The Athletic Football Show: A show about the NFL - Prospects to Pros: College transfer portal & more 2023 NFL Draft takes + Aidan Hutchinson, Garrett Wilson & more rookies shine

Episode Date: September 21, 2022

Which college players have benefited the most from the transfer portal? Andy Staples and Dane Brugler examine the top prospects that are thriving on their new teams. They also talk about a big week for Aidan Hutchinson, Garrett Wilson and more rookies in the NFL. Plus, it’s never too early for 2023 NFL Draft takes, they each share an early prediction heading into next April. They wrap by looking ahead to this weekend’s college slate and what they’ll be watching.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is the Athletic Football Show. Welcome to Prospects to Pros, where we talk college football, the NFL, the draft, and everything in between. I'm Andy Staples, here with the athletics draft guru, Dane Bruegler, and we watched our games on Saturday. We watched our games on Sunday. We watched our games on Friday. We watched our games on Monday. This has been, Dane, this never stops. This is my son, who is just a complete football nut, plays football and just starts his morning with good morning football every day.

And like Kyle Brant's like a member of the family. He's like Tuesday and Wednesday, the worst days of the week, Dad, because there's no football on. I'm like, keep a list of prospects of pros. There you go. Yeah. Well, in my son, he's big into the slime time on Nickelodeon Wednesday nights. So that's, that saves him Wednesday nights. but yeah, totally agree.

And yeah, going back to Thursday, we had a rookie standout for the Chiefs with that pick-sixth and Justin Herbert. We'll talk about him too. So, yeah, it was a... I don't know that we really... We didn't have that Texas Alabama game over the weekend in college football.

We didn't really have that marquee game. A lot of the players that, you know, are high on the radar. You know, C.J. Strouds. He showed out. He looked good. Bajon Robinson, kind of flexed his muscles. Oh, he looked great.

So, yeah, a lot of the players we expected to look good, did look good over the weekend. Well, but I think we can start Friday because we have a little theme. And this is something that you wrote about last week, and I think is a great theme for this show. Because one of the things that I've had to cover covering college football, and by the way, if you want to hear me talk more about college football all week, you can go to the Andy Staples show. Please download, subscribe, right review, just like you would for the athletic football show feed, is the transfer poor.

We've had to talk a lot about the transfer portal and how it's changed the sport. It's changing the way people have to scout as well. But I thought the game on Friday night between Florida State and Louisville was a great example of that. Because you had Jordan Travis, former Louisville quarterback with the Seminoles. Now, he got injured in the game and had to come out. But there are two guys that really showed out in that game that I think are going to be on draft boards and are potentially better off because they transferred. And they're at Florida State where kind of, I don't know, it felt like Jermaine Johnson last year was the patron saying at the transfer portal.

He leaves Georgia where he was a good player. And first of all, it explains how unfair that Georgia defense was last year that Jermaine Johnson was a rotation guy. He goes to Florida State to prove he's in every down guy. He becomes a first rounder. Well, the guy this year at Florida State like that is Jared Verst. He was at Albany. He was in Albany Dane. And here's what happened with Jared Verst.

So basically, Albany played Syracuse in one of those buy games last year. Syracuse pays Albany a bunch of money to come lose to them. And every team that played Syracuse watched the Syracuse Albany game as they were scouting Syracuse and were like, who the hell is this guy on Albany? And that's exactly what the Florida State coaches did and there were multiple other staffs that did the same thing. So Jared Burst was like the hot name, the transfer portal.

He's been fantastic already this year. He got injured. He hurt his knee and was in a on crutches in a boot after the game. But Mike Norvell, the Florida State coach, has said, you know, usually he'll say if a guy's out for the year and he's being pretty, like I can't talk about injuries. So hopefully that means that we'll get to see Jaredverse again this season. The other guy at Florida State that just showed out who was somewhere else was Johnny Wilson. He was in Arizona State, six foot seven wide receiver. And, Dane, I'm curious about this because we've actually seen this before from Florida State with Kelvin Ben.

Benjamin, a guy that big, is six, seven, how do NFL teams feel about that kind of jumbo size in a receiver? Well, I mean, obviously, you have to have the athleticism to pair with it in order to beat coverage at the NFL level. And Johnny Wilson, he tore up the Louisville secondary. And that's a secondary. They've got some NFL guys. I mean, Keetrell Clark, number 13, he's a top three. top five senior corner, probably a third or fourth round pick. And Johnny Wilson, he cooked him most of the times.

The one he forced Clark to just drag, tackle him down before the catch was even made, an easy PI penalty. But Wilson, it's not just size with him. He does a really nice job with his footwork. So especially those one-cut routes, the slants post, where he can collect himself, cut, go. He accelerates off his plant foot. gains a little bit extra separation.

And he's got that catch radius with the length where he can pull balls off his shoe top, he can steal the ball away from defenders. So there's something there with Wilson. And now it's all about, okay, what does he do the rest of the year in terms of sustaining this type of production, this type of impact? Because at Arizona State, I don't know that we necessarily saw this. It was something where the big issue was the focus drops. That's not something that showed up in this game, at least.

So can he sustain this level of production, this level of impact? That's what we'll be looking for from Johnny Wilson. And then I'm glad you brought up Jared Verst. Anytime I get a chance to gush about verse, I'm going to take it. Because this guy is so much fun to watch. The energy he brings off the edge. He's athletic. He's very active.

He's very physical so he can attack blockers. But he can go around you. He'll go through you. He forces holding calls. The speed to power move is really impressive. So, I mean, they're more mistackles in the backfield than you want to see. Sometimes he's a little too energetic. He's to control himself.

But this guy is a lot of fun. And he's a redshirt junior. So he'll have an NFL decision to make just like Johnny Wilson after this season. But two guys that, like you said, have used a transfer portal and are making it pay off. And you brought up Jermaine Johnson. I mean, there were four players who were drafted top 50 last year who transferred in their final year in college and probably weren't going to be drafted that high if they didn't transfer. Jameson Williams going from Ohio State to Alabama.

I mean, the talent's a talent. But if he didn't have that level of impact because he was just a part of a rotation of Ohio State, who knows what his future looks like. And you're seeing now, I mean, we're going to talk about Garrett Wilson later in the NFL, but we know what Garrett Wilson and Chris Olive were. And you're seeing Jackson Smith and Jigba and Martin Harrison Jr. at Ohio State. So that's Jameson Williams was kind of stuck in that. And it's, he's, he could have been the fifth best receiver in the country,

but might have been the fifth best receiver in that room. Exactly. That makes sense. Exactly. And that's why, you know, utilizing the transfer portal, it's something that it gives these, these players a chance to really. And, you know, there are times where I feel bad for coaches who, you know, they, they find a Jaredverse.

And you bring him to Albany. You develop him. You, you know, really, you put in so much time with this player only for him to, uh, move on to greener. And so you feel for some of those lower level programs who do a lot of the work, but you also feel good for the player because he's getting more exposure. Yeah, it's not the player's fault. He was under-recluded. Right, exactly. So, you know, it's the main takeaway is you feel good for the player because,

you know, a guy like Jameson Williams, they were, you know, Kenneth Walker last year, going to Michigan State and doing what he did, becoming a top 50 pick. Arnold Obiketti. Now, he was, he was at a pretty good program. It just that, that offense and, and it didn't, For whatever reason, Kenneth Walker in Wake Forest didn't work. Right. But there are plenty of success stories. And in this draft, it's going to become the new norm where these players will go to a different program.

And for some of these guys, it's as simple as, you know, Charlie Jones, for example, anemic Iowa offense that can't do anything. A guy like Charlie Jones is just, he's lost. He transfers to Purdue, who they love to put the ball up in the air. and when you've got a quarterback like Adrian O'Connell, who, by the way, they have that connection with Charlie, you can't watch a Purdue game without them mentioning that connection from their childhood. But, you know, it's something that Charlie Jones, he's got almost double the amount of targets through three games that he had in two years at Iowa. So opportunity is the main takeaway here with these guys in the transfer portal that are going to new teams and NFL teams are taking notice.

Well, so let's talk. We talked Johnny Wilson. There's another guy, because this is sort of an interesting theme, and I want to get your take on how scouts and GMs and front offices handle this. So Johnny Wilson left a dumpster fire behind at Arizona State. It was a terrible situation. Herm Edwards just got fired this past weekend. He was in trouble the entire time, and you knew something was going to happen there.

There's another guy, and it's somebody you highlighted over the weekend, Christian Gonzalez, who's the corner at Oregon now, was at Colorado last year. Now, he kind of followed his DB's coach to Oregon when Oregon's new staff came together. Dan Lannan got hired there and he puts a staff together. So Christian winds up going to Oregon, which, by the way, corner was a huge position of need for the ducks this year. They needed somebody they could drop in and play right away. But Christian looked great. Oregon looked fantastic. They destroyed BYU. And I know everybody watched that Georgia game and sort of rode off Oregon. I'm telling you right now, Oregon's going to be a good team in the pack of.

12 this year. Christian Gonzalez is going to be one of the best corners in the country this year. For Christian Gonzalez, for Johnny Wilson, how much does it help that they left a terrible coaching situation where people are going to get fired? Because like Colorado, the AD put out a statement this week. Like if you ingrates had given us more money, we could have already fired Carl and bought him out. Right.

You haven't. So give us some money. But Christian Gonzalez is now in a stable situation at Oregon. Johnny Wilson in a stable situation at Florida State. where it feels like they can be highlighted more and are not playing on terrible teams. Yeah. I guess the case like Christian Gonzalez, he committed to Mel Tucker at Colorado. So, you know, it's a different coaching staff.

And Mel knows what he's looking for. Right. A different scheme. You know, like, it's, that's a part of college football that, you know, they tell you not to commit to a coach because there's a good chance he's not going to be there by the time you leave the program. You commit to the program and all that. But it's hard to follow through with that.

because you want to commit to the guys that are going to be developing you, and you're going to be playing in their scheme. And, you know, they've got an idea for who you're going to be as a player two, three years from now. And so for a guy that Christian Gonzalez, yeah, he escapes that, you know, in Colorado where they just don't have a lot going on. And he goes to Oregon where, yeah, playing with Dan Lannning. Dan Lannock has produced multiple high, early round corners.

When you talk about Stokes, doing a nice start with the Packers, You know, Tyson Campbell. Yeah, Jaguars, exactly. I mean, Kili Ringo will be a top prospect this year. So Dan Langing has a little bit better idea of what he's doing across the defense. And Christian Gonzalez is, with that talent, he has legitimate, he has a legitimate chance to be the top corner in this draft with the size, the athleticism. I mean, you watch some of the tape and you see, you see Jeffrey Okuda.

You see why he was the number one corner a couple of years ago coming out of Ohio. state with that size, his ability to cover. So against BYU, Jaron Hall had, I think, 29 completions against Oregon. Only one of them was against the guy that Christian Gonzalez was covering. And it was a short game, wasn't a big play. So he had two pass breakups. It was a really good showing. And, you know, against Georgia in the opener, Gonzalez gave up a touchdown.

You know, there were times where you could tell, okay, yeah, this guy is still a redshirt sophomore. You know, he's still learning a few things. but the traits, and that's what NFL teams are drafted, and they're drafting the traits, that's what they're going after. And you're seeing a guy is playing with a lot more confidence. And I thought he played with confidence at Colorado, but now under this new coaching staff,

he's playing with a ton more confidence. And I think that's one of the differences, I think, between going where he was and now with this new coaching staff with the Ducks. So how much explanation is required by the prospect, by the prospect's agent, when they are coming from a program, where maybe there's been a coaching change or just things went badly and the team stunk. The player was good, but probably not as good as they would have looked on a better team. Right.

And each case is so individual. You know, with a guy like Jameson Williams, it was pretty easy. It was, you know, just I want to see more targets. Or Jermaine Johnson, who, I mean, Jermaine Johnson had a great reason where, you know, I bet on myself. You make a three-down guy. It was very simple. Yeah. I want to be the alpha.

And I'm going to bet on myself that I will be the alpha. And he's the ACC defense player of the year. And he was outstanding. So, you know, that's where it pays off. And, you know, a guy like Christian Gonzalez, you know, I think it's as simple as I want to go to a coaching staff that I know is developing me. I know I have the talent. I want to go to a situation where I know I'm at my best. I'm going to be challenged.

I'm going to, you know, get the most out of my potential. And so I think it's as simple as that. for a lot of these guys. You know, Jared Verse, it's about playing against better competition, going from the FCS level, you know, playing lower competition, facing offensive tackles that are going to be, you know, future dentists and going up against some tackles that will be playing in the NFL. So for each one of these guys, it's so individual.

But each one has a story, each one is their journey. And, you know, it's paying off for a lot of these guys. So non-transfers, anybody. or, well, transfer or not. Anybody else flashed for you over the weekend? Well, I think that, well, he actually is another transfer that I do want to talk about. That's Osirons Torrance, with Florida. Oh, at Florida.

Who is, yeah, coming from, followed Billy Napier from Louisiana to Florida. He's been outstanding at right guard. I mean, just a people mover on the run game. He's getting the job done in past protection, really impressive to watch him play. So another transfer that's getting it done, which is good to see. The question was, okay, he could do it in the Sun Belt, but could he do it in the SEC. And, you know, we've seen Louisiana produce some offensive linemen. Robert Hunt a couple years ago was, I think, the 39th overall pick.

Torrance has a chance to be higher than that. He has a legitimate chance to push for the first round. That's how scouts are talking about him. So, you know, as long as he keeps this up in terms of playing at a high level, in the SEC like we've seen. So, you know, he's been a good guy. He's been a guy that's been fun to watch. Watching Texas A&M and Miami that game, you know, A&M offense,

maybe you can explain more what's going on there. I don't know. But what's... Remember how I said, listen to the Andy Staples show? We had about two full shows on the A&M and Iowa offenses last week and explaining exactly what the, what is wrong there. Yeah. But I mean, watching that A&M offense, at least they do have some playmakers, specifically A-Chane, the running back.

I mean, all he's to do, watch Miami, the Miami Dolphins and what they're doing at wide receiver with Jalen Waddle and Tyree Kill and all the speed they have there. That's what NFL teams are going to be looking for. And A-Chane, hey, that's what he brings. I mean, he is a legitimate track star out there on the football field, whether he's a running back. You're getting him the football as a receiver. he's a weapon. And so, you know, A&M, they're smart to get hit the football as many times as they can. They did that against Miami. And I think that really ended up being the difference for them as they won that game. It did because, you know, Tyler Van Dyke, not very accurate on the other side.

Now, he did have receivers dropping balls all over the place. But A-Chane is Texas A&M's best weapon. The other one that they have that's very good that I thought they did a little bit with him, but they should be doing more is Anaya Smith, who I actually think he's a third down back in the NFL. That's what he came as a receiver. The first year he was there, all of their running backs transferred before the bowl game. So he offered to move to running back. It was actually very effective as a running back. Can play both.

He's just one of those guys that you just put on the field. You can move him around. He's going to do exactly what you needed to do. He's going to make plays. and so I feel like they need to kind of let him be Max Johnson's security blanket and then find ways to feed A chain to create big place because they've not really been able to develop anybody to stretch the defense yet. The idea is they want Evan Stewart, the receiver, to be that guy.

He was suspended for that game. So we'll see what happens with that bunch. But it's just that offense is hard to watch. it is. Now, Miami's offense was pretty hard to watch as well. And Van Dyke has got to be able to hit

receivers that are open and then those guys have to be able to catch the ball. That's just all there is to it. Yeah, and I mean, he's missing, what, his top receiver, and so that hurts. Restrepo, yeah. But, I mean, he's playing like a sophomore, I think. You know, it's, you know, they can't all be

CJ Stroud or, you know, Bryce Young won the Hizman as a sophomore. They're not all going to look or play at a high level just in our second year on the field. And I think we see that with Van Duck. There's still a lot of learning he has to do. And that's why, you know, I didn't put him in my top 50 in August. I just didn't think he was ready for that. He's not quite there.

But, I mean, you see the talent. You see the ability that he has. It's just matter of being consistent on the football field and, you know, playing within himself. I mean, obviously with the new coaching staff, there's going to be some, you know, learning adjustments there. I thought the game went, maybe like we thought, where both teams weren't going to look great, but at the end, A&M just has more talent at the moment. So, you know, we'll see how Miami and Van Dyke does the rest of the ACC schedule. Another quarterback and transfer that I wanted to ask you about,

because he's looked amazing the first few weeks in his new environment is Michael Pinnock's Jr. He played it Indiana, his first three years. He's at Washington now and just looks great. Kailin DeBoer was his O.C. at Indiana for one of those years. That's the head coach at Washington. Now they're reunited. But with Pennix is, and I don't know how much of an NFL prospect, Pinnock's would be under any circumstances. But I'm just curious from a, from a talent scouting perspective to know what this means. He's had three consecutive season inning injuries that derailed him at Indiana.

Basically, he just needed to change his scenery. And then so that's why he went to Washington. And but when a guy has that kind of injury history, are they just going to have to get in a camp and show what they can do? Are they going to be on anybody's board at all? Yeah, and it just comes down to, and this is why teams spend so much money on the medicals and team doctors and all that kind of stuff. You know, they'll go to the combine. Each team does it a little bit differently, but most teams have, you know, just like a grading system where, you know, one, two, three, or four, you know, if it, If the injuries are older and there's no sign of lasting, lingering effects, then he's going to be a one or a two.

But if some of these things are, oh, this is going to pop up again or this, he's going to be prone to injury. Okay, we're talking three or a four. And it might drop a player or take him off a team's board entirely. And so with a guy like Pennix, you know, we don't really know at this point just how much that's going to affect it. But it is good to see him performing like he is. I mean, he's three games, all three have been over 300 yards passing. He's got 10 touchdowns, one interception through the air. And against Michigan State on Saturday, I mean, yeah, he was outstanding.

I mean, he, and it was something at Indiana where it was really inconsistent. Even that, it was what, the 2020 year where I think, you know, he really, because that was the year they beat Penn State with that. They beat Penn State. He had the reach on the goal line. Yeah, yeah. Even that year, he was only completing like 55, 56 percent. of his past. Oh, that Penn State game was a great example.

He was horrible for three and a half quarters and just lights out for the last drive of regulation and for the two overtime. So it is a, it's a strange situation, but he looks like a different person. And that, I do wonder how that works because his injury history is pretty gnarly. So we'll, we'll see what he does. But I'm happy to see him doing really well. Let's talk about the guys that just got drafted that are in the NFL now. A guy we met him and his entire family, they are a lot of tall, good-looking people,

the Hutchinson's. Aidan Hutchinson was dominant against Washington on Sunday. I felt like I was watching Red Zone, and I felt like every time that game popped up, I was watching him just run the ark and hammer somebody. Yeah, I mean, we talk so much. pre-draft about Hutchinson and, you know, is he, he doesn't have the longest arms, is he already tapped out? And, I mean, even if he is close to tapped out in terms of what he is, in terms of upside and getting that much better, he's still really good right now. And, you know, we're seeing

it right away. I mean, the coaches said afterwards, he's exactly what we thought. And that that shouldn't really be a surprise to anybody. This is a guy that the, the energy he brings off the edge is so impressive, quickness, power, skilled hand, play. He can be disruptive versus the pass, versus the run. He's scheme proof. I don't care where you want to play him. You want to stand him up. You want to kick him inside. This guy has shown he can be disruptive from a lot of different alignments. And so you see the lower body agility. You see the hand technique. There's a lot of things where you just check the box, check the box. And we're seeing it on the field for the lions. Yeah, six tackles, three sacks. Love to see it from

Hutch. This is one of those where under normal circumstances because he was taking second and the guy taking first plays a similar position. There you go, well,

the Jaguars blew it, but Trevonne Walker looked pretty great against the cults too. Really, you look at both their first round picks with Devin Lloyd, the linebacker out of Utah, kind of confusing at the time.

Like, they're just collecting these linebackers. What are you doing with him? Yeah. Right. But, I mean, the Jaguars, they want to build something

in that front seven and on that defense. And, hey, they shut out the Colts. I mean, they're doing something right. The Jaguars all of a sudden, I mean, they're going to make some noise in the AFC South this year. The Colts are not playing well at all. The Titans look like they're more pretender than contender. And so it's just that division looks like it's going to be for the taking for an upstart like the Jaguars with the way Trevor Lawrence is playing.

And the defense has been playing really well. Tron Walker, you could do so many things with a guy like this. You know, we talked about him last week, 6-5, 270 pounds, but his athleticism, his length, you want to use him on the edge, you want to use him in the twist game, you want to use him on the inside, drop him in space. He can do all those things and do him at a high level. And, you know, kind of the reason he went one and not Hutchinson is because Walker does have

upside where, you know, you can see him he's going to get better. the more he plays, the more he sees, all the different things that you could do with a talent like this. And this is why, you know, we're banging the drum on Trouon Walker all last fall, all throughout the draft process as this guy is legit. You bet on the traits. And Trayon Walker, freaky, freaky traits. So the Jaguars, it got something brewing down there in Jacksonville. Yeah, it is going to be interesting. I do want to, I want, there's a rookie who I, when I saw this play, I was like, oh, Dana and I are going to have to talk about.

him and it's not going to be good. But I think we can actually use this to absolve him a little bit. Jalen Armour Davis, rookie corner out of Alabama, plays for the Ravens. If you watch the dolphins come back against the Ravens on Sunday, then you saw Tyreek Hill just blow by Jailen Armour Davis and catch a long touchdown pass that helped put the dolphins back in the game. John Harbaugh came out. It's not his fault.

Clearly, Armour Davis thought he was playing zone. Well, guess what? He was. The safety was playing wrong. The safety played that play wrong. Should have been back there. And so Jalen Armour Davis, we apologize in advance. That was part of the book on Armour Davis coming out was, because he was a one-year

starter at Alabama this past year. I had, you know, OK production. I think had three picks last year. You could see the talent start to come out, but there was a lot of football that he needed to play to really understand what offenses are doing. And we mentioned Miami's offense, the speed, the speed to speed, that as a defensive back, that scares the heck out of you.

I mean, it's hard to be confident going up against that type of speed. So you're looking at a little bit. I mean, I'm going to give Mike McDonald a little more credit because that's the thing. Like, when you see that player, you're like, did you leave a rookie? alone on Tyreek Hill isoed on the top of a formation? Like, really?

And they're playing a lot of, I mean, Kyle Hamilton's getting, he's playing a lot for that defense. And so they're playing with some young dudes out there. And I mean, they're trusting it's sink or swim. And so, you know, they're, yeah, credit to that defense for, you know, playing these young guys and, you know,

sticking with them. But, yeah, it's, when you're playing an offense like Miami's and that type of speed, it's tough. Armored Davis still developing in areas, but I think he's at least holding his own. And by the way, one guy that we talked about is, I'm not sure what's going on last week, but a rookie who I thought played outstanding week two,

Cole Strange for that Patriots offensive line. Watching him go up against Cam Hayward, I mean, Cam Hayward has been in the league 10 years, he's a pro bowler, all pro, and Cole Strange more than held his own at the point of attack, you see that strength. You see the quickness. I mean, I thought he was really impressive in week two

with what he was, that assignment and what he was asked to do. Now, I will say that game was a little like watching Iowa versus Texas A&M. It was terrible, terrible. Now, one game that we do have to talk about too, just for the sheer amount of rookies that were making plays, the Browns and the Jets, I mean, that was, Garrett Wilson. I mean, he was my top receiver, which, you know, it's going to be fun to kind of look back.

And Drake London, Drake London, who also had a touchdown. And Drake London, the Falcons are force-feeding him to football. He's been targeted on 37% of his route so far in two games. I'm not sure that they know they still have Kyle Pitts. Just because you drafted last year doesn't mean you can't throw to him this year. Did you see that quote by Arthur Smith about, you know, Sorry, this isn't fantasy football. I mean, I don't, what is fantasy football?

You drafted him in the first round last year. Use him. Fourth overall, you've got a guy that is a mismatch weapon, and you're going to call out fantasy football as, you know, no. I mean, this is, you've got such a weapon. Look at what the dolphins do with Waddleon Hill playing them off to scare the hell out of defenses. Like, you could do that with Drake London and Kyle Pitts for sure. No, there's no doubt.

So yeah, and it's, Drake London, he's doing a nice job. He's getting a lot of opportunities and he's taking advantage. You see, you know, exactly what we saw at USC, the size, the athleticism. It's been impressive so far. By the way, Dana, I'm really, I'm really impressed with the filibuster to get away from the Browns collapse. I appreciate that. But we're going to have to talk about it. Yeah, I mean, it's hard to talk about.

I mean, it's, I've, since, the Browns came back in 99, this has, and they've lost a lot of football games. This had to have been the worst loss they have had since they came back to the league, without a doubt. Worst loss not involving John Elway in Brown's history? I mean, my knowledge only goes back so far. The Duane Rudd game, but that's another home opener, by the way, for the Browns. I mean, that's definitely up there.

But, you know, at least that was just one player making a bonehead move. This, I mean, if you want to blame the offense for scoring that touchdown and not going in, whatever, fine. I'm not going to blame Nick Chubb for that loss. How about it's blame the defense for letting that Corey Davis touchdown happen? How about we blame special teams for that onside kick? Amari Cooper had a good game on offense and kind of made a little bit of a business decision on that onside kick. And then down the stretch, I mean, they just, Garrett Wilson did what he was.

wanted. And this is, the reason Garrett Wilson was my top receiver in last year's draft is because he makes the playbook come alive. He is, his athleticism, his ability to play bigger than he is, it's so impressive. And he did that on multiple occasions that the one touchdown he had

earlier in the game against Martin Emerson, another rookie, he just cooked him at the line, easy corner route. It was something that, rookie or not, I mean, that was impressive from Garrett Wilson. another rookie in that game, by the way, Cade York missed the extra point after that Nick Chub touchdown. We spent a whole show on Cade Yorke last week. Come on.

He went from Hero to, okay, yeah, who's this rookie again? And that ended up being the difference, 31, 30, they lost the game. So, yeah, there were a lot of, I mean, Bruce Hall had a touchdown in this game. Sauce Gardner got nicked up, came back. Yeah. It's like he's doing all right for the Jets. He did well. He gave up maybe four catches, but they were, you know, he did it overall, did a nice job. Perry on Winfrey was, did not play because of some disciplinary issues. So plenty of rookies,

rookie action to talk about in that, that Jets Brown game. Well, and the Jets seemed to just, I hate to say, and it's weird because you got Mackay Beckton out. But you look at the way they've drafted recently. Mm-hmm. they could be fairly competent. Yeah, well, if they're going to get a quarterback play like they did from Joe Flacco, then, I mean, the defense is still an issue. I mean, they, Jacoby Brouset looked like, you know, a capable NFL starter.

And maybe he is. But the Jets made him look, I think, a little bit better than he is. But, yeah, on offense, if they're going to play the way that they were been playing, the play calling, I thought was outstanding. The way they used Garrett Wilson was, and by the way, if you, if you're on a fantasy, League and Garrett Wilson's out there as a free agent, go get him. He leads the, or I think he's tied with Jamar Chase for the most end zone targets in the league. So they want to get him to football, especially when they get down towards the red zone. He had eight catches against the Browns,

six were first downs. The other two were touchdowns. So this guy is making plays when he gets his hands on the ball. So yeah, I mean, the Jets, this is, it'll be interesting when Zach Wilson comes back. Probably it's going to be either week four, week five, it looks like. like they're waiting till he's fully healthy. What's the sophomore you're going to look like? Is he going to take that jump? Is he going to be able to see things quicker? That was always the thing with him last year as a rookie is just the processing.

And the game being so fast compared to what he played at BYU, is things slowed down for him at all. And so getting Zach Wilson back will be really interesting to see how this offense will look. Does they take a noticeably step down compared to what they have with Joe Flack? or is Zach Wilson able to continue that momentum that they've got going with these rookies with Breeze Hall, with Garrett Wilson, and everybody else on that offense? Yeah, it will be fascinating now. Maybe the biggest play, well, I don't know, it's hard to say with those big comebacks.

One of the biggest plays that we can happen Thursday night involved a rookie. The pick six by Jalen Watson, former Wazoo Pougar, Gerald Everett, tapping his helmet, once out of the game, kind of loafs it on the route, and Watson jumps the route. And, I mean, that turned the thing. And I realize that Justin Herbert is getting banged up, had a lot to do with everything, too. But that, with the chiefs, I feel like we talk about Patrick Mahomes. We talk about what they're doing offensively to overcome not having Tyree Kill and the free agents they signed for those reasons. but defensively, they are going to have to be really good.

I mean, you saw Josh Allen last night. For the Chiefs to get where they want to go, like, that defense better be great. Yeah, and they're doing it with some young guys. Trent McDuffie was the guy, the corner they drafted in the first round. By Washington. They like those Pac-12 guys. Yeah, apparently.

And I'm a big, I was a big fan of Trent McDuffie coming out. He was my second-ranked corner. You know, he's not the biggest, but the guy can, He understands how to play corner. But he was hurt in that game. And so he'll be out for a few weeks here. Jalen Watson comes in, steps up, makes the play of the game. And I tweeted this out right as it happened.

But three years ago, he was working at Wendy's trying to figure out, okay, where am I playing my football next? And all the credit to him, at a high school, he was two years at Juko, and then he actually signed with USC, but he didn't qualify academically. So goes back to Augusta, Georgia, working at Wendy's with his mom, just to make ends meet, try to figure things out, okay, what's my next move? He's able to sign with Washington State during the COVID year. So it doesn't play a ton at that COVID year. And then last year, 2021, that's when he really boost his stock as an NFL player, ends up getting drafted the seventh round.

And, you know, he's got his chance. And when you get your chance, you got to make the most of it. And he certainly did with that pick six. Really, that's when the game changed. That's what looked. I mean, if the Chargers score a touchdown there, obviously it's a huge swing compared to what it could have been. So all the credit to Jalen Watson, taking advantage that opportunity. And hopefully he's able to keep it going this week, especially with McDuffie out,

if Watson's able to kind of say, hey, I should be starting here. I'm more than just a flashy pick six. I can be play consistent football. Well, he can make a pick six in the NFL and he can fix a frosty machine. This is a pretty big skill set. Let's be honest. It's true. It's true.

Hey, it's, we've all got our journeys, right? I mean, you know, we all did our certain days. That's the thing. Some of these guys, and it's hard because sometimes stuff doesn't work out. You have a situation where it's grades or it's injuries or whatever. And a lot of times guys just are. content to give up and say, well, I could have been. I was great in high school. The guys that gutted out when it's not easy, when they don't just go straight to a big

Power 5 school and have, you know, all this fancy Nike gear in front of them, the ones that gutted out and figure out how to make it work for themselves, I have so much admiration for them because when he's at Wendy's, when he's in Juko, there's nobody coming to him going, well, you're going to be an NFL player someday. So we're going to make life easier for you. No, it's you've got to get your ass up and lift. You got to go to class. You got to do all this stuff. And there may be no payoff at the end of this.

You just got to keep doing it. You got to self-motivated. You've got to have a goal in mind that maybe is not attainable today or tomorrow. But you know down the line, if I do this, this, this, this, and this, that goal will be attainable. And that's that Jalen Watson's a perfect example. And we see that a lot with guys that for one reason or another, they have to. to go a different route. They have to, you know, a journey is not a straight line.

It's a lot of zigs and a lot of zags. And so that's, honestly, that's my favorite part about draft coverage and learning about these players, these prospects, is, you know, it's no two journeys are the same. They're all different with what they have to face, what adversities and what they did to overcome that. So, yeah, just, yeah, kudos to Watson. He had his, you know, a really, he has 15 minutes of fame and hopefully is able to sustain them. well hey malcolm butler worked at pop-eyes and then made the most important interception maybe in super bowl history so it's

this is this is this is what happens and and so i'm happy to see that we got a little a new segment that we want to break in this week and it's called defend the take and uh you know dain and i known for our just scalding hot takes all the time but we're trying to work on that he We're in the podcast game here. This medium requires some takes that are a little more spicy than our usual one. So, Dane, why don't you go first? Yeah, and this is fun and I think it's important because I've been in, I've had talks with, you know, like scouts and GMs before where I, they've yelled at me and said, get off the fence or no, no, that's not, you know, be definitive with what you're saying and what, you know, what you're saying and what you're, you're, seeing. And so it's important. And so, you know, we'll see how spicy be with these takes.

But my take, and honestly, I didn't think this was a hot take until I tweeted it. But my take is Marvin Harrison would be the clear wide receiver won in this draft class if he were eligible. Marvin Harrison, Jr., obviously the son of Hall of Famer, Marvin Harrison, all those years with the Colts, doing some impressive things with Ohio State right now. You know, with Jackson Smith and Jigba, sidelines with the injury. Marvin Harrison Jr. has stepped up. He has been, especially the last two games, he has been just lights out.

You see the athleticism. You see the size. He has prototypical ex-traits with the athleticism. He might not be a 4-3 guy, but he's fast enough. He can beat coverage in different ways. His ball skills are freaky. I tweeted the video of one of his touchdowns against Toledo, being able to, the defenders just tugging at him the entire way,

he's able to isolate the football, get two feet in, good in the NFL. Now, part of this take is Marvin Harrison Jr. is awesome. A future top 10 pick in the NFL draft. Again, he's not eligible. He's the only true sophomore. It's more about the class itself. Exactly. The wide receiver class is, I think there's a lot of fans and media, I think,

are higher on the wide receivers this year than most scouts and teams that I've talked to. Jackson Smith and Jigba is a really good player. He's just not a locked top 20 pick. Like a lot of people want to, you know, think that he is. Kachon Bote is a really talented player, not a locked top 20 pick. And, you know, there's a lot of other guys that I like in this group. Quentin Johnson from TCU's really, really talented. You know, Cedric Tillman with Tennessee is a really good player. There's a lot of receivers that I think it's okay to be excited about, but that doesn't mean that they're going to be drafted top 20. And we have. had five or no six six receivers drafted in the top top 20 last year so it's something that

you know it's we've seen a lot of receivers drafted early past few years this year we just it might not happen yeah and that happens these things are cyclical yeah and i do think i do think there will be more often than not years where there's a lot of good receivers just because the game has changed guys are playing seven on seven growing up there's so many more reps for receivers available than there were 20 years ago. High school offenses are throwing the ball 50 times a game.

It's just, it's a different world. But everything's cyclical. There'll be years with the D lines down. They'll be years when the receivers are down. And you're right. I'm looking and it's interesting because the actual production, when you look at the leaderboard,

is very different than the guys the draft Knicks really like. And that tells you there's not a super obvious person. And that's, you know, that's an opportunity. We were talking about Johnny Wilson earlier. That's an opportunity for a Johnny Wilson to maybe break in and be drafted significantly higher than he would have been in a much deeper receiving class.

So that'll be one to watch because, you know, like we talked about Charlie Jones. Charlie Jones is a really good receiver, but he doesn't have the super traits that the NFL guys are, like, he's very fast. He can be a return guy, but he's not a dominant wide receiver one probably in the NFL. Jordan Addison is the one that I think, I'm curious to get your take on him because obviously he can do a little bit. Everything won the Bolitnikov last year. He's at USC. I didn't mean to bring up another transfer, but that's where we're at. So I am curious how you feel about him.

Yeah, and he's a guy that he didn't need to transfer to be a drafted top top. 40, top 50. I mean, that was going to happen if he stayed at Pitt or transferred. But now at USC, it's just, it's unlocking everything. I mean, you see the twitchiness that he plays with. He could be a, you know, he can work all three levels, kind of like Garrett Wilson last year, where he could be a catch and go guy. He can win down the field. You know, he has a speed where he can win over top coverages. So you see mistackles all over when you get him involved in the quick game. There's a lots of leg with Jordan Addison. And what we're seeing now with USC is, because at Pitt, he was primarily in the slot.

And most of his targets were within 10 yards, a line of scrimmage. I think with USC, we're seeing him just, they're using him a lot more throughout the formation, down the field. And that's what you want to see from him. Show that he's not just a guy that's going to win in the quick game. He is more than that. So he's never going to be a big guy. that's, you know, the body type is always going to be just a little bit.

Not what you want. But, you know, again, Garrett Wilson was another one of those where you kind of worry about the body type a little bit. So Jordan Addison, absolutely, he's going to be in the conversation to be, you know, one of the first receivers drafted this year. And absolutely could be a first-round pick. And transferring the USC, you know, could that have still happened if he stayed a pitch? Sure. But transferring the USC in that offense is really helping unlock everything that he has to offer.

All right. I'm going to go with mine, which gets less spicy by the day, I feel like. But I said this last week, and I'm going to say it again, we talked about Anthony Richardson on this show. Dane has had him on his QB listings. Anthony Richardson at Florida is a class of 2024 draft prospect at the earliest. He is showing each week that he's not quite there yet reading defenses. This is his first year as the starter. And it's hard because we talk about traits versus production.

on this show, traits, he's off the charts. He is absolutely, somebody sent me a video of him dunking from the free throw line last week. Like, he is probably the most athletic quarterback in the country. And he has a great arm. But he needs to learn to control the arm. He needs to learn to put the ball in the right place, not get spooked when he's playing a defensive superior athleticism. And you saw it against USF this weekend where Florida probably shouldn't have won that game,

but they did. He did not show you. Against Kentucky, it's one thing. There's a lot of NFL players on that Kentucky defense. Against USF, you should be able to pick them apart.

And a lot of it, a lot of it is they don't have particularly great receivers at Florida, but he's got to figure out how to make that work. Yeah, exactly. Justin Schorner and Pierce Sol and the U.S.F. Yeah.

Against USF, they have enough. Now, against Tennessee, against Georgia, it's a different story. But here's the other piece. of this. I don't know that we're going to get to see the full Anthony Richardson until later this season or maybe not at all this season because their backup quarterback Jack Miller, who they went and got from Ohio State as a transfer, has been hurt. He had surgery on,

I believe, his thumb and is out. And they're not looking at him being back until midseason. They are not going to cut Anthony Richardson loose on the ground until they're confident they have a backup quarterback that they feel safe putting in the game. And, you know, It's interesting because I remember Justin Herbert's senior year, they didn't like their backup situation at Oregon, and they didn't turn him loose until the Pac-12 championship game and the Rose Bowl. And it was a completely different offense when they did. The difference was Justin Herbert was a fourth-year starter,

very adept at reading defenses, understood exactly what his role in the offense was. So we need to see Can Anthony Richardson grow into that quarterback? It's not going to happen this year, I don't think. I don't think, one, I want to see him fully turned loose for a little while before you have any idea what he is. But the running part of it doesn't even matter as an NFL prospect. That matters for a winning games at Florida. Right.

The running piece, it's capability, yes, but that won't be a, you have to be able to throw the ball. Right. And that's, yeah, that's why you're going to be drafted as high as he has a potential to be drafted. And look, if you and I know that where they're going to be. a little more conservative with him running the football. Defense has known that. And that's just going to make, you know, because they're not going to be as worried about that. So they're going to be playing, forcing him to beat them with his arm.

And so far, it's just so weird because against Utah, in Utah, you know, I think they're a good defense. I don't know how good, but they're at least, I feel comfortable saying they're a good defense. Anthony Richardson, I mean, he was so impressive in that season opening game. If the draft was the next day, he would have been a number one overall pick. I mean, it just, he was... I almost feel like when they're in a desperate situation, he just sort of relaxes.

Because if you go back to the LSU game last year, when he got put in the game, and they were just way behind and it looked hopeless, he's just letting it rip. Yeah. And it looked a lot better than it has looked the last couple games. His confidence just was so shook. against Kentucky. And it's just a snowball effect that probably carried with them

into the South Florida game. So now you've got coming up, yeah, Tennessee, and you're about to hit the meat of the SEC schedule. They have Alabama on the schedule this year? I think they do. No, they don't. No, they don't. That's a good thing.

They go to Texas A&M. They go to Texas A&M, and that's a bunch of athletes. Yeah. The problem is, going to be like this week Tennessee's defense is not going to be as good as Kentucky's defense was but Tennessee's offense is going to score a bunch of points. So you better be able to keep up or you're in trouble. So I'll be curious to see what he does because he's going to be put in a situation where he may have to match score for score Hinden Hooker and company.

And Hinden Hooker, while not a big NFL prospect, has proven to be a very good college quarterback at Tennessee. Yeah. Yet another transfer by the way. Virginia Tech, that's right, exactly. So it's, yeah, the Anthony Richardson conversation is, it is tough because it's almost like, you know, your opinion's going to change week to week. But I mean, I agree with your take. At this point, with what are you shown? He has no business entering the 23, 2023 NFL draft.

And if he did, I mean, forget just in terms of draft positioning and where you're drafted, in terms of setting him up for the long term, he needs to go back to school and get as many more reps as he can. so he can develop both physically and mentally to be the best passer that he could be before he goes to the NFL, which is proven time and time again, it is not a developmental league. Teams are going to be only so patient with you, you know, and it doesn't matter where you're drafted. Teams are only going to be so patient. And with GMs and head coaches changing jobs all the time, that influences things. So I think that take makes a lot of sense based off of what Anthony Richardson has put on film here.

the last two weeks. Well, we got a lot more film coming. It starts Thursday, and it runs through the weekend. What are we doing this weekend? What are we cooking? We got Ohio State, Wisconsin. Yeah, we got that. Yeah, that's going to be the big one, I think,

because I'm going to see CJ Stroud against that Jim Letter lead defense. That'll be big. I don't, maybe some ribs this weekend. I like it. I like it. I did a pork butt last Friday and ate off that all weekend. So look, pork, pork butts are so, they're so forgiving. They're so, I mean, it's, yeah, what's your, what's your smoker set up? You go with the, uh, the offset. You've got a pellet smoke. Oh, no. See, I'm, I'm, I'm a lazy one. I, I did have, I was using a big green egg, but when you got 94 podcasts to record and, and writing stories and I, I wish I could do, you know, my own barrel offset, but sometimes you just about to get it, get it on, get it. Get it on, get it. it done. But I will say, I had a rough day work-wise last week at one point. And I call my wife,

I'm like, this sucks. And then I call her back, I'm like, pulled pork sandwiches make everything better. It's just, it's so easy to cook. But then you shred it up. I'm as well, I was born in Columbia, South Carolina. So for the first seven years of my life, I thought mustard-based barbecue sauce was what everyone ate. And usually when you say that, people are like, well, no, no, no. Pull pork sandwich, a little mustard base sauce, nothing better. Nothing in the world. Interesting. Yeah. And trust me, I used to be there with you where, uh, I give me the, the smoker where you got to control the fire. You got to, you know, that's part of it. And now that I have four kids and like, it's, okay, you know what, I'm going to invest in a pellet smoker. Let's just, you know, let's just make

things a little bit easier. So, oh, and I can control it from my phone. Oh, okay. Yeah. Let's, Oh, yeah. It's, you know, change of temp here. I still have my egg, and here's what I want to do. My birthday's coming up. I may do this for my birthday. Tomahawk rib-eyes. You got to reverse sear those because of the thickness.

And so you set up the pellet and you cook it to about 100 or 105 internal. And have the egg going at like 600 degrees and take it off the pellet and just pop it on the egg, two, three minutes aside and sear it, that is going to be heaven. And I will post pictures when I do that. Yes, please do. That is maybe the best way to do a state period is, yeah, give it a little bit of that smoke. Let it, yeah, get it. Yeah, just up to temp, just, yeah, probably right over 100 and then cook it to,

yeah, it doesn't mean, that much time on the green egg. I mean, you just want to get that, that sear because you don't want to get that internal higher than what, 125, 130. Because it's even going to go a little bit higher once you let it rest for, you know, five, ten minutes. I'm actually a rare state guy. So this, that probably is medium rare what I just said.

Right, right. But I'll be watching. I want to see Maryland, Michigan, because I want to see Michigan against the team of the pulse. Everybody's just gaga over their offense. But again, I need to see it against somebody else. Clemson Wake Forest, very interesting to me.

DJ Owey Ungel. We're still waiting to see, you know, is he going to wind up being the starting quarterback for the rest of the year? But Sam Hartman is back now for Wake Forest. I really like Sam Hartman. They've got some receivers that are worth watching. Yes. And so that would be a fun one. Florida, Tennessee, obviously.

Yep. I'd said, Cedric Tillman, they're being a little cagey about his injury situation. So not entirely sure what we're to see from him. One of my favorite guys, by the way, in this draft class, just because his story. He was on a loaded high school team. He was Brevin Jordan, Dorian Thompson, Robinson, who's UCLA starting quarterback now.

There's another receiver. Oh, Speedy Naylor, who's with the Vikings now. He played at Michigan State. This is Bishop Gorman in Vegas. He's a loaded team. Loaded team. Nobody wanted it.

Nobody. Clay Hilton was USC's head coach at the time, had come out to check on one of his commits, who was a linebacker for that team. sees Cedric and is like, you got to have a ton of offers, right? And Cedric's like, I have no offers. He's like, I had Hawaii and I had Fresno State or no, Hawaii and Nevada and they bailed on me.

And Clay's like, okay, I don't have any scholarships to USC, but my brother just got named the OC at Tennessee. I'm going to call him. And so he calls his brother Tyson, who was only at Tennessee for one year, but it was a big one for Cedilman. because he goes, Tyson goes, okay, yeah, sure, I'll look at him, looks at him, he's like, oh, this sounds great. And sure enough,

two, three days before signing day, Tennessee has a player bail, a receiver bail on them, go to Florida State. Cedric Tillman gets the offer, and now you see, first thousand-yard receiver at Tennessee since Justin Hunter. And Tillman can play.

He's got size, he's physical. I mean, I've used the Nico Collins comparison. He's got a good chance to be the first senior receiver drafted. So no doubt, he'll be a guy to watch in that game. And then one other game I did want to mention too, Thursday night, Illinois Chattanooga, don't overlook this game because Illinois, I've been watching a lot more Illinois tape than I thought I would. Chase Brown, this guy is so much fun to watch. He's turning himself into a draftable running back.

Devin, Witherspoon on defense at Corner is playing himself into being a top three, top four round. type of guy. Then even Chattanooga, they've got a guy on that offensive line. They had a first rounder last year. They did. And McClendon Curtis could be, it won't be a first rounder. Well, I mean, I didn't think Cole Strange would be a first rounder, so you never know. But McClendon Curtis is a guy that could be drafted. And we'll see how he does against an Illinois, you know, a big 10 opponent. So a game on Thursday night. When you're, you know, watching Brown Steelers, maybe just flip over to that one. Check out how that game's going to.

Yeah, and look, this would have a couple years ago, I'd have been like, watch out for the mocks with the upset on this one. Brett Bilema has made Illinois a little more competent than that. So I'm very confident that the align I will get it done. But yes, I do want to see those guys. And I can't wait to see Illinois in Big Ten play because I think they're going to beat some teams that they're not supposed to. And I realize they did lose to Indiana. But if you ask the Illinois fans, that's the refs.

So have fun, everybody. We'll talk to you again next Wednesday.