The Athletic Football Show: A show about the NFL - 2022 Draft Night Special: Round 1

Episode Date: April 29, 2022

Round 1 of the 2022 NFL draft is in the books, and Robert Mays, Dane Brugler and Nate Tice covered every pick live. Hear their reactions to the selections, jaw-dropping trades, and everything else round 1 had to offer NFL fans.Watch on YouTube Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is the Athletic Football Show's draft night special. Live from the Athletic Draft House in Las Vegas, Nevada. Featuring Robert Mays and Nate Tice. The athletics draft guru, Dane Brubler. Plus, the incomparable Lindsay Jones and more special guest. Welcome to the Athletic Football Show. I'm Robert Mays. We are live in Las Vegas for the 2022 and...

NFL draft and here to break it down like no one else can are our draft experts from the athletic including Mr. Dane Brugler. This is your Christmas, my friend. I'm so excited that it's finally here. It's finally here. And hey, it's draft night. Let's have fun. This is going to be great.

Yeah. Also with us tonight, my good friend, Nate Tice, Las Vegas resident. You have home field advantage. Yes. While we're here over the next couple days. I got to commute. I get to sleep in my bed tonight. It's great.

Dane and I were talking before the show. He said, you know, being on West Coast time is like a little, you know, wonky, as you know, you in time zones is always a typical journey. It's always an adventure. So, but like talking about the best part about it, though, is we start at five. So Christmas and then Christmas almost ends early at eight. So it's not like we're on the East Coast. I know how you guys do it where it's 11 o'clock at night and you're watching pick 31 get made. This is very similar to the last two Super Bowls. Yes. The Bucks got to play in their home stadium. The Rams got to play in their home stadium.

You are in your home stadium right now. Dane, we've been talking about this for the last 48 hours. you've done this for a very long time. Can you remember a draft with this level of uncertainty? We're here. The draft is starting. We barely know who the number one pick is. We certainly don't know how the rest of the top five is going to unfold. It's a stark contrast to the type of draft we had last year where it felt like we understood

how the dominoes were going to fall. It feels like anything is on the table right now. Right. And last year was fun, but it was a little more predictable. And we knew the quarterbacks, kind of where they were going. I mean, Justin Fields was still a surprise. but you're telling me yeah Kyle Piss Jamar Chase pennies we had a good idea where they were headed

this year it's all over the map and that's going to make it a lot of fun I mean I thinking back maybe 2018 that's the year Baker Mayfield went one you know we heard some late noise that it was going to be Baker but you know we still do okay what does that mean for Sam Darnold what does that mean for Josh Allen but those were the quarterbacks we don't have those quarterbacks this year and that's what makes it really really interesting when's that first quarterback I'm off the board when's that run start I mean We were talking about it before, maybe a trade-up, probably.

Teens, I don't know. That's going to be fascinating. Who's going to be the team that trades up for the quarterback over under two and a half quarterback's first round? I don't have a good feeling for any of those answers for any of those questions. My favorite part about this, though, is that you've leaned into this. You have just been over the moon excited this entire time since I picked you up from the airport. You were just giddy the whole time because you're like, I don't know what's going to happen.

That level of uncertainty, just the chaos, the pure chaos, you've leaned into. to this. It's, yeah, it's fun. I mean, that's what the draft. That's why we love the draft. It's fun. I mean, last year is the best I ever did on a mock draft. I'm proud of that. That's cool. I hope I go over 32. I hope I do. Because that means it's even more fun,

even more unpredictable than we even thought. So, and like you said, it starts at one. We think Trouon Walker is going to be the pick for the Jacksonville Jaguars. We think, but would it really shock us if maybe they say Ian Hutchinson, would it really be a shock if it's Ikea Kuan,

I mean, when you have the number one overall pick, everybody's involved. And if ownership has maybe a late lean, that could change where the Jaguars go. So we think it's Trevon Walker, but by no means, is that a lock. That's what's kind of funny, too, is that it took until we have no idea. It took the team with the number one pick until a last minute meeting the weekend before the draft to finally decide who they're taking with the number one. So I guess that makes me feel better. I guess that I'm in the same boat as the team of the number one pick that we have no clue

and they have no clue. So I think whatever one you go down, like you said, the number one pick, that's the status symbol. Like that is a lot of expectations you're putting on a player. So it makes sense that a team is going to do their due diligence, even if it's leading up to what seems like two days before where we are right now to make that selection. And the idea of a draft rise is always overstated. You've had Trayvon Walker in your top 10 since you started doing this process, but still shuffling at the top. Yeah. We just assumed for so long that Aiden Hutchinson would be the number one pick in the draft. I mean, that was just the blanket assumption, especially after the Jaggs did what they did in a free agency, where they bring back Ham Robinson.

They go sign, Brandon Shirf, they have all these pieces on the offensive line. They've committed to the tackles that we suspected might be in player off the board. I was like, all right, they're probably going to go with the past rusher because in a draft where no quarterbacks go, it's either an offensive tackle or a pass rusher for the most part. And we always thought it would be Hutchinson because it's a double. We know what it is. We probably know what he's going to be. But I think the idea of a Trayvon Walker over in Aden Hutchinson speaks to what kind of draft this is. Right.

You're betting on traits. You're betting on what this guy could be. And that's what the draft is all about. It's all about the traits. It's all about making your franchise better, not for necessarily tomorrow, but for the next four or five years. And that's what a guy like Trayvon Walker can do. I'm really eager to find out when's that first trade that we've seen tonight? Is it in the top three, top five, top ten?

that's really what's going to start that reshuffling, and that's what's going to make tonight, I think, a lot of fun. Yeah. Usually there's like one or, there's maybe one pivot point in the top 10 where you think, oh, whatever happens here, that's going to be this domino effect that starts affecting all the other picks. There are 10. So many of these picks, I mean, the Panthers are obviously the obvious one, right?

The Panthers are, they could go quarterback. They could dray down. If you're a team that really wants to move up into the top 10 for one of the tackles that's becoming a scarce resource, if we think there's a false. resource if we think there's a fall after Charles Cross. If you love Derek Stingley and you think, you know what, this is our spot to go get it. Maybe you trade up with Carolina. If Carolina takes a quarterback, the Giants could become that pick where you get a ton of phone calls.

They have two picks in the top 10. Maybe that's a spot where a team tries to come up. Everything. Everything is on the table. And I just cannot remember a draft like that. Well, and with little consensus, that's where those crazy trades might happen because the team might go, hey, that's our guy. we're the ones that's smart and actually really like this guy.

So let's move up to seven. Let's move up to six. That's where I think it's going to happen. This draft is so crazy how little consensus there are. Usually like last year, it's like, oh, who's your QB2? Who's your QB3? Who's your receiver two? This draft is like, who's your one through five at every position?

And so I think that's why it could be even crazier than usual. I can't, we're going to keep reiterating how crazy this top 10 might be the whole first round. Yeah, exactly. What if, what if two? Ice cubes walking on this stage right now. It's about to get crazy. Do you see Darren Waller or Derek Carson's? It's and stuff?

Yeah, but what if Hutchinson does drop? Like, what if also in the number two pick? Imagine that chaos that might happen. What if a team just all of saying goes, oh, shoot, the project number one is now falling to three, four, five, six. So that might be a whole other, you know, wild card to throw on this wild card draft. Who is the player in the top 10 that you just can't wait to see where they go? It's like, oh, man, the landing spot, the range, what a team thinks of him.

The guy you find the most intriguing. It's got to be Tibido, right? I mean, because he could realistically go two, could realistically go nine. I think that's the range. I don't think he gets past Seattle at 9 if Seattle stays there. So I guess he could fall out of the top 10. If Seattle gets a good deal and moves back, that's possible. So Thibodeau realistically could go in so many spots in that top 10.

And you would understand it. Because the whole thing with Tibido is not that he's falling. It's more what's the right fit? Where does he necessarily with the culture fit, with what the coaches are looking for? So finding that exact fit. And it could be, it could be too with Dan Campbell. That is a realistic landing spot for Cave on Tibido. Absolutely.

Is there a team in the first round that is in the front of your mind right now? The one that when this draft was getting going, when we were in the lead-up, the team you just kept coming back to. We're like, I can't wait to see what they do. This is huge for them. Was there one franchise that stuck with you? For me, it keeps coming back to the Jets. Just because this could be a big franchise altering draft for them. Like, it really can.

They have pieced together a lot of nice moves the last year or so. So now they have all this draft capital. They could do so many things with those picks. So I'm really curious to see what they do. How about you, Dan? Yeah, if not the Jets, then the Giants. Because the two teams with multiple picks in the top 10, these are cornerstones of your franchise.

And, you know, a chance to get better immediately because both these teams need help right away, but also guys that you want to build around. So whether that's going to be the tackle, corner. And then the other thing, too, is the wide receiver run. When's that start? because I think that that is what could you know really spark some trade action

because if all of a sudden Drake London's off the board Garrett Wilson's off the board Jameson okay well some teams in the early 20s late teens are thinking shoot we better move up to get our guy because Chris Oliva might not make it to us or trailing birthsillov is going 39th overall you don't know where I see it's

someone needs to tell Commissioner Goodell but that's I mean a run on receivers is something that could you know really spark that trade action we've been talking about And the other part about the receivers, Nate, is just that the jags are on the clock right now. So we'll be paying attention to that as it unfolds here over the next few minutes. The other thing about this receiver class, Nate, and this is true of virtually every receiver class now, is that the sport has changed so much. It's not just that the quality of receivers has been elevated.

It's that offenses are tailored around the passing game such now that every different type of receiver can be successful. And every different type of receiver could be at a certain role within your offense. So the flavor of a guy that a team likes becomes such an object of fascination. Does a team love Drake London like you would because he's a big prototypical ball catching receiver, catch radius, everything else? Does a team say, I want the speed and go get Jameson Williams? Does a team look at a guy like Garrett Wilson and say, this is the most complete player at this position?

And I think how that run unfolds not only when it starts, but the order that it happens in, I just think it becomes so, so interesting when you think about. where that position sits in the NFL right now. It's a lot of guys that are in the same tier. But like you say, now it's what flavor do we like. Some people might like strawberry. And then some might just go, I would never touch that in a million years. And that's how I think it's going to go.

So you see teams that what we've talked about, and I think Dana and I are more or less on the same page with kind of how we tier the receivers as far as grouping them together. But now there's some teams that might go, hey, Chris Lovie's too small. We wouldn't take him to a second round, which would be, you know, there's going to be a lot of teams that are happy with the guy they got. And half the other teams are going, like, oh, my God, can you believe they picked them at 12?

Like, that's what this draft's going to be more than last year is a great comparison because not only with the quarterbacks that were so good, there's a lot of blue chip guys at every position. You had two tackles, you had a couple corners. You had some really good players. The best head prospect in how long? Forever. Yes. And also the receiver prospects were great.

And they all hit. I know, right? It's not just that we talked about them this way. It's that every single one of them, I mean, you had a guy. at pretty much almost every position become a Pro Bowl level player as a rookie. Patrick Sartan, we can make an argument, but I think very much on his way there.

Kyle Pitts, immediate impact as a receiver, as a rookie. Jamar Chase was an all pro out of the gate. Roshan Slater was an all pro out of the gate. The talent, not only our expectations, but them making good on it, it just feels like this year's a little bit different, even if you're viewing it in an optimistic way. Right, I mean, from Michael Parsons in there.

Yeah. Sorry. You run out of guys. J.C. Horn probably would have been in there if not if you didn't get injured. So, yeah, there were so many guys. And that's what we're missing at the top of this draft. It doesn't make this a weak draft. It's just, it's a, you know, that upper class is a little thin.

And, you know, every team's going to look a little bit different. And that's going to make it really interesting, especially when you get to the later portion of the first round. Most teams have between 14, 18 first round grades this year. We're going to see plenty of second round graded players drafted in the first round. we do every year, but more so this year, we might see a third round graded player going to the first round, a third round graded player for most teams. So it's really going to be interesting not only at the top, but throughout the first round. Is there a guy that you want to tell people right now, don't be surprised if he goes tonight.

Don't be surprised if this name comes across the ticker, even if it might come out of left field. Maybe like a Quay Walker out of Georgia, and we talk so much about this Georgia defense, Tray Walker might go one, Jordan Davis is going to go somewhere. Quay Walker could be the first linebacker drafted. Would not be surprised at all. Six, four, two hundred forty pounds, four, five, two in the 40. Just big time athlete. One year's a starter, but you feel like, you know, he's not even scratched the surface

of what he could be. So Quay Walker, for the lot of teams look for, the Patriots, the Saints, kind of that bigger body, that athlete. I think Quay Walker could be that player, Tyler Smith from Tulsa. Once we see those first three tackles, the first four tackles off the board, okay, we'll see a little bit of a gap. and then who's that next tackle. Good chance it could be Tyler Smith from Tulsa,

who not really quite NFL ready to step in it as a left tackle, but maybe you start my guard. Maybe you, you know, but he's still going to go because he has the traits. I put this list together because I thought that Ikea Kwano was an interesting test case. If you look at it, there have been a few guys over the last 20 years, not as many as you might think,

but guys who started as guards that ultimately turned into high-end left tackles. If we're talking about that, it's kind of a development plan. Jonathan Ogden, is the classic example. One year at guard and is one of the best of the best of tackles of all time. But other guys that Andrew Whitworth is somebody that played a decent amount of guard early in his career. Flozo Adams spent a year at guard.

Territ Glenn spent a year at guard. Lincoln Kennedy. These guys aren't like Hall of Fame level guys, but there definitely is a precedent for a guy like Aquano or somebody like Tyler Smith. If you want to say, you know what, this is how we're going to do this. We're going to slow play it. We're going to give you some time inside, let you learn the tricks of the trade, and then we move you out when you. you're ready. It's just having a plan. Like, that's where it is. That's part of the team is going like, hey, we'll give him a shot left tackle. If it doesn't

stick their, okay, we'll build some confidence to play him at guard. And that's, that's having a plan as a franchise when you take these guys. And it gives you, it gives you options. You know, if you're, if you're the, if you're the, if you're the, if you're the, exons, and you're starting at three, Larry Tunsell's your starter at left tackle. You could, you know, play Icky at guard. And then you have your succession plan in place. And so it gives you options with a player. And a guy like Ikey, he has that tangible experience. If you want to know how he can play as a guard, throw on the tape. You want to know how Evan Neal can play at right tackle

or left guard, throw on the tape. You've seen that. Now, Charles Cross was a left tackle only, but several teams, like we talked about, worked him out at right tackle. So, you know, there might be optimism that he could play there as well. The Jags pick is in. I just saw a shot of the green room that looks like every single Instagramable brunch place in America right now with all those green fake hedges. But, I mean, this, the idea of Trayvon Walker going one, I mean, it seems so crazy based on his production, right? I mean, if you just think about the history of past rushers that go with the number one pick.

I went back and it's funny because Mina Kimes tweeted something similar to this earlier this week, but if you look back at the history of guys at that position that go number one or even in the top three, and there are some people, it's like, oh, man, they were traitsy and what was their production like, a Miles Garrett, a Debbie and Clowny. Almost all of these guys had 25, 30 sacks in knowledge. They were in single seasons or for their careers racking up. Combined tackles for lost in sacks. Trayvon Walker is not even in that stratosphere.

And Roger Goodell is walking to the podium right now, and there's a chance that somebody with a handful of sacks is about to be the number one pick in the draft. Right. This is, you know, just a sidebar. This is what we talked about having the Jack's plan. We were talking about Ikey, you know, okay, playing my guard, Neil playing my guard.

That's why I was liking, even with the Cam Robinson resigning. There it is. Trayvon Walker. Tramon Walker. In the 2022 NFL draft, the Jacksonville Jaguar select. Trayvon Walker Linebacker There it is

Big Trayvon. You can take a victory lap right now if you wanted. You had him in a mock at number one fairly early, didn't you? Well, he's been a player that I've been advocating as, listen, watch, focus on the traits. Every tape you put on,

like, it's not as simple as, you know, watching Von Miller and seeing him, you know, that initial step, that bend. Like, this guy is just a little bit different with how he's used, how he's built. But you, and then the combine, he blew up. And I think a lot of people have this misconception, that the combine is what put Trouin Walker into the number one pick conversation.

He was already there for teams based, because when you watch the tape, you see these traits. The length, you see the ability to move for a 275 pounder. You shouldn't be able to move like that. It's outlandish. If you look at his spider chart, it is outlandish. 451, the arms are third. I mean, it's an absolutely insane, 35 and a half inch arms. There aren't that many people who have ever been drafted,

who are physically put together like this, Nate, but there is a huge chasm between what that is and what the production is. How scared are you about that? A little, but this is, and this is the argument for it, is that all the other guys we will refer to as doubles and singles. Like, this guy has a chance to just keep ascending and keep, you know, rising to a new level. Even in the close right now that ESPN just showed, they had one where he he's split out

he bumps out into coverage because he'll do that from the end spots. How fluid he is as a mover at 275 he moves like he's 240 and on top of that he has long arms and he plays tough. You can tell he's trying to work things out. It's just that you're betting on the arrow just keep pointing up. Well for him

and I understand that. I had no one pick. Yeah, that's spicy but sometimes you have to tolerate that spice to get what you want. The lion's pick is in so we'll keep an eye on that here for a second. Here's my concern with this day, especially for the Jags. If you look at the Jags, draft history recently. Every other Cam Robinson is the only player

drafted in the first two rounds from 2014 through 2018 that is currently on the Jaguars roster. That's hard to do. It is hard to do. The Miles Jack was the other one that was still on the roster until recently. But now you look back at it

from the first and second round. If you're a team that cannot draft, develop, and retain its players, is it worth swinging for the fences rather than just saying, I want a guy who's going to be here in four years. And I'm a big believer in learning from our mistakes, but not letting our past mistakes, you know,

don't carry it with us where it's going to really impact our future decisions. You know, that's philosophy for life. Yeah, because, you know, it's the Calvin Johnson argument. Right, exactly.

You don't want to pass on a talent. If you really believe Javon Walker is that type of dude, is going to come in. and I this is going to sound bad but like at very worst this guy's going to be a really good run defender. Yeah. And I know you don't want to hear that. We're talking about the number one. Number one big.

I know. You don't want to hear that. Yeah. But at the, I don't think this guy's going to bust. Yeah. You know, because he's going to be a really good run defender. And then he's going to develop there.

This is a projection. As much as I love Tron Walker, it's a projection because he, he wasn't asked to consistently rush off the edge. And so patching together that pass rush moves, you know, the timing. It's an art. And so it will take time. for him to develop that, but the talent is there. Yeah.

I think the run defense point is a great point, though. It gives him a floor to work off of. Hey, at least we're not wasting reps on this guy and he's getting buried for 35 snaps. It's like, no, he's actually doing stuff. So now the intrigue starts here. It was Hutchinson. Okay. Aidan Hutchinson goes number two overall to the Lions.

This makes so much sense to me. I don't, they drive 20 minutes down the road to Ann Arbor to watch his games. And we're talking about a coach and a franchise. I think the phrase I used on our mock draft earlier this week is, this is a dude who prides himself and eating nails for breakfast. If we're talking about culturally, just a fit and positional need,

so many things seem to align with what Aidan Hutchinson is, what the Lions want to be, and what they need it as a team. The geography is more of a fun story than something that should really matter. But, you know, he's born and raised in Michigan. Like, you know, he, you know, is stayed home to play for the Wolverines. Now he's going to play his professional football in the state of Michigan.

That's an awesome story. But more than that, This is a really good football player. Do you wish you were a little bit longer? Sure. Is he the most bendy edge rusher? No, but he doesn't need to be to win. You know, pass rushers come in different sizes and in the ways they win.

And a guy like Hutchinson, very skilled with his hands. And this is not a tryhard competitor. He has the same three cone as Von Miller. Like, it's not paying him to be this. Yeah, this overachiever type. I mean, he is, but he doesn't need to be because he's already this fantastic athlete. It's funny seeing a guy from Michigan, though. Like usually when you see the guy going,

high school, college, and then pros all in the same state. It's like a guy who's from South Florida, goes to like Florida or Miami. And he gets drafted by like the Bucks or like Warren Sapp, you know, like you go Miami to the box, you know, something like that. Don't usually get the Michigan path like all the way from high school to college all his way to the pros. But no, Hutchinson is, it's, his numbers kind of like a weird like testing, but he is a good athlete.

I think people had in their mind, they're like, oh, he's a tryhard guy. But the thing is what I love that he brought up his hand usage because that's how he wins. every guy wins different. Do we want everyone to do the ghost technique? Yes. Yes. We want all our edges to be able to do that. We want Brian Burns.

We want that bend. Do you want the Vaughn Miller's? But like you said, like you just said, he wins in a different way, and it's a tangible way. And he affects the game. A lot of people don't know this,

but at the Combine, they will time the patch rush moves. And this guy, Aidan Hutchinson, had the best or the fastest swim move out of every pass rusher at the Combine. that's that's that's one of his favorite moves that's what he that's how he wins a lot of times when he gets to the quarterback so i this is a guy that does not go on spring break because he wants to get better at football he lives in the building uh both practice field film room i mean he wants to get better he wants to be the best and he's got a lot of ability and a lot of people were saying that you know that this guy came out of nowhere like oh he was a third round i think he was my 13th overall player in august like he did this he had an injury last year so a little bit off the radar but still a a top half, around one type of guy coming into this year.

So another guy, he did not come out of nowhere, had a fantastic season. And I tell you what, that Ohio State game just kind of elevated him to a higher level. So I don't watch much college football. And I come to these guys very, very late. I was watching the Michigan, Ohio State game. And I'm watching the game.

I was like, 97's pretty good. And then I looked it up and realized he might be the number one pick the draft. I was like, oh, good. I'm glad that I can pick up on that while I'm watching this. Dan, he's an interesting valuation just because when you watch him. His little, like, if he's going in and out, his side to side quickness is very real. They come, the three cone drill comes through when you watch him play, but he's not as refined

as a Bosa. And he's very, his arms are very short. He's in like that Trey Hendrickson range. So finding like a real comp for him, I think is much more difficult than it might seem at first glance when you're just trying to like throw him in with the Bosa's. Yeah, I mean, because there are some similarities of the Bosa's with the way he uses his hands, some of the quickness things. that matches up but you're right the length um even at like the 10 yards split was not on the boses level so that that initial burst the boas has them there but you know there are still some similarities you can make uh but the hendrous one that's a good comparison because of the lack of arm length and i know henderson was a third rounder right so you know it's a little bit different but

it's also a player that helped get the bengals to the super bowl so good player i ended up with uh cow van bosh as my my comparison and i didn't realize van der boch had shorter arms too he was like 32 and a quarter or 32 and a half or something like that. So that was, I ended up with that one because that's funny lines with, with Hutchinson now is that hand usage, and we're going to keep bringing it up because it gives him the floor because now he doesn't have to have a perfect rep as far as kind of like the bend and getting an angle. That's what so many of these guys, when you're such a good athlete, they're able to find

favorable angles and recover from that. He puts himself in a good position. That's why he is a good player because when he's Russian, it's like, yes, he doesn't get that edge, but he's swiping the tackle by. And he might not get to the home to the quarterback, but he's creating pressure because now the tackles, you know, has to recover and set back. So those are the things, those little pressures, those little things, that's what makes Hutchinson kind of, it's unique in a way. He had production, but I think in the pros, might be an eight-sac guy, but with a ton of pressures where he's just really affecting the

game play after play. And I think with you're the Lions, this is still a team that is in the early stages of their rebuild, even though it's here two. They did not have much talent. They had to really undo a lot of the stuff that the previous regime did. In the 20-22. They were 31st to pressure it. They needed the passenger. The Houston Texan select. Derek Stingley, Jr. Defensive back.

All right. Three in the mock. Yeah, nice. Nice. Walk me through the conversation that Texans were probably having, and a lot of teams were probably having, about Derek Stingley over the last few days. Which guy are we getting?

Are we getting the 2019 version, or are we getting the guy that we kind of have worries about, can he stay healthy? is he going to be a guy that's, you know, stays on the field, is reliable, going to fight through injuries. As we know, that's a big part of playing the NFL is just fighting through those minor injuries. And talking to people at LSU, they said he did. He fought through those injuries. Now they said he's not, he's not like an alpha personality.

That's not what he does. You know, that's not how he carries himself. That's okay. Yeah. But, you know, he's going to a team that, you know, with Lovie Smith, this head coach, a team that is totally rebuilding. I mean, they're looking for building blocks. this guy is their defensive building block. So a little surprised.

I think this came down to Iki, Iki, Iquanoo, that offensive tackle or Derek Stingley. And very interesting that they went with the corner. They went with, you know, because we know there's a good chance. Tackles aren't going to, you know, slip to their second pick, that 13th pick, where corner, maybe. It's, I made stretches maybe a little bit more. They just went with their favorite player. Yeah. I, the reason I asked you that, and the reason I framed the question that way, is that in a draft

aware there aren't those clear cut top five talents. I can just imagine Nate a team sitting there in the draft room looking at that 2019 tape and thinking, what if we get that guy? Yeah. And talking yourself into it that way. And when you're a team like Houston that has nothing. I mean, we're going to talk about this a little bit later when their second pick comes up, but just the lack of roster definition they have beyond next year is insane.

Yeah. So when you're at that stage and you're saying, we need everything, watching that 2019 tape and seeing that player in this draft especially, not that far removed from the Trayvon Walker conversation feels like a dice roll that might be worth taking. Oh, absolutely. And his 21-21 tape wasn't as big of a drop-up as I was maybe expecting doing play the best competition. But it was still like, I was like, you can see it.

You watch this guy. He moves different. He's just one of those guys that you watch him. He understands the corner position because it's such a, I want to say technique, an awareness, high awareness position. And on top of that, he tested really well. So, yeah, it's going to come down to health. That's really as big as knock.

And honestly, for a Texan team, it's just like, hey, we say BPA, best player available, just right here. It's a premium position. It's corner. We have a top five pick. Do we really want this guy to do it? Let's just take a guy that does have that talent. And I'm just more curious, too. It's like, all right, does Levy going to be running any cover two?

Because that's a waste with this guy because he can run man all day. And so that's kind of a, that's something interesting now. I wonder what the Texas is going to throw out of defense this year. Dan, where would you say that Stingley's 2019 season ranks for you in terms of of individual cornerback seasons that you've scouted in the past with other players. I mean, the production alone, 21 passes defended, six interceptions. That alone. It's a freshman. It's the SEC.

It feels face. Yeah. Like, it's just those don't seem like real numbers. And he played for an LSU team at one national championship with Joe Burrough on the other side scoring a bunch of points. So defense or the offenses were, you know, trying to score points as well, trying to keep up. And Derek's thinking he was up to the task. True freshman steps in.

And this is a guy that grew up. around the game. His dad, his grandfather, I mean, the former players, he grew up around it. And going back to, you know, how important that pro day was. Because, you know, getting, just getting on the field and moving around without that pro day, he probably does not go with this pick at number three. I mean, he, to go out through the pro day. Do you think that's good process?

Maybe it's just, you know, peace of mind. Yeah. Because, you know, he's on tape, you can see the athleticism. Yeah. But being able to see him go out there and over six. foot and you're running a 4-4-4. You're running under a seven-second three cone. You're doing all these things that you know he could do, but then you see the feet.

You're like, oh, man, okay, this guy's still got it. You know, the way he's moving out there, you know, we'll take our chances. This guy will hold up. So I totally get the thought process. But yeah, it will be interesting now with Lovie, how they, because he could do both. Zone, man. You can play off. He can do that.

No worries there. But it will be interesting to see just, you know, how they deploy their coverages. Yeah. It's funny to me because every once in a while, this is a very simplistic way of looking at the scouting process. But sometimes you watch a guy and just like, that's the best guy. And I think with his freshman tape out there, and especially like you said, they had a premium position, in a draft like this where you just don't know how many home runs there are, when you can just throw that on and think, that's the best guy in the field.

If we get him and we get that player who has a sense not only physically checks the boxes for the position, but gets his head around, plays the ball, all of those things that are truly in tamely. tangible elements of playing the position, he seems to have tapped into that on top of being a five-star recruit, being this guy that does everything you want from a physical perspective. The pro day, like, confirmation is so funny, though, because we've talked about this on the show, Robert, is that, like, anyone can, on a perfect day at the combine where they're all stretched out and doing the cleat stuff. Yes, you can run your 438, your 4-42 as almost like a track meet. NFL is middle of week 12, middle of week 14, and you're banged up with a sprained ankle and a bum knee and you're still running that 4-4. You know, that is what being in the NFL, being a professional athlete, really is, because these seasons are long. But I think that's why where that pro day is, he's supposed to like a Drake London who kept pushing off his 40, his pushing off his 40, until he never ran it.

Stingley's like, no, I'm healthy enough. Let's go. And he just went and ran it. So maybe that is, I want to say confirmation more like, hey, I like that. Okay, he is checking that box that he can wake up, you know, wake up and just run. Jet's pick is in, and we've talked about this all week, the idea of them potentially getting a Kiokwano. what that might mean for the next six months of the New York Jets with Mackay Beckton already there. I mean, what do you think the Jets are, the conversation the Jets are having with Joe Douglas with Robert

Saul right now, the players on the board. What debate do you think possibly is going on? At this point, I don't know there's as much debate as is just, are we comfortable with who's going to be there at 10 and our process? Because you have two picks here in top 10, two picks early in the second round. You know, let's make sure we're maneuvering to get the best four players or maybe three players if they want to move around a little bit. You know, we'll see how that plays out. But I think the first three picks with how they've gone, the Jets are feeling good because they can go offensive line if they want to with Iki.

They could go sauce gardener if they wanted to with the corner. I don't think it's going to be Tibodeau, but, you know, we're going to see a surprise at some point, so why not now? No, you can't. How long is your, what did you have it for? Do you have Tibodoo here? No, I have it here. You have Ike, okay.

We got to keep the mock owned. What does you do? I think I understand the I agree. especially with what you brought up on our show and it's really picked up a lot of steam with the Bechton worries and having this kind of it's a plan again everything does work out with Beckton okay we got icky too that's add and juice the offense a line here we go in the 2022 NFL draft I'm curious with the New York Jets select sauce gardener wow defensive back Cincinnati all right so again this is one of those picks if you look at the Jets roster and you think about the makeup even if there are concerns about Beckton he's there They have George Fenthampton. They have two starting tackles. Can you name me the Jet's second corner right now after D.J. Reed, the guy that they signed a free agency?

The kid went to Virginia. I'm blanking on his name. I think it's Breece Hall is currently their number two quarterback. Not Breeze Hall. That's the running back in the draft. No, yeah, I know. Something. We do this for a living.

The fact that we can't do this right now. Bryce Hall. Bryce Hall, thank you. It's very telling. And that's why when I looked at the debt chart and the idea that you had two top your corners potentially available. That made sense to me. But apparently that was not what most people were thinking coming into this draft.

Well, it goes more to strategy where Coach Sala, where he's been in Seattle and San Francisco, they didn't use premium draft capital on the cornerback position. They didn't need to. They felt like it all starts up front with the pass rush. And so that's where, you know, my thinking, a lot of other people's thinking was, okay, they're going to target pass rush here. And, you know, maybe if the right, if Hutchinson did fall or Trouon Walker did fall here, maybe that's the direction they do go. But, you know, I don't blame him for going this direction.

It's just, it is a little surprising with, we know how Salo likes to, you know, run that defense and it all starts up front. And it's, it makes sense and sense of like how his size and everything because that's the classic Seahawk length corner. Like they love, I mean, it was like 32 inches minimum. When they came into Atlanta, that's basically what they told us. I was like, okay. But this is a guy that actually matches that. he plays competitive, which all those Cihaw guys, I know we're talking about the Jetsman Sala,

but all those guys, they love the competitiveness that he brings, the high IQ play that he has at the corner position. And it makes sense, even though it was Sala has gone, some cover three is now doing more quarter stuff that we see everybody doing. This seems to align with that, right? It makes so much sense. They were 12 in the NFL this year in Man Coverage.

Yep. In Man Coverage percent. They played man 30 percent of the time. And if you're doing that, combined with some quarters, where you can be as aggressive as you want to, you can be as passive as you want to. I think that it allows his traits to really shine potentially in this scheme, even if it's changed a little bit over the years.

And it has the, you know, the like domino effect of now DJ Reed can be a number two, which is what he should be. Now he's not your dude and teams will attack him or anything. But now it's, have we seen with those quarters teams that they face, you know, a trips formation. Okay, saucer on the X, one on one, baby, you know, that's ISO ball on you. And then now DJ Reed, who's more of a aggressive, heady player, physical player. Now that makes more sense for him. him to work to the field and stuff.

It's a nice pairing. I like how they compliment each other on the outside there. What would be your concern with Gardner? Just if this was going to go wrong, what do you envision? I mean, Gardner was a little bit of a slow burn for me just because nobody threw at him. Exactly. He accounted for 11% of the defensive targets last season on that Cincinnati defense. Nobody.

There's a lot of tape to sit through. Nobody threw at him. And so, and the teams that did, he wasn't exactly going up against top. tier-wide receiver talent or just, you know, quarterback talent. So I think that was part of the issue, is you could see the traits, the way he moved. You see how long he is. But you just wanted to see more on tape.

And so there are times down the field. I mean, the Navy tape is standing up to me where he can get tied up a little bit in just in terms of getting his body turned, going to make a play. You know, he'll make some early contact, things like that. But, you know, this is a big guy who's long, 4-4-1 in the 40-yard dash, a little concerning that it's a literally. the only drill he did. No three cone, no jumps, nothing else.

Just a 4-4-1. But this is also a guy that brings energy. He brings just a lot of just swag. I mean, sauce. He had that nickname since he was six years old, playing youth football. And, you know, why sauce? I don't know. I just bring the sauce.

And okay, you know what? It fits. I get it. Big apple sauce now. For the Jets. It is my favorite nickname coming into the draft that I can remember. I mean, what other ones have there been that are even like in this range? I don't know. Is Jordan Davis name like tiny or something like that?

That would be amazing. I mean, this is absolutely my favorite name that has, or nickname that has become the name for any player that's coming to the draft in recent years. Yeah. Because it's perfect. It's a perfect word. Yeah. It's not just like, oh, that's a nickname a couple of people call it.

Like only the fan base calls him. It's like, no, that he goes by sauce. Marissa was when we were talking about the production. She didn't know whether it put sauce or Maude Gardner on the bottom third of the screen. I mean, that's how ingrained this is. right now. The Giants pick is in. No trade so far.

Nope. We have, this, we're getting in the danger zone now. We knew the giants were looking at corners. So you wondered would they try to get up in front of the Texans or the Jets because they knew corner could go there. I mean,

this doesn't got to be offensive line, right? Yeah. This feels like aicky. This is one of those teams. And we've discussed this with a couple others. When you're picking in the top five, everything should be on the board.

This is a new regime. Anything that feels like it's already established and in place with the Giants is probably more tenuous than anybody thinks. So even if it seems positionally like, oh, they should go this way or they should go that way, I don't think there's anything preventing them from a player that's still currently on the board unless it's a quarterback. Oh, absolutely. And even that seems like it can potentially be somewhere in the cards for them if they want

it to be. Well, it keeps still on the board, so it would make a lot sense because of his versatility across the line and what they think of Andrew Thomas. Like you said, a new regime, everybody's job's on the line. everybody's job is, you know, it's a competition. So, yes, they can say, say, Dana and I were talking about this before the show, but like Charles Cross, some teams are working about it right tackle is,

okay, they can say that right now, but that might just make Andrew Thomas's life a little bit. Like, hey, don't worry about it, bud, you got that job. But I think that's what they is. They're just going to try and find the best talent. And I think, you know, this GM coming over there from Buffalo, they know how to build a team. They like to build a team with, you know, premium spots.

They don't like to chase anything. I think it's going to be a very more sound pick for them, which makes me think it's a key, but let's see. Sam is post-heart transplant and feeling stronger than ever, as you can see. Tonight, his wish to announce the Giants' first pick comes true. We hope this wish will be a turning.

I want to talk about this in relation to just this blank slate that we're talking about. You guys can see it here. 29 players only that are currently projected to be on the 2023 Giants roster. They have $95 million in estimated salary caps. That's right now. They have cuts to make. If they want to move on from McKinney-Galladay, they want to move on from George Jackson.

It gets 120 very fast. The New York football giant select Kvon, Timodale, defensive in Oregon. Wow. And you wonder, okay, the Giants picking two picks. Yeah. There's three offensive linemen on the board. Yeah?

I mean, you know you're, if they feel comfortable with all three or at least two of them, you know you're going to get one at seven, if that's the direction they want to go. and they know Carolina wants to move back. So it would be pretty easy for Seattle to move up to six or somebody to come up and snipe Thibido. So they went with the player that they felt like there was at least a chance

they would not be able to get at seven. That's fascinating. Well, it speaks to tiers, right? Because now if we've already had two pass rushers to go off, if you think that there is a drop off after Thibodeau in the past rushing tiers and all three offensive linemen are still on the board and you have them all in the same tier, then it makes total.

logical sense to do it this way. Absolutely. This, uh, man, kind of stunned me because like a little bit. Why? What's surprising about it? No, just like I haven't really thought of the link up between the Giants and Tibido.

Yeah, you haven't seen it very often. It makes total sense. Like the Giants, that's what we just stated this, but it just, they could have gone down any path and it made sense just with, with the roster. They're reset in it. I mean, really, really hard reset. I think we just got to keep emphasizing how hard to push that button. But this makes sense.

This guy at one time, we talked about Hutchinson, got rumor his number one pick. Tibido was the guy that was. front runner for a little bit until it became more of a discussion. So he still has talent and Giants are trying to find as much talent as they can. What do you think that has sparked that discussion? Like when I came on toibode, I was a huge recruit. When you watch some of those splash plays, I think of the UCLA game, for example, it's hard not to get intoxicated by that.

What do you think gave some teams or some analysts pause in the process when they were thinking about him? And I'm talking solely football stuff. Yeah, I mean, I guess there are times where you don't want to always see the same effort. He's not a guy that I think takes a lot of plays off. That's not necessarily something that I truly worry about. But he's not a natural bender per se. I mean, he's got that forward lean where he's going to use that length,

use that power. Hands are so strong and go through guys. But he's not a natural bender per se. And so, I mean, but we're nitpicking at this point. I think this is a player that he's going to give you disruption. He's a really good run defender. And, you know, with a new regime with the Giants. you know, just some question marks about which direction they would go.

Two picks in the top 10, you can't miss on these. These have got to be cornerstone players. And so would Tibido be a little too volatile for them? Or do they see the upside? That's great. That's amazing. The excitement. I mean,

Tipido is a guy that cares about their brand. And that's okay. He's going to New York. New York. I mean, he's going to a market that is going to be able to, you know, really market him. And so, but you know what? But his market will not matter. His brand will not matter if he does not show up on Sundays.

Right. And so that's what I keep coming back to is, yeah, while you do worry maybe a little bit about how much he cares about things off the field, if he's not taking care of his business on the field, the rest of this stuff won't matter. He knows that football is an integral part of this. And I get why you do this as you try to upgrade the pass rush position. It's interesting to me, Nate, because Wink Martindell is a deacon for the Giants now. We know where Wink Martindell just came from.

If you look at the way that the Ravens have built that roster over the last couple of years and just schematically what they've done, a lot of pressure, a lot of past rush by committee. The Ravens aren't typically spending premium premium picks on pass rushers. So this immediately is a departure from what we've seen from Wink Martindow over the last few years. Absolutely. No, but that's the thing. I think that's where, well, I really wanted them to take a corner there because it would just make it sense with what Wink wants to do. So I think maybe they did too. And also those two went there and they're like, okay, all right.

Well, Tibodil sounds pretty nice right now. But those, I love what you brought up, Dane, and saying that it won't matter all the off-field stuff if he's just not playing on the field. Everyone get that first endorsement deal when you're a rookie and everything's hunky-dory and the shine still on it. You're on the subway deal and all that. But then, you know, as Baker and the progressive commercials, those probably won't happen next year. Like you, it's just like getting a second contract as a player. all that other stuff will go away if you're not doing anything on the field.

I would actually think that when people go, oh, he has too much off field stuff, might be a good thing because that means we're still talking about him because he's doing something on the field. So, yeah, he's going to New York. I think he's pretty happy about that as well. What were the odds of zero offensive linemen going to top five?

Yeah. I mean, that's, I would have thought, I mean, at least one had to go. Guess who might be thrilled, the team that's currently out of the clock right now. We went through scenarios where three offensive tackles were off the board before the Carolina could pick. So, I mean, yes, Carolina's been a franchise that's been trying to move back. They've made a ton of calls.

But now with three offensive tackles sitting there, yes, you do want those seconds and thirds because they don't pick again until 137. Yeah. So you do want to get back into day two. But man, it would be tough to pass on one of these tackles here. And they just picked. So the Panthers pick is in. We still six picks and have no trades.

But we also didn't expect to have three offensive attackers on the board. We're going to be watching more of the draft than the Panthers are. After this pick. I don't want to belabor this point, but I just find it so interesting with the parallels between what the bills did when Joe Shane was the assistant GM there and then Brian Dable was eventually the offensive coordinator and what the Giants might do. Dan and I were talking about this before the draft. The year two of the McDermott Bean Arrow in Buffalo, they took on $70 million in Dead Cap to remake that roster. They had a lot of bloated veteran deals that they had to move on from in order to really hit that reset button hard and start over. and that's what the Giants might be looking at.

And that's why when you're thinking about Kavon-Tibod-O or you're thinking about whoever they're going to pick at 7, you almost have to completely divorce yourself from the way that you currently understand the Giants and their roster just because it's a figment of the past. It just doesn't matter anymore. Yeah. It couldn't be any more opposite than what they've done in the last few years

as far as just how they, I think they view the game. And I'm just guessing, of course, they haven't seen the field yet. But the coaching staff they put together how they're just kind of talking about everything. It just seems like, okay, they're going away. They have a midterm play and a long-term plan. They're not just going, all right, this. We want to do this.

I finally am in charge, and I want to do this. And you see so many first regimes do that. And it's like, sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn't. But it seems to me that they're being patient, which is, I mean, if you're a Giants fans, what you want. I want anyone from that billed front office. Because to me, I think that's one of the better ways to build a team in the modern day.

You're sitting there at sex right now, your Carolina. Their pick is in. But if you're making this pick and you're picking between the three tackles, which direction you go. Keep Icky. I mean, he grew up in Charlotte, you know, keep him in town. He went to NC State. Keep him in the state.

He played left tackle. Yes, he's a better run defender or run blocker than past blocker right now. But the strides that he made this year, man, he was fun to watch. But all these tackles, you can really make a case for. I don't think that it's a, there's no consensus top tackle this year. I mean, Ike's my favorite, but I understand why someone might go for Evan Neal and the versatility he offers. He's a little more consistent. He's been doing it longer.

You look at Charles Cross. The movement patterns with his feet are outstanding. The hand exchange well above average. So, I mean, with all due respect to Cam Irving, the Panthers need to draft a lift tackle. I mean, it's something that they need to do for whoever's a quarterback. And they've got three good options staring them right in the face. If you look at this, the rotating cast that's been a quarterback over the last three years.

and the fact that every two weeks, it seems like they change their minds. Remember they signed Camdeno to a $6 million deal last year in the middle of the season? It's amazing the moving target that that position has been for them. Left tackle's been worse. If you look back over the last six seasons, the Panthers have had a different starting left tackle in week one every year for the last six years. Let me run it off for you. 2021, Cam Irving, 2020, Russell O'Kung, 2019, Daryl Williams,

2018, Daryl Moten, 2017, Matt Khalil, 2016 Mike Lour. Gotta love it, huh? It's incredible. And it's wanting beyond the instability. That's what I say. Beyond the instability at

the instability at arguably the second most important position on your offense, you wonder why this team has struggled to find any sort of footing offensively. Quarterback is part of it, but it's not the only issue day. Well, and, you know,

I don't want to make excuses for the quarterback, but that's part of it too. Yeah. Equanoo. There is. It makes all the sense. If you're Carolina, you have to be thrilled with how this is unfolding. Filled.

The one position that you almost had to leave this draft with a player when you consider the available options on the free agent market and the players available in this class in where you were picking, you get your pick of those three guys. And that's exactly what just unfolded. It was a pretty perfect hour for them. Yeah. It really was. I don't think they were very confident going in, but it,

It worked out perfectly. And like we said, Charlotte Kid, stayed in state to go to NC State for college. Now he's going to stay. I mean, just got the Aiden Hutchinson conversation. So this is really cool to see. We talked about it on the pod earlier this week.

My favorite player to watch on film this week. Him and Trouin Walker were my two favorite players to watch because they're freaky dudes. I mean, they do things that you just don't normally see on the football field. Equano, especially as a run blocker, how explosive is at contact, how violent he plays. This guy is just different. And he's so smart, so bright, talking to him, you get, you just come away thinking,

okay, this guy, he gets it. I mean, he really understands, not just what he's supposed to be doing, but the rest of the offensive line. He understands what they need to execute. And so, yes, he's got still has things to learn, but he's going to plug and play from day one. I'll be shocked if he is not the starting left tackle, week one in the opening for the Panthers.

For a team knee and good vibes, he's going to bring good vibes. That's exactly what I was just thinking about. When you drop a presence like that in that sort of physicality, you know this, Nate. You were on the Raiders when they signed Coletio Semmelah. And you have this group in Oakland back then where finesse is kind of a dirty word in the NFL, but they were finesse offensive lot. You had guys like Rodney Hudson was an amazing pass blocker. Gabe Jackson hadn't really tapped into that side of himself yet.

Donald Penn was a little bit older. And then you drop Coletio Semley into that equation and everything else kind of changes for you. And, you know, they've made some other signings, right? They brought in a new center. They signed Austin Corbett and Free Agency. They've done some work here along the offensive line. And this really has a chance to kind of unlock everything, not only from a positional standpoint, from a mindset standpoint.

Absolutely. And the talent there is like Tain said. He's such a fun watch. Some linemen, it's more like, oh, he's a technician. Like David Bactiari. Love David Bacari. It's not the most fun watch in the world because he's shielding guys and he love his traits, but like Icky makes just like Kletchi did.

But Kletch was posting tweets of like him pancakeing guys. and laughing. He loved it. He loves. And Icky has that same mindset. Like, and he's so smart. And on top of it, like, just that position. And it's, I posted a clip of him this week because I was ran an article in the

tackles. And he was pulling and how he moved, how fluid he was as a mover. And there was two offensive line that replied to me. I want to say my goal like junior is one of them. He goes, the guy false step three times. And he's still moving quicker than anybody else on the field. And it's like, that's the thing is he's still good right now. He's going to be plug and play.

He's not just some project. But his upside is so interesting and so. exciting. That's what makes them such a fun player. And there really aren't that many left tackles in the league who are the best run blockers on their team. I think the list might be like one guy long. Trent Williams

is that kind of presence for San Francisco. But other than that, it's not typically a position where that's the guy bringing that kick ass to your room. And for Carolina, that's exactly what he could potentially be for them. Yeah. No doubt. And whoever is taking snaps

under center is going to benefit from this. So if Sam Darnold is the starter or whether or not they trade for a Jimmy Gropolo, Baker Mayfield, time will tell. But regardless, it is going to help whoever they put in there at quarterback. And we'll see the sequencing how that affects the quarterback, how that affects the offense. This is a big piece that they were missing. Absolutely. I know.

It just rejuvenates. Like now it's your best five. Yes, left tackle is the most important one. But really, it's just offensive lines, just getting our five best players out there. So no matter what, it's like, okay, we're upgrading. now he so-and-so like, you know, a Corvette, he's not our offense alignment two anymore. Now he's our offensive alignment three. You know, like that trickle effect, just like a corner position with, you know,

sauce going to the jets. Same kind of thing. It's like now those other guys are put in better spots as well. And I do want to credit Bruce Feldman because he came out with an article about Icky over a year ago. I mean, before he was even in the thought process saying, like, oh, wow, this guy is pretty good. And, I mean, going back to high school when he's running the relay at 285 pounds, Like just, this freak, dude. Yeah.

And the strides he made this year, really impressive. And he was voted by the ACC coaches as the best blocker in the ACC. So he made some big strides this year. He really did. Doing that article, again, like, I finally got to watch two games I hadn't before when watching Ikey. And they were late in the season. I was like, okay, I want to see how he improved. And his past set's already improved.

And it was like, oh, that's good. Because that was just one big issue. He overset. I was like, dude, you're a freak athlete. No one's getting around. You're fine, man. And I think it finally clicked for him in the second half of the year. And again, it's another guy where the arrow is pointing up for him.

The Giants are, their pick is in for the Giants to seven. So all those traits that we've had done. We've had none so far. Evan Neal. Evan Neal. And that's, so again, the guy that played right tackle. Yep. They have, you know, you can throw on the tape and say, okay, you know, there's no projection here with the Charles Cross.

Yep. We were taking the guy that actually played right tackle. And whether or not that's, is where he's going to start long term. they at least can they know he has that left tackle, right tackle versatility. Yep. And it's not theory. Like you said, put it on the tape. If you want to watch him play guard, put on the tape,

playing where he tackle, put on the tape. That helps so much. I think just he has a whole season of experience. It's not even just a pinch start on a high level game. So that just helps when you're in the NFL rather than spending all summer and going like, oh, preseason game one. Let's see how you do on the right side. You know, and he still has enough.

He's still a very good player that could end up on the left side down the road. Like who knows what with Andrew Thomas. whether they bump him to the right, I don't think they will. But you don't know. Now they have a plan, they have backup plans, different paths they can go on. That's what Neil provides. And guess what? It doesn't take a lot for Brian Daible to get somebody on the phone from University of Alabama

and asking this guy playwright tackle. That's right. A quick little phone call for him down there. They didn't overlap when he was the offensive coordinator there. But that's a well-worn path between Nick Sabin and Brian Daibald and what those guys are probably talking about. We need Oz and Newsom still around. They're calling for the defense of players.

So now you look at it, right? So the Giants have two top seven picks in this draft. They come away with a pass rusher and an offensive tackle. So we talk about this blank slate that the Giants are kind of starting with. There's a chance in a couple of years you have your left tackle, you drafted the fourth overall, your right tackle you drafted seventh overall, pass rusher you drafted fifth overall, and that's how you built the foundation of this team. Built through the lines.

And with premium picks too, top 10 picks on those guys. I mean, that's how you do it. And then then when you finally do, if you decide Daniel Jones is your guy or a quarterback down the road, a different guy, they're at least getting put a position to succeed. They're not with the Bears with Justin Fields or Trevor Lawrence or it's like, oh, God, that's such a good time. I know. It almost has been my talk, but it was, yeah, but you're not putting those positions. It's like, okay, I see some glimpses still, but he's on his back for the other five snaps of that drive.

So we couldn't really see how he finished on that play. So at least what the plan of other positions that helps them out. And Evan Neal is a guy that he started 40 games last three years. He missed one game, his entire career at Alabama. That's because of a COVID test. So this is a guy that's reliable, dependable, versatile. And for a guy that size, the flexibility plays with some of the movements. It's just, it's different.

He is a really just high. I think he does have a ceiling, but, you know, we also have a high floor, I think, as well. Yeah. You look at what the bill's offensive line was over the last couple of years. I actually really appreciate how the bills built that long. because it's dice rolls on cheap guys where it's just like island of misfit toys and that's exactly the term they were the island of misfit toys now you're bobby johnson after having a piece together like oh we got darrell williams for one year and eight million we got this and we got that now now now you have a fourth overall pick and the seventh overall pick is your two bookend tackles a little bit of a different coaching situation for bobby down there than it wasn't buffalo i think it'll be pretty happy i know that's uh i think he's the happiest guy in the building right now i mean anytime you get the office alignment in the top ten like the the line coach, like, who's usually the one complaining the most is not like they, you can shut up. Trust me.

Trust me, I know. You can usually, you know, keep them quiet for maybe a couple more days. And again, it goes back to why Tibido at five. They probably loved Icky and Evan Neal. And they're going to get one of them. And this is where I think we're to start to hear trade chatter. Yeah. After we get to Hess 7, Charles Cross is still out there.

So that was going to be my question. Now, if you think Cross is the last guy in that tier, if you're a team like New Orleans. New Orleans. That's really needs a guy there. And if you're Atlanta, I'd be taking every call I got to get. I'd be trading back every opportunity I can. They've got a decent amount of picks in this draft. But if there's a team that has fewer long-term building blocks on the Giants, it's the Falcons.

So they need as many bites as they can possibly get. Man, every time I look at the roster too, I'm like, oh, man, that's right. The receivers are like free agents. A bunch of six and seventh round picks right there. Fun conversation about the trades. The Falcons pick is in. So they will also be picking where they originally were supposed to. Man.

So is this where we start the wide receiver run? Yeah. You know, is this. Any past catchers. I mean, there's some debate there about, okay, do you start this rebuild with a pass catcher, another pass catcher? After, that's where you went with the first round. Oh. Oh, okay.

Oh, my God. That scared me real quick. I was like, uh. So for those of you listening on the podcast, Nate just got tricked by a graphic on the screen. It reviewed the Matt Ryan trade. And I was like, wait, Colts traded off. It's a bit. That's when you're watching Red Zone and you think it's live.

Yeah. That's what just happened to you. I understand that logic, Nate, or Dane, just because if we're talking about premium positions, but when you're completely starting over, I'm sure the Falcons were sitting there, and I'm sure they have guys that they liked more than others. But if I were Terry Fontno, I would steady heartbeat over the last like hour or so, because it doesn't matter. Jermaine Johnson is the best player?

Okay. That's exactly right. Who's next on the board? We're just going to pick that. Oh, we like Hamilton still. Okay, cool. Let's go there. You know, like, yeah, they, they can go truly best player available because they need it.

That's what Fontenow is. I mean, that's what he wants the best player available. So Kyle Hamilton's in play here. Their top wide receivers in play here. Charles Cross isn't play here. Yeah. London. There we go.

Oh, God. U.S. Drake London goes to Atlanta. The Twin Towers. This is essentially Tim Duncan getting drafted by the Spurs. Yeah. That's what we're looking at right now. Yes.

Oh, my God. Just throw it up. You for a long time, Nate, have had. break one and is your number one receiver in this class what do you think separated him why do you think that he was just the cut above all the other guys yeah it's interesting to be because this biggest knock is speed but the thing everything else that he can do as far as being a ball winner um he can work inside and out i have not made this comparison but some people go well i can see him almost like a bigger not a skilled version of cooper cup and i'm not comparing him cooper cup but i'm saying

as far as inside outside versatility and as far as like winning with some route running because that's why i really liked him was why i first part on the tape with him you see 64-215 you're like i know what this guy's going to be all right mike williams t higgins come on down and i'm watching them i see him sinking in his routes um running real i thought he was going to be a basketball player where with the ball and he's trying to run over guys they're just pitching him the ball he's running wine back blocks where he's just coming across the formation i was shocked at what his tape ultimately looks like yeah and now you have a receiver with inside outside versatility you have a tight end with inside outside versatility the type of stuff they can draw up is amazing it really all right

It's time now to welcome our Giants writer from the athletic Dan Duggan to walk us through the big picks that the Giants just made in the first truck. Hey, what's going on guys? How you feeling over there? Kavon Tippetto at five. Yeah, a little bit of a wild card. I don't think it's crazy to use the fifth pick, but it just didn't feel like that's the way sort of everything was lining up coming into the draft. But I don't know if it was that sauce gardener going forward to the Jets if that sort of maybe changed their plans. We'll never get a true answer to that.

But yeah, it wasn't exactly what I was expected coming into this, that's for sure. When we were talking through it here today, we figured if they wanted the tackles and all three were still on the board, that if they liked two of them, that freed them up to potentially chase Tippett O at five because they knew one of them would be on the board at seven. Do you think that that's probably in line with what they may have been thinking in the moment? Yes, but I think, you know, this is the joys of doing this live. I think they're taking us to talk to Josh Shane, Brian Deable right now. so I'm going to have to jump out. You do your thing, man.

Sounds good. We appreciate it hopping on. Yeah, my bye. The beauty of doing a live broadcast. Dan's going to talk to Joe Shane. That sounds great. I totally agree. Again, I come to this process a little bit late,

and you hear, you come into it when you turn on the tape with expectations of guys. And when I had heard people talk about Drake London, I just imagined him as this 6-4, stiff, sideline vertical presence where he's just catching all these jump balls. And I turned on, I want to say it was the Utah game. And he's just doing crazy amounts of stuff. And I was like, this is not what I expected.

So, Dayton, if we're talking about how he's better in some areas than we might have thought, do you think that the lack of long speed and the lack of testing is what may have scared some teams off? And he went eighth overall. Clearly the Falcons weren't that scared. No, it's, if we want to point out the lack of vertical separation, that's a legitimate concern with him. There's a reason he did not run the 40-year dash. And that's okay.

You know, you don't have to be a 4-4 athlete to win out there with, you know, everything that Nate said with the size, that short area fluidity that he has for a big man is really impressive. And the ultimate respect for a receiver is when you know where the ball is going every single time and you still can't stop it, That says something. And so if you're in the NFC South and now you have to cover both Kyle Pitts and Drake London, I mean, hey, maybe the happiest guy right now is Marcus Marriota because, hey, I'm reviving my career right now. I was about to say now, if you're Atlanta, you didn't take a quarterback at 8 if you don't end up taking a quarterback here in the first couple rounds, you walk into next year, the fuck, it's going to be a bad football team.

Let's just, by no fault of anyone in that building. I said this earlier this week. Arthur Smith could coach his ass off. He could be the best coach in the NFL this year. They could win five games. And I think that's a good thing if you're the Falcons. If you walk into next year's draft, you have the number one pick. You love C.J. Stroudan, let's go.

Now you have a team, even if you don't have a ton of players, you have Jake Matthews, you have Chris Lindstrom, you have Kyle Pitts, and you have Drake London. Dropping a rookie quarterback into that situation on top of the extra two you have this year, the extra three you have this year. The $100 million or so in free agent money you'll have to throw around next spring. This is the makings of a fairly cushy situation, Nate, for whatever they ultimately end up doing a quarterback. It's kind of fun when, I shouldn't say fun,

but one benefit of being so bad is you can argue every player. And honestly, that's what the Falcons in the position. That's the nice part. They go to Drake London. It's like, would I prefer they go with a lineman or defense alignment, someone to build through the spine at a defense? Yes, of course. But just get a good player.

And now you're just getting a guy that you can see very early on making an effect on the game. Last year, man, I mean, Arthur Smith, you know, really coached his butt off. I'm working on swearing. So really coaches his butt off. And, you know, but he had Cordero Patterson and Kyle Pitts, a rookie tight end and a, you know, journeyman gadget running back now as his best receivers. Like, you know, so it makes a lot more sense to just get, hey, let's actually get some talent there. okay, yeah, we have Marcus right now at quarterback. Okay, but we're not competing.

So we don't really need these other spots. And then, you know, like you said, they still have ammo next year. They can do a lot of interesting things where there's other gaps. They can find them. Well, and who Arthur Smith in Tennessee had that big body receiver with AJ Brown. Yes. You know, and going right back to that,

having that physical presence who is not only a physical presence, but that that is what he does. And so that size and this Drake London just, you know, he's even a better athlete than AJ Brown is, I think. Maybe not long speed, but some of the short area stuff. Which is saying a lot. Which is developed to a very true number one receiver. And Nate, what's cool to me is that not only are the body type similar and some of the ways that you can deploy them,

but the Titans had such a specific plan for AJ Brown his rookie year. When you think about all of the yak opportunities that they created for him, and they built the whole plane out of that. Yeah. I mean, it was the same route. Total screens and slants and just understanding, all right, this is. is what he does well. This is what I'm going to do with him. And I think the specificity when it comes to that with your past catchers, and they did a lot of stuff with Kyle Pitts like that last year, where there's an imagination to the way that they're deploying somebody that has a specific

sort of skill set. And I think that you could probably say the same thing about Drake London. And that's why this is exciting. They were going 22 personnel. I remember against the bucks, you know, fullback, running back, two tight ends. And they had pits out as like the ex-receiver. So basically they're making it like a two-receiver formation. And so now you get Drake who's a willing blocker with good size. Oh, there's a trade? That's the Russell Wilson. God, I'm doing this.

Because I really want, I just see trade flash up there. So I know. And I was like, oh, see, so on. So I'm not going to do this anymore. I'm not even to react to him anymore. But it's now when you get an actual receiver with size. So say they're still in that same personnel group in 22. Now we got Kyle Pitts and Drake London.

We can move them wherever we want with the formation and Patterson, who has his versatility as well, which is like, it's so funny because that used to be a negative about them. It's like he couldn't stick anywhere. then now he is. Like, now he actually, like, everybody wants patterns. And just, just a weird, weird career for him. But that's what the Falcons do. It's going to be kind of like a weird, in a good way, body types that they're going to,

they can go inside and out for stability with all. The Seahawks pick is in at nine here. Speaking of rebuilding teams. I want, well, don't tell that. I didn't say. Don't tell them. Yeah, matters on perspective, I guess. I want to read off the current wide receivers on the Atlanta Falcons before making the Drake

one to pick. You ready for this? Yeah. Out and Tate, Demir Bird. Almeidae Zakias, Cadaral Hodge, Frank Derby for the top five receivers. And now Drake Lundon.

Again, when you're starting over, it doesn't really matter who they were before, but it does make it look a little bit better when now Drake London is in the mix there. If we were listing off needs for the Falcons, which is kind of a futile exercise, receiver probably was number one. I'm probably with Drake Lending and 140 targets.

Why that heck not? Frank Darby. Seahawks here at. number nine. No brainer. Charles Cross. So you say no brainer. You just think tier, need everything else,

just a line for the Seahawks in this moment with Cross? And you tell me the left tackle for the Seahawks right now? Stone Forsy. There you go. Come on now. I actually like coming out of Florida a couple years ago. But Charles Cross, no doubt, an upgrade. Whoever's a quarterback.

This is good news for him. Charles Cross, I think while you do worry about maybe some of the power elements of his game, especially in the run game, the movement skills, the hands. He is a for a guy that's, he's a redshirt sophomore coming out. Still a young player, but you love not only the upside,

but what he is right now. It's really encouraging. So I think the Seahawks are pretty happy they get him here at nine. Yeah, I think this is ideal for them. You're a cross guy. Love him. Yeah, I really do. And both points of Dane just brought the upside and downside for him.

I haven't really watched a lot of left tackles as, like Polish as a technician as him. And his eyes are very good. Like he, as far as understanding, where games are coming from. The Alabama game was really fun to watch because they were bringing a linebacker and they're twisting the defense alignment with them and Cross is reacting before the twist even happens. Because he understands. He's like, I've watched this on film. I understand this. So all that polish was so incredible to watch from a redshirt sophomore at left tackle who

was like when I watch him had 15 career starts at that point. And so that's where it's like, this is a true left tackle. And like you said, he's not the road grading, you know, in the run game type of player. But it almost gets back to the original discussion. had about how many left tackles are those. It's more of the shield or past protecting type. That's what you're the blind side. When I was watching Cross and Neil, the thing that jumped out to me, the gap between them, and this is just my couple games watching it.

Neil was not very quick to react to a lot of stunts. He would commit to one way. His change of direction for a guy that has his physical profile and testing ability is not the same as a guy like Cross. The awareness and his ability kind of picked that stuff up. And as we transition to a league where it's chaos, we are. We are beyond this world where four guys are line up. That's where they're coming from.

That's over. Those days are done. It's past by committee. It's multiple fronts. Tons of twists, tons of stunts, overload fronts. Having somebody that has that level of awareness,

and the ability to kind of sort through that stuff almost feels more important now than it's really ever been at that position. And not only the mental, but the physical to match. Some guys have the physical ability, the quickness, but they don't have maybe the mental. some guys have the mental where they can see it happening,

but they don't react in real time because their feet can't catch up to their eyes. So this guy has both, no question. The fluidity that he plays with, the hips, really impressive. And, you know, I think there is coming from that scheme, an air raid. You know, he, 79% of his snaps in college were as a pass blocker. That's a high number, you know, that there's a little bit of worry there. But it's not the ground raid. Like you said, though, like you want, first and foremost, what can you do as a pass blocker?

And this guy has it. There's a lot of encouraging to a point where, you know, a good friend of the show, Brandon Thorne, talking to him multiple times about, Nate, we got to trade. I know. I bit my tongue. I'm actually biting my talk. Talking to Brandon Thorne about multiple times throughout the process, man, should Charles Crosby are OT1? Like, I mean, it was a debate because you could make the case because of how good he was as a pass blocker. Do you think the Andre Dillard side of this is maybe what had that in the back of your mind?

We're like, eh, should we lean too hard into that? He's the best past protector in the draft with some of the scheme concerns with some of the other concerns. Regardless if we feel that way, I know I talked to several in the NFL that felt that way. You know, the Andre Diller's name came up when you talk to people about Charles Cross. So, you know, regardless of we think, that's something the NFL team's thought was real. it, you know, warranted or not, it is something that came up with the Charles Cross conversation. And that was my, when I first put them on, that's why I packed my head. We always have that image in your head what you think they're going to be.

And it was interesting to me, I thought Mississippi State and what Mike Leach did, now that he's in the SEC after a couple of years, he kind of tightened the splits, not a ton. It's still pretty wide as far as the offense alliance split. But when I heard the Dillard, oh, I don't know about the air raid left tackles, it was like, yeah, they've changed it a little bit because Mike Leach realized, oh, I'm going against the SEC defenses every week. I can't be having these huge wide lanes for these four four D tackles that I could just split them. So I think that's where I had a little less hesitancy with watching cross. And also like you just brought up too is that his physical traits were so interesting to me,

34 and a half inch arms. He had the longest arms of these top three tackles as his testing. He 40 time actually kind of comes up for tackles as far as kind of like a nice, you know, correlates the success. He was a 495 guy, same with Ikey, you know, and also his short shuttle and stuff. Like, all had good testing numbers. So it's a nice, interesting package. That's why I'm excited about them. Just get their playmaker.

Yeah. They were desperate for him. It seemed like it really did. I do think this was maybe a tough pick for them between Jermaine Johnson and getting that pass rusher or going with the playmaker. But don't fault them at all for going with Garrett Wilson here. I mean, to me, he was my top receiver in this draft. And honestly, he was from the start.

I really never wavered or thought to waver because he was clearly my top guy. And it just comes down to getting a. open before and after the catch. He does both. You wish you were a little bit bigger. He doesn't have. He plays big though. He does. He's catching right. Playing through contact. Yeah, that catch radius that he has, the focus. Big time basketball player in high school.

And he credits that, you know, the hand-eye coordination, reflexes. You see that with the way he plays. Big fan of Garrett Wilson, the way that, you know, he can, he makes the playbook come alive. He really does. And we saw at Ohio State with, you know, this explosive offense, now really excited to see what this means for Zach Wilson. Give him a talent like that. It's fun synergy too now with their receiver room too. I

really like it. You know, with Elijah more who I'm high on. Elijah is not amazing with the ball in his hands. I keep comparing him with Brandon Cooks because that's kind of just what he is. He's a smaller traditional receiver almost like, but he's competitive and that's why he plays big. Now they get the guy that can have

some juice after the catch. Like you said, it's their playmaker. So now you get those two, the Corey Davis, who you know, probably, but that's another different He's more of a bigger body guy, physical guy. If you want to live in 11 personnel and you want to play Davis in the slot, and you want to use him to be digging people out and use him as a blocker. It's so funny how these roles have changed now in the NFL.

Absolutely. Wilson would have been a slot before. You look at Wilson or more five years ago and like slot receipt. That's what he is. And now it's so funny because I don't know the percentages on it off the top of my head, but the world that Michael Fleur comes from is not an 11 personnel world. But now you have three guys that you've devoted real resources to. Lashmore was a top 35 pick.

He just drafted a guy 10th overall. Corey Davis got a real contract in Free Agency. But they also have Osama. They have Tyler Conklin. This is, I don't know how it's going to end up working, but there are a lot of different ways you can deploy these guys. And even without the offensive tackle, Dane, in the first round or in the top 10, you still have Beckton, if it works out.

You still have Fant. You went out and signed Lagan Thomas in a free agency. You went out and drafted Elijah Vera Tucker in the first round. I, and we can talk about this as a little bit closer. I keep thinking about Linderb. bomb to them. If they, if he's there at the top of the second round, we got to trade. This one is real time. Nate.

This is real time. Penning? So now, so that's the thing. So if we always thought the cross was potential for the saints where they were going to be really aggressive and try to get up into that top eight, nine range to go get a Charles cross. They didn't. Do you think if this is for Trevor Penning, it's a little bit aggressive? I don't, because I don't think they're trading to two ones.

I think this is a second and a one. I don't know. I haven't seen, we haven't seen details yet. Two one seems a lot to move up for, what, five spots, 16 and 19. So this is probably their second in a one, which is still aggressive, but that was a plan all along.

They wanted to get their tackle. And I bet you that they did make an aggressive offer to the Giants, to Atlanta, to Seattle. But I think those teams were comfortable drafting who they did at those spots. So this is the first spot where they felt like, okay, this is where we can go get, not assuming it's a tackle.

Any other positions come to mind? We just had a run out of receiver. We just talked about that. The receiver just got taken. When's that receiver run going to start? It's more about do you think that the drop off and tier between cross and penning is big enough that making this move up the draft, even for an extra second round pick, is a product more of the scarcity and desperation that's happened because of the way the draft is unfold. Nate, I'll be interested to hear what you say, but yeah, in a big way.

Yeah. I mean, I like Bernard Raymond. I like Tyler Smith for what they are. They're second round players. They're players that if I'm taking them in the first round, I'm not feeling very confident about that. Now, Trevor Penning's, he has his warts too, but a guy that big, 6,7, 325, the athleticism he plays with, the best 10-yard split of any offensive lineman at the combine, the length that he plays with, the tenacity. There's a lot of selling points with Trevor Penning.

When this is Malik Willis, none of it's going to matter. Hey, it's, don't rule anything out. I know. We talked about, you know, where's that first quarterback going to go? Probably a product of a trade somehow some way. So, you know, this is, this is fascinating. The Saints are, they always do this. You know, they get aggressive, they trade up.

And sometimes it's not for the player that maybe we thought. Yeah, I mean, it doesn't take very long to go back and think about 2018 when we all assumed it was Lamar Jackson. That's it. That's it's Davinport. Exactly. Right. Yeah, it is, it is amazing. And I think that this has happened in some other sports where,

some of the analytically inclined conversations push the sport toward uniformity. And often it's with the way that the game is played. You know, basketball is like this. And I think baseball is suffered from it as well. The saints have looked at all of the evidence over the last 10 years that has come out about how you do this process. And they've said, you know what?

We don't really care. We are going to try to push this as far as we can. And I kind of love it. I mean, it is just an organizational philosophy, Dane, that they have leaned into kind of unabashedly. Yeah. And you know what? They compete every year.

So who are we to say that's not the right way to go about it? You know? And so we have the trade details. It's 16, their third rounder and a fourth rounder. So they don't even have to give up that second rounder. Yep. So I mean. Another first and the second still.

Yeah, exactly. They're going to make another three picks here in the top 60. And that's, if this is the tackle, if this is the receiver, I mean, any other positions between those two? besides those are the needs. Yeah, right? Those are the needs. But if you're trading up, it's for a player.

It's not for a position. So is there a player, you know, Kyle Hamilton, is there another player here? That might intrigue you at this point. So they did lose about 2,000 snaps at safety between Malcolm Jenkins and Marcus Williams leaving the team. Malcolm Jenkins retiring, Williams leaving in free agency, obviously. They did sign Marcus May, but now you think about how many times they've liked to play

three safeties at the same time. G.J. is in that mix. They don't have that flexibility on the back end that they've had in years past. PJ Williams is still there, but they brought him back in a one-year deal. They brought Bradley Robey back. There aren't a ton of holes on defense. I think on defense for them, it would be more about succession plans, guys that might be aging at certain positions, what they want to do contractually with a Marcus Davenport going forward. But if we're thinking about where the holes are on this roster, and if you think about the justification of the aggressiveness based on the timeline, where you think, all right, we can be aggressive because we're looking at the landscape of the NFC.

We don't see anybody we're truly scared of and we only have a couple needs. Those needs are tackle and receiver. Let's put it this way. If you're the Bucks, who do you not want to see here? Oliva. Okay. I mean, honestly, that's what I would say. Jameson Williams.

James and Williams. I think it's probably one of those two guys. That's the wrong answer, by the way. The guy I want to see least if I were the bucks is the correct tackle. I just don't know if the correct tackle was left after that tier drop after the first three guys, right? Yeah. Yeah, and you don't feel like you would have to move up for penning. Like, I feel like that could have fallen to them where they were taking with those first two picks.

What is Jameson Williams? You think about synergy with receiving course, by the way. Putting Michael Thomas with Jameson Williams. My favorite wide receiver team fit in the first round was Jameson Williams in New Orleans. The problem with New Orleans is they don't have a quarterback who likes to push it. So that speed is wasted on James Winston. Yeah, who's going to win out? Dennis Allen wanting his safety so he can do all the fun packages and fun blitzlicks

or is it would be the speed, speed, speed. And that's the thing. I could argue for any of them. And even Olavie, like that's a different blending, well, route running stuff, but just maybe a different type than Michael Thomas is too. So that's fun as well. I mean, the last receiver that the Saints drafted in the first round was Brandon Cooks, correct?

So you think about where they've really spent big at that position. That was speed, speed, speed. I mean, his production in Oregon State was absolutely insane. But he still tested very, very well. He was the whole offense there. Yeah, it was so funny, too, just a side story about watching Brandon Cooks going from Oregon State and then his first year at the Saints. And you can see Sean Payton was so excited to use all the jet sweep stuff that he took from Mike Riley's like offense. He was like, I love this.

I'm using all this. I'm interested in how that process has changed without Sean Payton there. There's no way for us to know. but what types of players they would want. Because if you talk to people there for years, it was a absolute prerequisite on offense, you had to be smart. You had to clear a certain marker

because what it was like to play for Sean Payton. And it's the density of the offense. It's one of the most complex offense in football, but also just specificity of landmarks of all these different things. Even Camaro is one of the smartest backs in the league. That makes so much sense. So, I mean, that's when you have a coach

And that's why I think some of the excitement about the Saints, I feel like is a tiny bit misguided just because when you have a coach with that sort of presence in your personnel department and the ways you make decisions, the way that you operate, the world after that guy, it's an uncertain world. They're walking into a wilderness here, even if there is a decent amount of continuity. I wonder if they have them on speed dial. Sean, who do you like? Who you like?

How are you like? Just want to make sure. I'm interested in Washington thinking that we should. move down and get more picks. That's the correct way to see where they are and who they are. But I'm a little bit surprised that a team that wants $28 million at Carson Wentz, because we need a quarterback right now, wants to move down in this situation. Well, I think we'll see what this pick is, but I know they like Chris Olavay quite a bit.

Do they feel like they can get Olavay at pick 16? I don't know. Maybe he's the pick right now. I guess we're about to find out. Interesting collection of people. We have Austin Echler and Tony Gonzalez while picking four. It was supposed to be Washington and now it's New Orleans.

So listen, both wonderful humans. I'm glad they're here. You're right. Oh, they're promoting Thursday Night Football. Is that what they're doing here? Got it. Got it.

Dan, do you think that if you're stacking up the receivers right now, what would you do? Just in a vacuum, even independent of, like, need. Do you think that Olave is that guy, or would you rather have James and Lillis? I'd rather have Jameson. I think the speed is special. And going back to what this team wants to be on offense,

what we think they want to be, I'm going with the speed. Even though we don't know when James and Williams will be back on the field, is it October, is it November? I'm still betting on that speed. The pick is in for New Orleans, so we'll see what happens here in a second. I mean, we've got a couple teams after this with Minnesota

that I'm fascinated to see what they do. Houston, obviously, we talked about them a ton early on, just a blank slate that they are. But, you know, with the Saints, this, we should have seen something like this coming. We didn't know when it was going. There's Chris Lov. There it is. That's unfortunate.

He's not going 39th overall anymore, apparently. Saints never draft Ohio State players. No. I didn't even think about that. I did not even think about that. That connection point makes a ton of sense. Nate, you, Chrysola Lave does not necessarily align with the types of receivers you typically like.

You're a Drake London guy. Yes. But your top two receivers in this draft were Drake London and Chris Lave. Yep. Why would you make an exception specifically for you, for a guy like Olaave? Why, even if he didn't check typical boxes, did you fall in love with him a little bit? Because it's so, how he wins is so easily translatable as a route runner and just his ball skills and everything. He is so, so polished that it's kind of just in the same way that we're talking about Drake Lano.

We're talking about other guys and polished even like a Charles Cross at left tackle. But with Olave, it's like every route they ran, he's running advanced red zone routes as a junior in college, a sophomore college, really. He's a senior this past year. Here's one right now. This is literally what I was thinking of. Those routes are like, those are ones that you say for like Travis Kelsey in the red zone, Michael Crabtree in the red zone.

Those guys have like really good feel. His yards after the catch, he's more of a splitter. That's like his one knock. But man, it's just that you can easily see this guy playing Z receiver for 12 years, 14 years and being every opponent in the NFC Southgo. I'm like, oh, there he is catching another first down on an out route. He's so good of finding the blind spot. Yeah.

And that's the type of stuff that you just can't teach. No, no. You watch him play, and he just has so many little nuances of the position that you either have it or you don't. You understand that, that feel and those just little tiny intricacies or you don't. You could see it as a freshman at Ohio State. I mean, it was natural to him. By the way, the Lions just moved up from 32 to 12. Okay.

Now, so what do we think here? Quarterback. It has to be, right? I mean, you don't make a move like, no. Unless they, I mean, they love how Hamilton. Yeah. It's not Jermaine Johnson after drafting Hutchinson. So, I mean, it could be Jameson.

They need a receiver bad. Yeah. They absolutely need an outside. And Jameson would be great there. I mean, yeah. We talked about, you know, maybe the chiefs making that big move to get the receiver. Yeah. Maybe the Lions, you know.

Wow. So the deal is we're looking at it right now. The Lions get 12 and 48. They give up 32, 34, and 66. That's math I cannot do. I need somebody to spit a draft chart at me. But it's an aggressive move. That's no matter how you slice it.

That's not that bad. No. I'm getting that 48 back. Yeah. That's that's not bad at all. Use your pill of swallow there. Well, they're pretty happy. That looks like a quarterback standing. Yeah.

I mean, if it is a quarterback, it's, we had this discussion coming into it. It's 32 the potential spot. But if you like your guy and if you, this is one of those moments where you don't sit there. You don't sit there with the way the draft is unfolded. If they love a picket or if they love a willis, we're about to find out if that's the answer. but I can understand wanting to be aggressive in this moment. Mac Jones going to the Patriots last year where Patriots just sat there and waited. That's the exception to the rule.

You have to go get Justin Field. You have to go get your quarterback being aggressive. Absolutely. Deshawn Watson. Yeah, exactly. Josh Allen even. Yeah. To bump up for him.

Mitchell Tribiskey. And if you look at it, I mean, it's, I can understand wanting to do it at 12 because if you're worried that a team like Pittsburgh might try to come up at 13 with a Houston team that could potentially want to trade down. Do you think this is the spot you have to get to to make this happen? I totally get that. Well, because you're worried about Pittsburgh moving up a little bit. Yep.

You know, to get their guy, whoever that may be. And Houston at 13, I think is a natural partner to do that, right? Yes. So if you think that, we need to jump them. And for Minnesota, Minnesota needs players. Minnesota isn't one guy away, even though their offseason moves might lend you to believe. The general manager, first year head coach, starting a new regime. Even though they're contenders and they're ready to go, you know, compete for the NFC North.

Absolutely. So I will see what happens here. But if it's not a quarterback, you talked about receiver being a need for this team. They don't have any outside receivers really on this roster after the season. They signed DJ Chark to a one year contract. So they do have some vertical stretch for this season. But other than that, I mean, this is a receiver room that's very much in flux for whoever their quarterback might end up being if a quarterback is not the pick here. Yeah.

And also just like, no, I'm on Ross St. Brown had a nice year for them. And like a guy like Jameson Williams, it makes sense because just his skill set, well, it's different from a lot of guys because he's so freaking fast. But it's like now it's that opens up for everything else for the other guys. That's the gravity that a speed receiver can bring. And that's what Jameson Williams truly can do. And also yards after the catch, he's great with the ball in his hands. He was a great returner as well. So even if got Jared Gough doesn't push the ball, he can throw underneath and boom, you know, James can take to the house.

Here we go. The Vikings have traded the 12 pick. to the Detroit Lions. I'm not that to receive. I know. This is a... In the 22 NFL draft. The Detroit Lions select Jameson, Wilman, Williams.

This wide receiver, Alabama. So, Dane, I, so if it's not a quarterback, the idea of the Lions trading up for Williams, this is that run on receivers that's happening. Where now that you see Olave go and you saw Drake London go, do I feel like we need to go up and get this or we're going to miss out on that tier of player? at that position.

Four of the last five picks have been receiver. I mean, this is, and this is what we thought was going to happen. It's just when was it going to happen? What was the order going to be? We're going to see some trade. We saw two trades out back to back.

And we've actually got another trade here coming up with the Eagles, moved to 13. But with Jameson, I mean, exactly what you said, a perfect compliment to a guy like, Alman Ross St. Brown. When is he going to be ready?

You know what for the lions? It doesn't really matter. I mean, if he's not ready until Halloween, so be it. He's walking up on the stage right now. Yeah. So he's doing okay after a seat.

I'm not limping. Guess what? The Lions win four games this year and they play hard and show some spunk. Yeah. Great. Great. Because they're going to be the exact same position at Lanison. You got Amorov, St.

Brown, you got Jameson Williams now. You have an offensive line that you already feel pretty good about after drafting Pennesoul last year and everybody else that they have. Whatever their quarterback plan ends up being, waiting until 20, 23 to figure that out while your paying Jared off $30 million. That's okay. There are about 15 teams that are going to draft C.J. Stroud next year.

Listen, you joke about that, but the Falcons and the Lions, those teams are going to be bad enough where they can potentially draft C.J. Stroud and the Lions have an extra first round pick next year. Yep. So let's say the Jags get the number one pick again next season, which could happen. And they have Trevor Lawrence and the Lions are at two. You can make that little swap if you want to, whatever it needs to end up happening. I'm about three Ohio State receivers going back to back to back.

I mean, James Williams. Okay, he spent a little bit of time in Alabama, but he was in Ohio State for a couple years. So it's just, it's amazing what that wide receiver room looked like in Columbus for a little bit there. Hey, Big Ten Conference. That's what we produce receivers. That's what we do. John Dodson's coming up pretty soon. No, that's the Big Ten conference.

That's where you want to see receivers. That's where you go. So what, the Eagles are here now picking on the clock at 13. They moved up with the Texans. So they wanted to get in front of Baltimore. Basically what this comes down to. Yep. So is this Jordan Davis?

Jordan Davis. That would be how he loves his big defense. defensive lineman. And the Eagles were rumored as a receiver candidate as one of one if they're set in pat. And it looks like maybe this crop of guys, this tier of guys for them. And yeah, I could see defensive linemen really making sense. I know they weren't. They need front seven help.

Yeah. Well, and I know they're looking at corners as well. I don't know that they're moving up for McDuffie. Maybe they still think they can get him, you know, with their second first rounder. But, yeah, this feels like Jordan Davis. You get ahead of Baltimore. But, you know, how. It makes a lot more sense.

If there was, if you're going to bet on a team to move up, Saints were the team. Second team, probably the Eagles. I mean, with those two first rounders, multiple picks later on, they go up to get their guy. And I mean, Jordan Davis, if you look at the Eagles,

you know, you think, well, they have defensive linemen, but Fletcher Cox is back on that one-year deal. I mean, they're more in flux at that position than you might think. And honestly, Jordan Davis and Javon Hargrave, you're worried about Jordan Davis having juices of pass rusher?

If you have the defensive tackle outside of Aaron Donald, arguably with the most past rushing juice in the league. It's a little easier to live with Jordan Davis being a one-dimensional player really in your gap shooter and your plugger and your gap plugger. Perfect. There you go. Traditional roles.

It's great. You know, got to love that. But they, you know, their defense last year and they, I mean, that was like a big issue with them.

It was just in the front seven. They're trying to play too high. And it was just always just, you know, they just couldn't do it. They just didn't have the horses up front to last for 60 plays. I remember playing, they were playing the 49ers early in the year.

And it was, it wasn't even a great game from the, the 49ers, but the Eagles on defense, they just couldn't do anything against the run game. It was just, it was almost comical. So that's why, man, I could really see them going for Davis here. And this is kind of the slot where he was predicted to go. So it makes a lot of sense. I'm a little bit disappointed that he might not go to Baltimore.

I just, the idea of Jordan Davis going to Baltimore is almost too beautiful to me. Just imagining him in the uniform and all the ass kickers they've had on their defensive line over the years, him playing next to Clayas Campbell. Yeah. I mean, everything about it. listen the idea of dropping Jordan Davis in with Javat Hargrave, Fletcher Cox, Hassan Reddick, Josh Sweat, this is how the Eagles thing. If it is Jordan Davis, it would be the most Eagles pick possible because even as you

have all these shiny corners and a Kyle Tamilton and everything else on the board, how he believes in certain things. And what he believes it is that this is how you build a football team. So I wouldn't be shocked at all if that's what it's for. My last three mock drafts, I put Jordan Davis at 15. to the Eagles. And maybe I overlooked the fact, you know, on purpose that, yeah, maybe go to Baltimore because I knew he was just perfect fit with Howie Roseman. I'm 15. But, you know, and Howie knows that. So move up to 13. They only gave up, what, a couple fourth rounders, I believe. Yeah. Yeah, it was a fifth rounder that they didn't even own before. It was actually something they got from Arizona. I believe the Zach Erich's trade.

They leased it. Yeah. Yeah, they leased a fifth round pick for the Zach Hertz deal. And that's, the Eagles are obviously very anal. politically forward to organization. They understand a lot of, you know, the ways that certain positional value trends and picks and everything else, you know, how it should inform decision making. But they're aggressive both ways. No move up or down, not huge, but they will absolutely make little tiny vacillations throughout the draft that they feel put them in better positions. And I don't think Jordan Davis is this, I don't think he is a one-dimensional player.

I mean, I think that there's a pessimistic viewpoint. No, absolutely. Well, especially his first year. You know, it will take time for him to develop as more of a pass rush. as that guy that will attack gaps. But pound for pound, one of the most unique athletes we've ever seen, coming to the NFL.

And I think that they look at that upside and what he could be in that he's not just that, you know, two gaping knows. I mean, he can be a guy you line up as a gap shooter and give you a little bit of push. And so, I mean, good luck blocking this guy. He's firing all cylinders going forward. I mean, I've been a little skeptical about the snap.

count and all that, but I certainly get why a team's going to bet on a guy like Jordan Davis because, again, at worst, you're getting a dominant run defender and a guy that is going to give you a little bit more as a pass rusher. Yeah, and the offensive lines want to get more pass protection heavy, so they're more athletic and smaller. Okay, what's zag a little bit and get

a guy that just pushes them around? You're talking about the two high considerations you're bringing up. I mean, if you want to play like that, this is the type of guy that feels more value, even if he's not going to get you eight sacks or six. sex. He has past defense value if he can allow you to play certain coverages on the back end.

And I think more and more teams are thinking about that. Is it worth spending a first round pick on? Maybe not. But when that first round pick is literally built like no one else on planet Earth and you can get him at 13 and not five, I think these are all the things you've got to kind of start thinking about. And also, yeah, like what you're saying with the two high defenses, you get Davis there, it saves a body in the box. And then also what the argument is is, okay, he might not bring the juice on third down or passing downs. But it's really nice that every single time the other offense is third and eight, third, third, and ten, because they couldn't do anything on first and second down in the run game. So the argument for him is Vita Valle. Like that is the argument for Jordan Davis is he can have that effect,

even if they're not exactly the same type of player. But that is the glass hat full, you know, a prediction for him or what he can do for your defense. That's a good way to frame it. With these picks, and this is something that again, analytically forward franchise told me last year when they were thinking about draft pick trades, if you start getting past the top 100, these become a little bit like monopoly money. And when you start trading top 100 picks to move up, that's often bad process. But the Eagles are giving away two fifths and things like that.

When that is part of it, it's not as big of a deal to me. I'm more okay with that than I am with a team trade in a future second to move back from the third round back into the second round, stuff like that. thought we might see some trades in the top 10 we get no trades and then 11 12 13 all uh teams moving up so it's just that this is what we were expecting and this is where a little bit of that chaos comes in the unpredictable nature of the draft which which we love so much yeah it's funny and you can see i just saw the clock and said texas are on a clock even though we're waiting for the eagles pick and it's just funny being in the league sometimes too is because you have your own

internal communicator stuff so i just remember those days too it's like no going we're on pick 20 and then you look at TV and they're on pick 14. Right. It's backlogged a little. Yeah. From when the announcement's happening and I think that's what's going on right now. It would just be so interesting when you have a guy like Kyle Hamilton and you think about the needs that the Eagles have and how clear it is for them to, if they could just drop him in,

it would make sense, like in terms of their defense and the guys they have on the roster. But again, this is just a team that is so steadfast in the way that it sees positional value and it operates according to those principles. I'd be surprised if. it was a safety. And I wouldn't be surprised at all if it were Jordan Davis. And I think that really speaks to who the Eagles are and the ways that they operate. Yeah. And we're going to spend all this time talking

Jordan Davis and it's going to be like, like, Jayhaw Johnson. Jermaine Johnson still out there. You know, the pass rusher. So, I mean, Jordan, because again, it's that who do you have to jump Baltimore for? Yeah. Here we go.

With the 13th pick in the 2022 NFL draft, the Phil Delph Eagles select Jordan Davis. Makes sense. Great call by you, Dan. I mean, it's, it would have been surprised if it were for anybody else. Right.

Just because if you're thinking about player tiers and guys available, you can make an argument for Kyle Hamilton probably, but not for this team. Right. Maybe for some other teams, but the Eagles just aren't going to value him in the same way that another franchise might. Meanwhile, if you're Baltimore, you're a little disappointed here. I mean, this is, I think, I think, you know, there's a good chance that could have gone Jordan Davis at 14. And so all of a sudden, maybe option A is off the table. You're going to option B, which that makes things interesting. Well, and we've talked, we focused a lot on our show, Robert,

for worse about the Chargers and like just all the stuff they, especially last year. But we talked, that was everyone, by the way. Yeah, for better. But that was everyone's including mine. Oh, my God. This is Jordan Davis at 17 to the Chargers. Oh, my God. Team fit, need all that stuff.

But other teams play the same defense. Like other teams play that type of, other teams like the skill set. like this skill set, not just... Jonathan Gannon and Brantz-Daley are best friends. Yes. So that's why when a lot of teams work, well, he's going to the Chargers, like, yeah, other teams are going to value what he brings to them. So it makes a ton of sense that the Eagles value his skill set as well.

It really is amazing. I think what that kind of guy can do, just unlock everything. And even if, again, it doesn't have that past rush value, the way that every other aspect of your defense can change because the math starts to flip, I think is just really important to take into consideration here. And that's why it makes sense. I mean, beyond what we've seen from the Eagles in years past, there's both a history there and schematically,

I think that there's an alignment that I should have probably thought more about it before this draft happened, that Jordan Davis to the Eagles actually did make a lot of sense. You know, you worry a little bit about the weight, but it was a positive sign that, okay, he was 341 at the Combine. Do you mean, where is that the pro day? 341. Okay.

That's positive sign. Blown back up. Right, exactly. A lot of these players, you know, they slim down so they could run real fast and then they, you know, take the foot off the pedal a little bit and, yeah, add 10 pounds. So the fact that he stayed at 341, a small win that gives you a little bit of encouragement that, you know, he can monitor the weight, stay at something manageable because you don't want him playing at 365 consistent. You did a lot of times at Georgia. All right. We're going to take a quick break. When we get back, we're going to break down the Ravens Pick at 14.

All right. We're back. the Ravens pick is in, Dane. What do you think they're doing here? Jordan Davis off the board. Where are you going if you're Baltimore? I went Trevor Penning in my mock. Get that physical right tackle that we know they could use.

But, I mean, you look at best available. Germain Johnson's still out there. Kyle Hamilton's still out there. There's a few impact defensive players. The Ravens, I mean, we know how much they value defensive guys that can really change things on that side of the ball. ball. So with Jermaine Johnson and Kyle Hamilton out there, there's a good chance to be one of those two players as well. I thought it was really interesting looking at, we talked about a little bit with

with Wink Martindale, but you think about the Ravens identity defensively over the last few years, blitzing man coverage. That's what we've come to expect from Baltimore. But over the last, over last season, little changes, little changes. So 2019, 2020, fourth and fourth in man coverage rate, 46% in 2019, 45% in 2020. This season, down to sixth in the NFL, but only 34%. 10% drop off from the previous season. Blitz rate, 2019, first in the NFL, 50%, 2020, 42.5% first in the league. 2021, 28.4%, down to seventh in the NFL.

So you have this kind of shifting philosophy where we're not playing as much man coverage. me. We're going to play a little bit more zone. And does a guy like Kyle Hamilton, who the Ravens just picked Nate, fit into that kind of shifting philosophy potentially. Yeah. And I think they realize, oh my God, finding as many corners as we can is really, really hard.

It's a really hard proposition. But what Hamilton does is he has some limitations. He's another guy that has limitations with the long speed stuff, but he's so smart and so aware and versatile. And that matters now. Being able to play those different spots really matters. It's him and Marcus Williams back there.

Yes. It's, they're going to wreck it. Yes. And so now if you do want to, even if they do want to say blitz heavy or if they want to tape it down, they want to, they want to use him how they want to use it. If that makes sense, it sounds so basic. But like now you don't have that limitation going, we don't trust this guy to read the game. We don't trust this guy to cover him the slot. Now they can do those things.

They got another body for it. I didn't look at every mock draft on the internet. But Baltimore and Cal Hamilton was not a pairing. You really saw that often. No. So that's, that's interesting. This is a strictly best player available. When you look at the Ravens,

you look at their depth chart, where they could have gone. I mean, they got Chuck Clark on the roster of safety, who's, you know, obviously. Nice. Yeah, exactly. Safety wasn't necessarily at the top of the priority list where they had to go.

But best available, Kyle Hamilton is hard to pass on. Well, if you look at Chuck Clark, I mean, Chuck Clark has spent a ton of time the last few years playing in the box. In the box, right? So, 2021, 300 of his 1,000, snaps came in the box, does that ratio shift even more with Kyle Hamilton now back there?

And Marcus Williams is somebody that the Saints ask a lot of their safeties. He can play in the post. They play a lot of too high stuff in the quarters things they do in New Orleans. The versatility may now have potentially on the back end with those three guys. It gives Mike McDonald their new defensive coordinator a lot to potentially work with, even if the corner talent and overall depth, Nate, isn't what we necessarily expect from You're building through the spine. And more of these guys are getting more same-y body types.

He's 220. And how much is Chuck Clark way? I mean, it's got to be close to that. I think he's 215, 218, but those are, we have linebackers now weighing that. Like, if you watch the Rams last year, they would have lineback. He's about 200. I thought he'd bigger than that. Play's big.

But they'd have guys out there that you're getting more same body types. So now if you're getting three safeties as a quarterback, it's a pain sometimes. It's really nice when you can look and you go, okay, if I'm playing this defense, I know the post safety is always number 20. All right, where's number 20 yet? Okay, okay, I'm good. But now if I have three guys that have to worry about and they can, you know, interchange them how they see fit,

that just causes a little bit of hesitation. And I don't know if you guys know this, but the Browns have Deshaun Watson now. They're going to be facing teams. They're going to be chucking it a little bit more. So might as well build through the spine where we can just help out a little more soundness on our defense. I mean, I compared him to Justin Simmons as that type of safety.

That's a great comparison. You know, he might not have the best 40, but because he plays so fast with his mind. He sees it unfold. So he's already on that second, third step by the time, you know, the play is unfolding. And he gets there, whether it's, you know, shooting downhill, you know, running the alley or if it's to the sideline. I mean, he does have some versatility there as a safety. And it'll be really interesting to see how they utilize this group of defensive backs.

I know I'm excited. So speaking of this group of defensive backs, the Ravens apparently. Houston Texan select Kenyon Green. Wow. Kenyon Green 15th overall, Dane. That's a little surprising. Did not see Kenyon Green going that early, but,

and there's a little late, you know, noise about the meniscus in the right knee. Could that cause him to slip a little bit? Wow. I wonder if the Texans see him, did they announce him as a tackle or a guard? Because that's, that's interesting. I think we view him mostly as a guard,

but he played plenty of tackle as well. You know, they might view him as a guy that gives him that position for versatility. He started four different positions last year. Now that's Kenyon Green, keeping them in the state of Texas. We talk about the Texans need talent. And now also you're getting a guy, Kenny on Green, who, like you just said, like, that versatility, that's going to help on the offensive line. So now that's like for a Texan team that just needs players, it's like, okay, we got a starter.

Like now we'll figure out what's his best spot, but at least we can shore it up. Say we kick him out to right tackle. and okay, he does a fine job. He's not great. Well, guess what? Next year's draft, we go get a right tackle. And now that guy bumps the guard. This is what I was talking about with the Texans.

You see the graphic right now if you're watching the stream. Oh, yeah. The Texans guarantee the guaranteed contracts the Texans have. The players on the Texans roster that have more than $2 million in guarantees past this season. Laramie Tunsell, Brandon Cook's, Malik Collins. That's it. Wow. That is the list of guys that the Texans owe more than $2 million.

to if they move on from anybody after this season. So when you're thinking about it, oh, guard and things like that, it doesn't matter. This is such a blank slate. And they're starting over to such an extent that any position should be on the table if you think that guy is worthy of a first round pick. Dane, we've had a lot of chat about Zion Johnson in this process and where he fits. Are you surprised that Green not only went this high, but went ahead of a guy like Zion Johnson that a lot of people have liked in the process? Not necessarily because I think it was split. Who's the top guard this year?

Kenyon Green or Zion Johnson. Remember what we talked about at the top, how teams really in this draft have between 14, 16, 18 first round grades. I think this probably came down to a team like Houston where Kenyon Green is probably one of their last first round grades. And so they're sticking true to their board. And instead of taking a second round player on their board, they're taking a first round player.

So, you know, it's a little surprising to see them go this early. But if the Texans had a first round grade on them, then I certainly understand. and Kenyon Green grew up just north of Houston. So this is another one, just like Aidan Hutchinson. And just, you know, we've seen a couple of these local connections. And we've got another one here with Kenyon and Green going to Houston, a team that's rebuilding across that offense and on the offensive line. So in the midst of us talking about these picks, pretty monster trade.

The Ravens get the 23rd overall pick trading Hollywood Brown to the Cardinals. Arizona gets Hollywood Brown and the 100th pick in this draft. talk about the Ravens and what else they might need. And the need that I kept coming back to when I was looking at Baltimore was that lack of depth at corner compared to what we're used to with them, right? I mean, they obviously Marcus Peters was hurt for most of the last season. So that's why you had guys like Anthony Averett playing a ton of snaps. But they lost about 1,600 snaps at cornerback from last season to guys in free agency this year.

With Averick gone, Jimmy Smith gone, and Tavon Young gone. This is a team that's just been flushed with corners forever. Dane, do you think potentially at 23 with some of these other corners that might be on the board, they could double up in the secondary? Definitely possible. We'll see where Trent McDuffie comes off the board here coming up. I think there's a few, you look at the chargers, you look at the Eagles, a few landing spots possible for him. And then who's that next corner?

Is it Andrew Booth at Clemson coming off some injuries? Is it Kyler Gordon from Washington? Kair Elam from Florida. There are several teams that really like Kyra. And you look at a team like the Ravens, they prefer size at corner. You know, they want their Marlon Humphreys who, not the biggest corner in the world, but he is big, but he plays big as well. And I think Kyra Elam could be that type of player if Kyra Elam makes it to that pick 23.

What do you think about Hollywood, Arizona, Nate? I'm looking at like depth charts right now, right now, or blah, blah, blah. But what I actually like the Kyra Elam thing real quick, too, is that actually makes sense for the Ravens as far, because he's a competitive dude and he has some versatility. That actually makes a lot of sense. But Hollywood Brown and the Cardinals, I mean, the Cardinals just want to continue to play fantasy football, it seems like. But that's what it really just, they were desperate. There's a lot of rumors maybe linking them with like a trail on Perks at 22 or something of that sort.

But it felt weird. Like I didn't really like kind of like what he would bring to the table for them. I guess it's fine. It's a different type of guy completely than DeAndre Hopkins. And also it seems that they're committed with Rondale more in the slot. Hollywood Brown's not going to give him size, obviously. But he's going to give a little more juice. is true juice.

You know, Ron Dale's more of a yards after catch juice guy, while Hollywood can like, you know, take the top off run those intermediate routes. So I do like a little bit of that synergy, but it's just like, okay,

good job, Cardinals. You know, I'm more interested in the Raven side and going, hi, Rashad Bateman. And, you know, like, I think that's a real big bet on him

and saying like, no, he's our guy and we don't need any more help. To move up to get the 23rd overall pick to deal a receiver that's been really up and down, you might not love. And small. That has size concern. I mean, I think it's a smart move by the ravens.

Yes. I completely understand why they would want to do something like this. The rapids basically, they took Brown, what, like 29, 30, you know, when they originally took it. They got a better first round pick them when they originally took them. And they got the years out of them. And like you said, he's an inconsistent guy and he's smaller. He's more of a role guy to me than a true bonafide dude.

The most important thing that we need to talk about here, who threw to Hollywood Brown in College? I was going to ask, do we think this? is some sort of way to appease Tyler Murray. I was thinking, I thought that might be too tinfoil Hattie. That's why I didn't bring it up immediately. Great point. You were,

you were bringing these guys back together. Someone he's very comfortable with both these guys, they flourished in that offense in 2018. Washington's pick is in here 16. The Washington commander select Johan Dotson, wide receiver. Wow.

Washington trades away. from Olave? They traded away from Jameson William. They had to have known there's a good chance, you know, Williams would be off the board, Olave be off the board, Garrett Wilson be off the board. They must have really liked John Dawson.

I mean, I liked them, but this is, this is rich. It's not like Washington got, what was the deal again for Washington? What did they get to move back? It wasn't, it was no. There's a couple force, right? Yeah, yeah. It was in the early hundreds.

So, I mean, this, this is more about, I think, how much they like, Johan Dotson more than anything else. Yeah. If you look at it, Washington last year, their receivers not named Terry McCorrent, combined six guys for 107 catches and 1,165 yards, six guys for that. So even if a receiver maybe isn't the clearest need for them when you think about them spending on Curtis Samuel, when you think about Terry McCorren being there,

they did need somebody on the outside. This is a huge blow to our Diami Brown shares that we have. Yes. But other than that, I. can understand why Washington feels like this is a decision they have to make it. You like Jahan Dotson. I do. Yeah.

And I actually love his skill set for what Washington has. So this is, you know, that's a nice plan with Scary Terry. And I still, I still like Diamond Brown, but he's an outside guy. What I like about Dotson is I can see him in the spot attacking vertically. And I can also, you can win enough on the outside. I do think at the NFL level. So that helps. Does he feel like Elijah Moore, like this year's Elijah Moore to you a little bit?

A little bit. That's good. I compare, I keep preparing him to lock it. Like is that just. That's right. That's right, which I like a lot. Yeah. And I, because I can just see him attacking intermediate vertical from the slot.

He's not going to be that shifty underneath guy, even though he's a smaller size guy. I think he's just a ball player because his catching skills are so good. Who sprays the ball a little bit? Carson Wentz. So we got a guy that even if he's 510, he plays like he's 6, 2, 6.3. That's just really helps. Exactly. He has the largest catch radius of any sub 511 receiver that I've scouted in a long time.

And, I mean, my comparison for him was Deont. Johnson, even though he has much better hands. He's a Deonté Johnson who can catch. So. Did you see the note? Oh, man. We got something? Mac, can you hold that up?

He goes traded for AJ Brown. Ooh. That's. That's spicy. Yeah. Yeah, this is. I love doing this. I'm guessing it cost 18.

Yeah. Must be 18. I'm guessing. Then who there's Zion Johnson for the, I love this for the chargers. You know what? It's not the sexiest move in the world. But when you look at their needs. means right guard was a really big need.

A little surprise over penning. Yeah. Right tackle. So, but I can understand that. Like if you don't love penning and you're reaching because you just think, I right tackle, if you look at the available options of right now in the NFL, you have a Riley Reef. You have guys that if you need to bring in somebody to spot start for you in that, in that spot, you can do it.

So a guy like Zion Johnson, they had to need it. Right Guard. Odeiabushi was there last year. He got hurt. They did not have anybody. I think Brendan Hymas is currently sitting there at number one on their debt chart at right guard. So it is a need even if it wasn't quite as flashy as their need at corner or tackle or receiver. It makes a lot of sense.

And sometimes Justin Herbert, because he's a line drive thrower, is that he can have balls batted down. That's just what happens. When you're like a Tannet Hill, even like a Desmeritor this year, Herbert, those line drive thowers, even if they're taller, even if they're taller, they can get balls batted out. So now we get a guy that's going to shore up the middle and just clean up the pocket. It's sometimes we always think tackles, tackles, tackles, blindside. Of course, the left side's so important. Now the right side as well.

Having good guards matters so much too because just now the quarterback can operate. If I, it's so hard to throw deep if I can't step up. Well, maybe not for Justin Herbert. But, you know, but now it's like even cleaner. So now we can attack the field because the pocket's so much. When this reminds me a little bit of, I mean, I hate to make this comparison, but when the Cowboys drafted Zach Martin, like it wasn't a sexy pig. It's short everything else.

But yeah, it was 17 as well? 17 or 18. It was, Zach Martin. 16? Yeah. One of those. Yeah. So, by the way, Diana Rossini reported the terms of the deal for the Titans

and AJ Brown. Yeah. Tennessee gets 18 and a third. That's it. Think about what the other wide receiver trades have been like a first and a second. And you get still a year cheap of A.J. Brown because of the deal that he's on. And you're giving a contract to a guy coming off a rookie deal. You have cash flow concerns, all the other things.

Plus H. AJ Brown's 24. Yeah. So is this trailing bird? or the Titans. Replace A.J. Brown with a trail in birds.

I mean. Do they move him from Pittsburgh? Well, and it's interesting that they made this trade now. Like it like it almost mattered like who was left on the clock for them. Yeah. Usually this is a trade you make before the draft. Yeah.

Yeah. So. with contracts and stuff. Yeah. So now we're looking at it. We're looking at Eagles offense now. Graves. Dave.

Smith, A.J. Brown, one of the best offensive lines in the league. Guess what? When they trade up for their quarterback next year, it's going to be amazing. I'm mean to it. It's fairly mean, but I still think that they're trying to build this thing up in the best way that they can. That's a hell

of a group on offense. I think this is a great deal by the Eagles, I think. Just like, this is so much better than anybody who's left on the board. Now that especially, I like Dodson, I would take it away J. Brown a million times over that, you know, and it just wow. And I love the, you know, his pairing with Devante Smith, this would be perfect.

You're talking about just like a bully ball guy with yards after the catch, and then you got Devante Smith smooth, you know, the Slim Reaper. That's a really fun pairing to have. Man, yeah, it makes a ton of sense, but it's just, wow, I wasn't expecting it. What I love about this is, you know, they don't really have, I love Devante Smith. I think Devonty Smith's a really good player. They don't have that instant offense receiver. They don't have that guy like, we're going to get you the ball and gimmicky ways and let you go to

town. And AJ Brown is more than that. Like AJ Brown is to me one of the best receivers in the league, period. And the fact that he's 24, you have that one cheap year left, all that stuff, that's important. But I think the way he complements a guy like Devonthe Smith, who's not going to be a yet guy. He's not going to be an

instant offense guy. When you're trying to figure out who you want to be in the passing game, which they still aren't. They're still trying to understand what that side of their offense looks like. Having this as a grenade to just drop into that process, that's not a bad situation. Dave.

No, not at all. And I mean, I want, if you're the commanders, are you like, oh, shoot, we could have had a. for a first and a third? I mean, we still like you, Jehan. Yeah. But, uh, shoot. Uh, you know, I mean, yeah, like you said, this is a great deal for, for the Eagles.

I mean, coming out of this first round with, I mean, who had Jordan Davis and AJ Brown as the two players that were coming out of the first round with? I mean, that, that's, that's awesome. That's awesome for Phil. Guess what? it's always worth it to have more picks. It's always good to have more picks. Because this is the type of stuff you can do.

I mean, man, absolutely crazy. That is of the receivers that we expected to get drafted or traded today, he was not number one on the list. Debo, we're talking about. Yeah. I'm just, the Hollywood Brown news was already like, oh, wow, wow, that was a big surprise. I'm so interested in why the Titans would do this.

Like, why you think that this pick, whoever it ends up being, is more valuable to you than A.J. Brown, even with the extension. Like, I just think that, all right, so here we go. Four year extension for A.J. Brown, $100 million, that $37 million, $57 million, guaranteed. That's market value. Yeah. Like, and that's the same. How many years?

Four. Four years, $100 million. That's in the exact same range that we're talking about with Devante Adams, with Tyree Kill. AJ Brown is 24 years old. Yeah. I'm a huge A.J. Brown fan. Maybe I'm getting blinded by this, Nate. I took him like fourth overall in our non-quarterback draft last year. But I think he's an incredible player.

I think this is a great deal for the Eagles, even with the contract extension in hand. It makes a ton of sense. But now you're also paying him during his prime years. You're not paying a Devante Adams at 29 years old, the big money, you know? So like this, that little slot that makes sense. He's not, I, Devante is a different tier, but look at just showing the Titans war room. John Knox has got a massive dip in. Huge dips.

But I mean, God, I love this for the Eagles. I really do. Because when I, there's circling receivers, and I love Drake London for them. It was one of the teams I actually did like because I, that would be a hilarious pairing with DeVante Smith, just get to two different sized guys. But now all those guys, there's a run on them. So yeah, you're falling your board in your own way. Our top 15 guys, our top 14 guys are gone.

So what else can we do with these picks? Do we punt it to next year? Do we pump back? Do you know, or do we trade for freaking AJ Brown? I know we're doing some really serious analysis tonight. And that's what we're here for. but you cannot underrate when teams do cool stuff. The Eagles easily have the coolest draft so far.

I mean, you're dropping AJ Brown and Jordan Davis into the mix in that uniform. That is by far the coolest thing any team has done. The cool question is off the charts with what the Eagles have done tonight. The 18th pick to the Tennessee Titans. Who knows what's going to happen here with Tennessee? With the 18th pick in the 2022 NFL draft, the Tennessee Titans select trailing Berks There it is.

It made sense that that's who they would go after. Again, they made this deal when they knew trailer Berks was available. It's a wonderful. You have to think they had the groundwork for this trade for a while. You have to get through physicals and all that. Because what if he doesn't pass his physical?

You can't get the pickback. So, I mean, you had to have the groundwork for this trade a few days ahead of time, a few weeks out of time. And it just all mattered, all dependents. So if you're Philly, you're just crossing your fingers. Okay, let's, Burks falls there or whichever receiver, if there may be a couple receivers. A lot of pressure on trailing Berks now to be the next AJ Brown.

I was trying to figure out when's the last time we saw something like this, where you had a player traded for a first round pick, and then the team used that first round pick to essentially just replace that player. It hasn't been that long, Javon Kinlaw. Oh, yeah. I was actually just even thinking Diggs and Justin. Just Jefferson. That's another really good example.

It's happened a lot more recently than you might think. And it's a theoretical exercise, but you can lay out the thinking. It's like, all right. We have this guy who is two years younger and will cost us one 15. I don't know the exact math. I'm a math guy. But the numbers are so in your favor when it comes to what you're going to pay on that guy. If he ends up hitting, there are ways this can go.

It can go like Javon Kinlauhran to Forrest Buckner or it can go with Justin Jefferson and Stefan Dick. we've seen both ends of the spectrum. Justin Jefferson, Stefan Diggs, obviously being what you are hoping. For both teams, yeah. And, you know, it's hopefully for Burtz and for the Eagles and AJ Brown.

That's what it works out for here. Honestly, the rep they just showed on ESPN. That's exactly, and now they're going to show the AJ Brown. And in a whole comparison, the exact same type of play that he's going to be asked around 15, 25 times in a game. Tons of Diggs, tons of end breakers. They get to keep the type of offense they have

because the skill set translates. It really does, even if he has other things to grow. as a football player but it makes sense we talked about on our preview show we're like we kept we kept bringing up burks he's a question mark his fit his fit really matters this is one of his better fits better landing spots i really think it's also interesting is six receivers are gone right so now we're getting into we thought chiefs packers are going to be looking at receiver now we're getting into a weird territory absolutely guys are going to be shooting up boards or absolutely the packers are in it they're definitely the team that's been burned the worst by the way that this is gone no no question i mean i was tipped off before the draft that hey the titan were trying to get up to go get burks. That's what the Packers are worried about. Cowboys were worried about. I don't think we saw it happening like this because the Titans still have their other first round pick. But, yeah, that's fascinating.

So it's what, six receivers off the board in the first 18 picks. I mean, that's in what, six within, you know, eight or nine picks. That's, we saw it. Five, if it's a line, man. Yeah. That's six receivers. I was really interested in what this draft was going to be for the Titans because I thought that they had run out of.

road. And they're current, the way they've built that team, when you think about the money that they've allocated toward the quarterback, they're spending more money on quarterback this year than any team in the league against the cap. 38.9 million, $38.6 million for Ryan Tannehill. The Tennessee Titans have the most expensive offense in football going into this season. And that was with AJ Brown on a rookie deal. They don't save any money on AJ Brown. So I was wondering, are we going to see them shift what they are. Are we going to see them try to reset in a soft way to say, how are we going to figure out the next phase of this?

They didn't do that at all. The one guy they moved out from, they don't have to pay the receiver, but they're, the model and what they're trying to be is the exact same when you swap in trailing Berks for A.J. Brow. And I love that Berks is going to play with Robert Woods. Like that's going to be a perfect pro for him. So I just learn the little crappy point. The old man at the YMCA game.

you know, with the guy that can go dunk, but can't shoot a jumper. So I think it's going to be a perfect little pairing there and growth process, really. Because you do worry a little bit about Birx and just the routes and being a little more consistent as an outside player. But, I mean, yeah, I expect them to use them all over the formation. Yep. Yeah, like you said, I mean, these short catch and run opportunities, go be physical, go use that speed. I mean, it's kind of like A.J. Brown, like a guy that maybe wasn't the fastest, but. Build up speed.

Yeah. Yeah, nobody really caught him from behind. So it's the same type of player with Traylon Burks. Yep, absolutely. I know my comparison kind of fell to Josh Gordon because I just had those images where Josh Gordon, especially in the pros, at 228 catching slants and just splitting guys. And I can see Traylon Burks kind of like until he earns other routes to be asked to run. It's like, no, well, just everything's in breaking and just go.

Just go. You have three routes, slant, a dig, and a hitch. Yeah. Get the ball in your hand. Let's not complicate things when we don't need to. Yep. Guys, I'm shook about this AJ Brown going to the Eagles thing. I'm still not ready to process it and what it means.

Jalen Hertz is probably the happiest. I mean, as much as we talk about a quarterback next year for the Eagles, I mean, this is set up for him to take that next step for him as a player as a quarterback and to prove why the Eagles don't need to invest a first rounder at the position. So, I mean, the Eagles went to the playoffs last year with Jalen Hertz at the helm. Now it's up to Hertz. They've got you weapons. The offense is set up for you.

Let's see what you do with it. Yeah, I've jokes before that this for whoever their next quarterback is, but they've given every opportunity to J. I mean, this is one of those scenarios. There's no ambiguity about what he should be able to accomplish with the players around him. Again, they might have the best line in the league now combined with Devante Smith, Dallas Goddard, A.J. Brown. I mean, there's a real amount of talent on that offense.

Well, yeah, and I mean, like you said, whoever they trade up for next year, I know you're joking. But seriously, though, like a rookie quarterback next year is in the greatest spot possible. I have weapons and the offense align and I can just work and get better as a pro. It's just about having flexibility. It's just about being able to pivot and having all of these options.

And that's the benefit of more picks. You said it. They still have another third rounder. They had two threes. So, you know, they're not sacrificing necessarily. You know, they still have those. 19th picks in the 2022 NFL draft. The New Orleans Saints select Trevor Penning.

Tackle. So it didn't necessarily work out how we thought it would with where the picks happen. But the Saints moved up in that deal with Philly. Everyone assumed if it wasn't for a quarterback and they weren't going to make a big move, they wanted a tackle on a receiver. They got a tackle in a receiver day. That's exactly it. And they feel like they're ready to go compete right now.

And with this offense, you drop in an alave, you drop in a Trevor Penning. And, you know, this is going to be interesting to see how it all gels. It's still raw in a few areas, but again, you look at the traits, 67, 325, the competitiveness that he plays with, the athleticism, the power. So, yeah, you bet on guys like this.

A little surprise that he made it through the Chargers and some of these other teams to make it to 19, but the Saints are sure happy he did. Oh, yeah. And it makes sense, too, because they've heard James Hurst at left tackle right now. So Penning is a little bit of a project. He is. He's got ways to go using his anchor, using all the gifts that he has.

He's still figuring out how to play tackle. So now it's a good situation. The Saints like to have plans for these guys. So now obviously we have Ramcheck on the right side, so we're going to see him on the left side. So right away, day one, he doesn't have to be a guy, but maybe he surprises during camp. But it's nice.

They can bring him along how they see fit as fast or as slow as they want, but it's nice to have a plan of such an important position, such a hard position to pick up in the NFL. My gut instinct is they want him on the field as soon as they can possibly get on the field because they do feel like this is this is it like this strike while the iron is hot sort at a moment where there's just not that many teams in the energy they have to worry about it's why you make the move in the first place i mean they took caesar ruse a few years ago and it was like oh okay yeah you know but they like to replenish the line they build through the offensive line they

love doing it that's what the saints always do they're one of the few teams that'll carry eight offense alignment on game day because they like to go six offense alignment right and have a jumbo tight end like they are one of the teams that year after year does that and i think they stay the same way with sean bait and gone this is now the first time since 1997, quarter of a century that we have not had a quarterback drafted in the first 19 picks. Crazy.

Quarter of a century, we have to go back. And that's, E.J. Manuel was 13? He was like 17. 16. Yeah. And Chad Pennington was 18. So go back to 97 and Drucken Miller, who was like 26 overall in that draft of the 49ers.

So now this is, this is the spot we've been talking about with the Steelers. And again, we talk about some of the teams that couldn't be happy with the way the draft is unfolded. The Steelers have to have to do nothing. Yeah. We're sitting there at 20.

Every single quarterback is on the board. We've spent months hemming and hauling about which guy they like, which guy are they have to move up for, which guy is ultimately going to be the decision. What their dinner meal was. And now, yeah. And now it doesn't, it doesn't matter. Like now we get to actually find out, Dane, who they actually preferred in the process because every single guy they might have wanted is available to them.

If it's a quarterback. I mean, it's quarterback, yes. We think, we think, yeah. Listen, when you can roll Mitchell Trabisky, you got to do it. You got to do it. I mean, listen, with the Steelers, yeah, do you keep Kenny Pickett and Pitt at Hinesfield? Do you go for the high upside with Malik Willis? I mean, there were so many connections to Malik Willis and the Steelers to the senior ball,

which felt a little forced, but, you know, it's, could we see a surprise in your guy, Desmond Ritter? I mean, this all goes down to just who they believe in the most. if it's a quarterback. So this is going to be fascinated. I know. I know. That's what I'm,

this is one of the picks I've been like kind of like geared up for. Like, you know, this one, because it's the Steelers. Steelers are the Steelers. They're one of the teams they do what they do. Like they,

they stick with their plans. Like you don't always agree with it. But sometimes like, no, the Steelers are like they have their processes that they like. But not it's not all the time. I mean, since Big Ben got picked,

they're going up for a quarterback. So it's like, oh, what are the Steelers do now? Like what's, what's the Steelers plan? and they've always marched their own rhythm. Okay, what did they do with quarterback position?

We see what all the other teams have to do. So I've been very, very curious what this pick ends up being. Because honestly, like Dan said, might not be a quarterback. I mean, it's funny. We talk so much about, you know, maybe a trade or, you know, these quarterbacks are going to go. But it's like, okay, well, who's going to take them? Yeah, you know, where, what's the, what's the path? And, you know, probably not the saints.

Okay, so who's trading up in front of the Steelers? not the Titans. I mean, you run out of these scenarios, and I think the Steelers probably looked at all the scenarios and said, I feel good sitting here. You know, we feel good. We're going to get our guy at this 20th pick. And it almost brings me back to the conversation we're having about Baker Mayfield right now

because there's so many seats filled that the dynamics of quarterback availability have shifted a little bit. So in a normal year, if you were the Steelers and you're having to pick 20th overall, you'd kind of be lamenting the problem that a lot of teams have fallen into. We were too good. We were too good to be in range. Like, how are we going to reset and find our guy and get our quarterback without trading up and having to give up assets? It's so many teams fall into that.

I mean, my team gave away Evan Neal because they needed to go up and get Justin Fields last year because they were picking exactly 20th. The same way the Steelers are now. And this year, because the quarterback class is a little weaker because so many of those seats have already been filled because teams didn't want to go into the quarterback class. The Steelers now potentially can get their guy at 20 without having to do. anything. They maybe avoid that purgatory that so many other teams have fallen into. Listen, there's a reason the guy's available with 20. So it's not a perfect scenario, but there still is a timeline here that works out really well for Pittsburgh.

And there's a reason we mentioned four or three quarterbacks names. Yes. It's because there's no one's, even if I like Ritter or like you like a guy, it's not like, oh, I'm really ready to run through a table or run through a door and pick this guy at pick eight or pick 10. It's like, yeah, I guess I'll take them. You know, that's kind of what all these guys really are in the strap. Gut feeling, then.

I went picket in my mock. I'll stick with Pickett. Why? You know, I think that he, if you want a guy that's accurate, he's got some mobility. I think there's a lot of things that you can point to that plays at the next position or the next level at that position that Kenny Pickett provides. So, but, you know, it just comes down to who they like the boast. If they want to go upside, then I get Malik Willis. They want a combination of both.

I get ridder. So, you know, these meetings, they wind and dined with all these quarterbacks. You know, it's just who knows how some of those meetings went could decide this pick. As maybe silly as that sounds, when, you know, the tape is what matters the most. You just don't know because quarterbacks in tangible position and ownership's involved with this position. Everyone's involved with this decision. So there's so many different layers that lead you to who that guy is. Oh my gosh.

Hello, Las Vegas. We talked about this earlier this week when you got, when we were both taught, when we were talking on Monday about, all right, even if we don't love the quarterbacks. In the 2022 NFL draft, the Pittsburgh Steelers. Select Kenny Pickett.

There it is. Keep it up in Heinzfield. It doesn't have to go far. It does not. I mean, don't. worry about the smaller hands in that weather, but you know what? He did it. I mean, consistently playing in that kind of condition.

So look, with Pickett, yeah, you do worry a little bit about the upside in terms of, okay, what's his ceiling as an NFL quarterback? But I think that he's, and this, Mitch Trubisky is not the starter going into the season. This will be an open competition in training camp. Kenny Pickett could very easily win that job and be the starter. from the season opener. He has that type of ability. I mean, the maturity that he played with,

there's so much to like about what he brings to your locker room at that position. So I'm not surprised to see this pick, but, you know, it's just kind of crazy that I play out this way. You're right. I know I picked 22. And it's funny for anyone that hasn't been there, but it's funny,

the Steelers and Pitts, like facility. Like everyone goes, oh, it's right next door. It's literally a duplex. It's a duplex. They have three shared fields or four.

shared fields and then they have one building that they split right down the middle. And it's like a mirrored how the offices are and everything. So he literally just is going next door. Like he at his commute and everything is the same. His house will probably be nicer in Pittsburgh than a dorm or wherever he was doing on a shady side or something. But it's going to be really interesting to see. Or it's just kind of we're talking about guys staying in the same spots. We're talking about Ian Hutchinson.

He's not from Pittsburgh, but it's another Pittsburgh quarterback coming up. Yeah, from Jersey. But, you know, it's that region of the country. Yes. Yeah. No question. Dan, what do you think in terms of best case scenario for Pickett, if things go well for him, what type of quarterback would be looking at?

Yeah, I mean, I think Kirk Cousins is fair. You know, I think that he is limited in a few areas and you do worry about some of that scar tissue with the, in terms of the pocket management, dealing with pressure and negotiating with that. But again, I think the football IQ, I mean, this is a guy that you can, he'll go through progressions. Yeah, there are times where his eyes will get away from him at times. because he starts to think, okay, that internal clocks going on. I got to go. I got to go.

Right. And so there are times that happens. But the accuracy that he has at all levels of the field from different platforms, that's, I mean, if you're going to bet on a quarterback, why not bet on a quarterback that has that? And we talk so much about how Mike Tomlin and that staff wanted to get more mobile at the quarterback position. No, he is not the Malik Willis type of runner. type of athlete, but Pickett's a good athlete. I mean, he can create for himself.

He can move the pocket. He can do some things that you know this team wants to do. But I don't know. Okay, say you're the Browns, you're the Ravens, you're the Bengals. How are you feeling about this pick? You know, if you're another team in the division, is that, I mean, it doesn't really scare me, but it's, it's a really interesting fit. They're in a weird position.

Yeah. Because when I watch Pickett, Nate, I was surprised. at how uncomfortable in the pocket he was and how his lack of feel really does show up because I thought I was going to see this guy just littered with intangibles. Even if the physical gifts aren't eye-popping, he would play the position with a real sense about him.

When people mention him and Joe Burrow in the same breath, I don't see that at all. And you look at the Steelers in their setup right now, Steelers' offensive line is not very good. Their offense is much further away from a complete product than you would want to see with a quarterback that looks good operating in ideal circumstances. The circumstances in the pocket in Pittsburgh right now are not going to be ideal.

And as we usually talk about guys creating and it's with their legs down the field, using their legs down the field and running for eight yards, running for a first down. Pickett can do that, but he creates the throw. That's what he's doing. He's extending a place to throw. And that's what he does so well. And what Dan was alluding to is all that off platform stuff, that's going to matter. This old line's not going to be great.

Okay. So now he knows how to step up in a way. out of the pocket. And that's what kind of combining what you both have said about Pickett so far is when I first watched him, I thought exactly, I thought he was going to be this, you know, fifth year senior or whatever, six year senior, all these like processing going to be one to two to three. And it was like, oh, no, you're you're a creation guy. You're Kenny Ballgame. Like, that's what he is. And that's what he brings to the table. So it makes more sense. You need that with that, what the Steelers are at right right now. I'm curious how it's going to fit with Matt Canada's offense because it's weird that

Pitt ran more of a pro-style offense than the Steelers did with Matt Canada under Mark Whipple. Yeah. So that, and I'm sure Mark Whipple is coached with the Steelers. I'm sure Tom. Mac Canada's coached to Pitt. Yes. There's a lot of stuff going on here. I'm sure there's been a whole lot of little conversations going on.

Even if we don't love Kenny Pickett. And even if his upside is nearly in the same range of some of these other quarterbacks that have gone in the last few years. At 20th overall, this is a dice roll. We're taking every single time. Because if it hits, if you get your franchise quarterback with the 20th overall pick, it's amazing. Yeah. And guess what?

If Kenny Pickett fails and it doesn't work, you start over three years. And it did straight off. Exactly. You didn't leverage yourself in any way. You use your first round pick on a quarterback. If it doesn't work, all right. You know, that didn't work. But the other side of this, I think, is important to take into consideration.

You have a general manager that's about to walk out the door who's been there for a very, very long time. did they feel an urgency or an obligation in some way to set up whatever the next phase of the organization looks like now that Kevin Colbert is walking away and not dissimilar to what the Ravens did with Lamar Jackson when Ozzy Newsom walked away and gave the team to Eric Dacosta. I mean, you would think that these decisions are very, very collaborative. So, you know, Mike Tomlin's very much in the decision making process here. And that's a big part of that. So, yeah, I mean, agree with what you said. And we actually have a chiefs trading up here with the Pats, giving up a third and fourth to move up to 21. Yeah. All the receivers are, the six receivers are off the board.

Right in front of the Packers here. So that's what's. Do they take the next receiver pickings or Trent McDuffie? They need corner. That makes, I like that. Yeah. And potentially, did they think they needed to get in front of Baltimore? Because if Baltimore was going to potentially pick a corner now at 23.

Nate, this, when we were thinking about the Eagles or the chiefs coming into this draft, it was tempting to do what the Titans just did. We traded away a guy, let's draft the guy to replace him. But they have MVS on the roster. They signed jujuice and Schuster. They didn't necessarily have that glaring hole. I figured, can we use these picks to replenish cheap positions that don't come cheap? Can we go to corner?

Can we go to safety? Go get a pass rusher. That's what I thought they might try to do. reset your financial timeline almost as an entire franchise. And I think this is a guy at a position of need and Phil's kind of that exact plan that you and I discussed a lot heading into the draft. And rather than, oh, man, we're starting player generated X, you know, random name at the But that's what they've done.

That's why it's a little bit surprising. But now I think they, after last year, especially when they went through the first whatever 10 weeks before they put it together after the buy on defense, we're like, okay, we can't do that again. Now instead of a failed first round pick, starting. a corner for that. It's an actual first. I think he hasn't failed yet. At least you tried to answer it.

I think they looked at Spags in his office every week. I'm like, sorry, bud. We're going to get you some help. But he's a smart player. McDuffie is a really smart, intelligent corner. And that's what now he's going on a defense that like smart personal player. So it's, I like this pairing. It makes a lot of sense.

And yeah, it gives him just more, you know, pedigree on their defense as opposed to just a grab bag. What do you think about this day? What do you think about just the fit with McDuffie in Kansas City? I love the fit. And I mean, I love Trump, Duffie as a player. He, his intelligence, it just blows me away.

I mean, how smart he is for such a young player. Then we know that Washington's secondary. They put a lot on their plates. And McDuffie can answer it. Whatever the offense is throwing at him, McDuffie knows how to answer. So, yeah, you have to sacrifice the lack of length a little bit. Under 30-inch arms, not ideal.

I mean, inches matter at that position, but he's a top-tier athlete. And from an intelligence standpoint, the mental standpoint, you love what you're getting. So 100% on board of the chiefs trading up for this player. And the intelligence comes in that he knows what he is. He knows he has short arms and that's how he plays. And yes, that's a limitation.

Sometimes he, but he'll high, low balls. He understands, like when he's in his own coverage, he understands, I don't usually have the length to get back there because I'm not long enough, but how he plays. Like he'll like kind of go 70, 30 as opposed to 50, 50. Those little things. He knows what he is. It's just spatial awareness and just understanding.

Again, it's not like he had 32 inch arms and then woke up when. day with 29 charms. He's always been playing this way. And so knowing he has to win with his mind is something that has carried with him all along. And that's spatial awareness, the route recognition. It really is impressive. And it helps him make plays compensating for that lack of length.

It's fun to watch for the college corner. You don't always get that all day. Some of these guys don't know what the hell they're looking at. So it's really, it's refreshing sometimes when you're seeing such intelligent play, a really hard position. Right. We knew he was going to slip maybe a little bit because that lack of length, but not too far. This is about where he.

Yeah, exactly. This makes total sense where he went. Yeah. The chiefs gave up 94 and 121, so not a ton. A late third and a fourth. They also have another first round pick that we're looking at a little bit later here. I'm wondering if you're the Patriots, I mean, the Patriots needed a corner. The Patriots need a defensive back help.

I mean, maybe there's a chance that McDuffie doesn't check some physical boxes for them or that they want to go in a different direction. If linebacker to them is a more pressing need, do they think they can get one of the linebackers at 29? No off ball linebackers have been drafted yet. So good chance, whether it's Quay Walker, Devin Lloyd, whoever that top linebacker is, good chance. Yeah, he could be there for him. And even if they trade back, maybe they like Eam. You know, someone like that, maybe there's a different guy.

They like their flavor. 22 NFL draft. The Green Bay Packers select Quay Walker. There we go. Sorry, jinks a little bit. You asked me a surprise. Don't be surprised at Quay Walker is the first off ball linebacker draft. There it is.

I mean, we talk, again, 6-4-2, run a 452, a one-year starter. But the Reed React that he showed this past year was really, really impressive. So another Georgia defender, front seven defender off the board. And Packers love athletes. Like, they have athletic thresholds, and he's going to pass them. They have the longest linebacking duo. Oh, yeah, Campbell. I've ever seen.

Now you put Devondre Campbell next to Quay Walker. Quay Walker is a 96th percentile wingspan. Is that good? And now it seems high. Seems high. We've established, not a math guy. Right. But it does seem high.

Couldn't get that 97, but I mean, you got two teradactyls now in the middle of your defense. I cannot. This is fine in terms of, you know, I'm excited for, I can understand it. Like on a football level, those two guys together. I cannot imagine being a Packers fed right now. You've been sitting there for a month thinking about Crystal Lave, all these guys and everything else. And you draft the lineback. At least they didn't pass on Alave.

They didn't pass on birds. Yeah. They were wiped out. And they still have that second first rounder to get a Christian Watson, a George Pickens, if they want to go that route. So, you know, I totally get this pick for them. So Buffalo has traded up to the 23rd pick here. They want to get in front of Dallas.

I would love Elam. That's why I went my mock. It's just because a big physical corner. They need that corner too. He can be number two. Yep. And he can play the slot for him, too. wanted to get in front of Dallas here.

Yeah, and then Dallas is the guards are gone. The guards are gone. Tyler Smith is who I think Dallas might go now. That could be interesting too. But it's interesting that Dallas or the Buffalo felt like they needed to leap frog Dallas to get to this pick. So the bills only give up 130 to go. It's a fourth rounder. Yeah.

25 and, excuse me. Okay, I thought the Buffalo had kept the 25th pick. So they only move up two spots. I thought that the Buffalo still had their pick at 25. They want to skip down. Baltimore just moved back two spots. So at Baltimore, we thought potentially could take a corner. And now if Buffalo comes and takes one, then obviously the Ravens had no interest in doing that.

I mean, I wouldn't think they, I know. Corner makes sense, right? The double bills isn't like I, you know, you see them moving up for a line or a running back. It just does, I can't see it. Signed Vaughn. I mean, I'm just trying, I've been going out through all the positions in my head. Like receivers doesn't seem right, right at this spot. I know people have been hyping up maybe Breece Hall going to them, but I don't think they would do a double whammy of moving up before Dallas.

for that. You know, that's... Yeah, linebacker, I mean, Devin Lloyd. I know. That's, it's interesting. Maybe, is there a safeties that they like? Or that... Dax Hill.

Dax Hill maybe there. He plays in a slot. Someone Dallas might have been interested in. Yeah. Dallas, I think they wanted, Kenyon Green, Zion Johnson, Trailing Berks. They've been wiped out.

Yeah. Okay. So Dallas is a little bit of a wide open book right now. I mean, just looking at my best available. Stephen Lloyd. I mean, I was really high in him. He's my top available right now. I'm going down George Carl Loftus.

He'd be next. Best available. That kind of does. They've got a lot of. I know. And they got Vaugh. Yeah, I know. So you got Boogie.

But we can say that. Vanessa's still there. Vanessa's there. That seems like you got too many bodies tied up there. I mean, I'm fascinated by what it would be if it's not a corner. I just have to assume they loved one of the corners. I'll say DB. Yeah.

Kier E. is the name. Yeah, I think that makes a lot of sense. Again, it's where I went with my mock phase. I think the fit, the select, where we're at in the first round, you bet on a guy that's 6-1, 200 pounds, ran a 4-3, physical, can play man. I mean, I think there's a lot of things that align with Buffalo here. Yeah.

And yeah, he's a physical player, which, and that's what the bill is like, just as a team. Like, they have a certain mindset they like. They like competitive guys. And so it would make a lot of sense. You know, he was one more of the more fun watches because I did like his, versatility as well having some of those slot reps as well which is so nice to see from a bigger guy like like you know and and then that's why also you know with uh dax hill too um it was a safety but his best reps were in the slot playing like man coverage and that's in the bills love being a big nickel

they love having three safeties out there and and even when when the safeties went down they're still playing big nickel there's also the jordan foyer question about this way those guys are how old are they now they're i mean they're getting up there they're getting up there exactly it's less exciting to me because I want to just like the Thanos meme you just dropped the last infinity down in there and just like power up that's what I want that I want them to draft the corner and have everything else fall into place here but there's a chance that they're taking a longer view with this yep and Poirier and Hyde are both 31 so you know that's that's could be a uh succession plan and if you get like I said again dax hill we can play in the slot maybe this year

he's not the deep guy but then next year you know 2023 season just so much you could do with yeah I mean if you wanted to play outside corner, why couldn't he do that? I mean, that's intriguing then. It's right. Now you piqued my interest again. It stunned me how good he was in coverage in man-a-man situations. I was like, this is a safety. He looks like a first round corner. He tested like a first round corner. Jane, who else is in your best available right now? I'm just trying to figure out like the way that the last eight or so picks here could shape up with terms of who's available positions, everything else. Devin Lloyd, from out of Utah linebacker, George Caldus,

past Russia, Purdue, Tyler Lindembaum, Center Iowa, Daxon Hill, Michigan. Devante Wyatt, defense tackle out of Georgia, Andrew Booth, Clemson, the other corner that is a possibility here if they go in that direction. Arnold Abacetti, the pass rusher from Penn State, and then the Kobe Dean, the other Georgia linebacker. So pretty good players still available here. We're out of receivers, essentially.

Well, I mean, we could see a George Pickens. We could see a Christian Watson, Skymore. All right, so Pickens is, yeah, okay. There are, you know, one of my bold predictions from our podcast, earlier this week was we see at least seven receivers off the board. We've got six. One more ties the record for first round wide receivers. Maybe we get eight.

It's certainly possible. Yeah, but there is a drop in tier in receivers. But there's still good ones out there. There's just more that early second round type, which is what you're saying, though, is that those could easily sneak in, especially at this type of draft. How many?

I'm looking at this right now. The Ravens already have one, two, three four fourth round picks now after trading with the bills the ravens will pick five times in the fourth round yeah why not hey this is a draft that you know third fourth round yeah you want those picks yeah with the 23rd pick in the 22 NFL draft the buffalo bills select Kair Ilum yeah it made too much sense there it is I love that fit and now you look at it that was it. If you look at this team, that was the last thing.

And now if that hits, you're out of weaknesses. That's a sweet team. I mean, Levi Wallace has been fine the last couple years, right? They were the best defense in football last year with Levi Wallace is their second corner. But I think they've been trying to replace Levi Wallace for like four years. And just they haven't been able to do it. And now you have a guy in Elam that, you know what I love about this, Dan? And I want to hear what you think.

When you watch them play and they're a zone heavy team, there's nothing passive about it. They are knocking people around. They play in a physical, aggressive brand of defense. And that's exactly the type of player that Kyira Elam is, even in zone coverage. Play strength. You want someone that's going to reroute wide receivers and break up that chemistry, that timing.

That's what he does. And you do worry a little bit about, you know, the Twitch at the top of routes where, you know, those comebacks or, you know, some of these, you know, savvy receivers will be able to kind of set them up and get a little bit of separation. But again, we're talking about a guy that's six, one and a half, 191 pounds. And he's got speed. He's got physicality.

There's a lot of things that just kind of check that box. He's not been 21 years old yet. He can't have a drink tonight and celebrate that he's a first round pick. So, I mean, there's a lot that kind of check the box, even though he's not a perfect player. And then you go into a room that already has Trudevius white in it. It has Mike Hyden it. It has Jordan Poir in it. I love that.

I love when you have strengths of your roster and you draft in a, accordance with those strengths because you only make them stronger most of the time. And I think you could be looking at a really similar situation with Elam and the bills here. All right. We're going to take a quick break. When we get back, the Dallas Cowboys are on the clock. All right, guys, we are back. The Dallas Cowboys are on the clock.

Dane, where are you going here for the Cowboys? They're wiped out with their, you know, option A's where they want to go. They wanted one of the guards. They wanted Zion Johnson. They want to get your group. So, yeah, let's pack it up. Let's go. But, okay, could we see the Tyler Linderbom fall stop here?

Tyler Smith from Tulsa is a guy that is, can they see him stepping in at left guard and then being the heir apparent outside at left tackle? I did not think about that. Yeah. I mean, I think he has a skill set to do that? He can hang a tackle. There will be plenty of roadblocks or like hiccups and, you know, bumps along the way. But yes, I think that is a feasible path for him to get on the field now, but also long term.

He has ways to go technique-wise. It's just you're betting on his traits. And we talked about pending with this and our preview show, you're betting on your O-line coach. And you're betting on him like, okay, we'll hone in on these traits because he's a great athlete. He's got good size and he's got long arms. I mean, if you're going to take a chance on a tackle prospect in the 20s, usually these guys go, if they're skilled enough, he would have gotten top 10. Right.

You know, that's why he's in the 20s or potentially later. 24th pick in the 2022 NFL draft, the Dallas Cowboys select Tyler Smith. There is. Tackle calls us. Again, okay, now here's the pack. He's probably, he, the Cowboys are hoping he is their starting left guard from day one. And then the heir apparent, I left tackle taking over two years from now, a year from now, two years from now, wherever that ends up being.

So I don't think this was ideally where they wanted to go, but I think they're very comfortable going this route. You know, they were wiped out at offensive line. And this was their next best option. Tyler Smith, I know, was a second round grade on their board. But here at Pick 24, that's what we're talking about, second round grades. Yep. He's a swing.

You're swinging and you hope you have a good playing. I like the guard. And then it's like, wow, this guy's actually pretty damn good. Yeah, what's put him on the left side? They're comfortable doing that. Yeah. know it's a different staff now, but organizationally, they've been fine with uncertainty when it comes to offensive line roles.

Think about Liao Collins. Think about how much Liao Collins bounced around as they try to figure out, well, we don't need a right tackle right now. We'll put them at guard and we'll figure the rest out later. I think that's kind of what this is. And the same conversation we had about Kairiel, where you're betting on the room, lifting a guy that maybe is a little bit rough around the edges and Tiree elements, you have a Zach Martin there.

You have a Tyron Smith there. You hope that that's a rising tie that lifts all boats and that you have somebody that his development is accentuated, accelerated because of those guys that he's going to be around all the time. Yeah, and I mean, you can see on these clips. He's just an easy mover for that size, but it's just going to be hands. He is so wide. Every snap of the ball, his hands are either by his knees or way out here.

And when he's doing that, you can at least fix that. It's not like he's falling over every play and he's slow foot in. it's like, oh, shoot, like you watch Caleb McGarry as soon as the year's the league. You're like, oh, don't wear black shoes, man. You're looking even slower than you are. But it's like, you're like, oh, man, how do we get this guy on the field? You're trying to find him on, get him on the field, trying to get him, take live bullets. And that's where Dane's idea with starting my guard, because those top two guards,

Kenyon Green, Zion Johnson being gone, they wanted that. Like that made so much sense. And they're receivers. That's a different path for him. All right. It's time for Lindsay Jones to hop on with us. she is paying attention to all things draft right now. Lindsay, how you doing? I'm great. I'm trying to keep up with this stuff. It's all like a million miles a minute,

but it's been really fun so far. What has been the thing that's jumped out to you the most? What's been your favorite moment so far? I mean, to me, it's just everything that's happened with the wide receivers. I mean, to me, this is the story of the draft more so than the top five guys all being defensive players or the quarterback's falling. it's kind of a continuation of what we've seen this offseason as a whole that the wide receiver market has completely changed. And tonight has just been an extension of that between kind of the run on quarterbacks and the mid-teens, the trade up for wide receivers, and then obviously the two trades, especially the huge AJ Brown trade.

So to me, that's the story of the first round. And we'll see what happens here now. I mean, I think the Ravens are back on the clock right now. They have been moving all over the place. I think they have like 18 fourth round picks now. They've accumulated. We're just discussing that. Yeah, I mean, this is just like classic Raven stuff right now.

So it's been pretty fun. You obviously are paying a lot of attention to the AFC West as you always do. Chargers go with the guard in the first round. We did not think about that. We did not talk about that much in the lead up to the draft. We were thinking maybe a receiver, maybe an offensive tackle. Were you surprised at all that Zion Johnson was what the Chargers thought was best for them in that moment? Yeah.

I mean, I think it just kind of fell nicely for them where they didn't. And the receivers were kind of already off the board, so they weren't going to make like a huge move, give up a lot of capital there. And it's a need for them. And we'll have to see. I mean, I think right tackle maybe would have been a better fit. But, you know, I think they're in a position right now where they could kind of just take the best player right now.

And it just kind of, I think it fell nicely for them. And I feel like this is going to be a pick that in a couple months, we're going to go, of course. Of course the Chargers just landed a guy who's going to be a week one starter. and they've fortified one part of their offensive line. I don't think they should be done there, but it works. There are a few things better than knowing you might build a plug a garden for the next 10 years. I find a lot of solace in that and comfort in that, even though some people might not. The Chiefs, obviously, we were thinking about a receiver for a long time after the Tyree Kill deal.

We didn't know which direction they might go with all those receivers off the board. They go get a corner. Not surprising to me because of just how many needs they had on defense. What was your reaction to the Trump-McDuffy pick when it comes to Kansas City? Yeah, I mean, I think that's good value there. You know, he was a guy who potentially could have gone off the board earlier in the first round. It's a little bit of different strategy out of Brett Beach, who they haven't typically invested a lot at that position in terms of high draftics and stuff. But it was a clear need for them the way that the AFC was to set up right now, you're going to need some guys who can cover.

And they didn't really have that yet. So I like it. We'll see what they do with their second round pick or first round pick later here in this round. All right. We will hear from you plenty more here over the weekend. Thanks for joining us, Lindsay. All right. All right. Baltimore is on the clock here at 25. What do we think? Carl Loftus? Germaine Johnson's a lot there.

So why? We have not talked about Germain Johnson. Are you surprised with the Germain Johnson? Let's say fall, even though we don't know. If Germain Johnson was the fourth overall pick tonight would not have been shocked. So, yeah, it is a little surprising that he is still on the board. Why do you think it might be? Like, what do you think might be giving teams pause about Jermaine Johnson? You know, he's an older player, a guy with one year of production, and that's something, I don't think he has an elite get-off.

Like, that's not necessarily what makes him a skilled pass-rusher. But this is still a really quality player. I love him as a run defender, I love him as a pass-rusher. So it is a little surprising to see him still available when, you know, yeah, one-year production, but really good one-year production. I mean, if you're going to, you lead the ACC and Sacks, tax for loss, like, you know, he went out with a really big year. So a little surprise he's still available.

Yeah, I mean, he gave Iki Akwanao the business a couple times and they're one-on-ones. I mean, he got him like with legit moves. It wasn't just hustle plays or anything like that. And that's why you like him. His floor is that he's a really good run defender. Like, he is. Like, he's going to step in. And it's like, okay, we at least know we got like a number two.

And then you're hoping because he's older. okay, you might be a little more cautious about what he could do as a pass rusher, but he competes and he's tough and he has enough upside as a pass rusher, it's interesting. But his fall is pretty crazy. I thought he'd be gone way gone by now. His over under at Vegas was nine and a half,

I believe. So, and we're at 25 right now. So that's a pretty big draw. Can I ask you guys a question? Are we going to see another quarterback draft tonight? So which team would it be? It would be a trade-up problem. Or it would be... Yeah. They're kind of revamping things.

I mean Packers might try out 28. With Detroit now The Falcons Would you move up to get Malik Willis? Absolutely not. We've talked about this with Atlanta. I stay the course.

I trust how bad I'm going to make. And I stay the course and I look at next year's quarterback class and say, you know what? I'd much rather be swimming in those waters than these. Well, but it doesn't. I mean, you're using a second and then maybe, I don't know, if it's a third or whatever it is. Yes. But the value of the pit. is not as bad as using the eighth overall pick.

You know, it's a little bit different. How do you think about this? Because if you draft the guy in the second round, isn't that starter territory where you're trying to give him reps, you're trying to buy into the plan? I just think that it's difficult to look at this situation the way the Eagles have. Yeah. Where you have the second round pick.

And even that was strange because of it went. And that was so they didn't pick him to be their start. Yeah. But with Hertz, if a team picked a guy in that range and made him their starter, from the get-go or even the course of a year, you almost feel compelled to give that guy chance to succeed, and then the pivot points away from it become more difficult to follow through on. That's just my thought about it.

Especially on the league Willett, this isn't Kenny Pickett who is going to... Wow. We got Tyler Linderbaum off the board. Love it. To the Ravens. So, I mean, the Ravens needed a center. Yeah.

I mean, with the way that they're off season is gone. Maybe they're like, hey, he's dropping. Let's get some picks and get her guy anyway, so... Give us those short arms. This is interesting to me, Nate, because Tyler Linderball, most people said is a zone center, right? That's everything we heard about. When I thought Jets, that was my first thought is you're in that system, the Ravens are not a zone-based running team. So I am, this is a really, really interesting fit, Dave.

Yeah. Yeah, it is. Sorry, real quick, but it's going to be interesting, too, because he can still pull. Yes. He's got great movement. Yeah. So, but how do they utilize that? Like that, it's interesting.

It's a totally different type of style of player. This is a team to start Orlando Brown at tackle, you know, just because how big he was. Like, they wanted those big heavy guys. So do they use him as kind of a weapon in the way that the Eagles have figured out how to use Jason Kelsey, where it's not like traditional zone running when you're reaching guys, but you're using him as a pole or using his movement skills? What do you think about this day? You have to or you're not drafting him. Yeah.

I mean, the reason you draft Tyler Linderbaum is because of that range, that mobile. ability that he plays with. And, yeah, the ability to reach, the ability to, you know, be a cutoff. I mean, he can do it so well and so efficiently that, you know, there are times he's going to line up against a defensive tackle that's a lot longer than him and it's going to be able to create push. And, you know, Linderball, there's only so much he can do to combat that. But if you're going to draft him in the first round, it's because of that mobility,

getting him on the move. We, and that's the thing. We always think, oh, it's just his own stuff, too, like Kelsey's best. plays with the Eagles is him on a pinpole. Just getting out in space. That's what I'm thinking. Are they going to weaponize him in the run game? What kind of stuff can they do with them?

I think we'll have my gears are turning now. It's exciting to think about. I think we'll see more pinpole stuff. By the way, I would say the last time the Ravens committed to an Iowa interior offensive linemen, it turned out. Marshall Yanda. Yeah, it's been a while since you brought up Marshall Yonda.

You think I'm going to miss an opportunity to bring up Marshall Yonda on this podcast? I got to keep the street going. What do you think this is? How long have you known me? I know. I got to keep my street going, Zach Pascal. But there we go. We're going through it.

Oh, he pairs well, great with A.J. Brown. Dang it. I missed the shot. This is a real blow to Zach Pascal snap counts. He's going to get, no. Man, that's really upsetting. My favorite glue guy. I mean, if there's a Raven, a Baltimore Raven, it's, it's Tyler Lidwomen.

It's, he was Jordan Davis and Tyler Linderbott. You guys, that would keep coming back to. I mean, I totally agree with you. So they turn Hollywood Brown. into Tyler Linderbaum, basically. Yep. A trade I absolutely love. A trade that Cardinals would never make.

No. Well, I'm so blown what AJ Brown went for and what Hollywood Brown went for at the same night. Like, it's just, it's still going to take some time to wrap my mind around. Lindsay was absolutely right. The wide receiver, not just who was drafted, but yeah, the trades, it's definitely the, I think, the story. And we're not done. Wide receivers are still probably coming. We got another trade.

Just moving back up. Jets will have three first round picks. Jets back up to 26th. They give up 35, 69, and 163 to move up those nine spots. Dane, we talked about Jermaine Johnson at four. Yep. We're at 26 now. And the Jets could potentially get their past rusher that we thought they might be drafting.

They're giddy right now. I think there's a good chance they would have drafted my four if the right weapon wasn't there at 10. So, I mean, this has got to be Jermaine Johnson. Right. Yeah. I mean, if they get a pass rusher, Garrett Wilson and Sauce Gardner. Yeah.

Yeah. I mean, it's hard to argue with that as a whole in terms of what they needed and what they want to be. I, man, that's really fun. I mean, who are their pass rushes besides? I mean, Carl Lawson's coming off the injury. So my question is, my, what I had here when I was thinking about them drafting an edge guy. Yeah. I asked Connor this on the podcast.

when it's first in 10, who are your edge guys? Do you want to play your manager? And taking a guy at 26 is different than taking him at 4. Yeah, this is great. You feel he can be a rotation guy even more so. You can have him on the bench because they pay John Franklin Myers. So if Lawson's going to come back on the right time when he's going to be ready for camp, you have Lawson and John Franklin Myers theoretically as your first and 10 edged guys.

On third and eight, you bump John Franklin Myers inside. Right. And now you have that flexibility that San Francisco really. enjoys. So I again, it's different at four than it is at 26. If Jermaine Johnson's playing 42% of the snaps, if it is Jermaine Johnson, then I think that calculus is a little bit different this late in the draft. Absolutely. It's a lot, it's a much easier pill to swallow at 26 than, you know, four, like all the limitations they age and what we brought up. But it's like, this makes so much more sense of slotting him and what he's going to intentionally do.

We're the 26th pick. In the 22 NFL draft, the New York gets like Jermaine Johnson. This is a have your pick and he gets you. I mean, yeah, I think they would have drafted Jermaine Johnson over Kavon Tippado. I really do. I think that they just looked at Jermaine Johnson, what he offers them. Now, a senior bowl guy, they didn't coach him at the senior bowl, but they saw him. And again, we just got done talking about him as a run defender, as a pass rusher.

The motor is great. Production is there. So there's just a lot to like about what he brings to your defense. and you know Joe Douglas and Coach Sala wanted to come out of the first round with a pass rusher. And I think a small part of them, it was tough for them, but probably go receiver at 10 into, you know, they wanted to get that pass rusher, but they're able to come back. I don't think they ever thought this was a possibility. They come back here at 26 and they still have a high pick in the second round.

They still pick 38. You know, they're going to get four players in the top 40 that are going to help this team immediately. Yeah. No, I know this is pretty much ideal for them. It really is because what they view as a top five talent, they're getting into the 20s. And also, like you said, having that second round pick, when we're going into this,

we were talking about all these teams at all this draft capital. And, oh, did Jacks move up? Yeah, they did. Who was the 27? Tennessee. So they traded 33. Or Tampa Bay was 27. Okay, that actually makes a lot of sense.

Yeah, but now the Jets, you know, it's interesting. Like you said, they're having a cake and eating it too because now they're getting another true starter that like he can start day one for them and has a little bit of stuff to work with that they're going to love no matter who else they add down the road he's always going to be a useful player for them so that matters that really matters when you're taking these guys i liked watching johnson when it was just it was defined passing situations and he could just turn it up yeah

and you really let it rip and guess what you get to do in that jet's defense it's exactly what it is there's no read and react there's no sitting back and seeing what's happening. It is all gas all the time. And I totally understand it. I mean, you know, it's a lot of resources to devote to that spot. When you pay Carl Lawson, when you pay John Franklin Myers, now you've spent a first round

pick on a guy, but we've seen it. Lawson's coming off the injury. You don't, you know, quite what he's going to be when he comes back. He just hits so many boxes with the jets. Lank, 34-inch arm. Yep. 4-5-8-40. Production. He's a senior. Team captain.

So intangibles, you know, those type of What is Joe Douglas' record on that? Is he drafted like nothing but team captains forever? That matters. That's a big deal to them. And I think him and the coaching staff, they're very much aligned in that respect. So again, I don't think they have imagined.

Once they took Garrett Wilson at 10, they were excited to get Wilson. Yeah, it's going to be that Zach Wilson, the Garrett Wilson connection, Wilson to Wilson. But they also, it was a hard pill to swallow, knowing they're passing on a guy like Jermaine Johnson, never thinking they'd be able to get him, you know, 20-some picks later. Yeah.

I mean, him and Quinn and Williams against the run is going to be pretty monstrous. Like that, that's a put those two on the same side. And that's going to be really hard to run against. So like that, that helps. I know it makes sense that they took Wilson at 10. They understand everyone always kind of were guessing. It's like, hey, the runner receivers are going to be in that early teens. So they got their guy.

They had to. It's like that's the situation of this. And this is just the bonus. This is. And again, when you have picks, you're able to do stuff like this. You're able to do stuff like this. Yes. And when you have a rookie quarterback and a rookie contract.

You can spend the way that they did. I mean, if you look at it, and this is a team that beyond all the picks they had, they spent this offseason. They went out and got Langa Thomas. They signed DJ Reed. They went and got the two tight ends. They got Jacob or Jordan Whitehead on a deal. They signed Jacob Martin to a three-year deal.

That's a rotational rusher again, but it's $40 million a year. It's not breaking the bank, but they've brought in a lot of bodies here. Their offensive line, we talked about even without Ikey, they still have a group there that they've spent on that could potentially kind of fall into place. The receiving core we like, now it's all about the last piece of the puzzle. It's all you can do when you have a guy on that rookie deal and when you've made a trade like the Jamal Adams trade is give him every chance to succeed. Make sure that we leave nothing on the table when it comes to whether or not this is the guy. And I think they've done about as well as they could in that regard they.

No doubt. I mean, you look at the three first round picks, each of them is going to contribute in a big way as rookies. You look at sauce Gardner. If he doesn't win a starting job, we'll be shocked. Garrett Wilson is going to be a big part of the offense. Yeah, exactly. The converted running back. And then now with Jermaine Johnson.

It tested well. Jermaine Johnson, even if we, oh yeah, we can see a running back at some point today. Maybe we'll see. But then now Jermaine Johnson, I mean, even if he doesn't start from day one, he's going to be a big part of that pass rush rotation. So each one of these rookies. And again, 38 tomorrow, an early second. second rounder.

They go a lot of different directions there. So they're going to have plenty of options here. Jaguar is training up. That's interesting. Moving up from, I'm guessing, 33 to 27. Yeah. Looking for, who do you think this might be? One of the lines is Devin Lloyd?

I mean, they could use a linebacker. They certainly could. That's true, yeah. What don't, I mean. So they took the edge. Devante Wyatt DeVote Or the DBs, too.

Because they can take a safety. But that's the thing. Why would you move up to 27? Because one of them would probably be there at 33. Unless they love Lewesine or... So this is the Bucks, right? So the Tampa was out of the first round. That's interesting.

The Ravens drafted Kyle Hamilton and Tyler Linderbroke. Oh, I know. Yeah. You could argue the 10 best players in draft. Yeah. Can you imagine a more on-brand drive? Like, we're just going to draft the guys who were the best players in college football and see how it works out. Which is very different than what they did last year, by the way.

OA is like the opposite of that. Yeah. It's there all over the board. But I think for whatever reason, everything they do just inspires good feelings. They had their phone with height weight speed last year. Yeah, okay, now we're going to go back to like the football guys. I feel like I say the same thing every year with Baltimore. Good players seem to fall to Baltimore.

Every year. Every year. It's bizarre. It's been like that. Wait until they get six of them with their 25 picks in the fourth round. Turn it into something. We'll make that same joke six more times over the course. I mean, you guys watch me do it.

They'll hit on at least what, two of them. I mean, two of them will be productive starters at least. And then they'll get a comp. Those guys for compics four years later, and then they'll do the same thing all over. Maybe they didn't have enough compics this year, and that's why they're like, we need. No, they have two in the fourth round. They have tons of them. They had Matt Judon get signed.

They had Yonik Kizakwe who got signed away. Listen, they got plenty of compics this year. Don't worry. They're always going to have them. They love those third and fourth round. They have the hundredth pick, which is a compick, and they have two. Yeah, the 100th pick for David Coley, and then they have 139 and 141, which are compics traditionally. This is going to, this is a, yeah, interesting, like, range here right now.

There's a lot of names you can throw. Because, like, you need the Jaggs move up from Alec Willis? I know. Oh, no. Let's, we're running out of spots for these quarterbacks. He's just out on Lawrence. He's done. It was an urban Meyer pick.

I don't think they'll move for, wait, all the hats are there. I don't think they'll move up. Just showing that till. Yeah. Does he have a hat ready? It doesn't look like he's got a lot of hats. Obviously, I mean, they've spent a lot of money and resources on defensive backs over the last couple years. Safety not as much.

They have Andre Sisko, whoever Meyer didn't know who he was. So they drafted him in the third round last year. But other than that, they paid Ray Sean Jenkins. I mean, that might just be a temporary thing. Corner, they drafted Tyson Campbell in the second round last season high in the second round. They paid Shaq Griffin and they just paid Darius Williams. But safety feels like it's much more in flux than their corner. position is if they want to go out and get a guy like Daxil.

They signed Foyal-Lu-A-Lu-Ka-Kal to a monster deal, right? But they don't have a second linebacker, off-ball linebacker, like currently on the roster they feel good about. Shack Corderman is, I'm sitting here looking at the depth chart. He's the other guy right now. So it's that potentially is one of those. But do you move up for an off-ball linebacker when a bunch of them are on the board and you're picking at 33?

Right. I think, I mean, in my second round mock, I had him going to Kobe Dina 33, you know, getting that linebacker, good chance he falls there. Maybe they're worried about New England to 29. Yep, definitely possible. Or, again, maybe they look at least. 27th pick to the Jacksonville Jaguars. With the 27th pick in the 2022 NFL draft,

the Jacksonville Jaguars select Devin Lloyd, linebacker, Utah. I mean, at a certain point, the value is just too much. You know, and if you don't feel good that he's going to get past the Patriots, going to be there for you at 33. I mean, they didn't give up a ton. So, I mean, Devin Lloyd's a really good player. Again, he's a true four-down player.

He doesn't have to come off the field. You want him to play the run. You want him to drop and cover. Former high school safety. The production that he offers. He was a top 10 player on your board, wasn't he? Number nine. Yeah.

He's the best available here. I get the value, you know, the off ball linebacker conversation. But this guy is not Michael Parsons. But the way that you can use Michael Parsons in so many different ways, Devon Lloyd at least has that versatility where, you know, you don't, you can keep the offense guessing with how you deploy Devin Lloyd on the field. And it's, and you said four downs, that matters so much that he, he can stay on the field and passing downs.

And if you say you go super light and go like a dime, you still keep on the field. Like, you know, as a passing down guy because he's so well, does so well in coverage. So that's, and you're picking at 27, that's a little more, again, easier to swallow than saying like you're picked well for a two down linebacker, you know, or something like that. because his coverage ability is, is calling card. We talk about, Deiante did an entire show about this, about where you find modern linebackers and what they look like.

They look like Devin Lloyd. For the most part, the guys that have worked out, if we're making an argument for players in this range, the ESPN comp that they just made was Stereus Leonard. He has a 97 percentile wing span, 74 percentile arm length. He has 33 inch arms as a linebacker at 6-2 to 3 quarters,

almost 6'3. those guys that we're talking about, those best linebackers in the league, Darius Leonard with the length, Fred Warner with the frame. Those are the guys that typically have worked out, and Devin Lloyd physically checks a lot of those same boxes. If you want to poke holes,

he's an older player. He's going to be a 24-year-old rookie, a little slender. It doesn't have a lot of that body armor on him. But, yeah, I mean, again, we're nitpicking there. And a player that just, it's easy, easy to like him, easy to see how he could fit in any scheme. And a guy that I was talking to a scout about this,

and the scout mentioned this, he's like, I just, I love players that when they get their hands on the ball on defense, they make something happen. Devin Lloyd of four interceptions this year, two re-returned for touchdowns. Like he just, you know, he was in the right position to make the pick.

But not only that is, you know, he went back for the pick six. That matters the teams. And so a guy that can not only create turnovers, but they go, you know, change a scoreboard that, that that matters.

Yeah, the guy that I kind of came back to, uh, I did a show kind of comparing some of these guys was, I think he was a better prospect than him, but Shaq Thompson. And that's where you're, this is,

that's, that range, rangey kind of long, not that I really kind of like, when you picture a linebacker, you're like, kind of doesn't look like a linebacker, but I get it.

He was 2.30 and change, you know, but that's a guy that, a run, a running guy, like a running athlete at linebacker as far as a different than a plugger. And that matters,

offenses are going to make you go coast to coast. And like, so you need a guy with length that can take off a block and keep running. And if you're in the run, And if you're in the run game, tackle the guy or being in the past and having all that coverage ability. So that's when we were talking about modernish linebackers. And then that's a guy that body type and everything got that long torso that he kind of has. And that's kind of how Shaq Thompson's bill as well.

I mean, we're talking about this day. When we got outside the top 15 or so, it was going to get weird potentially. Right. And we don't, even if you don't love positional value with an offball linebacker in the first round, it's a 27th overall pick in a draft where a lot of the corners that we like them will come off the board. Most of the pass rushers have come off the board. I mean, they're running out of spots for guys. It's not like the Jags don't have pass rushers.

You know, they have. Did they pick with the first over pick? Trevonne Walker. And they have Trivon Walker now. They picked up Josh Allen's 50-year option yesterday. It's getting late. So, I mean, it's, they, it does make sense when you consider some of the other guys available, which talked about how much they've spent on corners.

You can understand it. You can understand how they get here. Investing in the front seven. I'm sure Coach Peterson, maybe not loving that as much, But, you know, it's going to help your defense. And, you know, Josh Allen's still there, you know, former first-round pick who they still have high hopes for, you know, really becoming a true playmaker for them.

So these are building blocks on defense in areas that they needed building blocks. And so time will tell. But, you know, I think they got two really good players. Two players that ranked top 10 on my draft board. So, I mean, we'll find out. Yeah. And then, but even some of the other signs, you know, the fully fatucasi, like they're really.

Good job. I know I'm pretty proud of it because I spent the last 30 seconds staring at his name. But him, he's a plugger. And again, you're building through the spine. You're making it easier on your whole defense. Oh, shoot, we don't have ideal coverage stuff. But now we have all this talent now through the middle of our defense. And the same thing we're talking about with like the Eagles and Jordan Davis,

this is linebacker, but same kind of interior of the defense. Now you're making it harder on offenses on third down on passing downs because you're much better against a run. And that's where you're injecting this talent into it. Do we, so the Packers on, back on the board now, do we see where that second tier receiver run starts with the Packers, Chiefs? Even Patriots at 29 or like, you know, like a guard. I just, there's no guards left, but I just, I hope they do something that's just. Yeah. It's so Packersish that it's, I know.

You can kind of narrow down. The brand is so strong and I just want them to keep riding with it. I mean, Carl Loftus here. Carlopthus, yeah. They could use a pass rusher. I don't know. They could go, that's, Packers were so hard to mock for.

It was just because it's like, even if you don't go receiver for them, it's like, well, they can replenish their defense. And the people will go, well, we have starters there.

It's like, it's the Packers. Yes, exactly. So it's Travis Jones. Yeah. Obviously. Yeah.

They have a plan and everything. This is how long our show has been going. But, yeah, I mean, my best available, just to reset it, George Carl Loftus,

the top player available for me, Daxon Hill, Devante Wyatt, Andrew Booth, Arnold Epiquettee, Nikopi Dean, Malik Willis, Lewis Seen. So, I mean, there's still some good players out there. It's a good stretch to need to safety. If you like HACD if you like Daxhill, if you like Seen,

and it seems like that it might be a spot where if that's the position you need, like New England's sitting there at 29, right? Right. I mean, Devon McCordy is my age. I mean, there's some things to consider when it comes to their defensive secondary and who might be available with that pick. Green Bay pick and a 28 here. We'll see what happens.

Andrew Wareworth looks great. The New York's 10. Thank y'all. Whose house? That's what I'm talking about. I'm loving, retiring. I am very humbled and grateful to stand before you as the 2021. Walter Payton, NFL man of the year.

I would love to think. He's a player that definitely proved me wrong. I mean, I liked what Worth coming out of LSU. Yeah. Never thought he'd be, have that type of career. I mean, he was unlike any. When you look at his. career trajectory.

And there are so many things about him that are exceptions. We talked about it off the top and we were discussing the guard to tackle transition. Him playing as much guard as he did early in his career, being sort of a utility man that filled in at spots where they needed him to after they had injuries. Him going where he did. Right. Second round tackles are a wasteland. Yes.

For the most part, Tyler Smith got drafted 24th overall today. We collectively, as a culture, decided he wasn't a first round pick. They get overdrafted. It's how it always works. If you look at the history of the position, very, very rarely to those guys succeed, he's a hall fame player who was drafted in that range. Even when you think about his best years, a lot of them coming in the last five years of his career from his late 30s.

If you miss on a guy, having somebody who's the exception to the rule in three different ways, they're worse guys to miss on. And this is why NFL teams care so much about the intangibles, the toughness, the competitiveness. because that's a lot of times guys that maybe they're lacking a few other areas. We're the 28th pick in the 2022 NFL draft. The Green Bay Packers select Devante Wyatt, defensive tackle Georgia. I'm off at them 22. Second Georgia defensive tackle now drafted.

There are some people who are just going to, oh my God, just going to rush Brian Goon Coon's house. They only watch Georgia film. That's all they did. I give him credit because I don't think there was a receiver. No. Necessarily worthy of this. Especially the type of guy's name. I'm sure it's totally fine.

It's just hilarious. It's been so geared up for it. The year where they have two first round picks, they trade away Devante Adams. This is finally the year. And they come away with a linebacker and a defensive tackle from the first round. Both from Georgia. Both from Georgia. That's, I mean, yeah, obviously.

What do you make of the fit with Wyatt and Kenny Clark? That's interesting. Kind of samey, right? Yeah, I mean, with Wyatt, I mean, obviously playing next to Jordan Davis, they did use him in different ways. And they didn't really get him a chance to sing, you know, where he was kind of like Trouon Walker, you know, kind of like just what would they ask of that defensive line. And so I'll be eager to see how they use Devonte Wyatt,

give him some of those pass rush opportunities. But, man, the motor he plays with. And if not for Jordan Davis, we'd be talking a whole lot more about Devante Wyatt. Yeah. I mean, he ran in the force. He actually ran a better 40 time. Obviously, you know, not as big as Jordan Davis. He's still 300.

Yeah, exactly. So, I mean, we're still an impressive, impressive dude. A little older, some character stuff in the back, in the background that, you know, do your due diligence on. But this is a good football player who, the motor, the quickness that he plays with, you add guys that are going to give you disruption up front. And I think he's one of those guys that. can do that. Well, there's times last year the Packers were running like three defensive tackle fronts. Right. Like so now you get a guy that doesn't always have to be a three. He can, okay, you can move him like, oh, gap or two over based on what you want to do up front. So you kind of can

use him. He's not just a stiff run only guy. Like he has juice to him. And like you mentioned the timing or his traits and everything. But it's, that's how he plays too. It's like he can be a disruptive guy. I like it a lot. I think this makes sense because they don't need him technically right away, but he's going to contribute and they can rotate guys. This is a defense. They don't blitz much last year. They're another too high defense. So it's a defense like, okay, what's just like how the bills like to do,

but it's got as much talent up there. What's rotating? Keep them fresh. Take 10 snaps off of Kenny Clark. You know, why it takes those 10 snaps. Now you can just piece those guys. It's just the minutes that they play. And I think that's where it's going to really help this team.

That's obviously contending. Sammy Watkins gets 600 targets next year. No, I know, right. They'll get out with Eric Pearson's second round. It'll all be good. There you go. You look at, they signed around Reed as well this off season.

So you have Dean Laughery. They were a pretty good season last year. Probably, it's true, it's a career year for him. Kenny Clark is there, has been paid. So that defense was already pretty good.

And now you're adding even more pieces to it. I can't get over the length of the linebacker. I just watching those two guys were on the middle of the field. If that works out, it's going to be really fun to watch. Not for me, but for other people,

I'm sure it's going to be really fun to watch. The general fall thing. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Listen, I am a winner tonight because I don't have to watch Chris Olbe play with Aaron Rogers for the next two years. Yeah, that would. I wouldn't be able to do it.

I would have had to, like, really consider keeping this job if that happened, because I'm not sure I would have been able to endure it. Oh, man. Obviously, I didn't even have to worry about a pick either. You just got to just get to hang out. I know. Chris Oliva did not go to the Packers and my team doesn't have to screw anything up. I just get to sit here and enjoy myself.

Oh, that's a good point. I mean, and then, well, now you got to worry about the lines maybe a little bit. No, there you're. You got, you got time. We're down to the final four picks in the first round, and we're still, okay, no running back. No quarterback, no second quarterback. No tight end, which isn't as big of a surprise.

But it's just really interesting if we're going to see Malik Willis or not tonight. Yeah. New England. Talk about Daxel. Yeah. Some corner is still on the board. seems like if Lewisine also still available

Nicopi Dean Nicobi Dean. Yeah. Kobe Dean does not fit their physical profile the same way that some of these other guys did a linebacker. So that would be a little bit surprising. Unless, but maybe they moved back

because they were comfortable with the Nicopi Dean. Yeah. You know, it's. They're just circling wheelish now and just waiting for, wait until date. We literally made that joke today. That's what they just do. You look at it.

It's like, oh, you can pencil it in. Yeah. In the second round. No, I'm, I mean, Yeah, this is a weird spot. Yeah, do we get someone else that bumps in to these last four slots to take the second quarterback? Like, that's also interesting to look at, too. I don't know.

It's Minnesota is sitting at 32, correct? Because they have the Lions pink because that's the Lions traded up with. So, man. That would actually be very curious. They'd be spicy. They took Teddy at 32, didn't they? Yeah, they did. Yeah, that's, they know the value.

I'd be shocked. I'd be absolutely shocked. to, but it'd be interesting. That's a ballsy move for here the first couple months on the job. You know, I'd be very surprised if that happens. This one sets the path, you know? You want to make a statement. This, I mean, this is, I'm sure if you actually looked at the picks and bore this out,

it might not be true, but this just feels like the most Patriots draft imaginable, where they trade down, it's like the late 20s and like there's a couple safeties and corners on the board. They're going to take the punter from San Diego State. No team has a smaller. draft board than the Patriots. I would bet it's probably double digits, not triple digits.

I mean, it's a small draft board. So they have a small pool of players they're picking from. They don't care what everyone else does. They've got their own way they do things. They've got a smaller draft board. This is going to be interesting. I cannot wait to see who they pick. Yeah.

No, this one's going to be very interesting because they also just, all right. Hold on. In the 20, 22 NFL draft. The New England Patriots, like Cole Strange. Yes. Wow. Yes, I love it.

Cole Strange. That's great. I mean, Cole Strange is awesome. I did not see him going in the first 50 picks, let alone in the first round. You just talked about how they do not care. And therefore does that look like anybody else? Exactly.

That's it. And Cole Strange is, I mean, he made money at the Senior Bowl. center guard. This guy is awesome. I love this pick. He's got the, he's got like a Patriots O-Lyman face mask too. He's got the old school cage with the bar.

If you look at New England, it was funny walking into this draft because the two positions that they're weak or thin where they're typically not were interior offensive line and the secondary. We think of this team in the way they've typically built this thing

is being flush at those two spots. But now no Joe Tooney. Ted Carras has even gone. Shaq Mason traded away. They lose JC Jackson. Those are the two spots. Like, oh, man, the Patriots need some guys here. And so seeing them go interior offensive line, not shocking in terms of need,

but they've shopped in a much cheaper aisle, typically, at this position, especially for a guy coming from Chattanooga. Yeah. And look, throw in the Kentucky tape. And you can see this guy go up against big boys and do his job at a high level. So, and then at Senior Bowl, same type of thing. And this is just a type of guy that. I guarantee you one over the Patriots in meetings.

With the way he carries himself, he's all about ball, really smart guy. And his background's really interesting. He was a defensive end, went to Air Force for about a month. And he's like, all right, this is it for me. Goes back closer to home. He's a Knoxville kid. Goes to Chattanooga. And he was just a nonstop five-year starter for them at mostly at left guard,

played a little tackle, played a little center. And then going to the senior bowl, showing what he can do there. I mean, this guy is a lot of fun. Quickness, power. He's a little light in the lowers, but, I mean, you wouldn't know it, by the way he plays. He's just a tough SOB. You are on cloud nine right now.

I love it. I love the energy that's coming off you right now. It is. It's 8 o'clock women at this for three and a half hours. You needed this. You need the cold strange juice. Let's start the second round. Take his hand for Kansas City.

George Carlisthusthus goes 30th overall to the chiefs. There's some questions. We're going to hear his name. called tonight or not. And he, we just sneak him in. Uh, he, he, she's happy. A lot of teams thought he was kind of just, you know, hitting his head against the ceiling. You know, he was there. This is, this is, this is him. This is what you're going to get. But you know what? What you're going to get is not a bad player. So even if he is a little tapped out, uh, I got as the motor never quits. Again, skilled handplay, uh, not as long as you want, not as, not as twitchy as you want. But, you know,

he is a, he is a guy that never quits. And he's a good athlete, just a little, little more straight lineish than, the change of direction stuff. Looking at those chiefs picks, what did we say? Can they just refresh on defense some of those premium positions and get cheaper and help kind of balance out the way they've built this roster with some of those more expensive players? They come away with, I would think, Dan, you probably say two of the best football players in the draft with McDuffey and Carl Office at corner and edge.

I mean, it just aligns with some of the things we thought might happen. And Carl Office, which was cool to watch with him. because each year he played in college, like most guys, but it was like, he had like a distinct style each year, like, just for a freshman, sophomore, junior. But like during the games, when I watched him, at first I was kind of underwhelmed. I was like, okay, you're not really doing much. Okay, yeah, that was a nice move.

You got some pop to you. He got better during each game. It was almost like he was like throwing stuff against the wall going on. Yeah. Does this work? Does this work? And then in the second half, you'd improve in a lot of games. So I always thought that was really interesting.

Yeah, the lack of arm length is always going to be kind of a thing. But shoot, him and Joe tuning. go against each other every day in practice. And, you know, they can just have great T-Rex battles every day. So, but I, but I think he's a, he's just a good, I think he's a good football player. I think that I think Chiefs fans should be really happy because like this, he's going to start and play really good reps for him early on. I remember having a conversation in November with a Midwest scout about, okay, Hutchinson

or Carl Offtis. And he's like, I mean, just depends on the day. I might go one or the other. I mean, both really good players. And so Hutchinson, he's got a little more in terms of the testing numbers and things like that, but Karloftus is a darn good player. Yes. Nate, can you tell me, go back to Cole Strange for a second, can you tell me the last

offensive, interior offensive line, and the Patriots drafted in the first round? First round? Oh, man. The one dude, the one dude, I know, like, oh, like, was like 06 or something? Logan Mankins in 2005. Fresno Manchin's last time they did it. I mean, they've done well talking to friend of the podcast, Dante Scarnacki, about this, and the way they've looked at those guys.

I mean, Shaq Mason was a fourth-round pick. Joe Tuning was a third-round pick. Guys with warts. But I think, Dan, kind of bring it back around to the conversation we're having before we started. Cole Strange going on the first round speaks to the draft that we're having. Oh, yeah. I mean, that's the pool of players that are available and what you guys see.

And this is an eye-at-the-beholder-type draft even more so than we typically see. And I think that's how you end up with a guy like that going as high as he did. Exactly what I said at the top. We see second-rounders going the first round every year. this is the year we're going to see third rounders going the first round. I mean, I say third rounders and what the collective thought was going to be. Right. And so, you know, I had him, he was 73 overall on my board.

I know, you know, for DJ, I think he was 74th. I mean, Brandon Thorne was a big fan as well, but more in that third round area. Actually, I think Brandon might have had him in the early fourth. So a guy that's easy to appreciate, but sometimes with interior offensive lineman, it could be tough to nail down that value. Yeah. You know, like it's, when exactly we feel comfortable drafting him. And for the Patriots, that was the first round.

That's awesome. I bet you those center snaps were just like, oh, that was just, that was the capper for them. It was like seeing a guy that could play center for you is just so, so valuable that he can bump in all. They love them, a dude who can boot do a lot stuff, man. They love that. They love that. They love these guys that can play both guard spots and sarin. That, it matters.

You only dress seven offense alignment. I know he's going to be starting everything, but say the other. starter goes down. Say he's playing guard and the center goes down. Okay, we just bump coal over to center. Now we don't, now we're not having two negatives or really we're having a huge drop off of one of the positions. That matters so much.

I, is that, was that the ninth offense alignment taking in the first round? But all four tackles or five tackles. Tyler Smith. Two guards in the center and then now, and strange. And two, you know. So with bold, bold predictions. There you go. We were talking about this coming into the draft mate, just about what we thought

might make sense for Cincinnati, needs, everything else. Eli Apple on that one-year deal, clearly the weak point on their defense team, there's tons of corners available. Not tons, but several. Several guys that we thought could be potential first-round picks. Yes. Kyle Gordon, Andrew Booth is still there. I mean, there are guys there at that spot if that's where they want to go.

They also want to go defensive line. Logan Hall is still out there. They're not as deep as they were, right? You lose Ogen Jolie, even though they brought back BJ Hill. They still have a lot. Troy, DJ Reader there. I'm going to get there. We're get there. I'm right there. They still have DJ Reader.

They still have BJ Hill, but not a ton of depth. Really nothing behind them. So if they wanted to go that direction, I can totally understand that. And then Corner, I still think, is the number one most glaring need on the roster at this point. And it's a franchise that traditionally drafts corners in the first round. Absolutely. They love to do that. And so it just comes down to, yeah, where do they grade Kyler Gordon?

Where are they with the injury stuff with Andrew Booth? Is that scared them at all? Is that something they have to worry about? So it might just come down to value in the Bengals board at this point in terms of who they take. And, yeah, we could see two Washington corners come off the board. Kyler Gordon, the straight line speed wasn't there, 4-5-2, but the short area stuff was remarkable. And you love the aggressiveness that he plays with, not as advanced in terms of route recognition and things like that as Trent McDuffie, his teammate. but still a guy that, again, to play in that scheme at Washington,

they put a lot on their plates. And so you have to know, you have to understand man versus zone and based off what the offense is doing, if you're going to go to cover two to cover three, all these different things. So Kyler Gordon is a player that could sneak into this first round, no doubt. I know the guy with inside versatility as well, right? Then he bump inside a little bit too? Like, and I just start watching both of them.

But yeah, but that matters as well too. But it's, yeah, Gordon, I actually like to e-lim for them. I thought if he was here at 31, I would love that pick. So, like, Corner makes a lot of sense. Replishing the D-line makes a lot of sense. It's just now you're getting into the range of, yeah, we're very much, like, could be Epiquetti. Like, it could be, like, a random guy like that,

like, that, you know, that brings some juice, you know, or projected juice. I gave him Logan Hall in my mock. I think that would make sense. But, no, I think, you know, Robert, to your point, corner, it's, if they have a corner worthy of this pick on their board, then it makes all the sense of the, world. Yeah, I agree. No, they won't go receiver. We think. Yes. Yes. I don't think they're going to be.

We're the 31st pick in the 2022 NFL draft. The AFC champion Cincinnati Bengals select Dexton Hill, deep into back, Michigan. So now, we talk about him, safety, corner versatility, where you're going to line him up. They have. two safeties, obviously. But none under contract gone this year. Correct. So you have Jesse Bates on the franchise tag. There's a little bit of uncertainty there. We also, Nate, and we saw what they did in certain situations against a team like Kansas City, where they have Trey Flowers in that hyper-specific role. They're willing to use their defensive backs in a matchup way. Think about all the ways they use Von Bell last year. So the creativity, they're kind of willing to deploy and how hyper-specific

some of their game plans can be. You have a guy like Daxon Hill with that versatility. It makes sense for a team like Cincinnati that is shaped that way on the back end. And they like to bring all those third down pressure. So having a guy that's like, oh, is he bringing heat or is he covering the slot? And he's a valid guy covering the guy from the slot, not just a body. That helps so much too. I mean, even right here, the same right here. Looks like he was faking the pressure and walks out of it to the slot.

And he can legit guard receivers there. That matters when you're working from these hard positions on a team that likes to get aggressive on third down like Cincinnati does. Do you think he can play outside corner full time if they asked him to? I don't know why not. I mean, there's nothing on this tape that says, it might be a little rough for. I mean, I think just the experience factor, but right there, he's the best blitzing defense back in this class.

Him and Mike Hilton just like doing stuff. Exactly. Yeah. And so. Then get creative with him. That's what's really nice. And he's a great athlete. So it's just like, it's just nice little cherry on top.

He has a really good understanding of how to use that athleticism. So, you know, he's going to be, he's going to give a little bit of space. Then he's going to close in a flash and he's going to go make a play on the ball. So, yeah, I, versus. utility. Why not try them at outside corner? Try them in the slot. Try them in all these nickel packages. Yeah, you do a lot of things with Daxon Hill.

Absolutely. I mean, we wanted, if we're thinking about just the plan that the Bengals had, Nate, obviously use free agency just to fill the holes in the office line. Patch that up. No going into the draft that that's figured out. We don't have to stretch ourselves at all to find a starter immediately. How are they going to add just a little bit to the defense? Somebody you can just drop in and like this is a slightly different version of what we did last year.

It's slightly more pop in this area. That's exactly what this is. That's how I think you have to be thinking about this if you're Cincinnati and that feels like what this pick is. And he's so different than the safeties they have. Like I mean, comparing him at Bates, Jesse Bates is such a like Bates is so smart. It could be limited at long speed and stuff like that. Hill has, Hill is a smart player in his own right, but just has a little more juice and everything. So yeah, it just gives them a different flavor that they can use.

and if they want to be creative, they don't get put in a weird spot with it. I love what you guys are saying about trying them out of the outside corner. Maybe he just stole a guy. Maybe we just stole an outside corner with Pick 31 because we were the ones willing to do it. Like, you never know how that works out. And, yeah, we just can't overstate the nickel versatility that he has.

And you think of another example of that where that's worked out with the guy, where there was a little bit of uncertainty about his role and then they just dropped him in. I mean, Jalen Ramsey was, I guess, a little bit like that. Yeah, that's because you don't, I remember talking about this with Jalen Ramsey, because you always hear about the, always a slow corner. Let's move to safety. But rarely do you see the hyper-athletic safety. Oh, let's move them outside corner.

That was one of the questions with Jalen Ramsey, but yeah, it doesn't happen very often. No, it doesn't. Because most teams are going to go, let's try every DV at corner first and see if you get sick, and then we'll bump you to safety. But you never know. Final pick here, just to reset the board here,

my top 25 players are all gone. 26 is Andrew Booth, Arnold Obiketti, Nicopi Dean, Malique, Willis, Lewis. Those are the top five available on my board. I don't think we're going to see Malik Willis here. I think we couldn't cross that out.

Andrew Booth, again, it's the injury stuff. That's really what's driving this. Wait, we mocked Kyle Hamilton a lot. The safety to the Vikings still have Lewis Seen out there. I mean, that secondary period. They need players in the secondary. Patrick Peterson's on a one-year deal. Camp Dancers were the only other outside corner with any sort of experience.

Chan Solvins, they're in the slot. but they 100% need help back there. If you're looking at the roster, I would say corner and that other safety spot opposite Harrison Smith are probably the biggest needs they have on the entire team. No doubt, no doubt. And I think it's a position that this is a team that's contending right now. I mean, they're not exactly.

I love that you keep saying that. They want to think they are. Whether or not we think they are. That's their argument. Yes. I mean, that's where their mindset is. So they're not going to draft necessarily for, you know, I mean, they are going to think long term based on what this general manager,

what we think he's going to be doing. But they also are going to be looking at the now and who's going to help us right now when we suit up here in September. Doesn't that just feel like we were seen then? Yeah. I mean, on my best available, I mean, with Andrew Booth, assuming the injuries are prohibitive, taking him here at the spot, scene does make a lot of sense.

He's so much fun to watch play because he plays so fast. There are some, I think he can see things a little bit quicker. Some of the play recognition things. that he needs to get better at, but you love the play speed. He ran a 4-3. Yeah. I mean, just another Georgia defender out there. They're just running at full speed, making plays.

And they put a lot on his plate at the safety spot. Like, they treated him like an NFL safety, like as far as what we see these guys. He's extremely smart. What are you made by that? As coming up, playing the run, rotating down, passing stuff off, like over routes and all that. They put a lot on his plate. In the 2022 NFL round. The Minnesota Vikings select Lewis Singh.

So you say that, Nate, and just the versatility being of the different things. At Donatel is the defensive coordinator here in Minnesota. Ed Donatel has worked with McFanjio for the last 75,000 years. They're running that system where you need those safeties to be interchangeable, where you need them to have a varied skill set, where you need them to see the game in that way because, again, they're asked to do a little bit of everything. Does this make sense on a couple different levels for you, Dave? No, no question.

And I mean, I keep going back to this team that wants to compete now with this, with the Kirk Cousins and the offense they have. And you drop Lewis Seen in there and the back end, a guy that has range, a lot of toughness, the physicality that he plays with, a really smart player who interviewed really, really well. I'm actually kind of surprised he was still available at 32. Well, it's funny because in the process, what have you said? You said you thought Lewis Seen might be Kyle Hamilton at discount. They trade from 13 to 32 in that range with Kyle Hamilton limo, and they get Lewesne wall picking up an extra pit. Yeah, and maybe that was, you know,

I don't know if that was the plan exactly, but it worked out for them. No, no question. And I mean, I just have to mention this with Lewis Seen, my favorite kind of background trajectory, born in Haiti, grew up in Florida, learned to play football in Boston, became a top recruit in Texas,

and then an All-American at Georgia. And now he's going to Minnesota. I mean, that's just, that's awesome. It's just, you don't, you don't ever, ever hear about something like that. And so this is, I mean, Vikings are getting a really good player who is on the upward trajectory. He is still getting better, still learning how good he could be with that speed, that intelligence, everything he offers. So like I said, I'm kind of surprised he's still there, but, yeah, I love the pick for Minnesota. They played a great clip there that's like, it sums him up perfectly.

It was against Alabama. And Alabama ran a crosser right there in the dig. They ran switch release there and seen took the guy that his teammate was supposed to take because his teammate botched it. And I remember watching it on film and I was like he covered up that play. And on top of it, he was so athletic, he ran down the crosser. And that's like, that's what he brings to the table. It's like he has those athletic trades. But on top of it, he plays so smart.

And so it's like they have a safety there that he's going to learn that that's going to be great with Harrison Smith. So it's like, okay, you've learned from him for a year or two while you play a little bit. Okay, now you take it over and you're going to be our guy. He was the MVP of the title game. I mean, he showed up in big ways. The Georgia defense, you think of all many studs they had, he led the team of passes defended. So this is a player that, you know,

not only the traits, but production is there. It's just a lot of boxes that he checks. First round is over game. Anybody that you're just surprised did not go. For the most part, it doesn't sound like it. Yeah, I mean, I'm just, I'm so glad I mocked Cole Strange of the Patriots in my mock. That was great.

No, I mean, Andrew Booth, not a surprise. You know, Malik Willis, really, that's it. Yeah. You know, we thought there's a good chance where Malik Willis is going to go in the first round. I think we've been saying this, but, I mean, Twitter loves Malik Willis more than the NFL does. That's pretty clear.

But Malik Willis is still a really talented player with a ton of ability. So now it's, okay, where is he going to land? Tampa at 33, would they be interested? I mean, we've got two second round picks and two corners or two quarterbacks in two years. I mean, count track. Couldn't get any more.

opposite players, the him of Carl Tras. Caltrass can't run out of his own shadow. Lewis seen the fifth Georgia defensive player taken in the first round. Five Georgia defensive players go in the first round. And we're going to see. Was Georgia good last year? I heard that. They're going to have a couple more drafted tomorrow too.

So, yeah, they're not done. Kobe Dean, Channing Tyndall. George Pickens going 39. Oh, there you go. I'm surprised we didn't see that second wide receiver run. Yeah. I thought one would sneak in there. Right.

Yeah. Christian Watson or Pickens or Skymore, whoever. A little surprised that we had all the receivers off the board in the first 18 picks. Yeah. And then nothing, the final 14 picks or so. That was the end of that chapter. Honestly, I mean, that's what I think should have been. Yeah.

You know, you and I are same page there. But still a little surprising. Yeah. I thought someone would reach. We keep talking about second rounders are getting bumped up, even third rounders getting bumped up. So the receiver is a position that people sometimes reach. Like, it just is. And what could the quarterback run look like tomorrow?

Exactly. Where does it happen? Now you've got a lot more teams that are comfortable now. They're like, okay, now I'll take this guy in a second. Exactly. And we won't, okay, the fifth year option. Sometimes we overrate the fifth year option, I think a little bit. It's honestly been a detriment for quarterbacks.

For quarterback in the last two years, more than a benefit. 100%. And now that it's fully guaranteed, that calculus changes a little bit in that position. Because you're really, I mean, look at what Baker. They're doing with Baker and with Sam Darnel now in Carolina. You're sitting there with 19 million fully guaranteed. It's almost an albatross. It's like an anchor around your ankle.

If he's good enough, you're extending him at that point. So I think the fifth year option might be a little overrated, especially when it comes to quarterbacks. It's really interesting. And we'll see what happens tomorrow because guess what? We're going to be back here. I can't wait. Guys, thank you so, so much for spending the evening with us.

We had a great time. We will be back tomorrow. Same time, same place, bringing down rounds two and three. Gentlemen, that was fun. Appreciate your time. Appreciate you guys listening. We'll talk to you soon.