The Athletic Football Show: A show about the NFL - NFL Draft review - who owned the weekend, most exciting picks, under-the-radar hauls, Aaron Rodgers & more

Episode Date: May 3, 2021

Robert Mays and Nate Tice return to The Athletic Football Show for a full reaction to the 2021 NFL Draft. Which teams hauls had us the most impressed? What areas still need to be addressed? Who were the favorite under-the-radar pickups that you might be hearing about later? TAFS discuss it all.Get all of the NFL Draft coverage you'll ever need with an exclusive discount at theathletic.com/footballshow Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is the athletic football show. Welcome to the athletic football show. I'm Robert Maze. Joining me today. It's my good buddy Nate Tyson. Nate, how you doing, man? I'm good. We're back to normal, which is...

Yeah, I know. That's what's kind of funny. It's like, this is the normal setting. It was so funny. Even like when we were sitting there doing the live show, like just even turning and talking to you, like felt weird. Like, it was just like, oh my God, you're right there. Like, we're actually talking.

It's not like my cat's meowing in the back. background or something like that. Like just like trying to figure out where to put the microphone. I was like, oh, no, I can actually just talk. It's nice because this is the last pod you and I will record before I move. And my new house has, I have an office that's going to be a studio. It's going to be closed off. I'll not be doing it for my kitchen table.

So hopefully, even if we're apart from now on, the setup can be a little more advanced than it's been over the last year as I've been crammed into this apartment in pandemic life where I have no space of my own to actually record the shows. I'm in no mansland. I know I just moved. And I, I'm currently, my laptop is sitting on a chair under three board games,

um, or on top of three board games. I have like a crate where the microphone is sitting on. And then I have like the chair that we used to have in our bathroom to like where my wife would do like her makeup in the mirror like she had a chair in there. Like that's what I'm sitting at right now. So we're making this work. We're making this work.

But it's going to be in office soon with no cat problem. So it'll be good. And I'll be in the same boat. My computer with the camera on it right now is on two of my girlfriend's yoga blocks because all of our books are packed. So that's the state we're in. It's post-draft pre-move for both of us.

A lot of moving pieces. And we're going to try to pick up some of those pieces here right now and do a draft recap of sorts. Obviously, we responded to the first round live. It was incredibly fun. It's a night I'll never forget for a lot of different reasons. We'll talk about the bears a little bit because I do think they're going to come up

in one of the topics that we want to discuss here. But rather than pigeonhole us into any one thing here, I just wanted to do big picture draft takeaways. And this might be a little bit different than some of the other draft shows that you'll listen to or some of the other draft recaps that you'll read. I'm not a fan of immediate positives or negatives about drafts. I think that you can judge process and we'll get into some of that.

But I just, draft grades are not my favorite way to do this. I understand why they're valuable. I understand why people do them. it's not the way I like to talk about it. I just like to do takeaways. What did you learn about a team stall process? What they value, what they want to do. That's how I like to talk about this stuff.

And we're going to do some of that. We'll talk about some of our favorite moves, our favorite fits. You know, you especially have done so much work about the skill position players in this draft. I think you have some insights that I don't have about players drafted in the second, third, fourth round. So we'll talk about some of that. But I wanted to go more big picture. And my first one, I mean, obviously they were at the top of the draft. I think they were at the forefront of people's minds.

They had an extra first round pick. So they're one of the teams that really control this draft is that the Jets are hell-bent, come hell or high water. They are going to surround Zach Wilson with some help on offense. And I think that is a correction from what happened with Sam Donald.

Maybe it over-correction. Maybe they did too much to put some guys around Zach Wilson on that side of the ball. But it is clear with the moves they made this weekend, they are not going to let Zach Wilson fail because they didn't devote enough resources to his supporting guest. Yeah, even the trade back up for the offensive line.

And it was like, yeah, okay. That's the thing that signifies it the most. It's like, okay, they're there's being smart about this. It's like, okay, even we, it's going to crack at a joke at Zach Wilson's expense. It's like what, what are the negatives with him is that he had domino line and ball winners that are winning every ball. Okay. So it's given a dominant offenseal line.

No, but it's, yeah, we can nitpick whatever quarterback they picked. there's a lot of good quarterbacks at the top, but putting Veritucker around them, I know they gave up a decent amount, but it's like, I'm fine with that trade because I think the prospect is a real prospect. And I know that's kind of results oriented thinking. But I get where they're coming from with it, even though the second round pick with Elijah Moore makes all the sense in the world. I mean, just receiver-wise, it's always going to be situational about where these guys fit in

and also scheme-wise and, of course, quarterback that throws to them. But at least Zach Wilson now, he has a ball winner with Denzel Mims. Corey Davis is just, I mean, at least a good starter. And it's intermediate to that. He can kind of do a little bit of everything and also brings physicality. And then you get Elijah Moore who I really liked him. I really like this fit. I can easily picture all three.

I see the synergy with it. Like, you know, the ball winning on the outside. Elijah Moore, even though he is smaller, he's a competitive and tough dude. Like he plays big. He's just a football player. Like, that's how I try to keep describing him because he's just a fun, like, player. Like, you know, it's hard to pigeonholme. He probably will have to make a living on the slot just because that's how it is.

But it's like I don't want to pigeonhole him that much because he just, he does a little bit more than what you picture with a slot guy. You know, he's tough over the middle. He can find those soft zones. But he also, you know, does enough, has enough moxie in size or a strength, play strength to win on the outside a little bit, just a little bit. But I like that. I like that. But he doesn't have to here. I mean, if you doesn't have to.

You're not drafted him 20th overall. Correct. him to be your number one receiver. It fits with the other pieces they have. I'm interested in what this means for Crowder. And is somebody that they release? Can they get some sort of late round pick for him? He's a $10 million-based salary this year.

So he may not garner much interest at that price on the trade market. But I mean, this is something that if you wanted to save that $10 million now, you might feel good about it because they have three starting caliber receivers and they sign Keel and Keele and Free Agency. Yeah. So they have a lot of talent there now. The Verit Tucker thing, I understand why it's not smart process to trade

what amounts to a third and a fourth round pick to move up for an interior offensive lineman. I get that. I want that to be clear right away. He's really good. And he was clearly the best interior offensive linemen in the draft. And I know saying a prospect is safe is... Fool's errand and famous last words.

Yeah. He seems like an incredibly high floor guy. And pairing him next to Bechton for the next five. years and just having two blocks of granite on that side for your second overall pick. That's what I'm saying when it might be an overcorrection. Joe Douglas is looking at this and he is saying if Zach Wilson fails, it's not going to because I didn't give him enough help. And I think that's what drives that sort of move.

And you can look at a rookie quarterback contract a couple different ways. Do you look at it as a way to build up your defense? Do you say we have all these resources, we have this extra money, how do we spend? and the Jets, from all that we've seen so far, obviously they signed Carl Austin and free agency, but to go get Corey Davis to use the second round pick on Elijah Moore and trade back up in the first round to draft Elijah Vera Tucker. They are clearly saying we're going to use those resources to insulate Wilson as much as we possibly can. After everything that happened with Sam Darnold, I certainly don't blame them. Yeah. I think Joe Douglas was like, I never want to be put in that situation ever again.

So I'm going to make sure that I never have to make the decision of whether it's the quarterback's issue or is it the situation's issue. And I, you know, of course, we're all going to knock. Oh, we shouldn't trade up for a player and everything. Obviously, the answer is don't only trade up for a quarterback. But it's like, at least they didn't trade up for or they took a running back with their second first round pick. They didn't trade up for a receiver. It's like, okay, the process is better than so many other teams show when they're in this type of situation. Even the guy, the runnerback they took later on, Michael Carter.

wanted to ask you about him. So how do you think he fits with what they like to do? Because I know you like him. I'm a big fan. Yeah. I don't think he's ever going to be a star or anything, but it's just he. I actually even, I was just right before the show, I was rereading my write-up on him.

And then I said, I think he is kind of scheme proof in the sense that he shows natural vision and that that ability to get north quickly that kind of applies any type of run that you want to run. But that applies the most in his own scheme. And guess what? You know, they have a they have a floor as offense coordinator. So, you know, I think we're going to see a little bit of that. I love the fit.

He's not going to be a bell cow, but he has, you know, just that good vision that translates. He sets up blocks. In North Carolina scheme, it was a lot more gap, counter scheme with all the RPO's. And you could see him, he has that kind of patience to wait for the puller and to plant his foot. As, you know, he sets up the linebacker to get blocked and then just gets underneath him. That's a nice, natural thing that you'd see a guy show. And he has legit three-down ability. He wasn't asked to run a ton of routes in North Carolina scheme because there was so

the RPO's or as to pass protect. But he has that kind of natural body control. It's not, it's kind of like Kamara, Alvin Kamara in the sense that it's not smooth. You know, it's not that overly twitchy, but it's just always under control. And he has that kind of upright. And all of a sudden, boom, boom. He has just one, two moves. And it's just like, wow, he's moving a lot quicker than you realize.

He's not Kamara's caliber. He's a tinier player than that. But that kind of same style of player. I do think he has route running potential to be a true three down back. And pass protection, he's going to name. need work almost, I would say 95% of college runbacks need work on pass protection. So he's going to need that work. But I do think he showed good eyes when he did have to do that. So it's like, okay, you can probably still stay on the field and be a legit three down guy.

Do I think he's going to be a 20 touch guy? No, but he's going to be valuable for those 10 to 15 touches that he does get. All right. I want to talk about a couple of the other teams that I guess kind to own this draft. Or we expected to own this draft in terms of the draft capital they had in the top 50. That includes the Jaguars. Obviously, we hit. on Travis E.TN on Thursday night when we discussed it. We thought this might happen. We were looking at the players available, what Urban Meyer might prioritize.

It is not surprising to see them draft Travis Eton in the first round because he represents such a pop of speed in the way that Urban Meyer might find attractive. It's the contrast to what we solve with the Jets, right? The trade-up is not great, but it's still better process than drafting a running back at 25 when you already have a good running.

back. So that one questionable. They draft Tyson Campbell in the second round at 33. Probably says something about what they view, how they view C.J. Henderson in this regime. The fact that they went out and they signed Shaq Griffin, used the 33rd overall pick on a corner. Maybe Henderson moves to the slot. And then they drafted Walker Little at 45.

Makes sense to me. When they re-sign Cam Robinson, or then they gave them the franchise tag, I liked it because it doesn't force you to find a starting tackle in the draft. But if you want to draft a guy that you think is a better long-term answer,

with everything I've heard about a little, a lot of upside, a lot of question marks, this allows them to bring him along at a decently slow pace. They drafted Andre Sisko with safety from Syracuse

in the third round, who could potentially start for them with Rayshon Jenkins, who they signed in free agency. So rebuilding the secondary a little bit, going to get an unnecessary shiny toy on offense that they probably didn't need an ETN.

But for the most part, I think they spent their resources in the way we probably would have expected coming in. And Urban Meyer came out afterward and said, the guy they really wanted that was not there anymore was Cadarius Tony, which I'm sure you are not surprised about because that also seems pretty on brand. It does.

God damn it, Urban. But, you know, like the Walker Little Pick, it's like, okay, that's good process to me. Because it's when you take a more project-y type of tackle especially, I think what happens is so many of these guys get thrown into fire as a rookie. And it's just like, it's sink or swim, baby. You know, let's see if that you could develop in the fire. But it's like, okay, now he doesn't have to be the day one starter. And he could be your swing tackle.

That's, that's good process to me. On the flip side, yes, Travis Eton in the first round. He's saying, oh, yeah, we got Carlos Hyde and James Robinson and he's going to be our third down back. Travis E.T.N hasn't passed protected like once in like four years. Like that is like his absolute glaring weakness as he is awful in past protection. And that's me saying. Also, drafting guy at 25th overall that you're going to use one down every

probably is extract a lot of value from somebody. Yeah, it's, I like the player. That's the thing with ETN. And I, I had a late second round grade on him, okay, put it this way. Him and Michael Carter, I had the same grade on. If that one got picked later on, one got picked in the first round. So that kind of really sums it up because they have limitations. They can't play all three downs.

If you're going to take a runback early, he better play all three downs because otherwise he's a package player. And as much as the explosive, the home run ability, that's great. I just, yeah, I didn't really like the pick. And also you have James Robinson on undrafted free agent contract. And he's a three down running back. And it's like, it's just a lot of bad process there. And I'm still trying to grasp it.

But yeah, like that's so funny though, the quote with Tony because it's just like, of course, of course that's the other player you're looking for you trying to find. He just wants to run jet sweeps. That's all he's picturing. He just thinks he needs a guy to run jet sweeps. And it's like you can find those guys in fourth, fifth, six round. Anywhere. Anywhere.

Anywhere. Not with your 25th overall pick and a rebuilding team. So wasn't was not a huge fan of that. still love Trevor Lawrence though. Even if we don't love the value, and we didn't really talk about Trevor Lawrence at all on Thursday because it wasn't a surprise, and we came on after that pick, it happened.

So how do you think, even if we don't love the process of how we necessarily got here, the way they've built around Lawrence and what they have and what he's stepping into, how confident do you feel about their ability to be a pretty good offense in year one with the pieces that were already in place? Oh, Trevor's going to make everything look good.

I think no matter what they put around them. So what they do want to get out, I think is like he's going to get out of it. So honestly, they're putting it on the coaches. I mean, because Trevor's going to, like if you're going to go boom, boom, boom, I'm going to run this scheme. I'm going to run this concept. I think I have the faith in Trevor Lawrence to run it how you want to run it. So honestly, it's up to the coaches now. But it actually was more telling to me that, you know, they have bevel there.

they've you know shotenheimer there and it's like ira mire's fingerprints are all over the offense still it's like you know that was very telling to me so now i'm really curious of what they are going to run like is it going to be what it looks like is my biggest question because i have i think it's a total frankincolence monster yes i know and that can be good or bad yeah yeah that can go one of two ways who when they have an argument about what play goes in or what concept goes in or what they want to run who has final say who goes yeah that's going to be a really really curious. I do think whatever they put around Trevor Lawrence, he's going to run and it's going to look great. So that's why it's hard. It's not as easy to tell how bad or how good it is because

you're always going to have that back of your mind. I do think they're going to be fine. I think they have enough offensive minds to make this work. They just have a weird concept of value at this point, but maybe they'll learn. So speaking of teams that control the draft a little bit, the Dolphins also four picks in the top 50. It's hard not to get excited about what this roster looks like on paper. I mean, I know we don't love Jail and Waddle at six. Yeah. Just because we've talked about this,

speed and where you can find it, what he provides you. But there's no denying that with him and Wolfhole where they're significantly more explosive than they were. So after moving on from Van Nuoy and Shaq Lawson, Edge was the need for them. They went and got Jaylon Phillips, who is arguably the most talented edge player in this entire class,

even with the questions about him. so you check those two boxes off. Javon Holland at 36. I don't know a ton about Javon Holland. I've read up a lot about him since the move. But my understanding can play over the slot, can play a center field, not necessarily a box guy,

but versatile. Ball Hawk, too, just a ton of ball production at when he was at Oregon. And it's funny because it almost reminds me of the scouting report you would have used for Xavier Howard when he was at Baylor. Not the greatest athlete ran in the four-fives, I want to say.

Tons of ball production when he was at Baylor. I think he had nine interceptions total over his last two seasons. So a guy that is around the ball makes plays, even if there are some concerns about just how explosive he really is. And then they drafted Liam Eichenberg at 42, who, again, production. Guys just started multiple years at left tackle for Notre Dame. Some legitimate questions about him, I think. The length is terrifying.

Obviously, Larry. 32 and 3 eighths inch arms. And it shows up on tape when you, watch him. He also, Brandon Thorne and I didn't really get into this when we talked about the tackles, but he has a weird quirk where he punches with both hands. And when you're doing that, it's, you put yourself in a very bad position. You get your head over your toes. Yep. If you get a swipe from a guy who really knows how to use his hands, your quarterback is about to lose his helmet. It's a bad, bad situation. Yes. So can he start to learn to use some independent hands? But his

feet are very good. He's solid. So if they view him as a tackle, which we've seen tackles with short arms succeed, but it's still a longer road to get there. Do you move Robert Hunt inside? It's just adding pieces to your offensive line. They've spent a lot on it with Hunt in the second round, with Jackson last year, now you add Ikenberg.

But if they get five quality starters out of this, that's the goal. And I just think overall, there are very few holes on this roster. You're building depth at important places like the defensive back foot with the guy like Holland. I mean, this is what this process was supposed to net them. It was supposed to net them a roster that looks like the one they have on paper right now.

Right now, if you were looking at just your questions about the dolphins, the things you still need answered. I want to say outside of his development, because that's obviously number one. But for the rest of the personnel, are there other aspects of this roster that you still need to see more from? Or do you feel pretty good about most of the boxes that they've checked? Weapons-wise, it feel good. I still want to see how the O-line looks this year. I mean, that's the obvious thing. I have to.

And even tight end, they took Hunter Long and in the third round, I believe. And Hunter Long, they're going to probably slot in at Y because they have to because Gaseki is just a receiver glorified as a tight end. He's going to need a lot of work still to sustain in the run game and all that. So if they do slot him at Y, so maybe they're going to spread and basically run a glorify 10 personnel, who knows what they're going to do. But they got speed. So I just need to see the offensive line.

I think I trust what Coach Flores is done down there on defensive wise because two years in a row, they played hard and they play intelligently. So now that they're just accumulating talent, I'm just going to trust it. Just like a simple math game, simple math game, competent coaching with more talent with who they want. Okay, probably going to keep being good and productive. Holland's going to be interesting because, yeah, like you said, he can play over the slot. What a Patriots like to do with some of their safeties. They play three safety looks or they have a, that kind of body.

Versatility, baby. Versatility and a ball hawk, which shows spatial awareness and toughness over the middle. I know we talk about that with the receivers, but same with safeties and these big nickel types. They have to navigate a lot of bodies. They have to read the quarterback and understand concepts that are happening all between them. Because you have to be, that's why the nickel or the apex position,

whoever plays out there is such a tough position. There's a lot of shit coming at you. You're an outside corner. They only can go so many ways. You're a nickel income anyway, and then you have to defend the run. So it's like, that's a lot of just stuff that can come at you.

So if you get a guy that's even just good at that, it doesn't have to be a star. that unlocks a defense because it just the looks. If you go big nickel or you go two safety look, three safety look, and then as an offense to play card, I'm like, well, that guy can do anything. He's kind of a gadget or he's kind of a Swiss Army knife. It doesn't really give me something to attack.

So I do like that. Ikemberg, hey, just invest in offensive line. There's nothing wrong. Even though the guy with limitations, worst case, I mean, depth. It's at the worst case he's a guard. Maybe Hunt stays outside and you think he's a guard. It's just. Versatility is not the worst thing.

line. Injuries happen on the offensive line. They happen to every position, but injuries and offense aligned, we have seen it time and time again devastate an entire team, not just an offense, just a team because you just takes a wind out of your sales. So they're investing in these premium positions. He might be like Riley Reef where he just always has those limitations and, and, and, but he maximizes it.

He does play fast. He has good eyes. So, you know, it's fine. That's where you're going to get at that type of pick. You're not going to get. If he was a freak, you got top 20. So, uh, that's kind of, that's kind of one of those things. but I'm fine with it.

You see the vision. Yeah, of course, we're going to talk. I'm a, have a blemish with Waddle on the top 10. But you know what? They needed something like that. That's where they wanted to get them. They have the draft capital to kind of do those types of things, just like we talked about the other day.

So I will have a ton of conversations about what their offense might look like and how we get the most out of two moving forward here. I think it's one of the more fascinating questions about the entire NFL is not only his development, but the plan for his development. They're set up there with a multiple offensive coordinator. and the revolving door that's been there at that play caller spot. I mean, it is because so many other aspects of what they've done are what you'd want a team to do. They've followed good process in so many ways.

So now that's really the question. Is this the final little piece they can figure out with both the staff, how they distill the offense for him, how they construct it, all of that stuff? It is one of the bigger things we're going to have to figure out here over the next six months, but we've got a lot of time to get there. One of my other takeaways is that the Browns and the Chargers did nothing to slow down the hype train this weekend. For me and I think for a lot of other people. Yeah. So we discussed the Greg Newsom pick at 26, a pick that I love. I mean, a guy that is very comfortable in zone coverage, really good feet, clearly plays with great awareness.

And they're going to run a ton of zone coverage in that Joe Wood's defense. And we've talked about this too. It's just slotting guys down. Now that you have Newsom in there, he's probably going to be there. second outside corner. Doesn't need to be, if he's not ready, they have Greedy Williams there. But I think ideally for them, Williams would be their fourth corner. They have Troy Hill that they signed in free agency.

So now, instead of relying on Greedy Williams, he's your fourth corner, which bumping those guys down is really nice. At 52, they get, I think in a lot of people's minds, one of the best values in the entire draft getting Jeremiah Wusukharamo at 52. There are some people that had him in the top 20. And you can understand how this happens, right? You have a guy without a defined position in the NFL. They're going to be coaching staffs when they get involved in the process that when they're

looking at this guy, they think, well, he can't do anything. He doesn't fit what we do. And so he's just going to fall off some boards and fall way down some boards. And so that's how I think you get this situation with a guy that some people love, some people don't like because there's so many questions about where he's best and what he can do. And with the Browns, I just thought in their minds it was whatever. I mean, we'll find a way to use a guy with this sort of talent. And they traded the equivalent of the 190th pick in the draft to move up to get him.

That's by the Chase Stewart chart. I think they would tell you it was a seventh round pick according to their math. They'll trade a seventh round pick to go up and get a guy like this. And what I find so interesting about this kind of talks about, similar to what we're talking about with Holland. The Browns spent this offseason adding layers to their defensive personnel. So, all right, what is a Wusu Cormo for the Browns? He's a tacked on piece to different personnel. He can be, if you want to, let's say a team lines up in 11 and they like running at you when you're in base.

if he's your third linebacker now and he can be over the slot, there are runs in 11 personnel that look a lot worse now because he's your slot defender. It's just those little tiny tweaks to personnel groupings. They have three safeties they like now. Now their corner depth is so much better. They just have layers of flexibility and complementary pieces at every level of their defense now.

That's how they've built all offseason. If this is a guy that you pick at 52 and think, Oh, he's going to start right away. We need him to be a contributor to all of that. It's not even almost true. They can spend all of training camp with this guy who has tons of talent and coverage ability on the second level and just experiment. Can he do this? Can he do that?

Oh, we can't do that? Let's not have him do that. That's the luxury when you have a deep roster and you can chase talented players like this. Yeah. We look at it so many times with tweeners on offense, like Rondale Moore, with the car. Okay. How does he fit in? Oh, okay. Well, that's a good situation for him because now he doesn't have to win on the, same thing. Same thing. Same thing. Same thing. This is the same equivalent to Ron Dale Moore, just on defense. It's a shorter, versatile guy that's explosive and it just has these weird combination of traits that makes him a hard evaluation, but you know he's a good football player. So it's, but like you're saying, if you're in a situation where you can guide this guy along and he doesn't have to slot in and you're like, man, this guy is going to have to start day one for us. that's the tough situation. But when you take them at the end of the second, that's great.

When you take him top 15, then you're like, yeah, we're kind of like, yeah, it could. When he's Isaiah Simmons, it's an completely different conversation. Exactly. And it's, it's one of those where it's like, that's the bet worth making. The pot might be the same, but the chips that I put into it are a lot less. And that's how you have to look at it. It's the reward can be the same. And if you have a situation or a team like the Browns are like, all right, my,

our defense, we're still figuring out what it is, but at least we know we're versatile, or at least we have a willingness to be versatile or a willingness to think outside the box and how to use these guys. There's nothing worse than, I mean, the offense equipment is the Jaguar is taking Travis ETIM because they need a jet sweep guy. It's like, come on. Just in the NFL, you can't always get your perfect player. You have to be able to adapt to what you have. And the best coaches do that. And that's just one of those things where it's like they get a great player.

And it's like, I'm curious how they are going to use them because they have all those safeties that might have overlap with that. but that's what's awesome is that it could be so situational and it could be so game-planty. It's like they're just giving themselves more tools to work with. And then this guy also is getting in a situation where it's like he can add to his own toolbox or get bigger and yada, yada, yada. But it's just a win-win. It's one of those matches of a player and situation that's going to work out. I really do think so because he's just a really fun player.

The way they've built this offseason, in their minds, they want to be a top five offense this year, which I think is not unreasonable. You would expect maybe some regression from how the good they were in the second half of last season. They didn't have O'Dell Beckham. And if you look at the overall numbers that they had last year on offense, that month where they were playing in monsoons and playing like shit is a part of their season long stats. In their minds, that is an outlier. And they can be a true top five offense this year. If you're a true top five offense, which they have the personnel to be, by the way, what do you need to be on defense?

You need to be average and a little bit volatile. And that is what they've given themselves this year. They went and got Clowny to be an interior spinner rusher in packages and just stir shit up. They went and built their depth in the secondary. They just want to have answers on defense to be able to get to a certain level, top 12, top 15. As long as we're in that group and their offense can be as good as they want it to be, that's a Super Bowl contender. And that is how they're thinking about this stuff. And I think the little spice they dropped into the offensive part of this little stew is very fun.

They went got Anthony Schwartz at 91, who I know you really like. Build is a speed guy, fastest guy in the entire draft offensively. But you think he could be a little bit more than that, don't you? I do. I think this is what people wanted Henry Ruggs to be a little bit. Except it's in 91. It's at 91, not 12 or 11. 11.

It's funny. Actually, I think Schwartz was 91 on our overall. all board or 92. So it's like I felt really, really good about this. Um, so I, but yeah, I am high on Schwartz. I, yeah, he is a track guy. And these are usually the guys I hate, I'm like track background. Oh my God. He's not going to play top. He's going to be stiff, hip, and straight line. He's going be thin build. He is thin, like, thinly built. He has a track background and not just like a track background where it's like, oh, he runs in college, like world class, world record track background. He set the youth record in the hundred meters for the world, like the, like, which is incredible.

But the Auburn offense, the quarterback situation was awful. Auburn's offense is just very, it's a glorified option offense out of the gun. That's why Gus Miles Zondio, he was very revolutionary, but he hasn't changed shit in forever. But it's, you know, so he didn't run a lot of routes. You know, it was vertical. And then he'd run the jet sweep a lot and run it to the flat. It's everything that came after that. So obviously route riding is going to be something needs to improve on.

But he lined up in the slot a lot, didn't he? And it was just, it was on sale routes and everything. And that's exactly what I was going to say is that on those routes, he was bending and moving. And then he'd catch the ball and turn and get up field. And also it's he's thin. He can't do it. But he plays tough. He'll lower his shoulder and try to like run through a guy as opposed to more most track guys is that they get tapped and they just kind of fall down like my cat.

And it's like, you know, but with him, it's, it's, he's actually willing to lower his shoulder. Can you do it? No. But at least he has that mindset. He's a willing blocker. Can he do it? Not all the time, but he tries to. But it's like, okay, that's his mindset.

So that's a mindset that usually shows that he wants to work on his game because he's trying, he's trying, he's trying, he's trying to put in a fun situation. Auburn had another great receiver, Seth Williams. That guy shut it down half the season. And Anthony Schwartz was just going, going, going, trying to get better, trying to get better. That's good stuff. I just think no matter what, he's going to be useful posting over a guy because he actually has natural hands. Like that ball, when he snatches, you can see it on all the jet sweep. flat routes basically that he would catch.

He's extending and naturally snagging it and he's looking up field to get north. And it's not none of those double catches that, you know, it's comfortable hands. So I just think there's more to this guy. I think even when I wrote him up, I said this guy has, if he goes in this situation that they have two other guys and he's the number three cherry on top, he's going to unlock everything because there's more to him. And that's exactly what he is. And guess where do you went?

Cleveland Browns with Odell Beckham, Jarvis Landry, Austin Hooper. We're all working underneath. And it's just like, yeah, that's going to be a great fit. I can already picture it on a half, all that half roll stuff, you know, that they run and just like him taking the top off for everybody else and then catching a couple bombs from Baker. It's like it's a great fit. I just, I really like Schwartz. He was probably my favorite burner of the draft.

But I do think he's just more of a football player than these usual track guys are. And I think that's what they would tell you. When they turned on the tape, they were surprised about how often he was inside, how often he was doing stuff that wasn't just speed-based. And they did not have that post element to their offense last year, especially after Odell went down. But even when Odell is there, you don't want him being that guy. No.

You don't want your number one receiver being that speed option, take the top off guy. You want him doing everything else. So on those concepts, the post is the alert, but the number one is the over. So you want your best player to be the number one, not the alert. So yeah, we want Odell on those overs. And that's the nice part about this. And this to me is the perfect example, and we've talked about this a million times,

of speed as seasoning, where he makes everything else taste a little bit better. Everybody else gets to be a truer version of themselves and settle in to a more appropriate role into what they should be within the offense when you add this dynamic to everything that the Browns will want to be. I love it. And again, it's just a perfect compliment

to the guys they already have. It really is. Let's stay on things I'm excited about, and that is the Chargers draft. We talked about Slater on Thursday to get a starting caliber left tackle at 13 when it's the last thing you need on offense is just real nice. Real nice. He will step in day one. They were very excited about him.

Then they drafted asante Samuel Jr. in the second round. Need. If you're looking at it, they were after Kyle Fuller. They did not get him. This is the one spot in their defense secondary. you need somebody right now, this guy is all instincts and playmaking.

He's a football player, man. And that, it's so funny because I'm with Staley and that staff there, even with Rinaldo Hill and even Jay Rogers, who's their defensive line coach, who's done a great job in Chicago. It's such a strong defensive staff. I'm always going to be interested in the types of players they like because I think it, it's just a good context.

It's like, oh, okay, why do they like him? And when I, my understanding of what they like in corners and what I've read and seen with the Sonday Samuel Jr. is it makes total sense. It's all instinctual recognition, being able to make plays downhill. Actual hand-eye coordination. He's not a, he's not a bad receiver that couldn't catch. So they just put him at corner. It's no, he's actually like, couldn't like track the ball. They don't want these guys who are six one, two, ten that just are in people's grills the entire time and are pushing people around.

that's not their biggest traits and their priorities for guys in the defensive secondary. They want guys that can play off, see it happen, all of that. And he seems to be that. So those two guys, I think, fit perfectly what they're trying to do. And then you love Josh Palmer, the receiver that they got in the third round. How do you think he fits with what Allen and Williams are for them right now? So Palmer was like a guy that I just kept watching and watching. It was just like he kept growing on me.

I ended up with like an early four. great on him. But it was like late third or early fourth. But where they took him, I was like, yeah, that makes sense. For him, I, even on my write up, I was like, I think this guy could ascend as a pro if he gets put into a situation where he could be the power slot. You know, what I call a power slot, you know, the Godwin, Larry Fitzgerald role and a Bruce Ariens office, just a bigger slot guy that's a blocker.

And also can, it's more of a working underneath kind of type, not the classic twitchy, cold Beasley guy that we all picture. By the way. normal sock guy. Where did Joe Lombardi just come from? New Orleans, who has Michael Thomas? Exactly. And so those, I see that with him because he, I think he timed about four or five,

and that's really what he is. But he has ball skills. He's tough. I would say he's an average to above average route runner. He runs high and leaves himself exposed a little bit. He's not overly twitchy, but he has some explosiveness to him. And he's tough and he has catching range. All those things are super useful over the middle of the field, you know,

because he can extend, he can find soft bots in zone, he can actually go up and get it if he's in the red zone, all of a sudden becomes a weapon in the red zone and those intermediate areas. And I just think, and he also is a willing, willing blocker and tough. And he's just a competitive guy. So I just think this guy is going to be a better pro than he was in college.

Tennessee was an awful situation for basically all their players. And this guy with Mike Williams and freaking Kenan Allen. And then this guy, Palmer, who's a big body, I think he's 6-1, about 210, 208, somewhere around there. that's a lot of big bodies for Justin Herbert. I mean, that is really,

really going to be like a really fun receiving core. And he has inside and outside versatility. I just think, I just like that fit. It like made so much sense to me. And I was like, it's another big body. And I mean,

that's hard to defend. Not a lot of teams have three corners that can keep up with three big bodies. And ball winners too. Like this guy can be an inside ball winner. I really like it. I, you know, the other third round are Trey McKitty. I wasn't very high on.

I had a seventh round grade on him. So I'll, I'll ignore that. That's all projection, right? You're just betting on traits and ability. Yeah. That is pure. I know what they saw that he has pop and his blocking.

He has a natural pop, but he's a 243 pound wide tight end. So what you're, what you're betting on is that he grows into his frame. It becomes more consistent. If it works, it's good. You get a nice solid wide tight end.

It's just that, you know, I was a little lower on him. But other than that, their first three, first three picks I loved. I really do. I just think Josh Palmer is just going to be one of those guys.

That's a perfect situation for him. And I trust, Joe Lombardi and just what they're going to do. And also he just doesn't have to be the guy. He can, you know, he's got two other guys. He's got true number one. Mike Williams is a good solid number two. It's like, that's just a really nice receiving room.

And you think, you know, do they have that explosive element? And they have Tyron Johnson there who played well for them last season. Yes. They have speed on that, in that receiving core, because that's my concern is the size. Yeah. Yes. And if you have the speed, if you have that side of it with Herbert and we saw how well he can push the ball at downfield,

but that showed up over and over again last year. Those guys are still there. So it just, again, you like how the pieces fit together. The other guy they drafted that I am really curious about it. It intrigues me is Chris Rumpf. Because he's undersized.

He's undersized. And so the question with him is, could he hold up as an edge guy in the league? But we've seen what the Rams did last year and how situationally they used some of their front seven players where it's like, okay, you could do this thing well, I'm going to have you do this thing. And that's why a guy like that that has one specific skill.

He's a very good pass rusher. And if you situationally, he could give you some juice up front. I think this is the perfect situation for him. Because it's a coaching staff that has shown a willingness to deploy guys only in ways that make sense for them and construct their defense around the very specific skill sets of some of the players that they have. So he's a fourth round pick. You don't get too excited about it. But in this defense, I'm curious to see how they use it.

I mean, if you get a designated hitter pass rusher, like in the fourth round that gets he six sacks a year, you are like, hugging everybody. You're hugging everybody. Like that is, for a fourth round pick, that is what you want. If you get a super role player in the fourth round, you are happy. So especially at a premium position. And I know they wanted to look at some other developmental interior alignment in the back half of the draft.

They went and drafted Brendan Hymas from Nebraska in the fifth round. Brandon Thorne loved him. And he was talking about. how a little undersized, play strength might be an issue, but really good feet, very solid. Guy puts on 20 pounds as a rookie doesn't have to play. And now suddenly maybe you get a starting caliber into your offensive line a year from now, two years from now.

So their plan during the draft was what I expected from them. And it seems like they hit a lot of the boxes that they wanted to. Yep. Next takeaway here, the Packers gave Aaron Rogers some help. Will he be there to enjoy it? We have not talked about this at all because I was a terrible host and should have talked about it more on Saturday or Thursday, but I was very distracted early on during that podcast. What do we make of all this? So they get Josh Myers in the second round, the center from Ohio State.

Theoretically, he can come in and start probably immediately if they keep Elton Jenkins at guard. That line then probably has five starting caliber players on it. They go get Amari Rogers in the third round. I don't know how you feel about this. He seems to perfectly fit what they were missing. I mean, he is not explosive, but interior guy can do a lot of different stuff over the middle of the field. I mean, that is a skill set that they just didn't have with any of the players on their roster last year. They had a lot of redundancy at receiver outside of Devante Adams.

This guy is on the exact opposite end of the spectrum from what people like MVS give them. You kind of nailed it. Yeah, I've described him as an efficient player. Like he is efficient route runner. When he gets a ball in his hands, he's going to get the first down, but he might not create that explosive play. But guess what? It's useful. That is.

And what I really liked about him is a jet sweep guy. This is where you draft the jet sweep guy. Yeah. Oh, weird in the third round, right? Yeah. Jet sweep slot guy, yeah, with a little bit of returnability. Yeah, he's just a solid, solid player. I've compared him to Sterling Shepard.

I think that's the type of play. Just an efficient player that you might not. Yeah, you might not always draw up the play for him, but if the ball goes to him, you're like, yeah, I'm fine with that. You know what also I always stood out with me with Rogers and it shows he's a football IQ guy and you can see you know we can make about being a coach's kid. So of course I'm going to have bias. That's going to show up on extended plays and scramble drill. If Aaron Rogers is there and him with extended the plays, hey, those guys have to find soft spots. That is like that's why those smart receivers have really stood with Aaron with Aaron Rogers because he makes him work and find spots. This guy is good at that. He's he's tough. He's thick build. He's shorter. I think he's five. 10 flat, but he's built like two, I think he's 210. Teams worked him out at running back. And so obviously the jet sweepstops is going to be there. But also it's just like, he has that thick build and he's tough. So it's like, okay, it makes all the sense of the world. It's another, they took him exactly where he should go. He's going to fit exactly what they need. He's not the

most explosive player, but he's efficient, efficient, and he's smart. So it just, it makes a lot of sense that he ended up as a packer. It's a skill set they've been missing in my mind for the last year. Yeah. I mean, we talked about it before last season in what, their offense would look like. You just don't see that type of player on their roster. They haven't had one of them. That's why I thought Curtis Samuel made sense for them. Just a guy like that, that they just, it's been missing.

They just haven't had that aspect of their offense. And they've been fine, obviously. But Aaron Jones was sprinting across the formation and motion for them because that they needed somebody to do that. And I think that Rogers clearly fits that for them. Even the back they took Kyle in the seventh round. I mean, that's a great point. I have no idea who that is.

Yeah, yeah. He's from Mississippi State. He, uh, they switched to a Michael Each offense this year. And so he just was, you know, it was not good. But his junior, he was first team all SEC as a runnerback. I mean, and it was legit. I had a fourth round grade on him. I just think he, he, he, it's kind of a hat on a hat, all the backs they have in that room.

He's a seventh round who gives a shit. Who gives a shit? And he's a three down running back. And it's like, I, I mean, I think he's a very rosterable guy. I think ideally he's a backup in the league. but I mean, I think he could be a good number two in the league. So even that pick, I liked a lot too. So they take Omari Rogers.

We'll see if the other Rogers is on the roster come week one. I don't know what to make of all of this. I can understand, you know, it's the timing is not an accident. They wanted to make this known. They wanted to pitch a fit about it. And I don't blame them. I mean, I've been asked about this a bunch of different places. If you were the best employee at your company for 10 years and,

and a historically good one. Somebody would be a legend. Nationally recognized. Yes. And they hired your replacement without discussing it with you as you were probably going to retire at some point soon. You'd be pissed. You'd be really, really mad. And I do think this is one of those areas where not having an owner and not having someone more concerned with that side of it probably comes into play.

They're operating as though We're just worried about the team And the future and all of this stuff And I can get that But at the same time This dude won three MVP awards And a Super Bowl And it's one of the greatest quarterbacks

Of all time He'd be more a part of that process If I were doing this Than he seems to be in Green Bay And all reports indicate That he's very mad And I don't think that's unfounded No and I mean shit

What he had to go through At the end of the McCarthy era I mean, yeah, even it doesn't matter what's happened the last couple of years. I'd be, I'd be ticked off about what happened then. Yeah, it's one of those where you're trying to read the tea leaves and everything, but it's like, it's a long time coming. And I mean, it started, I think the last straw, I would say the last straw, but the kind of the last domino to fall was the last year's draft.

And then it's just ever since then, I think it's just been total FU mode, Aaron Rogers has. And I think it's continued. And now it's just next, this is this year's draft. And like you said, it wasn't. by accident, all this news broke this week. So I'm interested to see. I think you as a Bears fan are probably very interested to see. But no, it's a huge domino to fall because if he does on him up on another team,

that can change the landscape. I mean, that's going to change the landscape of everything. So it's interesting. I think the team that makes the most sense is still Denver. I agree. If you're looking at it, they have no hesitation.

They have the motivation to do it. It's in the AFC. So maybe the Packers would be more receptive to that idea. I mean, I don't think they should trade them. I think they should just keep him and see how this all plays out. But if he refuses to come back, he refuses to come back. If there is a guy who has enough money that he could just sit on like smog and just go sit in his cave and count his coins for the next however many years,

it's probably Aaron Rogers. So he doesn't need to come back to the Packers at this stage of his career if he doesn't want to. Who knows how real all of that is? Who knows how real the report is that he wants who's gone that Charles Robinson from Yahoo who reported before he comes back. All of this stuff, I'm sure we'll learn a ton more about it. Even talking about it seems like there's not much we can learn or not much we can figure out by talking through it.

But I do think we should address it because it's going to be something hanging over the NFL offseason here for a while. Sticking with quarterbacks here, what do we make of the mini run on quarterbacks from 64 to 67? Kyle Trasco, 64th overall. I don't know if you knew this, Nate. but Bruce Ariens loves him a prototypical quarterback. Oh my God.

The 6-5-230-pound guy going to Bruce Ariens' team, odds were off the board in Vegas. You could not get that. He loves him so much. He makes his offensive coordinator, the other 6-5. It's really funny. Even he's the prototypical quarterback size. How about the long-snapper run we had in the draft, too? That was hilarious, too.

Like, boom, boom, boom, long snapper's going. but I think that's the classic. Okay, we got way down this position. Hey, we don't have to take this guy yet. And then the one, finally, one guy takes that position and it's just like everyone goes. We've all played everyone that's play fantasy football knows. It's the same thing.

It's just I wasn't a huge fan of any of these three guys. I had no, none of them higher than a middle fourth round grade. I think a Trask was the highest one, but it was like split in Harris between these three. Trask gets hilarious because, yeah, he's big and tough. And you got to be big and tough to play quarterback and area. scheme you just do you're taking a lot of hits you got to be able to see the fall ball downfield you can't be everything has to be on time and tressk that's one thing he does do when everything goes well it's he throws a ball on time but i would say my my arm strength is about comparable to kyle tress which if you're

six five two 30 and can't really move very well and also don't have a strong arm it's it's it's little weird stuff yeah it can't run out of his own shadow he's got big feet not in the right in the good way and it's uh yeah the arm strength is just he has got a popcorn arm it is what it is So it's interesting. I think he likes the idea of Kyle Trask, maybe more than what Kyle Trask actually is. I think it would be the best way to put it. So that's obviously a long-term possible successor or just a backup for time.

I just knock Trask, but I do think he could be a real good backup. Sure. I don't really see the path to starter with him, if I'm being honest. So a more immediate need might be in Houston where they drafted Davis Mills in the third round. I don't know if this necessarily signals the end of Deshawn Watson's time in Houston or if that's overstating it. Drafting a quarterback in the third round doesn't mean that you're moving on from your starter. I mean, you don't necessarily expect that guy to develop into a starting caliber quarterback, especially in short order. But this could mean something for how they see Deshaun Watson.

The fact that it was their first pick in the draft also is worth noting if this was a team that with our fifth selection, we drafted a quarterback in the third round. But the idea that this was the first pick they had might indicate that Deshaun Watson's time for one reason or another is going to be limited in Houston. I will say, trading up for Nico Collins, if you're the Texans, I just don't know what the Texans are trying to accomplish at this point. And maybe they just thought he was so good.

We have all these later round picks and we might as well just go get a guy who we think can be a starting caliber player for us. their timeline is hard to read. Everything about that situation is just difficult to understand. There's such an anomaly in so many ways that that that's why it's going to be impossible to kind of go like, oh, yeah, that makes sense for them or like, oh, I can see, I can see the, the timeline they're on like you just said. It's just like, yeah, you're guessing as long like it's a classic where a person reading

Twitter knows 1%, we know 2% here. Like we, I barely know anything more. People like Mills, I wasn't high on them. I think, again, I think he's a backup type. My qualms with him was that for a guy that, you know, five-star guy, I get, he had some serious injuries. And, you know, and he's at Stanford, though, with pretty, pretty dang good, uh, or head coach and play caller there. And he's a later guy. It's not like he started as a freshman.

He made a lot of kind of like head scratching. No, no, no, no, no, like decisions that I really want to want to see. I have a guy that some people are describing as polished player or polished passer. And also, you know, he had accuracy as, uh, I mean, he's not, I think. think he's fairly accurate. He's pretty good accuracy. But he had a couple of spray balls that I'm like, oh, what are you doing? Like mechanically, I thought just more polish for a guy that's supposed being labeled as a polished guy. I know he has limited starts, but it was like, man, I just was hoping to see some more consistency to see all this. I'm not a huge fan. I really don't see the starter

potential with him. But, you know, I think he does can be a good backup type. Problem is, though, if you have Tyron, Tyra Taylor and you don't expect, even if you don't expect to Sean Watson be there in a year. Does drafting a third round pick that probably doesn't have a path to start for you? And if you're going to be bad, you're probably going to be looking for Watson's replacement high in the draft anyway.

Are you wasting a pick at the top of the third round on a guy like Davis Mills? I think that's the question. I think they are. And that's, it's still a third round pick. It's not a fifth round pick. You are hoping you can maybe find a starter

or contributor at a different position if you go that route at the top of the third round. So staying with that, Kellan Mon goes to Minnesota. Do you think this is a sign that they would like a guy with a lot more physical ability than somebody like Kirk Cousins has to potentially take over for cousins down the road? Man, Spilman just like goes for athletes at any position, man. It's just like it doesn't matter what the position is, even quarterback. You know, Mon has his limitations.

He's extremely robotic. And I think some of that is he got overcoached a little bit for. from Jimbo Fisher, every quarterback that plays under Jimbo Fisher, you're going to get your mechanics tweaked, even warmups of the game day. I've been around Paul Chris, who doesn't say crap to you on game day. And then I get to, and that's the complete opposite of that. And some of it's good. Some of it's more like, hey, let the guy breathe a little bit and play football. So you almost have to like, you know, unscrew him a little bit and just kind of like, yeah, relax, relax, relax. You see some traits there. I actually, less is more for him.

And I think that's actually what a Kubiak offense will do. If he's going to succeed, this is the only offense I could see him succeeding in. I'll put it. That's a good way to sum it up. Again, I had none of these guys hired than a fourth round grade. So like him going in early third, it was like, okay, whatever. You're always going to inflate it on the quarterback. He gets super locked in on stuff.

He has a thinner frame. He's athletic, but he doesn't really create. He's more straight line explosive than lateral twitchy. So he's a weird, weird watch. As far as for cousins and stuff, I don't think he has much to, worry about for this year or next year. But I do think if Mond is going to, you know, that whole bus bench starter star, if the path to starter or even star for Mon, this is this was his best chance to get it. Because just in the offense that he's going to be in, they're going to just,

it's going to be less is more. Just movement throws one to two, use your athleticism. He throws a beautiful deep ball in a spiral. It's just the problem is he never throws a deep ball. And sometimes he gets locked in on number one. And then he just can't create after that. If everything plays out how he wants to see it, it's great. It's like, oh, my God, really nice throw there. But then the next three plays, if, oh, my God, he, he's not a quick processor. Well, that's why putting him in an offense that points him in the right direction consistently might be the way to get the most out of him. That is like, that is why if he is, we're, this is the one spot, I really do think he could ascend, but it's still going to be,

it's, it's still a long ways to go for him. So really with cousins, don't think he has too much to worry about as far as this year. But, um, it's still going to be, but, Maybe he does. Maybe, you know, the Kubiak just unlocked something. And there is something there, you know. But he is a good athlete. He is good throwing on the move. Vikings also did take a couple of my favorite sleepers, but that's later in the draft.

So let's talk about that because I want to, I think it's a potentially a big draft for them. And it's, maybe it's not. But they had a lot. They had extra forts. They had extra thirds. They traded down to get Christian Derrissau, who they think is really talented. I think will be their left tackle. And then they got Wyatt Davis later in the draft to,

People really, his 2019 tape is good. You turn in 2020 tape and you can tell he was just hurt. He looked like a different player. So to get that guy in the fourth round and I think somebody who could start for them immediately at guard. So now you have a left tackle, a starting guard that allows Cleveland to stay at guard. You still have O'Neill. We'll see what happens with Bradbury. The line could be pretty good if those guys hit and can contribute early.

Then we know we like the receivers with Thielen and Jefferson. We'll talk about another potential one of those here in a second. And then they added a pass rusher in the middle of the draft. They added the linebacker who's considered a developmental guy was a former quarterback in North Carolina. So that guy can come along slowly. It does really seem like they could build up the meat of their roster in a single draft here if some of these guys hit.

I just don't know why. You and I talk about them so much. Because they're consistently decent and they're always relevant, their path to taking the final step is just something I spend a lot of time thinking about. And so this draft and what role it could play in that process, it's just something I'll be keeping an eye on. So the receiver they picked in the fifth round from Iowa, you like. Love.

Amir Smith-Marcette. Yeah, I really, really like this guy. I understand the limitations. He's 180 pounds. He's not, I think you ran a four or five flats. He's not the most explosive or most athletic guy. But I mean, I just think this guy, He has that natural spatial awareness and route running ability.

Just feel on routes that the good route runners have. He understands body control. He understands how to use his body. He stacks guys when he's getting vertical. When he is running like a bang corner route, he settles. Like he doesn't sprint out and then all of a sudden he's at the sideline. He does all those kind of little things that like the good route runners do. I kind of compared him to a poor man's Emmanuel Sanders.

Do not say he's the same caliber player. but I had a high rate like just think of that type of player he was a dynamic kick returner he won big 10 specials of the year yeah I think he had three kick return touchdowns in his career you you just love receivers who were returners just guy one of your things you and kevin colbert actually football like football like against I'm like oh punt returns more punt returns is really what I want to see but yeah kick returns I do like it because honestly it shows up even if you look even if you're a box score scout even if you don't watch this guy and And I know there's plenty of these guys out there.

But even if you just look at their numbers and go, oh, yeah, this guy was productive. Iowa's offense was not, it's not conducive to receiving stats overall. But look at his rushing numbers. He is insanely productive on all these jet sweeps and all these designer plays that they give him because none of them are wasted. They might only give him 12 to 15, but he gets an official or an explosive play every single time. They might not go to the distance, but he's getting 15 to 20 yards. He has that natural body control and spatial awareness. and it's these kind of like good players.

I mean, just these useful, effective players are. I don't think he's going to be a star star, but I do think he has the upside of being like a nice good number two or even a number three. In Minnesota, I thought was a perfect landing spot. He went in the fifth. I had a third round grade on him.

He went the fifth. This doesn't surprise me where he went. Perfect situation. I mean, behind Theelin, he can return kicks and then maybe, you know, ascend from that point. Just does a lot of those little. The diet version of what Schwartz can be for the bronze.

Same kind of thought process. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, this guy's a much better route runner and better with the ball on his hands. But yes, yeah, same similar thought process. And also what Smith Marseille is just so funny. He was a water polo player. And you can see.

I've seen you say that. It's so funny because you can see his core strengths show up. Like you like that's where that kind of body control comes in. I just really like this guy. You know, I get why he dropped. I think he had a DUI last year. So that makes sense. So maybe there's some other stuff, you know, maturity stuff.

But I like him. I really do think he could be a good pro or at least just a very useful. Pro. And that's where you're trying to find these middle rounds. All right. Let's get to some of our favorite drafts beyond the teams we've already talked about. Just a couple here. Is there a team that we have not talked about that yet that you just really like what

they did and the guys they came away with? I would say it's maybe like my favorite draft, but like I get what they're doing is what the lines were doing. Sure. I, I, they are setting a culture. Even why I know that just obviously they built inside out that they went linemen, I believe, with their first three picks. The first receiver, they, they,

drafted is Amon Rosset Brown, who is a fit, uh, not the most athletic guy in the world, but tough and physical. And then in the, with the undrafted picks they had, I actually like their seventh round pick two, Jamar Jefferson. He has some injury stuff. He's not great and short yardage, but I think he can really ascend in his own scheme. Yeah, I thought he was going to go with the 49ers too. But anyways, even the undrafted receivers because they had to draft,

had to sign a whole bunch of undrafted receivers. They have nobody in that room. All the guys they signed were all big physical ballwinders that all can block. and I was like, okay, they have a type. They're set in a tone. They're set in a culture. Is it the best thing to do? I don't know.

But at least they have something they're going after. They're at least trying to set something and build something there. And I really like that. I liked what the Bears did. I think the Bears knocked out. I had a lot of fun players they drafted. Not just, you know, Justin Fields, have we talked about him once or twice? But, you know, Kevin Jenkins, um, um, Justice, uh, Muscatta, our friend really like Tonga

in the seventh round. He, people had high rounds, grades on him. They took them in seventh, which is great. Even these later picks they had with Khalil Herbert and Das Newsom, I believe, his last name. Yeah. With those guys, it's like, yeah, they have limitations, whatnot. They're not bad players. Like, they might be limited, but it's like, okay, like they took a lot of guys that I like.

I liked a lot of the guys that the Panthers took. I like Tommy Tremble. I can really see that third round pick. And if Joe Brady and it kind of looks like he is going this way is building more of the 2019 LSU offense with 11 personnel, being a primary thing, which they did a lot last year. But Tommy Trembal could be that Thaddeus Moss roll where he's this off ball lineback or off ball tight end that is basically a de facto fullback as well. That's what this guy is.

It's a perfect fit. If they're going to use them how I think, people call it a sniffer roll. But Y off is what I call it. That is a perfect fit for him if that is actually how they're going to use them. It's like, oh my God, I can see the vision there. And they took a couple other guys on defense that I like, of course, with Horn and some other guys. And yeah, we already talked about the charges and even the Ravens. I like, I like the receivers they took and I like Ben Mason, the fullback they took. And of course, you know,

Oa at the end of first round, which we talked about. That's a great landing spot for him. That one made a lot of sense. And then, well, I know I just nailed off like eight teams. No, that's, that's what that's what I'm after here. The chief's just upgrading their offensive line. I mean, uh, hell, hell yeah, like talk about knocking a fucking weekend out of a park. Yeah, talk about knocking a weekend out of the park. That's what they just did. They clearly are sitting there saying if our offensive line has five workable players, we're the best team. We know that. And that's how they did it this offseason.

And I can't blame them necessarily. I think that they probably overpaid in a couple different spots here, whether it was for Tuny or some of the, some of the aggressiveness in the way that they've overreacted or stretched a little bit too far on specific needs, I think is we don't talk about it as much because they have Patrick Mahomes and it matters less when you screw up if you have Patrick Mahomes. Everything smell better, baby. That's exactly right.

Oh, well, hold on, real quick. Hold on with the Chiefs, too. I actually like their middle round skill guys they took. Noah Gray, I think could be like a kind of Trey Burton type of player. Okay. I really like, I liked him. He's undersized.

He has short arms. He is what he is. He's O. F. Duke used him as their fullback because he's tough and he has great eyes. It's just that he's limited. It is what it is. But if one team's going to use them in the right way, Kansas City Chiefs are.

They know how to handle limited tight ends. And also, Cornell Powell, I think it's just going to be a good pro. I think he's always just going to be a number three, number four type, but it makes sense for what they have. He went to a situation where he gives them something different because he's not a true speed guy. He's going to bring a little bit of glue guy toughness, you know, he's like a mark of smart of the receiving room. Like he's just going to bring that kind of like that to the room.

And I like that. All right. So I think the bears probably deserve to be on this list. Yeah. They're undeniably better on offense. The people like the corner that they drafted out of Oregon in the sixth round, which I've read about two. Thomas Graham Jr. was a guy who was productive in college and is somebody that potentially could be a fine for them. But sticking at the top of the draft, if you come away with a guy who could potentially be your long-term quarterback,

even trading up in a future first-round pick to get him is a good thing. The Jenkins thing, this team trades up too much for my liking about for non-quarterbacks. And I don't like rewarding them or encouraging this behavior. but they traded the equivalent of a fourth round pick to move up for Jenkins. When you're thinking about the urgency for this staff, the glaring need they had it right tackle, the fall off what happened after him if you look at the position and where he was projected to be drafted. That is very important to note. You can understand it.

If you think this guy is right there in line with Derisaw and that group, and it's a group of four that can be true starters and talented guys at day one, which he could be. I can understand it. Their offense is a lot better right now than it was a week ago. And they have two guys that could be high-end starters for them. I've spent a lot of time thinking about this over the last few days and how excited I should be for it and talking myself into certain things.

My only concern here is what these moves say about and how they inform the timeline for the franchise. I'm concerned about whether this regime on the front office and the coaching staff how much time they're going to have. Because if this is a situation where if they go seven to nine this year and get fired, is it the same thing as 2018 where you draft a quarterback in the first round, you have a new coaching staff come in that didn't pick this guy and now they're forced to work with him. I think Justin Fields is supremely talented and that most staffs would probably find something to get excited about with him. but it's still something to think about. But I still think even with that concern and that consideration, this is a team that needed to do something drastic to break the cycle.

So this is Juneau 2020 that I wrote this after they traded for Nick Falls. They were mired in the middle and there was not a clear way out. I figured they'd be somewhere in the middle of the pack. They'd pick in the back half of the first round and probably be doing this all over again. And that's exactly what happened. They finished 8 and 8. They were picking 20th overall. They signed Andy Dalton in free agency.

They were fishing in the same pond of the same five guys that are quasi available every offseason at quarterback. And they were living the quarterback purgatory life that they've lived for far too long. And that life sucks. Just ask the Broncos what they're doing right now and trading for Teddy Bridgewater. They're fishing in the same pond. It's not fun. They needed to do something drastic to get out of it.

Wilson thing was an option that was probably never real, but you can understand why they'd wanted to. And this thing with Fields breaks the wheel. It gets you out of that. And even if there are imperfections with the timeline and being linked to this front office and this coaching staff, even if you're worried that Matt Nagy probably shouldn't get another chance to do this with another quarterback,

because I was of the opinion for a long time that Mitchell Chubisky short-circuited Matt Nagy. It's hard to call an offense and it's hard to construct an offense for a guy you don't trust. But when you go and get Nick Foles, who's your guy that you traded for and the offense looks worse, how many different types of quarterbacks do we need to see with this group for us to have confidence in their ability to solve this thing? And I still have serious doubts about that. And if it doesn't work and they do need to move on to another staff or there is more uncertainty going into next year, you're concerned. about that. But at the same time, something needed to happen to start over, to reset this thing. And I do think this is the move that could potentially reset it. So I have tepid optimism because I still

think there are serious questions about some of the rest of the offensive personnel and about this staff's ability to get the most out of this quarterback and everything else. But again, they need to do something to smash the wheel and start over. And I do think this move to go get Justin. fields and even to go get the tackle to a certain extent is that it is drastic in a way that needed to be drastic so we'll see how it ends up playing out but it just it felt necessary to me in some way oh absolutely uh i mean we've cracked the joke about it where we just did about mahomes makes everything small better if you hit on the quarterback it's it's great it's like it's great is right we knew andy reed would be there for the next 10 years when they did this true this is

different than that. And I think it's probably, I mean, maybe it's a reason that the Broncos didn't want to commit to fields because they don't know how much longer, how much longer Fangio is going to be there. Stuff like that. It's hard to commit to a quarterback when you don't know if there's not continuity on the staff and all of that stuff. So I think that is the one thing that's kind of been in my mind over the last few days is even if I'm excited about this guy, am I excited about the people who are tasked with getting the most out of him? And that is, that's going to be on my mind until we see what the results look like. So speaking of the Broncos, though, if we're talking about teams with drafts we liked,

they came away with players, people really like Sartan, going to get to Giovante Williams, Quinn Miners in the third round. I mean, there are players on that team. They are set up with this roster in a very fun way. And another team you mentioned, I think it's really easy to get excited about the Panthers and the guys that they added, even if we have questions about horn and skiing, fit and all of that. Clearly a talented guy.

They needed an ejection of talent at corner. Them dropping Terrace Marshall into this scenario with Robbie Anderson and DJ Moore, that could be really excited. And a coach that knows what he is. Exactly. That was the thing with my hesitation with Marshall. You could see the talent, but he was just so inconsistent. And it was just like, oh, man, this guy's going to get somebody fired.

They took him exactly where he should go. you know, they took him exactly end of second, the early third. That's where he should have gone. And also they went with his old office coordinator who did maximize his talent before. I was like, yes, fine. I am fine with that. And we haven't even talked about Davian Nixon, who I know had off field stuff, but that is a talented defensive tackle they got in the middle rounds too,

who I know friends of mine who have watched these guys love them. I took a peek at them because I was like, had a couple days. And I was like, yeah, I see the talent. But I do, you know, but it's like, okay, that that's pretty, awesome. I mean, that's, that's a couple guys that are really tantalizing and you could just see the vision. And I'm very gushed about Tommy Tramble. And then,

yeah, and the Brady Christensen, I know some people like as well. That to me is the biggest question. I have a feeling that Marshall will be fine. What role does Christiansen fill for them? Because I don't know if he's a left tackle in the league. Again, length concerns, but I do think he could be a useful piece

for them. So how do those five guys come together along the line and what role does Christensen play? If some way he is their left tackle and he's functional there, I think it gets really interesting. I mean, to be able to add all of those pieces and what way, I mean, obviously the darn old question is a huge question. But the other spots, I think that they could have helped themselves in a big way

with some of these picks that they made. All right, before we get out of here, I wanted to ask you because you've spent so much time watching these guys. Do you have two or three favorite kind of underrated or under the radar skill position fits that you're excited to watch? do I uh yeah so besides Josh Palmer and Elijah Moore which we've already touched on you know kind of some middle round or later round guys I really like Diami Brown with Washington that's going to be awesome they took them perfect exactly where we should go great skill set match

with scary Terry loved it he's going to be useful he's going to be useful pro no matter one slide exactly love that pick that one I really liked already talked about Powell no gray with the chiefs I just thought that was great Kyle and Granson with the Colts, another guy compared to Tray Burton, just to give you kind of like a snapshot what he is. They took him in the fourth. I get it. That's a situation that's perfect for him because all the tight-down looks they like. And just also, you know, he's not going to have to be a Y or straight a half right away because he could be useful on teams and then they can package them.

And they have a coach and a system that I like for that. Other kind of I liked Ron Dale more with Cardinals. Do I always try off Cliff? No. But I like that fit. I made it all the sense in the world to me. Exactly the type of skill set that they needed. It's what they need.

It's so bad. Explosive play. He doesn't have to be the true receiver. They can guide them along and get them to, you know, he can be a package play guy. This is where you take package play guys. You don't take them in the top 20 or even in the first round. You take them in the middle of the second on a team that already has outside weapons. And that made so much sense to me.

Kind of later around guys, I really like Frank Darby with the Falcons. He's a deep ball guy. He plays faster than his time. speed six round pick he's going to be a role player but i actually do like him i like that fit and then the last one uh elijah mitchell with the 49ers this guy i wrote him up he's not the greatest running back in the world but he can do one thing really well he's got speed and he can play his foot and get north and guess what what kind of system that works in a zone scheme and guess where you ended up the san francisco 49ers under kyle shan had so i that's a guy that i think could ascend in this type of offense i get

It's a guy that's like, he'll have those two or three games where he runs for 100 yards and then you don't hear from for six games. Like that's what this type of guy is. They also drafted Trey Sermon, which so. Tray Sermon's the better player. But he is more scheme proofy, like kind of like he's a good football player as opposed to like a zone running demon. And then Elijah Mitchell is like the home run hitter zone runner, but he's not a good football player. So that's like, it's one of those things where it's like I like the fit of Mitchell better,

but I like Trey Sermon as a better football player and a more useful football player for all three downs. They drafted Aaron Brooks, or Aaron Brooks. They drafted Aaron Banks, the guard from Notre Dame in the second round, higher than some people expected, but they had a need on the interior of the offensive line.

They have Trey Lance there now. They have Trey Sermon there now. This running game could look real fun. If Banks hits and that, this is a really interesting group. So Atlanta, obviously Kyle Pitts, and then they drafted

Richie Grant in the second round which they needed help in the secondary desperately so understandable they drafted Jaywin Mayfield and they also drafted Drew Dalman who is the center from Stanford

that fits in his own scheme so I don't great fit so Hennessey was when they took him last year in the third round was kind of billed as the heir parent to Alex Mac but this is a new regime he was a third round pick

if they think the Dalman could eventually be their center and they think Mayfield can play guard. Now, okay. Do we have five starting guys among that group? You drop pits in there. We obviously know the other skill position talent.

I mean, it's not hard to get real interested in what the Falcons might be doing on offense here. Some of this works out. Wait until you see the little tiny runnerback that they signed as an draft of free agent, JV. and Hawkins. This guy is a zone running machine. He's 180 pounds, like 181 pounds.

And they got him as on drafted free agent. He signs with the Falcons, though. It's like, I'm going to keep a tab on this guy just because it's like he went to a situation that could work for him. He's never going to be a 20 carry guy, but he's going to be exciting. I really do think he's going to be exciting player. That's another guy that it's like, okay, all right, the Falcons, they're, they're, like, it's not the stars, but they're little, little pieces they're adding. It's like, okay, I'm seeing what you're doing down there. You know, I see I'm, I'm real that, I mean, this is exciting.

There's so many sweet changes that have happened quarterback and scheme wise and now these players, that's like, I'm really excited to see what, uh, some of these offenses. they're going to unfold this year. So one thing, last thing to hit before we get out of here, some of the needs that were not addressed that are still pretty glaring, especially for teams that might be trying to contend for a Super Bowl or for the playoffs. Sam Tevi is the Colts left tackle right now. They did not come away with a left tackle in the first couple rounds of the draft.

We'll see what happens with the veteran market at that position. You know, guys like Eric Fisher are still going to be available. Villanueva was reported to be signing with the Ravens. that hasn't happened yet. So is that something that's a done deal or whatever? Do they roll with Tevi? Do they think they can go get a guy like Garik Fisher in August when the medicals are a little bit more certain? So that is a huge need or just a huge question mark at the very least for a team that otherwise has a lot of talent and is set up to compete right now.

The Titans, AJ Brown might get 500 targets this year. Oh my God. I mean, they signed Josh Reynolds in free agency, but for the most part, their wide receiver room is still. very, very thin. Do they go make a play for somebody after some of these pieces have been added? Same question with me and the Bears. If they trade Anthony Miller, which they've been

trying to forever, or they just let him go, who's the third receiver on this team going to be? They signed Marquis Goodwin, but is there somebody else out there on the market that they might be able to go get? So is there anything else? Any other needs that are still to you are just glaring after the draft happened? I

shocked the Rams and that in the offensive lineman. Yeah. I thought they were primed add one maybe in the second or third. That kind of surprised me a little bit. And they also went with Tutu Atwell, who is a fine role player. But I just don't see as a second round pick. He's under 48 pounds. That kind of has something to do with it.

But, you know, it is what it is. But I think that was, I thought they were going to go offensive line these middle rounds. So I was kind of, that one surprised me a little bit. Other than that, you know, maybe the Seahawks going with a receiver with their first pick. I get, you know, I think some people are like, oh, they need a number three receiver it's like they need more than that buddy um then but that's that's fine um but yeah i

would say that usually when i i'm going to say oh yeah they missed out on this it's probably going to have to do with offensive line help because i just you can never have too many all right that is all we got uh that is all we'll have for this week that's our last draft centric podcast it's been a very fun month sincerely appreciate all the time you guys have spent with us. Nate and I will be back as we kick off our offseason coverage here in a couple weeks. We're going to take the rest of the week off. Next week, me and Lindsay are going to do a show.

Probably just going to do a mailbag offseason questions looking forward a little bit. And then the week after that, we're going to start the series of shows that we have planned for the off season. So a lot of stuff on tap that I am very excited about. So we'll be back next week with Lindsay. Until then, thank you guys very much for listening. Please rate and review the podcast on your podcast. platform of choice. I would sincerely appreciate that. Please subscribe to The Athletic. We're still

going to be having tons of great post-draft coverage coming your way. I'm going to be writing a little bit later this week. Obviously, we have so many team writers breaking down the specifics of this stuff. Theathletic.com slash football show. Seriously recommend that you guys pick up a subscription. We'll be back in next week. Until then, thank you for listening to The Athletic Football Show. Talk to you guys later. This was The Athletic Football Show.