The Athletic Football Show: A show about the NFL - Prospects to Pros: 2023 NFL Mock Draft

Episode Date: April 12, 2023

The Beast is out! Andy Staples, Dane Brugler and NFL.com analyst Lance Zierlein discuss Dane’s extensive 2023 NFL Draft guide. Then, the three of them put on their GM hats and conduct a live first round mock draft. Follow Andy on Twitter: @Andy_StaplesFollow Dane on Twitter: @dpbruglerFollow Lance on Twitter: @LanceZierleinSubscribe to The Athletic Football Show...AppleSpotifyYouTube0:30 The Beast9:16 First round mock draft11:27 Picks 1-1032:53 Picks 11-2058:55 Picks 21-31 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is the Athletic Football Show. Welcome to Prospects to Pros. It is a very, very special week here at the show, here at the Athletic. Because our man, Dane Bruegler, he has written you a freaking book. If you're not already subscribed to the Athletic, what are you even doing? But right now is your best shot because with your subscription, you get the beast. That is Dane Bruegler's draft guide. He puts it out every year. We publish it as a PDF.

It is incredible. I am right now looking at the top 10 long snappers in this draft. Thanks to Dane. This is incredible. This is even, I don't know how you made it more thorough than last year, but you somehow managed. The motivation every year is just to make it the best resource that you could possibly have. when it comes to draft time and understanding who these guys are, you know, their journey,

their background to their reports, to all their measurables. I mean, one of the reasons that it comes out so late is to make sure 100% of the pro-day data is included with every single player. So I had to wait until Devin Witherspoon, you know, did his workout. Joe Titman was the last workout to go. So, you know, it's important to have all that context for each report. And so, you know, not everyone's going to agree with my rankings, and that's fine. Like, I don't, I don't want this to be a guide that you look at and say, okay, it's, you know,

this is how, you know, Dane says the draft should go. Look at it as more of a resource guide as, you know, if, you know, my team drafts this player in the second round, okay, I'm going to go look them up and say, oh, I didn't know this, or, oh, this is interesting, and just try to add context to who these prospects are. Well, and the level of detail is incredible because you, you, you, you, do kind of take the reader through the person's journey. I mean, starting with when they were very young. I'm looking at Bryce Young's right now. And I didn't realize he was born in the Philly suburbs. I didn't know the family moved at when the family moved out to California. And that is,

that's context that matters in, in terms of who these people are and, you know, where they, where, where they might like to go and also how teams may view them. And that I, I, I, like that part too because you get to the strengths, the weaknesses, the scheme fits, all of that other stuff. But you also kind of let people know what the human being behind it is too. Right. You know, okay, Brayshung, oh, he worked out with a basketball trainer starting when he was 11 years old. That's interesting. Like, you can kind of, you can kind of see that. The point guard style that he plays with, plays quarterback. So, you know, I think that all of that stuff is interesting. And, you know, some of the hardest parts of the final edits of the guide is when, you know,

because we have a team of editors working on this, you know, cutting down some stuff that maybe they, you know, they can't be in the guide or things like that. And so just editing everything down. But trying to find as much relevant information on each player to, you know, they're all puzzle pieces and put all the pieces together and give people the most clear picture of who these guys are. Yeah. It is incredible. and everybody who gets drafted is written up in here. I'm predicting it now. I know you get nervous about that,

and I don't want to jinx you or anything, but I'm telling you right now, everybody who's going to get drafted is in here. Well, there's over 400 reports. I cut it off at like 401. The last report I wrote up was Montana State, Tyokata, the Safety, who had decent tape,

but it was a pro day that really put them over the top. And but there's over testing data, ProDair Combine, or both, for over almost 1,900 players in here. So even, you know, there might be a guy that tested really well as Pro Day that maybe isn't written up in there. But, you know, it's, it happens. Last year, the Colts drafted somebody late from Yale who wasn't written up. But yeah, the goal is to hopefully have everybody written up. We'll see how that works out this year. Dane, I've covered college football for 23 years professionally.

There are schools in here I've never heard of. Yeah. There are some different schools you come across that, you know, you're eager to go look up the mascot of, oh, you know, what's Gannon's mascot or, you know, limestone or McKendry or, yeah, a lot of random colleges. that are D2, D3, NIA, you know, whatever it may be. So it's, I mean, it kind of casts a light on some of these lesser known players who, you know,

they might not be drafted, but, you know, they're hanging around. There's a reason why scouts are at their pro days and they're in the system and things like that. So a chance to give them a little bit of love. Well, and I know, I know that Penn State coach James Franklin will be happy. You're number 132 running back, Gunner Anglovich, from East Stroudsburg, the alma mater of one James Franklin.

So there you go. Getting deep into Pennsylvania. Yeah. This is incredible. Lance Zerline joining us too. Lance also has this sort of labor of love when he has to do all the writeups for NFL.com. You get yours done a little bit earlier, Lance. Not really.

That's true. You're still working on. Oh, yeah. Oh yeah, I still have. Here's who's on the docket. Dane, tell me if I need to watch these guys. All right. I have Christian Braswell from Rutgers.

Actually, I just, I think I want, no, I haven't watched him yet. I have Otis Rees from Ole Miss. Amari Bernie from Florida. Yeah. Bernie, yes. Yes, Zaire Barnes from Western Michigan. Yeah, he's got some love. Okay, Xavier Smith, wide receiver, Florida, A&M.

I haven't heard as much love for him. Okay. Isaiah Bolden. cornerback Jackson State. Yeah, he's interesting. He's got some background stuff. Look at this Dane knows all these guys. Elijah McGee, safety from Minnesota State?

You know, I haven't heard a ton of love on him, but I know his pro day was pretty decent. Minnesota State, by the way, not the Minnesota State Screaming Eagles that were featured in the TV show coach. No. And then Brisker Fisdale from Grand Junction? You just made that up.

Yeah, I was going to say. I was like, give you a few seconds on that one. You're going through your, oh, no, I had stripped throat. Did I forget Brisker? I haven't read them up. Do I need to write them up?

Keenan Isaac, Thomas Rush, Michael Ayers. So, yeah, I'll get to about 474 this year. So I know what Dan goes through. And it is a, but the thing I do is I write them up, but I don't have to do the, like I write up more prospects than Dane from a write-up standpoint, but Dane includes I don't have to do the bio stuff. Yeah, you're not going as deep. Yeah.

Chad Reader does the bio stuff. And so I don't have to do that. And that stuff to me is what's really interesting. First of all, it's checking my opinion against Dane's. And then the second thing is it's checking the interesting. I reached out to Dane just the other day about some interesting, you know, who are some interesting stories, you know, from the, draft, you know, people that would make for interesting TV, stuff like that.

So, yeah, the Beast is, and Dane's background work to me is really, because that's what NFL teams do. NFL teams. Right. So Dane approaches this like an NFL scout, his scouting reports. Thankfully, agents haven't been. Usually every year, agents can get a little crazy about, well, why is this in here? Or like, why is this relevant?

Or thankfully, that hasn't been the case this year. A few have reached out, but they've been. really good about it. Give it time. Oh yeah. I was mad at you two years ago. You included, yeah, I remember how that was happening. Yeah, you had good info, but they don't like it.

That's it. Sometimes the info is too good. That is the best advertisement for the beast I've heard yet. Sometimes the info is too good. One of these years when I just stopped carrying, I'll release the black book of the draft guide of all the stuff they made me not I wasn't allowed to include in the real beast. And it'll,

Twitter's not ready to find out how sausages make. There's some of that stuff that I don't think that, yeah, it would definitely make some headlines. I'll tell you that. Well, we're going to make some headlines today because we are going to conduct a first round mock draft among us. We are the GMs of the various teams. We've set an order.

We've set our boards. I use the beast to set my board. and, you know, I don't, I'm not drafting a long snapper in the first round, and I'm just telling you now. So, but you only had a seventh round grade on one of them. So it's, I feel pretty vindicated there. Alex Ward, UCF. UCF, that's right, that's right.

Snapping to Colton Boomer, the kicker who was a Lake Mary Ram like myself. So I'm very, Lake Mary High School represent. But I am convinced, setting my board for this, that I would be the worst GM ever, because I mean, we've got it where you snake it. So I actually have back-to-back picks in a bunch of cases. And so I know who's getting picked beforehand. And I'm like, I don't want to pick this guy. And I'm sure GMs actually go through this. Yeah. There's, and this is where I think it becomes really interesting because, you know, when you're doing a mock draft, you have time to really map out how you want it to go.

And you can do certain picks you know you want to happen and you kind of fill in the rest. But with this, it's going to be like an actual draft where I don't know what you're going to do, you know, ahead of me. And so I have to be thinking on the fly, I have to have a certain number of players available on my board. Yeah, this is going to be a little more because we don't know ahead of time. We haven't laid this out. We haven't predetermined anything. So it'll be interesting to see how we think on our feet and go through the different scenarios. So we are going to snake it.

We're going to go Dane, Lance, me, and then backward. So me, Lance Dane. Yeah. And just go through the order. So, like, Dane has the Panthers pick. Lance has the Texans. Then I get the Cardinals and the Colts back to back. So we're going to do it like that.

And are we ready to start, guys? Yeah, let's go. All right. Dane, you are, you as the. Carolina Panthers are on the clock. All right. And I'm not going to take too much time here because this is pretty easy. I trade after number one for a reason to get the best player in the draft,

to get the best quarterback in the draft. And that's Bryce Young. It's interesting that he has become now the betting favorite to be the number one overall pick. You know, just this is a pick not. And we're doing these picks based off of, you know, what we think is going to happen, but not necessarily what we would do. But in this case, it matches up both ways because this is what I would do.

This is what I think the Carolina Panthers are going to do. He's going to be the smallest quarterback of the NFL the moment he's drafted. You have to be okay with that. But everything else, you know, you feel great about with Bryce Young. He's, you know, in my write-up in the draft guide, one of the first things that his strengths, it's a quote from NFL GM saying he's genius level, working the whiteboard. just the processing, everything he does from an instinctual standpoint, the vision, the accuracy. It's all exactly what I want at the position.

So I'm going to take my chances with the size, roll the dice, and I feel good about my quarterback. Well, number two, I agree with all that to keep this moving because it's going to spark some more conversation. So last week I wasn't able to be on the show because I had a bunch of television to do three different shows because my mock draft. out. So anytime there's a new mock draft, you got to, you know, it's a big deal across the board on the platform. And I had the Texans passing on C.J. Stroud. Now, since that time, we have Mike Lombardi has said he's heard some things that they may not be on board with Stroud, the Texans. You had Adam Schaefter came out yesterday and said something similar. You know, mine is not coming from individual information. It's some of the same things I brought up

on this show. There's a concern about, you know, if the Texans believe that Bryce Young is substantially better than these other quarterbacks, are they going to put their reputations, their jobs on the line for a quarterback they don't truly believe? And that's the first thing you have to ask yourself. Secondly, you have to ask yourself, okay, are they okay with Straub's agent being the same agent for Deshaun Watson, David Mulligetta? It may not be an issue. Mulgeta does a good job for his clients. He's got a lot of, he's got a lot of clients. You'll have to do with David Mugeta at some point. But if you're concerned that specifically, he helped Jalen Ramsey get out of, you know, Jalen Ramsey is his client. He complained his way out of the Jacksonville deal,

then got out of the Rams, which, you know, I think it was mutual. And then Deshaun Watson, of course, takes a $27 million signing bonus after Deshaun Watson, or after D'Andre Hopkins is traded, and then plays out the season before he even gets to his note, new contract is demanded to be traded and sits out. They never get that signing bonus back. That may have left a bad taste in the Texans mouth. And they may be concerned that if C.J. Stroud plays well, that they may end up facing the same leverage situation again.

So that could or couldn't play into it. But ultimately, here's one other thing I want to throw out there, Dane, is that is there any chance that right now Caroline is leaking Bryce Young stuff to people so that they can really cause a little panic with the Texans to see if they can get the Texans to move up, even if it's for their first pick of the second round. Because Peter King also had an interview with Ryan Poles that the Texans were offering a first round pick

to move up to that spot. Now that they know that, Carolina, if they like C.J. Stroud, why wouldn't you put out the Bryce Young stuff and see if you could get the Texans to bite? So I just want to throw that out there as food for thought that could be going on as well. That would be a smart play if they like C.J. Strout.

If Bryce Young's off the board, I am going to, in this particular mock, I am going to pass on C.J. Stroud. I want to see what happens with this mock draft because I do think there's a possibility. So if that happens, I'm going to go with the Texans. I think they could trade out of it. But let's just say the Texans select Tyree Wilson, which is what I did. on last draft last week. A guy who may fit Damiko Ryan's defense better.

He has a better chance of getting better as a pro as opposed to Will Anderson, who's already very good. But Alabama players tend to be a little bit maxed out because they do such a great job of coaching them. So let's go with the surprise pick with Tyree Wilson as the second pick for the Texans. And let's see where that takes us. So I am the Arizona Cardinals GM in this case. And when you said pass on C.J. Stroud, well, I'm the Arizona Cardinals GM and the Indianapolis Colts GM here right now.

So the two of like what of what of me, my heart was in my stomach. Like, oh crap, Will Anderson's gone now. And then the other one's like, hmm, this just got a lot more interesting. I will allow you to, I'll allow you to trade. Can we allow you to trade four three? Does it matter? I don't think it matters. I don't think it matters.

It makes it neater. Yeah, that's true. You know what I mean? If the Colts want to make sure they get their guy? Sure, let's have the Colts trade to the Cardinals. That's fine. Because you're the GM for both teams. We should get this deal done fairly easy.

What would it cost? What do you have to throw in to move up one spot for a quarterback? What is that, a second rounder? This year? A two and something else? I don't know. I'll tell you what. Your offer is going to be better from the Raiders maybe.

That's exactly. You have to make it so it's sweet enough. that yeah, you're not going to take whatever the Raiders. That's the thing that's interesting about this. If the Texans do pass, let's say Young goes first and the Texans pass on a QB with number two, the frenzy to get up to three become, that 15 minutes is busy. That's extremely.

That's why if you're Arizona, who, you know, Arizona's fielding calls right now. Yeah. This is why you probably hold on. to that until draft night. You know, you wait and see because no matter what you're going to have, there's going to be an offer there that you can execute, but the offer might even be greater in a scenario like this. So here, I want to just tell a quick story.

Okay. So back in two, because this is how this happens to in 2017, Rick Smith, I was told this from a pretty reliable source that Rick Smith had a deal done with Saji Brown, just not a deal done, but an agreement that, hey, if if Dishon Watson gets to I don't know if it was Watson by name or just a quarterback but if if you don't have a guy that you want we will take your pick you know we will take that that 12th pick of the draft and Sashi Brown agreed to it and then when the time came Sashi was kind of him and and in haunt and the way I heard it is that Rick really put the

former Texan of the former GM of the Texans put kind of put the pressure and I'm like, hey, we had a deal. You know, it's one of these things on the phone. And then Sashi said, okay, yeah, let's do it. And that became Deshaun Watson, who ironically enough is with Cleveland now. And Sashi's no longer there. But that was, that's one of the, you have to have some of these potential deals in place before. Because you don't have much time on the clock.

Yep. Well, let's, let I'm going to, I'm going to say, so I'm going to say I'm the, I'm the, I'm the, I'm the, I have. Are you thinking quarterback at all? No, I should be. Personally, I think the Cardinals should be, but you're kind of locked in at this point. I mean, there's, what are you going to do? You're going to pick, you're going to pick a quarterback and then eat all of that Kyler money. I just, I think you kind of made your bed with Tyler Murray when you resigned him. So I've taken contingency calls from the Colts and the Raiders. Okay.

For the sake of our sanity doing this, I'm not going to make Dane trade up. So I'm going to say the Colts offered a better Because Dane's got the Raiders I'm going to say the Colts offered a better package And I'm going to grab Dane, do you want, do you want C.J. Stroud for the Raiders? That's awfully appealing. Why don't you give it to them?

Why don't you just make this quick swap? Because the Colts are freaking out And they just added more. Exactly. They just gave me more. The Colts have increased it. Yes. Yeah.

Okay. The Colts were not, let's put it this way. Chris Ballard as me or me as Chris Ballard was not that keen on taking Anthony Richardson at 4th, was not that keen on it. But taking C.J. Stratt at 3, he feels pretty keen on. So, so the Colt, let's say the Colts through another, let's say they sweetened the pot with a two and a player this year and a player. Yeah. And a three next year. So to move up. one spot. I don't know what draft chart that that matches, but we'll take it. So the Colts are at three and they're taking C.J. Stroud, which puts the Cardinals down to four and they're going to take who they were going to take anyway because Lance took Tyree Wilson

for the Texans, which when Lance said they're passing on C.J. Stroud, Andy, the Cardinals, GM sucked in real hard and was like, oh, shoot. what am I going to do now? But when he said Tyree Wilson, I was very happy because it means I can not overthink this and take Will Anderson, who is going to be a very, very effective edge rusher for a long time in the NFL.

Okay, there you go. Now you got Colts? No, no, Colts already picked. They pick C.J. Stroud. Oh, that's right. Three, four, yeah. Yeah. So Colts took C.J. Stroud.

And then the Cardinals took Will Anderson and are over the moon about this, this development because they got, they got some stuff, they got some extra picks. They're going to, you know, start evaluating for their new picks, and they are happy. So now we go to the Seahawks with a pick that came in the Russell Wilson trade. And Lance is John Schneider. Yeah, this is a really difficult one for the Seahawks because it really boils down to Jalen Carter. And are you okay with Jalen Carter?

I mean, both the edge guys are off. I don't think they will go quarterback in this spot personally. Honestly, I'd love to trade eight and five and let the Falcons go get their corner, but I think they'll sit tight. So with the Seahawks, I'm taking best player available. I'm going Jalen Carter. And that is who I think is going to end up with the Seahawks. It's a position of need and Seahawks fans will tell you you're stupid. John Schneider has already said this is the character is an incredible.

is an increased value in priority for the team. So it can't be Jalen Carter. And yet they had Jalen Carter in to yesterday or on Tuesday, I should say, to visit with him to find out who he is. So if I can't trade that pick, I'm going to take Jalen Carter in that spot. I do think there's a chance, obviously, they could take quarterback.

But if they don't love that quarterback, why would you take a quarterback when you just signed Gino? So maybe Gino has really come around. He's a rich Gannon. He's kind of getting it later in his career. Any test a verde. You know, it has happened before for quarterbacks. So I'm going Jalen Carter.

And I'll see how quarterbacks look next year. And could be very deep because we know Caleb Williams. We know we know Drake May. Look if Joe Milton has a good year. Everywhere has me gaga over him. There's just rumors. Carson Beck has a good year at Georgia. Like there's so many different people that could kind of prop.

up here. And there's rumors that Seattle may be willing to wait on quarterback and not jump in with either of these two guys. I'm not, I'm not just, I'm not just, you know, I'm, I, I am guessing here, but at the same time, I'm not just guessing blindly. So let us move down to the Raiders, sorry, the Lions with, this is a pick from the Matthew Stafford, Jared Gough trade. This is the Rams pick originally. And it is the Lions picking number six. And Dane, you have the floor. Okay. So now, I think that it would be really interesting if they entertained the thought of a quarterback here. A lot of Lions fans will tell you no way. Like, that just doesn't make any sense, you know, on and on and on. But I'd still be a little surprised they did take a quarterback.

So I'm not going to do it here. I, you know, all signs point the corner. It's almost like it's too obvious that it's not going to happen. Maybe the bigger question is, okay, which corner? Yes, I think Devin Witherspoon, the Illinois corner fits that grit, toughness, you know, fits that mold really well. But at the same time, I think Christian Gonzalez is the better prospect, the better corner. So I have to stick true to the board. And I'm going to go Christian Gonzalez at the Oregon corner at number six to the Lions.

All right. That is the Jeff Okuda trade, does that telegraph that they're potentially going corner? Well, they've added a free agency, the free agent cornerback. Yeah, they did add some stuff in free agency. I don't, Jeff Okuda, I don't think. We knew that was not. Right, that didn't work out. He was a first round pick who, you know.

didn't play up to expectations. So, right. All right, Dane, you have a sandwich pick here. You're the Raiders. Now, you just signed Jimmy G. But does that mean you're done at Q. I mean, I've been hosting all these quarterbacks on top 30 visits. I've been, you know, taking these guys out for dinner before the pro days,

doing a lot of work on these quarterbacks. And, you know, I made some offers to maybe move. up and get one and didn't happen. Didn't work out. Tried to move up to number one. It didn't work out. But you know what? I'm sitting here at number seven and didn't have to move and I've got two

quarterbacks staring me in the face. I'm going to take Anthony Richardson here with the number seven overall pick who's going to be the quarterback and waiting behind Jimmy G. who's going to get hurt eventually and it'll be Anthony Richardson time. Oh, man. Yeah. Poor Jimmy G. The clock will get started at some point this year.

as a rookie. If I'm the Falcons now, I'm number eight with the Atlanta Falcons. I've got three considerations. I've got Miles Murphy, Lucas Van Ness, which would be way too rich for my blood in that spot. And the best cornerback on the board, which is Witherspoon. So I'm going Witherspoon. I think that's the best value.

Can I throw one more option in there? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Quarterback? What about Bejon? I mean, I think when you look at, think about Bejon, in that Arthur Smith offense. I think he should be at least considered at number eight. Because, you know, Desmond Ritter, it sounds like they're okay with him being the quarterback

this year. Hey, I heard dogs barking. Dan, is that at your house where the analytics crew right now is outside waiting to flame for you when you open the door? I'm putting a running back in the top eight? Yeah, it's not me. It must be at Andy's, but yeah, I can still see out my window that they're coming for me. But, I mean, I don't know.

I think that Bejohn should at least be considered at eight. I don't think it's crazy. I love Bejohn as a prospect. I just, that's hard to do with, especially the team that needs quite a bit. They need corner, yeah. Defense, they need a lot on defense. There's no doubt. You think about what they've made some big swings on offense in the top 10

in the last two years with Kyle Pitts. Drake London. I mean, stick true to the method. And, you know, I get it. The defense needs help. But I don't think there's a single defensive player here you could draft that it will make a bigger impact on your team than what Bison Robinson would make on your offense this year. So I'm not saying he should be the pick. I'm saying he should at least be considered here.

I agree. I think we've gotten too, I think we've gotten too rigid in the approach to running back because running backs were overvalued for so long. And now it's like people don't even want to have a conversation about this when really a running back in the first round, you're guaranteed five years. And then with the, you know, and then with the franchise tag, you're getting six, maybe seven years of a running back's career. That's more than enough. You don't even have to go to a second contract. So I think the rigidity of the argument is a little excessive now because, yes, they used to be extremely overvalued. And yes, most running backs should not carry first round value.

Every once in a while, though, you will run into one. And certain teams wouldn't value it, but see, like, I think a team like the Buffalo Bills would have tremendous value because it takes more pressure off Josh Allen and the red zone. Like, it helps you hang on to leads in the fourth quarter, takes pressure off of the defense when you can run. There's certain teams where I think running back in the first round can make some sense. I just, for me, Atlanta, it's less about being the eighth pick

and it's more about the amount of the amount. I don't have another first round pick and the amount of needs I have on defense is so great. You laid out the fact that they drafted tight-in and wide receiver in the first round the last two years. I've just got to go defense. So it's a good argument you made, but I'm going to stick with Witherspoon at number eight.

Totally get it. Yep. Makes sense. Now I am the Bears. This is the pick that I got from the Panthers. When I traded down from one, I need, well, a lot of everything, but especially large human beings.

I need a lot of large human beings. I don't, I could take the local guy on the edge. Scrantz. Well, Scronsky. Oh, I bet you're talking about Peter Scransky. Well, that's, that's it. I mean, he just has to come down from Evanston. That's, that's pretty easy.

But Lucas Van Ness grew up in, in the Chicago area. So he's another possibility. But I'm not doing that. I am going offensive line, but Dane has scared me with the arm-length thing on Skrotsky. Uh-oh. Gransky. So I'm going Broderick Jones from Georgia, who, not your number one tackle in the beast. You have Paris Johnson as your number one.

Broderick Jones, though, feels like the higher ceiling prospect. I feel like I have some room to work here. He could become a very, very good player for a long time. whether Justin Fields is the guy for me or not, and I'll make that decision this year, I will have a cornerstone tackle to help either him or whoever comes next. So I'm taking Broder Jones from Georgia.

Interesting. I like it. So I guess, you know, probably starting him right tackle as a rookie. Starting him on the right side. That's the plan, yeah. And then we'll see what happens. And I'm not as, my thing is, if you are a good right tackle,

I don't necessarily feel like I have to move you to left at some point down the road. I want you to be where you're comfortable and where you're good. If that's where he winds up, that's great. If he winds up at left and, you know, in a couple years and that's where he is. That's fine too. But I'm not going to get too worried about it. There's another guy on one of my other teams draft boards. And I'm sure his name will come up in this discussion, Darnel Wright later, where he's a right tackle.

Like he's not a left tackle. I'd be taking him to be a right tackle. So, but we'll go, Broderick Jones to the Bears. Now I have the Eagles pick from the Saints. I think that's, so they need, you know, they need a detackle.

They need an edge rush, and they did a guard. You can do safety. The only one of these positions where there's somebody who makes sense at this spot. This is one where I looked at it. I'm like, you know what? These guys could trade down.

Like this is a situation where they could trade down, find something they need, find like a Brian branch around number 20 if somebody wanted to do that. But I'm going to say they keep the pick and they make the pick. And this is where I'm putting Lucas Ben Estremio. He comes to chase quarterbacks for the Eagles. Yeah, I like that pick. Yeah, it makes sense. They brought them in. I know they've done a lot of work on them.

So I think that matches up. Lance, you are the Tennessee Titans. Oh, by the way, there's a quarterback still on the board. I know. I know. Let's take them. Let's take, you know, in my mock, I gave him Jackson Smith and Jigpa. I think Peter Skronsky could be in play right here.

I think Paris could potentially be in play right here. Darnel right. But let's go Anthony Richardson. Let's take Richardson still on a board, right? No, no. Richardson. Oh, no, no. that's right let's go levis no i'll go will levis that's fine yep let's go will levis here in

tennessee that's that just a short short drive down i 65 and this is this could be pretty interesting there with willis and and obviously look uh nobody thought malik willis was necessarily the quarterback of the future they spent a third rounder on him last year this gives them a you know kind of a plan here well this gives you two quarterbacks to to to shoot at the position. Like it's actually not a bad idea. No. I agree. And you didn't have to trade up. Tennessee feels like that team that's going to be sniffing around, you know, what's it going to cost to move up to five to six. And they're going to be looking at all those scenarios. And in this scenario, they don't have to. They stay put. They keep all their other draft capital.

Tennessee is that team outside the top 10, I think most likely to move up to get a quarterback. So, yeah. What happens, though, if the Texans don't take. Like, I didn't know this is going to happen in my mock until I, until I had the Texans pass on C.J. Stroud. And Adam's pass on Straub for a couple different reasons. It kind of creates chaos in the mock. It really does, especially if Seattle doesn't value quarterback. Everyone's just assuming, okay, one, two, whoever trades up to three, and then four Colts.

So four quarterbacks, four picks. as soon as you make one change, all of a sudden, it's, it's kind of, it kind of alters the way things could go down. And Seattle is the next question. You know, what if it, what if the pick gets to Seattle and they, are they going to take quarterback? Will Detroit take quarterback? They could. Will the Raiders take the quarterback? You know, it gets a little, it gets a little complicated with some of these teams.

It's really an easy, clean mock draft. if you just go young, Stroud or Stroud Young, but it's not as clean whenever you make one alteration to the Matrix. Well, and that's why we love the draft, right? It's because it's never goes exactly how we think. And there's always a ripple effect. And, well, okay, I'm up next with the Texans at 12. Do you think the Texans, if they do pass on a quarterback at two, are they looking to trade

back up into the top 10 to get another quarterback, do you think? I do think so. Like in my mock, I had him go from 12 to 7. I had the Raiders move back and I had the Texans take Will Levis. Right. In this situation that we just gamed out, Dane as the Texans, you've got your fingers crossed. The Titans don't take Levis. Then they do take Levis.

And now you've got to figure out where to go with this. Yeah. So now what happens if we play this out? Which, okay, so the top four options are off the board. I'm not drafting Hen and Hooker here. I just don't believe the values there with the timeline and everything with him. So I'm looking at it and see, we went, man. So we already went with Tyree Wilson at 2.

So that basically eliminates like a Nolan Smith here. I'm not going to go that direction. Unless they play Tyree at more of a five technique. Yeah, yeah, that's true. Because they need edge, too. Yeah, and I think that would fit with D'emiko's scheme. High character guy. Yeah, it is.

Now, it's interesting because they still need help at pass catcher as well. Uh-huh. But is, you know, as Smith and Jigba, is that, I mean, are we penciling in Mexico? Is that, I mean, are we penciling in Mexico? as our starting slot, you know, is Smith and Jigba gonna, you know, how does that fit? That's a tough one.

I don't know if I love that fit either. I love listening to Danang, go through this because what you're hearing is the way when we go through mock drafts, this is what it sounds like in our head. You have to work through all these things and then even, I don't know if you do this day, but I'll even go

into teams and go look at their salary situations on players. Oh, yeah. out of somebody who could potentially draft behind a player who's going to be a cap cut the next year. Right, absolutely. Here's my problem with wide receiver there. Second round pick on Nico Collins. This will be year three.

You gave Robert, so you gave Robert, oh, who they just got from. Robert Woods. Robert Woods. You gave him money that was not. Sometimes you'll see a guy get signed for $2.5 million. And that means nothing. I mean, you could still draft that position. They gave him like eight and a half.

million dollars guaranteed, I think this year. Like, they gave him money to take snaps and catch the football. And John Metschie was a second round pick who from talking to sources close to METI is at 100%. So I have a hard time putting. I know Texans fans want Smith and Jigba there, but I struggle with that because I don't see them taking one of those guys out of the rep rotation. I think all three of those guys know what they have in METI.

Well, they don't know what they have. That's true. No, no. I mean, they know, they should know where he is medically. Oh, medically, yeah. But they don't know how he's going to fit as an NFL receiver yet. Yeah. So that's the question is, do you double up on that?

I don't, it's hard. I mean, they drafted a guard in the first round last year. They just re-uped Tunsel. I don't, I don't think they, go offensive line, right? I mean, Titus Howard, the right tackle. I don't either. So I'm kind of going, I'm talking myself back into Nolan Smith at this point, who obviously, you know, Nolan Smith and Tyree Wilson are kind of listed in the same position, but there's like a 40-pound difference between these two guys. They play different roles, yeah, and what they do. So, I mean, I don't know,

in this scenario, you know, I could, what about could we see the first tight end off the board here, Lance? Yeah, it's possible. I mean, they added Dalton Schultz. Right. One year contract, right? It's a one year contract. And, you know, they're going to want to run a lot of 12 personnel, too. If Bobby Sloat came over from San Francisco and, you know, the Gary Kubiak, the Kyle Shanahan model, the Mike Shanahan model, they like to run out of a 12 because it really allows you to run.

run or throw out of that spot. So I think tight-in is also a posse. I've considered tied in there too. Andy, if there's one thing that you can take from Dane working through all this, if the Texans don't draft a quarterback, do you see how tricky that gets from them at 12? It's very complex. It might put them in a lot of, if you really play through the scenarios and you have to play through contingencies.

And that's why I like to change up my mocks because no mock draft goes clean. I mean, no draft goes cleanly. boy you better have a plan that's why i had to have been prayed up and that's the thing because if you have needs at a certain position but there's not a player who matches the value of that pick at that position you got it you got to either take best available or trade out right right that's what makes it so hard so dane who who are you going to take as the texans here uh let's let's go michael mayor nutter day let's say first tight nine off the board um you know i i i think they went defense for the first pick.

Let's go off into the second pick. Help out whoever's that quarterback. I know it's not going to be maybe the most liked pick there among Texans fans. Hope the running game. Yeah, exactly. With where we're at right now with what's available, I think that's the best way to go. And in a deep, tight-in class, Michael Mayer is not the best at anything,

but he might be the best at everything, if that makes sense. he's the most well-rounded. I mean, he's, you know, he can help as a blocker, as a pass catcher. You know, I can understand if, you know, some people want other tight ends. But I think with what the Texans want to be, I think mayor makes more sense than, say, like, a Dalton Kincaid here. Now, Dane, you've got the New York Jets here. We don't think they have this pick, right? We think this is going to be a Packers pick by the time the draft comes around, right?

Maybe. I don't know. I think they want to hold on to this pick. And that was a big reason they made the Elijah Moore trade. So they had extra picks on day two to possibly make that move. Yeah, I mean, I think if you're the Jets, you know, you could possibly go with, you know, another edge rusher at edge depth here. But I'm looking at the offensive line. I, you know, I'm looking, you know, yes, Bechton's back.

Yes, Dwayne Brown's back. but I need more depth at offensive tackle. Somebody that's just another body into the mix. Give me long-term options there. Paris Johnson, the best tackle on my board's available. Let's go with Paris Johnson there. All right. Now, Lance, you have to do,

I'm not going to make you do this one as Bill Belichick. But put your hoodie on. You are the Patriots at 14. Oh boy. Lance is digging into his office here. Uh-oh. He's getting his hoodie out. It's actually not a hoodie. It's actually my sports pajamas I wear up here when it's cold and it's on the weekend. I mean, Belichick basically looks like he's wearing pajamas most of the time. So that's perfect. I love it. Yeah. And he's actually, he's taking scissors to his sleeves right now. It's incredible. Lance as Bill Belichick. Who are the pay? Patriots taking at number 14?

Well, so the New England Patriots need edge. They need a safety. They need a cornerback. They need a wide receiver. I tell you what, this is not going to be a typical New England pick. I don't think. My choice is right now I'm looking at, you know, if you look at Belichick's types, and if he needed offensive line, obviously, Skronsky's like a New England type of guy who you could play

corner. I think, did they need offensive tackle, by the way? I don't have that as one of their top four needs. I'm trying to think of, let me look here, who there, always go to the depth chart, and who their right tackle is. Who is their right tackle? It is Riley Reef. He's not going to be here for long. Riley Reef is 34 years old. Is he on a one-year deal? Dane, do you know?

I don't know what his deal was. So I'm looking at guard, so I've got, you like your left guard was the first rounder. You like Onwenu, on Wino, David Andrews is a guy. Now, look, here's one thing I could do.

I could draft a tackle, move guard, move Riley Reef into guard and move Cole Strange to center and move on from David Andrews if I wanted to. I could do that. I'm not going to do that. That is a consideration. You know what? I'm going to take a guy that I think, and I'm thinking about also getting some juice off the edge and taking Nolan Smith.

I think he would be a really good personality fit on that team as well. But I'm going to go with Jackson Smith and Jigba. they have a need. Now, Smith Schuster, I know, is somebody who is going to potentially play slot. But I just think with Smith and Jigba, you just want to get a good football player with great hands. He's a good route runner. I think he's a solid player who is going to be a player who is, I don't want to say can't miss, but I think he's pretty safe at what he does.

He's not at the very top of my board necessarily inside the top 15. but I know that's a position that that New England needs. And I think they need to worry less about who's a slot and who's outside and just worry about guys who can get open and catch the ball when it's thrown to them. So I'm going to go with Jackson Smith and Jigba in that spot for New England. And I'm going to pass on a corner. And well, hold on a second. Hold on.

Before I turn my card in. Before I turn my card in. Me as Brian Gutakunz just went, huh? I'm Jonathan Jones. He's smaller. I'm Jack, Jack Jones. Miles Bryant. Okay, wait a minute.

Uh-oh. Bill Belichick just told the scout to put the card away. Uh-oh. Now we are going with Deonté Banks, cornerback, Maryland. Trates, Trades, Trakes, explosive, long, has the ability to play multiple coverages. We're going to take a little surprise pick here

and go Deontay Banks as the third corner off the board. Wow. Wow. Okay. Well, I'm the Packers, and I was all set to turn in a card with Dalton Kincaid's name on. it because I need past catchers of many, many stripes. But if Jackson Smith and Jigba is available, I will take him.

Jordan Love, you're welcome. Wow. And can anyone predict what Bill Belichick's going to do anyway? Exactly. That's true. Exactly. I mean, I saw almost a lot on anybody predicted last year. So, so now I, yeah, I'm taking Jackson Smith and Jigba as the Packers because,

Hold on a second. Hold on one second. Hold on one second. No, no, no, no. You don't have to, but does Miles Murphy... You think Miles Murphy fits the New England model of what they could look at, Dane? Yes. I mean, I wouldn't say he's a bad fit. I don't know that he fits like a glove, but I wouldn't say he's a bad fit. Look, Jack Jones is 510. I'm sticking with Deontay Banks and not moving. Jonathan Jones is not even 510. Like they've got to get some size on the outside.

Sean Wade to me is not going to be that guy. Marcus Jones is a slot. I mean, I think they have to. And I know they protected Miles Bryant, who's a 577 corner. I'm going with Deont. Now, they could go Joy Porter Jr. But I'm going to stick with,

who was the big long corner that they got from Vanderbilt that didn't end up working out? No, Joe Jo Juan Williams. Yeah, Joanne Williams, that's right. So I'm going with the, I'm passing on Porter and I'm going banks. And then you were turning in Jackson Smith and jig before the, yeah, I like that. I'm actually sprinting down the down the aisle in, uh, in Kansas City to turn that card in. Because Jordan Love, he's going to need some help. And that is help immediately.

So that works for me. We now move on to the commanders. Now on the board, on the board still is Peter Scronsky. You know, Dalton Kincaid, Nolan Smith, Miles Murphy, Darnell-Bijon.

Bejohn Robinson. Yep. Well, the commander's chief needs corner running back, especially a running back who can catch the ball out of the backfield. You see where I'm going with this? Yes, I do. Hook them, baby.

Bejohn Robinson. Oh, look at that. Interesting. Yeah. I mean, I think the sign of a good pick is when every other team in your division goes, ah, crap. Yeah, and I think that's what the Cowboys, Eagles, and Giants are saying if the commanders make that pick. I feel, I feel that that was the guy I had first on the board. Even as everything adjusted, he was still sitting.

there, that's who I wanted in that spot and feeling very, very good about it. You know, the people have, the conversation is Bijon reminds some people of Saquan Barclay from the Giants. The Eagles, a lot of people think he would make a lot of sense with the Eagles at running back. And a lot of people love to mock him to the Cowboys. So he's all over the place in terms of the NFC East. I will say it would be unfair if the Eagles got him.

It would be basically cheating if the Eagles got. Bejan Robinson. Yeah. And if they are able to trade back from 10, I wouldn't be surprised if it happened. All right. Lance, the Pittsburgh Stillers. The Steelers.

What's yin's got here? The Stillers are going to go with. It's not clean enough for me to do that pick. I love to do it tight in there. Cornerback is the easy is the easy out. because you've got an older Patrick Peterson, Levi Wallace is a little lean. You know, you could use some defensive line help as well, but who's there that I would love.

James Daniels is it right guard, Isaac Siamulo, is it left guard along with Kevin Dotson? So Skrotsky doesn't really, you've got Okorafor and Dan Moore. I don't want to play him at left tackle. And I do think they could use some wide receiver help. You got Deontay Johnson. You got George Pickens. But it's light after that. Calvin Austin was hurt all last year.

He's a smaller cornerback. I mean, he's a smaller wide receiver. You know what? I'm sitting here and I got Zayflowers on the board. I don't want to get another George Pickens type in Quentin Johnston. I got Joey Porter, Jr. I'm considering right now. Legacy, baby.

A little early for, I think Drew Sanders would be really interesting there, but I'm going to back out of that one. You know what? We're going to go Joey Porter, Jr. We're going to go quarterback, and we're going Joey Porter, Jr.

With the Pittsburgh Steelers. The son of a Steeler joins the Steelers. Interesting, yeah. I like it. All right, so Lions on the Clockyard 18. I mean, now, okay, I don't, I didn't come into this draft thinking that the Lions are going to draft an offensive linemen. They don't need an offensive lineman. But Peter Skorosky is sitting there.

And I just, I feel like it's malpractice if I let them fall to another spot here. I mean, Jonah Jackson's entering a contract year, I believe this year. So, you know, he might be priced out of. You're going to tick off the other team you're picking for. after this. It could be worse to left tackle it. Yeah, that's okay. Peter Skronsky.

That's all right. I'm looking at this and I mean, Scronsky can step in from day one at right guard over, I mean, I like him better in Vaitai or Glasgow or I just give me depth. I mean, Lions fans are not going to like this pick at all. But you know what? First round left tackle, first round center. First round right tackle.

First round right guard. You were set up to kick ass in the offensive line. Exactly. And that's something your head coach appreciates. Yeah. And your head coach appreciates that. There's no question. And so, I mean, if I'm throwing Jared Gough out there as my quarterback, you know, he's not a guy that's going to move that much.

I need to protect him. And we know we're going to, we're going to, the run game's going to be an important part of what we do. So I'm going Peter Scrosky here. And, I mean, even if he has to be a sixth offensive lineman, for me. As a rookie, I still feel really good about, you know, because you're not going to play with your starting five for all 17 games in regular season. It's just not, chances are it's not going to happen. So, you know, I feel really good about adding him and what that does for the rest of our offense. So now you go pick for a team that really needs. Yeah, they could have used

offensive line help here. Yeah. And, you know, I think Tampa, you look at it, they, they could could go offensive line here, obviously. They could go defensive line. They edge help. They need some help off the edge. Corner, I think that they're okay with the moves that they made. Yeah, because, yeah, are they going to move Tristan Wirthes to left tackle? You know, it's hard to say, but let's just say they do. Let's say they moved Tristan Wirthes over. Maybe they could plug in darn out right here, right tackle. And that might help stabilize things for Tampa. So darnall Wright at pick here for the bucks, 19.

All right, darnel Wright from Tennessee, off the board. That brings us to your second John Schneider pick, Lance. You are the Seahawks again. You grab Jalen Carter already. Who you got now? Well, so this is my thought process here. I think there is a, chance. Let me look at this contract real quick for Noah Fant. Let's take a look at

Noah Fant's contract. Because what I'm thinking now, so this year he's got a cap number of 6.85, and then he is an unrestricted free agent after this year. I got Will Disley. He's a I, but he's not somebody that I'm going to keep from considering Dalton Kincaid for. So right now I'm thinking, here's what's going through my mind. I'm thinking Dalton Kincaid at tied in because it's one of the, maybe a little bit of a best player available scenario. I've already got, now I need interior and exterior. I need a D.N.

Do I double up and go Miles Murphy or Nolan Smith? I've already got Jalen Carter inside. Do I really try to pound the defensive line and make a big impact that way? Do I like it wide receiver? I know there's a lot of thoughts. So right now what's going to go through my head? head. If I'm John Schneider's, I'm going to say, okay, the wide receiver draft is not a great draft. There's not a lot of depth at wide receiver. There's some guys who are going to be okay.

A defensive end and pass rusher, there's going to be a little bit of help. I have, if I remember correctly, they've got two picks in the second round. So I can go find that. I could decide to complete havoc and try to grab Collijah Cancy and surprise people with our ability to play because we may go over Dray. You know, we got Draymond Jones, you got Bryant-Money, but then that's really more of a, if you added Cancy, it's just for pass rush. And is that too much of a is that too much of a luxury pick? I am going to. Are you considering Hendon Hooker at all here? I probably should. I probably should, but I'm not going to.

Some teams have really, I've asked a question to some NFL teams, and they just really beat me up O'Reave and asking the question. They just don't see Henn and Hooker as a first round pick, so they don't see any reason. To a team, if you're not a first rounder, you don't draft a guy in their first rounder just to buy an extra year. For us, it might make sense. For teams, they're trying not to get fired,

so they're trying to play players who actually play. You know, I've got to tell you, And you're also looking at linebacker here. Your cornerback position is not great, but I don't have a corner that I love in this spot. I'm probably not going to look at Brian Branch here. That doesn't really, well, it makes no sense. You don't have a spot for him.

So I tell you what, what I'm going to do, your tackles are young and they're in good shape. I'm going to go with Zay Flowers here. And I'm going to add another pass catcher, much more dynamic than D.K. we know who D.K. is. He's more into Tyler Lockett vein. I think there can be some flexibility in terms of how you align these guys inside, outside. So let's add another weapon and let's do it with Zay Flowers at the wide receiver position. Very interesting. Now, I am the Los Angeles Chargers. And so I'd like to help out Justin Herbert a little bit. now i have said multiple times the only way i'm taking jalen hyatt this high

hold on hold on hold on hold on this is crazy this is crazy okay it's a deep tight end draft but i can't let dalton can kinkate off oh dang it i can't let dalton can kinkate off the board this is i had a whole speech prepared but i'm glad i'm glad he's got well you're us a fraserze flowers Yes. I got to go, you know what? The expiring contract to reset that contract

for your tight end and get a pass catcher and Dalton Kincaid, I'll go with Dalton Kincaid because that's also a weapon, but it's a weapon where you can still address

wide receiver later in a draft. It's going to get harder at tied in. Had a whole speech prepared that's in the trash. I know. I will go back to my Jalen Hyatt speech,

which is not taking a guy this high, Jaylen Hyatt this high, unless I feel like I have other pieces in my receiving core that he would compliment. Well, guess who's receiving core Jalen Hyatt would compliment? The Chargers with Mike Williams, big guy on the outside, with Keenan Allen who can do a little bit of everything. And all of a sudden, got this guy who can take the top off the defense.

But do I do it? Do I dare? Am I reaching here? The other thing, I need safety help. I could take Brian Branch. I could put him in the same secondary as Derwin James. I got two guys who are like, see ball, fine ball, hit ball. Oh, this is tough.

This is very, very tough for me. I had Jalen Hyatt in capital letters when I set this board. And he's here and I'm now struggling to pull the trigger. Because I feel like I'm reaching. Am I wrong? Hey, this is your pick. It's not about reaching. It's about what fits your team.

You know what? What's the saying on your Post-it? X no matter what. Here's my thing. Remember, Dane and I talked, Lance, before you were coming on regularly, Dane and I would talk about some of my favorite players from college football in 2021 as they became NFL rookies and I loved watching them develop. And one of those guys was Jaquan.

risker who was just always, always doing something great at Penn State. And he gets in the NFL and it feels like that just continued. I'm going to do that. I'm going to take the guy who's always doing something great. Jire Brown. Brian Branch from Alabama. I'm going to put him in the same secondary as James. Safe, safe, safe.

I'm riding. Let's go. Safe player. Sorry, Justin Herbert. Safe player. You see how, so this brings up a conversation. I had a conversation last weekend with a former NBA GM. We were talking about football and basketball.

And he said, no matter who you are as a GM, he said one of the biggest problems in sports when you're a general manager is, is decision makers. He said, it's amazing how often guys, there are some guys who are who do not flinch when it's time to, when it's time to, when it's time to make a pick, they know who they're going to be.

Their board is the board. Kevin Colbert was always like that. When the guy comes off the board, you pull them off, and whoever's next up, that's who we're taking. That's how we set our board up. And this guy told me that in the NBA, and this includes one really good NBA team, he said, you'd be amazed at how many general managers

in the NBA. And I ask another GM in the NFL about this. And he said, it's true. There's a lot of guys who get, once the time comes to make their pick, Andy, just like you experienced. And like I've been experiencing, you think you know who you're going to go with. But if you don't have the commitment, you panic.

And then you're going to make a pick that you haven't been completely bought into. And it's hard. I think it's hard to make that decision when the clock rolls down. Are you a patient, calm person and you stick to the process? Or do you let yourself? And people in fantasy football do this too, I'm sure all the time. Here's the thing. Brian Branch, though, of the guys we're talking about in the first round,

I would be the happiest with him. I realize I had Jalen Hyatt kind of circled, but there's no, there's actually no team in the league if I were the GM that I wouldn't be happy if I got Brian Branch. Sure. He's that kind of player. Like, I know he's going to be really good.

And so I feel like that's, that's the way to go. Now, now I'm the Ravens, a team that loves to take Alabama players, but we're not taking an Alabama player, but we will take a Alabama player, But we will take a player coached by Alabama's former defensive coordinator. We've talked about this guy a bunch, and I kept saying, uh-oh, uh-oh,

because this is the guy I had for the Ravens the entire time. His college production off the edge, sack number is not particularly great, but he plays in a defense where that position is not going to get as many sacks. His athletic traits are incredible. He's a former number one overall recruit in the country. I can find something to do with him. Nolan Smith is a Baltimore Raven.

And that feels like a Raven pick. Yeah, it does. Either him or Miles Murphy from a side standpoint. You know what? I'm going to, I won't take a lot of time on this. Minnesota's going to walk the card up calmly and they're going to draft Hendon Hooker,

quarterback Tennessee. There you go. And so now what we're doing is Minnesota's sitting there and they've got to make a decision. Man, there's some guys who could really help them. They didn't need another wide receiver. They got Hyatt as a speed guy to take the pressure off of Justin Jefferson. You got edge help with Miles Murphy still on the board.

You've got Quentin Johnston there if you'd like him. They could use a little inside linebacker help with Drew Sanders as well, potentially. But I'm going to go with quarterback of the team. future. We know the contract's up with with Kurt Cousins. We've gone as far as we can go with Kirk Cousins. We're going to take our shot here with Hennon Hooker. Now, the problem you have here is that I think Minnesota would trade back. I think Minnesota would trade back and pick up picks because Minnesota does not have enough draft picks. They need more draft picks. They don't even have a second round pick. So if I go Hinden Hooker in this spot, before I turn my card in, if I take

Hinden Hooker here, my draft does not come back until a third round. So I think Minnesota would trade back. I had them trading back with Buffalo and Buffalo taking Bijon. But since Bijon's already off the board, you know, there may be somebody who a team is willing to trade up for. There may be a player. But if Minnesota has to sit there, man, Hinden Hooker, if I had more draft picks, I could take Hindenhooker. If I traded back in the first, I'd take Hindenhooker. If I could get a second round pick this year, I would draft Hennon Hooker. If somebody would trade up, if Philadelphia would trade up from 30 to 23, I would move back and I'd try to get Hennon Hooker there. If I, under these rules, have to stay there and I have no second round pick,

it's just really hard for me not to have a first or second rounder this year. So in this particular scenario. Let's go with Miles Murphy off the edge and let's help out our, our edge defense. So Miles Murphy to the Vikings, leaving Hinden Hooker on the board. Obviously, Dane is the Jacksonville Jaguars. They don't need a quarterback. So sorry, Hinden. It's going to, it might be a little while. Who you got, Dane? Well, I sitting there with Jacksonville, I was considering Miles Murphy. Maybe, and probably it was going to come down to the two Clemson defensive lineman Miles Murphy or Brian Brzee. And now with Murphy off the board, that makes it a little bit easier for me.

I'm going to go with Brian Brzee, who I feel like has gotten beat up way too much during this draft process. I mean, this is, watch him towards the end of the year. Watch him, you know, when he was fully healthy and things were, you know, he was in a better spot. I mean, he was playing like we saw, you know, him play as a freshman when he was the former top recruit and everything. Everything was going well. So I still think he belongs in the first round. And I think it's a pretty good value here at 24 for the Jaguars, reuniting him with his former quarterback with Trevor Lawrence.

So, yeah, to go with Brazia 24 and then 25 with the Giants. So only one receiver is off the board at this point, right? Smith and Jigba. Yep. Yep. So I'm sitting here and, you know, I'm looking at, okay, Jalen Hyatt, Zayflowers. I'm going to go Jordan Addison. You worry a little bit about the size.

I mean, he was 173 at the Combine and then 170 at the Pro Day. But this is a guy that he can get open. And I think there's a lot of what he does is going to fit that offense really well. So I like Addison for the Giants at 25. One of my teams is very upset. One of my teams that's picking them is very upset. You've been looking through it? They had Jordan Addison circle.

they were sure that he was the guy, but now they're going to have to scramble. This is the bills, by the way. They have to scramble. But they have time to scramble because the Dallas Cowboys are on the clock. Lance, you are Jera. Let's make, or I guess you're Stephen. But let's make that pick.

You got tight-in, wide receiver. I do think wide receiver maybe. So Brandon Cook's helps you push that a little bit potentially. You could use wide receiver, Will you go here? Now, you've got a good choice of wide receivers. I personally think that they can get better at center. Personally, that's my feeling on that one.

I think Travis Frederick is not in this draft. No, he's not in this draft. You know, people are going to want them to draft tight in, but I don't know that I go, I would go Luke Musgrave here. I don't think the Cowboys would. I think they would want to wait on that. I do think that linebacker is a position that they could consider as well. They brought in Drew Sanders.

Yeah, I'm going to go Drew Sanders because number one, he's the Arkansas guy. Okay, we can do that game if you want to, Arkansas player. But he's got the unusual ability to play inside. He's aggressive. He knows how to take on blocks. And he's a very good rusher. So now you've got a linebacker turn defensive end who's one of the hottest rushers in the league, the most dangerous players in the league. And now you've got another guy who you could put in the A gap, the B gap, or even put them, you can even reduce your rushers down and have Drew Sanders and Micah Parsons coming off the edge.

So I think that's pretty interesting. I'm going to go Drew Sanders there with the Dallas Cowboys. I like it. There you go. So I was all set to take Jordan Addison. with the bills. And I'm going to give Josh Allen some help one way or the other. But there's a guy who I like almost as much.

Zay Flowers, still on the board. Perfect. So he's a Buffalo bill because I don't think Hyatt is the guy. Again, we talk about Hyatt needs to be a complimentary. You have to have the right pieces in place already. I think Gabe Davis can take the top off your defense. I don't know that I need that. So I'll take Zay Flowers,

and I feel like Josh Allen's going to be happy with me. I can't wait for this next pick, because one thing I found about Bengals fans is they have only one player there targeting the Bengals fans. And if you don't say his name, they are going to scream at you. Well, when I initially set this board, it said Darnell or Darnell.

But one Darnell is already gone. So, because it was going to be Darnell, Washington, or Darnell right. When Dane took Darnel right, that left me with one Darnel. But we've talked about repeatedly on this podcast how Darnel Washington can change your run game for the better. I have said many times I think he will be a better pass catcher in the NFL than he was at Georgia because Brock Bowers won't also be on his team.

I'm taking Darnel Washington. You're welcome, Joe Burrow. I gave him Luke Musk. grave and they were ready to burn my house. Who do they want? Who's the one they really heard? Well, Collegiacancy. Only Collegiancy can be a Bengal. Nobody else can be a Bengal.

And the funny thing was, I mocked, I may have started some of the Collegia Cancy to Sensi stuff because I mock them there and my mock 1.0. And somewhere in there, you know, the group think of the fan base became Collegiancy, collagiccan. There's no way all these people were hardcore watching Tenet, we're watching Pitt. There's no way a bunch of Bengals fans have been watching Piton. tape throughout the time. But they have it in their mind that only Collijah

Cancy can help them. And if you deviate on the offensive side at all. So congratulations. You just made your bet, Andy, and now you're going to have to lie. That's fine. So the reason I had Darno right up there before, Jonah Williams wants to trade. I was thinking, okay, Orlando Brown at left,

Dornel right at right tackle. We're good to go. But as soon as the bucks took him, I'm out of luck. But I took a guy who may as well be a third offensive of tackle on the field in the run game. And I'm telling you, Darnel, Washington is going to help you in the past game. Yeah, they'll go, uh, they'll go Dwan Jones from Ohio State in the second round. Right, right, exactly.

And that's the thing. I mean, I know how much you like him, Dane. I wasn't going to reach for him here. No. But he's, he's there. There's, there's value there where you can, you can get it. Darno Washington's a bit of a unicorn. Now, I don't, is he going to be Travis Kelsey or something?

I don't think, I don't necessarily. so I think that. But I think the things that you can do in your run game with him, plus what he can give you in the red zone, I think you're going to be really happy. That makes sense. Lance, Lance. The Saints. Oh, let's see. Let's see. There's no safety I would draft in that particular spot. You've got the wide receiver position. I got a lot of guys on the board right now.

we never know what's going to happen with Mike Thomas. It's an impossible thing to ever know. Can't predict Mike? Can't guard Mike? Yeah, I mean, Rashid, Shihid, Kirkman, Keith Kirkwood, Treyquan Smith, just not good enough. It needs to get better. I mean, this is, look, I had Colligia Cancy going there with the way the mock,

but I also had a bunch of wide receivers off the board. A lave can do a lot of different things. I've got Jalen Hyatt, who's a very specific type of, wide receiver. I don't really know that I have the quarterback that fits that type of wide receiver, though. Quentin Johnston gives me a big who can catch it intermediate as well. I've got a tight end and Luke Musgrave that is available. They got Juan Johnson, Adam Troutman, Tassam Hill. Not really an offensive lineman. I'm going to take here in this spot. Keon White. would be interesting here because he fits defensively what they might do.

I'm going to go with Quentin Johnston. We'll go with the big receiver and allow, and we'll go, we'll double up here and give ourselves the best chance to win with Derek Carr we can possibly have. We just made the deal for him. We've got a lave. I'm going to look for another receiver that has the ability to attack on multiple levels. I don't love what Quentin Johnson's done through the. the draft process.

I think the hands are a potential issue. He didn't have a great pro day. But he's big. He's explosive. And I think he takes some pressure off of Chris Alave and more importantly, gives another weapon to Derek Carr. So we'll go Quentin Johnston with that pick

for the New Orleans Saints. So we got 30 and 31 to go. Remember, the dolphins don't have a first round pick because it was stripped from them. Dane, you have both Super Bowl participants. So you've got the Eagles at 30. and the Chiefs at 31. So you are Howie Roseman, who you got?

I think 30's easy. I mean, Howie can't help himself. This is Collegiate Cancy. The pick at 10 was Van Ness, right? Yeah. Yep. I take Van Ness, yep. Defensive line, defense of line.

I don't think he's, it won't matter at all. He won't be able to help himself. Collage of Cancy, the pick at 30. And then 31, this is where it gets interesting, because KC could go in a lot of different ways here. I mean, they're wide receiver depth chart. I mean, who's the best receiver on their team right now? It seems like every year they're drafting and adding wide receivers.

And you look at the depth chart, you go, holy crap. I know. You forget that all those guys were basically one-year guys last year. So now at wide receiver, you've got Marcus Valdez-Scanling, who is a type, Cadarius, Tony, whatever, Skymore. You know, you don't know what? more yet. Cadillus Tony has talent, but is there some duplication between Skymore and Cadarious

Tony in terms of how they would align and play? Are you looking at Jalen Hyatt there where you have two Valdez Scantlings? But they both can make some, I mean, look, dude, there's going to be guys getting easy catches underneath because everyone's going to have to play back. Your safeties cannot be within 15 yards in the line of scrimmage. Also, do we think that they might be able to develop Jalen Hyatt into a guy who you can get the ball to near the line of scrimmage in space like a certain other really fast guy they used to have

or is he just more of a straight line? He's linear. He's not a tough runner after catch. Now, you want to throw him a slant and let him run on the move. Yeah, you want to throw him a crossing route. Oh, yeah, for sure. But he's not somebody you throw to where his feet are stationary, like a stop route.

And then all of a sudden he's going to wiggle and make it happen. Like, that's not who he is, but maybe that's what you're talking about. Slant and take off crossing routes because it's hard to keep up with him when he's on the fly. There's also, like,

they also have Justin Ross, which as a college guy, it just amazed me because he had the neck injury at Clemson. He had a foot injury last year that kept him out. This is a guy who basically dominated a national championship game against Alabama as a true freshman. Like, he's just sitting there.

Like, what if he's actually, healthy. I don't know. A lot of people talked about this last draft cycle. And every time I heard people talk about Justin Ross, I'm like, you guys are wasting your breath. The tape was so rough. It was. The neck injury was bad. He was not the same. No, it's, I mean, yeah, I think if maybe if, you know, a prayer, but I just can't count on it. The other position you're looking at here is Edrusher. And, you know, the best edge rushers, you know, Frank Clark's gone. So we're looking at who, BGA Adjillary, Will McDonald. What about Tully?

Tully's not a true edge, but he's a tough guy. He's a tough guy, three, four athletes. I don't see it with Toul. I don't. I just, I don't, I just, he worries me because I don't see a good enough athlete. You know, if he doesn't win with that, those fours. I love his hands. When he gets going downhill, he's a force to be reckoned with.

But if he can't win another way, that's what worries me. What about Keon White? And you just get a big bully and you try to groom him. You're playing behind Charles Aminu. Maybe you give him some snaps inside as a defensive tackle. What about that? Yeah, I think him. What about Will McDonald?

I like Will McDonald. Oh, yeah. I didn't even think about Will McDonald. a lot. Will McDonald's the one I'm kind of looking at here. A guy with that type of athletic traits. I mean, we know that the chiefs, they love those traits at Pass Rusher. Let's go Will McDonald here at Pick 31. I like it. Once again, they upgrade their defense. Yeah, he'll be, by the way, Will McDonald's going to be gone way earlier than that. I kind of forgot him in my last mock. I had penciled him into the Ravens and then I switched it was eight flowers. I never

remember to put him back into my mock in the back half of the first, or I would have put him in with the Chiefs. But what do you think about Cedric Tillman? A lot of people were surprised I put Cedric Tillman. I don't think people realize, and you will, Andy, also. Yeah. 2021, Cedric Tillman is a dude. Oh, yeah, very different. He was heard all year. And this year, he was just hurt all year. Yeah. Cedillman's really good. And you watch his 2021, Georgia and Alabama games. He's dominant at the, at the catch point. Yeah. Contested stuff. He was working hard and making a lot of catches. And really, you know, at that point, they didn't have a lot of reliable targets in that offense.

And they had more options for Hinden Hooker this past year. But yeah, I'm with you. I think Cedric Tillman could be one who if you didn't watch him in 2021, you'd be surprised at how good he's going to be when he gets the NFL. If you want to come out of this draft with a true X, Cedric Tillman is probably your best bet. To fill that role, be that guy who can win with size, can win on the outside, can win downfield deep. You know, he's got tracking skills.

Yeah, there's a lot to like about Cedric Tillman. So, yeah, you can't rule it out if that's because, again, we stack all these receivers together, but they're all very different with what they offer. I mean, that's why I kind of annoys me when people try to make Jalen Hyatt versus Cedlick Tillman debates. Like they're very... Oh, that's not even a debate. They're not the same person. Right.

They play a very different position. So it depends on what you want. If you don't want a Jalen Hyatt type, if you want more of an X, then yeah, Cedric Tillman. I understand why you'd want to go that direction. But if you want more of that, you know, that linear explosion downfield and hiatus your guy. So, yeah, it just depends on the type of receiver you want. And Tillman is definitely a certain type.

If Tillman had the same year, so Andy, those two games you're talking about, he had 200 against Georgia and 150. They played in a national championship against each other. 200 against Georgia, 152 against Alabama, 17 total catches, two touchdowns. If he has just the same year he had last year, and he doesn't even have to be as big, because obviously Kirby Smart's not letting him do that again. But even if he just had the same statistical numbers that he had last year, he is the first wide receiver off the board in this year's class.

Yeah, he's going on the top 10. So this is great. I'm feeling terrible now because I should have taken him for the bills. Yeah. See? But no, I like you. You've talked to the end of that. I want to retroactively go back and take it for the bills.

I did that. I retroactively did. But I liked your, what, Zayflowers over there? I had Zayflowers. Well, I think Zay is terrific for jobs. Yeah. I mean, look what you did with Cole Beasley. He's going to do some good things with Zay Flowers.

Exactly. No doubt. So this is, this has been really educational, guys, because I know you guys have done this this before. I've never done this in real time. And it is stressful. And we're just doing a podcast. Imagine if it's your job. Right. And there's so much riding on who's available, what you're going to do. And that's why you have to go through scenarios. So you're not caught off guard when your team comes up on the clock. So it's, uh, it would make part of what makes the draft so much fun. Guys are going to do it for real in a couple of weeks.

we'll have you ready for it with this show. We got a couple more episodes before the actual draft itself. But hopefully we've given you something to chew on with this mock because I don't know. I don't know if I can handle me in an NFL GM. But I'll take me in a podcast, Os. See you guys later. This was the Athletic Football Show.