The Athletic Football Show: A show about the NFL - The Athletic Football Show's 2023 top-10 mock draft

Episode Date: April 26, 2023

It's time to put a bow on The Athletic Football Show's predraft coverage in 2023. What better way to do so than with a mock draft? The Athletic's team of beat writers, as well as a couple of TAFS mainstays, join Robert Mays to mock their way through the top 10 of the 2023 NFL Draft on this episode of The Athletic Football Show.Subscribe to The Athletic Football Show...AppleSpotifyYouTube2:09 Pick 1. Carolina Panthers10:18 Pick 2. Houston Texans21:58 Pick 3. Indianapolis Colts (oooh, a trade)34:05 Pick 4. Arizona Cardinals41:05 Pick 5. Seattle Seahawks51:16 Pick 6. Detroit Lions60:09 Pick 7. Las Vegas Raiders72:44 Pick 8. Atlanta Falcons81:36 Pick 9. Chicago Bears91:17 Pick 10. Philadelphia Eagles Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is the Athletic Football Show. Welcome to the Athletic Football Show. I'm Robert Mays. We got a big one for you today. It is the 2023 Athletic Beat Writer mock draft. We have, I think, eight of our team writers picking for their respective teams in the mock. We don't have Texans or Cardinals writers. So our good friends, Dan Bruegler, and Nate Tice are going to stand in and help us out there.

I love doing this. It's just a great way. to get a sense of what these teams need, what their mindset is going into the draft. Our writers know these teams better than anybody else. And just understanding what their priorities are, what their thought process is going to be as these picks comes up, I think it's a really fantastic level of insight on the eve of the draft. And it's become one of our traditions here on the athletic football show. So without further ado, let's get to it with the Carolina Panthers on the clock with the number one pick.

All right. now on the clock, it is the Carolina Panthers with the number one overall pick. And here to talk through what the Panthers are going to do at number one, it is our Carolina Panthers. Right at the Athletic Joe person. Joe, thanks very much for doing this. Yeah, thanks. So the Panthers have been on the clock since about five o'clock Eastern time, March 10th. So they've had some time to think about this. I remember it vividly. I was live on the radio in studio in Chicago. as it happened and had to scramble home in order to do some work.

It's a very memorable day in this city, and I assume in the Charlotte area and the Carolinas. Joe, why don't you let us know? What is your pick with the number one overall pick here for the Panthers? With the number one selection in the 2023 NFL draft, the Panthers select Bryce Young, quarterback Alabama. And there we go. So we've talked a lot in the last month and a half or so about why the Panthers decided to move up, the process of them moving up. Scott Fitter has been on the record about this.

Ryan Poles has been on the record about this. I don't know if it's necessary to rehash that right now. I want to talk more about what you think, presumably, has led them to Bryce Young specifically in this process. So I think it was a combination of things. I really do believe when they made that trade, they were okay with. crowd or young because as we've written in the athletic they were okay going to two so that clearly now did they always prefer Bryce maybe but but at one point they were okay if Chicago split to two and then came back to nine and so what happened Robert over these six or seven weeks or a few things

Bryce young from what I've been told actually killed the just crushed the interviews with the Panthers. Not saying the other guys didn't do well. In fact, I've heard Anthony Richardson was very impressive. So you had that. Then we had the revelation of just how high Bryce Young scored in the 98th percentile in the S2 Cognition Test, which is the new it test, especially when it comes to the analytically driven Panthers owner, David Tepper. Big believer in the test. They're one of of 15 teams that have a contract with S2 cognition out of Nashville. So I think that was huge. There's been some predictive data that for quarterbacks especially, that processing test is

pretty important. And then lastly, look, I think they just have seen two years of pretty fantastic tape from Bryce Young in the toughest football conference in America. This might be a little bit too granular, and I don't want to put you on the spot, but who do you think within that building? Let's divvied up into three factions. Let's call it the coaching staff, the front office led by Scott Fitterer, and ownership with David Tapper. If you had to guess who the biggest kind of champions of Bryce Young in that building have been, who would you say it probably is? Feels like Tapper and Scott Fitterer.

And that's not to say that Frank Reich, you know, was anti-Brice. I think Frank Wright maybe needed a little more convincing. Again, caveat, presumably that he's the pick. But you know, you know, you and I've talked at the combine about Frank Reich's history with big quarterbacks. It's been well documented. Frank Wright grew up in an era of big quarterbacks. He is a big quarterback. Thank you.

Yes. And so I think that took probably, again, nobody's necessarily just. told me this, but reading the tea leaves, I think Frank took a little convincing. The interesting guy to me is where Josh McCown came down on this. Also a big quarterback. Absolutely. But it's been fascinating. These last six, seven weeks have just been a blast, man.

I can't imagine. And it's one of those moves that you hope it's transformative. It's why you make this sort of trait. It's because you want to get off of this merry-go-round from hell that they had been on. And honestly, that Frank Reich had been on as well. So I think the best way to escape that sort of cycle is just to smash the cycle into Smithorines. And that's what you do by moving up to the number one overall pick. And for whatever reservations they may have about Bryce Young's size, he just feels like the type of guy where you sprinkle a little bit of that fairy dust on whatever they've got going on.

over there, and it can feel different. The building can feel different. The way that you can hang his banner outside of whatever New York improved stadium they have feels different. This is the type of move that kind of could bring the Panthers into a new era in the way that I think that they were desperately hoping to after the way the Matt Rule stretch went and the last few seasons have gone. Yeah, back on the merry-go round and specifically the Combine where you and I visited, you know,

they met, this kind of gets lost in the sauce, very early that week, they had a sit down meeting with Derek Carr. And I'm thinking like, nothing against Derek Carr, just purely from a writing narrative perspective. I'm like, oh, come on. Not again. And when you, I had the opportunity at, it was, C.J. Strads Pro Day to speak with David. car and he said his sense all along even though the panthers had that meeting with with his brother was that they were going the the rookie quarterback route they were going to they were going to be bold they were going to be aggressive for the reasons you just articulated and make that move and he he thought that the meeting with with derrick car was was sort of just perfunctory he didn't use that word but that

was the sense. And so here they are with, as you said, like, this is a team that's going to need a new stadium soon. They have naming rights coming up on their current stadium. That contract's up soon. And so they didn't have

anyone to put on the, on the schedule card, on the posters, on the billboards. And I think Bryce Young is going to really embrace that. And I think this city is going to embrace him. Obviously, that comes with downside and with certain compromises.

Now you don't have a first round pick next year because you had to move up. And you trade your number one receiver to Chicago for him to help their young quarterback along rather than yours. So just very quickly, as we're looking at the rest of this draft, do you feel like even with the additions of Adam Thielen and DJ Chark, the Panthers are probably going to be in the market for another receiver to help Bryce Young's development here early on? I do. I do. And talking to scouting people around the league. They're like, Ne, you're feeling and shark, okay, you know, pretty, pretty solid, but they need another piece.

And I don't know if it'll be at 39 because the one area that fitter did not address in free agency is edge rusher. And that became of even more importance yesterday with the news that Brian Burns had kind of quietly had what they said was a minor ankle surgery. So I think they'll go edge rusher at 39. But I absolutely, I do think they're going to take a receiver before the weekend's done. All righty. Very exciting times for the Carolina Panthers organization and for you, Joe Person. Really appreciate the time, sir. We will chat with you very soon.

All right, buddy. Have a great week. All right. On the clock now with the number two overall pick, it is the Houston Texans. And kind enough to stand in as our Houston Texans contingent for this exercise, it is our draft expert at the athletic, a man that. that I have talked to a lot in the last week or so. And we'll even more before the draft is out.

It's Dave Bruegel. Dane, how you do, buddy? Oh, just you wait. We got a lot of talking to do the next week. But no, it's going to be fun. I can't wait. It's a fun exercise. I'm excited to be able to represent Houston.

And, you know, this is, remember what we think is going to happen. Not what we would do, but we think's going to happen. So what do you think is going to happen? What do you think the Houston Texans are going to do with the number two overall pick? Right now, I, say, Willie Anderson, the past rusher from Alabama, you know, it's hard not to, even if you don't think he's the next Nick Bosa. It's hard not to really appreciate everything that he did at the college level and what he's going to bring to your defense in the NFL, productive. He has

traits, characters off the charts. Just feels like this is a, there's no such thing as a safe pick, but this feels like if you're going to draft a defensive player high, you can feel really good about the guy you're bringing into your locker room. The player you're going to put out there as a rookie. And so I think that not only does he fit when you look at the Texans and their defensive structure, I mean, they're top pass rusher right now. Jerry Hughes, I mean, you know, it's an aging Jerry Hughes. So not only does he give you a cornerstone to build around, but, you know, this is a,

for a new coaching staff, D'Amico Ryans, this is someone that you can rally around and be your guy. Before we get to the quarterback conversation, is it an alternative route here? I wanted to ask you, There's been some buzz or some chatter just about whether or not Tyree Wilson, potentially with his frame, fits what DiMiko Ryans and that defense might like a little bit better as an edge rusher. What do you make of that? Yeah, I mean, Tyree Wilson looks the part, six, five and a half, two hundred and seventy-five pounds,

uh, 84 and a half inch wingspan. I mean, just he looks like a, you know, built in a lab. And, you know, it's almost like the Trayvon Walker or Aidan Hutchinson discussion last year, right? where one had better tape, one, you know, was the better football player right now. Jaguars decided at number one overall, hey, we're going to bet on the traits. We're going to bet on not what you've done, but what you think you're going to be able to do the next four or five years. And, you know, in year one, Aidan Hutchinson outplay Trayvon Walker. But, you know, we'll see how that plays out moving forward.

With this situation with Willing Anderson and Tyree Wilson, I think the big difference, you know, Tyree Wilson's a couple years older than Trouon Walker was last year. I think that with Will Anderson, you're still getting some of those traits. You're still getting, even though he's not, doesn't look like Tyree Wilson, he's six, three and a half, 255 pounds, ran well enough, 460 in the 40-yard dash, has 34-inch arms. So it's not like he's truly deficient in some of these areas. He's just not as much of a freak as Tyre Wilson. And also if you're comparing Will Anderson with guys that the Niners drafted,

I know that this is an overly simplistic exercise to kind of, describe the Niners' preferences on to what the Texans are going to want with Tomiko Ryans, but it's really the only data point we have at this stage of things. Nick Bosa is 6-3 and 3 quarters is what he measured in at the combine. It's exactly how tall Will Anderson is. And Nick Bosa only has 33-inch arms, like you mentioned, Will Anderson has 34-inch arms. He plays, I think, even a little bit longer than Nick Bosa. So it's not as if this Niners defense has not taken a player with kind of a similar build.

Bosa is heavier. He was 266 at the Combine compared. to 253 for Will Anderson, but it's not a, they're not taking six, seven guys consistently. Not every pick is DeForest Buckner or Eric Armstead for this defense. Right. And it's not like Will Anderson, even though he is 255 and maybe he plays 250. It's not like he is a, just strictly a speed guy off the edge. I mean, this is.

That's not what he is. No, as good of a past rusher as he is, I would argue, he's a better run defender. His ability to lock down the edge at the point of attack is really, really impressive. And he will win with power, speed to power especially. It's what he loves to do. I mean, he is an all-around defensive end pass rusher. So I think that he just, he fits too many boxes for what they could be looking for. And you know what?

It's not get cute about it. It's not focus on, you know, the traits and the guy that looks prettier. Let's take the better football player. And Will Anderson, I just think it's a. really not just a safe pick, but a pick that we can all, everyone in the building can get around and be excited about. And this is before you even get into

some of the intangible aspects of this. Guess what the Texans have loved under Nick Casario. They picked them some Alabama players. Christian Harris is on this team. John Matchy is on this team. There is a very well-worn path between the Patriots contingent and the conversations with Nick Sabin and those guys. And also, I think it's important

to remember that this team is still in the early stages of this. Last year was really their first full draft and they want to build a foundation, I think, of the right sort of people as well. That's really the only sense I think we've gotten from that front office when it comes to their personal tastes. And everything that we have heard about Will Anderson is, he is going to be a safe pick in that the football character is off the charts. He is going to be the sort of presence you want in that locker room. If you're still in stage two of eight or ten and building up what you want your building to be, this is the type of brick you want in that equation.

as far as I understand it. Yeah, no doubt. And, you know, Ed Demico Ryan's to the mix, who obviously Alabama background. I mean, it's just, it all lines up, really. And you look at, you know,

just hear Nick Saban talk about Will Anderson. He talks about his exact quote, I love working with this guy. He sets a great example for everybody else on the team. Nick Sabre is not going to say that if it's not true and not going to rave about a player. So not only is a guy that in 41 career games had 62 tackles for loss, Not only is he a guy that is the first freshman linebacker to ever start for Nick Saban.

One of the only two-time consensus All-Americans, or unanimous All-Americans, we've ever seen at the college level. I mean, the resume is stellar. You cannot discount anything on that resume. Not only that, but he has a lot of support from the coaches, and it's not going to be a hard sell. So to ownership, to the fan base, to anybody in that building, it's an easy sell for, what they look for on the field, off the field. I think a lot of it matches up. We've talked about this a couple different times in the past week or so about

sections of two and quarterbacks. I'm sure we'll talk about it again on Thursday night. The mindset between not taking a quarterback here is you're stepping into Nick Casario's shoes. How do you feel about that decision? Because I know, I think both of us makes us a little uneasy. Sure. And it's, you know, this is a conversation about taking the right quarterback.

And I think that's, if the. Texans lost that final game to the Colts, they're taking Breis Young at number one overall. Guess what, though? They didn't. No, and we'll never know for sure, but I truly believe that. So now Carolina at number one is going to take Brayshung, and at number two, is there a quarterback that everybody in that room can get around and say, yes, this is worth the number two pick. This is a guy we want to build around. I just, it doesn't sound like that is the consensus there. And you know what? It's always a chance. Ownership comes in. Nick

Assyria Oaks says, listen, guys, we got to take a quarterback here. Let's not get cued at 12 and moving around. We don't want to wait until next year. Let's take our guy right now. Well, we have a chance. There's always a chance that happens. But I think if it's up to the coaches, I don't think they want to draft a quarterback here. So it'll be really interesting how that affects their decision making with the 12th pick. And do they want to try and move up to go get another guy? Are they fine staying at 12 and saying, hey, if one falls to us, yeah, we'll take a swing and see what happens. they have two first-round picks next year. They have multiple picks that they can move around and if they want to trade back and even add more ammo to next year.

And you mentioned it earlier. This is a team that's kind of in the beginning stages of this. You know, on the outside looking in, I think it's easy to say, well, obviously you draft a quarterback, especially if you really like C.J. Stroud or one of these other guys, I think it's obvious to say that. But these guys don't feel pressured. D'Amico Ryan's and his staff.

They don't feel pressured to push the envelope and say, we have to get our guy now. It's now or nothing. So they are willing to be patient for the right guy and are willing to be choosy. Now, in hindsight, that might end up looking like a mistake. If C.J. Stroud becomes a successful NFL starter, you know, leading team to the playoffs for whoever, whoever that may be, and the Texans say they have the fourth pick next year, and they get shut out of Caleb Williams or Drake May, or, you know, maybe they don't draft a quarterback this year. So it's, it's a dicey proposition to really dance around this quarterback situation. And especially if they want to move from 12 into the back end of the top 10 to get a guy.

It's just it's not great process. But you know what? I can't wait to see how it plays out because it's going to be a lot of fun to see. Putting a period at the end of this, I think it's really interesting contrasting the situation and the makeup of the Panthers contingent with the situation and the makeup of the Texans contingent. It's a similar spot where you have a GM in a front office that are already in place. based on a new coaching staff. But think about Frank Reich's experience over the last few years. I think it's a little bit easier to sway Frank Reich toward the quarterback decision,

even if it's a little fast after taking the job, because he's seen how the other half lives when you don't have that guy. Contrast that with what the Niners situation is. They've been a quarterback agnostic team that goes to NFC championship games every single year because of the rest of the roster and how strong that defense has been. I still think trying to thread that needle is a bad decision and it's very, very hard to do, especially when you don't have Kyle Shanahan over there calling the plays, and there's no George Kittle, there's no Debo Samuel, there's no Brandon and I, Yuk, all of that kind of stuff.

But I think that that lived experience that both of these different coaching staffs has gone through has to color that mindset just a little bit and influence some of that urgency. Yeah, no, it's a great point. And, you know, with Nick Casario, he's a guy the last few years as GM of that team where he's watched some pretty bad quarterback play. And, you know, I'd have to imagine he really wants to get a guy. in there. But you know what, Nick Casario's never drafted a quarterback in the top 50 picks. So we don't really have a frame of reference with Nick Casario and drafting quarterbacks early.

And, you know, I think with Houston, they see everything on the table right now. You know, could Tray Lance be an option? Obviously, this is a coaching staff very familiar with Trey Lance from their time in San Francisco. Could that be something they look to do during the season, you know, once Brock Purdy's healthy and San Francisco feels good, maybe they're more willing to, you know, give on the asking price. So there's a lot of options here with Houston. I don't know that there's an exact right or wrong answer, but it just feels like at number two,

when you have all these quarterbacks sitting there, it makes sense to at least take a swing on one of these guys. For me personally, B.C.J. Stroud, I take my chance there, but it doesn't sound like that's what Texans want to do. I know. You said they've watched a bad quarterback play. We don't besmirch Davis Mills in this house. There's a statue of him made out of pole with sausage somewhere in my residents. So don't worry. He's a hero in this city. Dan Brugler. Thank you very much, my friend.

We will chat with you later in the week. Looking forward to it, man. Thanks. Now a little twist on the clock at number three. It's the only trade we allowed in our mock drafts. And we'll dig into why in a second here. The Indianapolis Colts are now on the clock and here to help walk us through their selection. It is one of our Colts writers at the athletic. Zach Kiefer, Zach, how you doing, man? I'm good. I'll be better after Thursday night's over, but let's do it. So we didn't allow trades because trades get very messy, but we figured that the Colts moving up one pick, just because if the quarterbacks are still on the board, someone else is going

to pick at three. The Cardinals are probably not going to pick at three. So the Colts moving up one pick kept things clean enough and got us a little bit closer to reality that this was worth bending the rules about a tiny bit. So let's talk through this, because we We are, I don't know, 48 hours away from the draft as we record this. And I don't think anyone really knows what quarterback the Colts want, where they're going to pick a quarterback, or who that quarterback is going to end up being. Is that fair to say? Absolutely. And we asked Chris Ballard on Friday, do you have a good sense of how one, two, and three are going to go?

And I thought he would kind of throw out, yeah, we have indications. He said, nobody knows. Nobody knows anything. And I get it. Smoke screens this time of year. nobody knows what the cults are going to do it for because they are not leaking this out. And a lot of the stuff that's out there, Chris Ballard came out and said, everybody thinks we're going after one guy.

That's not true. I think he was talking about Will Levis. That's also what I've heard. I've heard they're not as high on Will Levis as a lot of people think. But we're not going to get the verdict until Thursday night. All right. So here we go. The only quarterback off the board in our little exercise here has been Bryce Young.

So with the third overall pick, Who are the Indianapolis Colts selecting and the athletic football show mock draft, the only one that matters? Yeah, so the Colts are going to trade up to go defense? No, it's not going to happen. That would just be a cruel joke on Indianapolis Colts fans. If they trade up to three, they're going to go get Ohio State's CJ Stroud. I think Chris Ballard comes out of this smelling like roses. For months, he said, we don't have to panic. We don't have to move up early. We don't have to give up the farm, a little bit like the Panthers did to go to number one. And I think if he can get consensus the number two quarterback in this draft, a really accurate guy who flashed big time in that college football semifinal against Georgia, I think it's a huge win for the Colts. And then you don't have to have the Richardson-Levis debate because you're getting a player who's better than both of them right now. All right.

So let's have that debate, though. Why C.J. Stroud over somebody who has the ceiling of an Anthony Richardson? Yeah, I think Chris Ballard would prefer Stroud. and I think Shane Steichen might prefer Anthony Richardson and what he can do with him. Now, Stuyken's going to have a big say in this, right? Where does the owner come down? Probably, probably Richardson. But as a scout told me the other day, it's really, do you want the better player who's going to be ready to play right away?

Or do you want the guy who's going to maybe scare defenses down the line? I think Richardson's still a big gamble. And the one thing I keep coming back to is Chris Ballard said a year ago, you cannot improve accuracy in a big way in the NFL. Maybe Stuyken disagrees, but that 53.8% accuracy for Richardson just scares me enough to go with Stroud, who's not just accurate, who's really, really accurate. So it's interesting because I think that used to be the old adage that you couldn't become more accurate when you got into the NFL.

That was a skill set that translated and kind of carried with you throughout your career. Talking to people now, I talked to an offensive coordinator, day and multiple people about this. Can you get better? Can your accuracy actually improve as you get into the league? And I think that more people are starting to believe that the answer is yes. And that some of these intangible qualities you can't teach someone, Anthony Richardson's size, his athleticism, his feel in the pocket, his ability to navigate those messy

situations, that's actually the thing that can't improve. You either have that or you don't. So the fact that there are multiple camps about this, and Chris Ballard seems to to be in the other one, I think is an interesting observation here as we go through the process. Yeah, and you can talk yourself into Anthony Richardson really easy. And I have, and I still think he's probably the odds-on favorite because I don't think Stroud's going to fall. I'm not really buying the fact that Houston's going to pass on a quarterback with this high of a pick. But Richardson has those unteachable qualities you talk about. You watch his tape and those instincts and those things.

I think that's where he separates from Will Levis. Levis doesn't have that feel in the pocket that Richardson does. And Shane Steichen's on the record, you can improve mechanics, one, or improve accuracy, one, with mechanics, and two, you can also scheme for it. And he's got a body of work that speaks to that. Look at what Jalen Hirsch just got paid in light in part of what Shane Steichen did with him last year in Philly. So why don't you think the Colts are as high on Levis as the general consensus seems to believe? I think there's less imagination with Will Levis. I think he's 23 years old, and he kind of is what he is. And I think with Richardson, he's not even close to what he's going to be.

He's 20 years old. And I think another year, the Colts have had this conversation before. They said, are we overdrafting this kid? Maybe. This is not about these quarterbacks, but this is about players in the past. Are we overdrafting this kid? Maybe. But if he had gone back to school for one more year, we're not overdrafting him.

We're getting him a year early and we're letting him develop. If Richardson came back another year at Florida and his accuracy ticked up, he would probably be right in that conversation with Williams and Drake May out of North Carolina. It's early to say, and Williams is probably ahead of everybody, but what would Richardson go next year if his accuracy improved? And he answered some of the questions that we have right now. So maybe that's in their thinking. Let's get him a year early. And I really do believe they're going to be patient with this and he doesn't need to play right away.

And I just feel like those intangible things about creating and the way the game is going. Richardson would be a bet on Richardson, but it would also be a bet on Shane Stuyke. And I think the Colts are willing to make that bet. Last year, the Colts had one of the worst offenses in football. I was looking at some of the stats yesterday when I was talking about Aaron Rogers going to the Jets. And I think the Colts finished 31st in EPA per dropback among all their quarterbacks in the league last year. That was partially on the quarterback. And switching out who that is, I think will probably go a long way.

But they have done nothing outside of adding Isaiah McKenzie to this receiving corps to fix the rest of the personnel on offense. why do you think that is and why do you think that this front office and this regime clearly thinks that even with the players that they had on last year's roster, things are going to be better this year? They're not. It's the same bet they made last year on the offensive line. Let's just stay where we're at and hope these guys elevate their play. It's insane.

It's the same vibe guys. I just can't even get over this. And it blew up in their face. And I'm not totally against rolling with Bernard Ryman at left tackle, but you don't have a right guard. You don't have a right guard and you're bringing in this rookie passer who needs as much infrastructure around him as possible. This is what Michael Pittman said last week, the receiver. He's like, you want as much veteran around this guy as possible. Robert, they're in this weird place right now where they're resisting the rebuild tag, but they're very much resetting. I mean, Stefan Gilmore wanted

out. They turned him to Dallas. But other than that, they turned down trade offers for Kenny Moore, for Ryan Kelly. And those guys are back and those guys had disappointing seasons. And they've got JT in the backfield and Pittman, but they don't have a very good receiving core. And this quarterback's going to struggle. There's no way around that. I don't know where they are. I don't know if they think if they get maybe ahead of pace they can compete in this division. But they've convinced themselves that too many times in the past and they have accepted what they are.

The expectations need to change around this team. They're not there and they're not close. So I understand that as a potential mindset. That's fine if that's what your mindset is. but then why not try to be a little bit more aggressive in free agency if you know you're going to try to take a quarterback in the top five and surround him with a few more pieces to allow him to hit the ground running? I'm not saying you have to go hand out the Adam Thie one contract that Carolina did, but Carolina went out and got DJ Chark. They went out and got Adam Thielen. They went out and got Miles Sanders because I think they understand, all right, if we are pretty close with the right quarterback, let's act like it. the Colts, in my opinion, didn't seem to act like it over the last month, month and a half or so.

And that's why I think it's even a little bit harder to understand what they think of themselves and what they're trying to accomplish. I'm more fired up than I thought I'd be about this. Do you know who the GM is in Indianapolis? Do you know how he thinks? This is a conversation every year here. I really believe he does not value the receiver position like some of the other GMs in the league. I'm not even said you got to do that. Go sign somebody to play right guard for.

You know what they're paying McKinsey? Yeah, exactly. And if you're going to be all about the offensive line, then be all about the offensive line. Fix it, 60 sacks. They're paying McKinsey, if not veteran minimum, pretty close. I mean, in his defense, in Ballard's defense, it was not a good wide receiver market. They really believe that. They weren't going to pay B players, A money and all that.

But they're not playing C players, B money even. They're not really adding much at all. They do want to add a little bit more in free agency. I think they've been bogged down with the draft for the last couple of weeks. But just running it back with a younger quarterback is not okay. It's just not an okay approach. But that seems to be the approach. And all that's going to change seemingly,

unless they make a couple little tweaks here, is that the quarterback is going to be a little bit different. And we are going to see who that quarterback is very shortly here in the next 36 hours or so. It's going to be an eventful couple days for you. And hopefully you're going to be able to join us during our live Jaff show later this week. And I'm very excited about that. Zach Kiefer, really appreciate the time, my friend. we will talk to you very soon.

Sounds good. See you Thursday night. All righty. So after trade down with the Indianapolis Colts from three to four, the only one that we allowed. I don't know exactly why we only allowed one trade, but it made sense. It was only one spot. It felt like if the Colts, if the quarterback didn't go at two, a team was definitely going to trade into three. So it almost invalidated the rest of the exercise if we didn't allow this trade. So if you're trying to follow our very circuitous line of thinking that,

is definitely it. So now on the clock, it is the Arizona Cardinals and here to make the selection for the Arizona Cardinals, God, God help you here is Nate Tyson. Nate, how are you doing, buddy? I'm doing great. What's great about the Cardinals and their needs, it's like Gary Oldman, that Gary Oldman meme, like, what are their needs? Everyone. So I didn't really have a limitations of what position I'm going to go with. But yeah, I like the canon of this mock, this mock draft that we're doing, they were like, yeah, we'll just throw into one token trade, and I'm glad I got to be a part of it.

Do I make my selection right now? You can make your selection right now with the fourth overall pick in our mock draft. Who are the Arizona Cardinals selecting? I'm writing on the card right now, racing up there. So Will Anderson selected. So the Arizona Cardinals with the fourth selection are taking Tyree Wilson from Texas Tech.

I guess I'll call him Edge. defensive end, edge, whatever you want to call him from Texas Tech, Tyree Wilson. I don't really know what there is to dig into for the Cardinals for pretty much the exact reason that you said. They need everything. So I think them moving out of three, especially if a quarterback is available, is almost a given. Where they end up, I think then becomes the next important question. And where they end up, they could go in a bunch of different directions. Let's say they go down hypothetically.

Let's say the Eagles, two quarterbacks go off the board in the top two. The Eagles love Will Anderson. They just love Will Anderson. And they're like, you know what? We're willing to go up and get him. Like we're going all the way to three. And Arizona moves all the way down to 10. They could draft an offensive tackle with the 10th overall pick.

They could draft whatever Eddrescher is still there with the 10th overall pick. They could draft a corner if there's still one of those corners available with the 10th overall pick. I think this is really just about getting as many picks as possible, understanding how far you have to go and operating that way. As the Arizona Cardinals de facto GM in this circumstance, do you agree? Yes. We just need players. We just need tangible players, not only just needle movers and building blocks,

whatever you want to say it, but just like actual players that we can put on the field that are not replacement level. So that's why even a small trade backer, I think they just should, you know, the red paper clip experiment where you're just trying to take one thing and just make it as much as possible to where you end up with a house. I think that's what the Cardinals should be doing for this draft and next year's draft is just getting a many picks as possible so we can get as many cheap players as possible. Maybe some of them will work out, but at least they're not just going to be a whole bunch of one and two year deals like we've seen other teams do, like maybe the Houston Texans. I think you're more or less starting from scratch, but in a weird spot where you already have your quarterback. And that's kind of, it's a weird rebuild that the Cardinals are going to be going through.

But I agree. I like that kind of, you know, example that you laid out, the one with the Eagles moving back to 10 and the Cardinals moving back to 10. That would be ideal, I think, especially in this type of draft and get a tangible player at the end of the first and early second. Yeah, but getting that 10th overall pick or something, right here, the fourth, I'm going with defense here. I just feel like they need that. but I can see the offensive line just as easily because they need to rebuild that as well. Yeah, but it's a choose your adventure, but kind of a dark, scary adventure. It's not cheeky shenanigans.

It's, you know, it's cruel and tragic that's going out with the Cardinals right now. They still have DJ Humphreys, but DJ Humphreys was drafted eight years ago. I mean, he's on the wrong side of 30, so how long, much longer is he going to be around? Calvin Beecham is a starting right tackle. Calvin Beecham is 33 years old. He's back on a short-term deal. Here's some of the players. I just want to read off some of these names.

Here are some of the players on the first line of the Arizona Cardinals' Dept chart. Yalta Froholt is currently their starting center punched in on our lads. He was a backup offense lot of for the bronze last year. Jonathan Ledbetter, Lecay Foto, Richard Lawrence, Cam Thomas, who's the third round pick last year, Antonio Hamilton, Marco Wilson. So those are all guys that are currently slated to start for them right now. Antonio Hamilton, Sr., who is a street-free agent in 2021, is right now. Pennsylvania is a starting corner for this team.

And Isaiah Simmons is their starting nickelback in this scenario as this draft, as this step chart is currently laid out. That's where we're at. That's that's, and Isaiah Simmons is still somewhat of an idea than a player, even though he did, he did improve last year. And I still have a couple shares of his stock,

uh, somewhere around here in my office. But it is, yeah, that's not ideal when you have kind of a tweener guy as your best defensive player. Antonio Hamilton, uh,

is kind of like, been forced into playing recently. And it's the fact that that he's like, oh, no, this is a tangible guy for us. That's just a scary situation to be in. If you're the Cardinals team and the Cardinals fans, I guess, if you're looking at your roster. They need everything. They truly need everything, especially on defense. You know, you can make an argument.

There are a couple spots on offense where they don't really need that many bodies. But if they move on from DeAndre Hopkins, I think this draft is all about assembling as many picks as you possibly can and trying to just find maybe a body in the top 10. But beyond that, you don't really have to think positionally. It's not that interesting of a team to talk about for that exact reason. I think that you're just in a mode where you understand it is a long, long, high mountain to climb, and it is going to take a while to get there. Every pick they make is going to be like, yep, makes sense.

Every trade they make, I wish they trade back, it'll be like, make sense. And that's exactly right. It's not as interesting because it's just the denominator is infinite of what they need. It's just that's the infinity symbol is, what they need. And so that doesn't make him as interesting because it's not just like, which tackle are they going to take. It's like, just take a player and we'll be fine with it. So that's where you're at Arizona Cardinals in 2023. But Tyree Wilson, at least is a good player that I think has plenty of upside to tap into, but it's not just, like it said,

it's not just an experiment. It's just actually, he has something to him day one and has more to grow into. So we wouldn't hate him if they ended up with him, even if Will Anderson's off the board. And they don't maybe don't want to go with a character guy like Jalen Carter. They want to maybe, you know, just might have some concerns that way. So that's why I picked Wilson over Carter in that instance anyways. All right. I don't think there's any reason to belabor this. The Cardinals could go whatever direction they want.

And we will find out where they're going on Thursday night when the three of us are hanging out in Kansas City. Nate, thank you very much, buddy. Thank you for having me, man. All right. On the clock now with the fifth overall pick in our 2020-3 athletic football show mock draft. It is the Seattle Seahawks. Here standing in for the Seahawks contingent is our Seahawks writer at the athletic. Michael Sean Duggar.

Mike Sean, how you doing, man? Doing good, man. How are you? I'm doing very well. Big week for you. Seahawks got a lot of picks, a lot of things to dig into, and it starts at number five. And the way that this thing has fallen, we got some pretty good players on the board, including a guy that I think a lot of people consider the most talented player at any position in this draft in Jalen Carter.

So if you are John Schneider and Pete Carroll in this scenario, where are you going? Can I first say how excited I am to be on your show? I have a cup of tea in my hand, so my voice sounds much better than I was on with you in Indianapolis. I sounded very much like Doc Rivers when I listened back to it. It was fun, a great time. But I listened back, I was like, goodness, I should have drank some tea beforehand. But anyway, to answer your question, if I'm stepping in for John Snyder and getting a huge pay raise by switching jobs with great. I think I got to take Jalen Carter with this pick.

I got to roll the dice. I think the primary reason, and there are several, but the primary one is that Jalen fills a need at a position of value and satisfies the requirement of getting closer to being a championship contender with your top asset in the draft. super long-winded, but I think that Jalen checks a lot of those boxes, and that is their primary goal, I think, on Thursday night. I mean, there's no denying that. You're looking at the depth chart just top to bottom, and I think that you could argue for another edge rusher.

Like, if Will Anderson was on the board, you could easily pencil him in here and be totally fine to go. But defensive tackle is another one. Even after signing Draymond Jones, who's got kind of inside, outside versatility, there's definitely a hole next to him, and you slot a Jalen Carter-type talent into this roster. We talked about this earlier in the week. You do that.

You find a corner somewhere down the line. You get one more interior alignment and then one more pass catcher in the mix here. And it feels like you're really cooking with gas. And that equation formula, however you want to phrase it, it can absolutely start with a guy like Jalen Carter with a fifth overall pick. Yeah, and some of it is just the math and having bodies. I mean, when you're running a three, four, you need probably about six interior linemen, two noses, probably four, three techniques, four eye guys.

And then you usually have about four edges. That's kind of the unofficial 53-man construction for this type of front. Robert right now, they only have three interior defensive tackle. And only one guy who weighs over 300 pounds. And that's Jaron Reed, who's listed at 306. But either way, I don't know how much Yaxi weighs, but that's not enough. One 300-pounder, whether you're running a 4-3, 3, 4, whatever, that's just not enough. And you can pass on Jalen.

But they just need three rotation-worthy guys in this draft. And the Seahawks have bombed enough drafts. under this regime to know that just getting one rotation worthy guy and any draft class up front is a victory. When you go into it needing three, you should probably start with one that you feel can go beyond rotation worthy and perhaps even be a starter. There's been some discussion this week from a few disparate sources about the Seahawks interest in Jalen Carter.

Todd McShay from ESPN wrote on Monday that he's heard that Jalen Carter will not be the pick for the Seahawks at five. There are other people who have written that they think that this is the ceiling for where J.1 Carter might go. So what is your sense on the Seahawks comfort level with Jalen Carter and everything that comes along with picking him? I think that they would be the racing incident in particular is probably not as problematic to them as some of the stuff that you'll hear if you talk to some people at Georgia who dealt with him on a day to day. Because a racing incident, any incident really, is more of a snapshot than it is like you, your full resume, people who dealt with you from, you know, your entire college career

know a little bit more about you than people who saw you in a body camp talking to some cops, right, or saw you speeding beforehand. And that's what the Seahawks are going to put more stock in. And people who saw them at practice, see him have good days, see him have bad days, during the games, after the games. I mean, those reports have been a mixed bag, and we saw that going all the way back to December with that initial report from BSPN about work ethic, concerns, character concerns, and how Jalen gets along with people inside the building. So I think that's more important to them than any legal troubles. I think the pro day workout and just not performing well at that is going to be more important

to them. And then the third part will be that 30 visit that they have with Jalen in that that's where Jalen had an opportunity in a completely different setting because all these settings are different, you know, in the pre-draft lead up to your combined visit is so much different than your pro-day visit, which is so different than being the only kid they have in the building for a 30 visit. We just walk around, relax, sitting those comfy-ass chairs they have in the auditorium and just kind of feel out everybody. The food's good at V-Mac too. So like you just sit down, have a good meal and just really just be in a different setting because that's where you can

win back to benefit of the doubt if you're Jalen, on top of having perhaps the best spin doctor in the class in Drew Rosenhouse going above and beyond to make sure his image is painted the right way. So I think all of the information that they're going to gather will make, they'll be comfortable with Jalen, I think, for that, for those reasons. And on top of that, something that Quandre Dig spoke to when he was on Richard Sherman's podcast a couple weeks ago was that they have the right environment and the right veterans. And you've got to be careful putting too much of a burden on some of the veterans like Bobby Wagner's back. Big, big voice in the locker room. Guys are going to respect him. He's not a babysitter, though. So

you got to be careful with that fine line. But having those guys who set the tone in there, I think that that's important. That's going to matter to them and make them comfortable. I think if they're going to get backed into taking Jaylen like I did in this exercise, I would have taken Tyree Wilson and Will Anderson. They just weren't on the board. I didn't love the quarterback class. So I think Seattle could be in a very similar situation and kind of talked themselves into Jalen. I was going to ask you about the quarterbacks next. Do you think that your passing on a quarterback here says more about Seattle?

as mindset or the players who are available to you picking fifth in the way that things fell here? I think it's both, but I think more of the mindset. And I'm going to write about this this week as well. It just goes back to everything that they believe in as an organization. There's so much, and we talked about this before, so much of these picks are who is making the pick? What GMs did they learn under?

Where did they fail in their previous stints as a number two GM, as a head coach somewhere else. What picks are they've hit on? What picks that they succeeded on? You know, their philosophy. Pete Carroll's philosophy is win a championship. John Snyder's philosophy is win a championship. Like today. Like they want to win one now. There's a clip I remember from May of 20, May 23rd, 2022. So last year during OTA, his tile locket breaks down a huddle and he goes, Super Bowl and everybody around them yells champs. And it sounded like the most ridiculous thing in the world. But that's the mindset of the team. And when that's your mindset, I believe that you really can't, they can't afford the luxury of playing for down the line with the quarterback. Like Anthony Richardson would be like C.J. Straub would be, I like both of those guys.

And I think Seattle would like them too. The reality is if you're trying to win now in a pretty wide open NFC, C.J. Straub just does not help you. And neither does Anthony Richardson. At Super Bowl champs thinks that it's a shitload less ridiculous right now that they did May 23rd of last year. So really quickly, if you were stacking up just the other position, needs for this team with the other three picks that they have, I think, in the top 50, top 60? Where's their second, second round pick? 52.

52. So four picks in the top 52. What are the other three biggest needs you think they have outside of interior defensive line? They've got to get another center. I think their only center who's not on a futures deal is Evan Brown. They signed him to a one year, $4 million deal. They need some inside linebackers. They only have two healthy inside linebackers with starting experience.

One of them is Bobby Wagner and one of them is Devin Bush Jr. who they picked up in free agency. And neither of them are on deals that go past 2023. And then I would probably say interior offensive line with the guard spots. Phil Haynes is their right guard. He's on a one year, $4 million deal. Damien Lewis is in the final year, his four-year rookie contract at left guard. So like their immediate, like starter needs are not super pressing, but the good GMs prepare a year in advance. and which that's what they need to do at a lot of positions.

I think the trenches anywhere trenches in front seven is just is just so important for them, especially if you just look at the 49ers loss in the wild car round. You'd be like, yeah, get better up front. Corner outside or on the other side of Tariq Wollin, is that a consideration? Or do they feel good about the guys that they have there? I think Seattle, and Pete won't admit this, it's just a different level of arrogance with the cornerback spot. Like he's just had so much success with not even just Richard Sherman's and Tarek Wollins,

but even finding starting caliber players like Jeremy Lane in the sixth or seventh round. Byron Maxwell was a day three guy. These are starting caliber corners that Pete has been able to find in fourth, fifth, and sixth rounds. And I think that, again, whether Pete wants to admit it, that has led them to kind of devalue the need to get a guy early. Like, I think they would have taken sauce last year if he fell. So it's not complete a devaluation in that regard. But there's some earned arrogance there on that. their part, I believe.

Awesome. Michael Sean, always appreciate it, sir. We will catch up with you during the draft because we're going to have a lot of Seahawks picks for us to sort through. So thanks for the time and we'll talk to you soon. Appreciate you having me as always. All right. On the clock now with the sixth overall pick, it is the Detroit Lions here to do the

pick-in for the Lions. It is our Lions writer at the Athletic Colton Ponce. Colton, thank you very much for doing this, man. Yeah, thanks for having me on. Appreciate it. Lions obviously a huge source of intrigue here in the top 10. They have two first round picks. They can go a bunch of different directions the way that they handled free agency.

I think filled up a lot of needs on this team to the point that they can really take some swings at a bunch of different positions. So with the sixth overall pick in our little mock draft here, where are the lions going? Yeah. And again, I have no idea this is accurate or not. But I have them going with Christian Gonzalez, a cornerback from Oregon. And the reason for that is because I know they added C. DeGarner Johnson. They added Emmanuel Mosley. They added Cam Sutton from the Steelers this offseason. That's, you know, three corners that can play for Aaron Glenn system. But, you know, two of those guys are only on one-year deals. I think they could still use some long term answers of the position. And Gonzalez, you know, one of the best players on the board defensively fits that mold of Pressman Corner, long, athletic, only 20 years old.

So I see him being a player that the Lions can grow with. This young defense, he's a building block for the future. So I haven't gone corner with Gonzalez, and I'm pretty happy about it. Let's talk about some other potential pathways based on how the draft could shake out. If Jalen Carter had been there, if he had not gone five to the Seahawks, do you think the Lions would consider him at six if he was available? Absolutely. And they've done their homework on him. They brought him in for a visit early this month.

Bradholm said at his pre-draft presser that he felt better about Carter after that meeting with him and getting to know him a little bit more. I'm not sure how much of that was maybe just trying to, you know, not hurt his draft stock anymore. Or maybe he is truly opening up to the idea and trying to float that out there. So if he does take him, maybe that little message there alleviates some concerns from the fan base about maybe potential character issues there. But I do think Carter would be on the table. That would be a tough pick to turn down if he were there at six in actuality.

But in this case, he wasn't. So went ahead and took Gonzalez, one of the better corners in this draft. Carter's off the board and also two of the top edge rushers are on the board. the two top edge rushers are off the board. All things being equal, if every single defensive player in this draft or every single position in this draft was available at six, and all the players were in the same status on the Lions board, what do you think is the Lions' biggest defensive priority based on the current makeup of their roster?

I do think it's defensive tackle, which is, that's where the card discussion gets complicated because he's everything they need. You know, they need someone that can play next to Lee McNeil. Levi-Omuzer-Rique was drafted to be that guy. he's been hurt, he's had a back injury, missed all the last season. They're somewhat hopeful that he can come back, but they're still not giving anywhere close to enough to feel, you know, good about him contributing this year. So if you get a guy like Jalen Carter, and if off-field stuff was not an issue and he's there at six, it's a no-branner, you run up there, hand in the card and you have a party, you're popping champagne. But, you know, I do think they have to weigh that.

That would go against kind of what they built the first two years, like drafting Penny Sewell, drafting Aiden Hutchton. sort of high character guys that love football. I think those are sort of the questions with Carter. And that if they do draft him, it would purely be about talent. Maybe you feel good about your locker room that you can kind of bring him along, get the most out of them. But it would come to stray away from what they've done early. And that's why I'm not so sure they're going to go that route.

I think they like some other football players here that would be on the board. Maybe like even Devin Witherspoon, if they want to go a different route at corner, like he's got that dog mentality that they look for. I would not be shocked if he's a pick either. So they can go some different. routes, but if I'm ranking, like, players in terms of, you know, just talent, it would probably be Carter, then Anderson, then Tyree Wilson, and then those two corners, and whatever order you like. So that's probably the board. It didn't really work out for us this way, but I'm still very happy

to get a guy like Christian Gonzalez. It's funny because you look at the way that the Lions have treated this off season. Obviously, they go sign three separate players in the secondary to kind of bolster that position. And it makes sense. Their past defense was a disaster for at least the first half of last season and then got better down the stretch, but still wasn't great. But think about the game that really did the Lions in, the game that kept them away from the postseason last year, had nothing to do with their past defense. It had to do with them getting their ass kicked by the Carolina Panthers in that running game. And they've really done, I mean, correct me if I'm wrong, nothing with the Front Seven in Free Agency this year. They brought back Alex Anzolone, but there's been no reinforcements to kind of bolster either the defensive line or the linebacking corps in free agency or this offseason at all.

So it does feel like based on the way that last year ended to an extent, they probably do need a few more bodies at those positions to get where they want to go. They do. And I think the beauty of their draft and the capital they have is that they don't have to necessarily. I'm sure they would love one of those defensive linemen at six if they're there. But they don't have to kind of reach for a player that they don't like. They can take the top core in the draft. They can come back at 18 and go with, you know, Miles Murphy or, you know, Kalajicancy or Brian Brise, one of these dudes. or you can come back in the second with a Keanu Betten because you got two picks there at 48 and 55. So I think there are some options if they do want to beef up that defensive line.

They've got five picks on the top 81, so you can really kind of weight on the guy that might be a little bit lower on your board and try to get him. And then you can kind of mix a match with your picks and kind of maximize your capital. So that's the beauty of the lines right now. They were basically a playoff caliber team just missed it last year. And now you have all these resources to really add to your roster, fill some weak areas. build for the future and kind of get this roster going the right direction. So I'm sure Brad Holmes is a happy guy right now. They've got two picks in the second round.

One position you can't likely get in the second round is a high-end starting quarterback. You knew I was going to do this to you. How tempting is a guy like Anthony Richardson sitting there with a sixth overall pick and walk us through what the mindset might be about finding that quarterback of the future for Detroit right now. Yeah, you know, this is our big debate last time I was on the show at the combat, I think, right? And again, like I've always liked Richardson. And I think the Lions are the perfect team to develop him. Because when you have a mind like Ben Johnson, even if he's only here for a year,

that's a year that you get to work with one of the best minds in football for Richardson. Get him with that dude. Let him sit behind Jared Gough. There's no pressure to start. He can work out the Kings and his game over this next year, basically a retro year. And then if you do want to make that move next year in 2024, maybe Richardson's ready by then. You can trade golf or move on from his contract. And then you've got this young quarterback on a rookie contract that you hope,

you hope can turn into one of these dudes that can put you over the top. So I don't, if they did that, it's a swing for the fences, but I understand the reasons why you would do that now because, you know, you're probably not going to be drafting this high again. If you want to get like a top 10 quarterback in the future and you're making the playoffs next year, you have to trade a lot of capital to get that guy. And maybe next year, everyone's going to be looking for that quarterback next year's class. So not a guarantee.

So if you're here and you feel like this is your, you know, way to do it, go for it. I would have no problem with that. I just don't know. Brad Holmes hasn't done a ton of homework on these quarterbacks. He's brought in Henan Hooker for a visit, brought in C. the Stroud for a visit. Maybe those are the two guys he likes, but maybe Stroud doesn't fall to six and maybe 18 or something is too high for Hooker.

So I don't know if it's going to be in the cards this year. I think maybe they're looking at some options later in the draft. Like you can get like a Jake Hainer in the fifth. Maybe that's a guy you bring him just as some backup for golf because they do. Either way, they've said they want to add a third quarterback. to that room. So I would guess it's either in the draft or they have an offer out to Teddy Bridgewater. But that's a position that they do want to add to. I just don't know if it's going to be at six like a lot of people want. It's more interesting thought exercise than anything. And I was a little

disappointed when I was looking at the visits list and didn't see that they had talked to Richardson pretty much at any point during the process. But if Strauss is there, maybe that they do it. The Richardson one, I think, is the most, the contrast is the one that really sticks out the most because you're making a ceiling play by moving on from Jared Gough, right? And who theoretically has the highest ceiling of these guys. It's Anthony Richardson. But if it does end up being a C.J. Stroud, then I, and he's available and they decide to make that pick, I would totally understand that as well, because I think everything you said is correct. They're not going to be a position to do this again. And it's really attempting

to think not only what this year could be, what next year could be, the year after that could be, because I do think you're going to need to make that move eventually if you want to be competing with the Mahomes and the Joe Burroughs and those kinds of quarterbacks year and in and year out. So it's something that it has to be on the lion's mind. But for now, it's Christian Gonzalez getting added to a loaded, very crowded defensive backroom in the best possible way for Detroit at this stage of things. So Colton Pouncey, thank you very much for the time, my friend. Always get to chat with you.

We will catch up soon. Absolutely. Thanks a chat with all. All right. On the clock now with the seventh pick in our athletic football show mock draft that we've got rolling on. It's one of our Raiders, writers at the athletic. DeShon Reed.

Sean, how you doing, man? Pretty good, man. Draft's almost here. starting to get excited about it and seeing, you know, if this is the first round pick Raiders fans can be happy about for once. Yeah, the history is, it's not great. Me and Barnwell did a show a couple weeks ago talking about what it looks like when you miss on a ton of drafts in a row.

And if you can imagine, the Raiders are the team that we pretty much focused on and comprise the majority of the episode. So it'll be a change of pace if this works out for Las Vegas. So where are you going with the seventh pick here? Yeah, I'm going with Devon. Ron Witherspoon, Illinois cornerback. I think with the Raiders, their defense, you could look at all three levels and say that they are positions of need. But I think the biggest one is cornerback.

They've made a few additions this offseason, you know, signing guys like Duke Shelley, Brandon Fason, David Long Jr. They have a few guys coming back like Nate Hobbs, Meek Robertson, Sam Webb. But none of those guys have proven to be quality, full-time starters in terms of being outside cornerbacks in the NFL before. and I think they need a day one starter who can come in, who would probably be their best cornerback right away, which is a little terrifying, but it's true. And at this point, it's not, it's not just one guy. It's not like, you know, so and so,

I don't know if he's a long-term starter and outside corner. It's none of the guys. And that is absolutely horrifying. Right, especially since we're like way, way after free agency, like all the top free agents are gone. So it's like they have to get a starting caliber cornerback in this draft. especially in the division that they're in. I mean, you're going against Patrick Mahomes, Justin Herbert.

Like any division, that would be an issue, but especially this one, like, you're going to be in hell if they don't beef up that secondary. And so that's why I go with cornerback here. You know, I think Christian Gonzalez would be my top cornerback on the board, but obviously he's gone at this point. I think Witherspoon, while he doesn't have quite the ideal measurements that Gonzalez has, he's about 511, 180, ran about a 4-4. Yeah, solid athleticism, decent length.

But he's not going to blow you off, you know, jump off the page with that. stuff. It's more so how he plays. He's extremely physical, both in coverage and as a run defender, which I know we kind of forget about it a little bit as cornerbacks, but like he really lays the boom when he when he's coming up and run support. He played inside and outside in college, you know, excelled at press man coverage, but he also had a good amount of experience in zone coverage. And so he's just a really useful, versatile cornerback who should be an immediate starter. Maybe he doesn't have the upside of some other guys because of those physical traits that I mentioned. But, you know, as I laid out, like, the Raiders just need a starting caliber cornerback, you know, on their roster.

So they can't be too picky at this point. If a Jalen Carter were to fall to the Raiders, obviously he didn't in this scenario, but in real life, do you think that that would be a consideration? Do you feel like corner is such a priority that they're one of those few teams in the top 10 that actually might go a different direction, even if he's still available? I think Jaylon Carter would be considered. You know, I think he's, you know, and something that Dave Ziegler, the Raiders GM, has been. very adamant about is they're taking the best player available approach, like regardless of need. Like if they think a guy is better than everybody else available, that's who they're going to target. And I think if he's there at seven, like, you know, it's hard to say that Jalen Carter wouldn't be the best player available.

I think the issue with him isn't the football stuff. It's it's the off-to-field concerns. You know, there's been obviously widely reported, you know, the incident that he was involved in that led, you know, I guess, contributed to the deaths of a Georgia football player and recruiting staffer. And in most teams, that's going to be a concern, but especially with the Raiders, what happened in 2021 with Henry Ruggs here with, you know, for those that don't know, driving while intoxicated, you know, accused of, you know, causing an accident that led to a young woman's death out here. I think it's more sensitive for the Raiders than maybe it would be for other teams just because of how fresh that is. And so I think, you know, he's not off their board. You know, I've been told by, you know, league sources that he's still on their board.

he hasn't been blacklisted. They haven't ruled him out. But I think it would just be a hard sell, you know, for the Las Vegas community, for owner Mark Davis, really for the organization to take that sort of risk, no matter how, you know, quality of a player that he is. It's a really good point. I hadn't really considered that. It's definitely something that should be kept in mind. The other big question here, Anthony Richardson, Will Levis, are still on the board as we do this. Why wouldn't the Raiders go quarterback here would Jimmy Garapolo as, I think, even an optimistic view, point being sort of a short-term stopgap option for them. Yeah, to be clear, I did what I think the Raiders will do. Like, what I would do, I'm taking Anthony Richardson. Like, I'm not passive on the 64, 240 guy who runs a 4-4 and throws his 60 yards. And, you know, he has strong pocket presence. I mean, he's more advanced mentally than people give him credit for.

And I think he's a guy that needs to sit a year. And with having a Jimmy Garoppolo, like, that's the perfect setup. You know, I mean, you know, even if it's longer than a year, you have that cushion where you can take your time, develop this guy and get him ready. But while Dave Ziegler, when he talked to us last week, he did say that they're still open to taking the quarterback in the first round, even having somebody to compete with Garapolo in year one, he obviously didn't give us how many of those guys he thinks exist in this draft. And I have a story, you know, coming out today, Wednesday that, you know, the sense that I've gathered is that they don't believe that there are for first round caliber quarterbacks in this draft, you know, let alone the top 10. And so, you know, while there may be guys that they find intriguing or they have certain traits that they like, I mean, they've had visits to all these guys, you know, all the way down to Hinden Hooker and some other guys later in the draft, I just don't think they're going to be comfortable, you know, taking one of those guys beyond Bryce Young and C.J. Schrad and number seven. So you think C.J. Stroud, if he were to fall that far, he might be a consideration, but it's really just him and Young, in your opinion.

Yeah, that's my view. Those two guys, you know, if either one of those somehow slipped to seven or maybe even if, you know, you have a city. situation where let's say the Texans go defense at two and the Cardinals trade down to the Colts and then go defense at four. And the Seahawks in a position at five, you know, our Michael Sean Dugar wrote a story this week that they're open to trading down partly because of financial situations because they spend a lot of cash this offseason. The C.J. Stroud is there at five, you know, and you can go from seven to five and I don't know what they would have to give up, but obviously not what you would have to give up to go to two or three. You know, that could be something that they explore doing for somebody like Stroud. I mean,

And they are a team that, you know, me and Jeff Howell reported earlier this offseason. They did explore, you know, trading for the number one overall pick when the Bears own the pick. And so they're willing to move up. That's very apparent. And so seven to five, you know, especially if somebody like Stroud is there, I think would make a lot of sense. And so it's a pretty fluid situation. And they haven't ruled quarterback out, but it has to be, you know, a quarterback that they're sold on. And, you know, based on what I've gathered, you know, it seems like there's only two of those guys that they would be comfortable doing so in the first round.

Maybe isn't worth getting into now because it's probably a longer conversation that we have the time allotted for. But I just wanted to ask you, let's say they don't go quarterback. Let's say it's Jimmy Garapolo, a defensive player, and this roster is currently constructed. What do the Raiders want to be? I think they have a good amount of self-awareness about what they are. Last year, they thought they could go for it. And that was reflected in their moves. I mean, you trade for Defante Adams, you sign Chandler Jones.

They basically resigned everybody from that 2021 playoff team. They thought they could build upon, you know, the foundation that that team, you know, started, albeit in a weird situation with an interim head coach and things of that nature. But they thought they could push that team forward, compete in the AFC West and compete in the AFC as a whole. Obviously, they finished 6 and 11, and that didn't come to fruition. And so I think it was a reality check of, oh, like, our roster isn't really that good. I mean, you know, they're still going to try to win games and be competitive. But, I mean, you just look at what they've said.

I talked to Dave Ziegler back at the Senior Bowl and he's, you know, essentially laying out. Like, we have more, more holes than we can essentially fill. You know, we look at all three levels of the defense, offensive line. At that point, it didn't have a quarterback because it's, you know, even if you're the greatest GM and head coach ever in terms of identifying talent, like you can only maximize so many free agency signers and draft picks. And they keep prioritizing this long-term build, you know, from Mark Davis has said this, Dave Zigler, Josh McDaniels.

And so they're not going to say, like, they're not trying to lose. Like, they're not trying to tank for Caleb Williams or Drake May or whatever. But I think they know that they're not going to be gunning for championships this year. I think they want to be competitive, identify some young talent, improve on the defensive side of the ball, obviously take a step forward as an offense and continue to grow as an overall franchise. But, you know, obviously if they make the playoffs great, but I think, you know, they're fine if they come out of the season being a feisty team that falls short and ends up with another solid pick next year. All right. There's a lot more questions I have about right tackle plans and who's going to play right guard and a bunch of other stuff that we cannot get into here as much as the weird Raiders roster fascinates me.

But hopefully you'll be back with us at some point here over the next couple days as the draft rolls on, which we'd be very excited to have you be doing. So really appreciate the time, my friend. We will talk to you very soon. No problem, man. Thanks for having me. All right. Now on the clock with the eighth overall pick. It is the Atlanta Falcons here to do.

the drafting for Atlanta. It is our Falcons writer at the Athletic. Josh Kendall, Josh, thank you very much for doing this. Thanks for having me. All righty. So who do we think the Falcons are taken with the overall pick in our version of this draft? Noted lover of guards, Atlanta Falcons are taking another one. Peter Skoronski from Northwestern.

They, you know, had half an eye at least on a cornerback, but both of the guys they liked, you know, went right out from under him. So they're going Peter Skoransky. So if you guys obviously have listened to this point in the show, you know the Christian Gonzalez from Oregon went sixth in the Lions. Devon Wetherspoon from Illinois went seven to the Raiders, both teams that need cornerback help. So the Falcons are looking at the guys still left available, and they are decided to go with the guard.

So you imagine he slides in as there a left guard in this situation, correct? Exactly. Comes in right away. There's a ready-made hole for him. Potentially, if they like him at tackle, if he can be a tackle, you have to start thinking about the post Jake Matthews slash Caleb McGarry era at some point. So if you can get a guy who can play guard for you for a couple of years at a high level, and then you could kick him out to tackle, that's worth the top 10 pick.

Yeah, it seems like Jake Matthews has been there forever, but he won't be there forever. That eventually will end. And having a guy like that who has been so steady, I think has been really nice for Atlanta. But again, all things must come to an end with somebody like that. on defense, okay, let's say the corners are off the board. If a Tyree Wilson type was still available at this pick, do you still feel like in an ideal world if the board shook out that way that the Falcons would want to prioritize defense even after some of the guys that they signed in free agency?

Yes, I think so because despite all the additions that they've made, and they've, you know, there are a handful of them, and I think they've made them better. And I think that they will generate more pass rush, a lot more pass rush, than they did last year or the year before that. But they are still going to be generating pass rush. There's nobody on the roster who they can line up on the end of the line of scrimmage and say, go get the quarterback and feel confident that he can just go do that without any help from anybody else without any scheme.

If they think Tyree Wilson is that guy, and boy, he sure looks like a New Orleans Saints, Ryan Nielsen defensive man. I mean, he just looks like that dude. So they feel like he is that dude. Yeah, and he's still around? Absolutely. I can still see them go adding to the front set. So how do you envision just a little bit more about the defense?

Because I think this is really, it's worth chatting about. How do you envision them kind of threading the needle of the type of guys that they were after under Dean Peas and now the type of guys that they seem to be chasing with Ryan Nielsen now as their defensive coordinator? Because they drafted Arnold Epicetti in the second round last year. But you look at the guys that they've added this off season. Clayus Campbell is 6-8. Bud Dupree is 6-4-270. They literally signed David on Yumao who was on the Saints last year.

So do you feel as if some of the moves that they made to add past rush help over the last two years, maybe matter a little bit less now that Ryan Nielsen has stepped into that role? Absolutely. And it's why I don't think that Nolan Smith is, you know, at the top of their board for this pick because he fits more of that 3-4-outside linebacker. Now, they have not said we're going to be a 4-3 now. And they're not going to say. They're going to keep saying multiple.

They're not going to answer the question just to be aggravating as much as anything. But you think that they, you know, they will be structured more like those Saints defenses. So bigger defensive ends. So not just Arnold Mibacketti, but a guy like the Angelo Malone, who they took with the Matt Ryan pick. I mean, the Angelo Malone will always be Matt Ryan, you know, the Matt Ryan connection in my head. He was a guy who they really liked. But he's 250. he's an outside linebacker.

So Ryan Nilsson's got a lot of those bodies already that he's going to have to figure out how to get some production out of in the structure that they're going to play. Do you think that because they've spent so much on the offensive line, just in terms of dollars, Jake Matthews is on a, we always called the Jake Matthews contract on this show.

It's essentially like the, you were a starting left tackle in the NFL contract between like $15 and $20 million a year. They re-signed Caleb McGarry on a pretty team-friendly deal, but it's still a veteran deal that's paying him, I think, more than $10 million a year on average. And they made Chris Litsdam the richest guard in NFL history. Do you think that adding even more high-end capital to that position group,

do you think there's a little bit of hesitancy there because they've already spent so much? No. I think Arthur Smith loves offensive lineman. I just, I think that he is one. Yeah. I think that he, I don't want to say he thinks he's the smartest guy in the room, but I think that he thinks he's, understands things maybe differently than some other people understand things.

And the offensive line is very important to him. And we've seen over the last two years that, you know, that's trending in the right direction for them. I don't think they will have any qualms about paying more for a top 10 offensive lineman. Now, you know, you do have to have the positional value conversation when you're talking about the Falcons. They paid a lot for Jesse Bates, who I think will help them. But he's a safety.

a nine figure contract for Chris Lundstrom. Now you add another guard who you're going to be paying pretty soon. You're going to be paying healthy money. These are the positions that folks say you don't have to pay for anymore. But the Falcons, I think, don't feel like they have to necessarily play by those rules. As we get into the second round, if they end up due taking an offensive lineman in the first round or they still need help on defense, all things being equal. With their second round pick, let's say that there is an edge rusher. slash defensive linemen and a corner we're taking with that pick.

What do you think is a bigger priority for Atlanta right now? Corner? I mean, I don't know that you can walk into the season and think Jeff Akuta is just going to lock down corner two spot for us. Maybe he does, and that's great. And you've had a really nice move there by getting him for a fifth round pick. But I don't know that you can guarantee that. They just released Casey Hayward, who failed a physical after tearing a peck last year. Chances are, he'll be, I mean, there's a good chance.

he will be back. But when and how effective he's going to be in the 12th year of his career, we don't know. You cannot have enough cornerbacks. You've got to fill those special team speed spots. So when I get to the second round of edge rushers, when I'm looking through this group, you're talking about a lot more of the Will McDonald-type bodies, you know, more of the outside linebacker type bodies. The big dudes, you know, if Van Ness, you know, has some sort of.

sort of inexplicable slide and is there at 44. That's a different conversation. But I think at 44, you're going to be looking at a lot of outside linebacker bodies. And you're also going to be looking at a lot of still really good cornerbacks, DJ Turner, guys who can fly, guys who have production. So I would lean cornerback over edge rusher there. All you need to know about the state of the Falcons cornerback position is that the two guys is currently slotted into the top end of their depth chart, Jeff Okuda and Mike Hughes.

the Lions last year. They were ejected from the Lions. The Lions signed multiple guys in free agency, and people still think the Lions need more cornerbacks. So if you want to go through all the layers of that, corner does seem like a pretty big need. The last thing I wanted to ask you, obviously we couldn't do it as part of this exercise. But what about trading down? You know, if you think that you need another defensive piece. All right. So I just wanted to make sure that that was on their radar and you thought that was a possibility. They would love to. I mean, you still hear Bijon Robinson talk from the Falcons. Oh, boy.

Connected to the Falcons. Eight is very, very rich. When you look at the fact that they're paying Tyler Algier, they're committed about $4 million over four years for Tyler Alger. He just set the team's rookie rushing record. Do you want to commit, you know, it's going to be $20 million, 20-something million over four years for a top 10 pick? Can you commit that to running back, even if it is Bejan Robinson?

You know, how many players does that take off the depth pieces? Does that take off the board in the coming years that you can't sign because you're doing that? But now if you can get down to 18, if you can get down to 15, it becomes a different conversation. They'd love to trade them. All righty. Josh Kendall, thank you very much for the insight, my friend. Always great to chat with you. We'll do it again very soon.

Thanks for having me. All right. Now on the clock with the ninth overall pick, it is the Chicago Bears. And here to help us sort through their selection, it is one of our Bears' Readers at the Athletic. It's Kevin Fishpain. Kevin, thank you very much for doing this, man. Thank you for having me. It's fun to be able to play Ryan Poles for the day. Although I guess I've been playing Ryan Poles in 17 different mock drafts since January. I'll be honest with you. I think that playing Ryan Poles, if you're trying to get into his mindset,

you've been feeling pretty good over the last month and a half or so. Yeah. And as we'll get to the pick, I think this is like an amazing spot for him to be in if this is actually how things play out on Thursday night. All righty. With the ninth overall pick based on how the rest of the board has fallen, who were you taken for the Chicago Bears? The Bears will select offensive tackle Paris Johnson Jr. out of the Ohio State University. And why do you think, first of all, I'm very happy with how this is all fallen. Second of all, why do you think this is a good situation and a good way for things to have gone and worked out for the Bears? Well, for one thing, the way that quarterbacks went, you know, I think if Anthony Richardson actually gets to nine, or even Will Levis, you know, Ryan Poles on a great spot to trade back.

And if they don't, and Paris Johnson's there, I mean, we're just starting to hear this week, May is about the Paris Johnson rumors. Like, Kyler Murray loves him. I mean, this is, you know, Dane Brueger's number one tackle, the Bears need to tackle. I think it's amazing how this is a franchise. I know we talk about the quarterback for years with this team, but this is a franchise that hasn't had a great tackle at a long time. You're telling me, man, I've lived through the Chris Williams and the Gabe Carimi eras. I mean, there has been a long, long search for some high-end offensive linemen

on this football team. I mean, what are you going back to Jimbo covert? Like, it's, you know, it's a long time. Big Cat Williams? Yeah, they have not taken a tackle in the first round since Gabe Karimi. You know, Kyle Long played guard. He moved to tackle, but his position was guard. So it's been a long time, and I think one of my, one of the things I wrote about often during the Ryan Pace regime was they never invested in offensive tackle.

They never had guys in the pipeline. So here you have a former offensive line as your GM, a former offensive line as your assistant GM. You have to put a priority on Justin Field. and building around him. You have made that commitment to him right now. So get a tackle. Get a guy who's going to be a bookend for you. Protect your quarterback for the next five to ten years.

And Paris Johnson is young. He's got the size. He's got the intangibles. He's got the pedigree. It's got the bloodlines. And I think they're all, the other thing too amazing, and you've researched these offensive tackles. Each one of them has that little question mark.

I think with Paris, it's not a ton of experience. right? Well, the Bears really value Chris Morgan, their offensive line coach. And talking people around the league, he's got a lot of respect for what he's done. So I like the idea of bringing in, whether it's Parris Johnson or Broderick Jones, if they trade back or darn out right, that you got a guy in Chris Morgan who you saw the way to the Braxton Jones last year is going to get whoever this tackle is up to speed and ready to go for Justin Fields for day one. So do you think that a tackle is definitely the target? in the first round compared to other big needs on this team.

They still need defensive linemen. They have a long way to go at several other positions, but I think there is still one glaring hole left on the offensive line. If it were up to me, that's what I'm prioritizing, because my number one thing I need to do in the 2023 season, if I'm Ryan Poles, is I need an answer on Justin Fields. By the end of this year, I need to know, and I need to leave no excuses by the time this thing is over. And if I think if you can take a tackle and put him at right tackle or however it shakes out and we'll talk about that, that is the easiest way to putting together an offense that is

that has few enough holes that you actually understand what your quarterback is. And I think that has to be the priority. Yeah. And if you look at what they've done already, you get DJ more. So now you have that wide receiver that helps you leave no doubt. You get Robert Tonian. So now you have a tight end duo that helps you leave no doubt. You lose Dame Montgomery, but you bring in Deonté foreman who was more productive, more efficient, I should say, than Montgomery last year. So you have a backfield that could help you in that conversation. So you've already done all those things. And you're right.

Tackles that spot that you need to fortify because you don't want to be sitting there in December and Justin Fields leads the league in Sacks again. And you're saying, well, you know, look, they didn't have a good tackle. And that's why you want to know that you've got all the particulars, all the factors around him as best as you can get it. So you get the fairest evaluation of him. And it's not as if you're reaching. This is a guy who is right in line with this type of selection, this type of range in the draft.

I wanted to ask you, and this is kind of inside baseball bear stuff, but you have Braxton Jones who played left tackle last season as a fifth round pick. Still a lot to be desired, but he was a fifth round rookie starting at that spot. I think they thought, why not give him a shot if we stumble into a starter there, the excess value that we create is absolutely worth it, even if it was kind of tight with him in Riley Reef. So you have one year of Braxton Jones at left tackle. is his play last season. Is that enough for you to put Paris Johnson on the right side after you make this move? Or do you feel like Braxton Jones moves to right tackle and Paris Johnson plays on the left? It's a great question.

I think right now, I think Braxton Jones might stay on the left side. And we've seen in the league, I mean, coaches say it all the time, the right tackle value. You look at Lane Johnson, what Mike McGlenshey got. I mean, it's almost as important to have a really good right tackle. Those guys are making a ton of money. So, you know, Parish Jets only had the one year left tackle, so maybe be a little easier for him to make the move. And the year before that, he was on the right side.

He played guard and he played right guard. Right. And, you know, I asked Ryan Poles about this at the owners' meetings about the right versus left. And sometimes I worry that GMs and coaches underrate the difficulty in switching sides. And he was like, look, it's best five. That's all it is to us, best five guys. But so I do think that like they have this full year Braxton Jones and everything we've seen since this season ended tells us they have a lot of confidence in what he could be moving forward.

So I don't think they could really go wrong. You know, if they look at Braxton Jones, say, hey, we think you could be a great ride tackle. We're going to move you and we'll move you right now and get this started. You know, either way, I think it makes sense. But yeah, like, and amazing, if they get, if they draft a tackle the first round and he ends up being. solid and Braxton Jones ends up having a good career. Can you imagine what situation this franchise is in? The team that had, like, their best tackles were, their best tackle pairing in the last

15 years was Charles Leno and Bobby Massey in 2018. Right? And Bobby Massey, partly that, it did a huge money. Charles Leno got a big country. Look, Leno's put it together an incredible career for a seven-th-round pick. So all respect to what he's accomplished. but if you're able to get two guys on rookie contracts who can move forward protecting your quarterback, that'd be a great situation for a team that has totally bungled the position for a long time.

It'd be a long way to go for your defense if you go this route, but I still think again, you just need to make sure that you get answers on the offense. And now, from left to right, there's a world where it's Braxton Jones, Tevin Jenkins, Cody Whitehaired, Nate Davis at right guard, Paris Johnson at right tackle, Darno Mooney, Chase Claypool, and DJ Moore is your three receivers, Cole Komet is your tight end, and now you still have Khalil Herbert and Dante Format. And who knows, you could add a running back in the third or fourth round in this draft to get a guy maybe with a little bit of a different skill set.

That's enough. That is enough. And when you think about where this team was on offense, last year and training camp or even heading into week one, and just the absolute abject disaster that it was, they've come a long way. And I think you needed to come a long way to figure out. what Justin Fields is. And guess what?

You get two first round picks next year. If he's not the guy, you potentially look for another one that you get to drop into advantageous circumstances, especially compared to the ones that Justin Fields was staring down. Yeah. And I also wouldn't rule out then looking at a guard or center in round two. I mean, there's a lot of good ones that you could get because, like, you know, it's last year Cody Whitehur's deal. It's the last year of Lucas Patrick's deal.

I still don't know if you know what Tevin Jenka's is long term. when you consider his injuries. So, like, they have options there as a draft goes on to really to continue to fortify that offensive line. You know, you mentioned running back in tight end, deep drafts for both those positions. I'll say this, though, too. Yeah, this isn't going to happen. But the way our mock draft played out, Anthony Richardson was on the board at number nine.

You know, and there's just like, obviously that A is not going to happen. B, like, if it did, who knows. But it does, it does make you think about, you know, all the things that they're people are saying about Richardson. I'll throw a little curveball here. And you go to quarterback offense, you do some fun option things with the two most athletic quarterbacks

in football. But I wanted to keep it simple for everyone's sake here at the athletic football show. I think we've gone too far down the other road at this point. You are committed to Justin Fields, at least in the short term here. Kevin Fishpain,

thank you very much, my friend. We will talk to you soon. All right, thank you. All right. closing us out here with the 10th pick in our athletic football show of mock draft, the Philadelphia Eagles are on the clock. And here, to help us with their selection, it is one of our fabulous Eagles writers at the Athletic Bull Wolf Bowl.

Thank you very much for doing this, buddy. Last and least, here we are. As you described before we started this, when you sent in your pick, you called this the worst case scenario for the Philadelphia Eagles. Why the worst case scenario for Philly at this point? So my, so just starting with this, one of the good things about, you know, having a general manager who's been on the job for so long over a decade is that we have an actual sample size of the things that he prefers. So I do think it's a little bit easier to predict the way that the Eagles think. And knowing that, knowing where this draft is strong, my guess is that they are entering draft night with,

a plan A and a plan B. Plan A is hoping and hoping and hoping that Will Anderson falls within range that they can potentially move up. Howie Roseman, in his history, prefers moving up in the first round. I have sort of thought and described the 2014 draft as sort of a turning point moment for Howie Roseman. That was when they had like six guys they wanted. They were seven picks to go. They were like sure they were going to get one. And they went bam, bam, bam, bam, bam. and they had to parachute back and draft Marcus Smith. And it was sort of embarrassing for him in the room. And it ended up being his last draft on the job until, you know, Chip Kelly got fired and he came back into power.

And since then, he has moved up consistently. I think he wants to have that sort of consensus building. Everybody's going to love Will Anderson. We know what's a position they care about. I don't think he's going to be within range. I also think Jalen Carter, if he is given the go-ahead, character-wise, is a guy that they would move up for just because he is a perfect fit for what's they need. We've already seen him play next to Jordan Davis. All that stuff is great if he checks out. I think plan B, knowing the positions they care about is hoping that either Paris Johnson or Christian

Gonzalez falls to them at 10. Paris Johnson, this is an offensive line that has their five starters right now on pencil, but they lost Isaac Siamalo and Andre Dillard. They know better than anybody that offensive line injuries can wreck a season. And we know that it's a position. We know that it's a position they care about. You know, more than half of the all-pro pro-bowl tackles over the past 11 years have come within the first 15 picks. They know that they're going to want to use that on a guy in Paris Johnson who could potentially play right guard and be the Lane Johnson replacement.

He's gone in this scenario. Christian Gonzalez checks all the boxes, good athlete, young, position they care about, all that stuff is good. Now, I think you get to plan C and they'd love to trade back. And if we're not doing trades, then all of a sudden they got a pin. And so I have the pick as Nolan Smith, the edge rusher from Georgia, who I think is like playing D for them if they have to hold their nose and make a pick. They're going to be excited about the traits, excited about the measurables. They're going to love the guy.

We know that they value, you know, people who love the game and guys from big time programs. Last year they took obviously two Georgia guys the year before. They took two Alabama guys at the top of the draft. They're going to love Nolan Smith. But I just think there's a little bit less upside in terms of. of like this guy being a foundational player for them, then they would get with one of those other guys potentially fall. I don't, did you mention Peter Skoronsky?

If he was there, do you think he would be an option for them, or do you feel like the tackle question is enough to maybe dissuade them from taking him at that spot? Yeah, I have not heard this, you know, from them directly, but I do think that the tackle question is significant for them. I don't think they would use 10 overall on a guard. And I also think that maybe this is unfair framing. But the Eagles have this superpower with offensive linemen in having Jeff Stoutland and, like, helping guys reach their ceiling. And maybe it's unfair for me to say it, but it feels like Skoronsky is like he's already at his ceiling.

I don't know how much better he can get. And I don't think they would use that pick on a guy who is probably a guard. And Stoutland has always talked about he loves traits, like guys who are unique athletes. And I'm not so sure they would see that in Skoranski. The only thing that it was a departure from the way that they've drafted in the first round during Howie Roseman's tenure would be if they got a guy like Christian Gonzalez if he slipped a little bit. We talked about this in the show with Dane and Nate earlier this week. I believe that since Howie Roseman became the GM the first time, which is 2010, the only positions that they have drafted in the first round are defensive line, offensive tackle, wide receiver, and quarterback. So corner would be a slight departure from that, I believe.

Yes. Well, you've got guard too. We can't forget Danny Watkins. Oh, Danny Watkins. That's right. So offensive line in general. Offensive line, defensive line, quarterback wide receiver. Yes, that's all they've picked. Those are the positions they value. However, cornerback is a position that they value. We've seen them pay for it. We know that they think that it's all about the passing game. And I think that's probably right. We also know that when they drafted Devante Smith, they were sort of hoping that, uh, past, Patrick Certan or J.C. Horn had fallen instead. Those were the guys who were at the top of their board. And last year, they would have been willing to move up for Sauce Gardner or Derek Stingley if they had fallen within range. So I think that one, unlike running back or linebacker, is a position that they're not like philosophically opposed to using first-round pickup. Okay, let's talk about the running back thing just a tiny bit. Not at 10 because I think that was always insane and I just don't think that it would ever, ever happen. they have a pick at 31 and obviously they'll be picking in the second round the lineback or the running

backs currently on this team are Boston Scott and Rashad Penny. I would love a world where Rashad Penny stayed healthy within that system with Jaywin Hertz and that offensive line. I think that that is probably wishful thinking based on his history. When do you think is a realistic spot for the Eagles to take a running back and how disappointed are Eagles fans going to be if Bejan Robinson is there a little bit later and they do not take him? It's a good question. They will be disappointed. it. Now, Kenny Gainwell is also there. I forgot about Kenny Gainwell. I apologize. It is like he did, he out snapped Miles Sanders in the playoffs and in the Super Bowl.

So they do like him to some degree. I do think that running back is an option for them in the first three rounds, for sure. I even think that like, let's say it's the worst case scenario, they parachute back from 10 to like 21 or something like that. They get a big haul. And Bejohn's still there. I don't think it's crazy. you know, this is, it's the most running back friendly offense in the league, right? You get to play next to Jalen Hertz and you get to play behind the great run blocking offensive line. So you would think that like the delta between what Bejohn Robinson means to a different offense and what it means for the Eagles is a little bit less, right?

But I wouldn't be, like, I wouldn't be shocked if it's in the mid first round. I do think that like at 30, if Jemir Gibbs is there, they would consider that. I still think they'd probably like to trade down from 30 just because they don't have a lot of mid-round capital. But they've got a pick in the second and a pick in the third. And if they add another pick in that range, I think running back is definitely a possibility. It's probably the place where on offense, where can we make this offense one of the like three best in the league for sure next season? It's probably running back. Okay.

And then the other spots I think might be a consideration there. Another past catcher somewhere along the way feels like that might be a possibility. They signed old media Zakias. obviously they have Quez Watkins, but if they can get a true number three receiver, and then where else do you feel like they have mild needs? Because that's the situation this team is in. The needs are mild. We're talking about luxury picks and backups with the 10th overall pick because of the state of the roster.

Right. I think so wide receiver is a possibility. I think more likely mid-rowns. I just, I think the chemistry of keeping A.J. Brown, Devante Smith, and Dallas got her happy targets-wise is something that's on their mind enough. that they're not going to use, like, a first two-round pick on that position. But they, I mean, they need a, like, they need a Zach Pascal replacement, somebody who can do the dirty work.

I think the middle rounds make sense for that. Some people have- You don't think 150-pound old media Zakias is that guy? I don't, I don't, yeah. And Quiz Watkins, like, is also a possible trade target, I think. That's a thing that could happen. And tight end, like, people have, have speculated that, like, it could just be that that's the best player on their board. It's important to remember that Dallas Goddard is right now the same age that

Zach Ertz was when the Eagles drafted Dallas Goddard. So that is a possibility. In terms of like more pressing needs, like I mean, right now at linebacker, they're going to be starting Nicholas Morrow and at safety, they're going to be starting Terrell Edamonds and Reed Blankenship. One of those two positions would make sense to draft a guy who can compete to start week one. And then, you know, we talked about corner.

They need a body there because Darius Slay and James Bradbury are both over 30. You can't necessarily count on them staying healthy again next season. I do think that Howie Roseman said this in the pre-draft press conference. keeping in mind that he also said, I'm not going to tell you guys anything today. And so we have to take it with a grain of salt. But he is very much aware that they were like way too healthy last year to expect anything like that to happen again. So they need to be planned for contingencies at the important positions. And then the last thing is defensive tackle.

Right now it's Jordan Davis and Milton Williams and Fletcher Cox. That's not really fixing the Javon Hargrave absence. Cantavia Street is probably a little bit better than all. Alameda Zakias on that side of the ball. But I do think that's a position where any of you look at the guys who they've brought in for pre-draft visits, middle rounds or even late in the first round, I think that's a position where they'd like to add somebody. All right. That is all we've got. Bow Wolf, thank you very much, sir.

Always great to chat with you. Good luck on draft night. Thank you very much. And if we're doing history, keep in mind that the Eagles drafted Jill and Hertz right after they paid Carson Wentz. So maybe they're drafted the quarterback instead. Wouldn't that be fun? All right, guys, that's all we've got. Thank you to everyone for taking the time to chat with us today.

I always love doing this show. I feel like it's a great little precursor to the draft. So that's it. That's our last pre-draft show. Football G.m. will be coming your way tomorrow, but that's it for me. That's it for Dane. That's it for Nate.

We will be back on Thursday night. Live in Kansas City, 7.30 p.m. Eastern on our YouTube channel. If you have not subscribed, now is the time to do that. We're going to be breaking down every single pick. We're going to be in studio. We've got some fun little bells and whistles. We're going to roll out for you guys. Cannot wait to do the draft show in person with those guys.

Friday night, we will be back. Doing rounds two and three, same deal, same place, slightly different time. But right before round two kicks off, we will be back in the same spot. So please plan on spending some time with us over the next couple of nights. We're going to have a great time. I think you guys will as well. For now, that is all we've got. We'll talk to you soon.

This was the Athletic Football Show.