The Athletic Football Show: A show about the NFL - Prospects to Pros: 2024 NFL Scouting Combine wrap

Episode Date: March 4, 2024

What do you do after spending a long week in Indianapolis for the NFL Scouting Combine? You talk about it! Nate Tice and Dane Brugler but a bow on the combine by going over what we learned, position by position, on this episode of The Athletic Football Show's Prospects to Pros.Follow Nate on Twitter: @Nate_TiceFollow Dane on Twitter: @dpbruglerSubscribe to The Athletic Football Show...AppleSpotifyYouTube Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is the athletic football shows Prospects to Prospects to Pros. Hello and welcome to Prospects to Pros. I am your host, Nate Tice. We're reviewing the NFL Combine today 40 times, bra jumps. Not so much three cones in a short shuttle because apparently no one does those anymore. But also the did you meet with questions? We won't really be going over too many of those. But who knows?

Seems like everybody else wants to talk about that. But that's what we're doing today. Combine, we've wrapped up. We survived. I survived. Hopefully the person that's joining me survived. I think he did. He's across from me right now on screen.

But to join me covering the combine from Indianapolis, well, now he's home from Indianapolis, is the athletics draft expert himself, Mr. Dane Bruegler. How you doing today, Dane? I'm good. It was a long week, but a productive week, right? I mean, this combine is always, it's always something that we look forward to,

and then we get there and you're in the middle of it, and it's just nonstop, and you're like, can I just time out? Let me get a break. Let me, but you just keep powering through late nights, early mornings. And then, like, when you're all done, you just have such a wealth of information that it's like, okay,

now we have all this information. Now let's apply it. Let's figure out, okay, what does this mean? What does that mean? How should we take this? You know, I think that's the main key now is, all right, yeah, we had these 40s. We had all these testing times.

The positional stuff, I don't think that, I don't, Because obviously, I'm in the stadium, we're in the stadium for when this happens. So, like, I don't know necessarily, like, on TV what they're showing for the positional drills. But that's such a big part of this, just to see these, compare these guys one after the other, after the other, to see how, you know, offensive linemen going past pro mirror drills and the W drill and defensive backs, their pedal and turn and all that. So now that we have all this, let's figure out how to apply it.

What does it mean? And so, yeah, I think that's kind of the focus for. this show. We'll try to try to do that. Yeah, even outside the, the main test, you know, the headlines, you know, the 40-yard drill and everything, especially those linemen drills today. And we'll talk about the receiver drills. It's so nice, they got the tracking data with some of those and they flash it on screen. And so you've seen the linemen doing the wave drills. And I'm actually seeing who actually is moving literally the fastest. And it actually maybe confirmed an eye test there, which, so we'll talk about once we go over the alignment. But same with the receiver stuff. So it's kind of cool seeing. So maybe that older way of thinking or just maybe the traditional way of thinking with the new age versions of that too with the combine. I think that's what a lot of that combine is. Oh my God. The fact that's open to the public more or less that that blows my mind or to media, I should say, a public media that still blows my mind. Considering when I first went to the combine, it was just a lockdown.

What's in your bag? Yeah, no, lock. No, you can't bring that in here. I don't care if you're with the team. Yeah, totally different to how it is now. But it's a lot of fun. Well, I did it. As I was going to say, before, I mean, I won't give away all my secrets how I snuck in,

but it's, you know, you're borrowing credentials. You're doing different things. And, yeah, it was nice not to have to do that this time around. I'm sure. I'm sure. Just wave. Just wave. That's the best advice my dad ever gave me.

He's like, if you want to, you're getting somewhere that you know you're not supposed to be, just give the wave and act like you know what you're doing. Yeah. Confidence is key. That's it. It's huge. You know, whether you're in a, sitting in a formal interview with a team or you're trying to sneak into the Lucas Oil Stadium. Confidence matters.

Absolutely. All right. Speaking of that confident, well, really, wasn't so much with this position. I was going to say some confident running of the 40s, but not really with this. I was going to just start with the quarterbacks because the quarterback position is kind of how we always lead things off. But the combine's interesting for quarterbacks. Some guys don't throw. Some guys don't run.

Some guys don't weigh in, which is an interesting one. but also interviews, medicals, Whisper Club starts with a lot of these guys. We get a lot of minds in the same building, how radio road goes, how teams talk, how many meals are happening.

Shoot me and you walk two blocks. And we had like five separate side conversations with people that walk by as well. Yeah. If you have like a someplace to go, just put your eyes down and just power walk. Because, yeah,

when we were walking, how many people we've been to and it's just like, oh, well, we got, you know, it's not just being polite.

It's like, oh, I'd like to talk to this person. It was great. Right. It's not, yeah, it's not like we're complaining. It's just that's how it is this week in Indianapolis. It's you cannot walk down the street without bumping into somebody that you know or would love to talk to.

And, you know, it's, it really is something that's fascinating. It is. It's just the types of conversations because of different type of people. It's the convention for football. I mean, it really is. I mean, you get, you know, the datables there at the same time, the testing's going on. At the same time, everyone's going to a restaurant and drinking and then meeting up there. anything like that. It's just so funny all these things going on, different type of personalities.

But the quarterbacks, though, was, I mean, it's just, it's full steam ahead. I know that the Justin Fields trade to rumors. I know we've covered it on the show with Diane and Robert have talked about a little bit as well. But the positions, we have Caleb Williams who didn't throw, but did measure in, almost literally the exact same as Drew Brees, by the way. But also we have Drake May measured in. And then Jane Daniels from LSU did not measure in officially. I think he's going to do it as pro day. But then all the others. But day, to you, those who did throw JJ McCarthy, Michael Panics, Bo Nix, Michael Pratt, there's a good assortment of guys that did throw, or just really what you heard or what you saw this week? Who stood out to you at the

quarterback position, the signal caller spot? So I think, um, I don't, this is a boring answer. This is not good content, but I don't think any of the quarterbacks really blew me away or really disappointed. I mean, I thought it was kind of part, right? I mean, it was, kind of part for the course. Not everything was perfect, but not everything should be expected to be. You know, these are, especially the timing drills where, you know, dealing with receivers that you don't, you're not comfortable with, you don't know. You know, I thought J.J. McCarthy, that was probably the most anticipated workout.

And I thought he did fine. I think he did. It's not like, oh, he belongs in the top five now. If whatever you thought about J.J. McCarthy coming into the week, that's how you probably feel about him. leaving the week. Unless, do you have a different opinion on that? Nope.

That's exactly what I expected. I mean, the weight stuff is hilarious, but that's combined weight, you know, so it's water weight. I don't know what to make it. Water weight.

I mean, he looked a little bloated too. I know that face too. I think for me, the only thing really confirmed for me, and I thought he did, and you've talked about him having a live arm,

was he legit had the second fastest, I think, miles per hour when they did the arm test, you know, the speed test behind Joe Milton, which is saying something. So that was just more of a confirmation. It was like,

I think I see this. You throw a tight spiral on film, but you just never know. You got to just maybe get that number and get to see it a little bit. And the other thing, too, he had the best three cone time at 6-8-2. You have to go back five years to find a quarterback under that time. That's really low. Oh, it's an awesome time. He did not do the 40, but I think he would have been comfortably,

4-6-5 over under. I'm taking the under. I'll take the other there. Yeah, with Jay-J-McCoh. So I don't need to see him run a 40. I've seen him run and I know what kind of speed he has. But the 6-8-2 and the 3-cone was an awesome time. And that's something that really shows the athlete that he is.

But yeah, then throwing the ball looked good. I thought Michael Pettix, you know, he did a nice job. Bo Nix did a nice job. Nothing necessarily about those two workouts that has me, oh, I need to go back and watch more. I need to do it. No, I mean, it's kind of what we expect. So I thought the quarterbacks, you know, did a nice job.

I did too. Yeah, it was fine. I know. I wish I had some, like, oh, this guy really, you know, impressed me. The only thing impressed me the most was Sam Hartman run the back-to-back 40s. I thought that was just hilarious. Just lining up, run of the 40, line up again, run of the 40 again. I thought that was just amazing.

And then Joe Milton throwing the ball 70-something yards, that's always going to be hilarious. Right. The classic didn't even hitch up, just finish, just dropped, pause, and just launched it. It's like, smoke them if you got them. Special arm. I mean, if you could do that. Yeah. I mean, the only guy I've seen in person to throw it like that is another Tennessee

quarterback, Eric Aange. I watched him at the Manny Camp launch one 70-something yards. I saw Jarmac. Yeah. Those guys, yeah, those two, those guys at the Manny Camp when I was in high school. And I remember, I'm like, you know, I think I was a sophomore junior. I'm like, are you kidding? He's like, this is what you have to do.

Like, throw this 80-something yards on one knee. But Joe Milton throwing a ball 70-something yards was. a lot of fun. So I'm right there with you, the quarterback. So it kind of was just a fine week. Most of the stuff for them is so important what happens off the field, you know, of course, with the interviews and everything like that.

Yeah. Going to the guys that they threw, though, through to, I should say, the wide receivers, because we had a record breaker at the receiver position or just overall for the combine. And that's Xavier Worthy,

sending the 40-yard dash record at a 4-2-1, I believe, officially. That's it. And it's pretty cool that they, with all the fans that were there. I mean, that really made it feel electric. And so I, you know, they had, they put up the times in the stadium when they happen. But I, you know, after he ran that second 40, texted my buddy who was on the field, he was a scout on the field.

And he texted back that he, because it was originally in 422. He's got, or he, you know, texted back, I had 421. And so, I mean, I was like, okay, that would be the record if it happened. and then they announced the official 4-2-1, and they went nuts. I mean, that was so cool to see. I mean, that's, in the, it was, a lot of guys after they run a fast,

the fast 40 initially, they're like, all right, I'm done. Yeah, that's, that's a good enough for me. No, he competed. He went out there for, four, four, two, five, maybe his first try, second try, got that wreck. I mean, that's so cool for him. And honestly, okay, so how much we bumping him up now, I know. I know. That's it. I mean, I know he didn't do the positional stuff. It was just kind of the 40 and like, all right, you know, let's mic drop. I'll do the rest of the pro day. But I think it'll be interesting. Here's the question to ask, who will be the first Texas receiver drafted? Oh, I hope. I have 80 Mitchell above, but.

I can't teach speed, man. I mean, I mean, he's 4.3, he's 434. It wasn't too far off. It's crazy. I think it depends what you're looking for, right? I mean, right. Mitchell has X traits and, yeah, he's lighter, but when you have that speed, you've got that type of, you know, leaping ability down the field.

I mean, there's a lot you can do with that. And with Worthy, that straight line speed, the suddenness in and out of his breaks, you know, he was better catching the ball this year. So, yeah, I mean, I, I, I, understand. I think it's just the type of receiver you're looking for. One team might be looking for Mitchell, the other could be looking for a player like Worthy. So yeah, that'll be interesting. But there's a very good chance both those guys get in the first round now. When Worthy weighed in at whatever 160 and change, I got that dude better run a 425. And then the first 40 he ran a

425. And I actually was laughing at myself. I was like, oh, he shut me up. Like, is he? Well, no, that's a, you're right. You're right. It's a calculated risk, right? You know, like it's Yeah. Okay, yeah, you lose all that weight. You better be for a reason. If you lose all that weight and you run, you know, a 4-40, still a great time. But when you factor in the weight, yeah, that's big. So, yeah, he pet on himself, lost the weight. And we'll see what he is as a pro day, you know, what the weight's up to.

And obviously, I think we can bet he's not going to run at the pro day. He'll just do routes and things like that. But Roma Dunzee was awesome. Oh, put on a show. Both, but the positional stuff and the testing. I mean, I think that's the key with Rome, because obviously Marvin Harrison Jr. didn't work out. Like, neighbors didn't work out.

But for him to go out there, talk about Roma Dunzee, and run as fast as he did, and test, I mean, some of the positional stuff. I mean, for these receivers, they have him running, quick slant, an out route, in-rout, go-rout, what are the curl to post? Yeah. Yeah. And so every one of those routes, I mean, to be expected, if you've watched Roman Dunzee play football, you know he's a really good route runner. And he was outstanding, running all those routes.

You know, the gauntlet was clean. So Adunzee was just awesome from start to finish. Yeah, he was cooking in the gauntlet. He had, yeah, the third fastest time through to gauntlet, according to next gen stats. There's another guy we'll talk about, which I'm excited to. But he put on a show. The quick fade, they have them throw the quick fade now, like just like the quarterback one steps in. They go part of the sideline.

You can really see the receivers adjust for the ball. Right. Holy crap, watching him adjust and A.D. Mitchell a little bit too, but. Yeah. It's so clean. And just, yeah, efficient. Like, he's up. He high points it and he's down.

It's not, there's not some hanging. There's not jumping early and reaching. It's like, oof, he's just an athlete. He's just a natural athlete. He, oh, God, he's awesome. And a lot of these guys, you see him either run, fast or maybe they've got the short area, you know, the three cone short shuttle, or maybe they're, you know, they have one or two of these areas or, you know, the good and the positional stuff. To have a clean suite where you're just checking boxes all over the place, it's, it's rare.

It's not common. And so, for Ruma Dunesay, awesome day, he, it's really interesting to order these top three receivers come off the board, you know? Like, yeah, yeah. Honestly, I don't think anything would shock me. I really would. If Rome with Dunezay goes to the Cardinals at four, I don't think it'd be like the most shocking thing in the world. Like I would love him.

Oh yeah. I mean, I love him. Yeah. The fact that he went out there and competed, like that matters, you know? And it's not like that's going to make a team draft him over Harrison or neighbors, but it's another feather in his cap. It's something that's going to help the debate.

So, and if you had a Dunezay one going in to the combine, it's only going to help, you know, you feel better. about their projection. So I don't, I really don't think that, I mean,

like I said before, I think quarterback, quarterback, quarterback, receiver, receiver, your top six picks and four or five six, if it's a Dunezay-Harrison neighbors, to me,

that wouldn't be shocking. What did you think of neighbors not weighing in? Was that just helping stand with this teammate kind of thing? That was kind of interesting thing. Right, like solidarity, like, you know,

I'm with you. It's kind of weird because I understand like, yeah. Wait, was it an issue with me? with him. It was like you, you look plenty fit. I bet you

weighed 194, 195 maybe, somewhere up to 200, somewhere around there. I don't know. But yeah, if you lost weight to run, then let me say run or let me see it work out. Like, you know, it's the, usually guys when they don't weigh, it's because, or you know, like Bryce Young last year, like he got up the weight up and, but didn't

do anything at the combine, then he lost it all, didn't weigh in at the pro day and he worked out at the pro day. So like for Jaden Daniels and Blake neighbors, it's, I'm just surprised. that, you know, at least weigh in. Get the way in out of the way. And then if you don't want to weigh in at your pro day, then don't. But, and then do all your workouts at the pro day, but at least get the weight and the height or, you know, get just all the measurement stuff out out of the way.

So that was interesting choice. It's curious. Yeah, it's interesting. Yeah, I know. That's what it is. It's more like that's because it's so unique, I guess, in a way that that's what makes it stand out more than usually. Guys don't test. Guys don't do something.

It's like, oh, yeah, whatever. That's, that is what it is now. Yeah, that one was just curious to me. But speaking of LSU, those OSU guys, Brian Thomas rolled the other receiver from LSU, I believe, officially. 433. 433. Oh, my goodness. At 2.09 pounds.

Oh, my God. Is it only the best 40 times over the last 15 years among receivers at least 207 pounds, Darius Hayward Bay, he was like 210. He ran a 430. And then D.K. Metcalfe, Brian Thomas, both 433. Now, I mean, D.K. Metcalf was like almost 2.30. I mean, that was just ridiculous. But Brian Thomas, the only other guy in that list.

So three names over the last 15 years, guys, that size running a 4-33 or better. So just unbelievable time. I thought he was good the rest of the way, too. I did too. Yeah, he's a developing player, but it's like, man, he just keeps getting better. You can just see his moving stuff. Yeah. Yeah, Al Davis is probably trying to sprint after Ryan Thomas.

That's exactly what he wants. How about a... Sorry, Ricky Pearson. No, you're good. I thought... That was the next one I was going to bring up. She was another... Honestly, after Adunze, I think Ricky Pearsall was the second most impressive wide receiver workout of the...

Huge week. I mean, because, again, it wasn't just the... The testing was awesome. I mean, he came in 4-4-1 in the 40, 42-inch vert. 664-3 cone. Are you kidding me? Unbelievable. 17 bench.

It erupts in the bench. He's good size, too, isn't he? Like, 6-1-190, yeah. And then like his, his gauntlet was awesome. I mean, it was, I don't think it was the fastest. I don't, I didn't see the time. Like, when I was watching it live, it didn't look like he was necessarily moving as fast as like Keon Coleman or some of these other guys were. But he was still, I mean, he's catching it cleanly.

He was straight on the line. He looked good. So Ricky Pearson, another one of those guys where him and Adunzee, from start to finish, testing positional stuff. It was all just awesome, above average. Yeah, Xavier Leggett had a big week as well, kind of had two from South Carolina. Like that's, you're hoping to see that because that's what he kind of shows. You brought up Kea Coleman. He ran a 462, but this is, this is again, why it's kind of cool that we get the tracking data stuff too,

because all his metrics, the underlying stuff as far as, I don't know why I said metrics, but underlying tracking stuff is that he was among the fastest receivers during that gauntlet drill, next gen stats, tweet, this out. He was the only one that broke 20 miles an hour. And it's just such a going from what he ran in the 40 and going like four, six and change. It was like, who, Kian, oh, man, I like you. Come on, man. Come on. Do this man? And then you see him his game speed. You see the flashes of game speed. And that's why he is such a, we've talked about it. We've got, we've had conversations where it's like, you like, you like, there's just like there's just that maybe that's something that we just want

to prove. But there, there is again. Who did that last year? Pooka Nakuha. Exactly. 100%. He, his, he was like a four. four, five, seven, maybe. Like, he wasn't a fast guy in the 40, but his gauntlet was awesome. I mean, I think he got over 20 miles per hour. I think he did. In the, in the gauntlet.

He might have been the only one last year who did that. So it's kind of the same. Now, obviously, I'm not, we're not saying Keon Coleman's going to be a pooping Nakua type of rookie season, but. It's going to break the rookie record right away. Yeah. It's not, we're not making excuses for Keon Coleman here. Like, this is, this is something that, you know, that, it's really, it shows confidence in

your hands, the body control to catch the ball at full speed, no broken strides. You know, like it's, it really shows. Functional athleticism. In game, right. Exactly. 100%. So, yeah. Yeah.

He was, I'm glad you mentioned him because, yeah, I was going to bring that up to. Any other receivers that you thought really cut down? Jaquan Jackson for me, the Tulane kid. I think he, the positional stuff with him, I thought was awesome. He caught everything. He looked really smooth in his route. He had a really nice outbreakers. That's what stood out to me, which is good.

Sorry. Yeah, but yeah. No, he's smooth route runner. And his testing wasn't great because he's smaller guys, 5-9-188, ran a fast 40, 4-42, but his vertical is only 32 inches. And he didn't do the three-coener short shuttle. So the testing may be, except the 40 looked great,

but everything else was, eh, meh. But the positional stuff, I thought, was off the charts. So in my opinion, Jaquan Jackson helped himself. Yeah. The one guy kind of, I wouldn't say had a disappointing week, but it was just one where it was like, oh, it's Troy Franklin weighing in it in the 170s, and then not just having maybe overwhelming week.

That gone, that was, who. I think he barely broke 18 or 17 or so. I know that was a very, yeah. He was one of the worst, had a little rougher one, I would say. In terms of being all over the place, he was, in terms of being, wild with, because obviously they tell you stay straight on the line. And you know these guys practice this stuff.

It looked like he had never done the gauntlet before with the way he was weaving all over the place. That was a rough showing for Troy Franklin. Yeah, yeah. He was the one I would say that was just like, ah, just had a little, let me wanting more after this week, Troy Franklin from Oregon. So I mean, you know, having said that, yeah. Yeah. But when you weigh at 176, what do you weigh in, 174, whatever, whatever he weighed in? God, I was hoping he would break 180, and now I'm like, oh, sorry.

Yeah, 176. Six to, one, 76, yeah. Yeah, so you hope he flies. And he's still twitchy, still, I still like his ball skills and stuff. But it was just, yeah, just one of those. Three cone, yeah. I mean, he's 309 inch for, yeah. And that, and that's why I like him is because of the ball skills from in the red zone.

He has that twitchiness. And then also just like he is like this route running. Like, he's not as stiff. So, yeah, that's why I was, I thought he would maybe impress this week. He was kind of like, eh. going to running backs, you nailed one of the standouts going into the week, the former badger running in. Oh my goodness. What was the speed score?

Jesus. Like 140? I did his report. I finished his report like two days before we did that Combine Preview podcast. And so I knew what he did in high school and track. I was like, okay, this guy, I mean, he won states in, you know, 100 meters, 200 meters. The long jump. I mean, he was just a, in multiple state championships.

He was a big time track star. And when you watch him on film, it does translate. He's got the wheels. And I thought positional drills and the testing was outstanding for him. I thought during the running back drills, he looked awesome. So, yeah, he ran a 433, best among these running back class. At 221. 6 foot 221, yeah.

41-5-inch vert. He was under seven seconds in the three cone, 10-9 broad. I mean, he was an elite type of workout for him, both the positional drills and attesting drills. No question he left this week as a quote-unquote winner. Isaac Rendo, by the way. Oh, do we not mention his name? No, I just said, oh, yeah, Wisconsin, we got excited to talk about it,

because you nailed it. You say he was going to have a standout week, and he sure did. Louisville, Louisville, Louisville, right, yes, yes. Former Wisconsin Badger, yeah, but he's a home run hitter and he lived up to it. I mean, he rolled and it was very impressive. Trey Benson from Florida State put on a little bit of a show, 216 pounds, ran a 4-3-9. I also thought Blake Corum had a kind of a nice showing, really did. He's just an easy player to like.

God, I just watched so much Michigan film because I was doing that JJ McCarthy article. I was just like, man, Blake Corum is just a good football player, man. Do they run the ball there? Test it one. Once or twice, once or four or five or six or eight, nine times in a row. You can't complain about not enough tape, Blake Corum. Oh my goodness. I actually was really liking it when doing my McCarthy breakdown because I was getting through games and like, I mean, it was like a 20 minute breakdown. It was great.

It was just like flying through just to get my five plays I needed. But any runnybacks for you that stood out? I didn't need to knock off some of all the heavy hitters to start off the category. No, I mean, I thought, I mean, Jalen Wright. Tennessee ran fast. Tyrone Tracy, he's one of my favorite day three running backs this year at a Purdue, former wide receiver. He's got that receiver, running back, returner, the versatility that I think is going to appeal to a lot of teams.

But, you know, he's 511, 210, ran 448 with 40-inch vert. I think he had the best three cone among all these running back, 6-8-1. So I thought he looked good during the testing especially. another guy that I thought killed it both testing and positional was Ray Davis, Kentucky, who already has the best story of this draft. And if you haven't yet, make sure you check out Zach Kiefer's deep dive on Ray Davis and everything he's overcome from being a war to the state to transferring three different times in college. I mean, I can't even do the story justice.

Please go read the story. It's awesome. But yeah, just the fact that he's gotten to this point, and not that just that he's here, but he killed the combine. He was awesome. I thought he looked really good in the positional drills, and then his testing was good as well.

I think, yeah, those, we mentioned Trey Benson. He was one that I thought stood out. A couple disappointed. I mean, Audric Estimate, right? Yeah, it was. That was a-471 is disappointing. It doesn't matter who runs it. Yeah, I mean, I didn't think he'd be 4-3.

but I don't think he'd be 4-7, that's for sure. I thought you cracked 4-6 for sure. He probably didn't think he was running that, right? I mean, if you'd think you're running a 4-4-7, as a running back, you're probably not running at the combine. No, no, he was sending out, yes. Well, when he weighed in at that weight, too, because I think he more carries maybe about 5, 10 pounds heavier.

And so I think he weighed at 221 or so. It's one of those where, okay, you're trying to roll. Like, that's what I kind of figured that way we just talked about this, what these guys do. They have to. I mean, this is their, this is their living that they have to figure this out. So, but yeah, that was really surprising to me, especially because it just is not reflected on the film. He still has good size and his jump numbers are strong. Yeah, 30 inch for 10, five, broad. So yeah, yeah, you see that expeer. Yeah, just a weird disconnect. One of those guys that he's going to be a trust the film type of guy. But it's just a little interesting that I thought

you might put on a show and he kind of was, eh, when he ran that 40. I can, I can tell you, over the next month, two months, there's going to be so much debate about these running backs. Oh, yeah. I honestly, my top 10 running backs, they're all really good. And depending on the type of running back you want,

that might change your order a little bit. Yeah. But I think they're all pretty closely graded. You know, like I have my favorites, but if you think... I think I have six in my first tier, or like my top tier,

I think six are in that one. Just one. Yeah, I'm not going to. I'm not going to fight you if you want someone else in that tier because I don't think there's a lot separating these guys. So I'm less interested in debating the order of these running backs and just, you know, more excited to see actually where they end up going because that'll tell us a lot more. That's exactly. I'll feel a lot better with my takes on them when I know exactly what their roles are going to be and exactly what are they going to be actually the 1A.

Tight end, which is always a huge position at the combine really because you want the biggest freakyest guy. at this position. So I thought a couple of guys stood out this week. But for you, Dane, at the tight-end position, who stood out to you in some of the testing and drills? Tip Ryman from Illinois. You know, he, I think, too much. 271?

Yeah, 65-271. He's another guy, I think we mentioned in our Combine preview. God's there running a 464 at that size. Three cone was 702, 426, short shuttle, 101 broad. 30-3.3 and a half vert. I mean, those numbers are crazy when you think about other tight ends, like tight ends in a league. Like I'm pulling up my list of, so just for me, at 270s, say, give people like a look behind the curtain. So for like for me, I put all the combine data in Excel spreadsheet and I combine it with, you know, all the past combines.

And I do like averages. So like the average tight end workout for, you know, the top 20 guys every year at each position. So like the top wide receiver workout, like the average, you look at the averages. Tip Ryman is below the average in every single metric. 40-yard dash who's under seven or three cone who's under. And but the average weight for those averages was 249. And this guy was 271. So to do what he did at that size is just so, so impressive.

It is. And that's because no one in college knows how to use their tight end or rarely anyone who has your name's Brock Bowers and everything. So it's always with these guys that you have to project so much. And one of the safest projections is, oh, big and fast. And can you block a little bit? Okay. Actually, one of those guys that probably is my tight end too right now, if I'm just being

honest, because he's just mad at it for me. Penn State, Theo Johnson. Yeah. This is what he flashed on film. We've talked about when he first time. declared or officially. Um, but yeah,

he, he put on a show at two hundred and 60-ish pounds, um, six six and change. I think, wasn't he? It was six six and I don't have the top of my head. I should look that up,

but, uh, yeah, he was over six six. Yeah. And then running like that. And yeah, and this is what he,

he flashes on film. I mean, that's the Penn State translation. You got to do a little bit, but Theo Johnson was just, I think did a huge, huge for his stock as he did at the senior bowl as well. But yeah.

Um, yeah, so a couple other, any, any other, uh, tight ends that maybe stood out to a little freaks list. I mean freaks list. Yeah. I, I, Jared Wiley, the TCU tight end. Um, yeah, I thought he was awesome. I don't think he gets enough love. Um, wouldn't be surprised.

You've mentioned it before you. Yeah, you, that's my God. Yeah, you like him a little bit. I know, I do. I do. I was in September, we talked about him, I think. Yeah. He, he, he was throwing passes to, uh, uh, Coenberg.

Johnson, Temple, Texas, back in the day in high school. So, you know, his former TCU current charger's receiver. Yeah. So, you know, he's not a natural tight end per se because he played quarterback most of his life. But I think he's gotten better every year in college, first at Texas than a TCU. And you see the athleticism for a guy that's that size moving the way he did. He looked good at the senior bowl.

and then he's continued it here, 462 in the 40. I think he's got the attitude too. There's only so many guys that you can project as a true why. A lot of these guys are undersized. A lot of these guys are more of the move with the Joker tight end.

This guy is 6-6-250 and has what it takes to be a true why in this league and go out there and run like you did. 37-inch vert. It was awesome. Tanner McLaughlin, too, from Arizona. you know kind of like Theo Johnson Canadian native you know so he's he's a nonetheless guy but 6 5245 ran really went 4-61 in the 40 I thought he looked good during drill so yeah this

is a tight end class that yeah there's a big drop off after Brock Bowers but I really do like the options in rounds three through five yeah I don't know how many of these guys if any of them get in the round two you know Jatavian Sanders maybe but I think between yeah pick 60 and like 120. I think we're going to see quite a few tight ends go in that group and it's better

than I think we've all, us included. Everyone's kind of said about this tight end group. Yeah, them, yeah,

running backs of tight ends, I would say that is that as you dive into it. It's like, oh, there's a little more depth to this. Like, AJ Barner from Michigan

is another one like your guy, but I like him a lot. I do. Yeah, but like you said, there's a decent amount of wise. You don't really get that in a class.

Like, there's legit ones here, which is, really fun. We have to mention Ben Sinat, too, from Kansas State. Ben, Senat was last one I was going to say. He tested even better than I thought he was going to, like that. Stunned me.

4-6-8-2 and the 40. Yeah, he was 6-8-2 in the 3-cone, 106 broad, 40-inch bird. Yeah, he was 6-4-250 in testing like that. It's pretty ridiculous. Yeah, good football player, so that's actually really cool to see they actually tested that well. Yeah, he's going to, some teams are really like him because it's just his versatility and stuff. Okay.

and that offensive line who put on a freaking show today, I thought we're recording this on Sunday. Oh, man, where do you even want to start? Do you want to start with one of your summer takes and what he did today? Marius Mims from Georgia. The most fascinating player in the entire draft. He really is.

Holy crap. Again, it's, well, first, like, okay, the measurements. He was, do we have the exact measurements? It's like six. Six, seven, and three quarters, I believe. I believe, 607. Yes. Yes.

And then 340 pounds with 36 and an eighth arm. I mean, that's... 11 and a quarter hands. Oh, my gosh. Like, okay, that's huge. And then for him to go out to run a 507 and the 40 is awesome. Oh, my God. The picture of him at the press conference when he was just standing there, you know,

and he's just wearing a tight shirt. It's like, oh, that's 340. He looks like he's 210. Well, and that's, it's, when I went to, when I was in Frisco for the East West Shrine game, I stopped over, uh, offensive line masterminds, uh, and saw Duke and, you know, we're sitting there talking and, you know, we're going through his guys. We're talking about each one. And then I asked him about Amarius.

And, you know, I said something about his size. Like, is he, you know, as big of a freak for his size as, as, you know, I think based off his film. And he just, you know, points over to his left. And I turn around and my eyes immediately have to go up. to see all of him because he is just, it's a humongous human being. And it's,

it's, it's, it's, like he has very low body fat on, on his frame. He carries that 340, like, he carries 340,

like, you know, I, I, I could carry 150 pounds. It's crazy. How much, how much,

how much weight he has for the athlete that he is. Now, his, uh, the vertical wasn't great. Uh, the explosive numbers weren't great for him, the jumps.

But again, when you have, that type of, you know, with the way you're moving and you have the movement skills at that size and the stride. I mean, it's, you don't have to be a 35 inch vertical guy to be a freak. And he's got like, I mean, again, we talk about this as opposed to some other guys where it's like, oh, this is a projecty type. Well, this guy doesn't allow starts at tackle.

It's like, Minda's film is good. It's just that he doesn't have a lot of reps. That's it. His film, though, is good. Like his eyes are good. Hands are pretty good. It's pretty stunning, actually. I thought Van Pran...

Talking to Van Pran, before the workouts, he said that, like, when you're as freaky as Mims, when you have the gifts that he has, you don't need a thousand reps in college to be good because you're just already naturally really good. And it's just a matter of, you know, everyone starts kind of lower. He started already started ahead of the, he started on third base, you know, he already started ahead of everybody. And so it's just a matter of building off of that and continuing to get better. So I don't, there are some teams that might be a little weary of it, you know, eight starts, not having the body of work. Other teams are going to be like, hey, if that means, if he had 20 starts, we wouldn't have a shot at him at pick 16 or 17 or whatever, you know.

So we're fine with him having only eight starts because now we actually have a shot to draft him. Because if he had a larger body of work, he's probably the first tackle drafted somewhere in the, the top seven picks. So there will be some teams just fine with, you know, the lack of starts on his resume. Oh, yeah. Someone's going to tilt that shoulder back and swing for the fences with him. It's worth it. And you get, you totally understand.

It doesn't feel like, yeah. No, this is not one of those I watch. I'm like, what are you guys doing? Don't take this guy. It's like, dude, I'm like, I'm trying to stop myself for how high I want to put them. Like it's, it's insane. Good luck ranking these tackles. I mean, yeah.

Because speaking of the. Speaking of these tacklers. The tackle class, yeah. The show shows today. Joe Walt, going out there at 6-9, basically. All of six. He's Jonathan Ogdenheit. Oh, my, my, guys.

Yeah, it's crazy. 321 pounds, 505 in the 40-yard dash, 73-1-3-3-cone, 28 vert, 173-10-yard split. So his, you know, his 40 times fine, his vertical jumps good. The three cone and the short shuttle. Those numbers are awesome. Outstanding, yeah. Going through, I mentioned that database I have of all the past combines.

I'm going through to see, okay, 731-3-3-con, 451 short shuttle, where does that match up? And just for comparison purposes, the average for offensive linemen, for offensive tackles, the short shuttle is 473, he had a 451, 3-cone is 7-7-3, and he had a 7-3-1. That's a big different. Again, that's the average of like the top 15 guys at that position over Combine history. And the guy that he matches up the most, the most, the closest to in those two drills is Lane Johnson. Lane Johnson had the exact same three cone and a tenth of a second off in the 20-yard shuttle. So just a crazy, crazy workout for Joe Walt.

I think he just, you know, confirmed what he knew going in, that he is a really good athlete, not the best bender necessarily, but he doesn't have to be with the feet that he has, the way he uses his length, how technically six-down he is. Yeah, right, exactly. Let's be realistic here. So he was, he was terrific. He was. He looks like a converted tight end, but it's now a compliment, not a, not a derogatory statement.

It's a compliment when I say that. now he moves I mean again his tape really send it this year obviously he's gonna be a top 10 pick I remember in the summer you and I talking like with Joe Walt we were you know because we were relatively right this is a first round guy but you know he needs to work on this he needs to get better in this area and to his credit

he did you know for and we saw I mean doing prospects of pros of pros we you know throughout the season by you know October we were like okay yeah this guy he's look at the improvements he's already made it this is really impressive so um we definitely have talking about the washington tackles uh oh my god fond new i fondu fondu is gonna be a left tackle by the end of this week by the week oh my goodness well and see he's this is like cooper de jean it's like uh you know zach martin like it's not that he can't play one of the

positions it's just a matter of where we maximizing what he can do and so like having you know, him as a guard is not because he can't play tackle. It's just because you're trying to maximize what he can do best. But, and teams are still kind of split on that. You know, some teams still have him as a guard, some has a tackle. But, I mean, he can play tackle. There's no doubt about it. Just get him on your team.

That's, that's it. And again, okay, let's just include him in a tackle stack. How are you stacking these tackles? How are you? Because, again, I think Joe Walt's the top guy, but, you know, I'm, I'm open to any challengers you might put there. Fugga's up there, especially with the workout he had today. Yep.

We mentioned Mims. Olu. Can't forget about Olu. He ran a 5-1 today, which was great. But then little baby hands. A little eight and a half inch hands, which was not what I was expecting. Yeah. Did you don't expect that?

No, not with that body. Okay. No. He's got heavy hands too. So it's, yeah, that was. I think it was the only tackle. He measured in the spring. What did he measure his hands here at the combine?

Eight and a half. Okay. In the spring, I have eight and seven-eighths. So not too far off, but, yeah, that's eight and a half a small number for a tackle, especially his body type. Only tackle I can think of with hands like that is Isaiah win. Oh, wow. Yeah.

Like, I can't, because I've seen interior guys maybe with that. But yeah, that's, and just especially his body type and everything. You know, so long and big and, you know, it was just a thick dude. So that one, that surprised me. But I thought he moved well, but then he didn't do the drills. That was kind of, I was a little sad. He didn't, he didn't, he didn't do drills after he ran that 40. Tyler Geithen looked good.

Guyton looked good. I thought, oh my God. But I was saved real quick as I thought Troy Falunoo, I know where you just talked about from Washington. Like him and Alt and Mims, those three, I just thought put on a show. Fonauton looked amazing in drills. The wave drill. Oh, my God. Like in that, he looked incredible in the wave drill.

I was like his I mean his technique's always been great we've talked about this that's why he's a real technician but it's shown off that athleticism today and obviously you have to have something to move like that but it's wow it was it was a total package the pass pro the mirror drill it was awesome that's what it was yep yeah the long hit the fastest miles per miles per hour in the wave drill when they kind of like replaying it all which it looked like that even faster in all which and that's like when you watch Washington's offense this year like I know I know no pedics and the receivers get all the love. But, man, there was nothing better than watching them run pinpool and seeing the left tackle go out there and just mall guys. I mean, it was the mobility, the range, and then the finish. It's just awesome. So, again, if we stack him with these tackles, in J.C. Latham, he didn't, I don't think he did any of the testing, but he looked really good in the positional drills. So throw him in there as well. Really more than anything for me is what I wanted to see.

I want to see how he could stick out of tackle. And then the other Washington tackle, Roger Rosengarten, 492, had the fastest 40-yard dash among all offensive linemen this year. And another guy that, you know, vertical 30 inches, that's good, 9-5 broad, good number. I mean, his tape's not perfect by any means. But he's an athletic guy. And yeah, he was right tackle. Let's remember, though.

That was the blindside. Like they moved when Mike's not. Michael Pennock enrolled, they specifically moved him to right tackle to protect the blindside. Because he's always been a left tackle. And high school was a left tackle. First two years of Washington, he was a left tackle. They didn't move him to the right tackle until the lefty quarterback enrolled. So, I mean, that's a key point in, you know, when you kind of...

Huge. You can do that. Yeah, you know, talk about him. But, you know, where does he? I mean, he, I think, put himself in that... He was already kind of flirting with day two. I think he was kind of on that borderline. Now, I don't see any way he gets out of day two with the way he looked at the combine.

He was fantastic. And so, all right, here's a question for you. Who, which position is the highest drafted in the first round? Tackle or receiver? Oh, tackle. That's where I'm going. Yes, tackle. And I think, which we get to like top 50 and stuff like that.

Well, that's just it. I understand someone that would say wide receiver, but I'm saying tackle because teams, I think, are going to feel really comfortable at the receiver. You can get in round two, round three. That position is going to stretch. Tackles not. There's a drop-off.

And if you don't get your tackle in the first round, you're not going to feel super confident about someone falling to you second, third round. So for that reason, yeah, I agree. I think we're going to see more tackles. And Jordan Morgan, I thought, had a good workout. So we did. We're talking about, I mean, gosh, there could be as many as nine, maybe.

Go eight, nine, go in the first round. That's a crazy number. And that's before you can talk about interior guys. Jackson Powers Johnson. He's another one that did not do any testing, I believe. But positional stuff, he looked really good. Cooper Beebe from Kansas State. I thought he had a really good week.

Yeah, he touched really well. He moves with power. but it's still easy. So it's like a really good mix of, you know, just by the way he moves, you can tell he's powerful. His thing's just the short arms, right? That's the kind of big negative.

I think he's 30. What was it? Yeah. I said the over, I wrote my preview how if the overrunner is 32, I'm taking the under. And yeah, that's,

that's not great. It won't be for everybody. But certain teams have a threshold. Right. And they will not go against that. but that just means he's going to fall to a team that's going to be happy with Yeah, he's a good player. Yeah, give me the good player.

So one other player I thought looked really good was Christian Haynes, the Yukon. And it's just a matter of him continuing to rise. I mean, the senior bowl was great. And then here at the Combine, I mean, he's just continuing that ascent, which is great to see for him. Yeah, he looked good in drills and tested well as well. And then just a highlight just because he was hilarious looking, was Frank Crum from Wyoming. Wyoming. He was a one-of-one looking person right there.

He's enjoying it. He's a good example of a guy that went back, took advantage of that extra year. He wasn't getting drafted last year. He wasn't getting drafted last year. He takes advantage of the extra year. And he made huge improvements this year. Put himself on the radar,

turned himself into a draftable guy. And to his credit, yeah, had a really good workout. He did. He did. He has a chance to kind of separate himself among those day three tackles. So, yeah, it was good for him. All right, what's going on to the defensive side? We kept it under 50 minutes for offense.

Turn the tape over for the defense. Defense aside. I'll just go, I'll start with Edge. I'll go like this way. I know those defensive line linebackers. I don't think I'll mess with you too much because it's just the most prospects. But we'll go with Edge players. Who are some of the Edge guys that start with you?

Because there's one at the top that put it on a show. We've got to start with Dallas Turner, right? Yeah. Good for him, man. What a week. This is why he's been the top. top edge rusher in the ranking since the summer. You know, it's just because he's a freak of an athlete,

but he can also, but he can do everything because, you know, he can stop the run, he can rush the passer, he can drop in space, and he backed it up. I mean, 4-4-6 in the 40, 40 and a half-inch vert, I believe it was, and then the positional drills was awesome. That's where you look great. The way he moves out there,

he looks like he's a middle lineback. You know, like just a really awesome middle linebacker, and yet he's an edge rusher. So, yeah, Dallas Turner, I think he has to, not has to be, but probably the betting favorite to be the first defensive player drafted. I think he is. Yeah, I mean, it's either him or probably one of the corners, which we'll get to here in a little bit,

but I don't know, maybe Q after his workout. So, yeah, but Dallas Turner, yeah, if we're going to talk about edge rusher's got to start with him. Yeah, his actually testing numbers are kind of, somewhere to Bruce Irvin when he came out. I was just, I didn't look at it until right now. Yeah, but that's the type of role I like for Dallas Turner is that kind of, I always talk about that kind of old Sam, three, four Sam, or now they call him a jack in the odd mint

fronts and tight mint stuff. So, man, good for him, though. Like that, I mean, the length always shows up with him and you can see some get off with him, but it was that overwhelming testing just makes me more comfortable with taking him top 12, you know, top 14. That is just like, okay, all right, we are. betting on a high upside athlete, you know, as opposed to like, are you just a good football player? But still a guy that led the SEC and sacks.

So it's not like- Sacks against TFLs, drops of the coverage. Oh, I know. It does awesome stuff. Yeah, awesome player. The guy that for me, I was curious if like how he would test and obviously he tested really well, was Jared Verst from Florida State. Really strong testing day.

A 4-5-8, 40, 35-inch, inch, vert, 10-7 broad. Verse stand out to you any other edges guys? How about 31 reps? on the bench for verse. Yeah. I mean, that shows a film, so he's so freaking strong.

Oh, my, that's his game. He's, that's it. That's it. The way he can transfer his power from, uh,

in his rush is so impressive. And yeah, he sometimes he's a little, yeah, and he's, sometimes he's too willing to go through you. Like, you know,

it's, you want to see him diversify what he's trying to do out there a little bit more, but he knows he can get away with it because it works so often for him. Um, you know, once he reaches your chest, it's over.

Yeah, he was awesome. A smaller, a small school guy, Jalick's Hunt, I thought he looked really good. Houston Christian, right? Yeah, Houston Christian. He in Cornell transfer former safety. He transfers to Houston Christian last year and they bulk him up and moving a linebacker. Got him in a workout program. Holy crap.

No kidding. But yeah, he was a dude. I mean, his testing was good, but the position. stuff was what really, is just why I'm talking about him right now, because he looked really smooth. 64, 252, 34.5 inch arms, and he ran a 4-6-4, which is a really good time, 37.5 inch vert, 10-8 broad. So, yeah, he's still got a ways to go. I mean, this is not a polished pass rusher by any means, but I thought, like, when I was talking to scouts about him in, you know, September, October, it's like, you know, okay, late rounds, you know, he's getting drafted, but he, he's, he's, he's

He's just so raw that he's not more than a late rounder. Seeing him move out there compared to some of these other guys, top 100s in play for him because there's just only so many guys that have the traits that he does. And so, yeah, it's not going to be an instant open the packaging and let's play with him right away. It's going to take a little bit of time, assembly required with him. But for a certain team, that's going to be okay.

They'll be fine with that. Get him in the late third round. And you kind of put them on the shelf and, you know, be patient with them a little bit. Yeah, there's, like you say, there's not a lot of guys that move like that. One of them being Chop Robinson from Penn State, who you were hoping he would put on a show this week. And he did. 44840, 154, 154, 10 yards split, 425 shuttle, 32 and a half inch arm, which I thought was very important because he is a kind of a smaller patch rusher type or edge type, 62254. But he, if you liked him, you're going to love him after this week.

Like that it's not slowing you down at all with Chop Robinson, but he came in and had a very, very big week. I totally get what you mean with Hunt, though, from Houston, Curson is that you're bent on those traits and there's not a lot of package traits. Guys with that package of traits that look like that actually could play football too. You know, I suppose just running up field and doing nothing from play and play out. Any other edge guys that stood out to you or maybe any disappointing workouts for you? um no i mean i thought that uh one thing with chop

i i was expecting the the vert and the broad to be better than they were what was this broad 10 8 which i mean it's good time i mean let's let's let's be real that's that's that's good that's that's good but expectations were 40 in the vert 11 in the broad you know like that and he even said those i believe he said those numbers himself so it's like he set the bar high and

watching his tapes, seeing his get-off, the expectations are already high. But, so that was a little bit of a surprise. But no, I think for the most part, this is, you know, Dallas Turner, Jared Verst. Liatu-Latu, definitely want to talk about him because I thought his positional stuff was great. Like, seeing him run the hoop was like, all right, yeah, this guy, he's not a total freak, but he's so natural rush. It's like he was born to rush the passer. He's just, it's very natural for him.

He's very crafty with his hand. He understands just how to dip his body and leverage every part of his frame to maximize how he can get to the quarterback. So, you know, and seeing him go through drills, it kind of reinforced that. Now the medical is going to be big for him. That's where this week I'll get more information from teams on what the medical stuff says. But with law too, everyone's kind of holding their breath on that one. And I can tell you right now, not every team's going to be comfortable with him. It just,

especially in the first round. He's a unique type of player. Yeah, he's a certain type of skills. He's a true pass rush specialist. Like, it's like he's a specialist. Like, he's very good at this one thing that he does,

which is rushing the freaking passers. But yeah, he's a unique skill set. The brilliant trice coming at 245, edge from Washington and running a 472 was a, one of my disappoint, to disappointments of any position for any player of the week. I really like Trice's game.

game, but this is kind of, yeah, all right, you know, you're not the biggest, strongest guy and you're not the fastest, twitchiest guy. You're more just a solid football player type. That's kind of, I kind of had that deep breath with him this week, but that was a little disappointing because I was hoping maybe you test okay or at least weigh in and test okay. Yeah, losing all that weight because he was a guy that, um, is the 270. Yeah, 270's his normal playing weight. And so that's a major difference in 25 pounds.

So what's he run when he's 270? You know, is he 4-9? I mean, what is he? So, and honestly, you see that on film. Like, he's not a fast guy. He's not a... Nope. Someone that's going to put up a great time in the 40.

That was expected, but, yeah, 472 at 245 is not what you're looking for. It's one or the other. It's like either be bigger or fast. It's one of the two. Right. I need one of those at least. He's got some good film, you know. He does.

He's a good football player. Yeah, exactly. But that's also the reason why, you know, he's never been in a first round mock for me or, you know, like he, they're just, there's parts of his game that are you like, but don't love. Or he's good, but not great. Yeah. And even if I liked him, like him and verse are kind of similar play styles. At least, you know, strength first, you know, push the pocket type, pass rush type, good against the run. But verse is a good, very good athlete.

and Trice is a below average athlete. You say average. So that's the difference. It's like, yeah, they have production similarities, but it's like that's why they're going to have maybe 40 spots of difference where maybe where they get drafted. Right. We go to interior defense line. Any standouts for you on the interior of the defense line?

There was Montess, or Tav Andre Sweat wait in. So that was good. We got his weight in. He's 360 change. So we got it officially. It's on the docket. Right. Yeah.

I mean, we have to start with Brayton, That's great. I mean, yeah, that's, his, uh, he,

so, detackle from, uh, Florida State. Yes, sorry. Went to town this week. Yeah.

Positional stuff and the testing. If you take his weight adjusted 40 year dash, which is a 478, uh, a 292 pounds, 94th percentile. Um, it just absolutely crushed it.

Um, and it wasn't just that. It was, uh, 33 and a half vert, 9-9 broad, uh, the 437 short shuttle,

uh, 437 short show that's silly. Yeah, it was crazy. For a guy, yeah, 292, 6-4, 292 pounds. Now 31 inches, arms, not great, but again, turn on the tape. And we've been talking about this guy. He took over that Louisville game, the ACC championship game. I mean, he was getting drafted last year.

I watched him last year at Western Michigan. And then he decided to transfer, goes to Florida State, and it was part of that rotation. The production is not huge for him, but again, he was part of a rotation. And that plays a factor. in this. But yeah, he's someone that I thought so he was in my top 100 a couple weeks ago and it was like,

okay, he's inching towards that based off of the way he played this season, the way he performed at the senior bowl, he's working towards that second round. Now after this combine workout, I don't see him getting out of the second round. I don't think he's going to get in the first round, but I think second

round is kind of where a lot of teams are going to be targeting him. Well, and especially that position the drills or the testing that he excelled at are the ones that teams look at too for like like those benchmarks for everything so it's like oh so even if he's like oh if you found the film he's a great capture type he wins right away it's like boom yeah he went so quick but you saw that the positional stuff too i mean it was the the bag drill oh my gosh like uh he was great there um the the the the front start the wave drill that they kind of do he was really good the the pass rush drill uh

It was awesome for him. They do that punch hand, like shiver drill. I mean, he was, he was terrific in that one as well. So, I mean, he was, I was really impressed for start to finish. And that's what I love. When you start to finish from the start of the week to the end of a week, if a guy just impresses you the entire way, you know, Roma Dunes Day with what he did, a couple of, Ricky Pierce saw a couple of these other guys.

Fisk definitely belongs in that category as well. Yep. Yep. Drills and then drill work. Any other defensive tackles? Brian Murphy. Byron Murphy. Oh, yeah.

He told me, 487. Told me last week, wanted to get in the 4-8s, and he did it. He broke it, yep. His bench price,

well, he said he wanted to 35 on the bench. He didn't get there. But I think he got close in, so yeah, 487, 40-yard dash, and he came in. He told me he weighed,

last week, he weighed 307, 308, I think, but he came in at 297, so he was a lot lighter, which surprised him. He was surprised by that weight. He thought he'd be at the least 300 pounds. But yeah, his vertical jump was 33, which he said he wanted at least 32. So he got 33 in the vert, 93 broad.

And he positional stuff was awesome as well. I mean, the way he moves is just there's a twitch to him that is just different than everybody else. It's different than Johnny Newton. is different than sweat. It's different than all these other defensive tackles. There is a twitch in his lower body and his hips that is, in my opinion, noticeably different than every other

defensive tackle in his class. And that's why he's, in my opinion, the top defensive tackle this year and it's going to go some more in those top 20 picks. Yeah. And this was for a guy that's more of that shooting type. It's like, are you a good athlete? Oh, yeah, you're great. All right, we're good. We're good here because that's how his film is. So it's like, just confirm it. That's how you want to go with.

going to off ball linebackers because there's you know we're picking that guys here we're trying to find some guys to stand out of the off ball linebacker spot but for you dane any of the off ball linebackers standoff for you there's one i know that put on the show but anyone else other than that yeah i mean this is kind of like the quarterbacks for me where it's kind of a boring answer but what we kind of expected happened um i mean pey and wilson running a four four three was pretty awesome um yeah We thought he'd be fast because he's a straight line guy. You ask him to run in a straight line. He's going to get there in a hurry.

233 pounds. So, you know, it's not like he lost a bunch of weight. He's kind of around a 25-pound guy. 34.5-inch vert, 9-11 abroad. Peyton Wilson, awesome. But again, double-digit surgeries. He's another one where it's going to come down to the medicals. Not every team's going to be comfortable with him.

And another guy that I don't think is going to go first. round might not even go second round but you know somewhere probably third round um i think he kind of confirmed that edron cooper ran well four five one trevin wallis looked good at a kentucky which we expected he's a i really worry about the awareness the diagnosed skills just some of the instinctive feel for the game but as an athlete i don't have any questions yeah i was i was watching a i was going through some stuff i was watching tennessee i believe it was um and i'm trying to watch the runnerback I'm going through, and I remember you talking about him from Kentucky and just going to it. You know, some of the instincts and some of the recognition stuff isn't great.

So I'm watching, watching. And then I saw him, like, take two steps the wrong way. And then I just started laughing to myself. Like, I was just like, oh, that's what you're talking about. I was even trying to watch him. But I was wondering how this hole popped open. It was like, oh, because one guy went the wrong direction, two steps. But sorry, I had a very funny moment last week.

After we did that show, as I was watching that defense, like the next day, like, really showed up everything that you indicated with him. run play action, get him sucked up, run misdirection. I mean, he'll, there are a lot of wasted steps. Tractor beam. Yeah. Right. Yeah. But he's a four, five, one guy.

So it's, he can afford some of those missteps. He can recover. Right. So it's, yeah, Trevor Wallace is an interesting guy. I kind of, he is, though. When I was doing my top 100, a couple weeks ago, he was one of the five guys left out. You know, I came down to like 10 guys for five spots, and he was one of the guy, last

ones I left out. Because I, again, I just, the instinct of, feels not there, but I knew the type of athlete he is. And it was good to see him put up those numbers and kind of confirm our suspicions. Yeah. All right. Let's get to the back end. D.Bs.

So more thoroughbreds. D.Bs. He's athlete. Honestly, I think corners, corners are my favorite position of study. They're my favorite position to watch at the combine because these guys are so top tier. We just talk about athletes. And it's just fun watching them go to work. I love, you know, if you're watching, you know, back pedal drill, you know, see how they can pedal, turn, close, you know, they'll do.

And then they got to catch the ball. Someone can do that. Someone can't. That's always hysterical, too. Oh, man. Because you're not ready for bad hands at the NFL combine. And then when it happens, it's like, oh, that's right. You're a corner for a reason.

Yeah. Exactly. Some of the weave stuff, the transition stuff, it's just you can really tell who's the top guys. And Terry and Arnold, Quignon Mitchell, both those guys, I think, confirmed, at least in my opinion, they're the top two corners. And I mean, in my top 100, they were 10 and 11. And I don't think they're moving up.

I don't think they're just confirmed what we saw. Now, if Quignon goes one, I don't think I'd be surprised because, you know, Did you see you put up 20 on the bench press? Yeah. That's silly. It is funny because I was texting with his head coach, Jason Candle, that morning. And he sent me the numbers from the summer. And it was like 555 squat, 20 reps, 225.

And I was like, okay, if he gets 20 reps, 225. I thought maybe over under 16, maybe, no. You got 20. That confirmed what he was. I was like, all right, that's awesome. That's just easy, easy athleticism, easy explosiveness. The drills, holy crap him, the drills. Oh, yeah.

Like, you didn't even watch him in testing. Just watch them in the drills and just watch him turn and run. Yeah, guys don't move like that. And, of course, he has the ball skills. That's the thing. He's not just a movement athlete. Oh, man. Yeah, he's awesome, dude.

He's so cool. He's such a cool player. Crushed every point in the process. Everything. It's, you know, had the season that he had, had, the production that he had, then the Senior Bowl. He was kind of on the fence about doing the Senior Bowl. He decided, you know what, I'm going to go compete.

And he made himself money by doing that. And then go to the Senior Bowl or the Combine, check that box, positional drills, testing. I mean, he can kind of shut it down and just go on your visits now because you've done everything you can do to put yourself in the best position to be drafted high. Watching them, my first time I studied them, it was during the season. You brought them up, and I think it was September.

I watched a couple games from last year, and I watched one of the games from this year. And I was like, oh, this guy has best player on the fielditis. You could just tell he moves different from everyone else. And obviously, there's a reason. This guy's a rare NFL athlete, excellent NFL athlete playing in the Mac. So that's what it looked like. It's funny going back to like that.

So I do the initial top 50 in August and they do an updated one around Halloween. And I think in that one, he didn't make the one in August, but the one at Halloween, I put him like 35. And I was like, you know what? but I'm going to be bold. I'm going to put him high. You know, I'm a believer in this guy, and I'm going to put them, you know,

higher than anyone's going to put them. And in hindsight, it's like, well, wait, I was way too low because this guy. I snuck him in my first mock. I was like, I'm going to give him the alliance at 31. I think it was like in November. I was like, I'm going to sneak him in there. This guy, they're going to love this guy.

He'll maybe get into the first. Right. He can sneak in there. Usually there's a Matt kid that sneaks in there. No, he's more the Khalil Mac. you know, the Mac kid that belongs in the top 10. Blue Chip. This is a maybe first rounder.

It's the actual blue chip guy. Terry and Arnold. He's got a legit shot to be the first defensive player drafted. I mean, Dallas Turner, that's the favorite. Terry and Arnold, who we'll talk here about in a second, is probably next. But Q's right there. And I'll have to go, I haven't looked this up, but I would imagine it'd be the first time a Mac defensive player, where there's the first defense player drafted.

We know Eric Fisher. was the first overall picking that draft, 2013. We took Cleo Mac with fifth, but he wasn't the first defensive player drafted that year. So I'll have to go do some homework, but Q's got a shot. Yeah. I don't know. That would actually be a real interesting factoid there. Yeah.

Well, you mentioned the other guy, Terry and Arnold, who also, like, another guy that, like, I know this sounds so silly, but it really does. It just looks the part. He was getting ready for the gauntlet drill, I think it was. And he was getting ready, or he was getting ready for one of the drills. And he was just getting ready. and how he was like started going how he just moved i was like ha yeah yeah yeah that's you yeah no wonder and then of course the interviews this entire week he had some tremendous moments uh some of the interview stuff that uh he did as well but how to arnold stand out for you dane i know i know you love

him so i do solidification process for you yeah the 450 obviously you want your corners to be uh under 445 uh it's a stopwatch position there's no doubt about it but yep he he plays and there There are times where he's a guy that's quick initially, and then he just kind of runs out of gas late, so he doesn't have that extra gear that some other guys have. We saw, you know, throw on the Texas tape. You can see that against, I think it was that touchdown against Adnan Mitchell. But, you know, it's something that is a part of his game you worry about.

It's why he's not sauce gardener, you know, a top five pick. But he's still a really good player because he is a good athlete, what, 37-Virt, nine broad and the compete skills, the positional drills, he was outstanding. The pedal, the brake forward, the speed turn. So clean. Yeah, the catch, even the catching stuff was good. So, yeah, I thought he knocked it out of the park. He definitely was a, I think people look at the 4-5-0 and kind of, oh, he hurt himself.

No, no, no doubt about it. And that's not his game. Like, when I watch this game, it's ball skills, it's competitiveness, it's intelligence and body placement, like, because that's why. Yeah, he understands the leverage. I mean, that guy is, he will not be phased by a mistake. He'll go back out there like nothing happened and go compete again. And you have to have that as a corner.

And he certainly has that, yeah. That's great. Well, going on the other side, a guy that was super fast, but super light, Nate Wiggins, 429 from Clemson, but then 173 pounds, I'm not going to fool into the Mano Force thing ever again. So I really like Wiggins, though, but it's just, that's tough. But he's, it's just, that's a light body. That's just, it's, it's, there's a lot of light corners out there, but it's just,

I have trouble with that, just especially how there's a lot of offenses they're going to make you tackle. Right. Over and over and over. Watch what happened to Washington this year. Right. And I've been super high on Wiggins for a while. I've been, my initial top 50 in, in August, he was, he was up there. He was, like, 12th.

I mean, he came into the season, high expectations. And for the most part, he answered them. I mean, what he did against Florida State was awesome. What he did, I mean, North Carolina tape, he put up a lot of good tape, but there are times where, and he put up good tape in terms of the movement stuff, but there are times where he could get out physical and, you know, you just worry about him holding up against NFL receivers that are going to just really be able to outmustle him in certain situations and not just down the field, but, I mean, even, you know, blocking him and, you know, clearing out space.

I mean, he's a guy I worry about, but he's going first round. It's just a matter of kind of where does the team feel comfortable. Like Forbes. I mean, he was a guy that we felt like, all right, he's going first round, but is it going to be like 30th? Is he going to be 28? No, Washington felt good about him in the top 20. And they even took him before my guy, Christian Gonzalez, which was crazy. But, you know, Forbes is a good player.

But there's an area of his game that you worry about. that's going to be. Even a moment, that felt rich in the moment. It was like, Ford's was like, oh, yeah, he's fondney, scrappy. He's really got good ball skills and everything. But when he went before Gonzalez and then went before even banks from Maryland last year, I was, that surprised me as well. I was like, this is just a size thing.

This is just physics. I don't know. You can take the guy that's 30 pounds less. Any other, any other, oh, sorry. I just say two other guys that really stood out for me. My guy, Andrew Phillips from Kentucky, loose. springy in his movements. I don't know how to explain this, but he just,

watching him on the field, he was attacking each drill just a little bit differently than everybody else. I don't know. He just had a little bit more juice with the way he was going in, running to the drill, performing the drill full speed. I don't know. Maybe I'm getting, you know, just my own bias or something. I don't know. But it matters, man.

You see that stuff stands out. When you watch these guys, with your own eyes and see them on the field working out you you notice these little things about these players and for me Andrew Phillips was one of those guys I thought he just killed it in the positional stuff and then South Dakota's uh miles Hardin um I thought he he is his 40 it was kind of like terrian Arnold like the 40 wasn't great it was 4-5-0 but the uh the short area drills was awesome I mean he was pull it up I think he had the best short shuttle of all these corners I think he was the only one that got under seven or four seconds.

Yeah, 398 in the short shuttle. And he was 6888 and 3 cones. So you see that change of direction. She's a short area agility. He had good tape. I wouldn't say great tape. I thought he was, you know, especially coming from the FCS level was maybe came into the week as a late round guy.

And now I think after this workout, he's going to have a lot of people going back to the tape and saying, all right, maybe we were a little too harsh on him. And it's tough when you're talking about FCS level tape and not being able to see him go up against top competition week in, week out. But I think Miles Hard leaves this week definitely as a winner among these corners. That's what my wife was watching me when I got home. I was watching the Saturday workouts. And she goes, oh, you said like some of these guys you don't need to watch run or anything.

I was like, oh, I'll get their times. He's like, why did you need to watch that guy? I was like, hey, this is why. It's just like, all right, do they look kind of, okay, does that look weird? Is that like, oh, you don't belong here? Or is it exceptional, you know, on the other side, which is we saw some of these guys just be exceptional. But that's a great point. If you come from South Dakota, you pass these athletic thresholds and people are going to go, oh, okay, never mind.

You're not the South Dakota DB. We're now going to actually be looking at you in a different light. And he had a shot to transfer and he did it. He told me that loyalty means a lot to him. And he wanted to be loyal to the – because South Dakota is one of the three schools that recruited him out of coming out of Miami. And he had two season-ending injuries, but he played the entire – he played all 13 games this past year or 12 or whatever game – how many games it was. But he just felt loyalty to the staff. And he's got a good chance to pay off for him.

That's pretty cool. Also, before we wrap it up, I have – give her guy, Ladd McConkey a shout-out receiver from Georgia. But I got comparison for Ladd. Emmanuel Sanders. Okay. And I looked at their testing. I looked at their testing.

Very close. Same size. Quick and fast, right? Yeah. And can play outside. He's not just a slot guy. He got a legit win from the outside. It's more like a Z than a slot.

Yeah. So I was watching. I was doing a little breakdown. Yeah, I know. I was pretty proud of that one. I know. So I was like, laddial Sanders. Led Daniel Seniors.

I know. I was trying to find some pawn, but it didn't work. It's been too late. This week has been too much. That sums up the combine right there. Yeah, I'm coming up with nicknames and puns for some of these comparisons. That's what we left. No, but I respect it because I know where your brain goes with these guys and I love it.

It's great. Just see where exactly. Yeah, where the derangement starts and ends. Yeah. Right. That's exactly it. Oh, Dane, this is awesome. It's great seeing you.

Of course. We got talking with safeties, right? We got a... Oh, yeah, safety is the other position. Are there any of the talk about? Cole Bishop, I want to mention Cole Bishop, because he was great. Oh, yeah. From Ozzy.

No, Osu. Utah. Yeah. Oh, man. Sorry. I got to get you off. No. 40 was great.

The positional drills were great. He was a guy that... That athletic versatility is big with him because he can play in the box. He can play deep. He can cover tight ends. He can... Whatever you want him to do, he can do. And I think that that showed with his...

his testing and the way he performed drills. And this is a class that doesn't have a clear cut, number one safety. And so I thought Cole Bishop made a pretty strong case why he could be the guy. Jaden Hicks, too, Washington State. I know he didn't run the 40. He's going to wait until his pro day. But he was still 6, 8, 8 in the 3 cone. And I thought his positional drills were awesome.

So Bishop and Hicks, two pack 12 guys. I thought were quote unquote winners from the combine. Well, that's safety. It's just like, who tests well? Okay, I'm going to watch you. All right. All right. Please somebody stand out.

Like, that's kind of where I'm at, the safety position. No, no, Colbilt ship's a good one. I got to watch him recently. So I do like him a lot. And I like Hicks, too. You mentioned him a couple weeks ago. He's, um, his testing's not overwhelming in everything. And that's not how he plays.

But he's got some good football player to him. And there's, you know, not a lot of guys have that. You know, he can hit a little bit. I like that. But yeah. This is the combine. This was the combine. What year was this for you?

My first one was 11. That was Cam Newton. So, yeah, it's, what about you? What was? This was 13 was my first one. Okay. Straight? Have you missed any or just, you've been straight?

I have not missed any. One, one I only went in for one day. And that was it, but I have not missed any. It counts. Feet on the ground. That's great. I know. I've really grown.

or my game. Did you get all the food you wanted to get in Indianapolis? I did. You know, and I was a little more adventurous this time. I really was trying to find some more like coffee for me, you know, spots to, I was trying to have a good routine during the, during every day. It only lasted a day.

Less of two days, I should say. But, but yeah, I was trying to experiment with some other spots. So it was good. I found a little Mexican spot I liked and a little bistro I liked. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Get enough steak to last year. I, I, my goal is always two really good steak dinners. That's what I wanted. Yeah, the one I had with Randy Bueller. It was good to catch up with him and, you know, talk with him in person.

Of course, a teammate of ours at the athletic, but, you know, been a GM in a league for a long time. A lot you can learn from him. He picked my dad up from the airport in Seattle in 1981. And then he meets me. We're coworkers for, you know, this many years later, 40-some years later. I don't imagine that's what I saw him when we had our little powwow on Monday I was like that must be so surreal right right yes it was good to see Randy too and then the other dinner uh with Bruce Feldman and DJ and some other like I mean just that's learned so much from all so many people I respect so many people that have been doing this long time that

know what they're doing and um yeah I mean it was a productive week a lot of meetings a lot of of media, a lot of meeting new people, which was a really fun part of this because it's where people that maybe you've talked to before, but never met in person. Like that happens a lot. Just trying to keep up with everything. That's the whole, that's the whole goal of the combine. Try to keep up and make sure you're talking to everyone you need to talk to. And it's exhausting, but so productive. And I know for me, for like the draft guide, fill in so many gaps this week on either talking to the players or talking to scouts talking it just fills in so many gaps that okay i've got a month not even a month like three three and a half four week sprint

before i need the draft guide comes out this week at the combine so important to finish up it gives you off the blocks a little speedy off the box yeah head start just like worthy running a four two one here you go yeah there we go there we go that'll tie it in bring it but dain thank you bring it all the way back day and thank you so much This is awesome. Again, it was so awesome seeing you. It was the combine. Another one in the books for the prospects to pros.

We will be here every single week. It's draft season. We're ramping it up. It's not going away. We got pro days coming up next. Just wait. And now we get to fill it. We talk about filling some data, filling some space.

Yeah, with some pro days. Actually, we get some weight on some of those LSU guys. It'll be great. But I'll see you guys next time. This was the athletic football show's prospects to pros podcast.