The Athletic Football Show: A show about the NFL - A 2018 Redraft: Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson at the top, and lessons we can learn from this loaded class

Episode Date: July 3, 2025

Revisiting recent drafts can help inform what we think about the league in the present moment and the ways that teams make decisions. Especially when you've got Dane Brugler at your disposal. Dane joins Robert Mays on this episode of The Athletic Football Show to look back at the 2018 NFL Draft, a class that, in real life, saw Baker Mayfield, Saquon Barkley and Sam Darnold go 1-2-3, Josh Allen land with the Bills at No. 7, and Lamar Jackson taken off the board by the Ravens with the last pick of the first round. How would that draft go with the benefit of hindsight? And what can we take away from what happened then and what we now know?Hosts: Robert Mays and Derrik KlassenWith: Dane BruglerExecutive Producer: Michael BellerProducer: Michael BellerSubscribe to The Athletic Football Show...⁠Apple⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠YouTube⁠Follow Robert on Bluesky: @robertmays.bsky.socialFollow Derrik on Bluesky: @qbklass.bsky.socialFollow Robert on X: @robertmaysFollow Derrik on X: @QBKlassFollow Dane on X: @dpbruglerTheme song: HauntedWritten by Dylan Slocum, Trevor Dietrich, Ruben Duarte, Kyle McAulay, and Meredith VanWoert / Performed by Spanish Love SongsCourtesy of Pure Noise / By arrangement with Bank Robber Music, LLC Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to the athletic football show. I'm Robert Mays doing something a little bit different today. We've never done a redraft on this podcast. I've been doing it for five years. I don't know why we've never done any sort of redraft. A lot of other people do it. I understand the benefit of them. I understand why they're fun.

It's never really particularly interested me as an exercise, but I have Dane. And so there's no reason to not do this every once in a while. That's where I landed with this. That's why we ultimately decided to do our first redraft here in the Drex of Summer. I told Dane, you pick any draft from the past 15 years, essentially since the new rookie scale in 2011 and that CBA.

He went with the 2018 group, obviously tons of intrigue, a lot of quarterbacks, a lot of fun non-quarterbacks at the top of this draft, a non-premium position. So really enjoyed this, just kind of exploring the sliding doors moments, the what ifs, the path's not taken. So let's get to the 2018 NFL redraft with Dane Brugler right now. Doing our first redraft on the athletic football show feed today. We're doing the show for five years. I don't think I've ever done this before.

And I think I would have remembered based on how difficult slash fun this exercise was. And part of the reason I was down to do it is that I work with Dane Brugler. Like if we're going to do a redraft, I have the person to do the redraft with to talk about the lessons that we could learn, talk about the take-up. of ways that we should have. I gave Dane the pick of any draft since 2011 that we could go back and redo. And you chose the 2018 draft Dane. So that is what we are doing today. Yeah. When you brought this up, first off, I was like, all right, this is a good way to break up my summer considering I'm just watching Wake Forest running backs right now. This is a nice way to pivot from that a little

bit. Get my eyes on some actual really good football and, you know, going through some different scenarios. But yeah, leaving it open-ended like that where over a decade of sample size of different drafts, each draft's so different. And so like 2011 was so loaded in the top 10 and 2012 gave us some interesting quarterbacks with Luck and Russell Wilson, you know, just all those things, all those dynamics. But I went with 2018 because I think, you know, a few reasons. 17 players from the first round made at least one Pro Bowl so far. That's rare.

I mean, we usually just hit rates 50-50. So to have more than half of the first round make a Pro Bowl is saying quite a bit. I think, you know, just the five quarterbacks drafted in the first round and in a redraft, how different that order would be. And the fact that it probably wouldn't be unanimous, maybe, for everybody, just what the order of those five quarterbacks being redraft it would be.

And then just also, it's such an interesting class for some of the non-premium positions. You could argue the best player at a, the best player, non-quarterbacks from this draft were non-premian positions. We're talking about the Fred Warner's, the Sequins, Quentin Nelsons, and then, you know, the best player at a premium position, non-quarterback in this draft, maybe is a guy that never played football before, he went to the NFL. So we'll talk a lot about that. I mean, it's just, it's a really unique class with a lot of different angles that we knew about going in.

Like, if you go back to 2018 and all the different storylines, we knew a lot of all these unique, different nuggets about this draft. But now in hindsight, even more so, it's really interesting. And I think the coolest layer to this is that doing it now is different than it would have even been last summer. 100%. And the idea that it's seven years later and we still are gathering new information to do an exercise like this, like Sam Darnold, for example.

Sam Darnold, if he doesn't have the season he had last year, might not make our first round. He made both of ours. And so we have to talk about that. The way that we're talking about Baker Mayfield now compared to a couple of years ago when he was getting cut by the Panthers feels very different. And even Sequin after last season, I think you kind of have to reframe that a little bit. And then it goes the other way as well, where you have some of these guys that if we had done this exercise, let's say two years ago, Jaira Alexander is probably like a top 10 pick in something like this.

When Jair Alexander just got released and signed for a couple million bucks by the Ravens. And then you have other guys who maybe a few years ago wouldn't have been drafted as high, but they're still top players at their positions. I'm thinking about like Jesse Bates or DJ Reed, Carlton Davis. You know, you kind of have to flip where some of the corners are, the tackles are really interesting based on how the last couple years have gone. The Milata question was you just brought up. I didn't know what to do with that. And so there are just so many different layers to this that I think are going to be really fun to dig into. The way that we're going to do this is that you're going to kind of give your picks for what you would do in a redraft.

And then I'm going to throw some of my thoughts in there. And then I did this exercise as well. So I have ones that I went with. And where we really differ, I think that we can talk about why there's a little bit of a gap. there and maybe dig into that a little bit. Some of these we're going to spend very little time on because I think they're pretty obvious. Some of them will spend a little bit more time on because there's a little bit more to chew on.

So let's dig into this. Let's start with the Cleveland Browns who had the, oh, last note here, all the final draft order is what we went with. I'll be honest with you. I was not going to go back and untangle all of the draft day trades and all of the moves that happened. With some of them, it is kind of silly. Like the bills wouldn't be picking at seven if they weren't trading up for Josh

Allen. So that one, maybe we could have done something about it. But I think just going with the final draft order and rolling with that made things a little bit easier for us on July 1st. So that's what we're going to go with today. So let's start with the Cleveland Browns. They actually took Baker Mayfield with the number one overall pick. Who would you be drafting right now in the 2018 draft with some hindsight if you were the Cleveland Browns? Yeah. And with the benefit of hindsight, I think you, it comes out of the two quarterbacks, right? Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson. I went Josh Allen, who, you know, he was rumored to be on the short list of the Browns way back then. It really was Baker Mayfield.

It was Josh Allen. Sam Darnold had some love there for a little bit. This is John Dorsey, GM at those at that time. Hugh Jackson was a head coach and that was a disaster. You know, is Josh Allen that we know today still the Josh Allen if he goes to Cleveland? Who knows? You know, Hugh Jackson, Freddie Kitchens. does Josh Allen survive that and still come out the other side with Kevin Stefansky and be this superstar that we know that he is?

Who knows? No one can say that. But with the benefit of hindsight, I'm taking Josh Allen there at number one. I think you could make an argument that it works out better for Josh Allen than it might have for some of these other quarterbacks. Because the situation Josh Allen was dropped into as a rookie was not good. It was very, very bad. The Rick Denison was the offensive coordinator. He lasted one year there with the bills.

The past catchers, we'll talk about that group a little bit later because the bills have another pick in this first round. So I think that even if the bill set him up for some success by some of the decisions they made in the coming years, he did work through some really bad situations early in his career and still worked out fine. Obviously, the work he's done on his own and just, you know, how kind of he took control of his career in the way that he wanted it to go. I have no issue with Josh Allen at one here.

I think you could absolutely pick Lamar Jackson if you wanted to. it's probably a coin flip for me. And I assume you had Lamar Jackson going at number two to the giants who originally took Sequin Barclay. That's it. And going back to that draft, remember Dave Gettleman at the Combine saying that, okay, we're picking number two. We want a gold jacket type of player.

And so all through the process, we kind of assumed it was going to be Sequin Barclay because it felt like Eli Mann, even though he was 37 that year, still had at least one, if not two years left. they were going to write out that contract. Well, I mean, that's kind of basically how it went. And they played through 2018 and then they draft Daniel Jones next year. But to go back in that moment, no way they're passed on on Lamar Jackson at that point. He is that gold jacket type of player.

So to get him at that point kind of reshapes with the Giants look like the last seven, eight years. And, you know, it's a really fascinating what if. These are my favorite ones because when you see teams, either later in this draft or very soon after this draft, making a pick that kind of rectifies a mistake they made in 2018, it's easy to do it for them. You wouldn't have to draft Daniel Jones in the top 10 if you had just taken Lamar Jackson at number two here.

And even if you want to make an argument that, well, you know, Lamar benefited by going to the Ravens and the situation helps him, if he had gotten to sit in New York for a year behind Eli Manning, that's probably a good thing. And so you wouldn't have had to start him right away. So there's so many different things lining up where Lamar Jackson absolutely would have been the correct pick there for the Giants if the Browns did not take Josh Allen at number one. Yeah.

Well, I remember people saying like how wildly different Lamar Jackson style of play as compared to Eli Manning. Well, you could say the same thing about Joe Flacco and Lamar Jackson. Yeah, exactly. In Baltimore and that worked out okay. So yeah, I think with the benefit of hindsight, this was a no-brainer one and two. whatever order you ended up having them in. This one starts, now at three, things become a little bit interesting

because you could go a bunch of different directions. So obviously at three in the 2018 draft, the Jets took Sam Darnold. There's an argument for Baker Mayfield here, but there's also an argument for some other players just because I don't know if Baker Mayfield survives the Jets situation in the same way that Sam Donald struggled to survive it.

So which direction did you go at three for the Jets after they took Sam Donald in 2018? team. I went Baker Mayfield. I mean, I think this is a Jets team still searching for a quarterback. You know, I mean, it's, and you know, you have to kind of take your shot. And Baker, what he did, because he survived the Cleveland debacle with Hugh Jackson and then Freddie Kitchens. And first year with Kevin Stefansky, you know, he leads Browns to a playoff win. So, you know, it's something that it feels like Baker Mayfield has reinvented himself quite a few times now in the NFL. And he probably would have had to do that with the Jets. And no, I mean, he might. He might. not be still be on the Jets if they drafted him in that draft. Who knows? But I'm at least rolling the dice that he's able to figure things out and you have a quarterback in New York that can be the guy, something they haven't had, you know, for quite a while. So I did go Baker-Madefield there at three, but it's not like it was a slam dunk where it is no brainer like

the first two picks. The first two picks are easy. This one's a little bit more difficult. The first what if that I think is worth asking. What if the Browns just never traded Baker Mayfield? I think that's a conversation that we should probably revisit at some point because we would just think so much differently about the Browns and they would be in such a different position right now. I just feel like they'd be one of the better stories in the entire league if they had just kept rolling with Baker Mayfield. Because even if you had to pay Baker Mayfield at the end of his rookie deal, you wouldn't have had to pay what you did for Deshawn Watson and the draft It's just the Browns would be in such a different position.

And in the moment, they made that move thinking, Baker Mayfield limits our ceiling. DeShon Watson gives us an unlimited ceiling, not considering what the floor for both of those players looked like. And so that's a fascinating what if I think is probably worth reexamining a little bit more depth at some point. I did not go with Baker Mayfield to the Jets for this reason. I just have so many horrific memories of Sam Darnold behind that offensive line with the Jets that part of me just wanted to atone for what those teams felt like in New York.

And so I was just so tempted just throw an offensive tackle on this team. Kelvin Beecham was kind of like a mild stopgap left tackle for the Jets at that point. And then Brandon Schell was the right tackle. And so you can make an argument for a bunch of different tackles here. I think they're all kind of grouped together in the non-Jordan Milata tier, which we'll get to a little bit later. But Colton Miller, Brian O'Neill, Orlando Brown Jr., like if you're those stacking up just starting tackles in the league. They're probably all grouped similarly.

I went with Colton Miller just because if you put him on the right side for a year, he could probably move to the left side. He's shown an ability to do that. And he's just a more than capable left tackle, which are hard to find. But I could see you going with a couple different tackles here. And I could see you going with the guy that we both had at four, which I think is a little bit easier to land on. So the Browns at four in the original draft went with Denzel Ward. Who did you have them picking here in the redraft? So I really consider Denzel Ward here. I think it really came down to two players for me.

Denzel Ward and Fred Warner. I ended up going Fred Warner. You know, you can make the argument he's the best non-quarterback that come out of this draft class. Even though he does play a quote-unquote non-premium position, a linebacker who isn't a, you know, going to give you a ton of blitzing as a pass rush. Or at least that's not his forte. But the way he impacts the entire defense in coverage, snap to snap, he's still doing it at a high, high level to this day.

So for the Browns, Josh Allen at one, Fred Warner at four, you're coming away from that draft thinking you just got two pillars on both sides of the ball. So I really, that made me lean towards Warner over the chalk pick, which actually happened with Denzel Ward. The blindbacker consideration in the top five, typically, part of the reason that it's a scary proposition to draft a linebacker high in the first round or in the first round at all is that it's a really difficult position to project moving forward. That's part of the downside is that we don't really know which linebacker traits are always

going to translate that and safety. I think that there's just a lot of murkiness in projecting guys to the next level. Well, if you know a guy's going to be a Hall of Fame player at that position, the impact is still there. And so all of that uncertainty gets wiped away in an exercise like this. and I think it's very easy to plug Fred Warner into there. And one of the other considerations with Warner is that a lot of these guys, even players in the first round of this draft,

we're going to get to injury concerns, we're going to get to just vacillations in play over the last seven or so years. With Warner, there's been none of that. He started 115 games in seven years. He's been one of the most reliable players in the league, along with being the best player at his position. So this was a pretty easy one for me. And again, I think the only reason,

and I didn't have him go at three to the Jets. It's just because I have those memories of those Jets offensive lines and Sam Darnold behind them in my head, and I just don't want to live like that anymore. Yeah, no, that makes sense. And like I said, this is a weird draft because there's no Miles Garrett. There's no Nick Bosa. There's no, you know, Malik neighbors where, you know, the receiver, edge rusher,

like there's not that one guy where it's clearly, okay, this is the top non-quarterback. This is the direction you should go. Yeah, I mean, For everything that you said with Fred Warner, kind of is the reason why the next pick at number five with the Broncos, I went Sequin Barclay. It's, you know, running back is a position where, yes, you can find it later on. There's going to be a lot of running backs in every draft. But when you know exactly the type of player you're getting, and we had a good idea before the draft, that's why he was the second overall pick, how talented he was, how gifted of an athlete.

but seeing what we've seen with him in the NFL, the impact that he makes, especially this past year in Philly, going to Denver at 5, a team that needed a quarterback. I mean, I know this has been said before many times, but it's just amazing that Elway didn't draft Josh Allen at 5.

I mean, and I know Elway has called it the biggest mistake of his GM tenure, but it's just in hindsight, especially in hindsight, but even in the moment, It was kind of surprising that he was, that was his type of quarterback. And they needed a quarterback at that time. So I don't know.

It's just surprising. But in this situation with the three quarterbacks off the board, I ended up going to take one Barkley there at five. Well, so you understand how it happens, though, right? Because looking back on it, it's so easy to say that where it's like, man, I cannot believe they did not draft Josh Allen there. Well, they were just coming off of the Paxton Lynch experience after drafting Paxson Lynch in the first round.

Scar tissue. They signed Case Keenham that offseason to one of those veteran quarterback deals that has never worked out ever. Like guys who are sort of career backups that have that one flash season where they play really well and then get rewarded

in free agency. I'm sure there's some example hiding out there that I'm not thinking of, but guys like the Nick Foles contract in Jacksonville, the Case Keenum contract here, the Mike Glennon deal. He didn't even play well to get that deal, but like any sort of contract like that, I think the history of those is very bad.

But I think they just wanted some sort of stability and certainty. And so they signed Case Keenem and Free Agency that you're coming off the Paxon-Linch thing. And they didn't need a quarterback because they had just paid one like $18 million a year. We all know how that worked out. The next year they were on the same train doing it with Joe Flacco. So finding a quarterback here, I think was the priority for me as I went back to do it. And in my version of this, Baker Mayfield is still available. So it was very easy for me to do.

just drop Baker Mayfield onto the Broncos and kind of correct their quarterback issues. What was it? Six years before they eventually did it. Right. Yeah. And it's fascinating because, and that's the intrigue with the draft because you can't, you have to learn from your draft mistakes, no doubt about it. You have to learn from everything.

But at the same time, you can't let past mistakes dictate the way you draft moving forward. You know, so it's a fine line to walk because you have. have to learn from it, but at the same time, you can't let it overly influence the way you do business moving forward. So yeah, they just, you're right. They want the complete opposite end of the spectrum. And of course, it didn't work out either way. And the answer was sitting in front of them the whole whole time. But yeah, that's an interesting what if in Broncos history, no doubt. Let's get to the Colts at six in the original draft. They took Quentin Nelson. I was very tempted to just have them do the same thing all over again because Quentin Nelson has been.

a very, very good player. What did you do for the Colts set number six? That's exactly what I did. Quentin Nelson's been just a rock solid player. And again, we talked about, think about the first three non-quarterbacks drafted. We've got a linebacker, a running back, and now a guard. Like, it's just, it's really fascinating the way that that has played out for me in my order. It's, you know, we can argue about, you know, whether you can find guards later and and all of that. Nelson has just been a, and I know maybe every season, hasn't been an all pro season, but he's been above average

since he's been in the league, and he still has plenty of really good seasons left. We're paying guards $25 million a year now. I think it's okay if you feel like you have a pro-bow caliber guard for a decade to plug him in at number six overall in this draft. And it was, I think for me here, you probably could throw Sequin Barkley in here just because I haven't had him go off the board yet.

But this is a conversation about running backs and about what you need to do for running backs. Sequin Barkley, without that season last year with the Eagles, do you think we'd be talking about Seekoine Barkley in the top five of a redraft like this? I don't know if we would necessarily. And I think that speaks to how important a situation is for running backs. I mean, Sequin is such an example of what happens

when you take a guy from an awful spot to a really good one and what he's capable of. I still feel like there's so many components necessary for all of that to line up that. that it's tempting for me just to take a guy like Quentin Nelson, who I know can be whatever he's going to be, independent of anything else you put around him. So I think that's why it was kind of easy for me

to just throw Quentin Nelson back on the Colts and save Sequan for a little bit further down the draft. I also just with some of these, it was just fun to have the team take the same player. It's like, oh, this works out really well. Just have him do this again. And then the next couple picks, there were also, I made some decisions based on what I enjoyed as part of the exercise,

guys, in these coin flip moments, I think that you have to entertain yourself as much as anything. So we both had Quinn Nelson going at six to the Colts. Who did you have going at seven to the Buffalo Bills? Again, acknowledging that they probably wouldn't be drafting here if they didn't trade up for Josh out. I had him going with Denzel Ward, who you could, he could have gone any of the first or these last three spots, I think. You know, he has been a top seven corner in the league for some time now, if not for the injuries. We'd be talking about him even more. So when he's healthy and on the field,

he is one of the best in the NFL at a position that's very hard to play. So a premium position, I'm getting him at number seven. If I'm from the bills, I feel I'm pretty good about that. Yeah, you absolutely could make the argument for that. Levi Wallace started seven games across from Trudevius White for that 2018 Bill's team. There's a lot of safeties in this draft.

And I had to say Bill's passed on safety twice because they had Mike Hyde and Jordan Poyer already in 2018 because they'd signed them both the previous year and free agency. So I totally understand the Denzo Award point. Denzo Ward is the one guy that I feel guilty about how late I have him going in this exercise. You can make an argument for every pick that I made in front of Denzo Award, but I already feel bad that I had him going as late as I did. I had them picking Roquan Smith, and it's for this reason. They picked Tramate Edmonds later in the first round in this draft, so they clearly wanted

an offball linebacker to come out of this draft. And I just think that Roquant Smith has been so good when he's been in the right situations in the league. And it's very easy for me to imagine Roquant Smith being even an upgrade from what Tremaine Edmonds had been for the bills before he walked in free agency. So the fact that they were sniffing around a position like that anyway and Roquant Smith has been as good as he has over the course of his career, that's why I went that way instead of going with somebody like Denzo Ward. Just because I know they already wanted a guy at that spot. Yeah, that makes a ton of sense because like you said, Buffalo had a pick later in mid-first round. That's a position that they targeted there. And, you know, Roquan, he was a top 10 linebacker.

He played like it for the majority of his career. And, you know, I think it's, again, we're talking about premium positions and where do you draft these guys? But with the benefit of hindsight and understanding the impact that they will make, it takes some of the guesswork out of it. And so you know the type of player you're getting. And so that changes the conversation a little bit when you're doing an exercise like this. I absolutely could have thrown Sequin on that Bill's team as well instead of Roquan Smith. Part of the reason that I didn't is that it would have been too tempting to put Roquan Smith back on the bears. And I found that boring.

And so that was also part of the reason why it has put Roquan Smith on the bills and allowed the bears to maybe go a different direction at eight. So they did take Roquan Smith in 2018. What did you have the Bears doing in the redraft for what they did it with the eighth overall pick here? So this is where it gets interesting for me. I went with Jordan Myelotta. And look, this is a tough one because, you know, the Bears didn't have an immediate need at tackle necessarily at 2018. I mean, Charles Leno was a fine, you know, B option at that time. And I think he can continue to play for the Bears another three years.

It wasn't like the next year there was going to be an opening. Right tackle, a little bit of a different question or a different situation. Bobby Massey and they could have needed a right tackle. But when you look at Jordan Milata, he's fascinating in an exercise like this because you have to understand, you have to almost redshirt him for two years. This is a guy who didn't play football. Coming over from rugby has no college football experience. You know, he has to, he barely played. He really didn't play his first two years.

So he read shirts. But if you know that, maybe not no, but if you feel good about his chances of starting in year three, a top 15 offensive tackle by year four. And then by year six, we're talking about him as maybe a top five offensive tackle. And to get, so even though it's a long process and not every GM's going to be up for that,

but thinking about what he's going to be, even though it's a little bit of a slow burn, I just, I think that's tough to pass on. And so, but this is a fascinating conversation with my allotta because, again, it's like you have to wait it out, wait it out.

There's a little bit of some trepidation in there because, yes, he went to Philly where, you know, stoutling you and he got certain development. Like if he goes anywhere else, who knows how that plays out. So it's not,

development is not a guarantee, but I still think that when you think you have a player that could be a top five offensive tackle in the league, by year six, that's something worth investing in, even if it's as early as the top ten. I didn't know what to do with him because you probably could have put him at three to the Jets if you were considering that development path where he is a top five left tackle by year five or six. I had him going at 13 to Washington, and it was for this reason.

Washington had Trent Williams at the time. So if there's one spot where you know he wouldn't have been an immediate starter, he would have gotten to sit, he would have had some time, Washington is probably the easiest place to project that. And to me it felt like splitting the difference where we're not putting him in the top five, but we're also not putting him lower than a guy of his caliber should be going. So I think that it just felt like the natural point to me where it's like, okay, now we're kind of accounting for the development curve.

We're accounting for the players who are already there. And this feels like a natural landing spot for him. But of every single player in this exercise, I think he was the hardest to find an approach appropriate landing spot for just because of all of the context that you're having to work through. There's not many GMs in a league that are going to draft a player knowing that they're not going to get really much out of them for two years. Like that's just that's a hard pillow swallow. That's a hard sell to the fan base. But if we're doing this exercise with the benefit of hindsight where, you know, we can, you know, say, you know, it's an option that maybe a certain, some teams should have gone down that road. and you see how it pays off,

the Bears are one of those teams where I think, you know, you're picking top 10 for a reason. As much as I liked Roquan Smith and some of these other options, you could have gone another offensive lineman, whether it's Brian O'Neill or one of these other teams, one of the other guys,

I don't know. I still went with the long game. But I certainly understand if, you know, going in a different direction there. Seekwan's still on the board for me. So it was very easy for me to drop Seekwon on the Bears here at eight. And again, kind of thinking about, all right, where would Sequin be successful?

Where would he look more like Sequin Barclay for as much as a mess of a mess as the Bears were over these couple years picking in the top 10, obviously. In 2017 and 2018, that offensive line wasn't terrible. Like, it actually was a solid group. You alluded to Charles Leno, Bobby Massey. They had Kyle Longstill at that point. Cody Whitehair was a rookie playing center. And then they also had James Day.

Excuse me. Cody Whitehair was the center. and then they had James Daniels as a rookie at one of those guard spots. And so to me, dropping Sequin into that situation, I think that's probably better than a lot of the teams he played with in New York. And I think that we could have seen at least a decent version of Sequan Barclay behind that offensive line. I mean, think about it, Jordan Howard was productive behind that offensive line. So I think a back like Sequan Barkley, that one's easy for me to picture.

And again, it was just more fun to put Sequan Barclay on the Bears and Roquan Smith on the bills rather than just throwing Roequan Smith back on the Bears. Yeah, that is 100% true. Yeah, Jordan Howard, he didn't last in the NFL very much longer after that. And so thinking about what he could have been and how that would have maybe helped out, Trubisky and the quarterback situation, that's also kind of a what if. And having a dynamic running back like that, how that affects the rest of the offense. Yeah, they would have been interesting.

Jordan Howard, I just looked at the numbers. It was shocking even, like, in retrospect. Don't Jordan Howard rushed for 1,300 yards as a rookie? Yeah, he was outstanding. Out of Indiana, had that UAB transfer, had that great rookie year. It was third round pick? No, it was further down than that. He was a fifth round pick.

So he went in the fifth round, which even in the moment felt like he probably went a little bit too late. But as a rookie, he rushed, he had 252 carriers for 1,300 yards. And then in his second year, he had 275, Kemp. carries for 1,100 yards. So combined his first two seasons, he had 2,400 rushing yards. So again, drops Sequin Barclay into that situation instead of Jordan Howard. And I think it's pretty easy to get excited about what that would have looked like. Oh, there's no doubt about it. But that's the fact that you can get Jordan Howard that late and give you that type of production is kind of what we're talking about with the running back position. And, you know, you can find some of

these guys later on. He's a great example of it. Let's get to the Niners at number nine. they took Mike McGlinchie in the actual draft in 2018 at right tackle. What did you have the Niners doing in the redraft here? So I'm going Brian O'Neill from out of Pitt. You know, he was a second round pick to the Vikings, turned out to be a very good player. And this is, yeah, like you mentioned, instead of Mike McGlinchie,

who I still have later on in this first round, but I, looking back, couldn't put him as high as the top 10, where Brian O'Neill, I think, has, you know, he was a little bit of a projection coming out. former tight end, athletic, moves well, but there's a projection involved. That's why he didn't go until the late second when he did. But looking back, I think the development path that he was on, you can be pretty excited

about that. So had him going nine of the 49ers. I just think he's been a little bit better in past protection over the course of his career than the Glinchie has been. And so I think that's why I give him the nod. And I also had Brian O'Neill going here. It was very easy considering they needed a right tackle and he's probably the best right tackle to come out of this group.

You can make an argument for Orlando Brown Jr. as well, but stylistically, just think about what the Niners offense was back then. Still more athleticism, more outside zone. And so it just would be hard for me to drop a player like Orlando Brown Jr., who really has succeeded in gap schemes for most of his career into a situation like the Niners. So I think the Brian O'Neill was pretty easy for me. A couple other fun ones I would throw out for you. Imagine DJ Moore in like the Debo Samuel role in that Niners offense. Sure. Yeah.

Because, okay, that 2018 49ers offense, who's their leading receiver? So now looking at this group, it's much easier. Maybe DJ Moore is actually the pick. So George Kittle had 88 catches that year for the Niners on 136 targets. This is crazy. So George Kittle had 136 targets that year. The second leading target getter on the 2018 Niners was Kendrick Bourne, who had 66. Oh, gosh.

So George Kittle had twice the targets that any other receiver on the 2018 Niners got. Well, and Nick Mullins led that team in passing. So, you know, gosh, that we have CJ Bethard. Gropold only played three games that year. Oh, man. Well, that's a sneaky big year for the Niners because you remember this. Like they had Gropold played so well down the back half of the season in 2018. He gets that monster contract.

And their Niners have pretty decent. expectations going into the next year. He gets hurt. They go four and 12. And it ends up becoming the best thing for them because they draft Nick Bosa with the second overall pick the next year. Right. Exactly.

And so they kind of, because Shanahan, he had, what, was 2018 his first year? Second year. Second year. 2017 was his first year. That was the year where they kind of had Hoyer and Bethard and they pieced it all together and then they traded for Garoppel halfway through the season. Yeah, I think you're right.

DJ Moore. thinking about this. See, I almost went Roquan Smith there at 9 where kind of, you know, because we had Fred Warner obviously going before they could draft him

in a third round. So to get Roquan Smith there at 9 would make sense. But yeah, one of these pass catchers, man, that would certainly change a lot compared to what they had. I'm still fine going with Brian O'Neill, but I think the DJ more thing

as I look at the wide receiver depth chart becomes a little bit tempting. The other guy I'd throw up because I haven't had him go yet is Denzel Ward. Because Akella Weatherspoon is the other outside corner on this team after they signed Richard Sherman. And so I think you can make the argument for Denzo Ward.

Frank Ragnow is a name I'd throw out there just because of how good Frank Ragnall was. But this team had just signed Weston Richburg at its center and free agency that year. So they had already had their guy that they were really committed to. So I feel good about Brian O'Neill, but maybe it's just because of what those Niners teams turned into that it's tempting to think about a few other guys that you could throw into the mix there. Weston Richburg, a name I haven't heard

in a long time. He was one of the prizes like this. Yeah, well, he was one of the prizes that fan or that, uh,

free agency, uh, off season. That's, that's crazy. Well, I mean, speaking of Frank Rag now,

that's, that's why I have going next at 10. Um, Sam, you think of that, that Cardinals offense. Offensive line was a, you know,

because in 2018 was, was that Sam Bradford? Um, has there a quarterback going, for the Cardals going in that year? so he got, I believe so. Well, they drafted Josh Rosen. Josh Rosen started 13 games that year.

So they had Sam Bradford originally, but yes. So they had Josh Rosen and he played that season. And so if you look at the offensive line, there are some tackles available, but this is a team that for as bad as they were actually had some answers to tackle. Like DJ Humphreys was 25 years old, a left tackle on this team. They had Andre Smith and Mason Cole, it started 16 games for them at center after being drafted in the middle rounds. So it was very easy to just throw Frank Ragnow in there as an upgrade over what Mason Cole ultimately gave them because I did the same thing. And Ragnow, he started at

guard his entire rookie year for the lion. So, I mean, you had some flexibility in the middle there where center, guard, you're just getting a rock solid player for the next. Even though, you know, the end came a little bit sooner than you want for a guy that you're drafting in 2018, just coming off his retirement this offseason, he was so good over his career that you can absolutely make the argument that he belongs in the top 10. Yeah, you could make, you could try to make a case here for somebody like DJ Moore. He has not gone for either one of us, but they still had Larry Fitzgerald. They actually drafted Christian Kirk that year, but it's just too tempting to have like,

Rock Solid, I think is the exact way to frame it with Ragnow, where you drop in the middle of that offensive line and just kind of completely remakes that group over the next few years where I think the Cardinals during this stretch kind of struggle to figure out who they wanted their offensive line to be. But think about it, they eventually traded for Rodney Hudson because they had to because they couldn't find an answer at this spot.

So I think giving them rag now and a little bit of certainty is a worthwhile move here. We're going to take our first quick break and then get back with the Miami Dolphins at 11. Who'd you have going to Miami at 11? They took Minkie Fitzpatrick, obviously, in the actual draft, which we could do an hour on all,

of that and the fact that he's now back in Miami. But what did you have them doing with the benefit of a little bit of hindsight here? I went Orlando Brown, Jr. You think about that offensive line. What had spent the last seven and eight years? 2018 was Juan James last year in Miami. So you draft Orlando Brown this year. You can play my guard maybe in 2018.

He's ready to step in at right tackle at 2019. You don't have to draft Austin Jackson two years later. in the first round. So adding an offensive lineman like that that you can play multiple different spots in the offensive line moving forward, I thought made some sense. You forget how rough those offensive lines were

for Miami, especially after the Tunsel trade. Miami's starting offensive line, the players who started the most games at these positions on the offensive line in 2019, Julian Davenport at left tackle, Michael Dieter at left guard, Daniel Kilgore at center, Shack Calhoun at right guard and Jesse Davis at right tackle.

I think Orlando Brown might have worked his way into the starting lineup for the Miami Dolphins that year. Yeah, it would not have taken very long for him to move up that depth chart at multiple different positions. So yeah, I think that that makes a lot of sense. It's interesting how many offensive linemen we've been talking about already. It just kind of speaks to the league as a whole where if you don't have offensive line, you need to go invest in that position early. And I know in mine alone, I have four in a row right here, eight, nine, ten, eleven, all offensive linemen. So, yeah, it's a position where even if, like, there might be in a B plus at another position,

but if you can get a B minus on the offensive line, you're going to value that a little bit more just because of what the scarcity of finding those guys. I'm so glad you said that because it's exactly how my brain was working as I was going back through this, where any time there was like a tiebreaker necessary, I was like, I'd rather just take the offensive lineman and have it. I'd rather just know that I'm solid there. I mean, that is how Colton Miller goes third overall to the Jets where it's like, I know this isn't fun or exciting, but just think about what it's like living in the tackle wilderness

and having an answer that even is as unexciting as Colton Miller is, it just makes your life so much easier and just lessens your anxiety to such a degree that that's why I think it's easy to throw offensive linemen on all of these different teams. That being said, I know I read off the starters on the offensive line for the 2019 Jets and why it was justifiable to take a tackle there. I would like to read off to you the production

for the 2018 Miami Dolphins wide receivers. Okay. Okay. Ready? Here we go. The leading target getter on the 2018 dolphins was Danny Amandola. He had 79 targets for 575. yards.

Oh, man. Next up, Kenny Stills, 37 catches, 553 yards. Next up, Albert Wilson, 26 catches for 391 yards. This was post Jarvis Landry trade, I believe. He was already on the Browns at this point. So this was a tough situation for the past catching group in Miami. Devante Parker was there. He had 24 catches.

It was easy for me to throw DJ more onto this team. As bad as the offensive line situation was, I think the receiver situation warranted a little bit of help here. And this is still Tannahill, right? This is still Tannahill, yes. Yeah. Oh, God, he had no chance. Adam Gase. So, yeah, that was a disaster waiting to happen.

No wonder why they were picking so high in the draft. And then the next year, obviously, they trade Tannahill. They go with Ryan Fitzpatrick. And that's when the tank begins with Brian Flores in 2019. But, yeah, putting DJ more on this team with that group, that was easy for me to do. but I think the offensive line is also very justifiable considering the state of it. There's a reason that this team started tearing it down the following year. There was not a lot to work with.

Tank for two, it became a thing. Yeah. Yes. Yes. And so the fact that that team was tank ready, you could go a bunch of different directions with that pick, I think, and make it easy argument for it. And number 12, the buck took Vitavaya in this draft. Who did you have the bucks going with in the redraft?

So I had them doing exactly that Vita Vaya. And I think there are certainly different directions. they could have gone. There's still good players available here. But I'd say it's worked out okay with Vita Vaya, with what he's meant for that defense over the years. And so why not just kind of a lot of the things we said about Quentin Nelson still going at Six of the Colts,

kind of copy and paste right here, 12 to the Buccaneers. This is a hard one because you could go a bunch of different directions. Like Denzel Ward is still available for me here. Minkin Fitzpatrick is still available. I think you could do that. I expected them to take Derwin James in this direction. because of the holes that they had at safety. Part of the reason that I also put Vita Vaya back on the Bucks,

they won a Super Bowl like two years later. And part of me is just like, if it ain't broke, like all the stuff that they did, let's just keep doing it because it worked out just fine for them. Even if you could probably make an argument, there are more valuable players available at positions of need for them here. Yep, exactly. Washington at 13.

They took Duran Payne in the actual draft in 2018. I already mentioned that I had Jordan. by a lot of going here. What did you have Washington doing at 13? So this is where I had Roy Kwan Smith going. 13 maybe a little bit later than he should go. But again, we're still talking about a linebacker. Not everyone's going to take a linebacker that early.

But knowing what type of pro he has been. And you look at Washington, they kind of ignored the linebacker position for a while there. 2018, their starters were Mason Foster and Zach Brown. And that really led to the Jimine Davis pick in the first round. couple years later, which obviously did not work out. So to get Roquan Smith here for the middle of that defense, I think would help them quite a bit on that side of the ball.

And you look at the following year, they drafted Cole Holcomb and he started 15 games from them in 2019. And then Jonathan Bostic later in the draft. And then they got Jonathan Bostic from the Bears and he started 16 games to them in 2019. That is the first of two times the Jonathan Bostic is going to come up on this podcast, by the way. So I think Roquan Smith going there makes a ton of sense.

Again, I had my Wada there. This is the first point in this draft where I think you could throw Sam Darnold's name out there. Yeah. Sam Donald's fascinating to talk about in this scenario. Because you're 100% right a year ago how we talk about him, two years ago how we talk about him, now how we're talking about him. A year from now, how are we going to talk about it? It's really a moving target. But for some of these teams,

We both have them going in this first round. So we've kind of already said that. But I think you're right. This is where you start to have those conversations about, all right, in this situation, how is that career trajectory different for the better, hopefully? Yeah, that's interesting. Sam Donald, I think you could make an argument at 13 for Washington. I think you could make an argument at 14 for the Saints,

knowing that Drew Brees was coming to the end. They probably should have drafted a success. session plan sooner than they did. So these are two spots where I think you could easily make a Sam Donald argument. After this, I think the only other team that really comes up in the middle of the draft is probably the bills because in this exercise, they wouldn't have taken Josh Allen. And so I think you could probably throw Sam Donald onto their team at 16. But think about all the other teams after that.

The Raiders at 15, they have Derek Carr. They had just made Derrick Carr one of the highest paid quarterbacks in the league. Philip Rivers was still playing really well for the Chargers and still a couple years before he would have done. Aaron Rogers for the Packers, Dak Prescott for the Cowboys, Matthew Stafford for the Lions. You could probably give the Bengals a quarterback,

but again, I don't want to mess with the Joe Burrow juju here. And so I didn't want to do that. Tennessee had drafted Mario daughter. And so they already have a quarterback and then they eventually went to get Tanna Hill a little bit later on. So maybe you can make an argument for that. But I think it was easier. 15. So, yeah.

15. Yeah. So it was probably enough time. It's easier to justify a fourth round pick for Ryan Tannahill than it is trading. Or using another first round pick on a quarterback. The Patriots maybe with Brady, but I still feel like he had, you know, a couple years left. And then a lot of these other teams will get to. But I think that the Saints and Washington at 13 are two of the most intriguing darnold spots in the middle of this draft.

Him with Sean Peyton is interesting. How that would play out, man, that would have been really interesting because he wouldn't have been thrown into the mix right away, could have kind of brought him along at his own pace. We know the year before that Peyton wanted to trade up for Patrick Mahomes. So to get Darnold here at 14, that would be a really interesting what if how what that version of the Saints would have looked like. That's fascinating. that one's tempting. That is not what I did. Who did you ultimately give to the Saints at 14?

So I went Mika Fitzpatrick for that secondary. And it's just so fun. I did the same thing. It's so fun to think about. Right. Well, and it's interesting that, I mean, just going back, the Saints, remember them trading up? And I remember when in the moment when that happened,

you see the Saints pop up at the bottom of the screen, big trade. it's like, okay, they just, they traded a future one to go up to the middle of first round. This is Lamar Jackson. They're going to get Lamar Jackson. We know that they wanted to get Mahomes a year before. We know breezes towards the end. We just talked about that. They're going up to get Lamar Jackson.

And then Marcus Davenport comes across the screen. It's like, that was one of the core memories that I'll have of this draft was that big swing on a draft that didn't have a lot of pass rushers. And they kind of swung on a toolsy one. That one was kind of crazy. But yeah, so I went with Mika Fitzpatrick, who has been, you know, I think it's interesting some of the discourse with Fitzpatrick the last 24 hours after leaving the Steelers. And whether or not he's lived up to the contract, whether or not he was a great fit for what they were doing. He's still a really good player.

And so I think you put him in that back end of that defense. and the Saints have a little bit, they'd probably get a little bit more out of that final run with Peyton and Breeze. Yeah, and I think that what Dennis Allen was able to do with that defense over multiple years, it's a good situation, and it's just so tempting to imagine him next to Marcus Williams.

Like those two guys next to each other with Marshawn Lattimore in that same secondary, with DeMario Davis, Cam Jordan's still there. That was one of the easiest ones for me. Just stylistically, everything about Minka Fitzpatrick on those Saints teams was very, very fun to imagine. All right, let's get to the Raiders at 15. They took Colton Miller in the actual draft. I had Colton Miller coming off the board earlier. What did you have the Raiders doing

in this redraft? I had him going Colton Miller sticking with what worked. And I was one of the big doubters on this pick. Colton Miller was a really inconsistent player at UCLA. It was a bet on traits and what he was going to grow into. And I just felt like a big swing to take there in the top 15 but you know he he he has been more than a rock solid player he is kind of that the ceiling that we thought he could have he has achieved that and i think is you could probably say he probably has another year or two of still getting better to go um so he's been a really good player and could have easily gone before the 15th pick yeah again i had him going earlier than this but i i think that this is probably the right spot based on everything else that you've done and

this is, I had Denzo, you had Denzo Ward going early, I had Colton Miller going early, I had Denzo Ward here because he's still on the board for me. And just, you know, the Raiders, think about what a nightmare those cornerback spots have been or were for such a long time, you know, Gary and Conley, or Darrow Worley. I mean, just they really have struggled to find. Damon Arnett. And so this to me was just a way to write some of those wrongs with Denzo Ward still sitting on the board here is that you stop the revolving door.

you have an answer. He probably shouldn't be available here. And I'm sure I made a mistake and not having him go earlier on in this exercise. But this was an easy one for me with Denzel Ward still available. Yeah. I mean, we talk about best available. Yeah, he's best available is no doubt about it at this point. Let's get to the bills at 16. And the actual draft, they took Tremaine Edmonds, the linebacker. Who did you have them going with here at 16? So we talked a little bit before how the bills, that offense, regardless of who was that quarterback, they had some big questions at pass catcher.

And so this is where I had the first receiver coming off the board. DJ Moore. Zay Jones led that offense in catches in 2018. Do you know who his second? Robert Foster, right? LaShawn McCoy. Oh, is Lechon McCoy?

Robert Foster was a starting receiver on that team. He was. Yeah. It was looking at that, that offense, it was rough. The pass catchers, the skill players. So, yeah, you drop DJ Moore into there. We still don't know who's, you know, the quarterback of the future. So I think this is definitely a Sam Darnold possibility.

But the chance to get the top receiver in the draft, I think that that would have made sense for that Bill's team. My thinking was long similar lines. I had them taking Mark Andrews. Just give me any sort of pass catcher. And for me, DJ Moore is off the board. And so anybody for, I mean, Josh Allen, wouldn't be there. Whoever the quarterback was, Tyrae Taylor, anybody, just give me somebody

to throw the ball to. I think Mark Andrews, and again, tight ends, it's checker development history. It's hard to figure out which guys are going to be successful, but we know Mark Andrews has turned into a very, very good pass catching tight end. So I think it's pretty justifiable in this spot.

A couple other guys I was thinking about, Duran Payne. Kyle Williams was in the final year of his deal here. So, you know, they had just signed start with Tulae and Free Agency, but there's a reason they'd take at Oliver shortly after this because they eventually did have a need of defensive tackle. And then this is the first time with LaShawn McCoy in the final year of his deal in Buffalo, I think you could mention Nick Chub's name here.

Like if they had taken Nick Chub in this spot, I would have no issues with that whatsoever. 100%. This is this is around the range where, yeah, I was thinking about Nick Chub as well. I mean, I, there was, I knew going into this exercise, I was going to have two running backs. We had a lot of running backs drafted that year in the top four rounds. there's only two that I knew were going to be in there without a doubt, Barkley and then Chubb somewhere else. So, yeah, I think that would have made sense there at 16 for Nick Chubb. Let's go with the Chargers at 17, the actual draft they took Jerwin James.

Who did you have the Chargers going with? So I'm with Jesse Bates, kind of maybe a more consistent version. I mean, I know they're different with how they play. But obviously we know they wanted to get better at safety. and Jesse Bates has just been a more consistent player so far in the NFL in terms of healthier. Should put it that way as well. I have no issue with that at all. I went with Orlando Brown Jr.

because he was available for me here. And I just remember what that right tackle spot was for the Chargers for a very long time at this point. I mean, it's. So it's Philip Rivers. Trey Pipkins gave them like some decent play, you know, at times over the last few years. But before it was Trey Pipkins, do you remember who the starting right tackle was for the Chargers in 2018? Gosh, remind me. It was Sam Tebby.

Sam Tebby had two years as the Chargers right tackle. So this one was easy for me. As somebody who was watching those Chargers teams with like some real intent, being able to go back in time and fix the right tackle situation, this was a no-brainer for me. Yeah, that makes a ton of sounds. Packers at 18. They took Jair Alexander in the actual draft.

Who'd you have them taking here? So I had them going with Josh Sweat. who interesting he the first player who did not make my first round okay yeah um so he obviously cashed in at the right time uh this past this past year had best year of his career cashed in it's funny i know a lot of packers fans were clamoring to um spend some of that banks money uh on on josh sweat instead uh but you know you look back at that 2018 packers defense um i believe that was mike petton Clay Matthews, Nick Perry. Those are your starting pass rushers.

They were both gone after 2018. So get Josh sweat in that mix where he's part of the rotation, ready to be a starter by 2019. I think he fits a lot of kind of, honestly, it came down between him and Duran Payne. We know what the Packers look for in the first round of the draft. Jaira Alexander, who they actually draft, there's a little bit of a maybe different than what they usually go for.

but I think sweat is kind of in their lane for a type of guy that would have maybe not as, you know, the testing maybe, I don't know, but based on what he's done the last seven years, I think that it would have made sense for the Packers. He was a good tester. He's long. I mean, I can understand them. They're buying into the physical traits. It's also funny because that next offseason is the off season where they spent a shitload of money on edge rushers. They spent for Zadari Smith that offseason. They spent for Preston Smith.

And so this maybe prevents them from having to do that. So I get that one. For me, I put Derwin James here to the Packers at 18 just because the spine of those defenses was a nightmare for like years. So even if it's been up and down for Derwin James, just giving them some answer at safety, even like as a dime linebacker, some of the things he could have done for this team

and some of the issues they had at those spots. Derwin's a tough one too, just because the highs have obviously been so high, but some injury concerns and it's been a little bit up and down. but for where that Packers team was, trying to give them like some new version of what Charles Woodson has been for them, that was tempting for me here.

Yeah, and I've got Derwin James going here a few picks after this. So kind of around the same range I was looking. Dallas Cowboys at 19, one with Leighton Van der Esh in the actual draft. Who did you have them going with here? Yeah, I was tempted to go receiver. Calvin Ridley, maybe, you know,

C.D. Lam's not there. yet. You know, they're, Marie Cooper's gone, I believe at this point. So, like they,

they really could have gone for a receiver for Dak Prescott. But I, yeah, like you said with Joe Burrow, I didn't want to mess up that CD Lam vibes.

So I went with Tremaine Edmins. We know they actually went late in Vandresh, who was a really good player. It's just, you know, he couldn't say healthy. Injuries ended his career before we had a chance to really see him shine. So,

thought about receiver here, ended up going with the linebacker that we know they coveted for that defense. I went to Ron Payne. Again, just addressing the spine of the defense, Antoine Woods played a ton of snaps for this team that year along with Lee Collins. Those were their two starting

tackles. I was tempted to throw Jesse Bates in here as well, but they already had Xavier Woods. Jeff Heath was the other safety on that team. So I think you probably could have gone with Jesse Bates, but just one interior pass russer for this team based on the makeup of that group.

That's why ultimately went with pain instead of the other guys. I almost went Derwin James because I know the Cowboys fans really wanted Derwin James in that draft and he didn't make it to him. He went two picks before, but it was still available in this scenario. So that was a hard consideration as well. Number 20, the Detroit Lions. They did take Frank Ragnow in the first round of that draft worked out okay. Who did you have them going within the redraft?

This is where I had Nick Chub going. I mean, it just, I think it would have been a great. fit. Legerick Blunt was the started 2018 as the lion starting running back. That was also his last season in the NFL. Carion Johnson, who they drafted in this draft ended up leading that team and rushing in 2018, who I liked Kerry on Johnson coming out, but

you know, he was still what he is. To get Nick Chubb there, I think would have been big for this offense, even though, you know, Matthew Stafford's still there. It's not going in the right direction necessarily. in terms of, all right, this we're building up to another playoff run with this team. But I think that maybe you add a Nick Chubb in this offense and that changes things. Yeah, the Carry-on-Johnson part of it just makes this so easy. Like, we know they wanted to running back in this draft.

Carry-on Johnson ended up going like 10 or 12 picks after Nick Chub in the second round. So dropping Nick Chub in here and just with that offensive line, they had started to build at this point. I think that's a really fun one. I think you could also make a case for Jair here. They probably could have used enough. other outside corner. And again, Jesse Bates is still on the board for me, but they had Glover Quinn and Quintre Diggs. And so I think that going a slightly different direction and picking Chubb at a position of need, that one tracks to me. We're going to take one more quick break and then get back

with the final third of the first round here. The Cincinnati Bengals at 21. They actually took Billy Price. This was during that just, I don't even know what that correct adjective is here, just the wilderness time for the Cincinnati Bengals draft history. Who did you have them going with in the redraft? Yeah, Billy Price was supposed to be a, he's got a high, he might not have a high ceiling, but he's got a high floor. You know, he's a can't miss type of guy. And, yeah, obviously, that didn't work out.

I went with Derwin James. He got them, B.J. Hill. That's, that, that was worth it. They eventually got to trade him for B.J. Hill. I went with Derwin James, who, you know, we know they're going to lose out on Jesse Bates in the second round. You know, Jesse Bates already off the board in my scenario. So James, I mean, really, besides what 2019 and 2020 when he was really, when he was hurt, I mean, he's been, he's been pretty good. And so maybe the highs aren't always there, but I, Derwin James still belongs in this first round, I think.

I absolutely agree. Obviously, I had him going a few picks before this. I had Mike McGlinchie going here. And again, it's for this reason. Similar to the right tackle situation for the Chargers in those years with me wanting to rectify it. I remember the Bobby Hart days for the Cincinnati Bengals. This was post-Cedric Abui Jake Fisher times for the Bengals. And so they were trying to piece together their offensive line situation.

They traded for Cordy Glenn before this season, which is what allowed the bills to move up in this draft. But they still had a big glaring hole at right tackle. So Mike McGlunchy has been more than serviceable in that spot. And so having a capable right tackle for those Bengals team, very tempting for me to do here because I remember the experience of watching those teams. Poor Bobby Hart. Just going out there trying his best. And he just, it was rough.

It was so bad. But yeah, that was, that really led to the emphasis on offensive line for the Bengals. There's these years right here. So that makes total sense. Good of McGlinchy there. 22, the Tennessee Titans. They draft Rashon Evans in the actual draft. Who did you have them going with here?

Roshan Evans, another one. Geez, I went with Calvin Ridley, you know, just get to Tennessee a little bit earlier. Corey Davis, he was their wide receiver won on that team. And then after that, the receiver depth chart just dropped off in a major way. And so Marriota's still the starter then. You know, obviously that has not, that did not work out. But he also didn't really have anybody to throw to. And so Calvin Ridley kind of tried to help change that.

I don't think this is wrong. But again, the AJ Brown part of it, I was like, I don't really know if I want to mess with that. I know AJ Brown is coming down the road. I went with Tremaine Edmonds. And again, it was one of those where it's an easy one for one swap. They drafted an all-ball linebacker. They clearly wanted one. There's some corners.

Like Jair is still available for me here. But they were pretty heavily invested at Corner at that point. They had Malcolm Butler, Logan Ryan, and Adori Jackson on that team. And then even at safety, Jesse Bates has not been taken for me yet. they had some safeties on that team. Kevin Byard was there. And so it was easy because I knew they wanted Roshan Evans for me to just drop Tremaine Edmonds into this spot. 23, the New England Patriots. They drafted Isaiah win in the first round. Who'd you have them going with in the redraft? I had them going with Cortland Sutton. Brady's last two years,

1819 in New England, those receiver situations were so bad. Yeah, Julian Edelman was there. But besides Edelman, it was, looking at the 2018 Patriots, do you know who actually led that team in targets? It's James White. He had a hundred and twenty. I couldn't remember which running back it was because I literally looked up the same thing this morning. 123 targets that year. And, you know, obviously, Gronk is still on those teams.

But to add another weapon on the outside like a Cortland Sutton, maybe you're getting. And those Patriots teams are still like 11 win teams. but still to add another weapon on the outside, maybe you're getting a little bit more into those teams than what they actually did. So we're on a very similar page here. I had them doing this at 31 where they drafted Sony Michelle.

I had them drafting Corwin Sutton for pretty much the same set of reasons. Remember they went to get Josh Gordon? So they wanted like a big body receiver on those teams. And so giving them Corwin Sutton based on the other decisions they made, that was pretty easy for me. But I did that a little bit later on.

another player who is hard to place here just because he's clearly been valued really highly by the league when he's healthy he's a really good player it's just been a question of health i had them going with bradley chubb here if you look at those teams those patriots teams in 2018 or so tray flowers in the final year of his deal other than that not a lot of like high-end pass rushing talent on those teams and so them taking the chance on chub this late considering what he's been in his best i think that one is, that one's justifiable to me. Well, and Chubb's been a guy that he has a really good season and then it's an injury, really good season.

And it's been on off, on off. And so missing this past year, he's due for a big year in 2025. So we'll see if you can, if you can do it. So yeah, that makes, I mean, top five pick in this draft. When he's healthy, he absolutely belongs in this first round. So I certainly understand that. The rave, or excuse me, the Panthers at 24. They actually took DJ Moore.

I think we both had the same guy going here. What did you do for the Panthers at 24? Yeah, this is where Jaya Alexander comes off the board. I think, yeah, that makes sense. Even though his end in Green Bay wasn't exactly what you would expect for a first round pick, a guy that you extended, you know, he's still a good cornerback and maybe took a little bit of a discount to go to Baltimore. So, you know, we'll see how that plays out for the Ravens this year.

But for Carolina, you know, they need. it somehow up a corner in 2018. So to get Jaira Alexander here at 24, I think that fits. Yeah, they drafted Dante Jackson in that same draft. And they already had James Tradbury. So that, again, that one makes it easy. We knew they wanted a corner with Jair on the board. That one was, I penciled that one in very quickly.

The Ravens at 25. In the actual draft, they took Hayden Hurst, seven-fix before they took Omar Jackson, which is always very funny to think about. Who did you have them going with in the redraft in Baltimore? Hayden Hearst will always be the trivia answer. Yeah, so I went with Sam Donald here. And this, it's fascinating to think about with a better situation, he would have sat in 2018, at least to start behind Joe Flacco.

2018 was Flacko's last year in Baltimore. So the opportunity, because Sam Darnold was a redshirt sophomore when he came out. He was still a very young player. So to get that ability to come along at your own. pace. It just, and I, Marty Morningweg was the offensive coordinator back then. Like I, you know, I don't know how that would have worked out, but it, I

understand at least taking that swing at that point. So if things would have played out the way they should have, Lamar Jackson would have went early, Sam Darnold went a little bit later, that trajectory for Darnold in a situation like Baltimore is fascinating to think about. Yeah, I had him going at 32. So we're on the exact same page here. again, trying to figure out what to do with Sam Donald in this exercise.

The fact that the Ravens did take a quarterback and had two picks at the end of this draft, it was easy. It's like, okay, this is where he probably should go in an exercise like this. You change the situation. He goes behind the quarterbacks who've been more successful and consistent than he's been.

So I totally understand this, and I did it seven picks later. So we did the same thing with Cortland Sutton and Sam Donald where we both had them going to those respective teams just with their second picks in the first round. Yeah, that makes sense. I actually had Brayden Smith going here to the Ravens. Again, they drafted Orlando Brown in the third round,

so they needed a right tackle. And Brayden Smith has been really solid for the Colts for most of his career. So that one was another one where I was like, you know what? I knew they wanted a guy at that spot. Give them another starting caliber player here, and we'll get the quarterback at 32 the same way they did in the real draft. That's the first guy in my draft that I don't have,

or I don't have in my draft that you had in yours is Brayden Smith. Yeah, and you had the tackles, though that group pushed a little bit lower. I had been glinchy going earlier, and so that's why I had Braden Smith going. Atlanta at 26 in the actual draft, they take Calvin Ridley. What do you have them doing in the redraft? I'm going Bradley Chubb. So a couple of picks after where you had Chubb going. This is where I have them going.

Again, productive, when healthy. And, you know, we've talked about the Falcons, past rush situation ad nauseum the last 10 years and how they've just struggled to find that upgrade. you know, Vic Beasley was still in that 2018 team, but I think he lost a starting job that year. Tack McKinley, they drafted him in the first round the year before. That didn't work out, and that was pretty apparent early on. So to get Bradley Chubb at this point gives them a little bit of that pass rush juice they've been missing.

Yeah, I mean, they're still trying to find it. They spent this entire off season still trying to find it. Bradley Chub is off the board for me here. I went with Jesse Bates. This is one where he probably could go five times before I had him going. I think there was always a reason why I picked somebody else. Even like with the Bengals at 21, I wasn't going to put him on this Bengals team because they didn't want him.

He was there for the rookie contract. Then they left. So I didn't want to do that again. And so the fact that he's currently on the Falcons and that Falcons team had Ricardo Allen and Tamonte Casey as it safety. That one was easy for me. And then a fun one because, again, we have seen him in that spot already. And so with Jesse Bates still on the board, he was clearly the best player available.

And I do think he makes sense there. the Seahawks at 27. Who you got? This is where I'm Mark Andrews coming off the board. This is good. I like that. Yeah, it's a good fit with Russell Wilson at the time. Look at the tight end depth chart, Nick Vinette, Will Disley, a Dixon.

I mean, a guy like Mark Andrews could have really elevated that position and what he would have meant for that offense. So I think that's a great fit there. Yeah, I like that one a lot. I had Carlton Davis going here. They actually took Rashad Penny in the 2018 draft, but Tray Flowers started most of that season for the Seahawks. Richard Sherman had just moved on. They had Shaq Griffin, but this was in that time where they were really searching for some answers at corner.

And Carlton Davis has been a very good player. And the fact that Carlton Davis is still getting paid $20 million a year, even though we're on team number three, I think speaks to what kind of player he still is at this point in his career. So he was one of those guys that pretty easy, no-brainer first rounder for me. Well, that's exactly why I had him going next pick at 28 to the Steelers. I mean, Artie Burns was a bust early on for the Steelers. You know, they needed some help at corner. Joe Hayden was a fine stopgap option for them. But add in a Carlton Davis, that to everything you just said, just copy and paste for the Steelers of 28.

I had Shaq Leonard going here. He was another one of those guys. I just wasn't sure what to do with him. Because obviously the highs were incredibly high. He was one of the best players in the league at his position for multiple years. So what do you do with that, even though he's out of the league at this point when a lot of these other guys are still productive? I just look at the depth chart at linebacker for where the Steelers were at that point.

Again, it was very much in flux. They had Jonathan Bostic there as a one-year starter in 2018. And so even if you're not getting a very long ride with Shaq Leonard, I think that his peak over those three or four years, still, to me, you can make an argument for why he belongs in the round. Shaq Leonard, he's kind of almost in the same conversation as Vandrash, right? Where it's like, okay, this is a really good player. It just robbed by injuries.

And with the Steelers, I think that you look at, and maybe an offshoot of this, too, is it prevents the Devin Bush trade up a year later, right? That's right. I didn't even think about that part of it. Yeah, those 2019 where they traded it up in the first round, get a 10 overall, 20 to 10 to get Devin Bush. So, yeah, you're also not only getting a good player here, you're preventing a future mistake a year later.

I like that. This is a really hard one, because you only get, really, you get four seasons out of Shaq Leonard, but he was first team all pro three of those seasons and he was second team in the fourth year.

So I just don't know exactly what to do with that, but it's just so tempting for the peak and where the Steelers team was at that point. They were super competitive. And I didn't even think about the Devin Bush trade part of it. So yeah, I feel good about this one, even if you're only getting a few years out of Shaq Leonard,

if his career played out the same way. The Jacksonville Jaguars at 29. This one's an easy one because they took Taven Brian in the first round. So anything they do is probably going to be an improvement on what they eventually ultimately did in real life. What are you doing with the Jags at 29? I had him sticking with the same position going Duran Payne, you know, who has been a good player, maybe not a great player, but a solid to good player for

the majority of his career in Washington. And so Jaguars, you know, with what didn't work out with Taven Brian, I think Duran Payne kind of fixes that. Yeah, I think that's a very good one. I had Calvin Ridley going here. Again, it's fun that he eventually did end up on the Jaguars. I would like to read you the three leading target getters on the 2018 Jaguars in a post-Allen Robinson world. D.D. Westbrook, Dante Moncrief, and Keelon Col.

Wow. I think Calvin Ridley probably could have earned some targets on that 2018 Jaguars team. Yeah, yeah, I think you're right. And it's funny that I had Calvin really going to the Titans at 22. You had him going 29 to the Jaguars. So we're just, you know, we're getting Tim to his teams a little bit earlier. 30, the Minnesota Vikings. They took Mike Hughes in the actual draft.

Who did you have them going with in the redraft? I haven't going Wyatt Teller. the Vikings, they were rolling out Mike Rummers and Tom Compton at their starting guards in 2018. I think Tom Compton did my taxes two months ago. It wasn't a good group. And so add Wyatt Teller in there. And I know with Teller wasn't like an immediate hit. It wasn't like a, you know, from the get-go, he was being a pro-bow level player, took a few years.

but still, I think at the end of the first round like this, to upgrade your interior, even if you have to be a little bit patient, I like that pick for Minnesota. I like this one because this is another team that they've been trying to fix the interior of their offensive line in perpetuity. And so trying to get ahead of it a little bit. I do like that. I did something here with the Vikings that we've done a few times.

They took an outside corner in this draft. I just gave them another one. I put DJ Reed here. And DJ Reed is another one of those players, kind of similar to why I tell her, it came along a little bit slower, you know, it wasn't an immediate hit, but ended up becoming a really good player and is still getting paid, you know, not at the top of the market, but like a top 10 corner based on the play that he, you know, put on the field over the last couple years. It got rewarded by the Lions, I think, in a way that made sense. So them getting another corner here.

The other guy I would throw out that I was tempted to throw into the first round was Terran Johnson. So they, McKenzie Alexander was the slot corner on those teams. And so putting Taryn Johnson on those Vikings teams instead of McKenzie Alexander, I think that one also makes some sense. Well, and it's funny you said that because with the next pick at 31 with the Patriots, there were four players I was trying because I knew how I was going at 32 into Baltimore. So 31, it came down to four players for me. DJ Reed and Tron Johnson were two of those guys.

And then the other one, Puna Ford and the other one was Zach Seiler. So between those four players, I was trying to decide who I wanted to go with with the Patriots. I ended up going Zach Seiler. Just seemed like a Patriots type of type of guy. He really is. Just a great story, obviously, where he came from, being on a walk on and being drafted late. And then I believe he was cut. Like, I mean, he's just, everything that happened with, you know, his trajectory is not, you know, the normal way.

But he's made it through. And when he's healthy, he's been outstanding for Miami. So I went Zach Sadler there at 31. but Puna Ford, DJ Reed, Terran Johnson were three names that I kind of wrote down for that spot. Yeah, I think that Sauer makes a lot of sense. He's one of the two guys. Him and Wyatteller are probably the guys that pained me the most to not put in my first round. And so the fact that you snuck both of them in there, I like that.

I already mentioned I had Corwin Sutton going here. And then at 32, I had Sam Darnold going there. You had him going at 25 to the Ravens. Who did you have the Baltimore Ravens taking with these 30-second pick? I haven't gone, Mike McGlensie. a guy that you had off the board a little bit earlier, probably a little bit further than, you know, even though I don't think he's necessarily lived up to being a top 10 pick

or lived up to the contract that the Broncos gave him, but he's still an offensive line, offensive tackle, who is a more than serviceable starter. And so, you know, we know Baltimore, they drafted Orlando Brown Jr. in this draft a little bit later,

so they're going to miss out on him. You come back at 32, get him. So, yeah, Donald McGlinchie. you went offensive line. You went Braden Smith, right? Yeah, so same kind of deal. Yeah, we just flipped them. Exactly. Yep, exactly.

We had the same thought process there. All right. So that's it. I'm sure it pains Ravens fans, the fact that they have to come out of the 2018 draft without Lamar Jackson. And the same for Bill's fans. The fact that they'll leave an exercise like this

without Josh Allen. These are timelines that neither of those fan bases has any interest in exploring. Well, I just, I mean, you think about the Ravens. They lost, what, three, at least three guys because they lost Lamar Jackson, Orlando Brown Jr., Mark Andrews.

So I think so three of these three of their actual draft picks from that draft got drafted in this first round. The Browns had three with Baker Mayfield, Denzel Ward, Nick Chubb. Yep. That's interesting. I don't think any, I think just those two

had three. I don't think any other team had more than that. But 49ers obviously did well for themselves with Fred Warner, Mike Glinchy. Yeah, that's interesting to look back. The Bucks had Vita Vaya and Carlton Davis. Yeah, so there were a few teams that had two. And then for me, the Colts, the Colts had three for me.

I had Quentin Nelson, Brainsmith, and Shaq. Leonard. The Eagles getting Myelotta and Josh Sweat late in the draft, kind of an all-timer for Howie there. That put them on the right path. I mean, that was kind of the stretch where they were hitting more in the middle. rounds than they were hitting on their first round picks for a little while. Obviously, things have changed for the Eagles over the last couple of years.

But yeah, it's a fascinating exercise. I'm glad we did it. Again, I've never done it before, but fun to stroll down memory lane a little bit here with you, buddy. So glad to get you back on the show. I hope you're enjoying your break. And we're going to be getting to 2026 draft talk here before we know it. I can't wait.

We got a lot of things planned, and so it's exciting. We do have a lot of fun stuff planned. Can't tell you everything right now, but there is some fun stuff on the horizon on the athletic football show as far as our draft coverage is concerned. So be on the lookout for that. I'm sure we'll be talking about it very soon. For now, that's all we got. Appreciate you guys listening. Me and Derek will be back tomorrow.