The Athletic Football Show: A show about the NFL - Draft Night Special: Trey Lance to the 49ers, Justin Fields to the Bears & more shocking moves from round 1

Episode Date: April 30, 2021

Robert Mays, Nate Tice, Lindsay Jones and Dane Brugler bring you live reaction from the first round of the 2021 NFL Draft. How shocked were we that the 49ers drafted QB Trey Lance? How excited was Robert that the Bears drafted QB Justin Fields?Watch this episode on YouTube! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBGVWXVtGZcGet discount access to all of The Athletic's incredible draft coverage at theathletic.com/footballshow Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is the Athletic Football Show's draft night special. With the first pick, the Jacksonville Jaguar, select. Featuring Robert Mays and Nate Tice, the athletics draft guru Dane Brugler, and the one and only Lindsay Jones, senior NFL writer for the athletic. It's now my honor to announce that the NFL draft is officially open. Welcome to the Athletic Football Show draft night special. I'm Robert Mays, and I'm very excited to be welcomed in person by my good friend, Nate Tyson. How are you doing, buddy? I'm doing great. We just sat down, right?

We just sat down. It has been a wild evening already. I mean, there's so much to get to. You know, we had a plan. We had a bunch of things we were going to talk about. A lot of that has already gone out of the window. So right now we are sitting here watching the Eagles trade up to number 10 with the Cowboys, a rare interdivisional trade.

I'm sure we will talk about that. I want to start, though, with a move that shocked both of us. And that is the Broncos drafting Patrick Sertan the second at number nine. Not because we don't think. Patrick Sertan Jr. is worthy of the ninth overall pick. I think he's a really, really good corner. I just wouldn't as the first need for the Denver Broncos. I mean, you look at their depth chart. It might be the last thing they need. They signed Ronald Darby and free agency. They went out and got Kyle Fuller. They already have Bryce Callahan there. They're going to run a

four cornerback defense, I guess, is what's happening. And when you think about the quarterbacks that were on the board, it's easily, in my opinion, the most surprising thing that happened today. And Mac Jones didn't go to the Niners, which was, it was like, okay, that one made sense finally. But then this one, yeah, this one's really curious. It's like you said, really like Sir Tan. Like I actually probably my favorite corner. Thank you. Really like Sir Tan, probably my favorite corner.

Thank you, Kent. But no, it's, I do think it's like, are they picking for the Packers? Is that what they're doing here? Because it's like, it's a hat on a hat kind of a thing. And don't get me wrong. It's corner is a premium position. And that's kind of, yeah, I'm fine with investing in the premium position. line corner edge rushers or just past rushers in general and of course quarterback but it's like you

only have one quarterback and it's kind of like that's what I think the Broncos need to improve well obviously we saw the Teddy Bridge the Teddy Bridge water deal you traded a six-round pick for him it makes sense you know that's something we saw a mile away yeah we talked about that on multiple shows last week I think it's the type of option with the defensive minded head coach that makes sense you want somebody that's going to keep the train on the tracks it reminds me a little bit of what the bears did last year with foals and trubisky I don't think planning copying the Chicago Bears quarterback plan is exactly what you want to do. But it's funny. I was talking to Lindsay Jones earlier, who's going to be joining us soon as is Dane Bruegler or as the draft goes on. So please keep an eye off for both

of them. I was talking to Lindsay. And it's almost as if the Broncos have a similar quarterback plan to the one the bears have. And every five years, they stumble into one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time, ass backwards. And that seems like where we're doing where we are right now. Because before the draft started today, obviously everyone has been talking about Aaron Rogers. And what might be happening. So if it's true, which it does seem like it is, that the Broncos are putting together a deal for Aaron Rogers or an offer at least, maybe that threw a wrench into them possibly drafting a quarterback in the top 10, which changes the entire complexion of the rest of the draft.

The draft, the entire NFL, it's like, that is, that's why it's just so curious for the thing. So I just going to keep saying is just, Broncos didn't need help there. That's like, it's just like what? And right now, as we see, is Devante Smith, just going to the Eagles, which is like I love Devante Smith. He's probably my favorite receiver in this draft,

even though there's a bunch of, a bunch of good ones I've already got, and there's more to come. But it's these kind of like, that is like just so interesting to me too, is not only taking Sertan there, but then also just screwing over the Cowboys the Pick before. Yes. And it's like everyone and everyone made sense.

Okay, the Cowboys are going to get a corner, one of those top two guys, Horn or Sertan, and it's just going to fall into the lap. And all of a sudden it's like, oh, I'm sure that was not a lot of fun for them to also and just that goes away. So that's like just the domino effects that other teams can have can affect your team. Absolutely. Even you have nothing to do with it.

Also, the Cowboys are like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. No, Broncos aren't going corner. I'm sure they're pro-staff when they were doing needs. They're like, we don't have to worry about that. And then also they take a corner. It's shocking. I think if you would play this out a hundred times in the Cowboys' minds, those two corners going off at 7 and 8 or 8 and 9 would never have happened.

So that's why you are left scrambling a little bit. So talk about Horn to Carolina a little bit. Not surprising in that they needed a. a corner, but he's a man-heavy corner. They played a lot of zone last year. You'd have to assume they would probably fold a little bit more press coverage into what they do moving forward if they have a guy like that. It almost reminds me a little bit of William Jackson going to Washington, where when you get more talent at corner, it allows you to do a few different things. But obviously, this means the Panthers did not draft a quarterback. They trade for Sam Darnold. They trade

multiple picks for Sam Darnold. And it does seem like they're going to roll with Sam Darnold next year. they have faith that Joe Brady, the skill position players that they have, the infrastructure in place in Carolina is such that they can get a lot more out of Sam Darnold than the Jets Day. Yeah. And what is curious, it's one of those, was Phil Snow running quarters and all that zone because they had to? Yes. Or because is that what he prefers? And that's what you don't know until you get better players. Correct. And that's why, you know, Rex Ryan, like, anytime you get a blitz happy, I'm not saying Phil Snow is, but any blitz happy scheme, they're like, we need a man corner. because we were they have to live in that world.

That's why those Jets defenses with Rex Ryan were able to just be unlocked when they, when Alston, you just had Revis just Revis Island to take it off his side. And that's just what's curious. Oh, my God. What happened? The Bears just traded up. Okay. Okay.

I don't. This is. Okay. Sorry. We're reacting to this in real time here. Justin Fields is available. I, this is ridiculous. I'm so glad we started, we started to pick Penn and not pick 15.

Yeah, exactly. I cannot believe this is happening right now. All right. So let's wait, let's wait for a second. Obviously, we think this is for a quarterback. Yeah. So it would make sense that it would be Justin Fields, right? It would.

I mean, you're not making this move for Mac Jones. If they are, I will, I don't know what I'll do. Yeah, that's like I'm going to run. Andy Dalton Plus. You already got, you already have a month of them. So let's talk about it. Well, there's no reason to speculate about this now. Let's wait until the pick happens.

So going back to the Carolina for a second here, obviously, the, the corner thing makes sense. Do you think that Sam, Darnold in that system, let's do this. Would you have rather had Justin Fields? Do you think that if you could just drop Justin Fields in there, you'd think that it should not have precluded them from doing this. So Schfter is now on TV.

I'm sorry, I'm like distracted. This is really hard for me to go ahead. I'll distract you real quick. No, and I think I think I would have gone to fields because it's younger. It kind of alleviates some headaches that you might cause for yourself. You know, if Sam Darnold blows up or if you just busts, then you're like, you're totally out of the whack. With Fields, at least you have a couple years until I just.

by yourself. But we never know what the Panthers timeline is. And that's the difference. We've talked about that with Carolina for so many times since this new regime came in. And it really does feel like there isn't a ton of patience there. They went out and signed Teddy Bridgewater before they had to do that. They went out and they didn't spend a ton of money for agency last year, but they also didn't tear it down totally.

There was a decent amount of dead money. But they still weren't aggressive, but they added pieces on a timeline that a lot of teams wouldn't necessarily add pieces. So that's why it's just a little bit confusing and a little bit hard to understand exactly what they're doing. So Justin Fields is walking back into his living room right now. This is terrible radio. But it seems like this is happening. Did you wake up today thinking this was even over?

So I've gone over this a few different times in my mind about whether I want this to happen. Because do I want this regime spending more draft capital going up and making this aggressive sort of move for this guy or anyone? Do I want more time and more leeway for the pace naggy regime? And I think for this guy, we'll see what the price is. Obviously, that's going to be part of this conversation. I think he's really special. I do too. I think that he is super talented.

I think that we've overthought this. When you watch what type of player he is, the ability that he has, I am ready to attach myself to this guy for the next several years. I love it. We'll see what happens. Who's the coaching staff, everything else? That's the problem is how does it align? Is this the group that I want to get the most out of a player as talented as Justin Fields?

If it is Justin Fields. Yes, I know. And there was Mac Jones. And I think the answer is yes. I think that even though those things are a little bit disjointed in my mind, I am still, it's still worth it to me. It's still worth making a play about this sort of guy. So from going from 20 to 11, it's not going from 20 to 4. So we'll see what this is.

Let's say it's next year's first and a little bit more. I do that. That's fine. I do that. Because there's no quarterbacks next year either. This is what they screwed up in 2017. These guys went in the same range in 2017. It was Deshaun Watson and Patrick Mahomes right here, this exact same range.

And look at when the chiefs, the first round pick they gave away, the first round pick, the Texans gave away in that deal. They've never thought about them again because of the guys that they got. You would hope that Justin Fields is that guy for the Bears if it is Justin Fields. I don't, nothing is off the table with this team and quarterback. They're about to announce it. But we say that the strong. stars, you shouldn't squint. Yes.

It doesn't matter what the regime is. You don't have to squint with Justin Fields. So that's what that's the one caveat, not the caveat, but the one saving grace with it. Here we go. Here we go. Here we go. I,

this is, I can't believe this. How good are you reading lips? But it's amazing that we're alive and watching this happen. How good are you reading lips? Oh, man. Just really dragging it out here. Yeah.

Come on now. Oh, my God. He has four cards right now. So I don't know what we're missing. I don't either. That's the problem. There's no volume on right now. He's like four cards.

Oh, goodness. Watch them trade up for a linebacker. Really? What are we doing here? It's probably something serious. Now you're going to get the bad guy. Just sitting here. Now the draftathon is here.

You'd have to. I haven't seen it confirmed anywhere. Okay. This is torture. This is amazing. This is agonizing. Oh, I cannot. All right, here we go.

Pick is in. Oh, he's got a mask on so we can't read the lips either. This is going to be great for the podcast version of this. All right. I don't know. I can't believe this is happening. All right. Here we go.

All right. Justin Fields. Wow. It's really cool. It's really cool. It's a great show, guys. It's really cool. And you know why it's really cool because when we did the quarterback show,

And we were talking about these guys and we were talking about this class. You and I both looked at each other as we were having that discussion and thought, why isn't he the second guy? Yep. Why not? Why are we overthinking this? Why are we getting to that point? And I talked to somebody, a GM in the league, I really respect. And I was asking him the same questions. And he said, I think he's the second best guy. I think that he is the, I would take him over everyone except for Lawrence. And that made me feel better about it. And that makes me excited about this. Obviously, we'll see what they had to do to trade up. But I really do feel like he's a special

talent. I think he's a type of guy that just doesn't come around that often. And obviously, there are elements to his game that give you a little bit of pause. He is a little bit methodical. He does play a little bit slower than he wanted to sometimes. He's not as creative as some of these other guys. And I think you and I discussed this before we even came on, I honestly think him falling and there being three quarterbacks that went over him, it's not an overreaction, but it's, it is a reaction to the types of guys we've seen succeed recently. It's the Mahomes. It's even the Josh Allen's, the guys that are, loose and creative and plays outside of structure. That's not really Justin Fields. As talented and as athletic as he is, he plays in the pocket.

He's a quarterback. He is a quarterback. He reminds me of Cam Newton in that way, even though I think that he's more accurate than Cam Newton, which is what makes me excited about him. The fact that this guy is 6-4-225 runs a 4-440 and is an accurate quarterback. Those are the boxes I want check. That is, I can't believe this just happened. I know. This is like surreal right now. I know. I'm like, actually like to the bears and and like I text you to one time because I'm so excited I don't I don't you I'm I'm thinking more with my analytical brain than I am with my fan brain at this point and I'm so excited I just I'm really excited that just because you're watching the highlights right now and I and it's over the number one jersey if you had told me while watch and I'm that 60 yard bomb that he completed on that skinny post that we just watched dual lave on the TV that throw I've gone back to that it throws so many times when I've talked about him.

Just the ultra talent. It's just so apparent. When I watched him in that game and when I watched him make those throws, I never in a million years thought that he could be a Chicago bear. I just, I never in a million years thought it could be possible. And now it is, again, I'm torn a little bit just because is this the right regime to get the most out of him. Do we really want these guys to make this decision again? but if it's this guy, if it's a prospect of this quality, then I'm okay with it. Yep.

Like you said, when they trade up from a homes, the chiefs did or, you know, Texans with Deshaun wasn't. You got your guy. Who cares? Everything else will solve itself. Everything else will figure out itself. You know, actually as you watch them more or two, it was like, I think I texted this because we were getting excited both watching them after we record that show. And you're like, yeah, man, I'm like, what am I missing with this guy? Then I said to you, I was like, he's like a tiny Dante Cole Pepper.

It's even smarter. It's like he operates on time and does all like that. And the fact that Dante was so big and athletic, but he always operated from the pocket. Well, you don't remember, Dante could do the creation things and all that, but he wanted to operate from the pocket. He wants to be a quarterback. You're not molding this guy and going, you know, he's a wild horse.

We got to build a skill set and polish. It's like, no, he has the polish. It's so funny. We're doing the other things. You want him to run more and you want him to run quicker. And if that's what you're trying to do with your quarterback, that's this talented, it's great. All right.

we're going to bring in Lindsay Jones to talk about the Broncos pick. Obviously, she's incredibly locked in to everything that's happened there. She's covered that team for a very long time. And it's been one of the moments of the draft. Lindsay, how are you doing? Hey, I am good. It's been kind of wild. I was like begging them to let me in for when the Bears pick was coming.

But I'm glad to be her now. I was sitting backstage watching you. I could not tell if you were crying. Can you confirm? Are there tears? I'm trying to keep it together. I've tried to keep it together as much as possible here. Well, congratulations, Robert.

Thank you. Thank you very much. I'm excited. Look, I mean, I know I'm here to talk about the Broncos pick, but did they get QB2? I mean, did the Bears just get maybe the second best quarterback in this group? I mean, time will tell, right? I think they might have. And obviously, these things are dependent on so many different factors.

How much help are you getting? And that's one of the questions that I have is what's get that scheme going to look like? Is he going to unlock that offense in a way we haven't seen other guys do it? Who's going to play receiver on this team if they trade Anthony Miller? They still don't have a right tackle. And that's the problem, not the problem, but that's the consideration when you make a move like this, is that your quarterback needs to cover up so many of those woes. And I think that if he's the building block and he's a guy you can build around,

even if the GM changes, even if the coach changes, even if you need to make some tweaks to the roster, having that guy at the center of it still makes everything else okay. And that's what I'm hoping for. That's your main building block and everything else would just, branch off from there. Lindsay, obviously the Broncos didn't take a quarterback. Yeah. They took a corner at number nine. Nate and I were discussing this before you came on.

I think the position I would have said was the lowest need on probably their entire roster before this got started. How surprised are you that this is the direction they went with that pick? Well, this is clearly like a Vic Fangio influence, right? I mean, look, if you went back to all the mock drafts from January, February, the first two weeks of March, this would have been like a slam dunk pick. Like I bet there's a whole bunch of mock drafts that had Sertain back in March. Pre-Callelhoer.

Yeah, exactly. So it's not just called Foller. It was also Ronald Darby. So they clearly knew it was a position of need, but they invested very heavily there. But this is just very clearly like Vic Fangio looked at the way the board was. And that shows that he's having some influence in a George Payton draft room because, you know, adding Certain, he's immediately a starting caliber cornerback. It's going to give Fangio a ton of flexibility with his defense.

And look, they, this, the Bronx said, a really good defense for a lot of last year, but cornerback was a major liability. They only got two interceptions out of their cornerback position last year. Both of those were from Bryce Callahan. But they, you know, they just got so little production and consistency out of their starting cornerbacks. So, you know, that position is fixed now. I mean, this defense looks like it's going to be really good.

And that's great when you're playing in a division that has Patrick Mahomes and now Justin Herbert. What to say. That's great. You have four of those games. Yeah. I mean, so that's really, really. really important. And, you know, the Broncos defense, I just, the Broncos were further away from

the chiefs last year than they were at any point over the last few years. And this helps them. My question right now is I still don't think offensively they're any closer to keeping up with those teams. So let's talk about that. Because obviously the biggest news of the day before the Bears traded for Justin Fields, which is all that I don't know. Which is fair. The biggest news of the day before that happened was everything that we've heard about Aaron Rogers and several different reports came out on several different levels. Adam Schaefter did the first one and then several other people, I think, since then, have talked about how unhappy he is the discord that's happening with him in the front office in Green Bay. And it's been reported, I think, by multiple different

people that the Broncos are heavily involved in that. Do you think that is shaping the way that they're approaching this draft and how real do you think their interests might be? And have you heard anything about just how realistic it might be for Aaron Rogers to end up in Denver here in short order? Yeah, well, I mean, I think from a Broncos side, the interest is real. Like, I think they, you know, they've been exploring a ton of options. And the fact that they traded for Teddy Bridgewater yesterday doesn't take them out of any of these sort of quarterback trade conversations. I think there's, you know, a lot of realistic expectations about what the Broncos quarterback situation looks like. Bridgewater raises their floor a little bit, but their ceiling is still pretty low with Bridgewater and lock.

So if Aaron Rogers is available, the Broncos have the cap space to fit this in. And there's a lot of things that are attractive about what Denver can offer in terms of future draft capital. They're able to take on the salary. And if you're Rogers, I would look at Denver and say there's a lot of stuff you would like about it. And you would be excited probably about coming here. The big wild card in all of this, right, is if the Packers are just, just going to dig in and they're not going to field offers or they're not going to engage in trade talks right now, then that kind of, you know, makes it moot however, and however interested

any of these teams are. And so, yeah, I mean, like an hour before the draft, things were going nuts in Denver. And I had just chugged a cold brew. So like, I was racing. I was like, do I mean, the airport, Centennial Airport is just like a couple miles. I live right off of the same road. And I was like, let's go. Like, I was ready to go. And then, you know, my buddy Mike Cliss, who is very plugged into the Broncos front office, like through a whole bunch of, cold water all over that and I kind of like settled down and said okay I don't need to get in my car right now but I still think we have to keep that on the table for the Broncos because look if you're a Broncos fan right now and if they come out of this weekend and you're heading into

OTAs in a month and your quarterbacks are bridgewater and lock that's somewhat of a downer considering you know the options that were there I mean they could have taken Justin Fields you know, a couple hours ago they thought they could have Aaron Hodge instead. I'm very, very happy that all of the Rogers stuff. He's going to look at good in orange. That's all I'm saying. I am very, very happy that all the stuff with Aaron Rogers unfolded over the last 12 or six hours or so, because if that in any way chased the Broncos off of Justin Fields, I will be forever

indebted to Aaron Rogers and his entire team for leaking this at the moment that they did. So thank you very much to them. It's exactly right. It was like, no, as soon as that pick came in with a nine, it was like, okay, they're going quarterback here. They have to. And it's like, okay, okay. But then it's like, it was like all these branches of life just like, you know, choose your adventure book. It was like, we just added 500 pages to it because where I go.

It's like, now, now Justin Fields is a bear. It's like, holy crap. This is, this is actually happening. Also, the bears seem to have done a really good thing at quarterback and Dave Gettleman traded down. We're turning over new leaves. Oh my God. I didn't even think about that. Personal growth on many different levels.

I did not even think about that. In the 2021 NFL draft. Lindsay, we will check in with you a little. little bit later tonight. Really appreciate it. Always good to talk with you. Talk to you soon. Thanks, guys. See you later. Well, I mean, I also am too. I still am trying to process anything. I honestly think. I think the giants were so circled on Devante Smith too. And then the Eagles just swooped up and got them. So it's like, I think I have to do this trade thing. I actually have to use this phone

that I have in my draft room on this day and call somebody to do this. I'm trying to be a professional. I just want to go. My phone is recording you. you right now. I can't believe it hasn't melted. I'm assuming there are 10,000 text messages on that phone right now. I'm just glad we didn't miss the high five. So let's reset a little bit. Again, it's really hard for me to do this, which is my job. So we're sitting at 13 now. Micah Parsons just went to the Cowboys at number 12. Yep. There were a lot, there's a lot of speculation over the course of the last week that the Chargers may need to trade up to go get a starting tackle. Rashan Slater still on the board.

That would be a coup for this team if they see him as a tackle, if they see him as an option at left tackle. When you look at all the other moves they've made this offseason, they've done so much to protect Justin Herbert. This would just be the next step in that. So let's go back a little bit to some of the picks

that have just happened. Obviously, all the excitement around the Justin Bills thing kind of chased us all where we were. So the Eagles going up to get Devonte Smith. We talk about timeline with the Chargers. I think the Eagles timeline is also really interesting because this is a team that traded back out of six. May have gotten a guy they probably would have wanted at six anyway, by the way. I think both of us like Devante Smith more than Jalen Waddle, who the dolphins got at six.

So it feels like this team understands it's a long-term rebuild, all of that stuff. But I believe that Devante Smith can be a building block, no matter what your timeline seems to be. We both loved him. We've talked about this. He will be an outlier if he succeeds. We have not seen many guys at that. size dominate in the league, but we haven't seen guys that many guys that size be a Heisman winning one receiver.

What is your favorite thing about Devante Smith just as a receiver compared to not only the rest of the guys in this class, but the reason you think he can be good at that size? Just the unbelievable body control and hand-eye coordination that he always just plays with. It's just that fluid athleticism. It's so hard to describe him because it's like he's not twitchy and explosive, but he is. It's smooth. It's smooth. And he eats up that grass.

And I compared that running style to Randy Moss, but I mean, again, I'm not comparing him to Randy. But it's just how that that natural movement, like he catches a bubble. It just, he gets upfield. And also just that I really use the term rare, but he does have rare hands. Like he has that actually sticky hands, like no matter what the contest to catch or anything he is. Do you know what I love about him is that he plays so much bigger than he is? So we say that all the time. But he does it in so many different ways.

There was a rep against Mizzu that I tweeted out. It was the first game I watched him play where he buried. guy. On the block, right? On a block on the sideline. I was like, ooh. Yeah, I know. I was like,

because I come to these guys late. I always do, and I knew who he was. You're on the head coach schedule, right? Yeah, that's exactly right. I knew who he was, obviously. I mean, I watched the big games that they played in. I was just astounded by him over the course of the last college football season. But when you dig in, you learn little tiny quirks of guys that if you haven't watched them

in depth. And that play, I was like, oh, man, now I'm excited now. And then you watch some other stuff. one of the things I liked about Mac Jones, who still hasn't been picked yet, is that he's really good at understanding where open space is going to be in coverage structure and everything else. Yeah, and not only anticipates who's going to come open, but where he needs to put the ball. But if you're going to play like that, it helps to have guys who attack the ball. And that's the aspect of Devante Smith as a receiver that jumped out to me.

He attacks the ball. He is going after it in those moments. And if you're going to weigh 170 pounds, you need to play big. But that guy plays so much bigger than he is. One of the other things that you and I talked about today, and I feel like it's a really interesting contrast with Waddle and Smith, when you watch them in stacks and bunches at Alabama, who is the point in.

Devante Smith is the point guy on that. He's the one creating space for J-1 Waddle, which I think is so telling and so interesting that we have this tiny, skinny little guy that is the one playing with physicality. That's the one you want to be tossed in his back. body around. To kind of put it in perspective, it's like you have a screener in basketball. That's a six two.

Yes. That's kind of like the equivalent. He's set in the pick and roll at six two. Like, you know, like in basketball terms, you know, Smith is six foot. But also just that he's so he's skinny. Yes, we know that. But it's like he's never missed time. He has the hurt finger, which is like whatever.

But it's every time he gets hit, he just bounces right up. Like nothing phases him. And he just throws the ball. And he always throws the ball and he always throws the ball perfectly to the ref, which I always is just some. It's just these little, like you said, You watch these guys, these things add up and you're just like, this guy's just a natural athlete. Just one of those guys, he probably, he never plays a sport.

It's like, oh, go play soccer and he just kicks the ball. And it's like just perfect. He plays the pipe. He plays with ultra confidence. So let's go all the way back to the beginning here. Obviously, Trevor Lawrence and Zach Wilson go one, two. We understood that was going to happen. The Niners pick Tray Lancet three.

Yes. What do you think ultimately sold Kyle Shanahan on the idea of Traylant in that Niners offense? He's from Minnesota. No, it's the, I think what he saw him, and we mentioned it before, but it was the antithesis of what they had with Jimmy G. I think he was tired of not being able to attack down the field consistently 25 yards or more. We'll see the stats that come up and they say like, Jimmy G is, you know, third in efficiency on deep balls. It's like, but then you look at the rate, it's like, he only threw 18 of them, everyone else threw 40. I think Kyle wants to get back to 40.

He's like, okay, I'm tired of running basically a glorified triple wing, you know, or single wing offense right now, you know. It is what it looks like. It's the kind of it is. I mean, it really, if you look at the formations too, it's like, that's just old school offense,

like fucks ball and basically. And it's, I mean, that's kind of what they're going for. But now they got a quarterback that's like, that just unlocks some stuff that and creativity. That John Wolford starts for the Rams probably influence so many other coaches. Yeah.

So you get that go. Okay, we see McVeigh with Jared Gough and now we got a guy that can use his legs and you can see him get creative. Yeah. And these coaches like being creative. They get bored. And so also they get bored.

They do. Yep. Sean's late for the Chargers. It's great. That's great. Listen. Makes sense. I don't want to get sucked in again to the Chargers.

I already have. It's already too late. I've already gotten sucked into the Chargers again. I love their offseason. I love it. If they needed to remake that offensive line and they have thrown a no hitter in remaking that offensive line. I remember talking, I was talking to Scott Peolle about this last fall.

I was doing a story about how you build around a young quarterback. When you know you have your guy, what do you do next? And, you know, we talk about tackles. the time and pass protection and everything else. And he mentioned this to me and then you look back on it and it really does hold water. Who are the centers for a lot of these quarterbacks that are becoming very good? You don't need to draft them high necessarily. You don't need to pay up for them.

But I think Alex Mack going to Atlanta, Jeff Saturday being with Peyton Manning, a lot of these, there are so many examples of it. And I think bringing Corey Lindely in to help. Corey Lindsay is a smart person. Yes. Corey is a very smart guy. And it's young where it's like he's figuring out. with her.

It's like, no, he's already, he's already done it all. You're going to take some mental stuff off

Herbert's play. I think it's a perfect thing. moments too. Yes. And Herbert, yes. Herbert has a huge

moments. Herbert has a rose bowl. And that's basically, Corey is, he is the most even keel dude

you will ever meet in your entire life. And I think pairing that with Justin Herbert is really nice. It's a young

quarterback, even though there's a lot of even keel I was going to say that's the calmest hudels you'll ever get him. But also Matt Filer coming into play

guard. Solid, solid player. The type of free signing, I love. Eight, seven and a half million dollars a year, bring him in to be a stopgap starter. They are very excited about O'Diabushi, who they brought in from Detroit. In their minds,

he played the best football of his career last year in Detroit. And they think it's only going up from here, even though I believe he's 30 years old. But they truly believe that he turned a corner last season, and they got him for nothing. And then now you bring in Rishon Slater to presumably be your left house.

tackle, Brian Belaga is at right tackle. This is now gone from a disaster unit to a potential plus, plus offensive line over the course of a month and a half. And that's what you, everyone wants improvement. You want, say you have just a poor crap starter. And it's like, we want the star, we want the pro bowler. But even going from below average to above average, that's two tiers of bumps. Yes. Yes. But they're going from below average to good. And that's the five. Yes. And Belagas, there's any three issues. They have depth. And I think that's the problem with his charges. Like a guy like Filer, they're going from crap to good.

And that's like three, that's a three tier improvement. And when you do that across the board, offensive line is usually some of all their parts. And you just get above average to good across the board. And with versatility that they might have with a guy like Slater, who can maybe bounce around. And that helps with injuries. Who has been bit by the injury bug more than anyone?

The Chargers. Yeah. At what position? Offens aligned. Okay, let's get a guy that, say a guard did go down. All right, we got two guys that are also stars. We can swing there. They can find the best sum of their.

parts. That is just so huge. Offensive line, we'll love guys that are just, you know, a dominant guard. But then if they can't play at center, it's like, ooh, like, what's his, like Gabe Jackson. I love Gabe Jackson. Can't play a center. Gabe is a gap guard. Campos zone, can't play center.

So it's like, it's very limited what his use is and what you can do with that. Wow. Jets moved up with the Vikings. Interesting. Okay. Let's get back to the Niners here for a second. Obviously, we've talked about this trade for the past month. It has been the story of the pre-jraft process.

it's a huge, huge haul. I mean, what they traded to move up, I think even if it shouldn't have informed or tinged my thinking about it, it did. Because when you're trading two future first round picks, this is the same type of haul that the Rams paid in 2016.

It's in that range to go from 16 to one to go get Jared Goff. If you're going to trade that, it's the same thing we're talking about with Justin Fields and DeShon Watson and Patrick Mahomes. They're making up for those holes if you trade away future first. If you're going to trade it to two future first,

you need a quarterback who is going to cover that up. And I think you need someone ultra talented. The Mac Jones, if you had traded two future first round picks for Mac Jones, it reminds me of paying $30 million a year to Kirk Cousins. Kirk Cousins is a totally acceptable quarterback. The play you're going to get from Kirk Cousins, the floor is defined. I like Kirk Couss. But if the opportunity costs and not being able to spread that money around to help a guy like

Kirk Cousins who needs help for you to take, for them to take you over the top, that's what it reminded me of. It's like, all right, even if we think Mac Jones is going to be pretty good in Carl Shanahan's offense, what you're giving up to get for him. You can't prop him up. All those other first rounders would have really been helpful for what Mac Jones did. Now, Trey Lance, I think, is talented enough and the ceiling is high enough that it changes the conversation.

Because if you look at what the Niners have been over the last few years under Shanahan, Gropolo 22 and 8 is a starter. Everyone else, seven and 27. It combined as a starter. And if Shanahan alluded to that with when he was talking about Jimmy this week, and he's been very honest through this process in a way that he can't really help himself, which I appreciate about Kyle Shanahan. He has said the injuries were the biggest issue.

So now it's a question of, all right, if we have a quarterback that can just keep it on the rails, what can we be? And now I think the conversation changes even again. We have a guy that if he stays healthy, we know we're going to have a base on level play. and now the ceiling doesn't even exist because of what Trey Lance's talent can give you. That's the thing with size I think people misconstrue even myself sometimes is we think size is play strength. It's durability. It's holding up over now a 17 game season.

Totally. And that's some of my concerns with Zach Wilson is that is that he's a little thin framed and probably maxed out. Trey Lance just has that natural build where he's just big and he can actually carry the ball. Yeah, you don't want him to run 15 times. You don't want any quarterback to run the ball that much in the NFL. It's just hard. All of a sudden, you get whacked in the shoulder a couple of times and you have to throw the ball.

That's not fun. But he gives you the option. All of a sudden you get inside that five-yard line, you know how many touchdowns? He's going to rack up, like just what Kyle Shan is going to design down there, just any movement stuff. I love the quarterback run game that they can put in. There's just so many wrinkles to that offense. Now there's so many possible wrinkles.

They can be in the gun with Juice Check right there and have Jukechek lead block for Lance, and they're plus one on the run game. It's just going to be like you can run the outside zone with him as the quarterback. You're going old school single wing offense. And then also on the next play, he can do a perfect mechanical dropback off a play action game on the boot, a half roll, and that launched the ball. So guys are going to be most likely wide open because it's Kyle Shannon's offense. And I think that's the interesting part about Lance is that obviously 17 starts, right? There is a rawness to his game.

I think there's some scattershot accuracy where it's like, all right, you know, that's not the best thing in the world. But there are elements to his game that fit right away. Yeah. There isn't a lot of projection with him and the play auction. element of this, like there would be with some of these other guys, which I think is, yeah, so there's an aspect to his game where it's just like, yeah, you'd hope that there's going to be some growth there, obviously. But at the same time, it's less, it requires less imagination with him in that offense than

it would for a lot of the other guys in his draft, especially because he's under center. It's like, it's refreshing sometimes. And actually, it's kind of funny. Because Jimmy played out of the gun so much. And you'd assume it's because that's what Jimmy was comfortable with. If you go back to other years of what Shanahan has done, Matt Ryan's under center to the degree that he didn't even want at the beginning. Because Matt Ryan likes playing from the gun. And Kai was like, we're doing play action under center.

That's going to help. So I think we've talked about this with Shanahan so many times about how the personnel informs the offense. It does. And the Shanahan system has changed. It looks so different from what it looked like with Matt Schaub in 2010 to what it looks. like, I guess in 2009, with what it looked like with Robert Griffin in 2012, to what it looked like with Brian Hoyer in 2014, to what it looked like with Matt Ryan in 2016, to what they have done over the last couple years. I remember talking to Andrew Hawkins about this,

who played for Kyle in Cleveland in 2014. And he loves him because every person to talk to that plays for Kyle. And that staff even, because Mike McDaniel was his wide receivers coach in Cleveland. And he was great reviews about Mike McDaniel. And he was said, The number he estimated was 60%. 60% of the offense moves from place to place. The other 40% changes with your personnel. And that's what is so exciting about this. And I think that's why there was so much intrigue about the pick.

Because we've seen all of this from Kyle Shannon, because we are in agreement, I think, as a football watching community, that he's very good at this. We wanted to see where he landed. If you look at the numbers, since 2017, Jimmy Garoppolo is second in the NFL in yards per attempt. He is fourth in EPA per pass among quarterbacks. And by the way, Dick Mullins is eighth in yards per is going to maximize what he's got.

He's going to maximize whoever it is. And that's why I think it was so tempting to envision this as who is the most talented guy we can drop in here. I now, because I'm emotionally attached to it, would say it's Justice Fields, but you can probably make a case that Tray Lance is in that exact same conversation. Absolutely. Same kind of cloth of player in the sense that it's, I mean, I keep saying, like, yeah, big athletic and everything, big arm and all that, but it's just the cerebralness. That's what probably Kyle Shannon had interviewed this guy and goes, yeah, we can run our stuff with him. Like, yeah, I can, he's going to, oh, what? What is this? I mean, that's clearly not. No, no, but the Patriots. Oh, yeah. We're reacting to Mac Jones on the phone here on the television, but the pick is in for the Jets at 14. So the Jets, obviously, the Jets, obviously, They were in the catbird seat with this draft in some ways because along with having the second pick in the draft, they also had an additional first round pick from the Jamal Adams trade. If you look at all of the moves, the Jets have made this off season.

If you look at all of those, the signings and even bringing in Robert Sala. So you have Robert Sala coming in as your head coach, Corey Davis signs the free agent. They go out and get Carl Lawson, Sheldon Rankins. This team has made a lot of aggressive moves to get better right now. The rebuild for them is over. Yep. So you have Zach Wilson as the first step of that, whoever they traded up for here with Minnesota being the next step of that, you know, it could be an offensive lineman. Obviously, that's a huge area of need for them. Yeah, they went with Veritaka here. So yeah. Oh, did they? So they're going to go him and Beckton on the left side and they're going to be locked in for the next time. It's great. I love it. I do too. I love it. I'm glad. Because so they have George fans at right tackle still. It's not the best option in the world. But it does seem like they were comfortable rolling with him this year. They signed him in for H-C last.

offseason, and now you have just a boulder of a guard. Yes. You just drive. I said this when the first time I watched him. He is a guy. And they took him at 14, so a little bit off. But I said he's a guy you draft from 18 to 25. You put him at guard and he starts for the next 10 years.

And you're fine. That's exactly the type of guy that he reminds me of. And I just, I think it makes total sense. So now you look at this offense overall. You have back to the left tackle. You have Rivera Tucker at one of your guards. Yep. In other interior spots, still a conversation.

and Connor McGovern is there. You know, they've spent some money. That may be a work in progress. But the offensive line is better now with him. This is a solidifying factor. You have Corey Davis-Denzel members on the outside. You still have Jameson Crowder there with Keel and Cole, one, two-year slot options. Running back.

Whatever. You and I had this discussion today. You know what to play running back for the Jets next year? Literally anyone. And you went Jeff Wilson when we were talking about it, but it's like, yeah, just pick two first names. And there's just two names, two nouns. Give me some version of Rahim Moster. I want a guy who return kicks in college and runs a 4-4-1, you can take him in the eighth round.

I don't give a shit. It's going to be fine. That's totally fine with me. But then you have Denzel Mims and those two guys on the outside and a scheme I'm excited to watch. Yes. It is a type of offense I like to see, and I want to know what this version of it is going to look like. Kat, do you want to go to break with the Patriots about to pick a 15 here? Okay.

So, all right. So, well, look, with a Patriots pick is in at 15. We just saw Mack Jones on the phone. So we will wait to talk about that here for a second. But again, this was a. a really pivotal draft for the Jets. It was a potentially foundational draft for the Jets. And coming away from the first 14 picks with Elijah Vera Tucker and a quarterback,

yes, not the second best quarterback in the draft because the second best quarterback in the draft or potentially the best is now a Chicago bear, which I would like to keep reminding everyone for the next four hours here as we're doing this. I just still give away. But obviously a guy they think is their quarterback of the future. But you got to think this is just smart thinking. Like we brought the running back example and that was like what fans are clamoring.

We need a running back. We need a brother. Travis Antien. It's like, no, you don't need that. This just shows that the Jets is kind of, they're thinking the right way when they're building this team. They went back to them last year, even with the doldrums of a team. With Joe Douglas is looking at this right way.

Yeah, they went Wilson. Wilson's my number four quarterback. I still think he's a legit first rounder. And it's going to break excitement to the team. And they're going to, you know, Michael Ford is going to do a good job. It's still a shan hand offense. I mean, it's going to be a version of it. And it's going to at least the bar is going to be lifted.

So they're building inside out. but also too is mims is going to be a great pairing for Zach Wilson because he's a ball winner. Yes. And what is Zach Wilson like to do? He under throws deep balls. Yeah, he does. He under throws deep balls. Oh my God.

This is so great. Now Fields is your guy. Now I'm just shit on Zach Wilson for the next time ever long because I'm just totally in the back for Justin Field. I already was. So it's Mac Jones. I want this. It's been on the record. I have been a Justin Fields guy from the beginning.

It's not revisionist history. That's why it's so exciting. All right. Patriots pick is in. Mac Jones. is the New England Patriot. This makes all the sense in the world. It does.

I mean, this was like... What elements of what Mac Jones is as a quarterback do you think fits with what we've seen offensively from New England? Oh, getting the ball out of time. I mean, that's Tom Brady's greatest asset. That was the coolest thing. I'm sorry, I'm comparing Tom Brady and Matt Jones. I'm not.

But that comparison has been made a lot in the pre-draft process, even if it's a little bit much. Yes, but the fact that he gets a ball in time, he's so accurate. And that's the thing with Tom Brady is you watch him in the Bruce Ariens offense. And it really, it's shown a light to how. how good time prettiest to me. Because also I see, not that I always knew he was great, but also just seeing him operate this Bruce Aryan's offense.

And that is not, it's quarterback friendly, but it's not quarterback friendly. The time to throw and average depth of target does not compute. Exactly. How quickly he was getting the ball and how far they were pushing the ball on the field should be impossible. It's a pin and big band were like next to each other in time to throw.

And then you look at their A dot and they're the complete opposite. It's like top and the bottom. And so with that, it's, that's what Mac Jones can do. Josh McDaniels is going to love that. They're like, okay, he's going to get the ball on time for us.

Like everything's going to be exactly how we coach. He's tough. He can't really create, but he can throw off platform a little bit when he does have to move in the pocket. And guess what, that's what Tom Brady was great at was moving in the pocket. So they're like, okay, they probably see those same qualities with him. Yeah, we're not saying it's the same tier of player. I mean, but no one's really going to compare to Brady for a long time. But it's just that those attributes is what they're going to like.

Hey, we're going to teach him to do XYZ. He's going to do XYZ right on time, every single time. And that's what Mac Jones is. going to bring. I also think that all of the moves that they made in free agency, this is a team that has a lot of talent right now. Not a lot of talent, but not a whole of holes. Nice pieces. Not a lot of holes on offense. That's what they did in free agency. They built an offense that I think a quarterback could do something with. You have Johnny Smith. You have Hunter Henry. I mean, we don't love the receivers, but they're starting caliber receivers. Kendrick Boren. You do look Kendrick Boren. That's right. That's right.

So, Henry Born is your guy. So I am curious to see what that will look like. And I want to, because I think both of us, it's a different conversation if you're trading two future first round picks to move up and take Mac Jones at three when Tray Lance and Justin Fields are on the board as taking Mac Jones at 15 without making a trade and having him be the fifth quarterback. Correct. So we like Mac Jones. You and I both do. And I think this is the range. This is the type of offense. This is the situation where Mac Jones makes sense in a way that the Niners might not have. This makes all the sense of the world. This is what we said. Early second round grade on him. He's going to fight half around. Where do you go? Pick 15.

midway, midway through the first round. And it makes all the sense in the world. This is where, like you said, this is the value of Mac Jones. This is where it should have gone. This makes more sense. And now Twitter can kind of calm down and not hate Mac Jones as much and appreciate for what he can do, which is basically a millennial or Zoom or Chad Pennington, basically. All right.

We are going to take a break. When we come back, we're going to chat with Dane Bruegler about what he has taken from the first half of the first round. Excited to do that. We'll be back here in a bit. All right, guys, we're back. Excited to welcome in Dane Bruegler, the Athletics draft. expert released his entire mock earlier today, his last one.

Dane, how you doing, man? It's been a crazy day. I'm sorry, I'm still a little bit shaken from all this Justin Field stuff. I'm trying to keep it together. How exciting is that for you? That's awesome. That's crazy. That is so awesome.

We didn't have much drama in the top 10. I mean, I think besides three, I mean, we knew it was going to be Fields or we knew it's going to be Lance or Mac Jones at three. But then the rest of it played out almost exactly. how we thought it would. And then we get fields at 11. And that's just, I love it for Chicago. And how many G.U.S.

get a chance to draft two first round quarterbacks. Not many. Not many. And I really hope that this is Amaya Coppa, and this makes up for all of the just ills that have plagued me over the past 33 years of my life. Well, just think about how the narrative could change with Ryan Pace drafting quarterbacks in the first round.

with this pick if it happens to hit. I mean, it's fascinating. With Trey Lance, you know, when the trade was made four weeks ago, you know, at the athletic, I did an instant mock draft, you know, gut reaction, who were they taken? And I went Trey Lans. I thought that made the most sense when you look at the 49ers in Kyle Shanahan. The unique package of skills with Lance, with the athleticism, the armed talent, the intelligence for such a young age.

Now, he's such an unprecedented prospect with only 17 career starts and at the FCS level and all that. But just such a unique player. And so I love that fit. It's just really fascinating that Kyle Shanahan said all along that it was Trey Lance and the Mac Jones stuff that just took over the draft conversation for a month. It really wasn't to be. And then, you know, looking at the other picks of the top 15, three receivers all going back to play with their former college quarterbacks. I didn't even think about that.

That's wild. Yeah. I didn't even think about that. So, Dane, you had Waddle at 6th to Miami in your final mock today. What made sense about that fit to you? Why did you prioritize him? Why do you think the dolphins did over a guy like Devante Smith? What clicked with that pairing?

Really, just because I need the dolphins love them. They've loved them for a long time. And I think I kind of wish Penteuseul would have went fifth just to see who they would have gone with at six, whether it would have been Jamar Chase or Waddle, because, you know, I heard all along that Waddle was their top receiver. And so I think they might have gone Waddle over Chase there. But, you know, he's just with the athleticism. You know, he's, you know, coming into the year, you thought, man, a little bit gadgety with the way he plays. This year, you saw him take a step forward with his routes. You saw a little more nuance into what he was

doing. And I think when you project him forward, not only are you reuniting him with with Tua and what that's going to mean for the development of your second year quarterback. But just as the offense as a whole, I think Wado is really going to help open things up. I also saw from him, I think a couple different times this year. There's a catch in the Mizzou game that jumps out to me. But the contested catch stuff and the physicality he plays with, even though he's a little bit undersized. With speed guys every once in a while, I think there are two considerations. Do they play with physicality and what is their change of direction?

Like can they throttle down? Are they able to change direction at full speed? And I think those are the boxes that he checks that other receivers that we'd call just speed receivers don't necessarily tech off. The ability to play through contact is so key with him. And he does it consistently. And I think you're right. He's a three-level receiver. He can win at all three levels and create these big plays.

And he did it consistently at Alabama. So as long as the medicals were okay, felt pretty strongly he was going to go high. And then I was interested in cornerbacks. Dallas was really worried coming into today. I'm in Dallas right now. I was at the star earlier. How's the mood over? Yeah.

A lot of nervous energy because they had a feeling both cornerbacks are going to be off the board. That's exactly what happened. And they were devastated here. So what they do, they trade back. They get Michael Parsons, which was their plan C. And, you know, it's just, it's an interesting fit there with how, you know, what does that mean for Van der, Van Dresh.

They have to pick up his fifth year option by Monday. What does that mean with that decision? Jalen Smith, what does that mean? We still don't know Dan Quinn exactly what scheme he's going to run here. He has yet to say that. So it's a really interesting fit there. And also interesting that they traded within the division, which, you know, usually you don't do that, but they knew if Devonte Smith wasn't going to the,

or, you know, he was going to love into the Giants. So they felt comfortable making that trade with the, with the Eagles. So they knew he was going to be in a division no matter what. If you're looking at Parsons game, obviously, we didn't see him doing a lot of dropping at Penn State. He did a ton of blitzing. He's able to add on as a pass rusher. Kind of reminds me of Anthony Barr in that way and the way the Vikings used him early in his career. So with Parsons' skill set, what does that illuminate to you about what the Cowboys might want to be defensively?

Could he be a little bit like a Vic Beasley, you know, in that scheme? Can he be, you know, a guy that on passing downs, you are, you know, using him as a rusher? I mean, you look at it. He's bigger than Azizajalieri. You know, like he has defensive end size. He's got huge hands. He has 11 inch hands. Huge hands.

He can get after the quarterback. As a blitzer, I do think that, you know, whatever you're going to do with him, you're not going to take that out of his game because that's what he, part of what he does best. So I think whatever they did.

That's, Bruce Irvin, Leo, that Seattle used to really have back down. Yeah, it's like they can bump down. They, Sam on base downs.

And they get, and also he puts his hand in the dirt on passing downs, or they walk them off and put them in the flat or anything like that. No, that makes a lot of sense. Like, might as well use it. You got it. And they love that versatility. They love all their front seven guys to be able to pass rush. So obviously, that was the first linebacker off the board. Zavon Collins went to Arizona, Dane.

That's a pairing that had been talked about ad nauseum over the last few days. It was one of the words kept secrets in the draft. How do you feel like Collins fits with what the Cardinals were defensively last year under Vance Joseph and what they'd want to be this year after adding all the pass rushers they did in the office season? Man, Cardinals love their hybrid defenders, don't think. They really do, man. I got to type.

It's great. But, I mean, it is interesting that he was up at 270 pounds at his medical weigh in. And, you know, that kind of tells me that the Cardinals told him, hey, we're going to use you as a front seven defender that's going to get after the quarterback. And, you know, I don't know how much athleticism he's sacrificing at that type of weight. But, you know, they lose Hassan Redick and all that sack production that he had. I think we're going to see him being an upfield player. And when you look at that size and that athleticism, I think it makes sense for how Arizona plans to use him.

It's all obviously he's comical how big he looks. I was watching the Tulsa film today. It's hilarious. I said he looks like a kid in peewee that has to wear the stripe on his helmet because he can't run the ball. He's a double striper. And you look at it and he's a really strong, Blitzer, and that's what they lived in last year.

And I'm curious with adding Watt and giving Chandler Jones back. Do they feel like they need to do that as much? Maybe the answer is yes. If they get a guy like David Collins. So Lance, or Lance, Dan, 17,

the Raiders just picked Alex Leatherwood. I would say that's one of the more surprising picks of the entire draft so far in terms of value. How surprised are you that Leatherwood went over some of these other tackles and essentially the middle of the first round? I was told to put Leatherwood in my first round mock. So I snuck them in into the Packers. That's a boy.

I didn't, I didn't think he'd go 20 or top 20. That's surprising. And we know the Raiders have a need of right tackle. And that's the direction they go here. That's a really interesting pick. Leatherwood. I think he's a little stiff in his lower body. But he has length.

He can move. He's got light feet. And we've seen him play at a high level the last three years. One year at guard, two years of left tackle. And, you know, we know Mike Mayock loves those high character, big school players. and I think Leatherwood fits that mold. You know, that's a little high, especially over there. It's all Alabama-classing guys.

John Gruen watched all those games. No, but it makes sense. You know, and Tom Cable's always like long athletes. Totally. That's his type he's going to go for. I mean, we all like long athletes on offensive line. So that makes a lot of sense. And probably because what they did with their offensive line

and kind of retooling it in a weird way unexpectedly. So they're probably just going, okay, we have Colton Miller on the left side. let's get another just good piece that we can find somewhere to play. And we will check back in with you after Pick 20 here in a little bit. Really appreciate your time, buddy. I know you got a million things going on. So excited to talk to you a little bit later. All right, guys.

That's good. Thanks, Dan. Wow. Man. I know. No, Zaven Collins. No, that makes sense, too. I'm just like having like visions.

It's like him and Isaiah Simmons. Like you couldn't get any more different guys. Yeah, just different sizes. But they're both athletes and long and big. And it's like, if, If they hit on it, I mean, that could be really, really fun. Like, especially with, like we said, with JJ and everybody else that have up front. I mean, that's a fun front seven that they could be building and, like, bringing that versatility,

even with losing a guy like Redick or other pieces that they have lost. So the Alex Weatherwood thing is kind of wild. I mean, you watch them play. And I think that the testing and how athletic is doesn't always match up what you see on tape. The length is good. Stiff is a really good way to put it. So, I mean, surprising when you consider that Kevin, or excuse me, Kevin Jenkins is somebody that we thought might be in play for the Raiders there.

We thought it might be in play for the Bears, but they just picked the best quarterback that's ever lived. So no longer need an offense tackle or have the pick to do that. So I want to know, this just brushes over everything, doesn't it? You get your quarterback. Isn't it great? You've lived in a world for the last, you know, your entire life of all the other pieces were there. You're like, oh, defense was always said. Let's not pretend the quarterback thing is solved yet.

I'm very excited about what's happening here. Potentially. I have watched this team screw up in more ways than you can ever imagine. Yeah, very true. Dan hit on Waddle at 6. I think it makes total sense. If you think about just the explosiveness that they've added to that offense, I actually in conversation with you at lunch today,

said that Waddle and what he could be for an offense reminded me of Will Fuller, where he'd be a speedy 1B. Now they have Jalen Waddle and Will Fuller. You pair that with Gisicki and Devante Parker. You see it. You see the pieces. You see how it fits together.

Also, you want to go four wide with that and get four guys out en route. That's where two is going to be best. Correct. You let him see things. let him be a point guard, distribute the ball. Correct. I think all of that makes sense.

Talking about the Bengals at five, though. Obviously, we talked about what they needed in terms of protecting Joe Burrow. Last year, you look at it, 4.7 hits per game while he was on the field. That's the third highest rate in the NFL. Had a 7.3% sack rate, the seventh highest in the NFL. So protection is a concern. But the Bengals go out. They sign Riley Reef and Free Agency.

they already have Jonah Williams. They bring back Quentin Spain, obviously there were some injuries last year along the offensive line. They're... Superbek guys. Maybe they go get into your offense line

in the second round. But if you're looking at tackle, they had immediate answers at tackle. If you think about the way the Bengals play, I think it cuts both ways. They believe it was 25.7% of Joe Burrell snaps last year

were empty. Second highest rate in the league after Jared Gough. So you're playing. empty, you need really good tackles, but you also need guys to catch the ball. You have five guys on routes. And that is still, even if we wanted to have a conversation about rare talents and where you find them and everything else, receiver was a glaring need. And I, in my opinion, what Cincinnati needed to do with this pick is hit on. I know that sounds simplistic. But if you look at what their first

round results have been over the last five years, they've been one of the worst drafting teams in the NFL. Sedric Cabooey in 2015. William Jackson in 2016 is a hit. Not of the roster. Not with them anymore. John Ross in 2017. Billy Price in 2018, they just declined his 50-year option. Jonah Williams in 2019, still a question mark. Yep. We did this exercise with Barnwell a few weeks ago, and we looked at the best and the worst drafting teams the last five years. When you miss in the top five, it torpedoes you. Quarterback is the obvious one that's going to set you back. I know it well. But even if it's not a quarterback, if you miss on that pick, it's devastating. It's devastating to the overall draft picture. They just needed somebody who's going to be a piece for them. And even if

you and I don't love Jamar Chase compared to what some of the other people in the pre-draft process might have thought, he still is somebody that is going to probably be a quality starter for them. I think the floor for him is relatively high. And if that's the case, if he's going to come in and just be somebody that starts to them for the next five years with Joe. borough. It works even if I think both you and I might have thought the value isn't necessarily there. Yeah. And but he does bring nice synergy with what they have. I love totally. Tauer Boyd. I love T. Higgins. You can see it. You can see it. They all, it's, it's, it's the college hand-hand line. He likes his receiver room to look like a basketball starting line.

Totally. And yeah, boom, right there. Okay, they just got their small Ford. You know, so it's, it makes a lot of sense. Small Ford that plays like a power for it. So we'll see how that goes. But I do like Jemar Chase. Like, I think, and it's almost counterintuitive a little bit, you know, to like stop protect or to help out protection is by going empty because you're getting the ball out quick. It's almost like leaning into the punch with a boxer. You have to trust yourself a little bit and you have to have a fast trigger man like, you know, Joe Burrow is. And okay, that's where I'm saying I could see the vision there, the argument there that

they're going, okay, we don't need old line. We have pieces. They're good enough. Joe Bro. You have the guard in the second round. You have starters. They've spent a ton of money in free agency on defense. That's what they've done.

I mean, their defensive depth chart is kind of hilarious. Yeah. They see Trey Hendrickson in there and all the other. It's all free agents. For the most part, you look at it, DJ Reader, Larry Ogunjobie, Trey Hendrickson, Von Bell, Chiodobiae Ousier, Trey Waynes. They're all free agents. They've rebuilt the entire defense with money because they've drafted so poorly

over the last five years they needed to do it. But if you're going to do that on defense, you can use the high-level draft capital to try to build around Joe Burrow. And again, if you look at schematically what they've been, They want to get a ton of guys out in routes because that's where Burroughs best. Now they have three legitimate receiving options and Joe Mixon coming back. Yes. The talent for the receiving.

Yes, absolutely. So you would hope that that group overall is going to be enough to give Joe Burrow a chance. That's where we're at now. Give the guy a chance. And I think that that's what this collection of receivers and this collection of talent does. And one more point before we get to Lindsay here, I believe they led the league in 11 personnel usage last year. You need a third receiver if you're going to do that. Yes.

And I still think that you can piece receiving talent together, everything else. But I absolutely can understand an argument in that Bengals draft room. I play with Joe Burrow in college. We need an ex-receiver. We need a number one guy. Let's get that. Pair it with everything else we have. You can see the picture unfolding.

I still would have taken Pettysuel, but I can understand why they did it. Hey, we didn't help your protection, but we forgot your buddy. Like, you know, it was one way to like appease them, just maybe not the way we want to appease Joe Burrow. All right. we're going to bring in Lindsay. Lindsay, a lot is happening. I know we wanted to stay in the end of AFC West with you. We had a couple tackles taken by teams, you know, that are going to play the Broncos a decent amount here.

The Raiders, a surprising pick with Alex Leatherwood at 17. Are you surprised based on where he was mocked, pre-draft, everything else, that he was taken that high and they went with him over somebody else at that position? Well, if you know anything about me, Robert, it said I love some sexy offensive tackles. That's right. That's right. This is my jam. So look, yes and no is the answer to that question, right? Like, I think if you just looked at value in the consensus big boards, like our colleague, Arifacan does, it would be surprising.

But it's the Raiders. The Raiders do not give a, you know what, about how the rest of us rank these players. And the value of the-Farrell goes at four. Exactly. I mean, this is clearly what we know about John Gruden and Mike Mayock and how their board is very different than our board. boards. And, you know, I think we have a couple years now of evidence to say that sometimes maybe the rest of us were right. But they operate differently. The Raiders have always operated differently.

So if it had been, you know, maybe the Steelers or the Ravens or something who would have made that pick, we would have all been like, what? That like, were we all wrong? But the fact that it's the Raiders is like, well, it's the Raiders. That's how the Raiders are going to operate. So I mean, it was a position of need and, you know, maybe they thought there was a big drop off at that position. I do think they probably wanted to trade down there. And maybe that was just the guy they really wanted. And they thought maybe they could trade back and get him at, you know, I don't know, late 20s or something. And the tradeback options just were not, we're just not available.

Are you, Nate, I see making your face. Is this the Washington pick here? No, I'm laughing because it's like, I think maybe they didn't want to trade back in the 20s because there's no guys that played in the college football playoff at that area of the draft. So also, I think. Look, if it wasn't on basic cable, they were not able to scout them. I don't know. Do you guys have other channels in Las Vegas? I'm curious.

Do you have like streaming options and stuff? The sports books got them all. Yeah, it's the one place where you could watch Southeast Tennessee State. Whoever if you want to do. How do you think I know about Trey Lance? I was watching North Dakota State, you know. No, no. I trust that you know.

I trust that you know. I'm wondering if Gruden and Mayhock are able to get that info. Are they not allowed to go to the sports books? They're not. So maybe that's it. Hey, we solved it. We solved the issue of it. No, I was curious, too, because I thought the Raiders were just going to go defense.

Like, I just thought that was like automatic. Hey, we need to find best player available. Yeah, I get there's no corners or anything. But, okay, this is now where some of these front seven guys make sense as far as defensive guys. So that's kind of what surprised me. It's like they created their own problem with the offense a line. It's exactly what I've said about. It's whackamol.

It is. It's whackable. It's you solve one problem. And when you take the financial. the financial resource away from the line, you put it into the defense. Now the line is bad. Now you need to figure out a way to fix the line. It seems like every problem they solve, another one is created. And I think that's the concern. Lindsay, anything else here from the last four or five picks that really has piqued your interest. Yeah. I mean, the Jaylon Phillips pick

to Miami. I don't think you guys have gotten to talk about much yet. I wrote a story, I guess it published yesterday, just kind of, you know, the medical stuff. And we talked about this, Robert, when we recorded a couple days ago, that the medical stuff was this big question. that people in the league were really, really concerned about and big questions. And Jalen Phillips is the first big kind of medical concerns guy off of the board. His issues were he medically retired when he was at UCLA. He had a lot of issues his first couple years. He had ankle stuff.

He had a really severe wrist injury. And he had concussion history. He medically retired, spent time making music, went to community college, decided he wanted back in. Reenrolls at the University of Miami has an awesome season last year. I mean, he just like played his ass off his one season with the hurricanes. Now he's going to stay in Miami. So he's one of those guys who big medical questions, teams couldn't fully examine him.

You know, they couldn't get their independent neurologists on him, their own team orthopedists. But just tremendous physical upside. I mean, if they hit, I mean, if, if one, he's, he's in it, you know, and he realized he didn't want to quit football, you know. And I think that's pretty, that's pretty clear at this point, right? I hope you liked Miami because he's staying there. He's staying in Miami. Look, who doesn't like Miami? What like a 24-year-old dude doesn't like living in Miami?

Because Southern California was rough, you know? Yeah, he's had it really tough. Like he's not going to greenbackers. Kind of like the top 50 guys, you know, Spencer Schultz. He's a guy Ravenford Dummies is actually his handle on Twitter. But there's some thresholds, like athletic thresholds that we've talked about, Robert. But, you know, one of them that holds up is 7.2. three corner less and nine foot nine broad jump.

There's other things 33 inch arms, production, eight sacks, 22 career TFL. He kind of took these thresholds. And really of the top guys, Jaylon Phillips was the only one that met all these thresholds that lead to that, you know, there's plenty of guys that miss these and are productive players, but this guy hits all of them that are generally markers of that.

If you're looking at the profile, he's the most talented edge in this class. Lindsay, Mack Jones to the Patriots has happened since the last time we chat. We think makes all the sense in the world. if you get him at 15, it's a different conversation than would happen with San Francisco at three. How do you like the fit for Mack Jones going to New England? I mean, I think, you know, he makes a lot of sense with what we know about a Josh McDaniels offense kind of traditionally. So I think it's, you know, the dot connecting there wasn't too difficult.

The Cam Newton Mac Jones quarterback competition and how you try to evaluate these two guys at the same time, running conceivably the same offense and training camp is wild to me. I have no idea how that's going to go. Yeah. The Iron Bowl. No idea. Yeah. They got the Iron Bowl.

No, but seriously, you couldn't get any more different, like as far as skill sets for quarterbacks. So, Nate, what do you do? I mean, how do they structure this? What do you do? It's a lot on the coaches because not only just putting in install, they're going to put in the install and just go like, hey, these are our plays and, okay, we'll have these special packages.

but then as far as like every day when you're scripting plays, that's where the work comes in because you can't waste reps. You're not going to all of a sudden run these quarterback run plays and then have Mac in there and just go, oh, shoot, we just wasted a rep with Matt. So it's a lot on the coaches to digest it themselves. And also so all the players, all the skill guys have to be on the same page because it might be, really it's more of an emphasis thing. The skill guys will just go, okay, this is my play.

This is my assignment. But it's really more just on the play callers and play designers, is Josh McDaniels essentially to kind of deviate with that, to kind of separate to church and state on these guys. Just go, okay, this guy, we have this little package for Cam. He's going to run this. He's better at these types of routes. Max is going to be better at timing. Cam's going to be better at attacking down the field, those intermediate throws where he, you know, gets his big windup going.

So that is what they have to do. But it's a lot of pressure on them to do that. They can do it. I trust Josh McDaniels to handle that. But it's just funny. He's going to probably piece together, you know, some 2000, late 2010s, or I'm sorry, early mid-2010s, Patriots. offense with last year's Patriots offense and just go, okay, so this is 1A and this is one B and then we're going to work with that.

But it's like a living organism. It's really interesting. It is. I have two more really quick things that I want to say. So you guys have your sound off. So I know you guys didn't hear this. So when Mack Jones got picked, he like strutted up full Belichick, you know, that Belichick gift of like stormy storm.

He had that full energy got up to Roger Goodell and like whispered like this in his ear. You guys can't see me on the podcast. But he's like put his hands next to his face. And he goes, this is what I wanted. Don't tell anybody. And all of the cameras picked it up. So yeah, I really rewounded. I turned it up.

I videoed it. So you know Belichick's saving thing. I mean, it's like the connection makes just too much sense. But it was not the Patriots way. So he will never be whispering, letting any secrets out again. And the only, the one other thing before I go at some point, Nate, since you keep talking about wingspan, I really want to see it. I know we've got the live string because it's too big.

It's not even fitting in the frame. There we go. You're just built like Kyle Pitts. Yeah. I know. I was sitting in a pod a couple weeks ago. And you talked about your freakish arm. It's why I word stripes.

You know, it's just like so it accentuates it. So it looks 35 inches here. So we're good. Well, I'm glad the live stream viewers have been able to see that even if it won't carry any through the pod. But we'll catch up with you guys later. Let's see what other weird stuff's going to happen.

Wonderful. Thanks, Lindsay. Thanks, I want to talk about the Jalen Phillips pick here briefly. I mean, obviously, you look at what this draft was and what the last couple years have been for Miami. Just the picks. they've had in the top 50 over the last two years. Obviously, last year, you have two at five,

Austin Jackson at 18, no egg binogamy at 30. Wondering how that's going, by the way, after they signed Justin Coleman in free agency, probably not the best. I think they swung a miss indication on that. Robert Hunt at 39, all reports saying that Robert Hunt likely going to move guard now with Eric Flowers being traded. Makes sense. So, you know, just pieces. Premium positions. Yes. Always. Yes. Even if they miss, they're at least. swinging at the right spot. So, and then obviously in this draft, you have six, you go get J-1 Waddle, premium position. At 18, they go with J-1-Filips. Yep. Makes sense if you look at positional need. Obviously, they let go of Shaq Lawson, I believe. Kyle Van Nuway is no longer there.

Correct. So some of the signings that they've made, they've moved on from, that was a whole. My question was, if you look at the history of the Belichick trade, not a lot of value in past rushers, and they drafted Chandler Jones in the first round. But other than that, not a lot of spending on it. in New England. They've waver from it some in other places. Obviously, Tray Flowers going to the Lions on that type of contract. And the Dolphins spent up on Van Nuoy and Lawson. So I'm wondering if they're devying that from a little bit. And they take Jalen Phillips, who fills a need for them. And again, I think is the most talented pass rusher in this class if you're comfortable with some of the questions. It's a dearth. Is that the right word? A doldrum of whatever you want

use a nadir of of just edge rushing talent in this draft, especially in the top 50 picks. And so it's, you got a essentially a top five talent if he was healthy and all that, if, if, if, if, if, if, if, if, and that's the thing is. So his three, his biggest comparables on mock draftable, Jane Phillips, Gaines Adams, Judevian, Clowny, Dion Jordan, Marcus Davenport are like six of them. And all guys drafted in like the top five. And the thing, like, the difference between, way, I, Dolphins fans probably hear Dion Jordan. They go, uh, yeah, Jordan is a very talented person.

I was going to say physically talented person. The thing is is Jammin Phillips can play. He actually is a football player. And that's why he was the number one recruit in the country. I mean, it's like, obviously, that's how claring his talent is. It's just, I think it makes sense to them. They are in a position to take these types of risks. This is why you accumulate picks.

Yes. It's not to say, oh, yeah, we got 100 first rounders, all this. It's two take chances. You know that's a coin flip with all these picks or less, you know, that you're going to hit on some of these guys. All right, we have a, we have nobody else. So we have a second round pick and there's not really anybody edgewise that we really think are a difference maker at a premium position.

All right, let's take a chance on a top five pick. We have the risk or risk availability to do so. It makes a lot of sense. And that's the thing is like, yeah, they might be missed on a couple of these guys, but at least they're investing in the right positions. It's almost funny. It's because I would prefer to take Phillips early and then waddle in the teens. Yes, you'd flip it.

But if that you come away with it, you just makes sense. You're okay with it. It makes sense. Excited to welcome Dane back on here because there's a pick. I really want to ask him. about. Dane, Jamon Davis, I don't even know how to pronounce it, Jamon Davis from Kentucky, the linebacker. There had been some buzz about him sneaking into the first round. I know Daniel Jeremiah loved him. Going to Washington where linebacker was in need, if you looked at the depth chart,

what do you think about that fit with Jamie Davis going to Washington? Yeah, we knew it was going to be a linebacker. We just, you know, would it be a Wusukoramoa? Would it be Jamie Davis? And the Darius Leonard comparisons for Jamie Davis fits, you know, a long, athlete, a guy that I wasn't wowed by the instincts, but I think his reaction to movement was really, really good. And only a one-year starter. So you feel like he's going to get better and better in that department just in terms of his keys and reading pre-snap.

But I think he's a big athlete who's long and can run. And that's the appeal with him. And it's just Washington, another front seven defender. It seems that's all they draft in the first round. And especially with Ron Rivera and Jack Del Rio, they both play linebacker, so it makes sense to. Washington tons of zone last year. Tons. And we talked about this in relation to what the Panthers might do,

pivoting going to J.C. Horn. Maybe we see more man from Washington this year after going to get William Jackson. But when you watch Davis as a zone dropper and just how his eyes are in coverage, everything else, do you think he would fit a zone heavy defense if Washington continues to go that route this year? Yeah, that's what he did on film.

That's what he did in Kentucky. A lot of zone dropping, a lot of feeling where the passing lanes are going to be. and then meeting the ball before it got there. I think he had three picks. One, he returned 70 yards for a touchdown against Tennessee. I think his ability to find the football, both in the run game and the past game, that's what vaulted him off the boards here. I mean, Jamie Davis, I think, had the biggest assent between, say, November until now.

I mean, he was looked at as maybe a top 100 guy, just talking to teams in November around Thanksgiving. And here we are. he's a top 20 pick. And part of that is just the way he finished, the way he got better and better throughout the season. You know, his second half film, you could tell he was getting better and progressing with the way he was seeing the football. And I think that's a great point about just how he fits in that defense.

With his ability to be in the right place at the right time, that's especially in his zone drops, I think that's a natural fit. What about Jalen Phillips going to Miami? Obviously, more questions with him than, I don't know, a lot of the guys in this draft. I mean, obviously the talent is undeniable. But we talk about the.

medical. And I think there are some other things that teams were looking into and curious about how do you think that fit works? And what do you think this says about the due diligence that the Dolphins did about Jalen Phillips during this process? We knew that Miami is probably going to go past Russia. It just, were they comfortable with Jalen Phillips? And that was really the question with all these teams. What was the comfort level there? You know, he medically retires at one point. And that was just the tip of the iceberg with some of these other injuries that he has. But he starts 10 games this past year for Miami and he played at a high level. And I'd type if you squint, you know, I mean, you can see shades of Nick Bosa with the way he plays because

his hands. His hands are really nice. That's it. He understands what he's doing. He can, you know, there's a rush sequence there. There's a rush plan and he can win with power. You see powerful swipes. You see, uh, just with the way he can set up his moves, uh, you know, he can play the run. So I think based on talent, based on the tape, you think this is a top 10 to 12 player in the draft. Now there's a little bit of a discount sticker on him because of the medical questions, because some of the off-field stuff. But Miami, in a year that's strange like this where you have limited interactions with these players, they must have felt pretty good about what type of player they were getting.

And obviously, in their backyard playing for the hurricane. So maybe they had some good intel there in their backyard. I also think that it kind of speaks to the timeline that his team wants to be on, because if you look at him and you're talking about him having a pass rush plan, that sticks out in a good way in most drafts. It is so apparent in this draft because it's such a contrast to the other guys at that position. So if you're Miami and you're thinking, we want to win. Like we've been doing this rebo thing.

We want to win. He seems like the guy that potentially could give you the most early among this entire pass rushing group. Yeah, I think he's the most NFL ready of these pass rushers. And he's a guy that you're going to plug in from day. they won and look to get production out of them. You know, I think when you look at it's, you know, Quitty Pay, Zizajalieri, none of these, all these past rushers have questions. And Jalen Phillips, if the main questions are medical and off the field,

and if you're comfortable with those, then I can understand. I know, you know, the Vikings were considering him at 14. You know, the dolphins, they were looking at running back or defensive end here. They felt comfortable with Phillips. And so I can understand why they went that direction. So 21, speaking of past rushers here, Colts go with Quitty Pay, a guy who my understanding is character-wise, very high character marks, and is all traits all the time. Sounds like a Chris Bauer pick to me, Dave Bruechler. And he's playing the Big Ten, like all these things.

Yeah, it checks a lot of boxes, that's for sure. A player who, I don't know, when you watch him play, I felt like they just did him a disservice with the way they lined him up because he's lining up head up over the tackle. Yeah. They just didn't let him pin his ears back in. go a lot. And for a guy with how twitchy he is, a little surprising. So I feel like, you know, he had, the production is not going to blow you away, but I think there's more to him than just, you know, the, what the stat line says. I think he plays the run really well. You know, he's a guy you're not going to take off the field. He's a three-down player. And, you know, we know this team

needs left tackle. They need a pass rusher. And I felt like, you know, this is probably too early for a left tackle for the Colts. But with Quitty Pay still on the board, I thought Quitty Pay could go as high as, you know, 11. We thought maybe the Giants, maybe the Vikings, maybe the dolphins. And so I think the Colts were pretty happy to see him here. It makes sense.

It's such a great point about him paying his ears back because that Don Brown defense is so attacking and moving and slanting and all that. So it's like you don't see the traditional just pass rush. I mean, you do, but you don't. And so that's such a great point to bring up because we even took a glance on them right before we started the show. And it's like you just see it's like you only get a handful of those true patchrope snaps, even though there is more movement in the NFL.

This is an extreme amount of level. I mean, we're even launching the clips right now. And you can just see the pressures coming and all that types of things. But it's great to have. I mean, when you look at the types of pass pressures that Chris Ballard has chased over the last couple of years, Bonagoo,

it hasn't worked out all the time, but it's traits, trade, straight, that's what he's after. And I believe Quitty Pay was at the top of Bruce Feldman's freaklist for a couple of years, right? I mean, this is something that if you're betting on traits,

this is the type of guy that you'd want to bet on. Dan, is there anybody that's still on the board that is surprising you? Anybody that you just feel like, man, I just didn't think he lasted as long? Christian Derosol, maybe. Yeah, kind of resetting the board. I'm a little surprised we saw Cadarius Tony go above Elijah Moore. Yeah. That's a little surprising.

The Giants missed out on Devante Smith at 11, so they trade back and take, I guess, the next best receiver on their board, which is Cadarius Tony. So that's interesting. kind of look at the board. Greg Newsom, a little surprise. He's still around. I don't think he's going to have to wait very long to see his name come off the board here. But, you know, we've got a couple interesting picks here with Tennessee at 22. We could see we can see them go corner. 23 with the Vikings, right, because they traded back. And then 24th of Steelers. So a Steelers going to go, Najee Harris here? I would think that is a miscalculation, in my opinion. When you consider some of the other holes they have, what their running game looked like schematically last year

some of the offensive line questions, I said this. I think they're drafting a running back to fix the woes for the Steelers on the ground is putting the car before the horse. Yeah. Yeah. I know that's going from James Scott or two. Historically bad run game and it wasn't all just about the running back.

Correct. If you look at it, it was one of those things where I think it's so interesting when you watch a team where you can see the run as a priority in the way they teach in the mindset, everything else. When you watched that Steelers team last year, it's not there. It's just not there.

Some of the guys on the roster were the same as they were even a couple years ago with Munchak. But you can just tell that is a finesse offense in the way they teach it, in the way they present it, and the way they prioritize it. And Najee Harris is not going to solve that problem, Dan. Correct. Yeah, I agree with you. And I think this is where we're in Landon Dickerson territory. know we know the Steelers need to get better at center. Dickerson could do that.

Another guy, just like Jalen Phillips, where the medicals are going to play a heavy part in this, Caleb Farley, same type of deal. Talent-wise, he should be off the board already. But when you factor in the medicals, where's Caleb Farley going to fall. So this is the point of the draft where we're going to get some surprising picks. Like I said, I don't think the top 10, there wasn't much that was very surprising. A few surprises so far, but I think we're going to get a few more surprises that maybe we didn't see coming here in the final few picks of the first round. Awesome.

Dan, we'll check back in with you a little bit, but I really appreciate it. All right. Sounds good. Thanks, Dan. No, that's such a great point, even with the Steelers. It's not, we want the idealized version of the offense is the Lavian Bell, the Killer Bees, Big Bend, Laveon Bell, Antonio, Antonio, on the outside. It is just straight up RPO's now. I know they're changing Matt Canada is not an offense play caller and everything, but it was just straight RPO's. And then Big Ben wanted to be this, you know, Magic Johnson, you know, point guard back there.

And it's like, yeah, that's fine, but they needed explosive plays. You were getting them from Chase Claypool, and that was about it. And that stuff was heavily designed. It wasn't in the flow of the offense, which is always my big point, is that when you have to really eke out, eke out all those explosive plays, that's tough. And you go with a guy like Najah Harris, who is, it's a good football player, but he doesn't create those explosives. And that's what they need.

I just think you're looking in the wrong ways. You're looking in the wrong places. I agree. I talked to David Bakhtiari about this once. It was in year one under LaFleur. And we were just talking about. that idea of how you teach and how the offense is presented to you. And we're talking about this under McCarthy when they were running the ball 30% of the time.

It's hard to be good at running the ball when you don't do whatever. And it's clear to you from the first day of training camp that they don't give a shit about it. When it's not a priority, it reminds me of Dan Tony not coaching defense. That's the comparison that I would make. It's hard to care about it if the guys test with producing. presenting the ideas to you, don't care about it. And I think that when you look at a team like Pittsburgh, even a team like Buffalo, I think, is somewhat to that.

Buffalo's running game last year was not very good. I don't think it's because their running backs weren't good. I think it's because they're in 10 personnel. They're in 10 personnel. And that's not what they prioritize. The offense is clearly not built around that. And Matt Fairburn, who covers the bills for us, we were talking about this. I think Daibel would even concede that to you.

Oh, yeah. That they looked at the first down as a passing. down for us. Yes. So if that's not what you're going to stack up in terms of how you teach and how you build your priorities on offense, it's hard to be a good running game. One running back is not going to fix that. They had a playoff game or a late season game.

I'm blanking on which one, but they threw it a ball like 25 straight times. It was the Ravens game. Yeah, the Ravens game and the playoffs. And it was shit weather. I mean, obviously, you know, Bill's weather and everything. And it's just one of those things where it's like, they're fine doing that. And the 10 personnel is their running game. Yeah.

And that's just, it's just, it's just, it's just, it's just, it's just, it's a run game. And if you want to have a better running game, you probably should. You probably should prioritize a little bit more. I think Devin Singletarian, Zach Moss, with some reshuffling of how you build and teach, you could probably accomplish that. Absolutely. So I want to talk about Catarius Tony here for a second. I cannot believe that the Giants picked a receiver.

I know that they liked Devante Smith or whatever else it is. If you look at some of the numbers from last year about Daniel Jones, okay, pressure numbers in 2020, 30.3% pressure rate among qualified quarterbacks. number one in the NFL, number one. It's not even like, it's, yes. It's not as though, oh, you know, they don't protect him enough and everything else. Almost a third of the time, according to pro football reference. 45 sacks last year, which is fourth in the league.

I know, this is among quarterbacks with at least 350 attempts, by the way. I know that sacks are a quarterback stat to a certain degree. But if you have a quarterback that's going to hold on to the ball and you know that, I think that drafting another shifty after the catch undersized receiver to go with, do they really need another guy here to catch the ball for them after the way they've spent their money and the way that they have allocated these resources? Yeah, and who they have at receiver too. It's just like, yeah, I know.

I get it. Ross is a speed guy and everything. But then so Tony, too, is my issue with him is he takes forever on his routes because he adlives his routes. He and his head, he is an athlete. He is a football player. So he's like, I got to get open. So I got to do it by any means necessary.

I'm going to, I'm going to break off this linebacker on one-on-one on. But really, it's like, no, you have to. to get to the spot right now. But the thing is, that could be, that's playing with fire. You have a guy that takes too long in his routes and a guy that is willing to hold onto the ball. That might be, might be some hard hits coming.

But, you know, Tony is an exciting player. And I get that. And there is some synergy with Galdet and Slayton, but not as much as I would prefer, really. Like, I don't know.

I thought Tony's fit would be with somebody else, you know, if somebody were to take a chance on them. It's surprising. It's surprising. I just think that if we're, if you're the giant, I think your obligation in this moment is to get everything you can out of Daniel Jones.

I don't think a player like Cadarius Tony is a move serves that. I don't think it serves that pursuit. He's a cherry on top. Yes. And I still think if you look at the offensive line and who knows, they've drafted Matt Perth in the third round last year. What's going to happen with Nate Soder? I think there's still so many questions there. And maybe they didn't have anyone they liked along the offensive line there.

But receiver just, I don't think I would. make that one of the biggest priorities with this team right now. It's so funny. My friend, who's a Giants fan, sent me a tweet because I had to do a mock draft for Bleacher report. I had the Giants pick. And I actually, I think I had him go corner and, you know, I got razzed by it, by Giants fans. They're like, we're not going corner.

We decided Dory Jackson. I'm like, no, no, you still need a corner. But the, it's always good when you could spend $13 million on a cornerback and still need one. Yeah. But so my, my Giants buddy, you know, he sends me, he sends me a tweet. And it was basically someone breaking down the, the hints that Gettleman drops and is,

and the year meetings. And it's hilarious. And what that tweet said was, oh, you know, we're so, you know, we're really going to look to upgrade the playmaker positions. And it was just like, well, you got Seeklon Barkley. And okay, so that means they're drafted a receiver. And sure enough, here we are two months later after I got that tweet, which was like, two months ago, there it is. They drafted a receiver. Devante Smith, I was willing to like, be like, okay, I'm fine with that.

I get it. They got their, the Eagles swooped up right in front of them. Get that. Still just weird. I just think the Tony, match there is just not preferred. I actually feel bad for Tony because I thought if he went with an offense, I already had other weapons where he doesn't, and this does have other weapons where he had a quarterback thing, get the ball in his hands consistently, and a system

that's very sound and something that you're like, oh, that's a good offense. Now it's scary, like the Saints or something like that. That made a lot of sense. But yeah, this is just kind of, it's hodgepodge, and it just feels weird. It's like, you're just drafting fantasy players, it felt like. So Caleb Farley just goes off the board at 22 to Tennessee. talented player makes sense to me. It does. Because obviously, it's a glaring needed corner. This is a team that I want to say was number

one in the NFL and cap spending on the secondary last season. Yep. And it's had one of the worst defenses in the NFL. So obviously, there's some shuffling. Yep. They kind of tweak everything and almost flip it. They spend some money in the front seven. Deco Autry. You go get Bud Dupree. You try to beep off the pass rush a little bit. Still Jeffrey Simmons in there. Now holes on the back end. Farley fits in need for them and also fits a timeline. Yes. I think he was, if you're worried about the back

and you're worried about how long he's going to be able to stay healthy and everything else, Tennessee, look at what they've done with Tannhill. Look at what they've done with everything else. The window is now, baby. You need to fix that defense right now if you want to continue to compete.

And if Farley can be a plus plus corner for you for the next couple of years, that is what they need. And they showed a willingness to take maybe a supremely talented player that has injury issues. They took Jeffrey Simmons. Yeah, which is worked out.

Trust me, that guy is about to take on a whole other leap, I think, this next year. But it's, they're willing to do it. That's where they're trying to find value in these 20s picks because it's either you see something someone else doesn't. You find a guy that, you know, because this is what becomes the eye to beholder range. Usually there's 10 to 15 true blue chip guys in a draft. And then after, once you get into the late lottery, then it's like, okay, this is where scouting comes in.

This is where we have to be on the same page. We have to have a plan. We have to see something someone else doesn't see. and this is where you take the risk on maybe a character guy or a medical guy. And this looks like, you know, they're hoping to get a legit elite corner, but getting him in the 20s. And I get it. I get it. It's worth the risk, especially where they are now because they're like you said, they're pretty much in a win now mode.

And especially with their offenses, Derek Henry can't keep pounding the rock for years and years to come. Like, it's going to happen. He's going to hit a wall at some point as much as I love Derek Henry. And Ryan Tannel is older. But it's like, okay, they're going for a top five talent and they're trying to get him in the 20s. It makes sense. You watch Farley, he is that talent. Oh, he's so bad.

It is. There are no questions about him in my mind. From a ability standpoint. I mean, I think that when you watch him impress, this is getting a little bit granular. When you watch him impress, he doesn't use his hands very much. I'm wondering if that's a coaching point. Might be. Things like that.

But it's also, if you can mirror a guy without touching him and still be in his hip pocket, that's more impressive to me than mugging guys at the college level like J.C. Horn does. Yes. Yes. and they're basically just dominating. Like there are two weight classes above them. Exactly. Big brothering them. Yeah.

And that's actually some of the concerns I have with Jamar Chase going on the other side of the ball. Absolutely. Yes. Yeah, he's able to dominate college cornerbacks. And we get it. Everyone goes, oh, he's playing SEC corner. I'm sorry, I'm like slandering Jamar Chase here. But it's, you know, he's going against NFL corners every week.

It's like, no, no, no, no. Those are still college corners. Yes. The NFL corners when they become NFL corners. He wasn't throwing Patrick Surtain around. No, no, no. It was just he was winning at the press at the line. He did some stuff to Trayvon Diggs, who is not built on physicality.

Correct. So, I mean, we can talk about this. It's if you, Trayvon Diggs did not dominate pro competition in the moment he walked into the league last year. So I understand that Alabama game from 2019 is very impressive. But I think there are still legitimate concerns. I'm so glad you managed to shoehorn a Jamar Chase isn't going to be able to play bully ball criticism here into a conversation that absolutely nothing to do with Jamar Chase. Tony Todd got me going. I was like, yeah, let's thrive on this negativity. No. And that's what,

it's just we just have to always remember with that is that those are, it's coach. And some of these guys, yeah, you want to see them dominate. Trust me. We want to see them dominate. It's just like, can they get away with that at the next level? Or they have the athleticism or skill set where you're like, well, they're going to add nuance and then, you know, they have a change up. Because sometimes these guys, it's like drafting a six foot power pitcher with a 101 mile hour fastball. It's like, okay, now we got to work on a change up with them. Can you, and he, you, you can. because he might get hurt, you know, that might not hold him. Yeah, yeah, exactly.

And it's like, okay, we can get Tim Linscom, are we going to get, like, awesome years, and then he's going to get figured out, he's going to get hurt. That's the concern that you have with those types of guys that maybe only thrive in, like, a bullying way or just dominating that set on the outside. If those offensive line where we're talking about, we're like, yeah, that's awesome.

Like, keep bullying them. But when you get on the outside into more, quote, unquote, skill positions, that's kind of, can be concerning. So pick 23, the Vikings get Christian Barrasaw makes sense. from Virginia Tech. Based on pre-draft evaluations are always, I always have to remind myself,

it's like, well, that's great value. It's like, calm down. Who apprater? Yeah, exactly. But, but this is a guy that people thought might be a target for a team like the Chargers at 13. And the Vikings were at 14. Now to trade back and potentially get a guy you could have there,

that's what you like. When I watched Deresaw, I saw an easy mover, a guy that, in my opinion, talented, really, really good zone blocking. On the backside of zone concepts, I loved what I saw from him. Body control, leverage, ability to just cut guys off. Guess where he's going? Yep.

Coobiak, there we go. So that means Urza Cleveland and all that. It's like now that becomes like a whole thing too, right, on the left side, because they're probably going to keep him on the left side. Like, how's that? It's what we talk about with offensive lines all the time. Some of their parts. You move it down a notch.

If you can improve one spot and then it can be a force multiplier where you get better Your second best alignment becomes, it's like a starting pitcher's. It's like also my second best starter becomes my third best starter. Yeah, that's winning football right there. And that's that's the piece. When a lot of these guys are the right tackle, you're like, oh, he's a good right tackle, but he's our second best alignment, oof, we're not in a good way. But if also that right tackles our fourth best line, it's like, yeah, we're sitting pretty.

That's where they're doing. You're investing in a position, another premium position. But like you said, I don't know what the trade was, but the fact that they traded back. probably got some more draft capital. They can do other things. Rick Spillman loves him a tradeback. Oh, boy. Love him a trade back.

Oh, my God. But it fits in need. It absolutely does. And if you look at it now, you have Derasaw at one tackle theoretically. You have Brian O'Neill and another. You have Cleveland on the inside. Yep. See what happens with Garrett Bradbury now in your three.

You can see it coming together. It makes sense. It makes sense. It is a similar conversation that we've had for a long, long time about the Vikings. What is the ceiling? Where does this group go? where can this group go? But if you think about it purely from a personnel perspective,

it does track. The one thing that a lot of people had mocked past record of the Vikings in the first round, I think that makes sense. If you look at it, I thought this number was really interesting. If you look at the sack totals under Mike Zimmer during his tenure in Minnesota,

it's been top 10 forever. They were 10th, they were 9th and 14, 8th and 15, 5th and 16. They dropped 17th and 17th. but then third and fifth and 18th and I think. Last year, 28th. Yeah. The thing, though, you get to Neil Hunter back.

Yes. Are you, how much faith do you have in the players already on the roster to solve that problem is pass rusher a priority to them in the same way it might be on the outside looking in? Clearly, they thought offensive tackle was a bigger need for them right now. That's the direction that they went. And also, they, you know, just knowing how this kind of draft breaks down and everything, it's they might be able to find that. interior line because they have to add to the front seven we said what is their biggest question mark going into this off season is like how are they going to shore up the front seven probably get that in a second round it makes it makes sense I'll talk about this is like but of course of course oh my god it's just like it rates itself but uh but anyways it's I could see it as far as a value perspective

rick spillman is very I I do think intelligent in that in that way he understands okay where guys are going to get slotted he always talks about what we know what this is going to we know that was a position that had more more more talent A lot of guys say that. I actually think he does know that. He's one of the guys that actually understands that. So it does make sense. And yeah, I mean, having DeNeil Hunter's back, Mike Zimmer is always going to steam up the crap of what's packages, especially on third down.

So they just make him my bodies. Michael Pierce, DeNeil Hunter, like as Stephen Weatherly is back there now, they can make that work. So it makes sense to me. All right. The Steelers just picked Asha Harris at 24. We had talked about it with Dane. We had discussed this.

I want to get to pull up some of the Steelers rushing stats here from 2020, because I think it speaks to where these problems might exist. We've discussed some of the mentality issues, everything else. I think one of the, it's, to me, the fascinating experiment is going to be this. Okay. Alejandro Villanueva, right? Yep. Yep.

Stolen street. No. That's right. Ravens, that's right. So this to me is a perfect experiment. He was not good last year in the run game. It was actively bad. When you watched that run game, it was ugly.

It was disgusting to watch the running game last year. It was bad. the Ravens who are run first more than any team in the NFL are comfortable. Having Andreville in a way, it would be a plug-in play starter for them and trading Orlando Brown, even though he was a garbage run blocker last year for Pittsburgh. What does that tell you? I think they're valuing something different. They're seeing something different with how he plays and what they put around it.

And also what they're going to ask of him. I was going to say also the backs that they have is they didn't invest any first round backs. You know, it's like it's kind of one of those things. The order of operations here is a little off. So if you look at the Steelers rushing stats last year, 1.9 yards before contact per attempt. Guess we're that ranked in the NFL. It's got to be first.

31st. Yeah. It's got to move way back there. So I'm very glad that they pick Najee. And I am not. Six Bama guys. I am not one of those running back in the first round is a joke. Thanks.

I wouldn't do it. I want to make that clear. I would not, I would not, I would not, I would not draft the running back in the first round. I do not think it is a prudent allocation of resources. in 2021. But if you are a team, I know it wasn't the first round, but if you were the cults with Jonathan Taylor last year, you think we have a great line. This guy can be a home run hitter. We can crush people with this guy. I could see how you get to that place, even if I probably wouldn't draft running back that high. Same deal with the Ravens last year in JKD. I can get it.

Steelers are not that. They are not set up to have somebody succeed. They are not a running back away I'm having this monstrous run game where if you watch, if you can vision that guy in this situation, we're ripping off six yards of carry. We already saw it with Taylor last year. That is not this. It is the exact opposite of the order.

You should be thinking about these things. They talk themselves into it. They watch that run game. They go, well, our linemen are studs. Well, Big Ben's operating. You know, why like it, we're only averaging three yards of carry. Okay, well, our backs got to get there.

And, but it's so funny is they just got another type of back that they already, like, just a better version of it. Don't get me wrong. But the Benny Snells and the James Connors, it's just, they need speed. And it's just like, it's an old roster. It's like it's a weird roster. It's hodgepodge. Like it's just weird.

That team needs an injection of something. Yes. Najee Harris, in my opinion, is not that injection. Not it. And I, I want to be clear about this. Under Matt Canada, maybe the, the running game is better next year. If it's taught differently. If there, there are, I think there is a chance the running game would be better,

independent of Najee Harris. Yeah. That's why I just don't think this is what they should be doing. It just, I think that Kevin Colbert deserves a benefit of doubt. They've done such a good job always. Building that team through the draft over the last 15 years as he's been there. I just think this is misguided. Yeah, I agree.

On that note, we're going to take a short break. We'll be back shortly. All right, we are back. And where I want to start here is I just want to remind you that the Bears draft just one of like 10 seconds ago Robert sat back down I'm into it I mean I mean enjoying what's happening and then every 20 or so minutes

I remember and have to remind myself again as Roger Goodell sits in a big chair which that's Are there Eminem's on the side too there? It's great. Every 20 minutes or so I remember that the Barrett's draft to Justin Fields it still doesn't seem real because I have not been able to sit in it yet to bring me back to Earth a little bit here

and provide some actual analysis this. We're going to bring in Lindsay Jones. Lindsay, Jaguars just drafted Travis E.T.N. with the 25th pick. Urban Meyer is a very predictable man. This is a speed-obsessed person, and now there is a lot more speed on this Jags offense. Wait, first, can we acknowledge what I just put on for you, Robert? I can't.

Can you see me? You're just a big circle of life right now. Oh, dang it. Oh, sorry. Well, I was waiting to get. a reaction from you. I just put on my Bears, winter beanie that's been sitting in a quarter of my office.

Now you, okay, so we've talked about, if you want to have Lena be a Bears fan in the past before, now it's acceptable. I'll pass this on to her. Now it is totally acceptable.

Her and I are in this together. So I'm very, very excited about that. Lindsay, we wanted to chat about some of the winners and losers from the draft so far. in your mind, who would you just describe or pin as the biggest winner of the draft to this point?

Well, I mean, I think it's the bearish right now. Well, it's me. Except me. Who would you say it's the biggest? I mean, did you see there? There was a video, I think it was from NBC Sport Chicago, of that pick getting announced during the White Sox game. Oh, that's fun. Your people, I mean, I don't know if White Sox fans are your people, but I'll just say Chicagoans.

We're all Chicagoans. They are pumped. and congratulate. I was, I was kind of texting me with some friends who live in Chicago like asking if there's fireworks,

like what's going on? So I think... We're in Chicago right now. I am so excited to see what the city is like after I leave this. You were going to take your shirt off and run down in Michigan out

right? I mean, oh, that's fun. Don't get in, don't end up in jail or anything to know. We'll be okay. We'll be okay.

Some couches on fire or something. So I think the bears, I think the bears are a big winner because, look, usually if you trade up for another position. Don't love it. Trade up for a quarterback. Didn't have to move into the top

10. I think that makes a ton of sense. We've seen the price now. It was not a, we, I have a trip out a little bit afterward. They, 2020 first, obviously. Yeah. But I want to say other than that, it was something in the 160s this year and then a fourth round pick in 2020. It wasn't, that is acceptable.

That's not bad at all, especially where like Stafford went for and everything. Like, I mean, yes. God, it just feels weird to say that like Ryan pays is a winner, though. I just like, But I understand that, and I think that his process has been bad a lot. And that is what concerns me overall in the ways they've done this. And they've lost staring contests so many different times, not even just related to the quarterback position,

all the tradeups that they've made in other positions. It's not the right way to go about this too often. But we've seen other GMs, and I'm already, it's funny how fast I'm talking myself out of this. Isn't it? We've seen other GMs change the narrative about that. the guy that was building that team in Tampa was an actively bad general manager for several years,

and it all turned around. I'm not saying that's what this is, but I am saying that it changes pretty quickly or can change pretty quickly. Robert just talked himself into a Super Bowl. Oh, I'm ready now. Outside of me and Ryan Pace in the city of Chicago, any other winners in your mind.

I like what the Chargers did. I like that they had a very clear position of need, and they got great value with Slater there. They didn't have to go in the top 10. I think we were all kind of watching to see if they might trade with the Lions to get up there. They didn't have to do that. And so I think that's fantastic.

I don't want you trading up for a non-quarterback, basically, ever. So I really, really like what the Chargers did. University of Alabama, huge winner. They're one player away from setting the record for the number of players in the first round, which goes back to what we were talking about before, Nate, right? that like a lot of these teams maybe were only watching a couple of teams.

When you're on the national spotlight every week, it's pretty easy. But I think these are all really good players. I mean, you guys were just talking about Laje Harris before. You know, I'm kind of with you where I'm like, I don't know if I love it, but like it made a lot of sense. And he's a very Steelers pick. I'm dying to see. The Brown's pick is about to come in.

Andrew Barry. I will see who Andrew Barry takes. Andrew Barry is a winner. He and his wife had their first baby. I believe today, maybe yesterday. It was this morning. Yeah, I mean, it was announced this morning, so I don't know exactly what time she took her first breath.

But, like, congratulations, Andrew Barry. A little girl, I believe her name is Eden. So I want to see who the Browns are. Because the Browns are one of those, like, really interesting teams that we've been talking about for a long time. I know we talked about it, Robert, a couple days ago, about what direction they were going to go. Real quick, I'll say Jared Goff, kind of a winner tonight,

because they dropped a penny Sewell to the Lions, and they did not take a quarterback yet. So nobody who's going to come in and take his job immediately. And Jared Goff needed a win. I mean, he just. The fact that they haven't drafted a quarterback yet is a win for Jared Goss. Yeah. He still has his job, which if you're doing golf over the last few months, that's an upside.

So I like that. Okay. He's about Roger. Well, are we doing the draft? I can't believe they made me wait like 90 seconds for the test. That was hilarious. Seeing Goodell having a stack of cards to rethrow was just the best. That was like a comedy bit.

Just like, oh, yep, we're going to dot, dot, dot, dot, dot, dot. I can't even believe that happened. I don't care nearly as much about the Browns pick. I am, I do like the Browns. I love their offseason. I am invested in what the Browns are doing. I will say not quite as much as my team drafting. It's quarterback in the future.

I'm slightly less invested in the Browns than I am in what just happened with the Bears earlier today. I mean, this is the, like, this whole live stream has taken, like, such a drastic turn. I mean, I'm just trying to imagine how differently this night would have played out if it was just so bad. I'm emotionally exhausted. I can't believe I'm still sitting up right right now. I'm just going to collapse onto the floor. Have you already ordered like a Justin Fields jersey?

Oh, no. That will happen in a second here. I like that. I like it. Love it. Love it. I make it a lot. Love it.

Cemented the place of Andrew Barry on my winners list. I will be hosting later tonight. God, I love this. All right, Lindsay, we're going to get back with you a little bit. later. We'll do some losers when I come back. We will definitely do some losers. All right.

Talk to you guys later. See it. Love the Greg Newsom pick. I do. It makes all the sense. They're going to go. Again, another team is going to go to premium positions. They're forward thinking.

They're modern thinking. Kevin Stefanski and Andrew Barry. Of course, they're going to go for a premium position and get a good player. So I think it's that obviously. But if you look at the way the depth chart is shaken out over the course of free agency, you go get Troy Hill. You go get John Johnson.

Yep. You already have Grant's O' pick coming back from last year. It's almost like adding another rookie the season. He's going to be healthy. He's 100% healthy now. You have Ronnie Harrison there. I think that allows them to have some multiplicity with their safety spots. They're going to play a lot of three safeties.

A lot of three safeties this year with those guys, I believe. Now you add Greg Newsom to a cornerback group that has Troy Hill and Denzel Ward. Greedy Williams, I think, in their minds, was always a bonus. Whatever they were going to get from him this year was a bonus. Now, proof with a Greg Newsom pick. And beyond, and then you look at the front seven, they add Clowny, it doesn't make that pass structure as demanding of a need. And a lot of the passers come off the board already. Guys that maybe they might have considered at this spot, the front four for right now, you got enough bodies to make that work.

Blake Jackson, Clowny, everything else. With Newsom, though, it's beyond just what they need in the depth chart. Skill set-wise is perfect. Yeah. You know, who he reminds me of Troy Hill. It's really funny because when you watch Newsom, really, really good feel in zone coverage. Really good feet, good awareness.

I just think that... That's exactly right. And if you're going to play, I think that at their core, they are that Seattle Cover 3 type team, even though I do think the variation, we're going to say... They had to get through it without being able to do it. We're going to see some of the stuff that we saw from Staley

and the Too High and everything else, but it's going to be zone-based. And I think this is a guy, smart, awareness, everything else. To me, it's a perfect fit. And what you said, too, you brought up Grady Williams. It's just like the offensive line. It's where you just invest into this position. You get bodies, good bodies.

And then all of a sudden, the guy that's your number three is your number four. Yeah. Exactly. Say the Browns. Same thing with Ronnie Harrison, not having to start in two-fifty sets now. It's the exact same thing. Say the Browns play the bills now. Hey, they can line up against 10 personnel and they're fine.

Hey, they play the dolphins. Those are all AFC teams. They play the Chiefs. Hey, we can line up with your fast guys because we have bodies. And injuries are going to happen. These guys get hurt. It's just, it is what it is. Now you can go through games where you're just like, hey, guess what?

This guy can get us through it. We have spot starters at corner. That is what if you hit on these guys, it's like you have a position of corner and it's a strength that is so rare to have in the NFL. I love that love what the Browns have done. Yeah, of course. So you look at the offense, the offense is set. They knew that.

Coming into the off season, it's like, we're good. We did that last year. We addressed it last year. We're good. We don't need to address this. They were going to go defense, defense, defense. Yep. With all of their.

resources. And if you look at the ways they added on defense, it is perfectly aligned with modern football in terms of resource allocation and scheme. You need depth, depth, depth in the back seven. Don't spend on linebackers. They sign Anthony Walker and that's it. And variation up front. Give me chaos creators. Give me guys that can play a multitude of positions. I think they could absolutely draft another pass rusher in this draft. Then if you have a guy that's just part of your rotation. Your nickel packages are Judevian, Clowny, and Malie Jackson inside. You have with Miles Garrett on the outside, you have whoever this is. I think bringing in a huge rotation of guys, having everybody pays 65% of the snaps, keep Clowny healthy maybe. Keep him fresh.

That's what they're doing. I really love it. Yep. It makes all the sense. You know why? It's because how it's how I would do it. Yeah. And also it's that's exactly why. But a guy like Clowny makes so much more sense there than you did in Tennessee in Tennessee or the number one guy. I was number three guys. Yes, and he's a super number three. And he's getting paid like a number of time. Oh, I know. And then people are like squinting at that contract.

It's like, uh, why? Like, you know, that's what you. One year. Yeah, one year. Yeah, I'm fine with that. Yeah, exactly. How many guys just like, they, exactly. You just burned through it.

There's so many shitty signings that a guy just burned 12 million or eight million guaranteed. No, but that's the thing is you're bumping these guys down to more manageable positions. It's just a team building. It's now you got Clownie who, yeah, now he's a super, Number three. Now he only has played snaps that are good for him where he doesn't have to. The roles that are good for him. My favorite thing I've ever seen from him is when he was the spinner on the Texans teams.

And you could put him over the guard and let him re-caveck. And that's exactly what you could possibly do here. Just whack the guard and open up a huge hole like the size of the Red Sea. And then now you're going to have Miles Garrett looping around. You're going to have all these guys up front looping around. No, it just makes a lot of sense. All right. Let's get to Dane. Let's bring him back in here. I have a lot of stuff that I want to go over with him. Dane, how you doing, bud? I'm bumped. Good. 12 out of 26 of my mock draft, so I'm feeling good.

Look at you. Add-a-boy. Greg Newsom, baby. We've just been gushing about that. What do you like about the fit with Greg Newsom going to Cleveland? This is a great example of when value meets need meets traits. This is exactly what the Browns look for. They want young players.

They want productive players. They want athletic players. And I mean, that sounds very simplistic. Every team wants that. But specifically, that's what the Browns are looking for. And they need cornerback help. Greg Newsom made a lot of sense. He led the Big Ten and passed his defendant last year.

A really natural player with his athleticism. He can play man, can play zone. The FBI, the football intelligence, is outstanding. The only thing you worried about, and this is why I worry he might not be a fit for the Browns is he missed at least three games, each of the last three years. So, you know, we know the Browns have dealt with Greedy Williams and the shoulder issues. Denzel Ward has missed some time. So I was a little worried about that fit. You know, they were just worried about keeping him on the field.

But the traits and the talent, I thought, matched up perfectly with what the Browns were looking for. Let's stick with corners here. Caleb Farley comes off the board of 22 to Tennessee. One of the biggest question marks about the entire draft because we know the talent is there. We know that he is arguably the most talented corner among this entire group. The range he went in, the fifth. with Tennessee, how do you see all the pieces coming together with Farley going to the Titans? I think if he's healthy, if injuries are not a concern at all, I think he's the first defensive

player drafted. He has that type of talent. And, you know, I think, Nate, you mentioned it with Jeffrey Simmons, you know, the Titans, not afraid to take chances, big swings. I was really curious how Tennessee would attack this first round after the Isaiah Wilson debacle last year. You know, just would they be more conservative this year with that first round pick? Turns out not at all. They're not afraid to take chances on players that they believe in. And as long as you are comfortable with the medicals, Caleb Farley has a talent is a plus.

And so, you know, we'll see when he's able to get on the field, when he's able to, you know, get back from that back procedure. But he has just different burst. The way he moves, it's just a little bit different than most people. And that size, too. Man, I mean, that's the thing that just jumps out to me. When you can be 6-2 over 200 and not only be as smooth as he is, but just have the acceleration that he has, the catch-up speed.

Just that quick twitch. It's a shorter greater, wishes he had that arm length. I mean, it's unique. We hit on this a little bit before they made the pick. Nage Harris going to Pittsburgh. Not only that, Travis E.T.N. going to Clemson, what do you make of that as a one-two punch at 24 and 25? Yeah, I mean, we knew a Noggi-Harris.

Roger Harris was going to happen. We kind of touched on that. You know, it's, will the Steelers run game be better with Najee Harris? Yeah, it should be. You know, and Najee Harris is a good player. And a guy that is going to help them in the passing game. I think he's a really natural receiver, you know, with this Big Ben, a small window for the Steelers to compete.

I understand what they did. It's open by about three inches right now. Yeah, it might be a window that's four games. And who knows. But, you know, like we touched on it. The running game, there's a lot more. that they need a fix here besides just a running back. So that'll be interesting to see how that plays out.

And then when you look at the Jaguars, Irmaier has made it no secret. He wants to be the fastest team in the NFL. And so they do that with Travis E.T. And I feel good for ETS. He came back for his senior year because he said he wanted to be a first round pick. And he was able to do that. I think some of the improvements that he made as a blocker,

as a receiver, and good on Clemson, too, for giving him those opportunities to show that he could progress in those areas. areas. And I think that's what helped him be the pick here. And it's interesting, you know, James Robinson, an undrafted rookie last year, had over a thousand yards. And so they just add another horse to that backfield. So it'll be interesting to see how they use both those players. Do they use ETN as more than just during your traditional running back? Is he going to be a little bit of those Percy Harvin packages? How are they going to use him?

It would be interesting with that Urban Meyer-Darrel Bevel scheme. Yeah. I mean, if I'm a team that needs a running back right now, I'm going to on the phone. I'm seeing who is what the Jaguars want for an undrafted free agent that was not picked by the current regime there. Yeah. Because even if the combination of those guys is interesting and intriguing, I still think that that's a phone call I would 100% make. It's very telling after he had his meeting with Urban Meyer and management there that they said, what's the biggest thing you had to prove on? He goes, speed. And it's like, well, I think you are what you are, James. So I was they draft ETN. So it's like, okay, they're like, we can't find it here. So we're going to find it somewhere else.

Dan, last thing I wanted to ask you about here, what do you think about Darisol lasting as long as he did with Minnesota? I mean, again, it's all this stuff and the speculation about where guys are going to go and their pre-draft value. It's that. It's speculation. But, you know, Darisol was somebody that we thought might go in the top half of the first round. The Vikings trade down and still managed to get him. What do you think about getting him in that range of the draft and how he fits what Minnesota needs? Yeah, Daris saw such an easy player to like because for a big man, the body control, the balance, it's just really natural, good feet. The one thing that really bothered me with him, and I know this is a sticking point for a lot of coaches, is I thought he was a 90, 95% player. Just wish he was a better finisher out there.

Yeah, I think that plays off. You see it. Yeah, that bothered a lot of teams. It did. And that's something that could be a reason why he fell a little bit. But this is a good player. and I think it's going to be interesting for the Vikings now because I think that internally they would really,

they wanted to move Ezra Cleveland out to tackle and get better on the interior. Now do they keep Derrissot-left tackle, then keep Ezra Cleveland inside? I mean, either way, I think they're going to have some options and just a great fit in that offense with that scheme. And the Vikings, you know, we know they love to trade back and I think it got really well for them in this scenario.

With one of those guys that when you have a player an offensive lineman specifically that has a lot of boxes that he checks off and there's one or two question marks. The first thing I look at, especially at that position, who's the office of line coach he's going to? Yeah. Who is the guy now that is going to be tasked with seeing if we can check off that final box? Going to Rick Denison, who has done this for a million years. The same scheme. In the same scheme. I think this, that's different to me than going to a place where the offensive line coach has been there for a year. Yeah. This is his first job. He was an assistant. The assistant for however long.

I always pay attention to that stuff. And I do think that is a nice situation for Christian Derisaw. Dan, we'll be back with you here as the draft wraps up, buddy. We'll really appreciate it. Awesome. Thank you, guys. See, yeah. Nate?

Yeah, there he is. Ravens drafted Rashad Bateman. I know. And it's so tough for me because as much as I love Rashad Bateman, he was my receiver too for anyone that's listening to our podcast this month or read the Bleacher report. It's also, it's not a great fit. It's going to get two targets a game. It's not a great fit for him.

It's not a great fit for him in terms of volume, but in terms of volume. But with what the Ravens need, it's a perfect fit. Perfect fit with Hollywood Brown and Mark Andrews at tight end. And it's like, okay, now it gives him. So Hollywood Brown is better intermediate vertical. We saw him to Oklahoma, even now, even as a smart guy. You don't have to say intermediate. He just verticals.

Yeah, vertical. He caught a couple dig balls. I was like, okay, okay. But he shouldn't be doing that. And that's why I'm not. There he is. And I got Rashad Batesman. So now he's going to take over that short and intermediate game that they have.

Because Mark Andrews, even with his drops, is still a dynamic player, especially with all the overs and crossers. So now what you have is while those concepts, when you have overs and posts, all right, who do you think is going to be on the post? Hollywood Brown. Who do you think is going to be on the over? There comes Baitman on the other side. If you have a bunch of small fast guys, what is the eye, if you're looking, thinking about

gravity and what they create in space, they create space. that's what fast receivers do. They have their own gravitational pull, like a three-point shooter. You need to do something with that space. Yes. And when Mark Andrews was the only guy in there, there's no slasher there. And I think that is the concern. There was no slashing option among their past catchers.

And that's exactly what Rashad Bateman is. We talk about this. Can you picture it? Can you see how the pieces fit together? Does it look like a basketball team? There's a reason that people were. connecting Rashad Baby to the Ravens because you can see it. We both love him.

We were talking about him earlier today. I know we've referenced lunch a million times, but we were having lunch today. We were talking about him. And the reason that I think that he's such an exciting prospect is because when we talk about route runners, we usually talk about it that way. Like when you say somebody's nice, it's because they're not fast. When the guy is a route runner and that's his best traits, oh, he's such a savvy

route runner. It's because he's not fast. But when you watch Rashad Bateman play, he runs away from people. He's got more giddy up than a guy with his route running nuance often does because they only survive with the route running nuance. Exactly. He has so much more juice than I expected him to have when I watched him for the first time. And I think that it's a perfect fit. And this team needed something in the passing game, something.

Yes. And I think that Rashad Bateman at 27. is more exciting to me than any of the free agent options you could have gotten than anything else they could have done. I like this more than Corey Davis at $15 million a year. No, I agree. And yeah, it's such a good point.

It's also the Minnesota's offense. It was hilarious because like Tanner Morgan, the quarterback there was getting pulled up as like a draftable quarterback. And it was like, if you watch this offense and saw what they did, it's like, no, no, no, no, guys, come on. Because they run so many RPO's. You know who runs a lot of RAPOs?

You know who runs a lot of Ravons? And it's a lot of slants. And Rashad Bateman is a monster on slants. that's where you're talking about the pullaway speed. And that's where it's shocking sometimes because even looking at, he had a good 10 yard and he had a really good 20 yard 40 split. And it's showing the flying 40. And it shows.

Oh, and he catches those slants. It's like, yeah, it's not that sexy twitch right away. But then I was like, like you said, all so he's pulling away from guys. And he does it consistently. And another thing, too, and this cannot be understated enough. Yeah, he's from Georgia. He played in Minnesota and crappy weather. It goes to Baltimore.

He's used to it. Yeah. He's used to wind. He's used to sleep. He's used to bad weather, and that actually matters, especially a team like the Ravens that's going to play deep into the season. You know, that matters. And it really does, especially at the receiver position. You'll see some of these speed guys also in a sudden to get into the cold weather, like, man, my hand's kind of hurt.

My forearm's kind of hurting right now. That was not a lot of fun getting tackled right there. So getting a guy that can maybe handle that and be productive in that. That's just like a little, another exterior thing because I'm just going to hype up pavement and everything he can do anyway. So pretty big surprise here. Peyton Turner. Yeah. Ed Rusher from Houston.

Yeah. Goes in the first round. Our buddy Ben Solac is going to be excited. He was a big Peyton Turner guy. He was a big Peyton Turner guy. Love Peyton Turner. I liked Peyton Turner. When I turned on the BYUu tape and you see him, the length jumps out.

To me, the effort jumped out. He plays so hard, but really high cut. I don't really know if he knows what he's doing all the time. They got rid of Trey Hendrickson, so they need their high effort. High cut, high effort rusher. Does he have short arms too? I actually don't even know if you had short arms. Then we have a perfect one-for-one, like, replacement right there.

Figure that one out. Oh, man. Well, I don't, I mean, you look at what the Saints needed. I wouldn't say depth. I drew up here was a complete opposite, 35-inch arms. Oh, yes, great length. That's right. That's great.

Yeah, yeah. I should have been able to say that. If you can't tell, I've watched offensive skill guys. My front seven plays a little. He has great length. That's really what jumps out. Yeah, yeah. You see the levers.

You see the effort, but he plays super, super high. I can understand. buying into the frame and the physical ability, though. This is probably not a glowing review for Marcus Davenport. Yeah. So they're his 50-year option. They don't make a decision on that. They traded up for him in the first round.

I will say, even if this is going to be considered to reach by somebody, still probably a more prudent choice than trading into the top 10 to draft another defensive player because, again, it doesn't always work out when you do that. No, exactly. That's why they did it. So it makes a lot more sense. So I want to go back. hit most of the picks as they've happened here.

Something I want to touch on that we really haven't talked about yet, Atlanta at four. I was going back way, way back. Not surprising when everything that we thought was going to happen with that team. If they weren't going to draft quarterback Kyle Pitt and they weren't going to trade back, Kyle Pitts was the option. A couple different things I want to hit. Obviously, you think about Matt Ryan in his contract and with the adjustment they made to it and the restructure that they had.

Very, very hard for the Falcons to move on for Matt Ryan in short order. I don't think it necessarily was a vote of confidence. and a sign that they were going to stick with him for the next couple of years. But I think it pointed into that direction at least a little bit. $40.5 million dead cap hit in 2022. This means Matt Ryan is going to be around. Matt Ryan is going to be the Falcons quarterback for the foreseeable future. And that's exciting because if you look at the rest of their offensive personnel,

this team can be really good. Yeah. Really fast. Arthur Smith, we both really like. Yes. We really like Arthur Smith. We think that he's a fantastic play caller. My question for you is not does Kyle Pitts make the Falcons offense more exciting or better?

That's a given. You drop him in there with Julio, which we'll see if Julio is still there. Julio, Calvin Ridley, Matt Ryan. It's going to be fun. Are you a little bit worried that the way we saw Arthur Smith use his tight ends in Tennessee and if that might put a cap on a guy like Kyle Pitts's value? Because when you're doing a lot of play action, your tight ends are going to be in part of the blocking scheme. You're going to have them.

They're not going to be in all the time. I want to say that Johnny Smith last season among qualified tight ends was 34th in route percentage. And this is a guy with some receiving talent. Yes. So are you a little bit concerned that dropping Kyle Pitts into a Johnu Smith-like role artificially depresses what he can be as a receiver? And we haven't seen real proof of this, but I do think Arthur Smith, what we saw with that Titans offense was, hey, these guys are really good. What we talked about all night is, hey, these guys are really good.

good at this thing. Hey, let's accentuate that. What's feed Derek Henry who gets better and better as he gets more touches as he wears down the defense. We have a big physical offensive line. Let's pound the rock. Tana Hill, dropping back is, eh, but hey, he's big, he's strong, he's willing to stay in the pocket. That's really good. And create with his legs, that's really good on play action stuff. So it was like, I think they just cranked it up and getting into that. So now with Jono Smith, John Smith had receiving chops, but he was he was better when he got going. He's not a quick Turner, like where he can just come out of a route and he's not going to break off a lineback

or break off a safety that's covering him. He is more of a guy that he's an explosive weapon. He had a ton of yards after the catch the last couple of years. And they also heavily designed some stuff because he was so versatile. I think what Arthur Smith is willing to do is kind of like the fun stuff they did with Janu and then like crank it up. Crank it up to 12. And I think we're going to see just like a little more variation because now the strength of that team is a receiving core and a quarterback that's willing to drop back.

So I think some stuff that maybe we saw 10% of the time, we'll see now 30, 40% of the time. And the stuff that was, you know, the crazy outside Ron's and all that. They would hide John. They do that's the day the smart coaching staff. They would hide the guys in a way like John Smith is working across on slice blocks. He's not the lead point man. I do-o da-da-da-da. Here's my thing, though.

Do you want your number four overall picks slicing across the formation and catching the ball flat? But I trust Arthur Smith enough that he's going to like use them how we should use. I tend to. I'm mostly playing devil's advocate. Yes, absolutely. I tend to agree with you. I think that he's a type of guy who is always searching for the next wrinkle. Correct.

And we saw that with, I think the best example is the variation in the running game we saw in Tennessee. Is it folded in more power stuff? We can do this. Let's see how that works. I would hope that we're not going to see Kyle Pitts blocking 20% of the time for this offense where I think he can be a real weapon. Let's stick in the top 10 for right now. Another guy that was considered by many people to be one of the most premium position player, or premium position,

premium players, we're getting deeper. Yeah, we're in the 30s. Premium players in the draft. Pene Suo. Yep. Goes at seven to the Lions.

You look at the Lions' offensive line now. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, if you're building a team from scratch, okay. So you go left to right now. Taylor Decker, Jonah Jackson,

Frank Ragnow, you bump Vitae into guard theoretically. Yep. Penesul is your right tackle. You're pushing some people around with that group. Yep. And also, Lindsay brought up, she said, Jared Goff's a big winner.

I actually do think the lines are. I think you saw the reaction in the war room or the draft room was, receiver, receiver, the two-pictuals for him. It looked like relief. Yeah. They're like, oh, my God, Sewell's there. Like, I think that's generally what they're like, they're just like the whole time. Just like, oh, my God, please no, please know, please know.

And then Sewell is there. So it's like, I just think it's smart team building. They got nothing. They're really in the doldrums. And that's as much as I think, oh, this kind of completes, but it's a nice piece for their offensive line. Look at what they're building there. that I wouldn't even think about it in those terms.

You're starting over. You're starting over. Starting from step one. And if you're starting from step one, even if you think Taylor Decker is going to be there for over long, Fiat is not going to be on that team next year, most likely. Who knows what their offensive line is going to look like 12 months from now. So I think you just need foundational pieces.

Correct. And that's the entire point of trading Matthew Stafford for multiple first round picks. It's why we thought they were going to be a candidate to trade out of the number seven spot. So you have now a block of granite as your right tackle. for the next however long. Him and Decker, all right. Yeah, let's build. Let's build.

And I'm very excited about that. I'm just so glad they didn't give in. They looked at the receiver room with my boy, Quintas Seifis, as their returning receiver. And they didn't get desperate and go, we need Devante Smith there. They went, nope, nope, we're going to go building block premium position, and we're going to go inside out.

But that's why I love what they did in free agency. I know it's hard to get excited about Tyra Williams and Brashad Perriman. But those are fine. You can live with that. They're fine. You can live with that. I think that's exactly what you do. It's like, those guys are workable.

Those two on the outside is workable. And that's exactly what they did. And I think that it's a good place to start. I talk, we talked about this with Brandon Thorne a lot. I think Sewell was billed as this all-time offensive line prospect. And he's not necessarily that because he doesn't check every box. There are some length concerns. He didn't do a lot of just.

He's a Jemar chase of tackle prospects. He's very, very good. prospect, but has a couple of those missing. But if you can do that, seven, that's totally fine. That's totally fine. A very good start of potentially. And I think that there's not a lot of true pass sets compared to other offenses. If we're talking about Mickey Mouse college offenses, the Oregon offenses, to the point where Justin Herbert was, we didn't know if he could play.

And now he looks like one of the best young quarterbacks in the NFL. Yeah. I think that even if there's some projection involved with the evaluation of a guy like Pena Soule, when you can have someone who is that easy and fluid of a mover, at 330 pounds and who's 20 years old. Yep. I'm going to take that.

I'm going to figure it out later. Yes. And it's a tone center. So now every piece you add on the offense and then also like you said, they're going to move people around. Sewell plays with angry. So I'll send the rest of the team, everyone they add from now on,

hey, he's sent the tone for the rest of the offense. And that matters when you're building a team. That's why they're traded for Michael Bruckers. Exactly. That's the defense version of that. So it's like exactly. You get those tone centers because now. you got, okay, that's our, is it going, maybe it's not the best player that you get, but it's like,

hey, at least now everyone we get, it's just going to be an echo of what that guy is. And it really matters having guys, if your quarterback's not going to be that, because your golf is kind of an easygoing guy, he's competitive, but he's easygoing. If you have that, now you get offense alignment that are going to be that raw, raw, not raw, but really bring that, that grit to an offense. That really does matter, especially if you're starting from scratch like they are. 31st pick, or excuse me, 30th pick, Buffalo goes with Greg Rousseau from Miami. Here's the difference between the Revere, between the bills and some of these other teams.

The bills were, had a running back mocked to them in the first round. Instead of doing that, they picked an edge rusher because that's what they should be doing in the first round. Thank God, too. They were starting to get all the, you know, ETN was getting mocked to there. And I was like, oh, man, I hope not. Because it's like, hopefully they're not losing sight of what they are. And it's like, good. Okay, good.

They know just keep accumulating these types of pieces. You know, Russo, they got some traits. I mean, you know, he's another guy with 34 and almost half inch arms. He got 11 and eighth inch hands. You know, he's big and long. Kind of a weird projection a little bit. You kind of have to squint a little bit to see it. It's a little bit of an upside pick that you're hoping to get there.

You know, kind of a weird eval a little bit. I think for a lot of people that had to watch the front seven guys. but, you know, bills are, hey, you're at pick 30, you can do a lot worse than this, especially if you're going for an edge piece because there's not, not usually edge guys are going to be true, true freaks or true top of the class are going to be literally top of the class. And there are questions about him obviously didn't play this year and the same sort of questions we've had about a ton of other prospects.

But if you look at this Bill's roster, that would be the number one thing I would have added to this group was edge rushing juice. And that's why I was intrigued by the idea of JJ Wan on this team. bringing him in and Watt a guy rushing inside and outside. Some of his best reps came inside. And you have the length there. It's honestly similar to he's not as powerful as this guy is, but another very, very tall Miami pass rusher is Clayth Campbell.

You can bring him inside a little bit. And this team, edge rushing depth is as important to this team as any other teams because of the way they allocate their steps. You have guys that are playing 60% of the time. And even if you spent a second round pick on AJ up and us, of last year. Jerry Hughes is my age. I don't know how much longer Jerry Hughes is going to be around, even though he's playing at a reasonably high level. Mario Addison is expensive. I know he took a pay cut this year after what he signed for last year, but Mario Addison is not a long-term answer. I think

Brandon Bean is really good at understanding the timelines and how they're different. He uses free agency to fill needs, and they use the draft. Oh, need is always going to influence what you're doing in the draft to some degree. But I think, guy like Ed Oliver is another really good example. That is a upside. We're finding building blocks in the draft. We're using free agency to plug immediately. A good piece right away.

And also, you spoke to just the 60% of snaps, but also how they play with a lot of off-ball linebackers. Yes. So that's where edge guys really are important because they have to do it both. Correct. You got a guy with big, big arms, keeping people off of your guys on the second level. Set the edge as opposed to your Sam or your outside linebacker doing it for you

are you doing it with movement. They have a lot of upfield snaps where they have to use their length. So that just makes a lot of sense of that, that aspect is how long are your arms? 34 and a half. Oh, he's, you got him by an eighth of an inch.

He's 34 and 3. 8th. I know, I know you're watching. So yeah, way to go out. You look at, I mean,

the guys that his mock draftable comps, Carlos Dunlap is in the top five. Jason Pierpoles in the top seven. I mean, it's just like those types of guys. Yeah. You could go up into somebody like that. Yeah.

Where the run defense part of it is, is important and everything else. And that's funny I was just saying Jason Pierpaw also because he was kind of a weird eval too because he was a juco guy and like a one-year starter kind of guy at South Florida.

Actually, we were supposed to be as part of the same recruiting class at UCF and he was not an academic qualifier so that's why he went junior college and ended up at South Florida. But anyways, with that,

Jason Pierpaw had, I would say, a peer better film than this. But that is kind of what you're hoping for is you're kind of like, is he going to be the 12-sat guy? Probably not, but he's going to be a useful starter

and maybe you do get that pinch of star quality in them. But this was the range and this type of classic. You said a pinch better film. Do you love him in the first round compared to some of the other guys? Maybe not. It might be a fringe versus second round guy, but you're picking 30th. It's a position of need.

And there's upside there. There's clear upside there. I think that this range, the way he fits with all the other pieces they have, I think it makes total sense. Correct. And also, you're not like, it's a dirt. This edge class is not great. So probably the second time they pick, you know,

probably no one's going to be there that they would like at that kind of position. So it makes a lot of sense. Can't do we want to bring in Dane one more time here? So we're at 31, Baltimore picking again. Obviously, this was part of the trade with the Chiefs for Orlando Brown Jr. You and I have not talked about that yet. I don't know if we want to declare a winner and loser there, but what did you make of that deal from both sides? I thought it was a win-win.

I mean, honestly, if I, you know, gun to head, but also it's just like, yeah, the Chiefs needed it. Hey, Orlando Brown wanted to play left tackle. I think it was just everybody won in that trade. At first, I was like, oh, you know, that is kind of a lot, but I was like, what else are you going to get? You know he's going to be a tangible, good starter. And not only was it like he just played right tackle and, okay, we got to hope that his college film homes up for, like, he had 300 plus snaps that left tackle last year and he held up.

And so it's like, okay. But the one thing is going to be interesting is going to be such a different scheme and what he's asked to do. Like, he's not going to run a lot of gap, you know, GT counter that they ran with Lamar Jackson. He's going to have to drop back a lot. Thankfully, it's such a different. ask. It is night and day. It is. And luckily, you know, Mahomes can make it work where he can bounce around with

edge rushers and stuff. So a big body might kind of give him more room to operate. So that'll be interesting. But it's just- Having your quarterback dropped to 11 yards and trying to throw the ball 45 yards downfield is much, much different than jump setting guys 13 times a game. And then running GT the next play. Yeah. It's much different because now it's going to be a lot of zone. He's going to be a zone blocker a lot. He's going to have to climb to a second level a whole lot. Yeah, he can move for a big body, but doing it once or twice is different than doing it 20 times. All right. Let's bring Dane back in here because there are some defensive players

that are going higher than we thought. This is exactly his area of expertise when it is not ours. Dane, Peyton Turner, Eric Stokes coming off the board at 28 and 29. There had been some first round buzz about Peyton Turner coming into today, but still may be a surprise to see him go this high to the sense. Yeah, I think a little bit. Not only, him going this high, but over Jason O'Reigh, over, you know, Azizodulari, try on some of these other pass rushers, a little surprising to see him go above. But with Peyton Turner, I mean, it's not hard to like his film.

He's a high cut player in that, you know, he's still figuring things out. But in terms of his length, in terms of, you know, the effort is outstanding. And that's something that was one of my main takeaways from his film. the wingspan, and just the way he, I mean, he would make plays 30 yards down field that he has no business making. So he has the violence that you want. He has just kind of the foundational traits of a good pass rusher. It's just, it might take a little bit of time for him to get there. I like how he can string moves together.

As he's, it's not just effort. It's not misguided effort. He's always making his way toward the quarterback and trying to string stuff together, which I think is a really good. kind of just fundamental element of being a young pass rusher and having room to grow. Eric Stokes going 29 to the Packers, Dane. What do you think of Stokes in the fit there and how he fits in just this group of corners and where you expected him to go?

Yeah, I mean, this is, I expected one of those Georgia corners to get in there, whether it was going to be Tyson Campbell, Eric Stokes. And so I don't think it's a big surprise here. 6-1-194 with 4-2 speed. You know, there's only so many humans on this planet that are doing that. So, and I think with Stokes, you know, he has some scheme versatility to him. You know, I think that in terms of his route recognition, some of the transitional stuff, he needs to get better.

But, you know, this is a guy that has not been playing cornerback all that long. He's still learning, still developing. And when you have a guy with those type of raw traits, you know, just like I said, not many humans on this planet able to do that 32 and 3 quarter inch arms. So there's a lot to like about what he could be. I think the fact that he had four interceptions this past year after zero coming in, I think he took the necessary steps that told teams that, hey, I'm headed in the right direction. So if you want to get excited about Devante Smith, go watch Devante Smith's tape this year against Eric Stokes,

who was the 31st overall pick in this year's drafts. Exactly. And also, you know, with Stokes too and going to the Packers, it's like, you know, at least have a really good corner to kind of help. He doesn't have to be the number one guy right away. It's another opportunity cost kind of thing where it's like, hey, they have a guy that's really a 1A, like true 1A corner. So it's like, okay, he can be the number two guy. Like you say, he's a development, Dane, you say he's a developmental guy or at least a little bit of that. And they have Kevin King there.

They also have Kevin King. Exactly. If they need to bring him along a little bit slowly, I think it takes some load off a hundred percent. Yeah. Dane, what did you make of the Greg Rousseau evaluation? Obviously, he was one of those guys with not playing this year. There's a wrench thrown into that. but there's clearly traits, there's clearly upside.

Where did you come down on him? I gave him an early second round grade. You know, I don't think it's a huge reach here. You know, he's, we talk about the length, easy to like. He has some get off to him. And just that stretched out frame, the way he can, you know, use that to get inside of blockers. I thought he was at, what worried me was he was at his best when he reduced inside.

And it was able to play over the, the A gap and use that initial quickness, that length to beat up interior blockers. Normally when you draft a pass rusher, an edge rusher in the first round, you want him winning on the outside more than on the inside. And so I think that it's a faith-based projection. I think if he hits, if he does everything he needs to do, you know, he could be a Chandler Jones type of player. That's a big if.

He still has a long way until he gets there. But I can understand why you're banking on just the raw traits that he offers. We have one year of tape on him. That's it. And this is a guy that didn't move to the defensive line until a senior year of high school. Missed his first year at Miami because of an injury. And then 2019, that's when he really emerged and put himself on the NFL Raider. And then, of course, he opted out this past year.

So there is a lot of faith that takes into drafting a guy like Gregory Rousseau that early. But, you know, the bills had no problem drafting AJ Epinessa in the second round last year, who was not an athletic tester. And it's the same thing with Rousseau. Not a big athletic tester, more of a straight line type of guy. But, you know, I understand why they went pass rush there. Maybe just a little surprise they went Rousseau over O.A and try on and some of those other pass rushers available. Oway goes to Baltimore.

That you can, I can just see my mind because that is a defense and a scheme where you can just bet on traits. If he's going to be rushing from a very, a lot of alignments and you're going to be standing him up and really just lean on his physical ability. Again, I can just see it. I can just picture him in that Ravenskine name. Yeah. Yeah, there's a question. Like, does he need work on his counters on just the overall rush plan?

Yeah, of course. But when you watch his film, I mean, he's being disruptive. The Zero Sacks thing is going to be what is talked about with O.A. But he's a guy that, you know, got to the backfield and disruption is production. And if you're able to impact what the quarterback is doing, then you're doing your job as a pass rusher. So Oway with the freaky traits, with where you expect him to be in two years, in three years.

Yeah, this is just a very Baltimore type of pick. I mean, good players seem to find Baltimore every year in the first round. It's happened twice this year. It's funny because they usually, they've been so good at drafting developmental pass rushers. And eventually those guys come along slowly. and they become really productive players. I mean, it happened with Judon.

It happened with Zadarias Smith. It happened with Pernomac Fia a couple years earlier. They usually go later than the first round. Yes. But they still have shown a real penchant for being able to say, this is our development plan for this guy who maybe isn't going to be able to contribute from day one, but we have an idea of what he can eventually become for this.

The proof is there. Well, that's like with Zadarius Smith. You played with Bud Dupri at Kentucky, and he was fine. He was like a good, he actually was a good solid prospect, but he's missing a couple things. He wasn't checking all the boxes.

He checks all the boxes as far as physically and everything. And that's what Baltimore does is we all, all of us are talking about right now is they develop these guys. But now they're taking a guy with traits, trades, trades. Yeah, yeah, as opposed to missing like Judon, missing a couple movements stuff like that. And it's like, okay, they're going to develop in a lock. And what, you know what?

Again, they have two first round picks. This is a team that can take these risks. And not, and the opportunity cost is not as bad. It's like, hey, they don't have to force this guy and play 60 snaps a game. He can play 30. Dane, Joe Tryon going 32 to Tampa. I thought pass rusher made sense for them 100%. Speaking of percentages,

Jason Pierre, Paul played one of the highest snap rates in the NFL for Edge Guys last season. I want to say that Shaq Barrett was up there in the top 10 as well. A rotation at that spot. Easily, you could talk yourself into it. This is a guy with great length than Joe Tryon from Washington. How do you feel like he fits in Tampa Bay with what they have already? Yeah, I think in every month. long draft. I had a patch rusher going

32. It just kind of changed every time. Sometimes it's O.A. Sometimes it's try on. It just, it makes a lot of sense. Especially with Pierre Paul. He's in the final year of his deal. He might not be back next year. So tryon's able to be a sub package rusher as a rookie

and then take over as a starter. He's a guy that if you're going to draw up a pass rusher, it's kind of what it looks like. There's a lot of Marcus Davenport to try on. 6.5 to 60, 34 inch arms. Yeah. So tested really well. Another opt-out, but his 2019 stuff, 12 and a half tackles for loss, eight sacks, you know, a player who's still another, you know, in the development phase,

you know, and still learning. But the traits and what he's shown up to this point, easy to see why he's a first round pick. He had a couple snaps against Sewell that made me sit up in my chair, where that length really jumps out. He's getting into his chest. And like we're talking about, If you're taking a guy at 32, you have two premium starters at that position. He can come along slowly. You can fold them into what you're doing. He doesn't have to be there for you right now. But at a premium position.

Correct. We're setting up succession plans. You get rotations. Way to kind of, we're talking about Stavenoff defensive regression. Adding one more high upside rusher and high upside position is the way you often do that. Dane, thank you so, so much for humoring us tonight and playing in our little sandbox. here as we were talking about the draft. I sincerely appreciate all of the insight that you provided on our show here over the last month.

The work that you do is invaluable. It is indispensable at this time of year. Congratulations on the first round being in the book. I hope you get a little bit of sleep after this weekend is over, buddy. Really, really appreciate all the time. Hey, I'm just along for the ride. You guys are doing great. I'm going to hang up and work on my sick around mock.

Of course, yeah. Oh, so before you go, before you go, I lied. most interesting guys you feel are still on the board. Awusa Coromoa, Notre Dame. I know you love him. Are you surprised he fell? Yeah, I mean, I think that, you know, he is not an ideal fit for every defense. We know that.

He's not a traditional stack backer. I mean, he is, it takes a little bit of creativity. But still, we saw, you know, Isaiah Simmons going to top 10 last year. They're different players, but you would think that a defense would have found a way to use him in the first round. The Cardinals had they filled it with another guy. Exactly. Christian Barmore, not really a surprise when you consider some of the makeup issues there. Audullary was flagged for his knee, so not a huge surprise there. Tevin Jenkins, there were some stuff that came out late that were unflattering.

So I don't know that that's a big surprise. I think Elijah Moore, that might be the biggest surprise. I thought, you know, especially seeing Tony go over him. I thought Elijah Moore, a good chance he was going to go to the top 32 and that didn't happen. Awesome. Dane, thank you very much, buddy. Good luck on the mock. Good luck survive in the next couple days. We will catch up with you a little bit further down the road, my friend. All right. Take care of guys.

Thanks, Dan. Guys, that is all we got. Wow. We did it. We did it. We did it. It is 1108 central time. We still have enough time to just celebrate what has happened tonight.

I still have not been able to fully process that because we've had to lock in to all of this other stuff. such a fun time doing this. So really enjoyed it. Even if the Justin Fields thing hadn't happened, I'd be enjoying it. But guess what? It did. It did. The Bears picked Justin Fields. And we had a fantastic first round looking at Rashad Bateman going to the Ravens here as that comes up on the ticker. So many picks that I think we liked some that were head scratchers as it will be with every first round. I sincerely appreciate everybody that came to spend the time to do this with us. We wanted to try something new. We wanted to try something a little bit different. I want to take advantage. being able to be in person.

I love doing this with you, buddy. It's so good to sit here with you in the same room. Chat about some football. This was a blast. We will be back later this week with another podcast, wrapping up the entire draft, looking a little bit forward to the rest of the off season. Until then, though, thank you guys so much for listening to The Athletic Football Show. We'll talk to you later.

This was the Athletic Football Show.