The Athletic Football Show: A show about the NFL - Top WRs in the 2022 NFL Draft

Episode Date: April 7, 2022

The 2022 NFL Draft class seems to be a good one for teams in need of quality wide receivers. But where do these guys fit best, what are their strengths & weaknesses and which players do they remind us of? Nate Tice and Robert Mays dig into Nate's top 6 WRs in this class, including Drake London, Chris Olave, Garrett Wilson and more, plus some outside-the-top favorites of Nate's that you should keep an eye on. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is the athletic football show. Welcome to the athletic football show. Today's Thursday, April 7th. I'm Robert Mays. Joining me today. It's my good friend Nate Tyson. How you doing, buddy? Doing well.

The giraffe ticks closer and closer. And I'm really excited to talk about another position. We were talking pre-show. It really is fun hearing your perspective on these because you are, as you admit, you say you're fresher to it. But I'm telling you, sometimes it's so nice to hear that perspective. because I get so lost in the sauce as these months go on. Well, the thing with me is that I don't watch a lot of college football either.

So I don't have a ton of background information or a ton of preconceived notions about these guys. I mostly know them from the way they're talked about on the internet until I start to get into the process. So you come into the film, when I click it open, I have an idea of what I'm supposed to see based on the way that people have talked about these guys. And sometimes I'm just shocked at the difference between the way they're portrayed and what I'm watching. And it's not necessarily that people are misleading me about what I'm about to watch is that you put players in buckets. And occasionally the bucket that they're put in on football Twitter or wherever is a little different than what I actually get to watch. It's like movie. It's like sometimes you hear a movie.

It's like, oh, man, that one was boring. That was slow. And you go and you're like, what were you talking about? Look at the cinematography. Like, look at that. Or it's like this movie. You know, it's the elevator pitch in Hollywood. You know, like, this is the new friends.

And every single thing is try to be cookie cutter in order to communicate the ideas in a quicker, easier way. And then by doing that and bucketing it, you're limiting what you're actually talking about. So, you know, you can only really experience it by watching it the same way it is with any TV show or player or whatever. So we're going to talk about the receivers today. And here's how we're going to break it down. We're going to talk about the six guys that we think are kind of the consensus top six guys. And their first, second round prospects, if you look at a lot of rankings at the position, these six guys tend to fall near the top. And we're going to break it up into two tiers based on the way that you have seen these guys and the way that you've ranked them.

And then at the end, we're going to run through a couple little wide receiver superlatives as they apply to this class. So we're going to get to that a little bit later. But we're going to start with the first six. And there are two guys that are in a tier all their own in your mind as you're looking at this class. Who are those two guys? Yeah, yeah, the Sinister Six, as I like to call them, all these six guys. My top two is Drake London and Chris Olavay. Very different.

Very different. And kind of two little body or play styles that like I can kind of like one is like a guy that totally makes sense. And one is a guy that's for me, that's Drake London. But the other one is kind of a, I don't know, he's, I can like these guys. But sometimes I can kind of like maybe hurt these guys a little bit. just based on size, and that's Chris Olavé, just because he's more of a crafty route runner type. But I'm sure we'll dive into him in a sec. So for these six guys, we're going to run through the good, the bad, and where you think they fit best for the top six guys.

So with Drake London, this is who I was talking about, where I had an opinion of what I was supposed to see, or I had a preconceived notion for what I was going to watch when I turned the film on. The first game I flipped on was the Utah game from this year. Okay. And I was shocked at how they were using him. I mean, he's catching, like, little flip passes. he's going in motion on windbacks. I just expected him to be this big, sort of stiff ex-receiver ball winner type.

And then when I started watching him, I was like, wait a second. This guy does all this shit. I was very surprised at the type of player he was and how he had been framed to me in kind of the drive-by analyses that I had heard so far. I was stunned when I watched him.

I peaked him a little bit. I've gotten pretty good at like, I don't know if this is eternal. sunshine of the spotless mind, but some where they black out part of your brain, where I could just, like, say last year I was watching Amman Rossi Brown from USC. And I'm watching him, I'd even notice the

teradactal that he played with. This, this is giant. People were like, you didn't watch this guy last year? I was like, not really. I was watching the other guy. Yeah, he flashed a little bit, but I was like, I don't care. He's not draft eligible, but it's funny because he had a dino route for a touchdown against Notre Dame. It was pretty sweet. It was pretty sweet. But then watching it this

year, I dive in and I had the exact same thought. USC ran almost a traditional air rate offense where their run game was receiver screens and quick throws and getting the ball out. And that was some of what I was watching. I was like, wow, this guy, he's not a big stiff. He's sinking on routes. He's creating after the catch.

Is he the fastest guy? No. And that'll be the main drawback with him, but we'll get to that in sec. But that Utah game, he had a great clip where he's catching a ball. I think he caught like a, oh, an underneath or out a slide route on a naked. And he hurdles a guy. Yeah. And he's so fluid.

an athlete, he's a former basketball player. So it makes sense. He's all of 6-5. He's a big body. I think he waited about 2-18, 2-19 at the combine. Just a big, big, you can see his basketball background. But when I watched him, I was stunned, really, how fluid he was as a player, sinking on routes, actually had feel for him, finding soft spaces versus zone, of course, with a big ball, you know, catching range and all those ball skills. And that's what really appealed to me. It was like, this guy gets playing receiver. And this was his first year as a true football player. He was a basketball player as well at USC, and you kind of dropped that and you realize I can make a little bit more money. Put a little weight on as part of that process too, right?

It feels like he's a little bit bigger than what I had heard or what he had waited in previous years. So speaking to that kind of rare combination, the stat that from PFF, that was fascinating. Last season, in college football, he was first in college football and contested catches, 19 of them. Okay, that makes total sense when you think about what his profile is as a player is that big ball winning outside receiver. he was also sixth in mistackles forced among wide receivers. Those don't square. And when you see him play and when you actually dig into it, it's like, oh, that does make sense. But those two numbers based on, again, what I had heard about him coming in, those are just very different.

Those are different skill sets. And he somehow is adept at doing both of those things. Like even been earlier in his career because he played with, you know, Michael Pittman and Amma Rous St. Brown to also, you know, drafted to receivers, not even just like that. Him and Pittman of it's the same body type, by the way. They remind me of each other a little bit. A little bit. I can definitely see it.

When someone else brought it up, I think London obviously is a tier better, but yes, I could see the comparison like so much. And he was a big guy that's better after the catch than you think he is. Like that's what Michael Pittman is. So that's why I was like, oh, that even beyond the school like frames, skill set, like there are little echoes of each other to me. I thought with Drake London and I heard basketball background, I was like, oh, he's going to be a soft ball winner type.

Like not soft, but kind of like a guy. As soon as he catches ball, he gets tackled right away and kind of falls down. And he's like, he points. tough he's like trying to throw guys off of him he like tries a block i mean like you said they used him on wine back stuff because he's a legit blocker it's like oh thank god you use your size what do you say i want more on the blocking it's fine i want like a tiny bit more because when i saw them using him on that wine back stuff and it's so funny that we you see a big physical receiver and with the ways that teams are using guys like that we talked about in our trend show about how

you want guys that can be that slot and a blocker you're going to have to project that with a lot of these guys, they actually did that with him at USC. I wanted him to be like 15% more ferocious as a blocker. He's not a baller. He can be. Like he had physically, he could destroy guys if he wanted to and he doesn't get quite there. I was like, ah, it's a tiny bit disappointing. It is, especially how big he is. Yes. Engulfing guys. The other thing with him is, and you, you, you brought the contested catch stat. And when I first, again, when I was first diving into him, that was what I heard. Oh, he can't separate. Of course, that's all. always, you know, that's the big, that's a big red alert for a lot of people when you watch these guys.

His quarterback sucked. I mean, they sucked. It was awful. The ball is late. It's behind. They're taking five hitches on what should be out on the first hitch. And it's that he creates separation. But of course, the separation goes away when the quarterback throws a ball three seconds late.

And it's that was, I was like, okay, okay, there's more to you than what people are giving you credit for. I know the game. I don't know if you peaked it was the Oregon State game. he honestly drew no less than five penalties. That's incredible. I mean, no less. It might be more than that. But it was actually comical.

It looked like the kid in high school that, you know, okay, that's the D1 kid and all these guys are basically playing JV because they're all just trying to grab onto him, just trying to guard him. But that was another thing that it appealed to me about him was like, he creates more with his routes than I think he got credit for as what people pigeonhole him as a ball winner. That play against Notre Dame that I was talking about is exactly what you're mentioning. He had a little corner post. and he shook the corner, turned his hips, got separation on it, the ball's underthrown by seven yards.

And he had to come back and get it. But he creates separation on that play. And there was another play in that Utah game, the opposite. It was a post corner. And he comes back to the outside. And he almost made like a spinning catch and got one foot in balance. He barely missed it. Just the fluidity for being such a big guy I was very impressed by.

So I'm with you on all of this stuff. So we're bullish on him. But it's not like he's a no-brainer top 10. pick, according to some people. I mean, there's a chance he falls into the back half of the first round. Where do you think the concerns might lie? Brought up the separation point, already refuted. I brought my theory in refuting it. But his lock speed and I get it. And he's a body hasn't tested yet either. So there's no way that we can kind of just check that box because he's been dinged up and hurt. Yep. Exactly. And so that that's a concern. He did get banged up this

past year, but I'm not injury concerns or not, that's something he'll come back from. But I know you're bringing up just because he's not running. You know, I want to say, because I'm an optimist on him, oh, he's a four or five, five guy. But if he ran a four or six flat or something around that, I'd be kind of, yeah, I wouldn't be like stunned. And that's kind of, that's the hesitation I think some people have. My argument against that is, look at all the other shit. Like, look at him dominate every single play and be able to line and do so many useful things. And that matters as especially at that size. I know we're talking negatives,

but I really do think if he just continues to grow as a football player, it's like he can be a mismatch nightmare for teams week in, week out. Where do you think he fits best? Oh, boy, a lot of teams. But it seems that like really need a receiver. Like,

I would love him with the Falcons just so they put him with Kyle Pitts and all that. But if he does start falling, I mean, there's plenty of other teams that you can look at him. Like the Eagles, he synergized so well with Devante Smith. Like, I would love that pairing.

Yeah. I don't see him. Twins with Danny DeVito and saying like those two guys together. I don't love it. It would be like those two teams really appeal to me. I would take him like in the early teens because he has the size that I would take early. And so just looking at those teams like the Eagles make a ton of sense. I don't love them for the saints, even though if they do need a receiver. I don't love that because I think they need more juice. I think they already have a guy.

That's more of a intermediate underneath guy and Michael Thomas and other teams. I mean, New England traded for Devon. But I would fucking love them for for the Patriots like I would because they need an X and they need that size and everything and if he falls there like the Packers he meets the size threshold. He can go inside and out. It's kind of got really interesting to me. It feels like they're going to want to chase more juice because they lost MVS and now they have that big body guy in Lazard and he fits what they do. You can see him dropped in there easily, but they do lack speed right now. And so I think they could chase some speed. The place that it would be perfect for him. is the chiefs of the last five years. Yeah. If you dropped because it's the zone feel, it's like how Kelsey just has an incredible feel for zone. London last year was third and yards per route run against zone defenses in all of college football.

And it feels that way when he's playing. Him with Mahomes, where you have that kind of improvisational aspect to it, plus like the physicality combined with Tyree Kill and just like as their third receiver would have been amazing. Now they have MVS there. and things are a little bit different to how the pieces fit together. But I think that Green Bay makes total sense if they, we'll see how long was art is there,

but skill set-wise, I think that he could give them something. I think, if I'm being honest, the next guy is the guy that might make more sense for the Packers. That's, and that's kind of like, that, that's really this whole class is every position is very eye to the beholder, but really the receiver class. It's all these guys. So different. It's amazing. It's so different.

It's really fun because diving into these guys. guys, you have a picture, everyone has a picture of their head. They're like, okay, the first round receivers are the, you know, the Julios of the world. You know, like these big, freaky guys. And now body types every 10 years. I know. But really, really it's going to be more like this where each guy has a little bit of a blemish, but they do other things really well. But this year, we just have the instance where it's all different types of body types and play styles. And Chris Alave couldn't be any more different as a player. All right. So the good with Alave, what do you like about it? What has sold you on him? He's our. He's our. already coming into the league an advanced route runner. And a legit runs the entire route tree in the red zone, they designed specialty routes for him. And he is like masterful on him. So good at breaking guys off late in those tight spaces down there. And understanding blind spots. Yes.

That's one of my favorite things about receivers is like when they understand the DB's hips are turned, the DB's head is turned. This is exactly when I'm going to be able to create that last little bit of separation. Devante Adams telling me he said that's, you put sauce on the top of it. Right? Like you, that last little bit of sauce you put out of it. Alave does that. And it's just, it's cool to watch.

It's funny that you say this because when I watched him first, I watched him and Wilson at the same time. And I watched those two guys first. And I was like, I guess he's pretty refined, right? I mean, he's doing some stuff that's really interesting. And we'll get into some of it. And I didn't realize that all the other guys I'd watch are nowhere in the same league as him.

I'm used to watching NFL receivers. So when I watched every other guy, it's like, oh, no, he's incredibly refined compared to other receivers at that level. As we focus on the NFL more, you forget like, oh, yeah, some of the, well, you got to do a lot of translating with these guys. You got to do it. Run routes. There's no releases. There's no aspect of this at all.

And Alave is doing stuff that's like 2.0, like 300 level shit at the college level. Yeah. I brought this up before. There's a route called a stool route where you sit on a stool. You sell like you're running a fade and then you work back to the front pile on. And teams only ask these guys to the guys that get asked to run these routes are they have to be a 301 level. route runner just for feel timing it red zone's already hard and that's a hard route to do on top of it in an NFL like the guys I've seen do it i've seen kelsey do it randy moss uh used to be asked to do it

when my dad was there we had michael crabtree do it with the raiders because you just it's just a feel thing they're doing it in college i've never seen a college guy get asked to do this route and i've seen multiple instances of him doing it against good competition as well i also think he timed really well like he has that in his game but that's not like how he wins if that makes sense. Like it is, he changes speeds incredibly well. Tempo.

When you're your top speed, your 100% speed, your fifth gear is whatever, I think he ran a 438 or 437, some high 43s. When you run a route, you're usually not running it at that 100%. So if you run it at the 92%,

the 88%, somewhere you're throttling down just a little bit. That's why it's so effective if you have feel. Because he can sell that 438 speed as he's breaking on a route. He can sell it. And a lot of guys, it's like, wow, this guy is a four or three guy. He plays like he's a four or five guys because they don't have comfort breaking.

They aren't able to throttle down when they break. And that's what the lobby is done. All of his routes look the same. He's a pain that he asks for corners because they're like, oh, shit, he's firing off the ball. Oh, God, he broke. So he makes guys uncomfortable because he can bring so much heat at him. Yeah, I totally agree. And even downfield.

I mean, just like the way he can kind of a little bit of separation while he's moving full speed is impressive on downfield routes and vertical routes. And so the thing, he, you can tell he's fucking around sometimes in a way that I really appreciate where he's playing with tempos and he's trying to like stop and start. He's a little deadleg release off the line of scrimmage that he tries to get guys with. There's a certain level of experimentation to his game that I think really, really good receivers tap into. And he does that all the time.

Yeah. As a senior in college. Yes. Which is, that's what his, his and we'll get to his. negatives and sec, but his, to me, about him is like, could he have a path to a number one guy in a good passing offense? Yes, I see that. But I see him as plug and play as soon as he steps on into the, on an NFL team, that he's your number two and you're good with it. And that's his floor. Like, he can be a number two weapon, I think as a rookie right away. He, I don't think

there's going to be any growing pains with him. It's that in a right situation, he could ascend into becoming even more like a true number one. But I think for him, he can pull. He can pop and played any offense and you're like, yep, you're a good player. It's amazing that you say that because the guy, his best case scenario for me, if you look at history with body type, size, all that, which we can get to as a negative, which I think it is. Yep. It's Calvin Ridley.

Oh, yeah. And that's exactly what Calvin Ridley was. He was a super number two as a first round pick right away and then ascended to being a number one receiver or had the capability to ascend to being a number one receiver. And if we're getting to the negatives, I assume we're going to start with the size. Yes. Because that's what it is. And there is nothing after the catch.

As soon as he, there is no tackle breaking. There's very little strength. As soon as he catches the ball, he's going down. I mean, he's not breaking tackles. 4.2 yak per reception this year, which is 80 second in the country. And with the amount of explosiveness he has, you'd think it'd be better than that. Just on accident, he'd break a couple 80-yarders. But it doesn't happen that often.

And you look, receivers that are between like 5-10 and between 180 and 100,000. 90 pounds. Really the only two guys of the past 10 years that have been high level NFL players at that size for a while are Emmanuel Sanders and Calvin Ridley. Yeah. That's it. And those are the two easy comparisons with him. Yeah. No. And that's it. That's my concern with him. Devante Smith last year, why I liked him so much was he doesn't fit into that weight range. No. He doesn't even make the threshold. But why I like Devante Smith so much was that he was a dog as a blocker. Like he battled. And he was beaten press and he creates stuff after the catch. And he's still doing that as a pro. He already got banged up. But Alave doesn't have that in him. Like he doesn't, he plays to that play stream.

He's a prettier player than that. Yeah. That's a good way to put it. Yeah, he's clean and good in a bad way. Smooth. I mean, like, but he's a pretty player. He really is.

He is. And that's why I can picture him just in a team that's, you know, they're going to be chucking and duck in. And it's like, yeah, you get him. He eats those 15 targets and he's going to be productive on it. but it's like you've got to be a good offense already, if that makes sense. Like it's got to be an awesome in Green Bay.

Like that's awesome in Green Bay. It's just a guy with that level of feel playing with Rogers. I think that kind of overcomes whatever early growing pains there might be with a young guy. And you have that physicality with the other receiver on your team. Like Lazard is there and kind of do the dirty work. And it just that I would love to see him there. The weight thing is funny. And I wanted to throw out two guys because there are people would say,

well, there are small receivers that have been successful. At 190-ish, that's small. Even Stefan Diggs. Stefan Diggs is somebody that has been held up as a guy who plays bigger than he is. Stefan Diggs played 195 at the combine at only six feet. He's bigger than a guy like Chris Oliva is, and Stefan Diggs isn't a big guy. So I just, I want to just hammer home that even if you like them, the band of guys that have been successful at that size is just smaller than you want it to be.

It's the only thing. that's kind of hanging out in the back of my head. Totally agree with you, though. It's that is always going to be the back of your mind. And it's always, that's why the counter argument to that is that, oh, he has to be a dominant route runner and so good. And it's like, okay, well, he does have that. So that's why you're like, okay, as an optimist for him or as a guy that, you know,

glass have full with Olavé is that that's my argument against it. But yeah, no, the size stuff crops up. And as a guy that loves his dirty work receivers, like that, that's why this guy is so different. I was surprised you liked him so much. It's so different, right? I know, but I think he is just what he is good at, he is really good at. And that's, he's a guy I can, we do the star starter bus bench thing.

I think his bus potential is like 0.05%. Like, you know what I mean? Like I, I just, I can't see this guy not being useful for somebody. And that's, and a position that could be so volatile. And so even we say coin flips, but even worse than the coin flip, especially in the first round, I think he's one of the safer guys that you can get. And I think that is, to me, that's like the tiniest little. app between at their best Emmanuel Sanders and Calvin Ridley.

Like Calvin Ridley was like a legitimately number one receiver based on skill set. Emmanuel Sanders is always a supercharge number two. And like is he just going to be a good number two for his entire career or does he ascend to that one step higher? And I think that is, it's a very worthwhile conversation to have about Alabe. But it's really, really funny. Again, my just, the way I consume all of this and my diet for football is so different than people who are draft people that when I started watching.

him. I was like, oh, he's pretty good. You know, he's pretty good. And then you watch everyone else, like, oh, my God, he's so crisp. He's so, so refined and nuanced. And it just, it was a, it was a hell of a, like, 12-hour period as I started watching him and then watched everybody else. Oh, there's some guys I'm so harsh on early on. And then I watch him, like, oh, yeah, that's right. That's actually pretty good. Like, fit on Oliva. Do we, Green Bay? Is that like? Yeah, Packers is a good one. I mean, it's, it's a lot. It's like somebody that already has a dominant number one is who I, like, him with. I mean, I wouldn't like him with the Eagles just again because of the side stuff. But I think Green Bay is really that perfect fit for him. And if the chiefs wanted to get a little

spicy and maybe now that they've gotten so blocky with their receivers that now they want the finesse guy back in there, like that maybe would make sense as well. All right. Wilson. What do you like about Wilson? Garrett Wilson. Oh, man. Just get the ball in his hands. That is first and foremost the thing with him. He is dynamic, truly dynamic with the ball in his hands. Isn't that fascinating that he and Alave are the same size? They couldn't be more different after they catch the ball. Completely different players. It's, God, they're spoiled there. I mean, these guys are so freaking good. And, but yeah, just creating a ball off their hands. He has this. By the way, one more. Yeah. Olavet with the Chargers. Chargers, yes. If he ended up at the chargers and he was just

their speed guy to go along with Keenan out and Mike Williams is like, that is like chef's kiss shit. I love that. I love that. Anyway, sorry. I cut you off, getting too excited here. No, I know. Chargers would be going on bills. I mean, you know, just get dink and duck with that. They just paid for dicks.

I don't know if they're going to go again. But, man, with Wilson, it's the spectacular catch too. He has that in him, like where he flashes this catching range. That's like, oh, wow, that you have more to him than you would initially think as a, he's not a gadget guy. I don't want to pigeon hole as a gadget guy, even if I'm more negative on him. That's what I'm making him sound like. He's a better route runner than that. He is, I would say an above average route runner.

And again, when you're watching with him in Alavi, it's like, you don't want to compare him because Alavi is so good. And I think he's more above average to good. He flashes on the catching range. He's got good like length. He plays with length. I think that's a way to distract it. He plays bigger than his size.

He does. He plays bigger than his size. I think in more than one way. Yeah. The contested catch stuff in attacking the ball, that reminds me of digs at that size. Just in playing way. bigger than like six foot. It was like I think both of them are.

And the other thing is I thought he played through contact as a route runner better than I expected him to given his frame. He's still not strong. But I thought he was going to get thrown around and he was not getting thrown around. Yeah. And that was, man, it all depended on the game with him. Because at first, when I first watched him, I was like, oh, yeah, yeah. He's pretty good.

Like you say, because he's skinnier. And you're like, okay, that's a little better. Then I watched the Penn State game. That I did not watch. So that's, no, I know. And I'm not like trying to go like, oh, you don't watch this game. No, no, no, no. That's good to know.

Yeah, but watching a Pensac game. And he was productive in this game because they figured out how to get the ball in his hands. And why they had to manufacture some stuff was because he was getting throttled by the corner. And that was to me when I first one, that was the second game I think I watched of him. And I was like, okay, okay. All right. Maybe I should, you know, maybe some hesitation started with that. And he still has to work on strength.

That's, same him and a lot. I both have that where it's just like a lot. This guy, Wilson creates. more after the catch and everything, but they still have to answer those questions against press. That's the thing. And in college, you don't get a lot of those translatable reps, like as far as just working first press, a true heavy press where the guys throw, grabbing you with one hand and hit you out, like, true reps like that.

And so that's a lot of these questions that these both guys that these have to answer. And with Wilson, it was, I had a little more hesitation with that when I saw him working against press, true press. So with Wilson, you think that the, Alave alleviates. your size concerns just because of the juice he brings. With Wilson, you don't think there's enough to necessarily alleviate those concerns in the same way. I think Alavi has more polished that lets him win. And I think Wilson's more hit and miss. Sometimes he, it's like, he wins or loses right away. And he has it in him. It's just that he still has to tap into it

consistently. I think that makes sense. I also prefer Alave. And I think that that is a good way to articulate where the little gap between them might exist. Yeah. That's the thing is I'm making them, again, I'm making him sound like, oh, he gets his ass kicked all the time. He's fine. It's just that when you're taking the guy this high, those things become bigger, you know, problems that you have to answer because everybody's going to get film on the guy and go, man, we can just kick his ass and he can't get off the line. So they're going to keep doing it. So it's just a question he'll have to answer at the next level. Anywhere you think he fits and spot that interests you here now as we're looking. Oh, boy. I know. I feel like we're going to say a lot of the same teams. Actually, I would like him

with the Saints because of the, just because of like that would, he wouldn't have to eat all the targets right away. They could kind of ease him into what their offense would be. I actually wouldn't hate him with the Chargers because he wouldn't have to be the Polish guy as well. Another team that actually, I would like him with New England because he brings some juice that they don't have, some creating yards after the catch, pairing him with Mack Jones throwing underneath, catching runs with with Garrett Wilson.

That could be a little bit interesting as well. If you're going to Dallas at 24 if he gets down that far. I like that as well because he could. be a Z that can move in and out with CD and then they can use CD from where the rugged stuff so they can kind of use them how they need to use them. I like that as well. We're going to be repeat a lot of the same teams because I don't know. That's what this class is like. All right. Our next guy here, like you guessed earlier today, falls into the this is what this guy is category. And that's Trailing Berks. I just assumed that Traylin Berks would have an

A dot of like four yards and be a gadget player. And that's the guy. I would watch. That is not the guy I watched in the few games that I saw of his. What do you like about Traylen Berks? One of the most unique players I've ever watched. I'll say that first and foremost. But love his size. Love how he's built.

Love the ability to, even though he didn't time like this, he can pull away from guys with the ball in his hands. And that's- Never saw him get cut from behind. Big plays never, never like actually gain ground tracking him down from behind, even though his time speed is not as good as you'd want it to be. He's one of those weird players that it's like his GPS miles per hour is probably way different than the four or five five years. I'd be so interested in what that would like.

I would love to see that. We need to like break into some NFL teams computers at some point. I know. I need a guy. Anybody, anybody listen to this? If you work for an NFL team and you have access to GPS tracking data and you want to send it to us, your job security be damned.

Our emails are in our bios. They are. And I can keep a secret. Trust me. No, but what I like about him is just he's a valid weapon with a ball in his hands. And it's a unique weapon. How Arkansas used him was so crazy. Like they would put him in the slot and have him on a jet motion like every other snap.

Just every play tagging him. Every play tagging him. Moving back and forth. He's such a hard tackle for DBs because of his size and just because of that fluid athleticism. He's a smooth athlete. And it, but then you also look at him, he's six, three, two, 20. Like, it's not a guy that you usually see. built and moving like that.

So that's what it is. And again, he's another guy that flashes the spectacular catch. He can dunk on guys left. That is what I did not expect. I did not expect for him to be making contested catches 40 yards down the field in one-on-one situations. I didn't think that was the guy I was turning on. And I saw him do it five times in the game that I watched.

And that's the appeal of him because that's going, okay, all right, if we can hone that in, make that more part of his game as opposed to kind of like this. Again, he's more gadgety. Like, it's funny. I don't want to describe just as a gadget guy, but he is more gadgety than you would think. 9.3 yak per reception, fourth among wide receivers in college football last year.

And as a guy that's 6-3-220. Yeah. Every other guy is probably what, 5-8, 190? But that, again, you're combining that with somebody who can go get it down the field, and that's an aspect I just didn't expect when people kept comparing him to Debo.

I was just like, oh, well, I don't see that. I compared him to Josh Gordon. That's what I saw you said that, and his physical profile actually looks like, Josh Gordon's. It does. And I, when you said that, and then other people were saying that he was kind of a yak, yards after catching manufactured touch guy, I was like, Josh Gordon.

And then I turned it on. I was like, oh, Josh Gordon makes total sense. Yeah. Especially that size. Like, you know, and I think Josh Gordon ran like a four or five five as well, like a four or five four. So it's, there's, you know, maybe some more comparisons there. A better place to be a guy.

Yeah, he's, he's a guy. Honestly, you ask me every day what, how I, like, what my grade would be on him. It changes every day. Like I, because the optimist of me is going like, well, if we hope. on it in, he gets in the right situation. Oh, shit. Like, this guy could be a true weapon in the league. And then the pessimist side of me, I can get to it in a sec, but that's kind of going,

okay, there's some effort waning with him when you watch him. In an ideal world, if we're playing out best case scenario, I'm putting him on the AJ Brown plan, where as a rookie, you manufacture touches for him. It's all yak all the time. Slants. I am, I'm creating, I'm, smokes and bubbles and tunnel screens and slants. I'm getting the ball in your hands. You go to work.

Offseason number one into number two, you learn how to be a receiver. Yep. And the bad side of this is that here's the question with guys like this. He's not asked to do a lot of refined receiver stuff in what Arkansas was doing, right? It's the contrast between what Chris Oliva is and what Traylon Berks is, is incredible in the nuances of the position.

But is that because he can't do it? Yep. Or is it because he wasn't asked to do it? And that is my stroke. It's why I'd be a terrible. scout and why I do this in a very amateur way. I struggle with imagination sometimes. It's hard for me to understand what a guy is going to be three years from now based on whatever

kind of raw unshaped potential he has. And that's why I'm not going to like this guy as much as other people might because I'm like, ah, what can he be even though there's all this potential there and there's so far he can go? It's harder for me to imagine that. And that's why I am more than willing to admit, I might be. wrong on how good Trayland Berks is going to be. I think he could be fine, but I'm not in love with him the same way that other people are.

I'm not either. I think the last list we did for Bleacher Report, I had him as the third, or my receiver three, but then before that, he was my five. And I think before that, he was my six. And honestly, one of my final rankings goes up for them, it would be, he's probably going to end up at five. Like, it's like, I just can never figure out how I feel about it. I think I'm fine with that there because my negatives with him is the can or won't thing.

he gets tagged in a lot of things. And that is something I would, I'd love to interview him and just be like, okay, is that because just what they wanted to do? And they're like, hey, he's our best player,

which is figuring out how to get him the ball. Or is that because he's not handled, just knowing what the offense is and knowing what he, what his assignment is. And I mentioned it before we had a combine preview show where I got to kind of like early gush about a couple of these guys. And with him is it's, I made the joke then.

I'll repeat it because I just love this joke I make. It's the big dog, little dog mean is with. the ball in his hands and he's the main target, Traillenbergs plays hard, plays fast. And then it's the little dog meme when he's not tagged. He's not the main primary on a route. He's blocking on something. Effort kind of not there. He kind of just looks like he's just hanging out. Doesn't know exactly what he's supposed to be doing. That's scary to me because receivers, again, once you get to the NFL, you have to be a crazy dominant receiver to be able to take plays off legitimately,

to be able to do when you're not doing it, potentially affecting the other plays where you're not the target. So that's, that's like where I have a little bit concerned with him is that he might need a lot he might be have to go into the perfect situation. If he doesn't, he's the guy that has the higher bus potential than maybe some of these other guys. The range of outcomes with him is, I think, much wider. Crazy. Much, much wider. Again, if he's AJ Brown in two years, are you going to be shocked? I wouldn't be shocked. But if he's Corderell Patterson for the first five years of his career, I also wouldn't be shocked. Yep. And that's, oh my God. And Cordero is actually a better comparison that I think people are realizing as far as like how, how it's,

he plays the game and just is figuring out how to play football. Also, another thing, he was 16. Don't get to see that a lot of a receiver. I'm not saying that's a negative. I'm just, I'm just bringing that in there because I just popped up in my brain. It was my favorite thing about Skymore is that it was so easy to pick out 24 when I was watching. I was like,

there he is every single place. I love it. Arkansas also had a 15 that got a lot of run. And it was miserable trying to pick them out and the games that I was watching. There's another guy, the Jalen Tover from South Alabama. I think he, they had a zero.

an eight and a nine, I think, at receiver. And they would wear, like, white jerseys that were, like, shiny numbers. And I actually, like, just stopped watching a game one time because I was like, I can't do this. I can't do this. Like, my eyes are not, we're not able to pick out which guy he is. Where do you think he would fit? Where would you want to see him? God.

That, like, Titans actually wouldn't be terrible because just, like, imagine him and AJ Brown both hitting. He has to go to a team that has to be patient. Like, he can't be the guy right away. And that's why I actually have some troubles trying to pick which team would make sense for him. I'd love to hear your thoughts on it. It's too high in the first round probably, but in a vacuum. Atlanta. Yeah.

Think about what Atlanta just has done with Cordero Patterson. And think about who was the offensive coordinator when we watched AJ Brown become the guy that AJ Brown was going to become. This is just a team that needs players and weapons. And so role is less important in that situation. It's like we just need guys who can play. I would love to see what Arthur Smith could do with him. I want to misfit toys there. That's really what it is.

No, I love that as well. And that's the thing. With him, it's almost like, you know, he's a home run swing. That's what he is in the wait first round, in middle late first round.

It depends on how teams are going to view him. And it's a guy that I'd be more comfortable, not that my grade is like this, because I have a late first round grade on him, but a guy I'd be more comfortable taking in that early second than with my first round pick. What about Buffalo? Buffalo wouldn't be bad. I know. I'm trying to think about ways they would use him. It would just, that's what I'm. And they, they do have now like a role in the slot in their

offense and like what he could be as a slot receiver for them. It's just and kind of be a hybrid position for him. Kind of be like, hey, we're in 11, but you are kind of like, we'll use you as kind of the move guy, no matter however we have to use you. And they're good coaches there. I mean, you know, well, some of them are New York now. So that might be another thing. Yeah, that's one was like, all right, throw him in a good offense, right? Throw him in a good offense where we think that the situation and the conditions would be conducive to his success. And that would be one of them. We're like, all right, I'd be curious what they would eventually do with him.

Also, very different. So I've seen a couple of mocks where Olave goes to Washington. Oliva and McCloran are samey to me. I think they're very similar. Put Traylon Burks in that offense with Terry McClure. Because that, I mean, that is very different in terms of style. and skill set. And I think Scott Turner is a very creative offensive coach.

Yeah. And they have a Diami Brown from last year from North Carolina, who I like as a deeper guy, like deep threat guy. So that would be some nice kind of nice synergy and all with good solid size as far as height wise. So that, you know, that wouldn't be bad. I was watching,

I was talking to an offensive coordinator last summer when we were talking about how the rise in too high and just making team offenses move the ball and matriculated the ball down the field. What sort of players and what sort of concepts it was going to make it more important. And he said some of me I thought was really interesting. So if they're going to make you earn it, you need guys who can earn it. And that's what Treelon Berks is, right? He is, that to me is where there's a similarity with Debo in the sense that I'm going to flip it to you, you do some shit. Yeah. And in this world where teams are going to try to take away explosive plays, do you have

guys that can conjure explosive plays out of nothing just because the ball was in their hands? And he does seem like one of those guys in a lot of ways. Make every play a kick return. That's Yeah, that's basically it. We get back to the quarter of Patterson thing. Yeah, right back to it. I know, I know. But he's, that's the thing. It's like we have, I have some negatives on it, but I'm not down on it because he's,

he's a guy that if he hits and gets in the right situation, watch out because he can be a really fun player. All right. Speaking of explosive plays, let's talk about Jameson Williams. All right. What do you like about Jameson Williams? Well, speed. I think it's the easiest thing that pops out on him.

But the thing with Jameson Williams is he is more of a receiver than I think I, I, I, I, I thought that he would be going on. Say more about that. I might not have watched enough for the right games. I mean, there are some aspects to his game. I'm like, oh, man, that really jumps off the tape. But the refinement is it one of them? What games or what examples can you throw?

It's like, all right, there's more to him than I thought there was going to be. Early in the year, and sometimes I'm late, but they truly, hey, take the top off. Your post, you're the dig. You're the deep guy. We're on some double moves with you. I felt like to me, maybe the second halfish of the year, they started going like, hey, let's get him on a deep curl. Let's get him on these routes.

He's breaking. And I thought he was a lot better at, and we brought it up already with a lave, is tempoing his routes and using that speed to tempo it. And he could sink. I thought he'd be a little stiff because that's how he's just built. He's kind of narrowly built. I thought he would be like when he broke on routes, I was like, oh, wow, you can sink a little bit.

Okay, you can actually do these types of things. And that, it surprised me a little bit. He also has the lava issue that he's skinny as shit. So that, the sinking and the stopping. that was apparent to me. He had a play against LSU where they sent him on just a backside slice

straight to the goalpost from the right side and he's moving, right? They say the way that you expect him, he's moving. He put the brakes on like fucking top, like Tom Cruise and Top Gun.

It was incredible. It was like a fighter jet stopping. The corner was so desperate he grabbed the back of his helmet and almost tried to tear it off. And he got flag for it and he still made a play. It was his e-break.

That was it. He tried to grab his helmet because he couldn't slow down because he went from 60 to zero instantly. And he can do that. The throttle down is very real. And that is a weapon when you can run like he can. Yes. And it's not, that's what it's so hard. I think even I brought my write up on, on him. And I think I said good, but yeah, good. Yeah, above average, a good route runner. And really with him, it's not the same way that Alavi is a good route runner. A lave is a good route runner. he's going to be running those out routes and the comebacks and the releases and stuff. There's just more in his bag. Yeah. And Jameson Williams, it's that he has a feel for it, but his route tree might be a little more limited. So it's like, yes, he's a good route runner on the routes that he is asked to run. So that makes sense. That's kind of what I was asking.

Yeah, a little bit there. But that's kind of how I'd look. Another thing with him, which was really cool. It became a little kind of a viral clip was Alabama. I used Jameson Williams as a gunner on punt. And he was like, close on it. dudes. It was awesome. It was so great. And so he has some more toughness to him than I initially thought going in. He's not a great blocker. Don't get me wrong. He is not Devante Smith trying to

like bow up on these guys. He knows what he he knows what he is. Trust me. If I went like that, I wouldn't be a blocker. I wouldn't either. I know. That's why I like that makes, that's why I've always just going to keep bringing up Devante Smith. He's like this guy is the Heisman trophy winner. He's acting like he's a, you know, power slot Zach Pascal. Another one. Hey, Joe DiMaggio, I've mentioned Zach Pascal on this on this show. But that's what I like about him. He's not just a one-trick pony. He has more receiver to him.

But again, we'll get into negatives in a sec. But that's what I like about them. The negatives, I think, are probably rooted in size in a lot of ways, right? Lack of refinement, but also just skinny. I was watching the Florida game. And Kairilam, who's going to be a fairly highly drafted corner, I think he got hurt at some point in that game. But early on, they had a couple one-on-one matchups.

And he just put the shackles on them in press coverage and just could not get off physically. And Elam's not a big corner. He's a good press corner, but he's not a big guy. So you get some corners in the NFL. There's 6-1-ish with some bulk to him. And I'm not sure how he's going to handle that because he doesn't have that bag of releases than a more undersized guy like Olave does. Yep. And that's what my negatives too is it has to continue work route polish.

It's like, yes, I think he's fine right now and better than I expect it still has to work on it. Of course, play strength. You know, the other thing was too, he could be a body catcher. sometimes. Yeah. And it can be uncomfortable catching in traffic. I'm not saying he's soft or anything. Again,

he was on special teams as a gunner, all that stuff. But it can lead to some drops in traffic because he's body catching. He doesn't use this length that he could. By the way, he's not like a, he had a couple plays against Old Miss. He went and got a couple.

The way that he attacks the ball is very inconsistent for somebody that's six foot three. It's like, it's like, oh, wow, like you don't get on guys. And the next one, you're like,

oh man, please, please use your length to go snatched. It's all over the place because he had those two back-to-back plays against Ole Miss, but other games, he's body catching. And he doesn't have the instincts in the air that you would hopefully want from someone with that amount of length. It's all over the place. Yeah. And then, oh, man, can you imagine Jameson Williams with Justin Herbert? He, he, and this is the nice part about guys like this. And I think it's the reason that when you hear stuff like, oh, he's the number one receiver in this draft, then we think he's the best receiver in this draft. He fits everybody. Yep. There's a There's no box you have to put them in because speed is a universal quality. It's necessary in every single offense. There's not one sport team in the history of time that says we do not want speed. I wish we were less fast.

I wish we were a little bit slower. I wish we had a bunch of try hard guys. You know, I love that. And that's the interesting part about him compared to some of the other guys in this class, right? Even if you think that London is a really well-rounded version of the type of player he is, he is still one archetype of player. he's not going to be for everybody. This guy, you could drop him into any offense. Some will be better than others.

He'll play a larger role in some than others, but he still has a universal skill set. It's funny because all these other guys, you know, you're going, oh, what teams are best fits? I'm, like, hesitating because I got tankathon up right here. And I'm like, yeah, maybe him, maybe. And then James William is just like, yeah, like all of them. I could picture him there.

I can picture him there. New Orleans is 16, Kansas City at 17. You want to put them on the Eagles at 18. that's fine with me. He could go to New England. They definitely don't have enough speed. He absolutely could be the MVS replacement in Green Bay. Dallas, if you wanted to drop him there, that's fine with me.

Buffalo, if you wanted to put speed at three and have him be your slok guy, that works. Tennessee doesn't have a speed stretch. You think Josh Allen could out throw him? I mean, you could drop him anywhere, and it would make sense. The Chargers is like, hell yes. That's my, that's my dream match. I mean, you drop a little speed into that entire sauce and we're cooking over there. It's incredible. It's incredible. Just but yeah, just Keenan Allen. Hey, welcome to your new life as a power slot. Hey, Jameson, you're on the outside. Let's go, baby. Let's take those top. Let's take the top off. And we have a quarterback that's willing to throw out. Yeah. He's, like I said, I had trailing, Berks bumping up and down. But I would say right now, as a right now, where was this coming out? April 7th, Jameson Williams is probably my receiver three. Like this is this is my receiver three, but I like the appeal of him more than maybe some of even other guys.

I think it's still a high floor thing, right? Because the speed is always going to play. It's useful. You're always going to be able to do something with him because he has that speed. And more length than a guy that is that fast, typically, right? I mean, Waddle's 511. And he's all of 6-2. I mean, so Waddle might be short of that.

Wadde might be like 5-10. Yeah. And I mean, he's skinny. This guy's got some real length to him, which doesn't always use it. But he has some real length to him compared to other super fast guys. someone when I first got because Jameson Williams he transferred from Ohio State and and does that worry you at all if he went from Ohio State to freaking Florida you know for to Atlantic yeah but he went to freaking Bama. Not that. But the fact that he couldn't beat out those guys at Ohio State and the fact that it took him three years to really make a huge dent.

I would say it's more of a feather in the cap for a Lave and Wilson than it is a detriment for Wilson. Totally fair. That makes total sense. I'm really like genuinely asking. if it worries you at all. This is where interviews come up too. It's like where you meet these guys and it's like, hey, no, we're not psychologists and all that shit. But it's like you meet these guys and you kind of can get it in.

And it's like, are you scared of competition? And some of these guys is like, hell now. Like, you know, it's more just opportunity. You know, and they explain themselves a little bit. And it's like, okay, okay. But I think it's more of a tip of the cap to lobby and Wilson and the guy that the other guy that they have coming up that's supposed to be. Number 11 and number seven on the Ohio State team. Oh, boy.

Yeah. Yeah, they're good. They're very good. Oh, boy. I mean, just some sit up in my chair throws from C.J. Stroud as I was watching these two guys yesterday. That's my QB1 for next year for a reason. He is. And he got better last year, too. He's, he's got some, he's got some shit to him. I mean, I'm, that's a guy I'm excited to study for next year. All right. Your last guy in this tier, kind of in this top six, top 40, top 45ish prospects I would want to say, right? Like on most. solic consensus. Yeah. Is Jahan Dotson from Penn State? Yeah. So I'll, we'll get to this later. Your com for him was, was beautiful. I absolutely loved it. But what do you like about Johan Dotson? He's a football player, man. But he is a, he's a good route runner. He's, he's, he's kind of good at everything. He's tiny. I already get the negative out, out in front, but he plays big. And that's what I like. It's his catching rain. A ladder, man. He'll go get it for a small guy. He's, that's why he has so many touchdowns. It's because in the red zone, he doesn't play small.

He plays big. Like, this guy must have been a good basketball player. I really do think of because just he is so, he catches in a crowd. He catches above him. He catches a way down below him. And he's fluid. He can catch on the run. He can find a soft spot in zone.

So just a lot of that feel. It shows up. And he played with it. Again, another guy that played with a bad quarterback situation. He maximized his opportunities because he was the only guy they had for it. Or can make it go. He's a competitive player. He's got some special teams to him as well.

Oh, that's an. another thing with James Williamson Williams. Jameson William's return kicks as well, which makes sense. It always helps. It's always nice to be able to have another tool that you can do. The more you can do. But I just love how big dots in place, his hands and his catching range. I saw some people knock him that he couldn't impress.

I had no issues with him against press. I actually thought he was really good. He wins with footwork and quickness. He kind of does that. Notice how to make himself skinny when the guys are trying to go, give him the hard hand, which, you know, it's kind of a craftiness to him. He kind of has an old man's game a little bit. I really, really like that a lot with this guy.

I'm higher, way higher than him on some other people do. This guy's my receiver four. But I just think he's a very useful player, even if his upside as a number one guy might not be there. Same thing with Alave. It's kind of the same type of argument. I think this guy's going to be useful. I think that he's Alave. He has some of the same appeal as Alave.

You just turn all the knobs down. He's smaller. He's not as explosive. He's a little bit more of like there's a physicality to his game. And Lave lacks. And I like that. the guy you compared him to, and I loved it when I saw it, was Tyler Lockett. And I think that if you're trying to play out the best case scenario for him, I think it looks a lot like Tyler Lockett's game looks.

Yeah. Play bigger than they are. They're tough, like they, but they have that juice to him. I, another thing with Dotson, what I like, and this is how I like to label it is, he's a good route runner at all three levels. And is, so it's, Alave is advanced, advanced, but it's like Dotson is just as good. but is a good in his own right. And the quarterback was terrible. So you didn't see a lot of production on the deep ball, but it's there.

And he can track the ball and do all those things. Intermediate, he has the feel. So like if you put him on a backside dick, he knows how to hang on the hash. He knows those little things. It's what I really like about. And I actually think that's where the Lockett stuff came from was that he plays bigger than size. He's tough and competitive.

But also it's just that he can create just enough after the catch. Like he can create an explosive play after the catch. It's not the long burner speed. But it's like he can create some yards. He can create that extra five yards on a dig or on a slant or something of that sort. You know, I would love him. And I don't know if he'll be around at this pick. Detroit.

Oh, yeah. He just went to Detroit. He was just with their outside guy. I mean, I'm on Ross St. Brown isn't big, but he's a slot guy. You can live with a slightly smaller outside guy and that in the slot. And you figure now you have at least one year of chart out there. I mean, those three guys together, I think, is an interesting little mix. And that's exactly where he should go, too.

They also have 32 as well. I mean, 32 and 34. That's exactly where he should go. And his mindset, match with Dan Campbell. That's exactly what I'm saying. He's got that to him, right? And I think that, I like that. I just thought of it, but I like it.

I do too. No, he's a football player. And that's a compliment. I like to give out to guys like this. It's like he's just a good football player. I think he has a little bit to him the same way that Elijah Moore did last year. Small, but just is a complete receiver. Isn't like a gadget guy.

I can do all the things you want him to. and Elijah Moore went at the top of the second round, like right in this exact range that it feels like Johan Dotson might go in. It's a guy that every team likes and loves. Yeah. And he has 20 top 30 visits and everybody's loving him. He probably had 12 interviews at the combine. And it's just everyone just,

we all have the same negative of them. Oh yeah, he's a little tiny. He's a little smaller. So you know, you don't know if he could be a number one guy. So totally makes sense. He's a football player. And that's the thing with Elijah Moore is everyone pigeonholed him as a slot guy.

It's like, no, this dude was winning from the outside. running like a real route tree and same with same with johan dotson all right so we're going to run through some other guys here that maybe aren't in the same tier but we're interested in a little intrigued by for one reason or another let's start with justin ross i'm calling him the dice roll in this draft because i mean man if these things come up the right way you could be buying yourself a new car yeah i mean a dice roll on a guy that had 40 something catches and three touchdowns last year yeah that's a bit of a dice You are higher on him than pretty much anybody else.

Why? What would allow you to bet on him despite all of the concerns? And for people who aren't familiar with the concerns, Justin Ross three years ago was going to be a top five pick. Every single future mock draft or when we're talking about prospects, I mean, he was a monster on those Clemson teams when Trevor Lawrence was there. He was a five-star recruit. I mean, somebody that I knew his name.

years ago. And that's, that says all you need to know about his standing in the college football and early NFL draft world. And then a bunch of things happen. You know, the quarterback situation in Clemson kind of deteriorates, injuries, various kinds of injuries, which I think is part of the reason that it's really a concern. Wasn't the neck or spinal situation? Yeah. I mean, it's real red flag type stuff. I mean, you're taking a risk here. Why are you willing to take the risk. Yeah, this is, this is me talking on both sides of my mouth because this is, this is when I go, oh, this is a film grade only. And I'm not, I'm ignoring the medicals. And then there's other guys I'll knock because I go, oh, they've been hurt their whole career.

But, but with Ross, it's he's a guy I love. He is a, I really, highest compliment I can give a receiver. It's a true X receiver. And his first year is a, his first year, his freshman year, I mean, he was a phenom. I mean, he had, he averaged 21 yards to catch, nine touchdowns. He's making big plays and big moments. And then that's the thing. The kind of wheels fell off either through injuries or this past year. And he was a guy that struggled with or the quarterbacks that he played with struggled. I always butcher the guy's name, but DJU, he throws a ball like Byron Leftwich.

He was. Oh, my way. Is that? Yeah, yes, yes. I call him DJU. Sorry, it just shortened it down. But he's sailing ball is 20 yards over his head. I'm, and you can see Ross.

And this is why I liked him. But the first game I watched him was against Pitt. Two balls in a row where he beats the guy bad on a route. He runs a stop route. Clemson runs a basic offense so that I'll come into a negative in sec. Ball sails over his head. Okay, next one. I think he runs like a slant, beats the guy, balls into dirt.

All right, he's all ticked off. The next play, buries the guy blocking because he's just so pissed off. And I was like, okay, okay, you're not getting frustrated and just quit, you know, mid-series. He's like, no, I'm going to help out the team somehow, some way. I just really think he is, he did not test well. I've been told that he did not train for the testing. So that's my, again, I'm the glass half full guy. But I really do think he has had a four, six and change for this.

I know, 461, right? Yeah. I've seen various numbers that are lower than that. It's not three, four six five. It's not exciting. But what I would. I go the other way. It's very exciting taking a risk at a guy like that.

There's nothing more exciting. It's great because I could just go, I had a high film grade on them. Oh, no, this other stuff. Oh, yeah. That's, that's, that's, oh, just. You're already apologizing for it. I love it. No, I just really, because he's an ex-receiver. And what I mean by this is he runs a vertical route tree. This dude is a legit 6-4. It can sink. Just all the nice things I said about Drake London, just skinnier, but just has great catching range. He just has that twitch to him that not a lot of these taller guys have. That that's what I really like about him. He has a good feel for routes, great length. Just what they don't have that they have no, like their route tree is so, basic, but what he was asked to do, he's very, very good at it. Catches with length.

And I already brought up the blocking point. He plays, he's not just like a little skinny guy that avoids contact. He plays with good playing strength. He fights through contact. And those are the things I really liked about. I just can picture this guy. If he's healthy, his medicals are going to be everything. He might drop the day three because of his medicals.

Where would you take him? I would take him and early third. I think that's why I'd be comfortable with him. I have a high second round grade on him, but I would drop him around because of medicals. I don't know. I'm not a doctor. So it can be one of those where, like, we're not touching this guy at all because he had some serious stuff.

And he got another injury this past year. But I also think he kind of ended the season of frustration where he's like, eh, I'm not going to really battle back. So that's the other stuff you have to bring up, just a limited production and everything. But competitive and tough player who has some twitch to him. And I just think if he gets in the right situation and get some time to heal up and we ease him back in, he can surprise a lot of people. All right.

Next guy, Khalil Shakir from Boise State. to me, he's just like a human highlight real. I mean, some of the catches this guy makes, you are, again, much higher on him. And most people, he is well within your top 10 receivers. Oh, yeah. That is not necessarily the case for a lot of other people who've studied the draft. What about him puts him in that conversation to you?

He is useful and the best way possible. He's a great, I think a very good route runner can operate from inside and out and wins versus press and has many clips winning versus press. good with a ball in his hands can create with yards after the catch. He has returnability, like legit punt returnability. It's not just a gadget guy because he's a guy that's like, well, we'll get him on a couple jet sweeps. And, you know, actually he has some comparisons to as Mere Smith-Marset, which is kind of funny. They have like very similar mock draftable physical profiles, which I was going to bring up.

Were you? Okay. A lot of their appeal is I feel like I'm regurgitating a little bit of this because there's a lot of the same appeal. You have a type, my friend. I do. I know. It's just so funny. of which which types I decide to, I was like, oh, I like this redhead.

No, but it's just with the, with the screens underneath throws, there is just that, that he has that to him. So it's like, okay, we get the ball in his hands. He's going to create with the ball in his hands. But also the real receiver stuff is real. Like it is different. They asked him to run a bunch of different routes, short, intermediate deep, and he's useful.

He's productive on him. Good against man. Good against his own. So he just does a lot of good things that's like, I, I, I, tabbed him as just Mr. Useful. I think he's another guy that he's going to go, whatever team he goes with, they're going to find a use for him where he's like, man, this guy ends up our number two as a rookie.

Like he has that upside two. Because you can get him in like a fourth round probably, right? It's, it's, I think he's got, he tested really well. So you got a little bit of a bump. But I think this guy, I would say, I have a early second round grade on them. And that's where I would take him. I think if someone in the 30s or 40s. All right.

That's how I think he's a really good, really good player. I really do. He just does everything well. I really don't have that many negatives on them, just other than that he's a Slater frame. But he's 190 and change, he plays tough. I think he's just a really good player. All right. Next guy here, we'll call him the riser, and that's Skymore.

He's now being mocked in the high second round. He's somebody that was probably a mid-round pick at early stages of this process, and he's really checked every single box. Curious what you think about this. When I watched him, so he forced 26 missed tackles as you're according to PFF, which was best in the country among wide receivers. He reminds me of Golden Tate. Oh, yeah. That's my comparison.

Same body type. I mean, just making guys missing space and small, but not slight. Short, but I mean, I think he was 195 at 511. And Golden Tate, I think was at five, I think he's five, ten and a half, 195. And I think Golden Tate was 511, 199. So very similar in terms of their physical build. Yeah. Like right near it next to each other.

I mean, did you? Did you, did that, did that? make that comp in your in your red up? That's a cop. I didn't, I didn't, I didn't even see that. That's really funny. I mean, they look exactly the same.

Yeah. They look really similar. They look really, really similar. I had to see that anywhere else. I was really hoping that I was, I was alone in that. That's frustrating.

I like it. Yeah. I think our friend Danny Kelly was like, he was like, oh, he was like, oh, I like that. Thick boys. And I was like, yep, yep, thick boys. We're in the, we're the 20s number, all that stuff. But I, sky more, man.

He, what I really liked about him. A million people have said this. now I feel stupid. Oh, I was feeling special. I was feeling really good about myself. That's funny. Oh, that's frustrating. Man, I like him, though, man.

He just, it's, God, he plays big too. Like, he's like, 10 of our friends. But now I'm like really mad at myself. I really thought I had like, oh, man, I thought I saw something. You said it on Twitter at one point. Josh Norris said it. Josh. I'm just going to walk into a river.

This is, I'm embarrassed now. I know. There's no original takes ever. Trust me. Oh, God. Especially coming this late to it. That was like last year around I was like, we don't talk enough about Rashad Bainman. And then like people just like motor.

You don't even get a really, really good burger, Wendy's. Have you ever heard of Wendy's? There's this place on the West Coast people like. It's called In and Out. I don't know. Yeah, it's kind of a niche spot. I don't think Wendy's is a good burger, by the way. I was trying to make a very, mention a very obvious thing that everyone knows about.

All right. Why do you think if there are downsides to him? It just feels like the size is going to be an issue just in terms of what he can be asked to do. He's one of those guys that I don't think he'd ever be a number one receiver on a team, but he has an incredibly specific skill set that you can use right away. Oh yeah. He is a Z receiver that you can move around the formation. And man, the height is the negative.

But the thing about that is that his balls, the ball skills is what he's so good at. Like he tracks the ball really well and he just knows how to make. plays on the ball. Like it's a, it's, is, you know who else was really good at that? Could make a lot of really good plays and tight spaces of really good hands.

Golden Tate. Has anyone compared him to Golden Tate? Oh, man. I don't know. I don't know. But it's, I feel like such a fucking loser. It's okay.

I really feel like a loser. That's so funny. At least it's not, you know, always we're just talking one on one. This isn't going out there. Anybody, uh,

that I would say with him and he tested well, and this is my only negative with him. Golden Tate was better. I mean, he's better than a lot, a lot of guys with a ball in his hands. And I think, I think Skymore is fine. I would say pretty good with the ball in the hands, but not that true dynamic guy with the ball in his hands. Like truly, I disagree with you.

Oh, man, I think he's a splitter. I think he has a lot of wiggle. I think he's a splitter. He's not going to, he's not shifty. He's a splitter. That's, that's my one. I like the stop and start. I think, I think he's pretty good.

I think that force tackle ability, that's translatable. I just feel like you either have that or you, don't and I think he has it. And even just like a little tiny, you know, I ran an option route against Buffalo from the slot. And it was just like his understanding of exactly how to use that space and shoot it up. I was impressed by him. I think he could be a useful player right away in the right situation.

Lance is where he's just taking it and going. Yeah, I just, I really did like him. I didn't, again, a guy that I've heard about didn't know what to expect. I wasn't sure what type of player he was when I had heard that he was kind of rising up a little bit. And I turned him on. I was like, oh, that's just golden tape. And I was the first person to come up with that.

All right. No, but he's, no, honestly, though, he is going to be a useful player for somebody because just he's tough and he makes the awkward catch. So it's like, even if he's a shit quarterback, he's going to like make every target and touch worthwhile, which is, which is so, so needed at the NFL level. Another guy that I want to talk about here that you're a little bit higher on. We're going to call him for you is Mr. What Am I missing?

And that's Alec Pierce from Cincinnati. I mean, there are people who he's in like the fifth and sixth round. Uh-huh. You have him much, much higher. than that. Yeah. What do you think you're missing with Alec Pierce that no one else is seeing? Maybe it's just I like all the Cincinnati guys.

I just watched Desmond Ritter and I was like, hey, I like this receiver he's thrown to, but he got. You joke. That might be it. It might be. Absolutely. Because I'm high on the running back too, Jerome Ford too. So maybe I just like I just like the black uniforms.

There's something about the uniform. That happens. It might be. I like the stadium. You know, that might be it. But Pierce got better as. And I mentioned this a lot with guys, but it does matter. He got better as the season went along.

He's a late bloomer. He was a volleyball guy. He's an Illinois guy. But he was a volleyball player. He's from Glenn Allen. I don't know where he went to high school. I should look. I think it's the Matt Bowen school.

Go ahead. Yeah. And I think with him is they didn't know what to do with him early in his career. They played him. They tried him at linebacker for a little bit. He was a special team's ace. And I think no matter what, he will be that in the NFL. But I think as the season went along, this,

last year. He didn't get, he got hurt last year, or it might have been two years ago, but this was his first full season playing receiver, like really got at it. And as the season went along, you can see some of the craftiness come with this game. He is a big ball winner. Like, and that's where all of his highlights are. It's him truly dunking on guys. And you get his volleyball background. He's got good size. He's almost 6.3, just under 6.3. He's got, he's about 208, 210. He's a great, all of his, his ball scales, he can adjust. He's going to be a red zone weapon. And I think For him, it's a projection. I don't think he'll jump in right away as a rookie and be just like, oh, wow, look at this guy.

We talk about some of these other guys, Sky Moore, John Dotson, hey, these guys are going to step in right away and be useful. I think right away, he's more of like a number three, number four type that grows into that number two rule. But I'm saying that he'll be good at that number two rule because he's a vertical guy. I don't think his route running is great. I think it's above average. I think I put it at, but it improved. He started getting a better feel for it as he faced more defenses. He's a willing blocker.

So he's got some power slot to him, which I'm always going to go, yeah. So the linebacker says a feel as a ball winner. I mean, his ability to work through on back shoulder stuff, I was impressed with the fluidity for being as big as he is. Body control is exactly right. And he tested extremely well.

Yeah. Being 6.3, 215. I mean, he ran a 4-4-1 in the 40, 93rd percentile vertical, 90th percentile broad jump. For a guy with that frame and that explosiveness, I mean, that's worth a chance.

chance in my opinion. So he went to Glambard West. His freshman year would have been the year that Barrington played Glenbard West in the playoffs. Scottie Miller went for 9 or 4 and 92 in a touchdown. We give up a 21 to 7 lead and ultimately lost. It was in the state quarterfinals. I was there.

It was a very sad moment. Oh, no. It was a very sad moment. Don't take it out on our peers. No, no. It's not his fault. He was just a freshman at that point. I would assume it was 2014.

He graduated in 18. Okay. Oh, okay. Yeah. He might have been in eighth grade. So it's not his fault. He was focused on other sports then. Another thing with Pierce, and a lot of these guys will have this, is his entire family,

as athletes, his mom, his dad, his sister, his brother, his aunt's uncles. Interesting. There's something to that. There really is. I don't know what it's just how they carry themselves, whatever. It doesn't matter what the kid is. But there is something to that. And that's why I just really think this guy is going to just keep growing.

He's a late bloomer that I think is just going to keep growing at the receiver position, not growing at height, but that's as far as polish and everything. But I would say he's below average with the ball in his hands. He's not going to make a lot of guys miss. He's a straight line guy. But I think as a guy that dunks on people in the red zone, wins back shoulder throws, can create some plays and contest to catch situations, but also take the top off because he has enough long speed.

I think he's going to be a guy that just keeps getting better and better as his career progresses. This is, I'm very disappointed myself because my comparison for him is another white guy. And I always try to avoid that. And that's Eric Decker because I just. I was about to do it. And I was going to say Jeff Janice. He's like a rich man's Jeff Janice. Jeff Jules.

We couldn't get Joja vicious in there. So you joke. Jeff Janice 6.3-219 at the combine, ran a 4-4-240. Wow. Also had a 75th percentile vertical jump. So physically they are more similar than it might seem. Okay. I'm also just talking about vertical, like back shoulder throws.

All Jeff Janice did is catch like two. Who Hill Marries at his career with Green Bay. All right. A couple more here very quickly. George Pickens is somebody that you wanted to chat about. Someone not dissimilar to Justin Ross in the sense that five-star recruit, big-time player, broke out as a freshman, has kind of taken a winding road since. Not the injury concerns.

But, I mean, this is a guy where Ross is viewed as just a shot in the dark. Let's take him in whatever round. He's kind of falling down here. George Pickens has like real heat to him as a. a second round picker, maybe even more than that. Yeah. And Pickens, he missed most of this past season. He was come back from the ACL, but he battled, and him battling back to play after an

injury, he was like, no, I'm playing at the end of this year, even if I'm not 100%. Kind of speaks to what he is as a player. He's a tough, competitive dude. I'm sure if you've been on Twitter and you see George Pickens, you've seen him talking crap to the entire Michigan sideline after he pancakes a corner and saying, like, come get your boy. Like, he'll do stuff like that, which is really. That's what he is.

He's competitive. He's another ball winner type. With him, it's just, that's what he is. He plays with strength and he has enough Twitch where he's just going up to get balls. He's knocking guys down. Has that explosive playability to him. But the thing with him, everything is vertical and at you. And I just didn't really maybe have the route running appeal to him that maybe some other people do.

I still have a mid, mid, late second round grade on him, just off of film what I've seen. And I feel comfortable what we're in that. You just think that the frame and like the ball winning and that kind of stuff, is where he shines through. Like that's why he's a second round. Yeah. That is. And it's just,

okay, maybe he has some room for growth. He tested, tested pretty well, which is good. I wouldn't say he plays exactly to that speed, but he plays me out of, about that tier.

And I think that's what the appeal is. It's like, okay, we get you healthy. We get you in a good situation. We let you continue grow at your craft, you know, and get some of those explosive highlights,

you know, make them more consistent and make a more down-to-down appeal. I'll be honest. I have them in my, my top 10 receivers, but I'm maybe a little more hesitant with him than other people are. Yeah, I watched a couple games and I even went back to the 2019 Missouri game when he was like a breakout freshman. And that was like one of his best games in college. And he had a long

touchdown and he had another contested catch kind of back shoulder play in the end zone. And it was nice. But it's, I think there's a lot to read into. I understand the argument, though. It's that this guy was an 18 year old kid who was playing very well and just was a real guy in the SEC and has since run into some bullshit along the way. If we change his circumstances, we're willing to bet on the pedigree. I understand that as a rationalization for sure. Yeah. And even just looking at how I wrote him up, I said his hand, eye, coronation, and balance show up when he's tracking the ball. Yeah. But he is a ball winner, not a burner. And I feel pretty comfortable saying that another guy that maybe has some upside is a power slot

because he wants to block. And that's always going to have some appeal to. But he doesn't have that. quick twitch on his route running that might limit the underneath stuff. If you want to drop him on the Chicago Bears in the second round, I wouldn't hate it. I think that's the type of guy that they could absolutely use. All right. Last guy you wanted to talk here, somebody else that has been making a little bit of a rise. And that's Christian Watson from North Dakota State. Yeah.

And this guy is rising up like a helium balloon. Like he is the classic senior bowl, small school guy. Tested great, had a good senior bowl week. And to be fair. Sometimes some of that shit is nonsense. Uh, yeah, to be very fair.

Sometimes it's not, though. There is senior bowl performance for wide receivers and for small school guys. Like I understand. Yes. Talking yourself into it and revisiting based on a performance at that sort of setting. It's, it's the biggest week for the small school guys.

Yeah. Because now you're seeing, hey, now they're taking a step up in competition. How do they do? And he did great. He really did. So that in itself bumps him up around.

He ran very well, didn't he? Extremely well. He is big body dude. And, and he has, Yeah, very good height. He's built really, really just solidly.

436 at 6.6. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. And they try to give him the ball in his hands a little bit on some jet sweeps. He played at North Coast State. And North Coast State's an awesome football program. They're incredible. They coached their guys up so well at every position.

And so he was a bit of a late bloomer. He's from Tampa, Florida. And they've kind of worked with him. The last couple of years became more of a tangible player. Yeah, but he has some good stuff with the ball in his hands. He has some kick return experience early in his career or throughout his career. I should say more of a buildup long speed guy. He needs a little bit going.

I wouldn't say his acceleration is great. I would say he needs a little bit of time to get to that top speed. And my biggest negative with him is that he can play small. He doesn't play to his size. He's 6-4-210 plus plays more like he's 6 foot 190. That's kind of my hesitance with him. I think how he's originally graded more as a late day two guy, that's where I'm more comfortable with him.

But I get the appeal. Some people are trying to make, you know, fetch happen a little bit with him. So that's some hesitancies. I know his production is not outstanding. He had 800 yards about seven touchdowns this past season. And that's because they don't throw the ball a ton. But really there's some other stuff where I was like, I wanted him to pop a little more. When you're at the FCS level, I want to see freaking dominance or near it or flashes of that.

I thought it was more like, oh, it's good. It's good. But there's times where it's like, hey, go up and dunk on this guy. You're six four. That safety is five, seven. You know, like go up and get it. And he's kind of falling away and that, you know, he's a red shirt senior. So he's a little older.

So, you know, so some of those alarm bells are going off with him. But I still think he's a fine player, but maybe not as appealing as other people have with them. All right. That is all we got. That was extremely fun. I love digging into that position. And the reason that I wanted to spend time talking about that position is just that every single year, it feels like we're going to be in this place where we talked about six guys.

and it could be eight that go in the top 40 picks, in the top 40, 50 picks. It just seems like we need to take a considered look at that crop of players pretty much every single year based on where the sport is, where the talent pipeline is. There are a lot of reasons that that conversation almost feels necessary at this stage of the calendar. I have 17 receivers with round three grades for 17. And I consider myself pretty tough on receivers. And there's about three other guys. you can make an argument for like other people have. So that,

I think this is the new standard. I think you're going to get 16-ish guys in the first three rounds. I think that's going to be kind of the new standard next couple of years. I'm sorry I didn't let you talk about 17 guys. If you. Are we doing we talking about 14? And you listen to Dan Bruegler and Lance Zerlain Hero the next couple of weeks. They will be doing some middle, you know, kind of in that range,

skill position players as part of their conversation. So please check out those. chats that they're going to have. Those guys are more well equipped to talk about fourth round receivers than me who thought he was the first person to ever compare Golden Tate to Skymore. And in reality, I was the 30th guy to do it. That's what happens when you come to the process on April 6th compared to last October. Just mute it.

Just tweet it and just mute it. And just go, yep, that was it. Is that it? Do you guys, anyone made that comparison? I'm just watching Skymore. I think he kind of reminds me of Golden Tate. I'm just going to tweet it right now. All right.

that is all we have for this week. Speaking of Lance and Dane, they will be in your feed tomorrow on Friday. I believe talking to Bruce Feldman, who always does a fantastic job. They're going to talk through some of the picks in Bruce's mock draft,

which includes tons of conversations with college coaches and really just a knowledge base that so few people literally on earth have that Bruce has about college football. So please check in for that conversation. Please rate and review the podcast on your podcast platform of choice. I would sincerely appreciate that.

Please subscribe to the athletic. A dollar a month right now. Theathletic.com slash football show. Dane's draft guide is coming. It would be worth the price of your athletic subscription on its own. So please go do that. Guess what else you can do on the athletic.com here very soon. You can read Nate Tice.

Writing about the quarterbacks in this draft. His first piece for the athletic will be live when? I believe Friday. Friday. Amazing. So if you do not have a subscription, there's no better excuse than to go get Dane's draft guide and get to read Nate's first story on The Athletic. You write more than I do at this point. All right.

Guys, thank you very, very much for listening. We will be back early next week. Talk to you soon. This was the Athletic Football Show.