everybody has this. This is it. I, this actually might be the year we always make fun of the draft annals, getting it wrong in their mocks where everybody Nails a lot of this. How about this one the Bears with Tyler Warren?

Okay. Yeah, no Mmm is my noise and that it would be intriguing Because they they miss on Astringenti and I feel like they probably want him because we've talked about the obvious comparison and explosiveness and big playability to Jamir Gibbs coming over from, or not coming over from Detroit, but Ben Johnson coming over from the Lions to get that spark plug in the run game. They have Colcomet, they have receiving options. It would make the Bears more formidable in 12 personnel, obviously. And I wonder what that would do, uh, to help Caleb Williams development, to have a, a, another guy that can really stretch the seam.

And I wonder in this scenario, which is somewhat chalky, that's why I didn't like jump out of my chair in that. What it would do for Ty Warren and that he was the focal point. They were throwing him tunnel screens. Like he was Percy Harvin at Penn State last season, where he wouldn't be someone in the NFL that's going to be getting seven to 12 targets every single game. How much of an impact can he have in that regard?

I think that would be too early for Tyler Warren, but it does feel like somewhere inside the top 15 is where he's ultimately going to go. So here's the question. I'm just going to sprinkle this in. I was going to ask you as a separate topic, who the Vikings should least want the other NFC North teams to get their hands on, who would be the answer for the bears and then we'll talk about the Packers and the lions picks in this mock, who would be the player that if you are sitting

in Minnesota in that front office, you're like, don't let the bears get. Blank. Asked him gentian offense just because of what Ben Johnson showed he can do sitting in Minnesota in that front office. You're like, don't let the bears get blank. Ashton Gentile on offense, just because of what Ben Johnson showed he can do with a young explosive running back. They used Gibbs so creatively and they didn't just give him 50 carries right away. They have the Andre Swift there. I think it would be the same situation.

Relatively speaking early on for Gentile and on defense, it's not gonna happen. So Vikings fans, don't worry. If they pick James Pierce, he's my favorite player in this class, to go opposite Montez Swett and have two towering, bendy speed to power rushers on the outside. That would be a very formidable group in a pass rush that's really needed a jolt and has needed that running mate

for Montez Swett since they traded for him. Interesting how much Pierce has dropped in a lot of that's really needed a jolt and is needed that running mate for Montez. What since they traded for him. Interesting how much Pierce has dropped in a lot of people's minds here. I wonder if that's actually the case or if he will kind of go where everybody thought he would before. What do you think of Tyler Warren as a player? I saw probably five Penn State games. And my thought was Kyle use check. I mean, he was just a lot of fun.

They use them in the backfield. They ran the ball with him. They did all sorts of trick plays and things like that with Tyler Warren. And I think if you're a football player, your football player, we kind of went through this with Brock Bowers a little bit where somebody going to kind of overthink that one. That guy is just a ball player.

And I feel like the same thing for Tyler Warren that he will find a way to impact an offense. The question for me would be how much because even if, you know, when a team, I think of and I know he's not like a pure gadget player, like he's a real tight end. But when I think of Gadgety players, I think they're great to have on great teams. If you're already a great team and you add in somebody like Tyler Warren, wow, you can really be something. But I don't think he's somebody that you have to ask to drive your offense. And maybe Chicago wouldn't be doing that with DJ Moore already there.

Roma Dunze already there. So maybe it would be a good pick for them. I just feel like those types of players have to fit in specifically and can't be like the centerpiece of an offense. Yeah. What you're hinting at is kind of my view on Warren and why I'm a little lower on him and that he really was like this super unique gadget tight end that you're right in that he's just a great football player, but it felt like he won just with his physicality and athleticism and just kind of being like the guy on varsity playing a bunch of JV guys. That's not going to really be the case in the NFL. We

didn't get to see him work out, which was kind of a bummer. He measured in a little bit smaller than expected. He was listed at like 6'6", 265 and he was smaller, shorter arms, not as big hands. The difference though, in terms of yes, they're both great football players. Brock Bowers was like an elite separator. Like he ran amazing routes and was like hair on fire after the catch. Ty Warren like made some ridiculous plays. He hurtled guys, but on a routine basis where he wasn't just given a free runway because there was a misdirection. I didn't see the same type of yards after the catch ability.

So I think you're right in that it would be a little bit of a weird fit and that it would be almost hard for a team to get the return on investment that you want out of a top seven, top nine, top 10 selection, because you have to use him in kind of a unique way. This is not, let's funnel him 150 targets. He's gonna repeatedly get open uh stiff arm guys make defenders

miss in space. He's not that Brock Bowers type of sudden athlete. He's just kind of the overgrown high schooler playing against again a bunch of JV guys and I don't know if he'll have that same advantage in the NFL. He's somewhere between like Kyle Juszczyk. I saw Dallas Goddard because he's another big physical specimen at tight end. It's a good point because I don't know if he can be the focal point of an offense like Bowers was last season.

All right. Let me look at a green Bay and Detroit, and then we will get to our two questions. Fun topic. Yeah. Same exact question. I mean, green Bay, this is Mel Kuypers, mock Michael Williams, the outside linebacker to them makes some sense But at the same time Luther Berman and a Mecca Agbuka both on the board I think the question being who do you not want the Vikings to draft? My answer would be any good wide receiver keep doing that thing where you oh well, we've got six Okay receivers well that sounds great if you're the Vikings, we've got six okay receivers. Well, that sounds great.

If you're the Vikings, please keep doing that. So my answer would be, I don't want them to get Luther Burden or a Mecca. Right when you said it, I was going to say Luther Burden. He is a top 15 player on my board. He's 21 the yards after the catchability is tremendous. And for as much as like you're mentioning that they have like just a litter of these okay wide receivers, Lafleur hasn't, even though he is also on the Kyle Shanahan coaching tree obviously, which is to me like the best system to accentuate yards after the catch in the NFL. We've seen that

with with George Kittle in Miami and everything. Cincinnati with Jamar Chase. The Packers don't really have that guy. I mean Christian Watson at times has made big plays after the catch but he's been injured a lot and a lot of his yards after the catch just linear just because he's big and fast and has long strides. Luther Burden to me, my comp is DJ Moore. So I think to get that type of player in the Packers offense who who can let Jordan love, get the football out of his hands quickly, and then make three guys miss and it's a 15 yard gain. That would be the scariest thing for Vikings fans and the rest of the NFC

North, because they haven't really had that wide receiver, good route runners, physical specimens, but not that big time yak type. And that's exactly what Luther Burden is. No, and it's a great point because Matt LaFleur is excellent at drawing up that screen game. It's one thing I think that he has been phenomenal at in Green Bay. And I think we know that Jordan Love, he's he's a big swinger down the field trying to throw bombs.

And when they've had their most success with them, it's kind of screen quick pass underneath bootleg bootleg, and then the occasional wow, deep shot from him. And if you have a player who can get yards after catch, I think you're going to get a lot there. So I would, I mean, if I'm the Vikings and they draft an outside linebacker, you're like, okay, go ahead, go ahead. That's totally fine. Uh, especially one that's down the board at this point.

Now Detroit also takes an outside linebacker. Don't know how to pronounce his last name. Have not looked at these guys at all for the Vikings from Boston College, Donovan. Isuraku. Isuraku, okay. That's who they take here in Mel Kuyper's mock. Who is the player that the Vikings should least want

the Detroit Lions to draft? I would say Mike Green, the edge rusher from Marshall. Similar to James Pierce, he's taller, he's a little bit more slender, he's got to get stronger and similar to James Pierce, there's apparently some off field or maturity issues. We don't know if those are real or just the team like the Lions are pushing that to get him to fall. The speed to power conversion at times is very good. The outside speed rush, bend, pass rush moves are all there. Now he was doing that against teams that Marshall

played, you know, lower competition, but the upside and not having to be the number one guy with Aiden Hutchinson there, that's exactly what that defense needs. A running mate for Aiden Hutchinson. They've tried it with a bunch of different players. Some didn't work out. Some got hurt. Um, that player is someone that I think in Mike green that has a, a, a sending profile that I think could be really accentuated over the next couple of seasons in Detroit. I was thinking that outside linebacker might be the real choice here.

Uh, because if you pair somebody with Aiden Hutchinson, how dangerous that could be on both sides. You saw it with Zedaria Smith when he came in, how good he was, uh, for them. You just don't want that if you're them. But I was also thinking they have McNeil and they have Anwazirki. And if you added Kenneth Grant to that interior, if you had a guy, right, if you had that much beef that that would be pretty scary to go up against. But I think it's something along the D line is probably the right answer here because they've got a lot of other stuff going for him on

that Detroit Lions defense. Uh, all right. This one, our favorite times of the year, not tease the heck out of it every year, but we're finally at the moment where we can give our nineties, two thousands. And now we stretched it to 2010s, which probably just call it old school comps. You have to comp the players who came into the league at least 10 years ago to make it an old school comp. So I have six or seven of them. I think you've got five of them.

Why don't we just begin with the guy that is most projected to be the number one overall pick in Cam Ward? Who do you comp from the nineties, two thousands, two thousand tens to future Tennessee Titans quarterback Cam Ward? All right. I'm starting this year's old school comps with a David Gerard comp for Cam Ward. Now David Gerard was a little bigger, was a little thicker than Cam Ward, but in watching those really pesky and overachieving Jaguars teams of the early to

mid-2000s into maybe 2010, 11, 12, David Gerard was always getting the most out of his athleticism. There would be that, and I say this, I like use this example a lot. The third and seven, he could pick up eight yards for you with his legs, didn't have a super strong arm, but could make that tight window throw when you really needed him to, wasn't a great sack avoider, but wasn't getting sacked 50 and 60 times a season, and his accuracy was pretty good. He just kind of got by with being above average in essentially everything, and I think his improvisation was probably a little ahead of its time, but he was not Michael Vick. He was not a big time athlete. It's kind of exactly how I feel about Cam Ward. He's actually my legitimate comparison for Cam Ward. I had a lot like a hard time. It took me a long time

to actually come up with that comparison, even just for CBS sports, but it works with the old school comps today. I see a lot of David Gerard in cam ward. That's interesting. I was looking at ward a little bit differently than you and you'll see this in my comp and maybe part of it is I might have pro day bias. I think David Gerard ranked among the quarterbacks around that time. Similarly to where I see cam ward, like he was never a top 10, but he was also never the 25th best quarterback in the league. He can win you games. He can make some spectacular plays, but it's not going to be one after the other.

And his arm strength was pretty good. But when I was watching cam ward and his pro day, it's like, man, he can really sling it with some power. But I think that Kam can also be pretty reckless back there and try too many of those tight window throws. And that's why I went with Jay Cutler as Harrison for Kam Ward, because my big takeaway watching him probably saw three, four games of his this year in college was, what's he doing back there? He does some very odd things. There was a play this year where it looked like he just stopped playing and he like dropped back and sort of looked around and he was like, is he going to run or

move or do something? He just sort of stood there and then he like threw the ball to somebody. It was like that was a Jay Cutler sort of weird. What happened to his brain on that play? Like, uh, I don't think he has Jay Cutler's arm talent because I think Cutler had probably elite arm talent when he was there. But the I'm just going to throw it into this window anyway. Somebody's down there. I'll just let it loose. I'm going to be a gunslinger, but I'm also going to take some bad sacks.

I'm also going to throw some bad picks. That's why I went with Jay Cutler for cam ward. That's really good because that is my biggest knock on ward. And why, even though I, I have him graded, like somewhere in the teens or like close to 20, uh, why I still think, you know, I I'm not going to totally bash the Titans for picking him because they need a quarterback. And, uh and I think he ticks a lot of my boxes but that is the one concern. The recklessness and the

like you're mentioning the lack of sound fundamentals like there are times where he made throws completely flat-footed like he was a second baseman just like tossing a ball the first when the catcher is hitting the ground ball where he knew he had all the time in the world and you're like, are you going to do that in the NFL? And like, what is Brian Callahan going to do when he sees in week two against a really good pass rush that Cam Ward is completely flat footed, uses no rotation from his lower body to just flick a ball to a check down underneath. So there is some recklessness, some carelessness that we saw throughout the career for Jay Cutler.

That's actually a good one. I think just the only reason why I didn't, why I couldn't go that far. You mentioned it. The arm strength difference was too significant for me to go with that comparison. Yep. I went play style. Okay. That makes sense.

But of course Cutler's arm was just magnificent, but that what are you doing is cam ward for sure. Now, Chaudhuri Sanders, I'll give you mine first. I went with Trent Green for Chaudhuri Sanders. And the reason I went with Trent Green is because I don't see any physical skill from Chaudhuri Sanders that makes him stand out at all. If I was doing Madden rankings, I would give him like an 84 arm

and I would give him like 76 speed. There would be nothing there, but the one thing that he can do is throw a football very accurately. I think he's got a really, really nice spin on the ball. Good anticipation. I don't think he's a playmaker at the NFL level. He's going to have to play from the pocket and that's Trent Green. No, but no knock Trent Green. He was a good player

at times. Yeah, but if he's going to be great like Trent Green was once when he won 13 games, Tony Gonzalez, best running game in the league, great coaching. I think Chedur Sanders has to have everything working right for him. Elite offensive line for him to reach a ceiling in the NFL. So I went with Trent Green. That is very good. Hats off to here Trent Green in the year 2025.

You are the king of this. You thought of this idea. I knew you were gonna pull some from the 90s and into the 2000s. All right, so I know that you said you want 10 years ago and further back, but we did say 2010. so I'm going to kind of like circumvent the rules here a little because even as you were saying the Trent Green comparison and explaining why, I think you were, you know, essentially saying all the reasons why I'm going with this

comparison. It's relatively recent, but for Shadr Sanders, I'm going with Josh Rosen. I think he is so similar to Josh Rosen. They both took a ton of sacks in college and the knock was, Oh, hey, well, their offensive lines weren't good. Once they get a great offensive line, they'll just never take a sack again. Hyper accurate. And when I think back, that was my first year at CBS, like my fourth or fifth draft that I did, Josh Rosen was the least polarizing quarterback in that class. Some people love Josh Allen, other people's didn't.

Some people love Lamar Jackson. Others didn't. Everyone kind of had Josh Rosen as like quarterback two to quarterback four, somewhere in that range. Everyone thought he was certainly worthy of being like a mid first round pick, maybe top 10 pick, um, accuracy, rhythm, anticipation was never a big runner, but if you needed him to kind of get outside the pocket on a bootleg, the fundamentals would be good. He would make sound, uh, sound decisions outside of the pocket, but you didn't really want

him running that often. That's kind of how I view Shadoor Sanders. So I think that's like a comparison that I think is actually pretty apt just overall, even if we're not using this old school filter. Now, of course, Josh Rosen maybe was handed a little bit of a raw deal where they went Josh Rosen around one and then Kyler Murray the next year. We never know what will ultimately have happened with his career had his team stayed with him longer. But the offensive line was not good in Arizona. He did not have Tony Gonzalez at tight end. He did not have a big time weapon group in Arizona with the Cardinals.

So I think if Chedurah Sanders goes to a team like that, it was not remotely out of the realm of possibility that he has a similar NFL career arc to Josh Rosen. So you went for another episode, which is the bust comps, which we also do. Every year. Yeah. I could see exactly what you're talking about. And Rosen was also discussed as somebody who had some guts to him, was willing

to push the ball downfield and what ended up happening in the NFL, I think number one, the passion was not there from Josh Rosen. I think the game just went too fast for him and he could never really catch up to how quick the NFL really was and I don't know how much he actually wanted to and which should her. I don't think it's a want to. I think it's also an understanding of how hard it's going to be because when I hear him talk, I think this guy thinks he's

Dion Sanders. He's not the on Sanders who just walked into the NFL and took guy thinks he's Dion Sanders. He's not Dion Sanders who just walked into the NFL and took over because he's one of the goats. Uh, it's going to take a lot of work for Chedur Sanders. So I've got other guys and I don't know who else you have. So I'm just going to give you mine and then we can fire back and forth. Yeah. Sure. And I went, I went all guys who turned out to be great with my comps for old school. So maybe you did it a little different for Travis Hunter. I have two for Travis Hunter because if he's a receiver, he's this guy.

If he's a corner, he's this guy. I have cornerback Champ Bailey because I don't know too many guys other than Dion and Rod Woodson who played the football better than Champ Bailey, natural freak, crazy athlete. It was probably great at everything. Champ Bailey. Terrence Mathis is my wide receiver

because really good ball tracker, tough as nails, but wasn't very big, super shifty, really quick. But I didn't think that he had like, he didn't have four two speed. I don't think Travis Hunter does either, but if you threw the ball to Terrence Mathis, he'd go get it for you, even though he was a little guy. So those are my two comps for Travis Hunter. Just meld them into one player and let the guy play 80 snaps.

We got Trent green and now Terrence Mathis in this episode, like, yeah, to you. Um, so I want just champ Bailey for Travis Hunter, just because champ Bailey just, just played wide receiver and corner at Georgia. He probably could have been like a hall of fame wide receiver. If, if they let him play there in Denver and in Washington. Um, one other one that I'm going to go with, I'm sticking with one other quarter, or actually there's two other quarterbacks I could talk about, but obviously the Vikings are not in the quarterback market but one that's really funny to me

and near and dear to my heart Jackson Dart I'm going with JP Lossman from the box that JP Lossman in that famous 2004 draft class with Ben Routhesberger Eli Manning and Philip Rivers the Bills picked JP Lossman and early in his career I remember watching a game in high school where I don't know if I guess it wouldn't have been rich again and he was still playing whoever it was maybe was Phil Sims said that if you didn't have any helmets or numbers on these players and you let JP Lawson and a bunch of other starters go out there Lawson you would think is like during practice

throwing on air you would be like Lawossman's like that guy right there, whoever that is. He's a top five to seven quarterback because he could move. He could throw the football on the run with velocity. Um, he was really ahead of his time as an athlete. And that was way before we were, I mean outside of Mike Vick and before that Randall Cunningham, there were not scrambling running,ambling running quarterbacks in the NFL. The problem that Lawsman had, and I watched essentially all of his games with the Bills, the recklessness that you talked about with Cam Ward

and with Jay Cutler, crank that to like 15 with JP Lawsman. He could not read a coverage. He would make a bad interception. And then, you know, that it's usually framed as a positive, like the shooter's amnesia that Steph Curry has. Like if he misses three threes in a row, he'll come down and just. Shoot one again from 30 feet. Lawson would do that, but then the next pass would be another interception.

Like that's what I'm a little concerned about with Jackson Dart, that he was a big recruit goes to USC transfers to Ole. He's in this super gimmicky offense at Ole Miss. Go routes, posts, screens, slants, that's essentially it. Did not have to read the full field very often. And there were a lot of throws where he was just kind of chucking it up there. And you were like, dude, just take the check down or let Lane Kiffin's scheme create for you.

And in the big games, we saw the last three years at Ole Miss would be trending toward a top five ranking, top 10 selection, and they would be, oh, Alabama completely smoked him, had a bad game. Georgia, Auburn, things like that. He usually had LSU, he had problems in a lot of those big games, so did JP Lawson. So that was one that I was doing my research and I was like, man, they're similar in that they check all the physical and athletic boxes. They're around the same size, but the recklessness and the inability to read coverages and maybe dark can, but we just never saw him do it in college. I saw them as very similar quarterbacks, JP Lawson and Jackson Dirt.

That's interesting. There was a story about JP Lawson that he was coaching for somebody and that NFL people would see him warming up with the quarterbacks and ask if he was interested in a workout or something because he could still throw the ball. So well, I didn't do a Jackson Dart because I'm going to tell you the truth. I barely watched Jackson Dart and have done nothing on him with the Vikings having their quarterback. But the description is interesting and trying to. I mean, is it like a Marcus Marriott type of thing where the offense is just such

cheese, where it's just screens and quick passes and everything that the numbers get pumped up a lot. Maybe better than he actually is. The next one I had was Ashton Gentie. And I went with for Ashton Gentie, Curtis Martin. The reason I went with Curtis Martin is that Curtis Martin could do anything and everything and just try to tackle Curtis Martin. I was thinking of a guy who's not the hugest dude of all time,

but good luck bringing him down. Just a tackle breaking machine, natural running back. I don't know what his 40 was. I don't know what Ash and Gentie's 40 is. I don't really care when I watch those guys play football because they are so hard to take down. And Gentie isn't, you know, Barry Sanders had the record. And so there's the, those two tied together,

but I don't see Barry Sanders. I see he never really gets hit hard. And when he does, he shreds off so many tackles. It's just it's not like this lightning lightning quickness. It's more of just they can't bring him down. He's so sturdy and such balance and so strong that they can't bring him to the ground. I think Martin may have been a little bit taller, but kind of reminds me in that same way,

just a hard dude to tackle. That's a really good one too. I'm gonna go with similar era a little bit later, I think, or actually, no, it was kind of the same era. For Ashton Gentry, I went with another bill, Travis Henry, because he was a bowling ball of a back. I think he was around the same size, like Gentry's 5'8", 5'9",

that's what Travis Henry was coming out of Tennessee and in his prime, and it was pretty early in Buffalo. It was on some not very good bills teams. He was that same type where I repeatedly said that Ashton Gentie has the best contact balance that I've ever scouted. Uh, from my days remembering Travis Henry, that's the kind of player he was that he looked little. But then when you actually saw him like after a play and like the camera would kind of zoom in, you're like, Oh, he is shredded. He is really thick in his lower half.

No wonder these linebacker, these huge 250 pound linebackers are bouncing off of him, safety is the same way. Wasn't super shifty in space. He could really create down the field and hit you a 40 or 50 yard play. And I think Janty will be able to do that in the NFL. But the ability to have like subtle power based in a low center of gravity, I saw a very similar stylistic runner in Ashton Gentie that I did with Travis Henry thinking way back to another Bill's player. Yeah, I saw a lot of Travis Henry and I totally see it.

I think Gentie is probably a little quicker with his feet than Travis Hendry, but that body type, the fact that you just can't bring them down easy. I love it. The next one I have is Kenneth Grant and I've got Vince Willfork where it is just a mammoth human being. But there is a video out there from early hard knock days of Vince Willfork kicking a field goal. And I feel like Kenneth Grant is that kind of guy. I don't know if he can actually kick a field goal, but I feel like Kenneth Grant has a natural movement skill to him, an athleticism that if he was 50 pounds lighter, he would

play defensive end or something. It's not just a big giant fat guy. It's somebody with some real wiggle to him. And that makes him interesting to me. I mean, could have thrown out Pat Williams here as well. I'm sure Vikings fans are thinking that one, but Will Fork is my guy for Kenneth Grant. And Will Fork's a good one too, because like you're mentioning that he was one of those like Supreme athletes given his size. And in watching Kenneth Grant, I will say that in this and I don't spend an insane amount of time in the summer, but going into like the way too early mocks, I'm watching Mason Graham and I'm like, who is 78 next to him? And I'm like, oh, he's, he's pretty good. He's really led on his feet. And then seeing during the season that he's legitimately 6'2", 330, I was like, man, he is like a ballerina out there with how light his feet are.

And I think that was for as big and strong and squatty and just that classic nose tackle during the Patriots dynasty that Will Fork was. I think his athleticism and to win across gaps and up the field was kind of an underrated element to his game. And don't be surprised if in three or four years, whatever team drafts, Kenneth Grant is like, oh, he's the best athlete on our team regard, you know,

not talking about size, just relative to pound for pound. Kenneth Grant might be that player in the NFL. Did you have more or do you want me to give you my last two? I told you only five, but I did more than five. I had one more because I originally, I think I was thinking to last year where we did all quarterbacks, which made a lot more sense. I had one more because I originally, I think I was thinking to last year where we did all quarterbacks, which made a lot more sense. I did quarterbacks.

I'll just do one quick. It is another bill, even though it's probably hard to remember that he was on the bills. Jalen Milro. I'm going with Brad Smith. He was more famous with the Jets, played a little bit with the bills after Rex Ryan came to Buffalo at Missouri. He was like a legitimate Jalen Milro.

He like ran an insane amount. He was like set all these records as a like read option runner. He was kind of at the forefront of that. Not that he was as famous as a as a Kaepernick or Tim Tebow, but was in that same era. Ultimately played some receiver in the

NFL return kicks never through for more than I think 17 touchdowns in college, but was considered like a decent enough passer to be picked to, to, to be that wildcat quarterback where you would be a little bit afraid of him to potentially throw the football Milro has a ways to go as a passer. I think he's further ahead than where Brad Smith was coming out of Missouri, but the just gazelle like speed in the open field,

I think between those two quarterbacks, very similar. I love this poll. I love this poll because Brad Smith was kind of everywhere for the Jets on some teams that were really good and he was such a fun player for them. There's some other guys that come to mind immediately that are along these same lines, like Ray Lucas, who would play on special teams sometimes for the Jets and for the Dolphins. And,, you know, of course we know these guys because I would get them on Madden and they had 90 speed and you would use them like Michael Vick. Seneca Wallace

is another one where yes insane speed ahead of his time. Great arm strength, but not exactly the precision as a passer that you'd be hoping for. And I feel like the same thing with Jalen Miller. Oh, I just don't think he sees the field at all. And his decision making is pretty brutal at times, but as a pure athlete, oh my gosh, he should return kicks and play quarterback sometimes and play slot. Sometimes he's a really fun player. The two other ones that I had are Luther Burden, Pierre Garcon, because here's what I did. I went back using PFF and I looked at 2010 who led the league

and broken tackles for wide receivers or miss tackles forced. And Pierre Garcon was up there. I was like, that's perfect because he wasn't just a yak guy, but he also had this thickness to him where he could run through people and get yards after catch. So I went Pierre Garcon with Luther Burton. Hey, by the way, I think he was like a wide receiver three on a great team. I'm just saying, uh, Nick M and war, I went with Adrian Wilson, big giant hulking safety, but also speed movement, freak athlete. He could blitz, he could play deep over the top.

Just that guy who could come down to the box and be intimidating, Pro Bowl, Adrian Wilson. And we talked about it last week, or maybe two weeks ago, that Adrian Wilson made plays in deep coverage. And a man worries film has that too. That I think that was the big reason, even though Adrian Wilson played in that strong safety era where you could be the 63, 230 safety and be a presence,

he was not just a quasi linebacker. He made plays downfield. And I think a man worry has that capability too, even though he's around the same size as Adrian Wilson. It's now only hitting me that you brought this up a while back. I thought I was genius for coming up with this. That's right. You did. You did several weeks ago mention M and war and Adrian Wilson. So that's a joint old school throwback. If you have them. I'd love to see them in the comments. Give me your throwbacks. Don't cheat like you did on Cheddar Sanders 2010 or before. Let's get some comps in there.

But always one of the fun times of the year. And we will talk about bust comps for some of these guys later on before the draft. But tell you next week, I think we need to do, I think we need to do our own 23 picks leading up to the Vikings and then make the decision. That's another staple of our draft season podcast where we take every pick and one year we got to Jordan Addison and took him with the 23rd overall pick.

So who did we pick last year? It's good question. Did you pick McCarthy? I think you might be too, too, for the, well, yeah, then they traded back. I know you got Jordan Addison. I went Nolan Smith, uh, one year where they didn't pick him obviously. Right. Um, but yeah, so I think that is definitely in the cards.

What we have to do before the actual draft. I th I'm assuming that last year we all thought panics or McCarthy. I don't think we could really play this game as easily last year because the Vikings were at the top and we knew it was going to be a quarterback. It was just, are they going to trade up to get Drake May? Are it what anybody be willing to do that? Or how's it going to go with Penex versus McCarthy versus Bo Nicks? And we have our answer to that now.

So this one will be fun to see how it plays out and then how that board looks, how we think it's going to go. So we'll do that next week for sure but we're getting closer Chris we're almost there so make sure if you haven't listened to all the episodes of the Christopher Paso draft show that you go back and do that and we'll talk to you soon sir thank you for your time football football